I still remember the first time I made this soup. It was a total FAILURE! I felt so discouraged because nobody liked it including myself. But I couldn't figure out what went wrong because I had followed exactly the recipe from the newspaper cut-out. Then after searching for sometimes, I managed to find another simple recipe from Kuali Online. It turned out to be my son's favourite now (partly because pumpkin is his favourite). With some modifications, I had derived at my own version as follows:
Ingredients:
400g pumpkin (chopped)
1 medium sized potato (chopped)
1 large white onion (chopped)
250 ml fresh milk
750 ml water - It depends on personal preference. If you prefer a thicker soup, then you can reduce the water.
2 slices ginger
1 tbsp butter (for frying)
Seasonings:
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg powder (optional) - it enhances the flavour of the soup
Methods:
1. Melt the butter in a cooking pot.
2. Fry/ bake the onion until translucent.
3. Add in pumpkin, potato, onion and ginger slices and stir well.
4. Pour in water and bring it to a boiling point. Then simmer for about 15 mins or until all the ingredients are softed and mushy.
5. Remove the ginger slices, pour the mixture into a blender and blend until it becomes smooth.
6. Pour back to the pot. Add in milk and seasonings and bring it to a boiling point.
7. Off the heat and serve with toasted bread/ rice. (I used toasted raisin sticks).
Variation:
You can add in cooked fish or prawn in the soup.
2008/07/04
Cream of pumpkin soup
2008/06/04
Pumpkin and cauliflower stew
Ingredients:
140g pumpkin
200g cauliflower
140g minced meat (marinated with 2 tbsp light soya sauce, 1tsp sugar and cornflour)
1 red onion
Seasonings:
1½ tbsp oyster sauce
½ tbsp concentrated chicken stocks
½ tbsp sesame oil
Dash of pepper
Cornflour
Methods:
1. Heat up wok with oil. Sautee onion until transparent.
2. Add in cauliflower and stir fry for a while. Add a bit of water and cover with lid to simmer for a while.
3. Add in pumpkin and seasonings. Continue to simmer until the pumpkin is cooked (before it becomes too soft)
4. Add in cornflour for thickening.
2008/06/01
Pumpkin rice
Ingredients:
120g rice (2 persons) - (rinsed and soaked for 15 mins)
160g pumpkin (cut into cubes)
1 chicken thigh (de-boned, removed skin and cut into small cubes)
4-5 fresh medium size shiitake mushroom (washed with running water, cut into small chunks)
25g dried prawns (pre-soaked for 15 mins, retained water for cooking later)
5 shallots (sliced thinly)
3 tbsp oil
Water for cooking (depending on the type of rice used)
Spring onions (for garnishing)
Seasonings:
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tsp dark soya sauce
½ tsp salt
Dash of sesame oil & pepper
Methods:
1. Marinate the chicken with light soya sauce, sugar, sesame oil & conrflour for at least half an hour.
2. Fried shallots until golden brown, set aside.
3. Heat up 2 tbsp oil of shallot oil, add in dried prawns and stir fry under low heat until fragrant. Add in mushrooms and dash of sugar, stir-fry for a while.
4. Push the dried prawns and mushrooms to the side of the wok, add in chicken and stir-fry until the chicken cubes turn pale (half-cooked).
5. Add in pumpkin and continue to stir-fry for a while. Add in a little oil if the mixture looks dried.
6. Add in pre-soaked rice, fried shallots, then followed by seasoning and stir until all the ingredients are well-combined.
7. Transfer all the ingredients to a cooking pot, add water to cover ¾ of the rice mixture.
8. Cook under low heat and stir occasionally until the rice is cooked thoroughly.
Note:
I do not have a rice cooker at home. Most of the time, I am using a steamer. Therefore, it is considered my first attempt using a cooking pot to cook rice.
I had been referring to the recipes from Hockiak and Piggy's Journal for cooking my own pumpkin rice.
2008/05/27
Simply pumpkin
Pumpkin is always my son's favourite regardless of my cooking methods (stir-frying, making soup, making porridge etc).
Ingredients:
Pumpkin (cut into cube)
Black sesame seeds
White sesame seeds
Seasonings:
Light soya sauce
Fried garlic oil/ salad oil
Methods:
Steam the pumpkin until cooked. Toss with seasonings and both types of sesame seeds. Serve.
2008/05/23
Kiddy porridge
¼ cup uncooked rice
¼ cup millet (u can replace with uncooked rice)
10 sunflower seeds
10 pumpkin seeds
10g fresh lily bulbs
50g pumpkin (cut into cubes)
2 baby sweetcorns
20g fish (cut into slides)
Broccoli stem (cut into cubes)
Handful of frozen green peas
Spring onion (chopped)
Water for boiling
Seasonings:
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of sesame oil
Methods:
1. Wash rice and millet. Add in enough water (approx 3x the rice amount), sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds in a cooking pot.
2. Cook with high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook (with lid slightly open) for another 15 mins.
3. Add in pumpkins, baby sweetcorns & broccoli stems. Cook for another 10 mins.
4. Add in lily bulb, green peas and cook for another 1 min.
5. Add in fish and seasonings and stir-well. Cook for a while and turn off the heat.
6. Put some fried onion oil (optional) and sprinkle with spring onion.
Note:
There are many ways to cook porridge - eg cooking pot, slow cooker and claypot. I prefer to use claypot as the texture turns out to be smoother compared to others.
2008/05/22
Stir-fried pumpkin & cucumber with veg duck
Ingredients:
180g pumpkin (shredded)
1 large Japanese cucumber (shredded) - 150g
125g vegetarian duck (shredded) 黄金素鸭肉
Small handful of white sesame seeds
Seasonings:
3 tbsp plum sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soya sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
5 tbsp water
Methods:
1. Heat up wok with oil.
2. Stir-fry pumpkin with little bit of water until it starts to become soft. Then add in the veg duck and seasonings and continue to stir-fry.
3. Then add in cucumber. Stir-fry with high heat for a while.
4. Dish up and sprinkle with sesame seed. Serve.
