Confinement Food Recipe Sharing - Part 1

Dear Friends,

I think the Best/Special Part of Confinement is the special confinement food we take during the confinement period. Honestly I would love to learn some of those yummy black pepper recipes taken by most Malays during their confinement....my DH would sure love these food..cooked with black pepper ..haha..

I would like to share some simple recipes I had here with my friends....there'll be Part 2,3..etc..shall I get to learn/know more other lovely recipes!

Ginger Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice

Sliced Ginger

1-2 eggs
sesame oil
salt
soya sauce(optional)
Vegetables
(whichever as allowed in your confinement practice, for me it can be french beans, long beans, spinach or even asparagus - diced)

Steps:
First fry the sliced ginger. Once turned golden, break two eggs and lightly scramble it on the pan/wok. Next add in the vegetables and lightly stir-fry. Add in the seasonings, salt and light soya sauce(optional). Lastly add the cooked rice and add generous drops of *sesame oil and fry lightly before served and eat it while warm.

Note:
* sesame oil can also be added in as oil to fry the ginger. But this type of frying only suits post-natal lady and not anyone else in the family as it is TOO HEATY for normal diet..haha...
This is my favourite dish made by my mil during my first confinement.

Stay tuned for more...recipes..and pls. do share yours too...

Cheers!

Rock up with Rock sugar egg noodle

Tah dah…my rock sugar noodle for my birthday…to ROCK me up. If you read my post about what special dish you normally eat during your birthday here, I was being introduced to this special Teochew dish by a non-Teochew friend, JS, who having the same birthday as me(minus the year..he’s more senior..hehe…).

 

And for the noodle, I specially added some kelps following the Korean style…I remembered one Korean drama they mentioned about taking kelps soup on their birthday…so I added plenty into mine for that extra iron and calcium.

 

Actually I made this on my “sickish” day..was down with fever(yea..on my birthday if you read my post here) and trying to make some soup and brunch then suddenly remembered this dish to try out…

 

And how was it? The verdict is….it TASTE yummy..and Jo(if you are reading this…) the sugary egg taste ok…BUT I must admit I prefer my egg salty for soupy noodle..haha…but at the end I don’t have the strength and patience to wait till the sugary water turn dry(if you see how to cook here), I just scoop the egg up when it is ready cooked..but at the end I drank the sugar water…it taste just like “tong sui” or those sweet desserts/soup we take.

 

So..are you Teochew and do you need some food to ROCK you up?

 

Try this dish if you dare..haha..

 

Cheers!

What special stuff you ate or always eat or plan to eat on your birthday?

Recently a friend of mine (who has the same birthday as I am and coincidently his dotter’s birthdate..yes birthdate here means even the year is the same as my dotter..how small can this world of coincidence be haha..try getting a table full of-means 10 pax the same birthdate all being your friends..wow…ONG- “lucky” man…)

Anyway just like to share this recipe he shared with me…Rock Sugar Noodles which is a traditional Teochew dish that is served for VIPs only. So taking this on your birthday (being a Teochew descendant I am) supposed to give me some ONG so to speak…haha…well at least this is what I would like to think it ..ha..ha…

So core ingredients would be:

• Egg
  
• Noodle
  
• Rock sugar
  
• Water 

That’s all.

Steps:

Put some rock suger in water and boil it until it is boiled and melted. Then, u put in the egg (of coz without the shell). Be careful not to break the yolk. We need to turn our fire to minimum now and then slow cook.

Note: Noodle is to be cooked separately or we can just add just egg as dessert, but for birthday normally these two items are eaten together.

So after put in the egg, stir really slowly on one way (either clock wise or anti-clockwise). This is to prevent the egg from sticking to the bottom of the pan/pot and at the same time to keep the egg in nice, round shape. Then, stir a while as we can see the egg white cooked a bit, and then we can let it stay a while (for 3 to 5 minutes) until the egg yolk is cooked.

Then we can have a bowl of rock sugar egg noodle and it will rock us up! Yeah…ONG..ONG…haha..

 

Cheers to all! Wait till after I experiment with this recipe and update the outcome of it..haha….

Menu Planning Thought for the week

This week I bought some bitter gourd (because I have been a fan of it but hardly cook it at all for the past 3 years being a wife..hmm..why..well…unsure..but I have been eating it everywhere..bitter gourd noodle soup, bitter gourd dish in mixed rice…you name it!)

Is there any bitter gourd fans out there? How do you like your bitter gourd to be cooked?

I thought of frying it with egg, adding in noodle soup or even cooked it with salted beans or make it into soup.

Any other ways to cook up a yummy bitter gourd? Hmm…

Recently I stumble upon a nice site from Jamie Oliver and over at the site it has a steamed aubergine (some of us known it as “eggplant” or “terung” in Bahasa Malaysia). Looks yummy to me…perhaps I would try it..let me get some chilli and herbs as garnishing and flavouring first :)

I think cooking is an art really…and is a hobby to many…talking about this….I am tempted to try making my own pizza dough this weekend…crossed my finger and may I succeed on baking my first pizza for my DH birthday!

 

Cheers!

 

The coming of 30s…

Well..not yet …at least not this year…but coming June I will be seeing my last age starting with “2”(opps..am I revealing my age here? Well..it’s not a secret to me..at least not now..maybe when I hit the no. 3)

 

Last weekend when I was planning to celeb for my sil and hubby(both falls on May), I can’t help but contemplating about my life (it’s been my habit ever since in my teens to do such yearly assessment and reflection before my birthday each year), what have I done(rather than accomplished..too big a word for me.. :P )..and what would I hope to do (accomplish yes this time this word..does sounds suitable)….in 10 years time(during my thirties that is)

 

What have many people (around me) in their thirties?

1. My two bosses set up their company
2. My Microeconomics lecturer taking his final paper in ACCA
3. My many friends being married and soon being pregnant becoming a mom (yep I am one of the few(I think) amongst my gang to got married and becoming mom before hitting 30’s
4. So…what does Molly planning and wanting to achieve in her thirties? Still in thoughts…but will certainly put in down in black & white as concrete as it is..as I believe if we don’t plan our life…time can flies without clear objective..it might just flies with no concrete/meaningful adventures…and THAT is certainly not what I hoped for!

 

By the way, one friend of mine  (who’s having the same birthdate as I do, even though older than me few years) have suggested I take a day off for ME time..well much that I would love such idea…BUT..hmm.. as working parents we might need to take EL or AL sometimes..so leave application is such an important decision…how about for birthday..erm..not yet a valid reason for me…but we’ll see…haha..

 

And the friend shared with me a recipe that I should take on my birthday..Rock Sugar Egg(a traditional Teochew dish eaten during birthday which supposed to means that you are a VIP).supposingly can give me some pick-me-up…so stay tuned for my updates on this…at least this is one item that I will be doing on my birthday…something to give me some ONG(good luck)!

 

Cheers to All…do you all have anything to share about your birthdayssss? I am all EARS!

 

Making good use extra or leftover apples…

Sometimes or Often when I forgot to search the fridge for fruits to cut and serve, I will end up with many leftover fruits to clear before expired or rotten.

 

One weekend, I remembered the desserts my ex-colleague (Bee) used to make for us (in my old office we have the tradition of taking turns to prepare desserts for our department).

 

This simple yet yummy desserts is what we call it Apple desserts or apple “tang sui”-literally translated as “sweet-water”.

 

Although it is sweet but we can make it without any sugar. Just add more sweet honey dates(mi zao) for extra sweetness.

 

Ingredients:

 

Apples – 3-4 pcs, cored and cubed

Honey Dates – 4-5pcs rinsed

Rock sugar – (optional) 2-3pcs

Chinese almond – (optional) 2tsp

Water – 2.5 litres

 

This is good for 2-3 pax.( The quantity can be adjusted according to the amount you made)

 

Cook and simmer over low fire for about 1 ½ hours – 2 hours.

 

If you more apples to clear..you can make extra and store it in the fridge(just the water alone) and it’ll be turned into nice n cooling apple juice :) good for older kids too…natural juices haha…

 

Enjoy experimenting…

 

Cheers!

Secret Recipes for Better Milk Supply and Rosy Glowing Looks

Well, maybe the title is slightly exaggerated, BUT, this is a recipe or special concoction shared by one of my friend who seems to be blessed with blushed rosy cheeks (minus the make-up..yep…natural rosy glow)

And her secret is…diligent daily dose of the following ever since her pregnancy, 9 month breastfeeding and till now (I think)

Tong Sum Codonopsis Pilosulae (dang shen) 黨參 – 2 long stalks

Red dates – 20 seeded/pitted= seedless (add more for sweetness and if only you are not heaty)

Black dates – 5-6 (optional)

Black Beans – two big tbsp pre-socked (3-6hrs), discard the soaking water before cooking

Gei ji  (枸子)/Chinese wolberries – 1 tbsp

Water – 1.5-2 litres

Put in slow cooker for 4-6hrs (low). Drink it hot/warm.

Note: For confinement period, they would add ginger to this concoction. ;) 

Enjoy.........lovely pinky lady and lovely drink to boost up our milk supply!

Cheers!