No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

The lotus root with its unique 'wheel shape' cross-section, blends well with most vegetables and its sweet and crunchy texture is appealing and tasty in stir-fried dishes. Recipe for Lotus Root with Chicken and Mushrooms Ingredients 450 gm Chicken, cut into bite size pieces 6 Shitake Mushrooms soaked and cut into quarters 3 pips Garlic, chopped 3 Dried Chillies soaked and cut 200 gm young Lotus root sliced diagonally Oil for frying Seasoning for Chicken 1.1/2 Tablespoon Oyster sauce 1 Teasp Sugar 1/4 Teasp Salt 1 Teasp Light Soya Sauce 1/2 Teasp Dark Soya Sauce 1/2 Teasp Sesame Oil Dash of Pepper Thickening of Gravy 1 Teasp Cornflour 3 Tablespoons water Method Marinate the chicken pieces with the above seasoning for about 2  hours Lightly  saute the chopped garlic till aromatic Add in the cut dried chillies Add in the chicken pieces, mushrooms, fry for a while Add in about 1/2 cup water and simmer till the chicken meat is c...

We went for a short holiday to China, and one of the places we visited was Wuxi, literally meaning 'No tin', in the Jiangzu province.  It's an arts and cultural centre famous for its clay figures, Yixing pots and the many mountains and lakes and one of them is the beautiful 'Tai Hu'. An item on the itinerary was a visit to a movie world, where they film the Chinese epics, and there were Chinese junkboats and  palaces of some dynasties.  What impressed us most was the live show of a battle field, with Mongolian herdsmen on horseback, fighting with spears and it was a show performed by stuntsmen who acted in movies.  It was there that we saw a lot of vacuum packed Wuxi Pork ribs on sale.  Well, some of our tour members bought them after a long haggling over the exorbitant opening prices.  Upon venturing into the city, later on our own, at leisure, we discovered that Wuxi Pork ribs is their speciality, a sort of signature dish, and of course the...

Sometime ago, while dining in a restaurant in Melbourne China town, my friend suggested that we order a La-la dish.  Then I found out that La-la, known in Malaysia is referred to as Pi-pi in Aussie land.  Well, be it La-la or Pi-pi, to me 'Clams' is more appropriate and better understood. Now, back to this one-dish meal, it's easily prepared and very tasty, especially the soup ..... slurp, slurp to the last drop.  For the health conscious, round it up with a hot cup of Green tea, which may help bring down the cholesterol level after consuming such delicious crustaceans.  tasty prawns, fish fillet, good old La-la and  some greens. indulging once in a while, is acceptable ..... mmm ...... isn't it tempting ...... try me a must have .....  some freshly chopped chilli padi/birds' eye chillies and garlic to go with it Recipe for Seafood Vermicelli Ingredients 300 gm Chicken bones to make stock 8 cups of water 300 gm Fish...

I was cleaning  my fridge one weekend and stumbled upon some left over red, green and black- eyed beans, so I just put them to the boil and came up with this Mixed Beans 'tong sui'.  Just nice to enjoy while relaxing and watching my favourite movie drama. plucked some Pandan/Screwpine leaves from the backyard ....... Red, Black-eyed, Green beans, Sago pearls and dried Pak Hup doesn't take long to make this, nice and refreshing on a hot afternoon Recipe for Mixed Beans Sweet Soup Ingredients : 100 gm Red Beans 150 gm Green Beans 50 gm Black-eyed Beans 150 gm Rock sugar 20 gm dried Pak Hup 10 gm Sago Pearls 7 cups water Pandan/Screwpine leaves Method : Put 3 cups of water in a pressure cooker and add in the red beans and cook on medium heat. Once the pressure is released, then add in the green and black-eyed beans, rock sugar, pandan leaves and another 4 cups of water, and cook till the beans are soft. Meanwhile, wash and soak the dried...

I had a reunion with some of my ex colleagues whom I haven't met since I stopped work ages ago and so I whipped this cake up for them as a dessert.  I was a bit disappointed with the appearance upon cutting it, but nevertheless  gave some to my neighbour, the ex Swiss chef cum my ' food taster', to sample.  I was so delighted when he sms-ed me 'Cake is lovely, thank you.' That lifted up my spirits a little. So don't be misled by outward appearnce for the inside is much to behold, and my ex colleagues gave me the thumbs up too. Oh, what a disappointment  ..........  the melted choc chips is so messy fortunately, the taste speaks for itself , the melted choc chips blend well with the Green tea flavour personally, I find that it's better than with Adzuki beans ~   at least some consolation  ~ Recipe for Green tea yoghurt with choc chips Adapted from Green...

This is the porridge that my late mum used to cook for us whenever we complained of gum pain or any of my siblings had their tooth extracted, or during hot, humid weather.  This is to help 'lower the fire in our body',  (cool down our body heat), so she used to say. And it is usually accompanied by freshly made Yau Char Kway or Chinese Donut,(so often seen in Hongkong movies),  either cut and sprinkled on top of the porridge, as a garnishing  Or just separate it, dunk in, slurp, and chew away,  ..................  Recipe for Salted Egg & Meat Porridge Ingredients : 200 gm lean pork, diced 1 Salted Egg 1/2 cup Rice 2 Tablespoons Quaker instant Oats - soak in 4 Tablespoons of hot water 4 cups water Yau Char Kway/Chinese Donut Spring Onions and Pepper for garnishing Salt to taste Sesame oil - optional Method : Dice the lean meat and marinate with 1 teasp salt, set aside. Boil the rice with the 4 cups of water in a rice cooker...

The amazing Lotus is an aquatic plant, rising out of muddy waters and in Buddhism it's a symbol of purity and the flower signifies enlightenment.  Every part of the Lotus plant is useful, from the flower, to the seeds, leaves and  root.  The Lotus root is actually the rhizome of the Lotus plant and it's low in fat and cholesterol, high in fibre and full of vitamins. Lotus root is crispy and crunchy and often boiled in soup  -  can help  clear body heat, improve your appetite and restore good health. Recipe for Pork Meat with Lotus Root Soup Ingredients : 400 gm lean Pork Meat 400 gm old Lotus Root 50 gm Groundnuts for soup 10 gm  dried Fish Bones 3 large Preserved Dates without sugar   (Mut Choe) 3 litres of water Method : Blanch the pork meat with some hot boiling water.  Discard water and set aside. Scrape or peel off the skin of the lotus root, cut diagonally into about 1/4 inch thick slices. Boil the 3 l...

Kampar Bread Chicken ..................No, no, this emerged from the kitchen of No-Frills Recipes, a wholesome one-dish meal, a little bit spicy, but sumptous, suitable for lunch or dinner this is the Chicken Curry that I made with the A+1 meat curry paste, and in the background is the Kenwood breadmaker which helped me with the dough for the bread the A+1 meat curry paste, it's spicy, so I used only half the paste the Chicken Curry wrapped up in 2 layers of parchment paper, ready to be 'hidden' in the dough the bread is all done now ....................'Open Sesame'............like a blooming lotus flower, slowly opening up its petals, revealing ............ what's the 'hidden treasure' ....................mmmmmm.............aromatic Curry Chicken! what are you waiting for, .......... dunk it in .................. Enjoy ..... Yummy Recipe for Bread Chicken Ingredients for the Curry : 800 gm free-range Chicken  -  cut  into bite s...