Tonkatsu Don (21 March 2010)

Making Tonkatsu is probably the most easiest thing to make on earth! Well it looks difficult but it is actually very simple and it looks impressive.

Hijiki has come out with a home-made Tonkatsu substitute sweet sauce that I will share with you later. Hope you will like it! The portion is for your reference only. You could adjust the amount of ingredients according to your preference /taste.

Making the Tonkatsu Don
Ingredients:

• Some salt & pepper (to taste)
  
• Some pork fillet (depending on how many you want to eat :D)
• Some plain flour
• 2 eggs used as coat (nothing is wasted, you could fry the remaining eggs for your Tonkatsu Don)
• Some Japanese bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Cooked rice placed in a bowl
  

Making the home-made Tonkatsu substitute sweet sauce
Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp soy sauce
  
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp Japanese sweet cooking sauce

Heat the contents on low heat stirring constantly and stop when everything has dissolved.

Preparation:

(1) Wash the pork fillet and sprinkle salt and pepper.
(2) Coat the pork with flour. Dip the pork in beaten egg. Cover the pork with bread crumbs.
(3) Fry the pork in hot oil for a few min.
(4) Drain and remove the pork and place them on a paper towel.
(5) Cut each Tonkatsu into small pieces.
(6) Fry the remaining egg.
(7) Place the Tonkatsu and egg into the ice bowl.

(8) After that, it is ready to be served by pouring the sauce onto the Tonkatsu!

Mocha Chocolate Mousse (9 March 2010)

I am going camping this weekend (Fri-Sun) with my schoolmates! Yippee Yay Yay!!! So I thought I'll make something on the weekday so as to stick to my initial plan of cooking something new at least once a week? :) Initially, I was a little worried as my internet was down. But everything's fine now! :)

Why did I choose to make this? Well, at first I wanted to make some glutinous rice ball (since I still have more than half a bag of it left!!! :D) but Hijiki wanted something sweet. Since I do have some coconut milk leftover from making the Thai Sticky Rice Dessert, well, might as well make use of it for making Mousse! Yummy! :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/5 cup or 300g dark chocolate broken up
• 2/3 cup or 80g butter
• 1 cup of coconut milk (or fresh milk)
• 1 tsp coffee power, mixed with 1 tsp of hot water
• 4 egg yolks

Preparation:

(1) Melt and stir the chocolate, butter, coconut milk, and the coffee mixture on low heat.




(2) Thereafter, add in the egg yolks, one by one on low heat, stirring for 1 min.



(3) When done, pour the mixture into your lovely glasses and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
(For me, I don't have any lovely glasses so I have to use normal cup. Arghh!!!)
(4) Before serving, you could top it up with any fruits for decoration and favor! :)

Thai Sticky Rice Dessert (without the Mango :D). (7 March 2010)

I have some glutinous rice leftover from making Porridge last week so I thought I might as well make some glutinous rice dish this week! :)

This dessert, one of my favorite, is usually served with mango, cut into bite-size pieces. You could use any other fruits that you may like. I have no mango at home so I am having it with Honey drew. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup glutinous rice
• Water (for washing and steaming the rice)
• Fruits cut into bite-size pieces
  

Marinate:

• 3/4 cup of coconut milk
• 1/4 cup of sugar (any)
• 1/2 tsp of salt

Heat the contents on low heat and stop immediately when all sugar are melted.

Salted sauce:

• 3/4 cup of coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of flour dissolved in a little bit of water for thickening.

Heat the contents on low heat stirring constantly and stop immediately until it reached to a boil. Note: I didn't go to this step because the rice itself without the sauce is nice enough :) Also, if you like to add a crunchy taste to your sticky rice, you could soak some mung beans until it softens and roast it on a saucepan :)

Preparation:

(1) Wash the glutinous rice (rice) with water until the water is no longer cloudy.
(2) Soak the rice with water and leave it overnight (or at least for 4 hours) so that the rice could absorb all the water that it could absorb. Usually it is 1 cup of rice with 1 cup of water.
(3) Remove the water from the rice and steam the rice for 20 to 30 minutes on high heat until the rice is chewy.
(4) When rice is cooked, pour the marinate over the rice and cover the rice with foil and let it seat for 30 minutes in the steamer.
(5) After that, it is ready to be served by pouring the sauce onto the rice!

How to Affair-Proof Your Relationship (27 February 2010)

Everyone needs to be in love & to stay in love. Whether it is to love your parents, your siblings, your children or your partners/spouses. Love is the reason why it is worth breathing everyday.

This year's overlap of Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day won't occur again until 2048 (the last time the coincidence happened was 1953). It is special to me because it is true to say that you may have found your love in your partner/spouse (or even children) but don't forget to love your parents and siblings because they will always love you. :)

I have found this article & thought it is very useful. So let me share it with you here. :)

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An affair is one of the most difficult challenges a couple can face, and nothing destroys a romantic relationship faster than infidelity. Is it really possible to affair-proof your relationship? The answer is, "Yes, it's possible." But in order to make that happen, it's important to know what causes an affair in the first place.

An affair is an extreme symptom of a relationship that has been in trouble for some time. Affairs do not happen out of the blue and rarely happen because someone is a bad person. Cheating is caused by one single factor: "Lack." In a relationship, it's a lack of love, attention, intimacy, recognition, respect, and connection that builds up over time. Eventually, this "lack" can become so painful that the person in the most pain will often act out by cheating. Because communication has broken down, the cheating person doesn't feel like they can talk to their partner, so that makes them vulnerable to cheating.

So, how do you avoid getting to this point in a relationship? Below are seven ways to avoid the "lack" and prevent a potential affair.

1. Avoid complacency. Don't ever take your relationship for granted. Partnerships need to be nourished daily by a kind word, appreciation, a loving kiss, a smile. Complacency is a warning signal that you and your partner are out of touch with each other.

2. Keep the lines of communication open. Don't sweep issues under the rug. They won't go away! Learn ways to resolve differences so that recurring arguments don't continue.

3. Pay attention to your gut. If you're feeling something isn't quite right in your relationship, 99 percent of the time you're correct. Find a way to approach your partner to talk about things. Keep your relationship current by checking in on a weekly basis to make sure problems aren't building up.

4. Find time for each other. Don't get so busy that you forget to have a date with your partner. Make time away from chores and work to renew your loving feelings. Remember how important your mate is to you. Tell them, by making time for them.

5. Know when it's a time of stress and pay attention to your partner even more. Some common trigger times for extra stress in a relationship are job changes, health problems, changes in finances, and the death of a family member or friend. During these stressful periods, pay extra attention to your relationship. Let your partner know you're there, and make even more time to connect with each other.

6. Understand the real issues in your relationship. Learn tools for resolving arguments. Avoid blaming, shaming, and the need to always be right in an argument. Learn what you're really fighting about so that you can resolve your issues. If you're fighting about the wrong thing, you'll never resolve arguments.

7. Always remember what it was that made you fall in love with your partner. Too often we allow our disagreements to cloud our love for our significant other, and we forgot why we even fell in love! Keep your sense of humor. Give your partner the benefit of the doubt and don't make them your enemy.
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Now, let me share with you my V-Day pressies!!! :))) :PPP :DDD
I have in the past received, diamond earrings, bracelet, pendant, etc… But, this is by far the most precious present that I have rec’ed!!! Firstly, it is in my favorite color and secondly it’s my favorite animal!!! It is really the thoughts that count!!! :)))))))

Meat Ball Porridge - Crystal Jade Style (26 February 2010)

Australians know about Ding Tai Fung Restaurant but not Crystal Jade Restaurant. Well, Crystal Jade serve similar food as Ding Tai Fung but it taste much better and is more expensive. Ask anyone in Singapore and they will tell you the same.

Last week when I was on holiday in Perth, I ordered plain Porridge from Billy Lee's Chinese Restaurant, one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Perth. I was a little disappointed with the taste- It doesn't taste like Crystal Jade Style! :)

Today Hijiki fell sick so I thought it would be a good time to try my hand at making Meat Ball Porridge - Crystal Jade Style!

Making the Porridge

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup normal rice
• 1/3 cup glutinous rice
• 10 1/2 cups warm water or chicken stock
• Seasoning, to taste
• 2 Tbsp sesame oil

Note: You may adjust the amount of water accordingly to come to the thickness of the porridge as you may prefer. :)

Making the Meat Balls

Ingredients:

• 500 g minced pork
• 1 medium carrot (finely grated)
• 3-4 mustroom (sliced finely)
• 4 Tbsp seasoning
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 Tbsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Note: You could add basically any kind of vegetables as you wish. You may also include fried shallots, spring
onions, etc :)

Add the 2 Tbsp sesame oil to the rice (normal & glutinous) and let it seat for 10 mins.












While waiting, mix all the meat ball ingredients together.






After mixing, it will look like this. :)








By now, it should be 10 mins.
Add the water to the rice and bring to boil on high heat.
Thereafter, switch to low heat and stir continuously for about an hour.
Note: You may adjust the timing accordingly to how "smooth" you want the porridge to be. :)

Once the porridge is ready. Knead the meat mixture into balls and slowly place the meat balls into the porridge.
Keep stirring gently.

Add seasoning and sesame oil to the porridge before serving. It is now ready!!! :))))