On A Rainy Day...

... we have stew to warm our tummies.

This evening brings a nice nice rain to cool down the house, water all the trees and plants in the garden and made me real lazy to cook :)

So i made a pot of chicken stew. Here are the main characters... tadaaaaaaaaaaa!

1. Some pieces of chicken (i used the chicken thighs which are deboned by the nice auntie at the market)... cut the chicken to smaller pieces and marinate with some salt and pepper + a wee bit of corn flour to soften it.
2. carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and a ms sweet potato
3. big red onion, some cloves of garlic and a knob of ginger
4. 2-3 pieces of dry chili (we had some dried chili from China that my aunt gave me.. which is really really hot.. i only used 2 pieces :o
   
5. 1 piece of fresh parsley leaf (my uncle gave me a pot and told me its parsley) but it sure does not look like the parsley i know... hmmmm.. i'll take a picture of it tomorrow and show you guys.. mebbe someone can tell me what it is.. :)
6. some dried spices.. urmmm.. i just put some rosemary and basil.. i didn't know which to use.. so i use both.. hahahhahahaha
7. some oysters sauce and some tomato sauce

I think that sums up the characters for the pot of stew. You can add other vegetables or celery sticks or whatever that you like.

Here's how i cook my stew.

1. Put some oil on a wok... put no (3) and stir stir stir... :)
   
2. When its smelling fragrant... put in no (1) and stir stir stir... add a few drops of sesame oil, a pinch of salt and some coarse pepper + no (4) too.
   
3. Dump in no (2) and stir stir stir too... add a wee bit of water so it doesn't get stuck.. my cooking gets stuck all the time *LOL*
4. Transfer the stuffs on the wok into a pot... and add in enough water to cover all them stuffs. While letting it boil, go out and play with Dommy for a while but don't water the plants... (cos that will take too long)
5. Come back to you pot of gurgling stuffs and poke the potatoes and carrots.. if they are cooked n softer than earlier... add in no (7). Oyster sauce should be added only after the stuffs are cooked. (don't ask me why.. that's what my aunt told me)
6. Put in no (5) and (6)... boil for a while and that's the end :)
   

The colour doesn't look very appealing.. hehhehehe but it tasted ok la. You can eat it with bread or white rice. Dad had it with rice and a bit of bread. I had it with rice cos i am a rice person (i go weak without rice). Boy had it with bread only.

I don't like to put too much tomato sauce cos it will make it too tangy. You can add loads of other stuffs in as well. Do share with us your version of a homemade stew :)

Mine turns out quite differently each time *LOL* I am never consistent when it comes to cooking. Today's one was surprisingly sweeter than usual. Maybe it was the ms sweet potato :D

Happy trying.

Potato Beef Patties

This is one of Boy's favourite dish. And i cook it all the time because its fast. So here i am, leaving his favourite dishes/recipes here for him for future reference (if he decides to cook one day).

Potato Beef Patties

1. Boil some potatoes with skin intact for 15mins.
2. Drain it and peel off the skin. Mash the potatoes in the pot itself. Add a pinch of salt, some pepper, minced shallots and garlic, 2-3 few drops of Maggi seasoning (optional)
   
3. Open a can of corn beef and scoop 3 big spoons of corn beef into the potatoes.
4. Add a few drops of sesame oil.
5. A little bit of corn flour.
6. One egg.
7. Mix them all together and let it set for a while.
8. Heat up the pan. Put some oil. Let it all warm up and spoon a tablespoon of the mixture to make small pieces of patties.
   
9. Deep fried them for a while or until brown.

Corn beef in a can is already cooked. So the frying is quite fast. You can use minced chicken / pork / beef. You can bake it in an oven too. Just scoop a spoonful of the mixture on a dish and bake them like cookies :D Just put a bit of oil or butter.

Here's how mine looks. They don't look very appealing... and uniformed.. hahhahahaa.. but its nice laa when you are famished *LOL*

tadaaaaaaaaaaa!

Today i added a brown sauce to go with it so its not too dry.

Stir-fry some onions in a little bit of oil. In a bowl, mix some corn flour, water, dark soya sauce, a dash of light soya sauce and a pinch of salt.

As you can see below, i added a wee bit too much dark soya sauce... so my sauce is a bit darrrkkkk.. hehhehehee.. but ok laa.. its still edible. And you don't choke on the meat when its too dry. So a brown sauce complements this dish.

Happy trying folks. Its actually very delicious when you are hungry and goes well with rice. Children loves this meat patties.

Note to Boy (the future one who will be cooking one day)
Don't add too many drops of the Maggi seasoning. Few drops is enough. A dash or two only.