Scrambled eggs w/ tomatoes (黄金满屋，鸿运当头)

Have you seen a TVB Hong Kong cooking show called “SO FAR 苏 GOOD”? It is hosted by Susie Wong (苏施王). I love watching her show as she is straight-to-point, sprinkled with lots of typical Hong Kong humour.

When I first chanced upon her show, she was teaching a group of newly wed couples (all inexperienced in cooking) on how to make the perfect scrambled eggs with tomatoes (蕃茄炒蛋). Although it is not a new dish to me, I was very impressed with the method she taught them. It was totally different from those western methods I have read/ tried before. Having tried it myself, I find her way of cooking produces scrambled eggs with a smoother texture. Below is her recipe (with some slight modifications):

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tomatoes (I replaced with 1 tomato and some canned diced tomatoes)
1 medium sized onion (chopped)

Seasonings:
Tomato ketchup
Light soya sauce
Sugar
Pepper
Cornflour (mixed with water)

Methods:
Group (A)
1) Boil water (volume should be enough to cover the tomatoes). Remove the stems of the tomatoes. Use the tip of a knife to cut a very shallow "X" on the bottom of the tomato. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water. Keeping them in for just 30 secs and taking them out quickly. Once the tomatoes get cooled, peel off the skin with your hands and dice.
2) Heat up wok with oil. Sauté onion until fragrant.
3) Add in diced tomatoes and simmer until they turn mushy.
4) Add in tomato ketchup (according to your personal preference). Start with 2 tbsp.
5) If it is too sour, add dash of sugar. If it is too sweet, add dash of light soya sauce.
6) If the tomato gravy is too dry, add dash of water.
7) Thicken with cornflour solution. Dish up and set aside.

Group B
1) Separate egg whites and egg yolks.
2) Beat egg yolks. Add in light soya sauce (salt should not be used) and pepper.
3) Mix with some cornflour solution to produce a fluffy texture. (I learnt this tip from a cookbook).
4) Combine with egg whites and stir until it is well-combined. Do not beat the egg whites.
5) Heat up wok with oil under high heat. When the oil is hot, pour in the egg mixture. (The egg mixture will not stick to the wok if the oil is hot enough). Stir quickly until the eggs are firm and set. Dish up and pour over group A. Use a spoon to mix well the scrambled eggs and tomatoes. Serve.

Since we are still in Chinese New Year celebration mood, which last for 15 days, I like to name this dish as "黄金满屋，鸿运当头"(House gets laden with gold, prosperity has arrived)! This auspicious name is derived from the colour combination of this dish. Yellow (egg) signifies gold and red (tomato) signifies prosperity. If that sounds auspicious to you, why wait? Try it out.

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Rainbow seafood pasta salad

Before posting the photos I shot in Penang, I would like to begin my 2009 posting with a food recipe.

Do you like salad? I never have a chance to made one so far as my Emperor is not supportive enough for this idea. But after all the Christmas and New Year festive celebrations, I desperately need one now. Remember what I mentioned in my last post? It is my 2009 New Year resolution! As we know, another festive celebration is approaching - Chinese New Year. During this period, we will have to attend family reunion dinner and friend and relatives' open house. All the yummilicious stuff are awaiting for us!! If I don’t seriously watch my diet now, then I have to prepare to upgrade my clothing size after CNY. Oh, no! please don't let this happen to me!!!!

Today I would like to share with you a light, simple and healthy recipe I found from my favourite cookbook - “Children’s healthy & fun cookbook”. Although this was my 1st attempt in making salad, to my surprise, my son could accept raw vegetables such as baby butterhead. He loved eating it so much. I guess it was because most of the ingredients used in this salad were his favourite (ie tomato, corns, raisin and prawns) and the thousand island dressing provides extra flavour to the salad.

This salad is very versatile. You can mix and match any ingredients using your own creativity. Below is my own modified version that is enough to serve both my son and me for today’s lunch.

Ingredients:
60g pasta shells – cooked and drained well
4 large prawns – cooked and peeled, cut each prawn into 4 portions
1 medium size tomatoes - removed seeds and chopped into cubes
½ ear of large sweet corn – steamed or boiled, kernel removed from cob
1 small Japanese cucumber – removed seeds and chopped into cubes
Handful of black raisins and sunflower seeds
A few leaves of baby butterhead (cut into strips)

Other ingredients you may consider:
- small tomatoes (ie cherry or roma tomatoes), carrot, avocado, lettuce leaves, cooked egg, pine nuts, chicken (instead of prawn), tofu (instead of prawn for vegetarian)

Dressing (thousand islands sauce):
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp lemon juice (start with 1 tsp)
2 drops of Tabasco sauce (optional)
Dash of pepper
Sugar or salt (if necessary)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for mixing later)

Methods:
1) Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the pasta and follow the cooking instructions on the packet. Drain well and leave to cool.
2) Prepare the dressing, cover with cling wrap and keep in the fridge.
3) Prepare all the ingredients.
4) Put all the ingredients into a salad bowl and mix well with the dressing. Alternatively, you can divide the ingredients between the serving bowls and then drizzle over the dressing. Serve and enjoy!

I am submitting this pasta salad to Presto Pasta Night, founded by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast, and hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste this week.

Other recommended colourful dishes:
- special egg rolls with rice, salmon and spinach
- millet porridge
- stir-fried capsicums & cucumber with stewed vegetarian mutton

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Fresh tomato soup

Since I started cooking for the family, I used a lot of tomatoes in our meals because they are my little “big” boy’s favourite. He can eat any types of tomatoes be it raw or cooked, with or without skin, with or without seeds. In short, he is a TOMATO lover!

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Generally most of us know that tomato contains lycopene (the red pigment in tomato). It is a powerful antioxidant that can also fight cancer cells. How about those interesting facts mentioned in here and here?

~ Tomato is a fruit (Do you agree? Definitely not me)
~ When choosing your tomatoes, be sure to pick those with the most brilliant shades of red. They have the highest amounts of betacarotene and lycopene.
~ Store them at room temperature, as putting them in the fridge will alter their ripening process and ruin their flavor
~ Cooked tomatoes are a more concentrated source of lycopene than raw ones
~ Cooking the tomato in olive oil allows your body to absorb the lycopene better.
~ Tomatoes don’t lose any of their nutritional value in the high heat processing , making canned tomatoes and tomato sauce are both just as viable and beneficial as fresh tomatoes.

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If you are a tomato lover like my son, then try this simple and tasty fresh tomato soup. This recipe adapted and modified from BBC Good Food.

Ingredients:
800g tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 small carrot
1 celery stick
3 tbsp tomato puree
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
600g hot vegetable stock ( I use chicken stock)
Dash of dried basil and oregano
A pinch of salt
Dash of ground black pepper
A good pinch of sugar

Methods:
1) Cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they don’t soften during cooking and you’d get hard bits in the soup at the end).
2) Chop onion, carrot and celery stick into small pieces.
3) Spoon oil into a large cooking pot and heat it over a low heat.
4) Hold your hand over the pot until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook it until translucent.
5) Add in carrot and celery and cook the vegetables until they are soft and faintly coloured. This sho uld take about 10 minutes. Stir them 2-3 times so they cook evenly and don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
6) Add in tomato puree and stir it around so it turns the vegetables red.
7) Add in fresh tomatoes.
8) Add in sugar, dried basil, dried oregano, bay leaves and black pepper. Stir to mix well.
9) Put the lid on the pot and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10mins until they shrunk down in the pot and their juices flow nicely. Stir occasionally to keep everything well mixed.
10) Slowly pour in the stock, stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then turn the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times until the tomatoes break down and become slushy looking.
11) Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool down. Discard the bay leaves.
12) Blend the soup until smooth.
13) Pour the puree soup back into the pot and reheat it over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface.
14) Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings (salt, pepper and sugar) if needed.
15) Add more tomato puree if the colour of the soup is not deep enough red.
16) Serve and enjoy!

Other recipes using tomatoes:
Zucchini with prawn and tomato in sweet chilli sauce
ABC soup
Baked beans with tomatoes and potatoes
Spaghetti bolognese

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Zucchini with prawns and tomato in sweet chilli sauce

“What is zucchini?” “How do I cook it?”

I have been asked myself these 2 questions since I started cooking western food. Coming from a typical Chinese family, I have never tried zucchini before. After going through my cookbooks and browsing all online recipes, I just realized that there are so many ways to cook zucchini ie baked, grilled, stir-fry and stew. Below is a recipe adapted and modified from Jaden’s website. I had removed the deep-fry basil because I prefer to have some sauce for my dish under such a hot weather.

Ingredients:
10 medium sized prawns
½ zucchini (sliced thinly)
1 medium sized tomato (cut into 8 wedges)
1 tbsp chopped garlic

Seasonings for marinating prawns:
Dash of sugar, salt and pepper

Seasonings for stir-frying:
3 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
½ tbsp chilli sauce (If you prefer spicy food, put 1 tbsp)
2 tbsp water
2 tsp sugar

Methods:
1) Clean, peel and de-vein the prawns. Pat dry with kitchen towels. Marinate them with the seasoning. Keep in the fridge for ½ hour.
2) Using enough oil (5 - 6 tbsp to fully cover the base of the wok), heat up wok with high heat. Layout all the prawns on the wok and let them fry untouched until they turn pink. Flip over the other side and continue frying until the prawns turn pink and curl up. Do not overcook prawn. Dish up and place on kitchen towels to absorb excess oil. Set aside.
3) Return heat to medium high. Leave 1 tbsp of the remaining oil to sautée garlic until fragrant.
4) Add in zucchini slices and stir-fry for 1 minute. Tossing every 15 seconds until zucchini is just barely soft in the middle and still firm on the outer edge.
5) Add in tomato wedge and stir-fry for another 1 minute until the tomato turn slightly soft.
6) Add in seasonings and mix well with zucchini and tomato. Lastly return the cooked prawns to coat with the rest of the ingredients. Turn the heat to high and stir-fry quickly for 8-10 seconds. If the dish is too dry, add a bit of water. Dish up and serve.

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ABC soup

If you are in a rush and need to cook 1 dish-meal cum soup, then this soup is the perfect choice! It is not only as easy as ABC but also a wholesome soup for the family. All of the ingredients (except for the fish bones) are edible. You can serve it with rice or pasta. Hence it is considered a "ZERO wastage" soup. Guess what have I done to the sweetcorns and potatoes in the soup? I had created another dish. The answer is here!

Ingredients:
380g salmon fish bones (you can substitute with lean pork or chicken bones) - blanch over boiling water, put into a soup bag
2 large potatoes (about 300-400g) - cut into 4 for each potato
2 carrots (about 200g) - cut into chunks
1 large sweetcorn (about 360g) - cut into chunks
3 tomatoes (about 300g) - sliced
1 stalk celery (about 100g) - cut into chunks
1 white onion
2 bay leaves
1500ml water

Seasonings:
Salt and pepper to taste

Servings: 9-10 persons

Methods:
1. Bring water to boil. Add in fish bones, onions, sweetcorns and bay leaves. When the soup re-boils, turn the heat to lower and simmer for 2 hours.
2. After half an hour, add in potatoes, carrots, celery.
3. 5 mins before turning off the heat, add in tomatoes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

Other similar recipes:
- corn chowder
- corn soup
- Italian pasta soup

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Baked beans with tomatoes and potatoes

Ingredients:
½ onion (chopped)
50g chicken breast meat (cut into small chunk; marinated with light soya sauce, sugar and corn flour)
3-4 cherry tomatoes (cut into half)
1 can of baked beans (125g)
1 potato (cut into cubes)

Seasonings:
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
Dash of salt and sugar
Water

Methods:
1. Heat up wok with oil. Stir fry chicken lightly. Dish up and set aside.
2. Sautee onion until transparent.
3. Add in potatoes and water. Cover with lid and cook for a while.
4. Open lid and add in tomatoes, baked beans and seasonings. Mix well, cover with lid and cook with medium heat for a while.
5. Add in chicken and mix well. Serve.

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Spaghetti bolognese

Ingredients:
200g spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion (red)
2 cloves of garlic
150g of minced meat (alternatively beef or chicken)
200g of fresh mushroom (button or portobello) - chopped
5 medium sized fresh ripe tomatoes - chopped
50g carrot - chopped
½ capsicum (red or yellow) - chopped
3-4 small floweret cauliflower (or ½ celery stick) - chopped (optional)
5-6 small floweret broccoli

Seasonings:
3 tbsp tomato paste
1½ tbsp special herbs for spaghetti bolognese from Masterfood (alternatively basil/ oregano/ mix herb)
1 tbsp concentrated chicken stocks from Maggi （上汤鸡精）
3 tbsp tomato ketchup (if u prefer a stronger taste)
½ tbsp sugar
100 ml water
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated parmesan cheese to serve

Method:
1. Heat oil in a cooking pot and sautee onion and garlic until fragrant.
2. Add in minced meat to fry until browned.Add in mushroom and stir fry for a while.
3. Add in chopped vegetables (carrot, capsicum, cauliflower) and mix well.
4. Add in seasonings and mix well.
5. Add in tomatoes and mix well.
6. Bring mixture to boil, reduce the heat and simmer (with lid cover) for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent it from catching on the bottom of the cooking pot.
7. Remove the lid and continue to simmer for another ½ hour, stirring occasionally.
8. Cook pasta according to the instruction on the packet.
9. Boil broccoli until cooked.
10. Drain, toss with extra virgin olive oil and serve with the sauce, topped with the cheese if you wish.

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