Homecooked Ni Tamago (Lava Egg)

It has been quite a while since I blog about homecook food. I am still cooking for the family but probably not that much as compared to the past as there are new commitments to the routine. I remembered the first time I tried and failed over a silly mistake. I was actually laughing over my own mistake for soaking the eggs in boiling water instead of boiling them.

Second time, I asked my sis again how to cook. I remembered she told me that the steps were pretty straight forward. Here are the really simple steps; simply boil the eggs in boiling water for 6 mins, remove them immediately and plunge them into a bowl of ice water for another 6 mins. The low temperature is actually to stop the egg from being cooked further by the heat and soaking in ice water helps to make peeling of the shells much easier.

It was quite a success! Shall try to attempt seasoned eggs when I get my hands on mirin.

If you need some meal ideas and if you are with me on Instagram (Xavvylicious) , I have hashtag what I have cooked in 2018 under #Serenescookbook2018 and this year's #SerenesCookbook2019  .
Hope this is useful !

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Perfect half boiled eggs

Finally, I managed to get those perfect half boiled eggs, served from my own kitchen. Exactly just like what the slightly more atas kopitiams "Toastbox" or "Ya Kun" are serving, with thanks to this kawaii egg timer from Daiso. (Note : this is not a sponsored post but this aunty-me is checking out Daiso more often these days, so I thought it would be nice to share!)

Half boiled egg (Cooked with Egg Timer)

With my own shopping kakis and of course the power of social media sharing on Facebook pages, Daiso Fanatics Sg and We Love Daiso are pages where members shared products they bought from the stores. Sometimes, I do window shopping online by reading their post and then execute my shopping trip when I am available.

I used to use a timer to time when am cooking half boiled eggs. It took about 3.5 mins for eggs in room temperature to get to the texture as shown above. Most of the time, I do get undercooked egg whites. But now, I get perfect half boiled egg whites ! Simply just bring the water to boil, turn off the stove and put in the eggs (I used eggs from the fridge)

For a start, the indicator on the egg timer will be in pink. As it sits in the pot of boiling water, the indicator will gradually change from pink to white. If you notice that the indicator is white at the area where the word "SOFT" is.

I removed the eggs when the indicator turned white at the area between SOFT and MEDIUM (second line from the bottom).

And if you would like a hard boiled egg, wait for the pink indicators to change to white.

Indicator changes completely white for hard boiled eggs.

A very simple to use and affordable gadget. Happy hunting for this egg timer as it was sold out in most of the stores until they restock. If you can get hold of the barcode number, that would be easier for the staff to look for it. Happy shopping !

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Disclaimer : This is #notasponsored post. Just sharing of another great product that I bought.

Spring Onion Omelette with Bak Kwa

When I was clearing my draft folder, trying to clear some #backlogs (some were as long as 2013 !!! ) I came upon this dish that I attempted to cook as one of the dishes. #Throwback

Recently, hands are really tight. Especially during school holidays, I get busier. I would rather go out for meals and as a result, my onions in the fridge started to grow roots ! What would you have done normally ? I don't throw into the bin but I threw into the pot so grow spring onions !! When it grew taller, just harvest it and it is really useful when in times I need spring onions as garnish or to cook an omelette in this sense.

Just nice that I bought a pack of Bak Kwa from the food fair. $15 for 500g if I did not remember wrongly. Hence, I cut into small pieces and top it on top of my omelette roll and secure it with a heart shaped pick !

Xav loves anything with Bak Kwa like me =D, no need to say much, the dish was wipe out as per norm ! How I love my supporters at home !

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Go light ! Homecooked Cold Soba

I know it will not go wrong if I were to feed Xav with his favourite food daily, it would mean that I do not need to keep nagging him "Xav, can you please eat faster ? ". Cold Soba being one of his favourite, he will always order this without fail whenever we visit Itacho Sushi. I was thinking about his lunch menu and thought of this.

Perfect for the ridiculously hot weather, when you don't feel like taking any hot stuff.

What you would just need:
Eggs
Cucumber (I bought the organic Japanese cucumber)
Seaweed

Crab meat

Soba & Soba Sauce

Method :
1. Cook the soba in boiling water, drain away and add room temperature water and ice cubes to soak the soba in. I fridge it as well. Drain it away when you are ready to serve the soba.

2. You can make your own Tamagoyaki. You would just need to beat eggs with sugar and pour it over the hot pan like how you normally cook the omelette. Dish up and allow it to cool before you start shredding it.

3. Dip the crab meat into a pot of boiling water, drained and set aside.

4. Shred the cucumber and set aside.

When you are ready to serve, just simply pour the amount of soba sauce, diluted with the same amount of water over the soba, add the above ingredients and garnish with some shredded seaweed and sesame seeds, you are ready to serve lunch ! 

I find it pretty light, healthy and refreshing with minimal oil used (when  cooking the egg).

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Homemade Lavender & Orange infused Hong Kong Egglets aka Gei Dan Zai (雞蛋仔 )

For all who are using Young Living Essential Oils like myself, here's something which you can try out.

Xav loves the egglets when we visited Hong Kong. Everyday without fail, he will request to eat them as snacks while we were on a vacation there. To an extent, I bought the egglets pan back and has been preparing for him occasionally. Refer to recipe HERE.

Feeling more adventurous, occasionally, I will "play" with the  essential oils in the kitchen. This time, I improvised the recipe by adding in cocoa powder and the essential oils and made two new flavours; lavender flavoured and choco-orange flavoured egglets.

This is one of the easiest recipe which I don't mind preparing with Xav with minimal washing, now that we no longer have a helper.

After the batter was done, I divided into two portions. In one bowl, I dripped a drop of Young Living Lavender Essential Oil into the batter while in the other bowl, I mixed in cocoa powder and  a drop of YL Orange Essential Oil.

Pour the batter over the heated, greased pan and cook over the stove as per normal.

The lavender infused ones were on the brighter ones, and cocoa orange for the darker ones.

Nope, they don't taste bitter at all. Infact, the egglets were infused with nice aroma from the eos used. Needless to say, Xav gave himself a huge serving and keep coming back for more.

Have fun experimenting with other essential oils and drop me a comment if you have cook any dishes using these 100% pure essentials.

I have cooked the following with Young Living Essential Oils :
Salt & Pepper cod fish fillet or if you want to go simple, just do a simple pan seared codfish fillet.


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Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, I am a distributor (Member no. #1470886) of Young Living Essential Oils.  Find me in the League of the Extraordinary One Droppers or email me at serene_seah@hotmail.com should you have any enquiries. I will try and answer within my ability.

Do note that I only trust and use only Young Living Essential Oils in my cooking but not other brands.

10 mins Quick-fix - Otah Omelette

How about another no brainer yet yummy dish - Otah Omelette.  You've got to try this quick-fix. I went to the Baby Fair at Expo last weekend and conveniently popped by the Food Fair to see what's nice to eat.
As per dear's request, he wanted Otah as usual. Saw this brand after spotting a few other brands and decided to get this. Love that big chunk of fish meat in the paste.

Simply beat four or five eggs, no seasoning required. Just pour 3/4 portion of the egg into the heated sauce pan. While it's half cooked, spread the paste on the egg, pour the remaining egg over and let it cook. When it's about done, just fold the omelette into half. Cook for another 1 min and serve.

Can't finish ? Go kiap (sandwich) it with roti. =) I am going to try the steam version next !

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Tomato Egg Drop Soup

One of the quickfix if you have ready stock. I had ready frozen stock using soya beans and ikan bilis.

Simply just quartered the tomatoes and cook in the pot of boiling stock, crack and drop and egg in it,  gently give a little stir. Garnish with some chopped spring onions and a little pepper and you are ready to serve !

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Omelette Pork Floss Roll

Last week was pretty bad, hubby was busy with work for that entire week. One of the evenings, I was stuck at home with a baby and a pre-schooler, can't even call for Macdonald's delivery due to a thunderstorm.

Left with no choice but to search through what in my fridge and what dish I can whipped up within a short time frame. No time for defrosting as well !

Found some eggs and pork floss and here it is ! I made omelette with pork floss roll !

I used three eggs, beat the yolks and whites  together, add some seasoning like pepper and soy sauce.

Pour the batter over the pan and cooked till slightly golden brown.

Sprinkle a layer of pork floss

Roll it up and secure with food picks

Slice them into portion and ready to serve

Having not been hands on in the kitchen for these past two years, suddenly seems to be a little forgetful ! I should have faced the end of the omelette downwards for a better presentation !

Oh well, anyway, this was very well received by Xav. You think he would be bothered which side is facing which ? He just loved the pork floss and the pandas =p


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Pig Trotters in Vinegar & Ginger << 猪脚醋>>

This is one of the most common dish - Pig trotters in Vinegar and Ginger, cooked during confinement for new mums to keep their body warm within the one month after giving birth.

It is supposed to have the following benefits (As per my confinement lady) and advisable to eat on the 12th day after delivery:

- To help in shrinking the womb
- To rid wind in the tummy
- For improving general health ( For non confinement consumption)
- Collagen from the pig's skin helps replenishes the loss of nutrients
- To help clear blood clots (Lochia)

I'm not a fan of this dish but I have to say that I love the taste which my confinement lady managed to bring out. It's not too sourish and yet it is not too sweet and has a slightly hot gingery taste.

She shared and taught me how to cook this.

Ingredients :
1. Pig trotters (1 front feet and 1 back feet)
2. Doggie Brand Sweet vinegar
3. Gula Melaka 1.5 block ( Can be replaced with dark brown sugar)
4. Sesame oil
5. Old Ginger
6. A little salt

Method :
1. Wash the trotters, blanch them to remove the cloudy residue (Like how u blanch pork ribs for boiling soup)
2. Cut the old ginger into chunks and bruise them.
3. Fry the ginger chunks to dry them and add a little sesame oil and continue frying. 
4. Fry the cleaned trotters with some ginger chunks/ slices till fragrant (This is to eliminate the smell from the trotters)

5. Using a ceramic pot, put in the ginger and trotters, pour in a bottle of vinegar and 1/3 bottle of water. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 mins and add a little salt to taste.

6. Add hard boil eggs if you want. Off the fire after 30 mins, and let the flavour infused into the trotters for at least 3 hours. As for the remaining gravy, you can still keep and reheat the next day. Add more trotters if you want to have more.

It's that simple ! Its not advisable to cook vinegar dishes in steel pots, hence ceramic pots are the best.
I have always thought that this is a difficult dish to cook but apparently, it seems pretty easy. Probably the challenging one for me is handling the trotters when cleaning. =P

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Hotplate Tofu

Over the weekends, I took out my HCP to utilise it before it becomes an white elly. Came upon the post on HCP FB page. Hence, decided to make my first attempt in making Hotplate Tofu.

I got the recipe from Cuisine Paradise. But I did not follow exactly the ingredients used. Mine was a simplified version.

Ingredients:
1 Tube of Egg Tofu
1/2 Small Carrot, cut into slices
Some frozen cooked prawns
2 Eggs, light beaten
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon of Cornflour
Some chopped Spring Onion And Chilli

Seasoning:
1/2 Teaspoon Chicken Powder
Splash of Cooking Wine

1. Cut the tofu into equal pieces and lightly coat them with cornflour. Pan fried them till golden brown and set aside.

2. Next add in 1/2 tablespoon of oil, add in minced garlic, ginger, mushroom and carrot. Lock and cook on low heat for 1 minute, open and add in sweet peas together with 1/2 teaspoon of chicken powder and splash of cooking wine, give a quick stir and cook for another 1 minute.

3. Lastly, arrange the cooked tofu in the pan, slowly drizzle beaten egg around the mixture. Cover the pan and cook for 20 - 30 seconds depending on your preference.

4. Turn off the heat, remove the pan, sprinkle with slice red chilli , chopped spring onions and serve !

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Baked potatoe with cheese stuffing

One thing I like about weekends (clearly no programme planned, no parties, no appointments, nothing) is I get down to some planning on what to cook for lunch and dinner. Last weekend, I decided to prepare a simple western lunch.

This was what I tried out, baked potatoe with cheese stuffing. Quite simple but a little time consuming when it comes to stuffing the cheese in between the slices.

All you need is potatoes, butter, grated parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese.

Method :

1. Slice the potato but not totally. When you are nearing the base, hold your knife so that the potato will look like as if you can flip the slices.

2. Sandwich a little amt of butter, alternating among the gaps. You may want to do it on every gap if you are not particular on the oiliness.

3. Stuff the mixture of grated parmesan and cheddar cheese in between the slices as shown.

4. Bake for 45-60 mins to make sure it's thoroughly cook @ 180 Deg C. The cheese will melt and flkow out. I tried my best to scoope them and stuff back into the gaps before serving. Or does anyone have a better suggestion ?

As for the greens, I bought broccoli, cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries and carrots. Thankfully, Xav is not a fussy eater and loves this plate of greens.

I threw in the broccoli and carrots in boiling water with salt and olive oil for about 2-3 mins. Mix the cherry tomatoes and dried cranberries with the boiled veg. You can perhaps drizzle some salad dressing over it. I skipped it as my sauce is used up.

I pan fried some sausages and prepared some baked beans. Marinated the pork chop slices with teriyaki sauce. I made some criss cut across the chops so that the meat can be marinated more in depth and taste more flavourful. According to dear, he said, it tasted good ! How good I wouldn't know as I did not try the pork chop.

This portion is for Xav. I cooked some pastas for him and a teriyaki chicken steak to go with and his compliment was "wow mummy, this looks like restaurant food" ! All plates were wiped out clean. Worth a try !

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Cheese Biscuits Bombs

When I first saw the pic posted on Groupon FB page. I told myself, I need to make this. It's simply irresistable especially if you are a cheese lover.

I managed to find the recipe from www.ohbiteit.com. It took me quite some time to find the can of Pilsbury grands flaky layer biscuits. Silly me thought that it was a tin of biscuits which can be found on the biscuit shelves. I searched everywhere until one fine day, I went to Jason Supermart and again, was told by the staff that they dont carry this. I almost left the store when I decided to detour to the freezer section where the cheese and butter are. And I found what I wanted ! I was delighted of course ! Finally, a stop to my long search !

Pretty simple. One can can serves 8. To note that the can is pressured sealed. Hence, please be careful when u opened it. I got a fright though with the can suddenly "popped" opened.

I bought a block of mozerella cheese block. You can buy your favourite choice of cheese. Cut it into small cubes and wrapped about 2-3 cubes per dough.

After sealing them, glazed them with olive oil,

sprinkle the oregano or Italian herbs mixed with grated parmese cheese

and baked in the oven till firm and golden brown @ about 180 - 220 deg. Be sure to eat it piping hot if you want the extra ooze of cheese flowing out ! It does not taste like biscuits but taste like fluffy bread when it's hot !

I am thinking of trying to make the dough myself from scratch for the next round ! Happy baking !

Broccoli with scallops

Two weeks ago, I attended a wedding dinner and they served this. Pretty light and tasty dish and of course with short prepping and cooking time. Here's my own version of Broccoli with scallops.

Ingredients :
1. One egg white white
2. Some scallops (soaked in water and shred them after pouring away the water)
3. Two cloves of minced garlic
4. Broccoli
5. Cornflour

Method:
1. Fry the garlic until fragrant, add in broccoli.
2. Add a little water and cover the lid for about 3-5 mins.
3. Add a little cooking wine, stir fry and dish up.
4. Fry the scallop until fragrant.
5. Add in the desired amount of water and simmer.
6. Pour in the egg white and stir lightly.
7. Add in some cornflour to thicken the gravy.
8. Pour the gravy over the broccoli.

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Floating eggs !!

This is one simple experiment you can try doing with your child while prepping for meals in the kitchen. That's floating eggs !

What you'll need:
•One or two eggs if you want to see both results together
•Water
•Salt
•Two cups tall enough for the eggs to float

Instructions:
1.Pour water into the cups until it is about half full.
2.Stir in lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons)while the other cup remains with just plain water without salt.
3.Gently lower the egg into the water and watch what happens.

Conclusions:
Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it.

When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water, whereas in the cup containing salt water, the egg actually floats and Xav was of course amazed with what he saw ! Floating eggs !

Try it out and have fun !

Simply toast !

Finally, last sunday was free from all the activities ! No weddings or party, no lessons or whatsoever you can find in my calender for the past two months. Practically all weekends are filled with events !

Seriously sick of having Macdonalds every weekend. Made up my mind to cook a fast breakfast.

It's simply just a toast sandwich spread with strawberry Jam, sandwiched with omelette with cheese and tomato slice.

Simple and tasty ! Both Dear and Xav loves the toast and requested for more.

Note * When frying the omelette, add a slice of cheese and when it starts melting sandwich the omelette together and sanwich with the lightly toasted bread spreaded with jam and add in tomatoe slice for a crunch !

HK style egglets ! (Ji Dan Zai)

From our recent trip, "Ji Dan Zai" aka Egglets was one of Xav's new love !

Practically, he was enjoying himself to the fullest from tasting most of the snacks we bought as we shoped along Fa Yuen St.

Well, he was like eating it everyday during our 7 days stay in HK ! I went to Shanghai St

as a result with the help of Emily, and lugged back 3 pans meant for making egglets back to Singapore !

And here we are having our first sizzle for the morning. Light and yummy Ji dan Zai !

Recipe as follows :

140 grams plain flour

7.5 grams baking powder

1 tablespoon custard powder

28 grams topica starch

2 eggs

140 grams white sugar

28 grams evaporated milk

140 ml still water

28 grams vegetable oil, for making the egg batter

small quantity of vegetable oil, for greasing the mould

2 drops vanilla essence

Method :

Firstly mix and sieve the plain flour + baking powder + custard powder + topica starch. Set aside.

Beat the eggs and mix in the white sugar. Add in gradually the evaporated milk and still water. Mix thoroughly.

Add the sieved flour mixture (1.) into the egg mixture (2). Stir thoroughly until a smooth batter is form. It is important that it forms no lumps.

Add in the vanilla essence and mix well.

Finally add in the vegetable oil.

Cover the batter with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Take the egg batter out from the fridge half an hour prior to using; allowing it to return to room temperature.

Warm up each side of the mould, and brush a thin layer of oil on each side.

Pour the egg battle into a large measuring cup for ease in pouring so onto the mould.

Pour the egg battle onto the mould filling upto 80% full. Close the mould and hold the handle firm to keep the two sides closing tight. Then flip and turn the closed mould in order to have the egg batter filled evenly inside the mould. Flip to the opposite side of the mould and place it on top of the stove. Use medium heat to cook each side for 1 to 2 minutes until the egg waffle is cooked and can thus be easily removed from the mould.

Use a fork to remove the egg waffle from the mould and place it on a cake cooling rack to cool.

Repeat steps 8 to 11 until all egg batter is finished.

Recipe is from HERE.

Fried rice in egg bowl

A very last min decision to cook this. I cooked the rice in the noon as I didn't want Xav to eat the overnight rice. Threw in some chopped green pepper and sweet corn and added some Chinese sausages.

Infact I wanted wrap up the rice with the egg like how wokking mum did it. But I think my egg is not big enough. Hence, I lined the bowl with the egg to form an egg bowl and scooped the ready fried rice in.

And I got the "wow" from Xav again ! Heee heee...


And made some spinach drop egg soup to go with. Fast and easy !


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Fried Egg with Fish Paste

Decided to try this for Xav's lunch. It is supposed to taste like "Chai Tao Kway" but I think I put in too little fish paste. It ended up like a normal omelette but still taste nice.

Ingredients:
1. Fish Paste (Fan Shu Yu)
2. Egg
3. Oregano mix (Optional)

Method:
1. Beat an egg.
2. Add in the fish paste and mash with a fork so as to mix together with the egg.
3. Mash the fish paste according to how thick you want the fish paste to be.
4.Add in some Oregano Mix if you like to

To note that fish paste already have added salt in it, so do not add any more salt or seasoning to the egg or fish paste.