Combination Seafood Rice Noodles (雜燴海鮮滑蛋河粉)

The uniqueness of this fried noodle dish is from the smooth and thick sauce, cooked with silky whisked egg, topped with a variety of tasty seafoods and balanced with vegetables.

We love to go for lunch in a cozy Malaysian restaurant in Market Square, Sunnybank. The name of the restaurant, “Little Singapore” might get some people confused though. Why does a Malay restaurant name itself with the word of “Singapore”? Little Singapore is often packed with customers, Asians, Aussies and other foreign visitors. The most favourite dish that my hubby loves to order is their Combination Seafood Rice Noodles. It’s very different from those of Hong Kong style.

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Pork Chops with Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Instant Pot Recipe)

You need only one pot, that’s Instant Pot to make this delicious and juicy pork chops with creamy mushroom sauce. Fuss free and mess free in the kitchen.

Oftentimes pork chops are tough and leathery after cooking. Any workaround?

If using the wrong cuts or over-cooked, you might feel like wasting all the money to get the pork chops. To get the best results, try to get pork chops with more fat as fat makes meat tender.

Fat?! This word scares many people away. Wait, the par-cooking process (aka partially cook beforehand) using pan-frying method will help render the grease out of pork chops. Best still, par-cooking produces a beautiful brown colour on pork chop surface, increases aroma and adds more flavours.

On top of that, I found another method. This recipe can be taken as another tested workaround.

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Lotus and Dried Octopus Soup (Pressure Cooker + Stovetop Recipe)

Have you tried this old-fashioned Chinese soup —— Lotus and Dried Octopus Soup? This soup is very popular and well-liked in Hong Kong. This soup tastes very delicious with a slightly sweetness and a depth of flavours. Traditionally, it’s a soup enjoyed in winter. To myself, it’s a soup can be enjoyed all year round.

Chinese people like long-cooked soup (aka “old fire” soup in Chinese, 老火湯). It normally takes at least 2 to 3 hours or much longer to make an old-fire soup. The soup has a depth of flavours.

Dried octopus (章魚) is quite often used in making Chinese “old fire” soups. Don’t mix it up with dried squid as a snack, which is marinated with seasonings. Dried octopus shouldn’t have any seasonings added, but simply have gone through a sun-dried process traditionally. It’ll bring a new dimension of flavours into the stock.

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Italian Meatball Minestrone Soup

This Italian Meatball Minestrone Soup is one of my all-time favourite autumn or winter dishes. This one-pot soup dish is packed with flavours and easy to whip up on the go. You can’t go wrong with this no-brainer recipe.

I didn’t make my own meat balls from scratch, simply get some Angus beef sausages from the supermarket. It saved me a lot of time and energy.

The beef sausages meat, full of flavours, went really well with all the vegetables I put into the pot.

Believe it or not, this soup can be made within 30 minutes.

These are the organic red kidney beans and organic cannellini beans I used. They are full of nutrients your body needs. The soup texture is also enriched as well. Simply drain the water out, then put the beans in the soup.

How wonderful it’d be when you’re served with a bowl of hot soup. It helps beat away the chilling weather.

Oh well, if the weather is warm up again, this soup is also fantastic. Simply turn myself into a not-in-a-hurry mode, patiently wait for a little while. After it cools a bit, I can immediately dig in and enjoy this flavoursome minestrone soup.

A side note, if you’re going for vegan meals, simply skip the beef and use vegetable stock. You’re good to go then.

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Pan-fried Udon with Pork and Cabbage

This pan-fried udon noodle dish can be a light yet satisfying meal. Have I said that it's packed with so much flavours? It's a very balanced meal for the whole family.

We like having noodles for lunch. The cabbage I used was Taiwanese cabbage (高麗菜 “Gao Li Cai” or 捲心菜 ”Juan Xin Cai” in Chinese).

It apparently looks different from Napa cabbage, and easily confused with those cabbages you often see in western supermarkets.

I call it as Taiwanese cabbage as it’s often used in Taiwanese cuisine, often stir-fried dishes. It tastes sweet without any bitterness. You can easily get this kind of cabbage at any Asian grocers.

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Mushroom Chicken Pie

The mushroom chicken pie we shared that night was tasty. Although it took longer than I cooked rice, because I made the pastry by scratch, it’s worth every ounce of effort though.

As I tried to ask hubby what if I didn’t want to cook and didn’t like having rice that night, he immediately gave me a “green light” signal, and said, “It’s no problem if we skip a meal.”

Me: I just don’t want to have rice for dinner, love to have a pie instead.

Hubby: whatever you like.

You’d understand how I felt surprised if you knew him as much as I do. He has grown up to be a man who almost can’t live without rice for dinner.

If you don’t have enough time to make your own pastry, you can use the cheat’s version in the note section if you’re craving for this delicious homemade pie.

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Strawberry Cobbler

When I crave for an after-dinner-dessert, I often go for making a dessert made with strawberry. Strawberry is one of my most favourite fruits.

Over the past two weeks, many large, good-quality and sweet strawberries are sold at a bargain price at the nearby supermarket. It's a very good reason to make a strawberry dish.

To myself, a dessert enjoyed after dinner shouldn’t take too long to prepare. So I set the route on making a cobbler, that I’d call it an open pie, much easier to make than a traditional pie.

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Orange Chicken Wings

Orange, one of my favourite fruits, begins to be in season here finally. I often like to use navel oranges to make savoury dishes. Both of the acidity and sweetness of an orange are magic to balance the taste of a chicken dish.

Although the sweetness of each orange is quite different, this recipe is very forgiving. A bit of sugar or lemon juice will be well enough to adjust the taste of the dish. It’s downright easy. You won’t be wrong as long as you remember to taste before it’s served to your family.

The glossy delicious orange sauce makes the chicken wings so finger-licking good. It will make you want more. This dish can be served as a snack or a main served with salad or steamed rice.

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