Guinness Stout Spare Ribs....

Yesterday I tried my hands on this dish which uses the famous Irish beer for cooking my spareribs. It turns out well and tasted just as good as those eaten outside and if not the best. Maybe next time I will give it some variations like adding jams or maltose instead of honey to add to the flavor of the bitter sweet stout. Here is how I cook it......

1. Wash 600gm of spare ribs and drained. Dap dry with kitchen towel.

2. Marinate the ribs with 1 tsp ginger juice, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp light soya sauce, 3 tbsp Guinness Stout, 1 tbsp plain flour and 1 tbsp cornflour. Keep aside in fridge to season for 2 to 3 hours covered.

3. Deep fry the marinated ribs in hot oil for about 2 minutes. Remove and drain.

4. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a clean wok. Pour in sauce mixture A which consist of 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp freshly squeeze lemon juice, and 9 tbsp Guinness Stout. Bring it to boil.

5. Return ribs to wok and mix well. Pour in 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for about 40 minutes til the ribs are tender and make sure the gravy is not too dry. Lastly thicken the sauce with cornflour mixture by mixing 2 tsp of cornflour with 1 tbsp water. Dish up and it is ready to be eaten with hot rice.

Spicy Nestum Butter Prawns....

Actually I already had a recipe of this savory dish in my blog here. My boys love to eat anything cook with butter and what more if it is fried and fragrant. As it is not a very healthy dish for those with high cholesterol I would try to lessen the amount of butter and omit the egg yolk in this variation. This time I peel the prawn shells before cooking to make it easy to pop into the mouth without dirtying the fingers and also convenient for little children to eat. Omit the chillis or split it into halves and take out the seed like I do for small children. Here is a healthier recipe to share......

Ingredients:

600 g medium prawns- peeled and leave the tail part on.

2 sprig curry leaves-take out the stems

5 chilli padis - chopped

5 cloves garlic- chopped

2 tbsp of evaporated milk

1 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp of salt

Marinade: for Prawns

1 egg- slightly beaten

1/2 tsp salt

a dash of pepper

1 tsp cornflour

Method:

Marinade the prawns with egg, salt, pepper and cornflour. Keep aside in fridge for about 30 minutes. Deep fried the prawns in hot oil til just cook or change color. Drain and keep aside.

Then in a clean wok or pan, heat olive oil and butter under medium heat as butter will get easily burnt on high heat. When butter melts, add in the garlic, chopped chillis, curry leaves to fry for a minute or two til fragrant. Next, add in the fried prawns and mix well for another minute. Add milk to it while stirring.

Before dishing out, add in the Nestum ( made sure it is original and not the packet mix which is too sweet for this dish) and stirfry for a minute sprinkling some salt for flavor. For those who love Nestum you can add more to bind with the buttery prawns to make a drier crispy texture.

Kam Heong Chicken.....

Oh dear, its quite sometime since I have posted any of my cooking here. Guess I am pretty busy, not with work but just buzzing around with my lappy, addicted to Farmville games recently which I have to admit. And there were times I had to exercise a lot to get myself ready for my vacation, then had to rest putting up my feet for nearly a week after both my ankles were swollen from too much walking. I had food poisoning which renders me disable for another week which happens few days before my trip to Hong Kong. 'Phew'...what a lucky me to be able to walk the streets of HK after 5 days on plain porridge. Ok, now comes the Kam Heong Chicken which I cook 2 days ago......

Ingredients:

3 chicken thighs deboned

100 ml water

Ingredients for Kam Heong sauce:

2 tbsp dried prawns- soak and chopped

2 tbsp chopped garlic

3 shallots peeled and chopped

2 sprig curry leaves

6 chilli padi,chopped

3 tbsp oil

Seasoning: Mix well in a bowl..

1 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dark soya sauce

2 tbsp water

Marinade:

1 tsp light soya sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp cornflour

a dash of sesame oil

Method:

Mix chicken with marinade and leave aside in fridge for 30 minutes. Deep fry in hot oil til golden brown. Dish and drain.

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok, saute dried prawns, chopped garlic, and chopped shallot til fragrant. Add in curry leaves,chilli padi, seasoning and stir fry til aromatic. Add in chicken thighs, water and stir well. Cook til gravy is thick and dish up. I have another Kam Heong recipe for seafood here.

Tsim Sha Tsui, Dim Sum, & Symphony of Lights...

Last week I went to Hong Kong with my family of sisters, nieces and of course our mum in her eighties. Don't under estimate her vigour and energetic feet because of her age. I am still the weakest among all our ladies clan with the most complain and disabilities. Yet I manage to follow everyone of them til the end of the trip despite my painful and swollen ankles. We did our own tour with the help of our dear niece, Lena. It was such a good family outing in a far away land.