Fried Rice with Baby Anchovies

Although we eat fried rice frequently, I always cook it differently, using a variety of ingredients, mixing and matching so that it is appetizing and refreshing each time.

There are many types of meat that we can use: prawns, chicken, pork or char siew. Today, I'm using something different though, baby anchovies.


Anchovies are tiny, silvery saltwater fish related to the herring and is a good source of calcium, iron and phosphorus, vitamin B3, potassium, protein, niacin and selenium. They are, however high in cholesterol and sodium.

Fried Rice with Baby Anchovies or Ikan Bilis


5 bowls of leftover rice
100 gm baby anchovies
100 gm mixed vegetables
3 shallots, sliced
1/2 tsp shredded ginger
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp of sesame oil
3 tbsp cooking oil
4 eggs
Salt, pepper

1. Fry the anchovies dry in the wok.
2. Add 1 tabsp oil and fry till crispy.
3. Dish out.
4. Heat another tabsp oil in the wok.
5. Saute the ginger, shallots and garlic till fragrant.
6. Add the mixed vegetables and stir fry a minute with some salt.
7. Add the rice, sesame oil and some salt, break up any crumbs while frying.
8. Push the rice mixture to the side of the wok.
9. Add remaining oil in the center of wok.
10. Break the eggs in slowly.
11. Sprinkle some pepper and salt onto the eggs and let it cook a while.
12. Mix the rice into the eggs well.
13. Mix in half the anchovies and dish out rice.
14. Serve hot with remaining anchovies on top and tomato and cucumber slices.

Stir Fried Baby French Beans

French beans or Kacang Buncis are delicious tasting, better than the long beans anytime. They are a leguminuous vegetable containing high protein and plenty of vitamins A, C, iron, calcium, phosphorus & folate.


The French beans or kuai tau in Malaysia are generally green but there are also different types such as yellow, purple, reddish or purplish spots or stripes varieties. When cooking we need to snip the top and tail of the beans and remove the strings on the side.


My son loves all kinds of beans , particularly the baby french beans which are sweet and crunchy. They are however not easily available in the market and also relatively more expensive than the normal matured french beans.

Stir Fried Baby French Beans


400 gm baby french beans,
200 gm prawns
1/2 tsp ginger, shredded
1 tsp carrot, shredded
2 shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp oil
salt, sesame oil, water

1. Snip off the ends from the french beans.(No need to cut)
2. Heat oil in the wok.
3. Saute the ginger, shallots and garlic till fragrant.
4. Fry the prawns for a minute and dish out.
5. Lightly fry the carrot and baby french beans with some salt, sesame oil until they change color, sprinkling some water if necessary.
6. Mix back the prawns.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Fried Kuey Teow 炒粿条

I remembered during my teenage years, my sister and I would always be in the kitchen every Sunday cooking brunch for the whole family. There was routinely a sweet soup with fried noodles, mee hoon or lou shi fun which was fried in bulk or whole.



The fried kuey teow 炒粿条 which uses flat rice noodles (河粉) however, must always be fried individually to ensure freshness and to cater to individual preference, just like at the Char Kuey Teow stall. One sibling would want more garlic or more bean sprouts or more cockles while another might not want any cockles at all.

Nowadays I don't use any cockles due of its association with hepatitis A and also lard is not used anymore for its high cholesterol content.

Fried Kuey Teow 炒粿条


100 gm kuey teow 粿条
100 gm bean sprouts
5 slices of fish cake
5 prawns, shelled
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
2 tablespoon oil
Salt, pepper
1 egg
light soy sauce, black sauce, oyster sauce and 1 teasp water, mixed

1. Heat oil in the wok.
2. Fry shallots till golden brown.
3. Add the chopped garlic and saute till fragrant.
4. Fry the prawns till just cooked and keep aside.
5. Add the fish cake and bean sprouts and fry briskly for a minute.
6. Add the kuey teow loosely.
7. Mix in the sauce.
8. Stir fry quickly for a minute and push to the side.
9. Break an egg in the center with some salt and pepper.
10. Let the egg cook a while before mixing everything together.
11. Dish out and serve hot.

This portion serves 1-2 persons.

Mixed Vegetables Soup

I always stock a few packets of mixed vegetables in the freezer. These peas, diced carrots and corn come in very handy when I want to fry rice or make some salad. They can also be used in soup.


This is undoubtedly one of the simpliest soup to make. Instead of making ABC soup which consists of a lot of stuff, I decided to make a very light and easy soup today, no hassle and especially when the kids had a lot of snacks just before dinner.

Mixed Vegetables Soup


1 bowl of mixed vegetables
100 gm pork, sliced
1 teaspoon toong choy (preserved Chinese cabbage)
1 egg
1 small piece ginger, smashed
2 liter water
salt, sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper

1. Marinate the pork with salt, soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil.
2. Place toong choy, ginger and water into the pot and bring to boil.
3. Toss pork in tapioca flour and stir into stock.
4. Add in the mixed vegetables.
5. Bring to boil.
6. Break the egg into the soup and add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Lap Cheong 腊肠 with Ngah Gu芽菇

Chinese New Year has come and gone in a wink of the eye. I still have some of the traditional dried foodstuff in the fridge, especially bundles of Chinese sausage or lap cheong 腊肠 and kwai fah yoke 桂 花 肉 (something like dried meat but thicker) which is not available during normal days.


Fortunately I managed to get some arrowhead bulbs or ngah gu 芽菇 from the wet market and here's to having a simple steamed dish from the new year's cuisine.

Steamed Lap Cheong with Ngah Gu


1 string lap cheong 腊肠
2 pcs kwai fah yoke 桂 花 肉
8 pcs ngah gu 芽菇

1. Peel the ngah gu and put on top of the lap cheong and kwai fah yoke in the serving plate.
2. 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)
3. Take out and slice the meat and ngah gu.
4. Serve hot with rice.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 is a popular Chinese herbal soup concoction in Malaysia and Singapore. Cooking this soup has hubby's reminiscence of his dad's only-one-time cooking bat kut teh from scratch where the herbs are boiled with sugar cane juice for hours to bring out the unique flavor.


Nowadays it is much more convenient because we can find instant packets of bak kut teh from the shops or supermarkets. They come in tea bags and usually consist of the following herbs:-

Angelica Sinensis (dong quai or female ginseng)当归 ,
Polyonatum Odoratum (Solomon's Seal or yoke chok)玉竹
Cinnamonum Aromaticum (Cassia or yoke kuai)玉桂
Lycii Fructus (wolfberry or kei chi)枸杞
Piper Nigrum L (white pepper)白胡椒
Codonopsis Pilosulae (dong sum)党参
Glycyrrhizae Preparata (Liquorice Root)甘 草
Ligustici Wallichii (Chuan Xiong)川芎
Star Anise八角


The hubby recently bought two different packets of Bak Kut Teh. While reviewing the instructions which say only 1.5 liter of water for each packet mix and since I have six mouths to feed with each person having two bowls of the soup, I combined the two packets together for this meal.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶


2 pkts Bak Kut Teh herbs mix
1 kg pork ribs
3 whole garlic
12 pcs dried shitake mushroom, soaked 2 hours and squeezed
1 pkt enoki mushroom
16 pcs tofu pok
1 tsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 liter water
salt to taste

1. Put all ingredients into the pressure cooker.
2. Boil over high flame till the second red indicator ring appears.
3. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from fire.
5. Serve hot with rice.

Clean Your Canned Food

A recent email from a friend prompted today's sharing of a potential health hazard which affects all of us.

Every fortnight or so I would visit the hypermarket to replenish provisions and other household items. Amongst the many foodstuff that we purchased are canned food and drinks, packets or boxes of cereals, bottled stuff like sauces and condiments which are packed in some form or other.


As soon as everything has been unloaded from the car, they are wiped with a damp cloth to rid the surface of any dust or grime. Furthermore, everyone in the family has been trained to wash the can or bottle before opening it.


As a matter of fact, the wiping is not limited to only foodstuff; all packages are cleaned, be they toilet rolls, tissue boxes, hand creams or shampoo bottles before they are stored!


Reading the following story makes it all the more valid to properly clean all packaging before storing and using the products. Better be safe than sorry!


A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom in Maui , Hawaii .

When he got back, he was complaining that the storeroom was really filthy and that he had noticed dried mouse/rat droppings in some areas.
A couple of days later, he started to feel like he was coming down with a stomach flu, complained of sore joints and headaches, and began to vomit.

He went to bed and never really got up again. Within two days he was severely ill and weak. His blood sugar count was down to 66, and his face and eyeballs were yellow. He was rushed to the emergency at Pali-Momi, where he was diagnosed to be suffering from massive organ failure. He died shortly before midnight.

No one would have made the connection between his job and his death, had it not been for a doctor who specifically asked if he had been in a warehouse or exposed to dried rat/mouse droppings at any time. They said there is a virus (much like the Hanta virus) that lives in dried rat and mouse droppings.

Once dried, these droppings are like dust and can easily be breathed in or ingested if a person does not wear protective gear or fails to wash face and hands thoroughly .

An autopsy was performed on the clerk to verify the doctor's suspicions.

This is why it is extremely important to ALWAYS carefully rinse off the tops of canned sodas or foods, and to wipe off pasta packaging, cereal boxes, and so on.

Almost everything you buy in a supermarket was stored in a warehouse at one time or another, and stores themselves often have rodents.

Most of us remember to wash vegetables and fruits but never think of boxes and cans.

The ugly truth is, even the most modern, upper-class, super store has rats and mice. And their warehouse most assuredly does!

Whenever you buy any canned soft drink, please make sure that you wash the top with running water and soap or, if that is not available, drink with a straw.

The investigation of soda cans by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta discovered that the tops of soda cans can be encrusted with dried rat's urine, which is so toxic it can be lethal. Canned drinks and other foodstuffs are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents, and then they get transported to retail outlets without being properly cleaned.

Siew Pak Choy

The Chinese green vegetables are called choy. One of the most common choy is the pak choy which comes in a few varieties.


There's the white stem, the green stem or the baby which is my favorite. It's also know as siew pak choy which is much sweeter in taste and can be served whole.



Siew Pak Choy


400 gm siew pak choy
6 cloves garlic, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 shallots, sliced
1/2 tsp shredded ginger
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
small pot of boiling water

1. Clean the siew pak choy thoroughly.
2. Blanch the choy in the pot of boiling water and drain.
3. Put on serving plate.
   
4. Heat oil in the wok.
5. Fry the sliced garlic till golden brown and dish out.
6. Saute the shallots, ginger and chopped garlic till fragrant.
7. Add in the oyster sauce and a tbsp of water from the pot for a minute.
8. Dish out and place on top of siew pak choy.
9. Garnish with the sliced garlic and serve hot with rice.

Kitchen Fire

I never realized that a wet dishcloth can be a one size fits all lid to cover a fire in a pan! This is a dramatic video (30-second, very short) about how to deal with a common kitchen fire ... Oil in a frying pan.



At the Fire-Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a 10 foot pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students.

The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. On the open field, it became a thirty foot high fireball that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fire ball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room.

Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup of either creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

This is a powerful message----watch the video and don't forget what you see. Tell your whole family about this video.

It would make a great memorable addition to a lesson on fire safety. Thanks to Loh for sharing this article.