Happy Call Pan Diced Potatoes and Peas with Minced Pork

A simple dish to be eaten with rice, this dish is so easy to do with the HCP!

Ingredients:

2 potatoes, diced
100g minced pork, marinated with light soya sauce, cornflour, pepper, and sesame oil (about 1 tsp each, or to taste)
1/2 an onion, chopped
Frozen green peas
1 tbl cornflour + 1/4 cup cool water
Pepper and Salt to taste

Method:
1. Into the pan goes the potato with a bit of oil. Then lower the heat to have it bake/cook until half done.

2. Once the potato is done, remove it from the pan and fry the onion. I closed the pan to sweat the onions a bit before stirring it around.

3. And then, the minced pork which has been marinated with light soya sauce, some cornflour, pepper and sesame oil goes in to be fried. I added a bit of cooking oil to break up the minced pork.

4. Once the meat is in this stage, in goes the potato and peas to be cooked until the potatoes are done. Do add in a little water to create a steamy environment for the ingredients to incorporate. Also, add in pepper and salt to taste.

5. Once the potatoes are soft enough, add in a mix of cornflour and water, and stir it up to thicken the dish.

Done! :)

6. Serve with rice.

Brenda's Bergerdils

Otherwise known as potato patties, these Bergerdils are easy to make and oh-so-yummy! The addition of chopped onions into the patties give these little potatoes a nice kick.

Brenda's Bergerdils
Ingredients
3 largish Russet Burbank potatoes (steamed and peeled)
3 1/2 tbsp dried shrimps (washed, blended, and fried with a very little amount of oil)
1onion, chopped
1 egg
1/2 tsp pepper
3 pieces of cream crackers, crushed (I use Hup Seng brand, and they come in packs of 3 crackers. See pic below.)

1 egg beaten with 40ml water for coating
Oil for deep frying

Method
1. Mash the potatoes and leave them to cool. You don’t have to mash them especially fine.
2. Throw in the dried shrimps, onion, crushed cream crackers (hey, alliteration! *g* I just smash the packet around and throw in the crushed crumbs into the mix), egg and pepper into the potato and mix the lot well. The ingredients flavour the potato enough that you do not have to add any more salt.
3. I like even-sized bergerdils, so I weigh them to about 50g and shape them into flattened balls. It helps in shaping if your hands are slightly wet, so after shaping about 3 or 4 bergerdils, I wash my hands to wet them. If you're making these as finger food, weigh them in at about 30g to make smaller bergerdils.

4. In a wok or pan, make sure the oil reaches about half the height of the bergerdil. Since most of the ingredients of the bergerdil cooks rather fast, the idea is to brown the bergerdil, rather than to deep fry them.
5. Dip the bergerdil into egg mixture and fry till golden brown.

6. Once removed from the wok, let the bergerdils cool on a wire rack to retain most of its outer crisp. You can eat the bergerdil warm or at room temperature (although I love eating them warm).

Bergerdils make excellent party food because they can be made in advance and warmed up before serving. And who doesn't love fried potatoes? heh

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Delicious over rice, this baked Teriyaki Chicken is quite simple to make.

Terikayi Chicken
Ingredients:
1 pieces of Chicken thighs (Or any other meaty parts, or boneless parts if you like)

Marinate:
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cooking oil

Teriyaki Sauce:
3 tbsp mirin
1 1/2 tbsp Kikkoman sauce
2 tbsp Japanese sake
1 or 1 1/2 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you want)
50 ml of water

Method:
1. Marinate the chicken with the marinate ingredients for at least an hour. It's best if it's marinated overnight.
2. Bake the chicken on a wire rack in the oven set at 200 deg C, for about 10 minutes on each side. Use the leftover marinate to baste the chicken while baking.
3. While chicken is being baked, put all the ingredients for the Teriyaki Sauce into a frying pan and allow the mixture to simmer. Once the sauce thickens to your liking and taste, put the sauce aside.
4. Arrange the baked chicken pieces on a plate and pour the Teriyaki Sauce over the chicken. Serve hot with rice.

Chinese Style Steamed Eggs

Oh, this is one dish that is so easy to make, but so delicious with rice. The egg turns out as smooth as silken toufu, with a savoury, fragrant aroma.

In addition, you can add whatever ingredients to the egg mix you fancy - it only depends on what's available in your fridge, and what your tastebuds clamour for.

I've got two recipes here, but the basic steam egg preparation is as follows:
1. 1 egg to 100ml of water (or Chicken stock. The amount is 1 egg to 100ml of liquid.)
2. Pepper and Salt to taste
3. A bit of Chinese cooking wine for fragrance
4. Fried shallots, a teaspoon of sesame oil and spring onions for garnishing.

The method is to simply beat items 1-3 and pass the mixture through a sieve into a dish for steaming. The sieve will remove most of the bubbles so that you get a smooth texture for the egg. After that, you can then arrange the other ingredients you want into the dish.

Finally, the crucial step is in the steaming of the egg itself. Make sure that the dish is covered when steaming. This helps prevent water condensing onto the egg mix, and scarring it; ensuring a shine to the egg. Steam with a very low flame - which means that you should not hear the rapid boiling of water that you usually do when steaming other dishes. Steam until the egg is set, which can be between 15-20 minutes, depending on the amount you made and the size of your wok/steamer.

You can check whether the egg is set by using a knife and poking the centre of the dish. It's done when the egg doesn't run.

Steamed Eggs with Mushroom and Toufu
Ingredients:
3 Eggs
200ml water
100ml Chicken stock (I use the liquid Knorr Chicken stock from the box.)
1 tsp Hua Tiao cooking wine
Pepper and salt to taste
2 dried Shitake mushroom, soaked to soften and sliced
1 box Silken Toufu

Method:
1. Assemble the egg mix as explained above.
2. Arrange the mushroom and toufu as desired.
3. Cover the dish and steam for about 15 to 20 minutes on a low fire, until the egg is set.
4. Garnish with fried shallot, sesame oil and chopped spring onions. You might want to garnish with sliced fresh chilli if you like it spicy.

Steamed Eggs with Quails' Eggs and Toufu

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
200ml water
100ml Chicken stock (I use the liquid Knorr Chicken stock from the box.)
1 tsp Hua Tiao cooking wine
Pepper and salt to taste
6 Quails' Eggs, hardboiled and shelled
1 box Silken Toufu
1 Salted egg yolk

Method:
1. Assemble the egg mix as explained above.
2. Arrange the toufu and quails' eggs as desired. You don't have to stop at 6 eggs - any number is fine. *winks* Put the salted egg yolk in the centre of the dish.
3. Cover the dish and steam for about 15 to 20 minutes on a low fire, until the egg is set.
4. Garnish with fried shallot, sesame oil and chopped spring onions. You might want to garnish with sliced fresh chilli if you like it spicy.


The list of ingredients to add to the egg is really up to the imagination. You might want to try:

• Crabsticks
• Button mushrooms
• Sliced fish (like threadfins)
• Sliced fish cakes (especially those cute Japanese patterned ones)
• Sliced meat (marinated with a little light soy sauce for between 10 to 30 minutes)
• Gingko nuts
• Wolfberries
• Broccoli
• Carrot strips