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.