Merdeka Open House 2013: Stir-Fried Manicai with Eggs

Was first introduced to this Stir-Fried Manicai with Eggs in my earlier days of blogging when I used to stalk blogs belonged to Sarawakians. They were literally crazy over manicai which in Cantonese is shue tzai choy or in Malay cekur manis. One of them, Eddie who lives in USA literally have a box of these plants growing in his living room and he really took care of the plants like babies :p

I've never got around to cooking this dish cos preparing the vegetable is ermmm quite time consuming. The plucking and picking the leaves that is. I do love manicai in soups and especially so in pan meen. Hates it when they serve pan meen soup using substitute vegetables.

And so I did a bit of search and what more from a pretty lass with beautiful voice, Kelly Siew, who is a native of Bintulu. She had carefully listed down the steps to do with the leaves which I would never have known to salt the leaves to squeeze out the liquid before using. The reason for doing so is to get rid of the certain bitterness from the leaves.

Being the ever careless cook, I tend to forget to add ingredients hehe yeah even at work. Can you imagine the amount of times my boss would roll her eyes over this carelessness! And so I did the same with this dish which was so simple to make hahahaha... sighhh I've forgotten to add the water even though I've measured and place next to the pan, can you believe it? Darn fail!

Anyway the verdict from Capt'n Hook was good and I thought so too. I think I like my manicai slightly crunchy with a bite but would have gone if I had added the water. So in my recipe, I would say water is optional. You can even use chicken stock if you wish. I've also omitted chicken powder nor MSG since I don't use them in my cookings.

Stir-Fried Manicai with Eggs
Serves 2 - 4

200 g manicai (plucked weight)
1 Tbsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
50 ml water (optional)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp soy sauce

Pluck manicai leaves, wash and soak like the usual way you would do it. Drain and mix in the salt, tearing some of the leaves in between. Set aside for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the liquid from the manicai. Rinse out the leaves with a few washes of water and squeeze them dry another round. Set aside.

In a hot pan, heat up the oil. Add garlic and fry till fragrant. Stir in the manicai leaves. Add in water now if using. When it's quite dry, make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs. Let the eggs set before stirring them all together. Stir in soy sauce and mix evenly before dishing up.

This is my third entry for 8th Merdeka Open House 2013 Date & Theme: Treasures from Sabah & Sarawak.

Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd with Eggs

If you love bitter gourd (fu kua in Cantonese) like me, you would definitely love this dish. This is actually a stir-fry and not an omelette since the amount of eggs are much lesser.

Halved a medium sized bitter gourd and remove the seeds with a spoon. Then slice them across into thin strips. Sprinkle some salt all over and rub them well to ensure they're coated evenly. I read somewhere that by doing this, it will remove some of the bitterness away, well  I can't really verify this. Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes before washing off the salt and drain away excess water in a colander.

Heat up a wok and pour in some oil. Chuck in some chopped garlic and put in the bitter gourd once garlic is fragrant. Fry the gourd till it changes to a slightly darker colour or soften (I prefer mine to be slightly firm). You may sprinkle some water but not much to help with the cooking process. Season with salt and some black pepper.

Next, pour in 2 eggs that have been beaten lightly. Let eggs set a bit before stir frying. Keep frying till the eggs are cooked through. Dish up and serve with rice.





I'm submitting this for Muhibbah Malaysian Monday blog event. This event is the brainchild of  Shaz (Test With A Skewer) and Suresh (3 Hungry Tummies). Read more here.

Thai Basil Omelette

I had a handful of Thai basil leaves and I did not want to keep them any longer as the leaves tend to bruise and blacken in time. So what to do with them? I usually make egg dropped soup or this omelette which is so simple but fragrant. I was afraid BoiBoi might not like the smell of basil but since it's an omelette, he ate them all up!

I just lightly beat a couple of eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper. Drop in shredded leaves or you can keep them whole. Put a bit of oil in a hot pan and pour over the egg mixture. Fry till lightly browned. Easy peasy.

I've also served this as Basil Omelette and Roasted Peppers Open Sandwich.

Soy Steamed Egg Served With Minced Chicken and Preserved Radish

Another kiddy favourite... a homemade sort of tofu made from soy milk and eggs, topped with a delicious and fragrant minced chicken and preserved radish. Hmm just like how come restaurant serves this kinda dish. You won't believe it that it's very easy to make, just check out the recipe below.

Soy Steamed Egg Served With Minced Chicken and Preserved Radish
(Serves 4)

(A)
500 ml unsweetened soy milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp sugar

100g minced chicken
2 tbsp preserved radish (choy poh)
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp corn flour mix with 2 tbsp water
chopped spring onions

Mix (A) together and sieve twice. Place mixture into a bowl and steam over low heat until sets. (12 mins on my electric steamer).

Heat oil and saute garlic until fragrant before adding preserved radish. Fry and mix well before adding minced chicken. Fry till meat is cooked. Put in the seasonings. Stir and add in corn flour mixture. Stir-fry until well mixed.

Serve steamed soy and egg by placing the minced chicken on top and garnish with spring onions.

Technorati tags: tofu

Basil Omelette and Roasted Peppers Open Sandwich

With El Nino and haze looming over Kuala Lumpur, many times I just don't feel like doing anything but just veg out, cooking over hot stove is really out of the question!

I still have to feed myself eh... so I go for simplicity. A simple sandwich usually will do for me like this one. I bought a bunch of Thai basil from the market and was thinking of the ways of using them up. Usually I would boil a soup but I'm not drinking hot soup in such weather :p So what I did was plucked and cleaned some leaves; chucked them into a lightly beaten egg and made an omelette out of them.

I toasted a slice of my homemade multi-grain bread, butter it and place some tomato slices over. Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil and a light sprinkling of balsamic vinegar. Place the omelette on top and some left over roasted pepper (capsicum). More olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus some freshly grated black pepper. Voila!!! Simple, fast and best of all no hovering over the stove for more than 2 minutes, YAY!





Technorati tags: sandwich

Highlighting Fake Eggs

I have these video links of fake eggs found in China to share, take a look... awww sorry I tried to embed the videos here but doesn't seems to work so you'll have to click on the links.

Video One

Video Two

There are some pics of the cracked eggs which looked exactly like the real thing except for the yolk sac that is hard to break. The above videos showed a hard boiled fake egg and it looked like real except that the yolk is rubbery when pressed together and bounces like a ping pong ball :p

Chinese Sausage and Onion Omelette

**Non-Halal**



This Chinese Sausage (lap cheung) and Onion Omelette certainly bring back a lot of childhood memories. One of the best "stand by" dishes that can whipped up in a jiffy when there isn't enough dish to go round since my mom used to stock up lap cheung (in the olden days we can only buy them around CNY period) and onions in the larder.

All one need to do is stir fry the sliced onions in some oil till translucent before adding the sliced sausages. Add some spring onions if you have them. Stir in some salt and pepper to taste. Wait till the sausages brown up before pouring in lightly beaten eggs. Wait for the eggs to set before turning over to brown them lightly. Dish up and serve. You can bet anyone will down them in a gusto with their rice!


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + omelette

Stir-Fried Eggs with French Beans, Baby Corn and Carrots

Pheewww that was quite a mouthful!



This is another variation of frying eggs where instead of turning the combination into an omelette, just stir-fry all the ingredients. Stir-fry diced french beans, baby corn and carrots in some oil. Sprinkle in some salt and black pepper to taste. When they're cooked, pour in some lightly beaten eggs. Let the eggs cook and set. Then stir-fry them all until well mixed. Dish up and serve.

There, another easy peasy dish from the lazy me.


Technorati Tags: egg

Scrambled Eggs Topped With Chorizo on Homemade Multigrain Bread

**Non-Halal**

Comfy and hearty breakfast or snack of creamy scrambled eggs topped with chorizo on a slice of my homemade multigrain bread - it's just scrumptious!

To make scrambled eggs, heat some butter on non-stick pan. Pour in some milk or cream (for a luscious, creamier and sinful version). Pour in eggs and stir. Stir all over the pan to ensure the bottom part of the eggs do not get over cooked. Remove pan from fire and dish up when the eggs came to the texture you fancy (do not leave them in the pan on the stove even if it's switched off too long as the eggs will continue to cook). I liked mine runny and creamy. Sprinkle some sea salt and freshly grated black pepper on them if you fancy.

As for the chorizo, just simply pan fry them sans oil as they oozes oil when you cook them.

To assemble this open sandwich, toast the bread and then butter it. Spoon the scrambled eggs over. Then arrange the chorizo slices all over. Voila...


Technorati Tags: chorizo + egg

Kiddy Menu: Omelette

It has been a long while since I last shown my boiboi's face, so here's how he looked like now... Cheeky lil fella I have there, a bit fussy on the food he eats at times, hence I have to wave my wand to do some magic. Luckily it's pretty easy to please him since I have some tricks up my sleeves.

Since he doesn't like his meat in pieces, we feed him minced meat instead. In all sorts of way... in bolognaise sauce, meat patties, dumplings, pie, etc and recently I discovered a fantastic and easy way to feed him.

He's kinda funny cos doesn't like eggs in hard boiled or fried form. I think he find egg white icky. It is only recently he took on half boiled eggs. Even that he will only eat the eggs when he dip bread in them or break pieces of bread to soak in the eggs. He only likes omelette in terms of fried form. So that's where I got creative. Hid vegetables like carrots, long beans, french beans and onions in there; as for meat, minced meat or chopped prawns. He loves them with tomato ketchup.

This one is a simple carrot and french beans strips omelette. Easy peasy... just fry carrots and beans in oil. Season with salt and pepper before pouring beaten eggs over. Let set before flipping over.

An old time childhood favourite of prawns and onions omelette where I chopped up the prawns.

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + omelette

The Ultimate Comfort Food - Omelette

There is nothing more comforting than some soft and velvety egg omelette. Here's my version...



Slice up an onion and fry them in some olive oil till caramelised. Pour in 2 beaten eggs and let the eggs cook till the consistency you fancied. Sprinkle in some salt (which I had omitted) and black pepper. Slide omelette onto plate and lap them up while it's hot! My ultimate comfort food...

Sorry guys haha, very lame post ain't it? I'm still cranking my engine up!

Technorati Tags: egg

Stir Fried Eggs With Prawns

Easy peasy dish, loved by both kids and adults. For this round, I've stir fried some bell pepper (capsicum) and carrot strips in some olive oil. Then pour in the eggs. Let it set a bit before stirring and flipping. Cook till the consistent you prefered. I prefered to have not too cooked eggs so I lift up from the pan when its slightly runny. The heat will continue to cook a bit whilst resting on the plate.

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + egg

Stir Fried Eggs WithTomatoes

This is my first time stir frying eggs with tomatoes. Somehow it just doesn't look right... kinda too wet. Maybe I should have cook them a little longer.

What I did was diced the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Heat up oil in wok and fry the tomatoes for a short while. Next pour in the beaten eggs seasoned with some soy sauce and pepper. Let it set for while before scrapping the centre to let the runny bit to cook. Then quickly stir and turn them. Dish up and serve.

Experts out there, please let me know if this is the correct way to make this dish? Thank you very much in advance.

Technorati Tags: egg + tomato

Kiddy Menu: Carrot and Potato Cheese Omelette

My boiboi dislikes egg done hard boiled or half boiled. Strange huh? The only way to get him to eat eggs is to make an omelette out of them. Actually omelette is a perfect way to sneak in vegetables for fussy young eaters but thank goodness my boiboi is fine with vegetables except for corn. He does eat popcorn though! Anyway, I was surprised that he actually ate up some corn omelette that I've made out of fresh corn kernels.

To sneak in vegetables in an omelette, just chop vegetables like spinach, brocolli, french beans and etc into small pieces or shred some carrots or just about anything that tickle your fancy. You can also combine some of these ingredients. Fry them in some olive oil to soften the vegetables before adding lightly beaten eggs. Wait till it's almost cook before placing some cheese (easiest would be cheddar slice) on top. Next fold it up and cook till it's not runny. Make sure to cook the eggs thoroughly so that it can be safe for children's consumption. Noticed that I've omitted any seasonings like salt, pepper or soy sauce? One does not need to any of these as the vegetables itself are tasty enough to be eaten without seasonings. The cheese alone would impart some saltiness.

In this picture, it's a carrot and potato cheese omelette that I've made for boiboi's breakfast. He ate this up heartily with some tomato ketchup. Check here for another version of similar omelette.



Technorati Tags: omelette + kiddy menu

Bittergourd Omelette

Mike of Foodcrazee posted the recipe for Bittergourd Omelette with the pictures of bittergourd as well which I've used too for my omelette. So head on to Mike's Bittergourd Omelette for the recipe whilst I post the end result here.



Okay, my eyes all cleared up but I'm still coughing at night albeit not as bad as before. Sighhh... hopefully I could be able to update as often as I should.

Technorati Tags: bittergourd + egg + omelette

Easy Breakfast Omelette

Easy peasy and quick omelette... stir fry chopped yellow bell pepper and carrots in olive oil. Add in chopped sausages. Fry till browned and add some salt and pepper according to taste. Lightly beat egg and pour over fried ingredients. Let egg set and place cheese over. Fold into half and continue to fry omelette till lightly browned. Best served hot with ketchup, chilli sauce and mustard.

Funny thing is that my boiboi likes to eat eggs in the form of omelette. He disliked hard and soft boiled eggs. He ate almost half of my omelette after drinking his milk!