Easy Microwaveable Side Dish: Zucchini & Mushroom in Butter & Herbs

When I saw Little Corner of Mine's Microwaved Broccoli in Butter Thyme post, I thought OMG! Brilliant! Genius! What a fantastic idea! I was so inspired...and finally I did it last night.

We had some leftover pasta dish, and all I need for a balanced dinner is a vegetable side dish...and something microwaveable, how cool is that! No sauteeing, no frying, no steaming, no nothing! Just ding! (Ding = Cantonese for "to heat in a microwave")

Instead of broccoli, I used zucchini with some mushrooms, adding some more herbs, etc, but the principal remains the same...easy and tasty side dish for weekday dinners :)

Recipe
- 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 2-3mm thick slices
- about 10 pieces of fresh straw mushrooms, halved
- 2 teaspoon of butter
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 sprig of rosemary, a few sprigs of thyme (you can use dry herbs if you don't have fresh ones)
- salt, black pepper, a dash of Worcestershire sauce

Throw all ingredients into a microwaveable bowl, mix well, nuke covered on high for 5 minutes. Done!

Sweet, earthy, buttery, herbalicious goodness!

YUMS!

Now use the time on your hand to do more important things...like buying fried chicken :D

Easy Vegetable Curry

Cook anything in coconut milk...and it'd probably taste fantastic.
That's what I think...or instead of coconut milk...heavy cream :D
Too bad SC doesn't always allow me to use coconut milk and heavy cream all the time. In fact, I have been banned to use coconut milk/cream for at least 6 months.

Last nite I violated the rule, and thank God for SC's super bad short term memory :D
He didn't remember the ban, or he pretended to forget, as he seemed to be enjoying this dish so much ;)

Recipe
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 cloves of shallot, sliced thinly
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised
- curry paste of your choice
(you can skip all of the above spices and just use more curry paste of your choice ^_^)
- 2 tomatoes, cut into sections
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite size chunks
- 1 cup of tofu puffs, cut into 2 sections
- 200ml box coconut milk
- olive oil, salt, pepper, fish sauce, a bit of hot water, crispy shallot, chopped coriander (I didn't have any, so I stuck some mint leaves)

Saute garlic, shallot, ginger and lemongrass in hot oil, add tomatoes and cauliflower chunks, add a bit of water, mix in curry paste, pour coconut milk, add tofu puffs, bring to boil, add seasonings, simmer until the cauliflower chunks are tender. Garnish with crispy shallot and serve with steamed rice.

After reading this, SC will remember and I will not be allowed to use coconut milk again...maybe for another six months T_T

Prawns and Eggs - A Classic Hong Kong Dish

A recipe stolen copied from SC's mama...and I can never do this dish the way she did, I can't put my finger on it...the Chinese traditional wok? the fire? the oil? the air? I dunno, but hers is just always yummier. I guess it's probably that mama's magic touch eh?


Recipe
- 2 cups of shrimps, shell removed, deveined, butterflied
- shrimp marinate: tiny bit corn starch, chicken stock powder, salt, pepper, chilli powder
- 4 eggs, beaten
- a sprig of spring onion, chopped
- fish sauce, pepper, olive oil

Marinate shrimps while preparing the rest of ingredients. Season beaten eggs with fish sauce and pepper, add chopped spring onions in too. Heat up oil in a wok, add shrimps, cook quickly until it just turns pink, pour egg mixture, let cook for a bit, scramble a bit, remove and serve. Do not overcook the shrimps and the eggs.

Good luck trying, I'll just go to her place to have this dish ;)

Canned Food Party

Celebrating our love for canned food, a few close friends and I decided to have a canned food party, or was it actually my excuse for serving my guests with bad food? Ahem ahem ;)

Here are the easy breezy food I served that day...
Canned Fruit Salad

- 1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 can of peaches, drained
- 1 can of grapes, drained
Dressed with mango yoghurt, a bit of condensed milk, lemon zest and lemon juice.
Easy peasy. PS. You can also use a mixed fruit cocktail.

Corn Kernels with Bacon and Coriander

- 1 can of corn kernels, drained
- a few slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
- a sprig of coriander, chopped
- lemon juice, black pepper
Cook bacon pieces in a hot pan until they're browned and most of the fat has been rendered, add corn, let brown, add coriander at the end, add black pepper and squirt some lemon juice.
Done and done.

Indonesian Home Style Sop Ayam (Clear Chicken Soup)

- 1 small chicken, remove excess fat and most of skin
- 3 cloves of shallot, cut into sections
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 3mm thick chunks
- 1 small potato, cut into cubes
- a handful of macaroni (since I don't have them, I used fusili)
- half a can of hot dogs (cut into chunks)
- half a can of spam (cut into cubes)
- olive oil, ground nutmeg, hot water, salt, pepper, crispy shallot, spring onion/Indonesian celery/coriander

Saute shallot in hot olive oil, add chicken, add carrot and potato chunks, add hot water, bring to boil, cook until you have a nice chicken stock and the carrot and potato chunks are tender, add hot dog and spam chunks, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, garnish with crispy shallot and greens, serve.

Since back home we serve sop with perkedel (Indonesian potato cakes), I tried to make my own perkedels (again, after failing many times)...

Perkedel Kornet (Indonesian Potato Cakes with Corned Beef)
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- 2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced (about 2-3 mm thick)
- 3-4 tablespoon canned corned beef
- crispy shallot
- 1 egg, beaten
- ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, olive oil for frying and baking
I microwaved sliced potatoes on high for about 10 minutes, or until softened. They get a little watery after microwaving, thus, I drizzled a bit of olive oil and bake them in 200C oven until most of the liquid is gone (this way, it takes shorter time compared to baking the potatoes soft, and less greasy compared to deep frying the potatoes prior to mashing). Mash while the potato chunks are still warm (it's ok to leave a bit of chunks), add corned beef, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, crush some fried shallot into the mix (optional), and mix well. Roll about 1 tbsp of potato mix into a ball and flatten slightly. I refrigerated mine overnight, but if the potato balls are firm and dry enough, it is not necessary (I just couldn't risk another failure). Heat up oil for frying (medium heat), dip each potato cake into beaten egg and fry until golden brown. I've tried baking them, coating them in panko breadcrumbs etc, but nothing's as good as the authentic deep fried version ;)

My first successful perkedels! Yeahhhh~ it's a day to remember!

Baked Spam and Pineapple in Teriyaki Sauce

I've made this before...I liked it so much, I made it again! The recipe can be found here.

For dessert...I didn't wanna bake anything...I served a very summery Indonesian classic...
Iced Canned Fruit Mix

- 1 can of longan
- 1 can of lychee
- 1 can of rambutan
- ice, iced water
Mix the canned fruit with some of its syrup, add iced water and ice cubes until you achieve the desired level of sweetness, and serve ;)
Very very refreshing!

Could the above food (plus rice) serve 5 big eaters? Of course not! We also ordered 9 pieces of chicken from KFC with waffle fries ;) ...and we taught our Hong Kong friend to eat like a true Indonesian, i.e. plate instead of bowl, rice + corn + perkedel (carb+carb+carb), eat with your bare hand, shape rice and stuff into a small mountain, shove into mouth with your thumb...and don't forget...one leg up on the chair.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of that as my hand was dirty with food. The scene was priceless!

What the Locals Love - Satay King, Mongkok, Hong Kong

I am using the term "the locals" very loosely here.
We do have local food snobs too, those who only eat food from Robuchon, Caprice, Ming Court kinda locals, etc...
By "the locals" I meant hundreds of people who gave "yummy" icon to places like this, Satay King on openrice.com...
...and yes, by "the locals" I meant SC ^_*

This particular outlet of Satay King is tucked away at a corner of Ladies Market, Mongkok...the decor is...cheesy to say the least...and still, I couldn't help but wanting to be seated at one of those fancy sheer curtains decorated booths, or what "the locals" call "car seats". I bet I could get nice aerial view of Mongkok from those seats. Maybe next time :)


We ordered two of our favorite items from Satay King, first is Satay Beef Vermicelli.

The delightful bowl has a generous serving of vermicelli, thinly sliced fatty beef, and a good crunch from bean sprouts. The satay broth itself? Oh my gosh...rich, tasty, oily, lip-smacking, MSG-laden goodness.

Another favorite, Fried Pork Chop in White Curry Sauce with Rice.

Hong Kong style guilty pleasure at its best. Heavily spiced, meat-tenderized, super tasty deep fried pork chop, swimming in a pool of thick, MSG-rich, garlicky, creamy white curry gravy, topped with crispy shallot, thinly sliced onion and spring onion. I bet this gravy tastes fantastic on anything, it was unbelievably delicious with rice.

We knew we were guilty, so we tried to somehow "balance" it by ordering something with vegetables in it, the Broccoli with Crab Meat.

It arrives looking unexpectedly appetizing...and it didn't taste as bad as I imagined it to be...in fact, I was pleasantly surprised! The broccoli florets were perfectly cooked, and the crab meat and egg white gravy was rather yummy (I bet it's the MSG, but what the heck).

We shouldn't have ordered too much...but our "eyes" were hungry browsing the menu (as always), and we ordered a side of Shrimp Spring Rolls.

Actually, you can sprinkle whatever with MSG, wrap it in a spring roll wrapper, deep fry it and serve with miracle whip. It's bound to be good, right? Yes, these were okay, nothing ground-breaking or earth-shattering, it was just nice to have something long and crunchy to mop the white curry gravy clean ;)

We've ordered lychee and nata the coco soda and salty lemon 7-up, which were okay, at least there was something sweet and icy to help us cope with our MSG intake. The whole meal costs HK$166 (for two, but I bet what we ordered could easily feed three/four ^_*), and we were given a bottle of XO sauce as a gift.

Sweet!

Satay King (沙嗲王)
1/F, 24 Tung Choi Street, Mongkok
旺角山東街48號1樓
Tel: +852 2770 1711
Hong Kong

Click here for Satay King's other branches.