Seafood Tang Hoon

Serve 3


Ingredients
180 gm Sweet Potato Noodles or Tang Hoon, boiled until just softened and then drained.
1 chicken leg
1 flower crab
6 pcs of large prawns, separate head and body
3 pcs of wong bok leaves, cut to 5mm slices
50gm ginger, slice
4 cloves garlic, mince
2 stalks of spring onions
2 stalks of chinese parsley
Some sesame oil for drizzling

Seasoning:
4 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp chinese wine
2 tbsp oyster sauce
Half tsp salt
Pepper to taste



Method

1. Using small fire and 4 tbsp of oil, fry the drumstick on both sides.
2. Add prawn heads and cover lid while leaving a small gap. It will splatter as the prawn head has liquid in it.
3. When prawn heads are browned and fragrant, add garlic and ginger.
4. Fry garlic until fragrant
5. Add 2 litres of hot water
6. Simmer for 1.5 hours. There should be half amount or 1 litre of broth left.
7. Taste the broth and add additional seasoning if you prefer.
8. Add wong bok and tang hoon.
9. Add the flower crab and prawns on top of the tang hoon.
10. Simmer for 5 mins.
11. Drizzle with some sesame oil.
12. Garnish with spring onions and chinese parsley.
13. Serve immediately.

Note

• I am using a 2.9 litres Tanyu claypot.
• The broth should taste saltier to compliment the bland noodle.
• I am using this brand of Tang Hoon, which is also called Sweet Potato Noodle.

Video tutorial

Other attempt

This is a versatile recipe where any ingredients of your choice can be used.
I like to store my prawn shells in the freezer to make soup stocks like this one. The prawn shells are fried and simmer together with chicken bones. Discard the prawn shells and chicken bones before adding vegetables and noodle.

Salted Duck Soup with Celery

Ingredients
Half duck, chopped
4 stalks of celery, slice skin off and slice diagonally about 1cm thick

3 tomato, chopped quarters

1 Sze Chuan vegetable, sliced, soaked for 30 mins and change its water every 10 mins

1 medium size red onion, chopped quarters
1 whole garlic, leave skin on
1 tbsp whole white peppers, crushed
Chinese parsley, sliced



Method

1. Remove fats and skin from the duck meat
2. Blanch the duck meat with hot boiling water
3. Bring water to boil before adding duck meat into claypot
4. Add all the ingredients except celery
5. Simmer for 2 hours
6. Add celery and simmer until desired texture
7. Garnish with chinese parsley
8. Serve with some garlic chilli sauce as dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Notes

• I am using a 2.9 litre Tanyu claypot.
• You can buy half a duck that was already chopped up in Fairprice supermarket.

Claypot Chicken Rice

Serve 4 - 5

Ingredients
2 boneless chicken legs, remove skin and slice 1cm thickness
2 dried mushrooms, wash, soak and slice thinly
1 Chinese sausage, remove skin, slice thinly
5 stalks of xiao bai cai, separate stems and leaves
2.5 cups rice, wash and drain

Blend these ingredients and marinate chicken for 30 mins
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soya sauce
6 cloves garlic, remove skin
1 inch length ginger, slice
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chinese wine
2 tbsp corn flour
Pepper to taste


Method

1. Rinse rice and put them in clay pot
2. Add water
3. Add mushrooms
4. Using medium fire, bring to boil
5. When water level decreased and rice surfaced, switch to small fire
6. Add chicken meat & chinese sausages
7. Cover and simmer for 10 mins
8. Add stems of vegetable, followed by leaves
9. Cover and simmer for 2min
10. Drizzle sesame oil over vegetable
11. Push the vegetable aside, drizzle caramel sauce over rice
12. Serve immediately in claypot

Note

• Please use lesser water for cooking of rice because chicken meat seeps out liquid during cooking and will cause your rice to be damp.
• Serve immediately in claypot as prolong heat in the claypot will toughen the chicken meat

Watch video

Simple Homecooked Pen Cai 盆菜

Ingredients
1 napa cabbage, cut into pieces and separating the stem and leafy parts
4 dried mushrooms, rinsed and soaked
4 dried scallops, rinsed and soaked
8 pcs of fresh scallops, sliced into halves
8 pcs of prawns
2 roasted chicken drumsticks, bones removed
1 pkt golden mushrooms
1 small carrot, cut into flower shape and slice into 5 mm thickness
3 cups chicken stock
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk spring onion, chopped

Seasoning:
6 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp chinese wine
Dashes of pepper


Method

1. Fry garlic till fragrant.
2. Add chicken stock and seasoning.
3. Stir well.
4. Add the stems of napa cabbage, followed by leafy parts.
5. Laid the carrots on top of napa cabbage.
6. Bring to boil.
7. Switch to small fire, cover and simmer for 15-20 mins till napa cabbage had softened abit.
8. Set aside some carrots for arrangement.
9. Arrange the rest of carrots, mushroom and dried scallops around the claypot.
10. Using a flat plate slightly smaller than the diameter of your clay pot, arrange the rest of ingredients on it. Arrange some carrots around the ingredients.
11. Use your hand to push the ingredients so that they slide into the clay pot with the arrangement still intact.
12. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 mins till ingredients are full cooked.
13. Add spring onions.
14. Serve in claypot.

Notes

• I am using a 2.9 litres Tanyu claypot.
• The chicken stock seems little to begin with but after simmering, the water content in napa cabbage will seeped out. You can add more stock after napa cabbage had softened (if you prefer).
• Use small fire and cover with lid while simmering the wong bok. This is to create a "steaming" effect with the small amount of stock in the claypot.

Watch video



Other attempts

In other attempts, roast pork was added at the sides and simmered together with the cabbage. The roast pork became tender and the broth is super yummy!

You can thicken the broth with corn starch by adding them after everything's been cooked. Just transfer some broth into another pot, add corn starch water until desired thickness before pouring them back into the pen cai claypot. Do not boil the broth after adding corn starch because it may burnt at the bottom of the pot.

A BonAppetour Experience with Pen Cai 盆菜 

Have you ever wish you could dine at some local's place when you travel?

I always wished I could visit their house and tastes their home cooked food. When I was approached with this concept, I thought it was awesome, except for one thing - I am the host instead of the guest! I felt quite apprehensive about opening up my home to complete strangers who will pay me for their meal. Erm, did I just said I wished I could eat at some strangers' house?

I was cracking my head. There are wide varieties of cuisines available in Singapore. What type of food is not easily available to foreigners or tourists?

So, I decided to make a Pen Cai (盆菜). We usually eat this dish during Chinese New Year and strangely, this one-pot wonder is so easy to make but I don't remember having it on a regular day. You can use many of your favourite ingredients to flavour the dish. I asked my guests for their choice and they chose chicken as the meat ingredient. In this Pen Cai, there's prawns, fresh scallops, roast chicken cooked in broth flavoured by nappa cabbage, dried mushrooms & dried scallops.

At around 6.30pm, the guests arrived at my place. They were from Beijing, Italy and Singapore. My hubby helped showed them to their seats while I served the pen cai and some seafood tofu puffs as side dish. I prepared some sambal belacan as dipping sauce but the Italian could not take spicy stuffs.

We had a good chat about their stay in Singapore. It was eating, talking and laughing throughout the dinner. I totally enjoyed hosting this dinner experience with BonAppetour. I am going to Penang early next year and I heard Penang already have three hosts! I look forward to be a guest dining at their place!

If you are booking a meal with BonAppetour, you can enjoy a 20% discount using this promo code : BA-Cassandra (Valid till 31/01/2014).

Claypot Chicken with Salted Fish and Tofu

Thanks to Cherine Wong for introducing this dish to me!

Ingredients

1 boneless chicken leg, remove skin, cut into bite size and marinate with:
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- 1 tbsp chinese wine
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- Salt and pepper to taste

5cm by 5cm dried salted fish, rinse, pat dry and cut into tiny bits
1 box of pressed tofu (for frying), cut into chunks
1 pack of snow peas, peel away strings
3 dried mushrooms, soak, slice and retain its water
Half a carrot, slice thinly
2 stalks of spring onions, cut into inches, separates white parts and green parts
3 cloves garlic, mince
4 slices of ginger


Method


Preparing the fried tofu

1. Coat tofu with cornflour
2. Fry till golden brown
3. Drain on paper towel
4. Set aside

Cooking the chicken

1. Using small fire, fry salted fish till crispy and fragrant
2. Set aside one-third portion of fried salted fish
3. Add more oil
4. Fry ginger and garlic till fragrant
5. Using medium fire, sear chicken cubes till browned
6. Add mushrooms and its water
7. Top up with more water to simmer the chicken
8. Cover and simmer for 10 mins
9. Add carrots and snow peas
10. Cover and simmer for 2 mins
11. Add the white parts of spring onions and stir well
12. Add tofu and the green parts of spring onions
13. Add the rest of fried salted fish
14. Serve in claypot

Watch video

Braised Duck Wings with Eggs and Mushrooms

Ingredients
8 duck wings
8 hard boiled eggs
4 dried mushrooms, rinse
1 whole garlic, leave skin on
6 slices of blue ginger
1 star anise
1/2 cup soya sauce
1/2 cup caramel sauce
20gm rock sugar


Method

1. Add all ingredients and seasoning in claypot
2. Add about 4-5 cups of water
3. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours
4. Open the cover, reduce the sauce using medium heat
5. Add chinese parsley
6. Serve with rice

Note
I'm using a 2.9 liters Tanyu claypot



Watch video here



Other attempt

Added chinese wine, sesame oil and rice vinegar to this stew.

I blanched some rice noodles, add the braised duck sauce and shallots. Not forgetting some sambal belacan. I highly recommends Taho samba belacan for this dish.