One of the dishes we regularly have to go with rice is stirfried kailan. With ginger and fish slices, of course. I haven’t cooked this in a while which is why I’m kinda bringing it up now, as a sort of reminder to myself to cook this delicious dish soon .

What you need are:

• 2 fish fillets, diced into fairly big chunks
• 5 stalks kailan, or kale - cut the stems to 2-inch lengths and the leaves to 1-inch lengths
• 1-2 knobs ginger, sliced thinly
• siew heng zhao, or Chinese cooking wine
• 2-3 Tsp oyster sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

I typically heat up a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in my wok, then throw in the ginger slices. In Chinese cooking, you need to use high heat and be quick to the stirfy. So I swish the ginger around for maybe 30 seconds and then add the fish fillet followed by oyster sauce. The ginger gets rid of the fishy taste.

I keep frying to let the fish soak up all that flavor before adding the stems. Stems take longer to cook so that’s why they go in first. At this  point, I add a good splash of water as I like it with lots of gravy. It’s up to you. I cover the wok for about 2 minutes so that as the water boils, it cooks through the stems.

Then in go the kailan leaves. Give everything a good mix. You should see the kailan leaves soften. After that, give it a good drizzle of siew heng zhao, or Chinese cooking wine all round. Add salt and pepper to taste. Give it another good stir and it’s ready to serve.

What I really love about this dish is the aroma of the wine and that it’s healthy too, certainly not one that will send you scrambling around for a fat burner review after you eat it. So give it a try.

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Woo, Friday! I’ve had a good week, very laid back for some strange reason. I even had time to read a book. Well, I’m only on page 23 but that’s quite an achievement for me! Let’s get cracking on this week’s questions then.

#1. Clair’s question. What’s the biggest kitchen blunder you’ve made?

Read all about it, read all about my granola adventure here. I make granola bars like you’ve never seen, honest .

#2. What’s your favorite snow day beverage?

A steaming hot coffee in the winter is the best thing ever.

#3. What’s your favorite way to eat celery?

I like them in my pasta.

#4. What’s the most unappealing looking food you can think of?

Whenever I go to seafood restaurants, which is pretty rare unless we get invited to dinner, I always quicken my step when I walk past the live seafood languishing helplessly in tanks, oblivious to the fiery deaths awaiting them in the kitchen nearby.

Say what you want but there’s something about this picture that really puts me off live seafood, no matter how good it’s supposed to taste.

Want to play Four Foods on Friday? Simple, go over to valmg’s blog at Fun, Crafts and Recipes and grab the details. Have a great weekend, everyone.

I have half a pack of angel hair pasta left over from yesterday’s lunch. We’ve eaten every other type of pasta so I thought it was time we tried angel hair. But the kids don’t quite care for it so I have to find a way to finish it up somehow.

Now if you notice, angel hair pasta looks a lot like the thin Chinese egg noodle, and I’m guessing it won’t taste far different. So I decided to do a Fusion stirfry… just for the heck of it.

Here’s what I used:

• 0.5 packet of angel hair pasta
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• a handful of choy sum (mustard green), cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 stick of celery, thickly sliced
• a few pieces of mock char siew (vegetarian barbecue pork), sliced
• 3-4 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
• spring onion and Chinese parsley, finely chopped
• sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste

The preparation of the angel hair pasta is the same as if you were actually using it for a regular pasta. Just boil till al dente.

Into my wok on high heat, I drizzle some oil and lightly saute the garlic. Then I quickly add the mock char siew followed by vegetarian oyster sauce, choy sum and celery. Add some water and allow to simmer for a few minutes to let the vegetables cook through.

Then add the angel hair pasta and stir well with the rest of the ingredients. Add a good drizzle of sesame oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped spring onion and Chinese parsley. Serve hot with a small plate of fresh bird’s eye chilly in soy sauce.

Heaven! I’m really proud of this creation of mine. You really must try it. You’ll truly be surprised how good this Fusion angel hair pasta tastes, wierd though it may sound . Best of all, it’s meatless, healthy and trust me, you can banish all thoughts of weight loss products when you’re eating this.

The week before I started my vegetarian diet, I came across this prepacked frozen roti paratha, or Indian flatbread, at the grocery store. Roti paratha is also known as roti canai and is usually served with curry on a banana leaf at Indian restaurants. But instead of doing that, I decided to turn it into a wrap with spicy beef filling.

I used

• 250 grams of ground Australian beef
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 2 green chillies, finely diced (feel free to vary based on your heat preference, I used birds’ eye chillies but you can use jalapeno or whatever you like)
• 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
• 1 lettuce, shredded
• 1 pack of frozen roti paratha (about 5 or 6)

To prepare the filling, I simply drizzle some olive oil into my non-stick pan on medium heat. I chuck in the onions and tomatoes followed shortly by the chillies, beef and barbecue sauce and saute for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. When beef is cooked through, I scoop into a bowl and leave aside.

In another saucepan, I heat up a piece of roti paratha first on one side, then flip over to the other side. When heated through, lay the bread flat on a plate and layer on the fresh lettuce followed by the filling.

It’s really this simple and it makes a really fulfilling meal. This recipe is entirely my own concoction. I decided to give the old roti canai in curry a breath of fresh air and this is it. I like that this is so different yet tastes so good *gives self pat on back* :smile:, enjoy!

Many years, when I worked in the city, my colleagues and I would drive out for lunch to Ampang which is famous for their yeong tow foo, or stuffed tofu. Well, that was years ago and although Ampang Yong Tow Foo franchises and copycats have sprung up everywhere, I haven’t eaten any in a long time.

Recently I bought fresh yeong tow foo at the market. They are fresh and sold loose so I get to make my own selection. They’re usually sold at the grocery stores in prepacked trays but they cost a bit more and you don’t get to pick what you want.

I bought lots of different shaped fishballs at the market the other day. The big fried ones and the white comma-shaped ones are a hit with my kids. I only bought 3 stuffed chillies for myself .

The long dark brown ones are foo pay, or soy sheets wrapped around fish and meat paste. I like those too. And of course, I must have my hot chilly dipping sauce. We typically eat yeong tow foo on its own without rice or noodles, so this is absolutely a no-carb meal!

You might not find me driving into town to buy a Sony Vaio but I might for a taste of yong tow foo once in a while. In this case, I don’t even have to drive into the city, I can have them in the comfort of home.

If you have time, you can actually make your own fish paste at home for fish balls and to stuff the soy pockets yourself. Yeong tow foo is great for parties and potlucks because everyone loves ‘em, kids and adults. Just be sure you have different dipping sauces for kids (tomato sauce) and adults (chilly sauce).