Bravo, makan!

Ok food again. I could not resist not snapping my creations, so that I would remember next time. I tried to reprise again some of these dishes I cooked recently, as I wanted to make it right. Very happy the results were encouraging.

I had lots of lotus root left over in the fridge and did not want them to go to waste as lotus root rot pretty fast. Decided to do a stir-fry this time instead of deep frying them like earlier. I cut the lotus root into thin slices and had them soaked in water with a little vinegar added. I read from somewhere that this would make the lotus root retain its crunchiness. Then I stir fried some marinated minced pork, and then the lotus root, followed by adding chopped spring onions and sesame seeds. I poured in the mix of sesame oil, oyster sauce, and hua tiao wine. The result was heavenly, really. The lotus root was very very crunchy and tasted very delicious.

I finally got to cook Kung Pao Chicken using the sauce from Sing Long. I marinated the chicken with sesame oil, light soya sauce and corn starch for about an hour. Then I stir fried the cube chicken till almost cooked and sieved them out. I stir fried some chopped garlic, onions, red and green peppers (capsicum), threw in the kung pao sauce, water and some cashew nuts. This dish was full-proof and very kung pao-y nice. Normally I did not just follow the instructions given in the sauce pack. Normally I would add some ingredients here and there to make the dish even more authentic or flavourful. It worked.

My second time cooking Sayur Lodeh, mixed vegetables in curry gravy. This time, I changed the ingredients a bit. Besides cabbage and carrots and long beans, I also added leftover tau pok (beancurd skin), ngoh hiang pieces and potatoes. I included hae bee (dried shrimps) as well, to make it sweeter. This version was spicier than the previous one.

The Braised Tai Kwa (beancurd) with mushrooms was what I cooked earlier on, which I am still not satisfied with the result. I had not perfected the right taste aka my grandma's style.

Now that I have tried cooking the Lotus Root and Sayur Lodeh the second time, I think I have got it, the taste I wanted and I am very satisfied.