Simple Cooking Ideas

Tomato and pumpkin are bright colors of red and orange which are healthy and nutritious with Vitamin A and C, and a study says lycopene in tomatoes is a powerful antioxidant and may prevent prostate cancer and also some other forms of cancer. The pumpkin is versatile and widely used in both savoury and sweet dishes such as pumpkin pies, stews, stir-fries and soups. Pumpkin is also a powerful antioxidant and its seeds are rich in zinc.

Ingredients:

300 gm tomatoes cut into wedges
500 gm pumpkin, cut into cubes
1 big onion, cut into wedges
1.5 litre fresh chicken stock
1 small piece ginger
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped spring onion and parsley

Method:

Bring chicken stock to boil. Add in big onion, ginger, pumpkin and tomatoes. Boil on high heat until soup is bubbling and lower heat to simmer for 25 minute or until pumpkin is soft. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in spring onion and parsley when serve.

I use threadfin or kurau to cook this soup. You may cook this soup without oil. Just omit

browning the garlic. You can boil the bones and head first after seperate the flesh, so

that the soup is tastier.Use more ginger if you do not like the fishy smell.

Ingredients:

500 gm threadfin fish fillet
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 big onion cut into wedges
1 small piece ginger
2 tomatoes cut into wedges
2 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Garnish with chopped spring onion and Chinese celery

Method:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pot and fry the garlic till fragrant. Pour in about 2 litres of

water. Add the onion and ginger and also the bones and head. Bring to boil. Simmer till

the onions are fairly soft. Add the fish slices and tomatoes. Simmer until fish fillet is

cooked. Season with fish sauce and soy sauce. Garnish with chopped spring onion and

Chinese celery.

This soup is good and nourishing for the confinement mother. One whole black chicken is cut into six pieces and the skin is removed. Chicken and wine with water added to double-boil for at least three hours. Kei chee or medlar seeds are good for the eyes. This soup helps to speed up recovery during confinement. Do try this soup.

Ingredients:

1 black chicken, cut into 6 parts with skin removed
200 ml Benedictine D.O.M.
200 ml water
50 gm kei chee, washed cleaned

Method:

Put cleaned pieces of chicken, Benedictine D.O.M., water and kei chee into double boiler. Cover lid. If you use gas stove, bring water in double boiler to the boil and lower heat to simmer for three hours. Drink the soup warm.

Birds’ nest are very expensive and they are sold in Chinese Herbal Stores. Soak the birds’

nest in cold water and leave them overnight. Remove and discard any feathers, then rinse

and drain the nest again. Soak again in cold water until ready to cook.

Ingredients:

20 gm birds’ nest, soaked and cleaned
50 gm raw chicken meat
4 1/2 cups rich chicken stock
1 teaspoon cornflour with 1 tablespoon water to mix
1 beaten egg white

Method:

Drain the birds’nest and place in the pot. Add in the chicken stock and cover pot. Bring to

the boil then simmer in low heat for one hour. Add the chicken meat and boil for 3

minutes. Thicken the soup with cornflour and boil for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and

whisk in beaten egg white. Serve the soup in individual bowls and serve at once.

This is a fast and simple nourishing soup for a small family of five. Dried sugar cane is

used with ‘ mau kan’, a cooling herb. Fresh corns or maize, carrots are added too. So this

soup helps in the balance of yin and yang in our body.

Ingredients:

100 gm dried sugar cane
50 gm ‘mau kan’
300 gm peeled water chest nut,
2 fresh maize, cut into halves
1 carrot, cut into wedges
2 pieces chicken carcass. cleaned and chopped into pieces
1 piece dried squid, grilled and washed
3 liters water

Method:

Boil some water in a sauce pan. Blanch the chicken bones in boiling water and drain. In

another pot, put in 3 liters water. Bring to boil and add in the bones and the dried squid.

Cover and boil for 10 minutes. Then add in the rest of the ingredients. Cover and continue to boil
on high heat. When the conbined ingredients are boiling , simmer in low heat

for 2 hours.Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on individual bowls while is hot.

Do try this quick soup with a preparation time only 5 minutes and cooking time 5 minutes.

This dish serves four persons. It is very nourishing too.

Ingredients:

100 gm. cooked crab meat bought in a supermarket.
3 to 4 cups chicken stock, from 1 chicken and water
100 gm frozen sweet corn, bought in the supermarket
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon rice wine or ginger sherry
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornflour with 1 tablespoon water

Method:

Bring the chicken stock to boil. Add sweet corn and bring to boil again. Meanwhile add the

egg white to the crab meat and blend together evenly and set aside.

Add salt and pepper, sesame oil and wine. Blend the cornflour with water and add to the

stock. Continue to simmer.

Finally add the crab meat and egg white mixture; bring to boil for 1/2 a minute and serve hot.

This soup call the ‘Ning Shen’ soup has the following herbs: pak kay, wai san, yok chok, preserved tangerine peel, pak hup and kei chee. It is good for anyone under stress and strain. The soup is best boiled in a big clay pot and the whole family, kids and adults can have a bowl each.

Ingredients:

1 packet ‘ning shen’herbs bought in Chinese Drug Store
1 black chicken, cleaned and keep it whole
2.5 litre water
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Soak the herbs for about 10 minutes. Drain and put in the claypot. Add two and half litres water. Cover and bring to boil. When the water boils, lift the cover and put in the chicken. Put back the cover and boil on high heat until the the contents are boiling. Lower the heat and simmers for 3 to 4 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve one bowl per person.