Very simple one dish delight!

I thought my arm was falling off after I scrubbed down the shower screen in my ensuite today. I tend to feel slightly ill after chemical exposure (duh!!). Like any project you undertake in your life, its always wise to schedule for breaks in between. Half way through cleaning, I decided to take off my gloves, walked away and sat in front of my laptop, googling "Domestic cleaning services". Hahahahahaha!

But I am not joking, I did call up one company that quoted s $58 for a regular weekly cleaning, another company quoted $28.80 per hour (including GST). I find the prices reasonable, its hard work when come to thorough cleaning you know... Anyhow, I am pretty convinced I should leave it to the expert. "Hey babe, can we get a cleaner in soon prreeeeeshhhh?" He is keen, but auntie here is keener.

I mentioned I was going to try a recipe I dug out yesterday. "Chicken & Bok Choy stir fry". Verdict? Not bad, I am pleased. :) It was an easy one-dish-wonder. Perfect for weeknights. Though the recipe below is designed for 4 servings, we cleaned up everything effortlessly. Geee...we can always exercise tomorrow, can't we?

So here goes:

Chicken & Bok Choy Stir-Fry

Serves 4

2 tablespoons peanut oil
6 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, cruched
8 shiitake mushrooms, soak in hot water for 10 mins, then drained
200g baby bok choy leaves
2 teaspoons sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon teriyaki marinate
2 teaspoons oyster sauce

1. Marinate chicken in teriyaki marinates for half hour.
2. Heat oil in wok and add chicken, stir-fry on high for 3 mins or until golden brown.
3. Add onion, stir-fry for 1 min or until tender.
4. Add garlic, mushroom, bok choy, sweet chilli sauce and oyster sauce, stir-fry for 1 min or until heated through. Serve with rice.

Steamboat

I promised you a list of Steamboat ingredients. But I think I will only give you the variety of items and you can decide on the portion yourself. As you can see from my previous post, I sucked at guess-timation.

My experience with Steamboat dinner has always been an intimate family affair with grandparents, uncles, aunties, parents, brothers & sister etc. And everybody chips in to help or to buy different ingredients. I was seriously in doubt that I could single-handedly pull off a steamboat dinner.

I have never prepared steamboat for 4 people and I had no idea how to portion the food. I was worried all the time about portioning. It would be too embarrassing for me if I didn't prepare enough food.

Logically, if you are unfamiliar with steamboat, you would naturally think its only a matter of scaling it down. (Hey, wait till you do it yourself, there's a lot of work okay!) It was a huge logistical challenge for me. Anyway, I am glad I did that now and I now have a slightly clearer picture than I did previously. Having said that, I am still not confident suggesting portions, everything is by trial and error. So good luck!

Below is a short introduction to Chinese Steamboat

The Chinese Steamboat owes its beginning to the Mongols of northern China, more than 400 years ago. These nomadic peoples did not bequeath a great culinary heritage to Chinese cuisine, but the Mongolian hot-pot is a most important legacy. By the eighteenth century it had become a winter favorite in the Qing dynasty court and still remains and flourishes in all China's regions today.It began as a simple way of cooking meats and vegetables. The thinly sliced meat is dropped with some leafy vegetables into a bubbling chicken soup contained in a specially designed pot (called a steamboat by the Cantonese, and a hot-pot or a fire kettle in other regions of China). It is placed in the middle of the table for finishing and serving. After a minute or two, the food is cooked and is lifted out and eaten with a variety of dipping sauces. When all the meat and vegetables are finished, cellophane noodles are added to the broth, resulting in a wonderful fragrant and flavorsome soup.

Steamboat Ingredients:

Meat
Beef fillet (cut into thin slices, marinate, see ingredient to marinating)
Pork fillet (cut into thin slices, marinate, see ingredient to marinating)
Chicken breast or tenderloin (cut into thin slices, marinate optional, see ingredient to marinating)

Seafood
Prawns (with shells)
Cod fish fillets (cut into thin slices)
Squid tubes (cut into thin slices)
Scallops (remove roe)

Others
Fish balls
Prawn balls (optional)
Meat balls (optional)
Quails eggs (hardboil in water, depend on availability)
Crabmeat stick (peel off the plastic wrapper)
Assorted steamboat ingredients you can find in Asian Supermarket
Fried beancurd
Firm beancurd
Glass Noodles
Rice

Vegetables
Chinese Cabbage (wash and cut into bite size)
Shiitake Mushrooms (hydrate in hot water)
Beansprouts (rinse, tailed if you have time)
Baby Bok Choy (wash and cut into quarter)

Meat Marinate in
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp corn flour
1 tbsp rice wine
Salt and pepper

Dipping Sauce
Minced ginger in Soy:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced ginger
few drops of sesame oil.

Mustard & Soy:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 teaspoon English or French mustard
2 teaspoons peanut oil
2 to 3 drops vinegar.

Hoisin Sauce:
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1/4 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Chilli Sauce: Fresh cut chilli with light soy sauce

By the way, my friend from Singapore, Ms S.Goh also suggests alternative chilli sauce: sambal chilli or chicken rice chilli