Mei Lai Fun Tomato sauce with healthy green salad

Wow, I have lots of leftover from a party that day, the vermicelli (mei fun), the lai fun (thick rice noodle), the carrot radish pickle, the lettuce and some Feta cheese, homemade tomato sauce and homegrown carrots from the backyard. So good and easy....

Recipe soon.

Lai Fun Pesto

Very chinese, using Lai Fun as spaghetti or fettucini or angel hair for Pesto entree. Gosh this is good.... Gregg loves it so much. Light, fresh and healthy. I got the Lai Fun leftover from a party, actual lai fun use in Chinese cuisine is for Asam Laksa or noodle soup. Well, my brain was electrified by the pesto, so I came out with this fast preparing dish, less than 15 minutes. Hey, Rachel Ray, step aside! So you know, you can use any kind of noodles for your pesto and tomato sauce.

"Anda Boleh"

Healthy July 4th leftovers

This is one of the leftover makeovers I made after July 4th. Corn, vietnamese meat patti, hard boil egg, lots of mint and bean sprout, good chicken broth, home grown tomatoes and instant noodle. Easy, fast and healthy for you.

Recipe soon.

Shrimps Vermicelli on bed of lettuce

Again, I brought back some leftover from work. This time is the shrimps, used for the lettuce wrap. I know you all will wonder, what were you thinking when looking at the leftover food and other ingredients. Well, telling you the truth, the Flavors. Imagine the shrimps, with some marinade such as lime juice, cashew nuts, green onions, salt and pepper, fish sauce, and cold vermicelli. In my head, I think of it, light and healthy and tasty as well. See, seafood is always a light protein and taste good no matter how you cooked it. So when you have some shrimps at home, chopped it, add salt and pepper, some fish sauce, lime juice or lemon, a little sugar, then you will have a great meal for a day.

Recipe soon.

Steak Ramen Noodle

This is really less than 20 min meal. Thats why I have a big box of Top Ramen at home, ready for anytime. Gregg left me a message at 1145am, saying that I will come home at noon and we can eat out. I was running in the park then. So I got home around 1155am. I listened to the message and then I called back. He said he was at the post office which is few blocks away. So I quickly boil the water, put in 2 packs of top ramen. While the ramen being soften, I picked some pea pods in our garden, cut the leftover steak in small pieces, chopped some onions and picked some cilantro. Then......

Ingredients:-

2 packs Top Ramen

Leftover steak

Pea Pods

Cilantro

Onions

Salt and Pepper

1 teaspoon Sweet Soy sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

Method:-

1. Soften the top ramen in hot boiling water, just for few seconds. Drained.

2. Heat the non-stick pan on high, put in cooking oil, throw in onions, steaks and pea pods. Stir fried for few seconds, add salt and pepper.

3. Put in the noodle in the pan, add the sweet soy sauce and fish sauce, mixed well with other ingredients.

4. Served.

"Anda Boleh"

Spring Herbs Noodle Soup

Me and my partner want to eat healthy these days. We want to have lean healthy body for the summer vacation. Today I made Spring Vege Noodle soup, very simple and easy. I used the chicken stock I have in the freezer. Try it out and you will love it. Oh, you can prepare this soup and put into small containers and freeze it for future consumption.

Ingredients:-

Chicken Stock or any kind of stocks

Baby carrots

Tomatoes

Bow Ties pasta

Salt and Pepper to taste

Garnishing:-

Cilantro

Sliced Fresh onions

Dill

Chives

Mint

Vietnamese coriander

Sugar Peas

Methods:-

1. Boil the chicken stock in a pot, together with carrots and bow ties pasta, approximately 15 min, on medium high heat. Remember to add some water if it is reducing.

2. Add in tomatoes and cook for few minutes, until you can see the tomatoes get soft.

3. Add the garnishing and cook for a min or two. Then salt and pepper to taste.

"Anda Boleh"

Chicken Top Ramen soup

Quick easy meal, thats why every household must have instant noodle at home. For Malaysian Chinese, you can see them having noodle soup for breakfast every day, with some wontons, chickens, beef, pork and seafood. It is a very healthy meal, compare to having pancakes with lots of grandma syrup (lots of calories). Start eating healthy, my friend.

Ingredients:-

1 packet Instant noodle ( I used Top Ramen)

1 handful Bean Sprouts

1 handful chinese greens

1 chicken breast (seared with all purpose seasoning)

Method:-

1. To sear the chicken, first you have to pat dry and seasoned it with all-purpose seasoning you can find in your pantry. Enough cooking oil, say about 2 Tablespoon on a non-stick pan, easier, at medium heat. The time, I would say, 5 min each side, to be safe. I always say, overcooked better than undercooked.

2. For cooking the noodle, just follow the instruction on the packet. However, I add some ground black pepper. Love it.

"Anda Boleh"

Chicken Hor Fun Soup

My bf, Gregg, called me at the last minute lunch, and I said, just come home and you are going to have a healthy light quick meal. So I quickly pull out the pork stock from the freezer, add some capers in it to give it saltiness olivey flavour. Then take a bunch of hor fun (flat small size rice noodle) from the pantry, a piece of grilled chicken made few days ago sat in the fridge, some sugar peas from the fridge, some sliced onions and fresh cut cilantro from our garden, making into this fabulous satisfying quick lunch, less than 20 min.

Ingredients:-

1 piece of grilled chicken breast (or just plain chicken breast) cut into cubes or chunks
2 Tablespoon Capers
1 bunch Hor Fun (Flat small size rice noodle)
2 handful Sugar Peas
1 handful of sliced onions
some fresh chopped cilantro (optional fresh mint, basil or vietnamese coriander)
3-4 cups of pork stock (can use any other stocks)
Salt to taste
2 teaspoon Rice Vinegar

Method:-

1. Heat up the stock in a pot, add in the capers together. Boil for 2 min.
2. Throw in the hor fun, cook as instructed. (would say, 2 min)
3. Add in grilled chicken and sugar peas together.
4. Add salt and rice vinegar to taste.
5. Lastly, garnish with fresh cilantro and sliced onions. Good with Sri Racha chili sauce. Make into 2 bowls of Chicken Hor Fun Soup.


"Anda Boleh"

Pancit Noodle

Malaysian loves having instant noodles such as Maggi and Cintan, and every household has few packs at home for a fast satisfying quick meal. I went to Seafood City supermarket the other day and got some instant noodle, Pancit brand. I dont know how it taste like and tried making it for quick lunch, my style. The picture shows it all, very similar to Maggi and Cintan instant noodles in texture wise. However, the seasoning is abit bland for me. Therefore, I made the thick dark soy sauce noodle with beansprouts, brocolli and fried egg. The seasoning is just a teaspoon of each: thick dark soy sauce or they called sweet soy sauce (just like molasses), fish sauce, oyster sauce and pure sesame oil. Add in little garlic salt to taste (optional).

Method:-

1. Boil a pot of water, hot. Cook the instant noodle first for 2 min.

2. Add in the vegetables (your choice) into the pot, cook for a min. To maintain the crunchiness of the beansprout and brocolli. (Asian loves crunchy vegetables).

3. Once cooked, drain it.  Put it back into a big bowl or platter or use back the pot for mixing all the seasoning together. Add in some shallots and garlic oil if you have some.

4. Fried an egg and garnish with cilantro or cut green onions or red pepper.

"Selamat Mencuba"

Shrimp Soup

Again, one of the simplest, most satisfying meals to make is soup. Don't shy away from making soups, anyone can make them. This is a very asian soup, filled with succulent shrimp and the common mainstay, noodles.

Recipe:

Soon to come

Leftover Thai food makeover

Gregg brought some leftover Thai food from a restaurant the other day. Its mostly a bite portion and little leftover. So I determined to make over these little portion into a meal for 2-3. I will post the recipe later. Enjoy the pics.

Gregg Mee Goreng

I yerned for a Mee Goreng this afternoon and I had a pack of yellow noodle in the fridge. The weather was great in the backyard, cool air and lots of sun. Perfect place for a Mee Goreng and a glass of chilled apple juice. I named it Gregg Mee Goreng, because Gregg loves it and good for lunch. Light, tasty, lots of vegetables, right portion of carb and protein. Very Malaysian feeling.

Ingredients:-

Fresh Yellow noodle (1 pack) from Asian market

8 Asparagus - the tender top

2 Carrots - juliened

8 Shrimps with tail

2 medium sized Tomatoes - cut into 4 each

1 small Zuchini - juliened

2 Shallots - sliced

2 cloves Garlic - chopped or crushed

2 tablespoon each chopped Fresh parsley and Basil

1 tablespoon chopped Chilli or Jalapeno (optional)

Sauce:-

1 tablespoon Oyster sauce

2 tablespoon Soy sauce

1 teaspoon Hot Sauce (can use Sri Racha)

Little sugar to taste

Recipe:-

1. Blanch the noodle in a hot water, just like rinsing and then drain, rince over cold water and then put aside.

2. Add vege oil (peanut oil is the best) in a medium heat pan, caramelised the sliced shallots.

3. Add chopped garlic, carrots and zuchini, cook for 1 min.

4. Add Shrimps, tomatoes and Asparagus and cook for another 1 min until the shrimps turn red and curled. Remember to stir. (can add chilli/jalapeno here optional)

5. This time, add the noodle, chopped herbs together with soy sauce, oyster sauce, hot sauce, stir stir for only 1 min.

6. Lastly, try it out to your taste, should be a little salty, sweet and little spicy. Can add little more sugar (1/2 teaspoon) for a sweeter taste.

7. Garnish with Basil. Serve hot and good for 4 person.

Note:-

Remember, you have hot sauce in the noodle, and if you want more spicy, you can add the chilli or jalapeno.

Blanching the fresh yellow noodle is to cook it al dante and to get rid of the extra starch. You can use the dry noodle, and cook it just like pasta. Also always drain and run thru a cold water to wash off starch.