Kailan & Mushrooms

Everything took a back seat today as I suddenly found myself having to deal with some work issues.  Which meant I did not have the chance to do my weekly shopping.  Hopefully I can get to do some tomorrow before work.

But this was a good thing as it gave me a chance to use up some of the stuff in the fridge.  I had half a packet of kailan and quite a bit of shiitake mushrooms which I need to consume before they start going off.  There is also half a packet of tai bak choy left over from the Soup Insomnia expedition, a packet of asparagus and three Japanese cucumbers.  Man, I really need to hustle and use them all up before I bugger off.

I had some leftover mutton curry rice from the previous night as well as a large tub of Soup Insomnia so I decided on a simple dish of vegetables to round off the meal.

Kailan and Mushroom in Oyster Sauce

About 8 bunches of young kailan

8 fresh shiitake mushrooms

1 1/2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp oil

1 cup water

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

Pinch of sugar

Dash of pepper

1. Prep time:

- Wash the kailan

- Wash and cut off the woody stalk of the shiitake mushrooms

- Peel, top and mince the garlic

2. Heat the oil and when smoking, add the garlic, quick frying till fragrant

3. Add the mushrooms and stir fry briskly on high

4. Add water, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar.  Adjust to taste. 

5. Bring to boil and then lower heat to braise gently till sauce is reduced.  If it gets too dry you can keep adding water or stock.  I preferred water this time because I wanted a lighter vegetable side dish today

6. Add the kailan and cover and braise till kailan is cooked, turning occasionally

7.  Plate.  Eat.

This is such a simple dish and a staple in many Chinese households I have been told.  I simple adore it as I love all vegetables from the rabe family.  And it is a beautiful accompaniment to so many dishes and yet it can hold its own as a main dish.  If I was using this as a main, I would use stock instead of water and add some shredded conpoy in the braising to give it more richness and texture.

I had a great meal and was a much happier camper at work because of it.  Maybe I should give this dish a fancy name like Mood Lifter Kailan and Mushrooms.

Soup Insomnia

I have strange sleeping habits because of my work. I call it the Vampire Hours.


It also causes me bouts of insomnia interspersed with uncontrollable lapse of narcolepsy. So when I saw this recipe on happyhomemaker88's blog, I thought it was worth a try. Till I read the recipe. There wasn't a single herb in sight. Darn!


It also looked like a normal Chinese soup, except with less flavour. I am used to Cantonese soups which are stronger in flavour and a load more ingredients, I think, since I learnt most of my Chinese soup-making techniques in Hong Kong or from Hong Kong cooks. This looked rather bland at a glance. And it also included one of my lesser favoured Chinese ingredients - dried, salted fish.


But hey, I will give anything a try once.


I dutifully went and got all the ingredients and decided to substitute half the amount of dried, salted fish with dried oysters, to make it more palatable.


Despite my misgivings (and I had a lot, from the blandness issue to the cooking technique and handling of ingredients), I followed the recipe to the T. Almost. In the end, I had to give in to my need for more flavour and just added one item. I wanna sleep but I also need flavour in my food.


The original cook gave this soup a really long name - er, I will just call it Soup Insomnia, alright? I also halved the recipe as she was obviously cooking for a whole family and I'm just making it for the ole housemate and, well, me!

Soup Insomnia
500g tai bok choy
50g salted fish/dried oysters - I used 50g of each as I found the soup so bland
250g pork ribs - I used spare ribs so there's less pork as I am not keen on it
1 slab soft tofu
1 1/2 L water


Cook all ingredients together on simmer for 4 hours. Season to taste.


That's it. See? She says to season it to taste. Holy cow, I added in half a cube of chicken stock and 1.2 tsp salt with 5 dashes of white pepper before it tasted a level above sky juice otherwise. Wow, so tastelessness cures insomnia? I hope not 'cos I'm doomed then.


The cooking technique also troubled me. I understand the slow cooking concept of traditional Chinese tonics. But there's no herbs in this so pourquoi? Especially because you are using tai bok choy which can get really wilted and slimey when cooked to death like this. And soft tofu? You have to be so careful when you stir then as it will just break apart to little pieces.


I couldn't do it. I dutifully put in half the tai bok choy to cook and added the rest only in the last hour of cooking. Even then I winced to see their state at the end. I actually apologised for abusing them so. I felt so undeserving of their freshness.


The end result is the soup is still not as flavourful as I would have liked but it was easy to down. My Chinese housemate said it smelled good at any rate.


I do not know if it works but I will give it a go and update later.

Update 1:  I drank the soup.  It doesn't work.  I still could not sleep and when I did, it was per normal.  Maybe it needs a few doses before the effects are felt.  I shall keep an open mind until I consume the remainder of the soup tomorrow.

Update 2: Two days later, still no effect although the soup got tastier with each progressive re-heating.  Sigh, so that's a myth busted.  This soup does not work.  The quest continues.

 

The Rain in Singapore

Wow. What a downpour.


I was furiously playing computer games and totally lost track of the time. Till the thunderous pounding of a furious deluge caught my attention. Startled out of my one-handed clicking of touchpad (come on, you do it two-handed???!!), I went to the kitchen to investigate.


Lucky that I did as half the kitchen was getting water-logged. Bravely battling the stinging pinpricks of angry rain drops (more like rain shards), I closed the windows, tackled the dangling knickers and bras of my housemate tossing damply right in front of the windows, stoically rescuing them to dryer climate.


For some reason that rescue mission made me terribly hungry.


So at around 4am, I started cooking. Yeah, Antony Boudain ain't got nothing on my kookiness.


I wanted hot and soupy to warm me up. Unfortunately my fridge boasts a meager crop. I had decided recently I was going to live even more frugally and efficiently than before. Which means I will only purchase enough groceries to last for a day or so and only on the basis on the sales and promotions of the local supermarkets and shops. That way I get fresh food and less waste.


Fantastic theory. Not so fantastic at 4am when you are craving for a winter soup (hey, monsoon is the Asian winter!) to fight off the pelting cold needles of hunger.


I had:


One packet of chicken livers
One packet of shiitake mushrooms
One packet of young kailan
Two medium-sized red onion
Young ginger
Several cloves of garlic


Oh this is sad but workable. Definitely workable.


I went to work. Voila, 40 minutes later, we had a meal. 40 minutes because I spent part of that time mopping up the wet kitchen floor from the home invasion by the rain.


Firstly, let me put in the caveat that I do not cook by measurements. I throw in things by feel, taste and the good old culinary senses inherited from my gran. But I will try my best to put in guestimations for the noobs.



Rain Fighting Chicken Liver and Kailan soup
1 packet of chicken livers (about 8 was in mine)
1 packet of kailan (once washed & sorted, it was about 2- 2 1/2 cups)
7 shiitake mushrooms
2 medium-sized red onion
1 knob of young ginger (about 2.5cm/1 inch)
1 clove of garlic
2 black dates
1 tbsp gouzi/wolfberries
Oil (about 1 1/2 tbsp)
Mirin (about 1/2 tbsp)
2 chicken stock cubes (try to use the non-MSG ones)
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
Sesame oil (I only used about 3-4 drops)
White pepper (about 10 dashes ... eh, let's see ... 2 tsp?)
Water (lots. OK, about 2.5 litres?)


1. Prep time:
- Peel, wash (helps keep you from tearing later too) and slice the red onions into thin discs
- Crush, peel and top the clove of garlic
- Peel and slice the ginger into thin discs


2. Wash the kailan well and start sectioning them by hand into large bite-sizes. For me that is about half the length of my palm. I use the stalks too and if any are a little too chunky, I slice these into slanted, 1-inch sections.


3. Wash and cut the mushrooms into quarters.


4. Clean the chicken livers. Some people may dislike the whitish-grey stuff that floats around ominously in your soup but I am OK with that. If you want to get rid of that, you may choose to pour hot boiling water on your livers and quickly discard that liquid and wash them in cool water and set aside. But I warn you that that may over-cook your livers. I hate over-cooked livers. Ptui!


Oh yeah, there's another process to get rid of the scum yet impart flavour to your livers but that's such a long process I can't be arsed to discuss it right now.


5. Heat your oil in your pot. I had some flavoured oil from the last meal I cooked (it was from frying some prawns with garlic which I saved) so I used that. That aroma was drool worthy.


6. Add the trinity of garlic, onions and ginger and saute away till the smells really get to you.


7. Add the mushrooms and saute till well combined.


8. Add the kailan and saute for about 30 seconds on high till they are bright green.


9. Add the water, add the chicken stock and stir.


10. Bring to boil, lower heat to medium and add all the other ingredients except the liver.


11. Adjust all seasonings to taste and then turn up the heat to scorching high and add the livers.


12. Stir gently so as not to traumatise your chicken livers and once soup comes to boil, turn off the heat and cover.


13. Let stand for about 5 minutes and then you can start serving. How long you do this depends on your preference for the done-ness of your chicken livers. I like mine tender and non-Goodyear tyres like.



So there we had it. A nice, hot, tasty and nourishing soup to fight off the rainy blues. I had so much left over I will be having that for at least 3 meals.


As your livers get more and more tough with each re-heating, what I do is start mashing them roughly to break them up, add rice to make a porridge of sorts to extend my buck. You can also add an egg to it to make it richer. Pasta works well too, instead of rice, to make a pasta soup of sorts.


Let's see. I reckon the cost of this meal was rather economical.


Packet of chicken livers - $1.60
Packet of kailan - $1.60
Packet of shiitake mushrooms - $2.00 (I only used 7 though and there was still 3/4 of the packet left)
Garlic, ginger & onions - $1.70 (but I only used about 1/3 of the lot)
The rest of the ingredients were on hand in the pantry or leftovers from previous meals so I am guessing that the cost would not be more than $2


So, that would be a guestimation of a cost of $6.20 for this dish. Which will divide out into about 3-4 meals for me. Which makes about $2 per meal.


Sweet.


And yes, I know that all self-respecting food bloggers must have the obligatory food porn. And no, there is none to this post. What do you expect? That I would cook, clean and then take photos at 5am on a stormy night? Yes, 5am is still night to me.


Hell no! I ate and went back to bed, replete and happy.