White Snapper Rice Noodle Soup

My mother and I are fans of rice noodle fish soup. I usually opt for this menu when we have steamed fish the previous day because that means we will have the leftover sauce from the dish, which I use to make the broth.

all you need:

250 grams of dried rice noodle (vermicelli)

1 red snapper fish head (halved, preferably steamed with soya sauce)

50 grams of lettuce leaves

6 medium size chilli paddy (sliced *optional)

2 knuckles of ginger (sliced or chrushed)

3 cloves of garlic (minced, sautéd until brown and fragrant with 2 Tbs of vegetable oil, separated from the oil)

1/2 c steamed soya fish sauce(or all, depends on how much leftover we have)

1500 ml water

2 Tbs of sesame oil

a pair of chinese pork sausage(sliced and sautéd until a bit crunchy)

20 ml of salty soya sauce

a handful of cilantro 

5 stalks of scallion (sliced)

1 small tomato (divided into four, *optional)

How to:

1. Boil the vermicelli until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Bring to boil the 1500 ml water and 1/2 c of the steamed soya fish sauce. Add the sliced chilli paddy.
3. Add the 20 ml of salty soya sauce(try if it's not salty enough you could add more soya sauce or salt to your taste)
4. Add the leftover oil from sautéing garlic plus 2 Tbs of sesame oil. Stir until all well-mixed.
5. After the broth is seething, insert the vermicelli and the fish head. Bring to boil for about 5-10 mins.
6. Make two servings.
7. Serve with slices of pork sausages, chopped lettuce, sliced scallion, cilantro and fried garlic. 

Vegetable Cream Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbs butter

1 Tbs wheat flour (if you like thick soup, you may add another 1Tbs of flour)

3 cups of milk 

1 cup of mixed frozen/fresh veggies (carrot, corn, green bean, broccoli) 

1/3 cup of canned mushroom, sliced

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

a pinch of salt

a pinch of black pepper

How to:

1. Melt the butter in the pan, stir in the wheat flour. 

2. Pour in milk. Stir until you get the consistency you want. You may add more milk.

3. Stir in mixed veggies and mushroom. If you're using fresh veggies make sure to boil them until tender.

4. Add shredded cheese, stir until it blends with the soup 

5. Add salt and black pepper.

6. Serve with plain or garlic butter french bread.

Pork Meatballs and Seaweed Soup

I like to cook and do stuff  from scratch and that answers my craze with traditional bread-making. Which means, I will  try my best to stay away from bread machine or food processor, which make cooking and baking so much easier and instant but les fun and adventurous! I remember that in the past I was very intrigued with handmade bread and with how to knead bread dough. I failed a lot of times but would anyway tried again every time. Experience is the best teacher! It tells us our mistake, so we can avoid making the same mistake!

But I have to honestly confess how much I love the mini mincer I bought many years ago, which has been made into functioning only recently. With it I have made fish and pork meatballs. Very easy to use, but not without effort! And I can proudly claim that these meatballs are handmade! :-)

Recipe:

for the meatballs:

400 grams of picnic shoulder porkmeat

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp starch/tapioca flour

a pinch of white pepper 

for the soup:

a packet of dried seaweed.

1 1/2 - 2 liters of water

2-3 Tbs salt for the soup

a pinch of white pepper

Instructions:

1. Grind/mince porkmeat, using mini mincer or chopping knife. Add salt and pepper, stir well. Form meatballs, using hands.

2. Soak the dried seaweed in a large bowl, wash it a couple times. 

3. Boil water in large pan, bring it to simmer. Put in the meatballs for 1 minute and then insert the seaweed. Bring it to simmer and boil for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Serve.