Brocolli with Egg Tofu

Heat Wok on medium heat and add 1/3 cup water. 
Add 1 heads broccoli florets and a pinch of salt. Stirring constantly, let cook until water is almost evaporated and cover on low heat. Remove cover after approximately 1 minute or until broccoli is cooked.
Remove broccoli from Wok and arrange on the sides of a large serving dish. Clean the Wok to remove any broccoli traces.
Heat Wok on medium heat. 2 Tbsp of cooking oil. Gently add in egg tofu slices and pan-fry for about 1 minute or until golden brown on both sides. Remove from Wok and gently place on the same platter as the broccoli, stacking them in the middle of the serving plate.

Clean the Wok again and add the rest of the cooking oil. Turn heat to low and sauté the garlic, ginger and tomatoes. Once aromatic, Stir and add shimeji mushrooms. Add some water, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, wine. Turn heat up again and cook until mushrooms are soft. Pour the shimeji mushrooms sauce on top of tofu slices.

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Braised Pork Belly

Blend 1 whole garlic. Fry with 3 tbs sugar till brown. Fry 2 slabs of 3-layer pork till caramelised. Add dss, lss and water. Cover and cook on slow fire for a couple of hours.

Karen (Frankfurt)'s recipe

Khang Ju (Minced porkball soup)

1. Beat two eggs and fry. Set aside.
2. Boil water. Add all-in-one seasoning to taste.
3. Use spoon to form minced pork into pork balls. Place in boiling water.
4. Add sliced egg tofu.
5. Add a bit of fish sauce.
6. Add cabbage, spring onion and chinese celery (the one with larger leaves). Boil till pork ball rises.
7. Garnish soup with celery and cut up fried eggs.

Note: Fried eggs are optional. The boys didn't like the soup with fried eggs, so I had to remove them from the soup. This is an easy soup to cook, done in 20 min or so. Perfect for a rushed dinner. Pork can be replaced with other meat.

Pad Ka Pao (Fried Spicy Pork)

(all measurements agak-ration)

1. Heat 2 tbs of oil.
2. Fry minced garlic (about 5 cloves or to taste). Add sliced red cili padi (about 5 or more if you like it very spicy). Fry till fragrant.
3. Add minced pork, stir-fry.
4. Add oyster sauce (I used Thai oyster sauce, not quite sure if it's that much different from LKK oyster sauce).
5. Add soybean sauce (I didn't have this, so I used light soy sauce instead).
6. Add some sugar and fish sauce and MSG.
7. Add holy basil leaves.
8. Continue to fry till pork is cooked.
9. Garnish with basil leaves.
10. Serve with rice, yummmm.

Roasted Charsiew

1. Marinate 1kg pork shoulder/butt (fei ji rou) with charsiew sauce, chinese cooking wine, sugar, fish sauce. Poke with fork, place in a ziplock bag and keep in fridge overnight.

2. Place pork and marinade in foil, and bake covered at 220deg for 20 min. Place a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven (said to result in more tender meat).

3. Open up foil and bake uncovered till slightly charred, turning often.

4. Remove pork and separate from remaining marinade, if any. Brush all over with glaze (mixture of 1tbs dark soy sauce, 1 tbs oil, 1 tbs honey and a drop of red food colouring).

5. Bake for another 10 min or so, depending on how chao tar you like your charsiew.

Verdict: Eddie's favourite dish and he said this was excellent. Sean ate up even though he wasn't happy about it, while Brian loved it. Can cook this in larger batches and freeze for future use.

Note: Don't bother with Instant Pot or Air Fryer. Stick to oven.

Malaysian turmeric and honey wings

Source: Rasa Malaysia

1. Marinate 500g chicken wings (mid joints) with ginger juice (from pounded 2" ginger), 1 tbs honey, 1 tbs light soy sauce, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp turmeric powder, 1/8 tsp chilli powder, for 1-2 hours.
2. Bake at 375 deg F for 20-25 minutes.

Tip: Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Hold wing with tong and grill over stove at medium heat. I did it over my glass-top stove and the wings were grilled beautifully.

Verdict: Everyone loved this. I didn't taste this but reckon it probably tastes like ayam percik, my favourite style of barbecued chicken. Gotta try cooking ayam percik one day.

Easy-peasy Kaya

Source: Various


Easiest kaya recipe ever. As long as you get the proportions equal, ie 1 cup sugar, 1 cup egg, 1 cup coconut cream, you're on your way to kaya success. My slow cooker was a small one, so I only used 2/3 cup of each.

1. Mix beaten egg with sugar (I used Demerara brown sugar).
2. Pour into slow cooker. Pour coconut cream in. Stir.
3. Start slow cooker on low, my slow cooker did not have any dial, so it was probably on medium all the way.
4. Stir constantly. Mixture will thicken in about 2 hours or so.
5. If you do not like your kaya curd-like, blend it (discard any sugar water left i the slow cooker). Kaya will be smooth like those sold in shops.

Yummy. Many recipes use lots more sugar, this one is pretty all right as far as kaya goes. If you have pandan leaves (screwpine leaves), you may cook with them. I did not have any, and the kaya turned out fine. Best way to eat this is to spread them on toast, add a slice of butter, ooooh, great way to start the day! I spread it with butter on bread (not toast) and the mummies in school (from Thailand, Japan and US) loved the kaya sandwich.

Next day update: The boys had kaya sandwich for tea and loved it. They said it was even better straight out from the fridge. Sean had 3 slices and wanted more.