Pan Fried Meat & Corn Patties

Another easy peasy delight for weekday dinners :)
Some supermarkets have these patties ready-to-use in packages for you, simply pan fry, grill, or steam them...or you can make them for scratch.
It's no rocket science, it's tasty, hearty, satisfying, and it has both the meat and veggie factor :D

Recipe
- 0.5 lb minced meat (pork or chicken or beef)
- half a cup corn kernels
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 tbsp corn starch, fish sauce, chicken stock powder (optional), salt, sugar, white pepper
- olive oil for pan frying

Mix all ingredients and form patties. If you want to pan fry, but do not want to pan fry for too long, to ensure that the inner part is cooked, you can nuke the patties in the microwave for a couple of minutes before pan frying. Pan fry both sides until golden brown and serve with chili sauce.

To jazz up the flavors, you can add freshly chopped coriander and or chopped red chili into the patties. I didn't add them since SC has developed a sudden hatred towards coriander ^_^'

Tasted fantastic with rice, and maybe add them into soup like meat balls or serve with pasta and sauce.

You must have noticed that my posts get shorter and shorter these days.
No lame excuses, plain and simple, my ass grows bigger and I get lazier ^_^'
Maybe tomorrow the post will have no word and no photo at all :D

Stir Fry Beef and Cucumber - Hong Kong Supermarket Stir Fry Packages

Ah...another weekday dinner that we need to quickly conquer...when in doubt...stir fry! Right?
Easy, quick, always tasty and comforting with rice.

I try to always cook kinda-balanced meals at home, i.e. meat + veggie...and I tend to stick to my favorites in general, such as chicken, beef, pork, zucchini, napa cabbage, mushrooms or chinese lettuce...until yesterday.

I went off work with absolutely no idea on what I was gonna make...but thank God for supermarket stir fry packs :D
Just like this one!

...and plus...it was on sale! ^_* Sold! Beef and cucumber stir fry it was.
Wait a minute! What date is it now? It isn't expired or anything, right?
Phew~!

Recipe
- 0.3 lbs beef, sliced (more would be nice :p)
- 1 cucumber, cleaned and sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic (crushed, divided)
- corn starch, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, oyster sauce, water, olive oil

Add about 1 tsp corn starch, a dash of soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar to the beef, mix well and set aside while you're stir frying the cucumber. Saute one clove of garlic in hot olive oil, add cucumber, add a dash of fish sauce and pepper, add water and cook it covered, let the cucumber chunks get steamed for a few minutes until they softened a bit but not overcooked, set aside. Add olive oil to frying pan, add beef, add sauces if necessary and add a bit of water to create a bit of sauce, pour over cucumber and serve with steamed rice.

Cucumbers are surprisingly wonderful stir fried!

Let's see what package is on sale tonight, shall we? ^_*

Oseng Oseng Tempe

Another dish I always miss from back home...it's a no meat dish, it's a sweet-savory-spicy-ish soy bean cake dish, but it's oh-my-gosh so hearty and satisfying. It's super tasty, and it's something that can make you finish plates after plates of rice, or "ngelawuhi" in Javanese ^_*

Here's my attempt to recreate what my nanny used to make at home...

Recipe
- 1 block of tempe, cut into rectangular chunks
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 3 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 large red chilli, sliced
- 1 large green chilli, sliced
- 1 block of palm sugar, dissolved in hot water
- a couple of Indonesian salam leaves
- vegetable oil, hot water, salt, pepper, sweet soy sauce

Saute garlic, shallot and chillies in hot oil until fragrant, add tempe chunks, add seasonings and spices, cook until tempe chunks absorbed the flavors, serve with rice or as one of many side dishes ;)

I should've probably stopped after my second plate of rice...but it was a small plate (me and my good excuses ^_*)

Quick Chicken Franks & Veggie Bistik - Bistik Sosis & Sayuran

SC and I felt that we have been spending money like water these days....so we kinda made a commitment to cut back a little. We didn't know where the money went...but I guess it's probably all the good food we eat these days :D

Thus, I agreed to make and pack our lunch most of the days, even if we dined out the night before. Sometimes, we came back from a night out and it's too late to get any ingredients from the market/supermarket...and I don't have a habit of keeping ingredients on hand, I normally just buy what I need for the day (the beauty of living in the city). This was one of those nights...

Luckily, I had a pack of chicken franks and half a pack of frozen veggies. So there you go...lunch. I just did them in flavors that I always love...Indonesian bistik.

Recipe
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- 4 chicken franks, sliced
- 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetables, quickly defrosted in hot water
- light soy sauce, sweet soy sauce (the dominant flavor), nutmeg, olive oil, white pepper, hot water
- crispy shallot for garnish

Brown the sliced chicken franks in a bit of hot olive oil, add garlic and shallot, cook until fragrant, add veggies, add sauces, add a bit of hot water, serve with rice, garnish with crispy shallot.

More lunch box means more dining out.
Can't wait for my next treat ^_^

Awfully Chocolate Ice Cream

I used to be not too crazy about ice cream, especially chocolate ice cream, until I was introduced to dark chocolate ice cream...and then it just went downhill from there.

I can't get enough dark chocolate ice cream!

Luckily, there are many ice cream outlets in Hong Kong selling dark chocolate ice cream/sherbet/sorbet...and recently (just yesterday), I tried the one from Awfully Chocolate.


Let's just say...it's awfully chocolatey and awfully smooth...


...an awfully generous serving for HK$28...in an awfully cute Chinese takeout box packaging with a couple of clever spoons to get every single bit of ice cream out of the corners of the box.

Awfully delicious.
Awfully adorable.

My new favorite dark chocolate ice cream, can't wait to try their cakes.

Awfully Chocolate
Shop 20, 4/F, Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok

Hong Kong

旺角亞皆老街8號朗豪坊4樓20號舖
Tel: +852 2375 0055
(There are other branches in Central, TST, and Causeway Bay as well)