Tingkat to the rescue!

I had a crazy period of running a few jobs at the same time in my house in the last 2 weeks for the reno. I won't be able to manage if I need to whip up 3 dishes and a soup for dinner each night so we decided to take a 10-day trial with Hong Choo catering services.

So I ordered 4 dishes for 2 pax and did my own soup as home-cooked soup has always been a comfort food for me (and ah lou)!

Day 1:
1) Braised chicken
2) Chai Po egg
3) Chinese cabbage witn carrots
4) Pork chop

Caden loved their pork chops and asked for a second serving. The rest were not bad, except for the chicken which was bland and too tough.

Day 2:

1) Xiao bai cai

2) Braised pork slices

3) Yong tou foo

4) Chilli fishcake

The chilli fishcake turned out to be the children's favourite. It was not too spicy so both of them ate about one each. Ah lou had to attend a wake on day 2 so these were too much for us (we had leftovers for the pork).

Day 3:

1) Fish dumpling soup

2) Gong bao Ji Ting (dried chilli chicken)

3) Cabbage with black fungus

4) half a fish fillet

I spent too much time cleaning up the house and didn't have a chance to take a picture. Ah lou couldn't come back for dinner because of the wake so there were leftovers for the chicken. 

Day 4:

1) Chilli fish

2) Bean sprouts with salted vegetables

3) sweet sauce sausages

4) fatty pork

As the renovation days went on, I didn't have the time to take pictures of the next few days to capture what were served. I recalled there was a day with curry vegetables and the boys ate their dinner so fast on that night as it opened up their appetite!

 

Given that its not too expensive and no MSG, and more importantly I wanted to relieve myself from mopping the kitchen floor each evening, we continued with Hong Choo catering service for another 20 days. But this time round, I did a 4-day delivery per week so we have the flexibility for me to either cook for the family or eat out on Fridays.

 

We probably may increase the portions to 3 pax serving when my mil is here with us once I start teaching.

 

Update:

 

10th July 2015

 

We stopped Hong Choo after a 20 day period with them as we didn't like their chicken dishes, given that the parts provided for each chicken dish were tough.

 

Subsequently I cooked for the family during my school term break for 2 months and I tried Kim's Kitchen tingkat since April. We ordered 3 dishes + 1 soup and their soup was good I must say. Hence, now we are alternating between tingkat and home-cooked food after every 20-day cycle and I am still sticking to Kim's Kitchen for the 3rd cycle in mid-July!

 

 20th Feb 2016

 

I guess we will stop getting Kim's Kitchen Tingkat even after my term break is over come April. Somehow, when we re-contracted with this caterer in end Dec for 20 days, the standard of food has dropped, and quality of the ingredients were not to our liking. I don't know if they have changed their chefs, or whether there was a change in their operations. Before I start work in April again, I will probably do a few trials with other food caterers first and provide my verdict!

 

 

 

Latest addition in the kitchen

I must admit that I have lost touched with what technology has improved over the years in terms of household appliances. After hunting for a new rice cooker for the past few weeks,  I have decided to get a Tiger cooker at the recent Isetan private sale as the quality of the inner pot seems to convince me that this is a good buy. I have compared zojirushi (starting price is $259) with panasonic (starting price is $119) previously in best denki and realised the price variance between these 2 brands are attributed to the following main factors:

1) made in japan

2) quality of the inner pot

So when I saw the functions and the inner pot of the Tiger rice cooker in isetan,  which was going at almost $200 cheaper from its retail price with limited stocks of 50 pieces, I decided to go with tiger instead of Panasonic.

It is an amazing find. The first day I used it to cook rice, the boys commented that the rice smells so nice the moment dinner was served (without realising that I have changed to using a new cooker). Personally I think the rice is much softer and taste better! ( using the same old pack of rice that we have been eating).

I went on to try cooking porridge and brown rice with this cooker and it provided relatively good results. Coupled with the fact that this comes with a timer, it really gives us more flexibility and convenience especially if I need to be out for a while without having to worry when to get the rice done. Am happy with this buy..

I am a random cook

I attempted to do a restaurant quality kind of broccoli dish (minus scallop and prawns to control cholesterol) on Tuesday and Ethan gave me 2 thumbs up for that dish.

 

As I will be doing heavy duty housework today,  I thought of having this same dish on last night to finish up the last bunch of broccoli I have in the fridge.

Turns out that I forgot how I did that on the day before! 

So I had to recreate the dish again.  After some taste testing during the cooking,  I managed to get back the same taste.
 

So here goes the recipe (better have this documented before I forget the next round again)

Ingredients

Broccoli

Garlic (sliced)

Carrots

Seasoning for the broth

1) chicken stock

2) hua tiao wine (1 tbsp)

3) soy sauce (1 tsp)

4) pinch of salt for final taste

5) sugar ( 1/2 tbsp)

6) sesame oil (pour around the veg during cooking)

Steps

1) fry garlic till fragrant and add in carrots 

2) add blanched broccoli and chicken stock
3) add the rest of the seasoning and bring to boil
4) use corn starch solution to thicken the gravy (go easy on this if you want to have the sauce for your rice)

What I did last night was to add in more chicken stock so that the sauce can be used to wet our rice. It's really nice and easy for the boys to eat their rice.

Besides broccoli,  I had a go at making lemon chicken.  The fried chicken on its own turns out tasty as well (my ah lou didn't even need the home made lemon sauce to go with the chicken)

Before frying

half a portion was more deeply fried - these are only for adults

Again,  the quantity is not sufficient for us simply because its really nice :) I have done the children's favorite ABC soup last night to complete the meal.

I realised that I like to cook with the instinct I had on that day. Having said that, I shouldn't be bothered to even document down how I cooked the dishes!
 

The art of Fried Bee Hoon

I attempted to whip up Fried Bee Hoon last week when Kimi was around in my place for dinner and it turned out to be good, surprisingly. It is a known fact that Fried Bee Hoon, seems to look simple on its own but to get the right flavour and texture, requires some level of art.

 

I remembered how much I loved my mum's version of Fried Bee Hoon when I was young and reminisce the times I gobbled up 2 plates each time she cooked this.

 

My boys loved whatever I cooked for them so Kimi's feedback will be objective. Last week, she asked for second helping after finishing her first plate in no time and even wanted a 3rd helping but I told her to just have the eggs instead. It is assuring that she enjoyed the food so much as she is really a very small eater to begin with.

 

Today, I asked her what does she want for dinner and she order Fried Bee Hoon again. So I tried frying on my second attempt with the same method.

 

This is the kids version of Fried Bee Hoon - with their all-time favourite ingredients: Ham, fish cake, eggs, carrots, mushrooms and prawns (for adults).



 

 

And she asked for 2nd helping again - today I cooked lesser portions as I thought they are not too hungry..

 

Perhaps, I should explore to add more vegetables / meat to cultivate their taste-buds in the next attempt.

 

Notes:

This was cooked with prawn soup base, fish sauce, soy sauce and pinch of salt. Simple seasoning but tasted well. Best is to fry the bee hoon for about 5-7 minutes with the seasoning using the heat to soak up the soup base.