Cooking a storm

Hubby had to stay home from work on Monday because he started being sick on Sunday night. I am pretty sure he is heaty (Chinese believe) and to make things worst he had curry for dinner that night.

Monday morning when I got up I knew that hubby was not going to go to work because he was coughing all night and he didn't sound good. He was so tired too and he looked like he didn't have any strength to do anything.

I went downstairs to the kitchen and started preparing his porridge/congee. I used ground pork and I added some carrots for extra vitamins. I quickly made some red dates drink for us too.

Red Dates Drink

Ingredients
Handful of Red Dates
Handful of Black Dates
Handful of Kei Zhi
Rock Sugar
Water
Method
1) Clean dates and put it in the pot. Then add Kei Zhi
2) Put enough water and boil.
3) When is boiling add Rock Sugar and sweetened to your preference.
4) I boil mine for about an hour and put it in the thermal insulated pot after that for it to cook by it self.

I make this drink all the time. Is simple and I have all the ingredients on hand. I normally boil a big pot and then pour it into water bottles and put it in the refrigerator and drink it like I would drink water. Hubby is not a great fan of these but since he's sick I forced him to drink a big glass of it. Technically if you have honey dates it would be better than red dates but I cannot find honey dates in the Asian stores here. My mum said that she would get me some when ever she comes or when I go home next.

For me the thermal pot is like GOD sent from heaven. I love my thermal insulated pot is so handy and it saves me time and gas/electricity to cook the food. Well for my case is not GOD sent is actually my parents that bought it for me :P. It is not cheap at all the one that they bought me cost them about USD150 and I've seen it in the Asian grocery store for the same price. I love it so much that I'm think of getting another one but at this moment I don't need another one and hubby would ngam ngam cham cham (grumble) if I buy another one! If I ever work full time I might consider getting one more. We'll see if/when I start working full time.

*this is NOT an advertisement*

In the afternoon I decided to leave the hubs so he can rest while I did some grocery shopping. After I came home I decided to make some yogurt Popsicle because I knew hubby is going to want to snack on something hence I want to make him healthier snack.

Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup fresh fruit or frozen fruit, your choice of blueberries, strawberries, cherries, etc
2 tablespoons honey
4 wooden Popsicle sticks or plastic spoons
4 paper cups, 5 ounce size
aluminum foil

Method
1. Place the yogurt, fruit (slightly thawed if using frozen) and honey in a blender.
2. Blend to desired consistency (some kids like the fruit chunky and others like it smooth).
3. Pour into paper cups, filling them 3/4 full.
4. Cover the cups with foil. Make slits in the center of the foil covers and insert the Popsicle sticks.
5. Put in the freezer for about 5 hours or until frozen solid.
6. When ready, peel off the paper cup and eat.

*You could use plastic Popsicle mould like I did if you had them too. I would suggest getting one from the dollar store or something because is so handy and you can use it many time also it is better for the environment.

This time I used the frozen strawberries that I had in the freezer. I am going to make some mango ones soon. I don't think hubby would eat the mango Popsicle hence it would only be for me. When he's done with the one in the freezer I will make more strawberries one for him because I still have some frozen strawberries in the freezer. If you have kids or even adults you could make this for them especially in this hot summer days.

Since hubby still had a bowl of porridge left from the morning I decided to cook myself something to eat in the evening.

Pineapple Fried Rice with Shrimp adapted from My Asian Kitchen

Ingredients:
2 medium bowl jasmine cooked rice(overnight preferred)
20 medium shelled and clean shrimp
1 ct ripe pineapple ( remove the flesh,eyes and left the hollowed out shell)(I used about 3/4 can of pineapple)
1/1 lb bean sprout,clean
2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
4 eggs
1 large onion,peeled and diced
1 cup green pea (I used frozen mixed vegetables)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp white pepper powder
3 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1:Heat wok or large skillet at medium heat with oil.When wok is hot enough crack in eggs and scramble for 1 minutes,dish out set aside.

2:Use the same wok,then drizzle some oil,add in diced onion and shrimp,stir -fry for 30 seconds or until shrimp curl.

3:Add in rice,mixed vegetables,seasoning and pineapple.Toss the ingredients at high heat for 5 minutes,then add in scramble eggs and bean sprout. Check the taste.

4:Dish out and place in pineapple shell.Serve warm.

I've been meaning to try this recipe ever since I saw it because I love pineapple fried rice. I even bought a whole pineapple but I'm waiting for it to ripe to make this fried rice but I have half a bag of sprouts that needs to be used up soon so I decided to just use can pineapple instead. I did not have a lot of prawns/shrimp in my freezer hence I only used what I had therefore you cannot really see my shrimp in my rice.

This was really good but like other recipes that I've tried it doesn't taste like the ones in the restaurant because we don't use MSG like them however it was still good and it's a healthier version for us to eat.

I decided to make some sambal to go with my fried rice because I'm a typical Malaysian that cannot eat anything without chili.

Sambal Belacan adapted by Lily

Ingredients:

5 fresh red chillies - cut small
2 chilly padi(optional)
1 sq inch x 1/4 inch thick raw belacan or 2 tsp belacan powder.
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
lime juice.

Method:
1. Grill raw belacan until it is dried and fragrant. (i will wrap with paper kitchen towel and microwave 1 minute at the time until it can be crumbled)

2. I do not own a mortar so i use the chopper. Chop everything up except the lime juice.

3. Serve with lime juice. adjust the taste as some belacan can be very salty.

I am very fortunate that my mom fried a bottle of Sambal belachan for me therefore I have one bottle that is ready to use. When I was living up North I had no way or frying the belachan without making the house stink and I did it once when I was living alone. It was summer at that time and it also attracted a lot of flies. I never did that anymore therefore my mom decided to cook the belachan for me first. I can actually make my own now because beachlovekicthen actually thought me and gave me idea to cook the belachan outside on the grill. So when I'm done with the batch of belachan my mom made for me I'll try her method instead what more I'm not living in Houston and the weather is not always that cold outside.

Homemade Chocolate Milk Shake

Hubby loves Chocolate milk shakes especially during the hot summer days. I've been telling him that I will make him homemade ones but I've never tried or actually made him one. Earlier I told him that I had a craving for Strawberry malt and was thinking of going to get some. I was too lazy to get out of the house and hubby wanted chocolate malt/milk shake instead so I decided to try making him a chocolate milk shake.

Chocolate Milk Shake
Ingredients
1 cup of Milk
1 cup of ice
2-3tbsp of chocolate syrup (I added a little more. I just squirt it in)
1 scoop of chocolate/vanilla ice cream (I only had butter pecan ice cream so I used that)

Method
In a blender, combine ice cream, chocolate syrup, milk and crushed ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

This milk shake is super simple and hubby loves it. I've made this 3 times in an hour. Now hubby don't have to always buy milk shakes from the fast food places anymore which is so full of sugar. I have most of the ingredients in my house all the time anyway so I can make it anytime when he wants it.