Sweet Potato Soup

The sweet potato is one plant that has helped many families survived through the war many years ago. The young leaves of the vine were fried whilst the root became the staple in place of rice. At times when rice was available, my grandmother would make sweet potato porridge to feed the brood.

The sweet potato is rich in Vitamin A (beta carotene) and Vitamin C which are powerful antioxidants that work in the body to remove free radicals. I always recommend it for better bowel movements due to its high fiber content. I normally cook it as a dessert soup.

Sweet Potato Soup



1 kg sweet potato (yellow variety)
1 kg sweet potato (purple variety)
10 tbsp sugar
50 gm sago, soaked for 20 min
5 screw pine leaves, knotted
1 thumb size old ginger, mashed
3 liter water

1. Put ginger and screw pine leaves with water in pot to boil.
2. Peel and cut sweet potato into cubes.
3. Add to pot with sugar and cover to boil.
4. When sweet potato soften, stir in the sago.
5. Once sago turn transparent, switch off fire.
6. Serve hot.

Steamed Minced Pork

When I don't feel like cooking fish but still want to do a meat dish by steaming, the minced pork becomes the natural choice. This is a very tasty and fast dish to cook with minimal effort.




Steamed Minced Pork



300 gm minced pork
1 tsp toong choy (preserved Chinese cabbage)
1 tsp onion oil
spring onion, chopped
1/2 tsp tapioca flour
pepper, soy sauce, salt

1. Marinate the pork with some salt, soy sauce and pepper.
2. Add the tapioca flour and mix well.
3. Rinse and squeeze dry the toong choy and mix into the pork together evenly.
4. Add the onion oil.
5. Place onto the steaming tray and cook with the rice in the rice cooker. (Otherwise, steam over boiling water at medium heat for about 20 minutes)
6. Garnish with the chopped spring onions.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Chicken Porridge

Whenever I feel like cooking a simple and quick meal especially during this rainy season, the chicken porridge always come to mind. It's very easy to prepare and my daughter would help as she loves to tear the boiled chicken fillet to shreds, sometimes too fine for the porridge!

Chicken Porridge


6 pieces chicken fillet
2 cups rice
1 thumb-size old ginger, smashed
1/2 bowl shredded young ginger
3 stalk spring onions, sliced thinly
sesame oil, salt, soy sauce, pepper
3 liter water

1. Cook the clean chicken fillet in a pot of boiling water with some salt.
2. Dish out and drain the chicken for shredding.
3. Wash the rice and put into the pressure cooker with the smashed ginger and water from the boiled chicken.
4. Boil over high flame till the second red indicator ring is visible.
5. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from fire.
7. Serve the porridge with shredded chicken, ginger and spring onions on top.
8. Sprinkle with pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce to taste.

Radish Soup

The white radish or lo bak in Cantonese is also known as Daikon in Japanese. It looks like a cross between a white carrot and a turnip. It is the root of a plant that is related closely to mustard and has a slight peppery flavor. It can be eaten raw as an appetizer or in salads. Always choose the firm, smooth-skinned ones with no cracks or blemishes.


The radish is rich in vitamins A, B, C, D, E and a host of other minerals such as sulphur, iron, and iodine, potassium, magnesium and folate. It has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

The Chinese however, believes that if you have taken some nourishing herbs earlier, always wait a few days before you consume radish as it negates or neutralizes the benefits of your herbs.

Radish Soup



300gm radish
200 gm spareribs or lean meat
1 carrot
1 piece dried orange peel, 1 inch length
6 red dates
1/2 tsp peppercorn, slightly crushed
1 tsp salt
2 liter water

1. Remove the skin from the radish and carrot and cut into small sections.
2. Put all the ingredients into the pressure cooker.
3. Boil over high heat till the second red indicator ring is visible.
4. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Remove from fire.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Stir Fried Chicken with Spring Onions and Ginger

Many a time when we have Sunday lunch in a typical Chinese restaurant, somehow we would always end up ordering a dish called ginger spring onions fish slices. I've also come across some eateries where they offer this as a single item served with rice.

For my recipe, I'm using chicken fillet as it is more easily available from the market.

Stir Fried Chicken with Spring Onions and Ginger



300 gm spring onions, cleaned and cut to 1 inch length
50 gm carrot, shredded
200 gm chicken fillet, sliced thin
20 gm young ginger, sliced thin
2 shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp oil
salt, pepper, sugar, water

1. Pan fry the ginger slices lightly in an oil-free wok and set aside.
2. Heat oil and saute the shallots and garlic with the ginger.
3. Add in spring onions and fry till fragrant
4. Add the chicken, some salt and oyster sauce and stir fry until the chicken changes color.
5. Sprinkle some sugar, pepper and water for seasoning.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Wan Yee (雲耳)Soup

Time and again when I run out of soup to cook, I would rummage through the pantry cabinet for ingredients to make some kind of soup. There is always some dried stuff like the black cloud-ears fungus wan yee (雲耳) which is crispy, yet absorbs soup flavors beautifully.

Actually, the hubby loves to drink this kind of Hokkien soup which is never in my Cantonese cooking vocabulary. Of course, I would try to make it palatable to my taste buds as well!

Wan Yee Soup



1/2 bowl dried wan yee
3 pieces seafood tofu, cut to smaller pieces
1 thumb-size ginger, smashed
1 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp dried shrimp
1 egg
salt, sesame oil, pepper
2 liter water

1. Soak wan yee for 1/2 hour and cut into smaller pieces.
2. Boil water with ginger in the pot.
3. Add in dried shrimp and wan yee and cover to boil.
4. Add in the tofu.
5. Break the egg into the soup.
6. Add spring onions, salt, sesame oil and pepper to taste.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Stir Fried Sui Kua

The sui kua or Buddha's palm is a gourd that looks like a big guava fruit. It is one vegetable that I can keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks without it decaying (of course, must store in the aluminium coated bag). It's very easy to cook and the vegetable is crunchy to eat.


Stir Fried Sui Kua


1 piece sui kua
1 tsp carrot, shredded
1 tsp dried shrimp
1 teaspoon ginger, shredded
2 shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
salt, sugar, sesame oil, water

1. Peel the skin of sui kua, remove the seed and cut into shreds.
2. Heat wok with oil.
3. Saute the ginger, shallots, dried shrimp and garlic till fragrant.
4. Add the carrot and sui kua and stir fry with salt and sesame oil for a while.
5. Cover with sufficient water and simmer until the sui kua is soft.
6. Stir in spring onions and flavor with sugar to taste.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Assam Laksa

I was given a packet of Sunbeam Assam Laksa paste recently and had my first hand cooking this Penang hawker specialty food. The instant paste really made short work of the preparation for the fish based tamarind soup as in the famous Penang laksa.

Since I couldn't find any mackerel in the market I just opened a can of sardines and kept the tomato sauce for future use.

Assam Laksa




1 kg thick noodles
1 can sardines, use only the fish
1 cucumber, shredded
1 bunch mint leaves, use only the leaves
1 big onion, sliced thinly
1 red chili, cut into small slices
3 hard-boiled eggs, cut half
2 lime, sliced into 2
2 liter water
salt, sugar
har koh (shrimp paste)

1. Mix assam laksa paste with 1 liter water in a cooking pot and boil for 5 minutes.
2. Put in the sardines and bring to boil.
3. Adjust gravy to taste before removing from heat.
4. Blanch the rice noodles in a wok of boiling water and drained well with a sieve.
5. Prepare individual soup bowl with noodles.
6. Scoop the hot gravy with sardine on top of the noodles.
7. Garnish with the shredded cucumber, mint leaves, sliced onions, chillies, hard-boiled egg and prawn paste.
8. Squeeze some lime, if desired.

Fried Yau Mak with Fu Yue

I like eating vegetables, especially the leafy ones. Lettuce is one of my favorites. There are many varieties of lettuce around and most of them can be eaten raw or cooked.

Romaine or cos lettuce or yau mak is a type of lettuce which grows in a long head of sturdy leaves with a firm rib down the center. Unlike most lettuces, it is tolerant of heat.

The Chinese restaurants usually fry the yau mak with fu yue. This is one of the simplest dish to cook, plain vegetables, yummy and crispy.


Fried Yau Mak with Fu Yue



400 gm yau mak
2 cubes fu yue, fermented bean curd
6 cloves garlic, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, shredded
2 shallots, sliced
oil, sugar

1. Heat oil in wok.
2. Fry the sliced garlic till golden brown and dish out.
3. Next, saute the ginger, shallots and garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in the fu yue, mashing it and fry until aromatic.
5. Sprinkle some sugar on the fu yue.
6. Add in the yau mak and toss fry for a minute.
7. Dish out and garnish with the fried sliced garlic.
8. Serve hot with rice.