I love my steamer and slow cooker

I think a steamer and slow cooker makes a really good combi to having healthy and tasty home cooked meals. Ever since I got my steamer, I have been cooking on a more regular basis, from once a month or once in 2 months to 2-3 times a week. But it can get kinda boring sometimes as I often run out of ideas of what to steam for dinner. Then comes along the slow cooker. I can make soups and stews with it! Its so convenient! I always thought that slow cookers are a waste of money but now I think otherwise. They make great one-pot meals! I usually put the ingredients into the slow cooker at night, leaving them to cook overnight. The food will be ready the next day, so all I have to do when I get home from work is to let it heat up again. The inner pot can be placed directly over the stove for heating up too, thus saving more time. With the wonderful combi of the steamer and slow cooker, I now cook about 4 times a week including weekends. I usually cook 4 servings, 2 for dinner and 2 for our next day lunch boxes. Although there are still things to wash, at least it is not as tiring as re-washing my heavy WMF wok whenever I finish cooking each dish. So now, we can easily have soup and 2-3 dishes for each meal, or simply just a one-pot meal. Its so complete! Kitty says these are 2 of the best investments he has ever made so far, haha!

Lunch on Sunday, 24 Jan

Beef Stew

Cooked this using the slow cooker. Its so nice! I think it would be even better if I had used less beef broth and made the gravy thicker. Added potatoes, carrots, radish and big onions. A great one-pot meal!

Dinner on Monday, 25 Jan

Black Chicken Soup

Cooked this using the slow cooker too, so convenient, haha! As I plan my menu once a week with some dishes like this requiring chinese herbs, Kitty has to go get them for me at Rochor. I think he has by now become a familiar face to the shop there!

Steamed Kai Lan

Used oyster sauce for the gravy and added a few drops of sesame oil. I am surprised at the boost of flavour to the oyster sauce!

Steamed Egg with smashed Tofu

We have been eating a lot of steamed eggs cos I have plenty of eggs in my fridge expiring soon. We had wanted to make Deviled Eggs for the family cottage meeting on Sat night and had stocked up our fridge with eggs. Who knows, Kitty had to go back to his office to oversee some filming works and we couldn't make it in the end. Now, we are stuck with plenty of eggs. I am still left with 5 more eggs to clear after this! Anyway, this time, I smashed the egg tofu to see how it will look. Ok, not nice. I still prefer the full yellow-smooth look, haha. Tastes the same though.

Haha, I cooked too much beef stew on Sunday and thus we had a small pot leftover for Monday's dinner despite already having brought some to work for lunch, lol.

Dinner on Tuesday, 26 Jan

Steamed cabbage with fishcake

Haha, somehow the old cat thought I stir-fried this dish. But no lah, I steamed both the cabbage and fishcake, lol. Steamed veggies are just so crisp and tasty!

Steamed Pork Ribs

I realized I have a bottle of Mirin in my cabinet and I am determined to use as much as I can in my cooking. Cannot let it go wasted like many of my other seasonings and sauces. By the way, this is the expensive spare ribs I bought at the wet market (mentioned in prev post), the very one that Kitty dropped in his haste! Anyway, this dish is DELICIOUS!!!! I got the recipe from some online blog and after reading its very positive reviews, I decided to try making it on my own. Its so simple to make yet tastes sooooooooooooo yummy! For those who are interested, just buy some pork ribs (or pork chop if you don't want the bone) and marinate it with the following: 2 Tbsp Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp Sesame oil, 1 Tbsp Sugar (I used Mirin), 2 Tbsp Hua Diao Jiu, 1 Tsp Corn flour and some Pepper. Optional: 1 Tsp White Vinegar. Marinate the pork for 1-2 hours and steam it for 20mins. Its really delicious!!!

That's our dinner. It includes a bowl of black chicken soup from Monday, lol.

Dinner on Wed, 27 Jan

ABC Soup with Chicken

This is not my first time cooking ABC soup but its my first time using the slow cooker to make this soup. I usually add spare ribs in the soup but this time I used chicken. Surprisingly, it tasted really yummy!! I shall opt for chicken next time when I make this soup, haha!

Chicken and more chicken

I decided to try out some new recipes and they all (except the veggies) include chicken as the main ingredient. As a result, we have been eating chicken for 3 whole days, haha.

Dinner on Saturday:

Chicken and Silken Tofu in Egg gravy (Stir-fried)



Had to fry the tofu before adding it to the chicken in the pan. I am lousy at frying soft foods like tofu, so they sort of broke apart during the cooking process. Used homemade chicken stock with egg for the gravy instead of water and egg. Don't be fooled by its look. This dish is really yummy! Try it and you will know!

Chicken Sweet Corn Egg Drop Tofu Soup



Cooked this over the stove. I used homemade chicken stock for the soup base instead of water. Kitty said its nice. A change from the usual Chinese soups that I make. Half Chinese half Western, haha.


Steamed broccoli and mushrooms



Kinda boring to eat broccoli by itself, so I added mushrooms for garnishing, haha.


Dinner on Sunday:

Lotus root with spare ribs soup



Used the slow cooker to make this soup. Set it to cook on Sat night and it was ready for consumption the next day, so convenient! I added peanuts to the recipe. YUMMY!! I like the taste of dried scallops, so I always put about 12-14 big pieces and a handful of small ones. The soup turns out to be very flavorful, haha.

Honey Chicken Chop



I was supposed to pan fry the chicken skin side down when I realised that the chicken thighs I bought from NTUC did not come with skin, wahahahahahahahaha! Nevertheless, this honey "chicken chop" (or thigh) is really nice! Just marinate it with a lil bit of salt and pepper on the top and on the bottom, salt (just a bit), pepper and rosemary. Pan fry on both sides until cooked and add the gravy. To make the gravy, combine 1 Tbsp of honey, 1 Tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and 2 Tbsp of water. Its so easy!

Xiao bai cai



Steamed the xiao bai cai and added some oyster sauce for taste.


Dinner on Monday:

Herbal Chicken Soup





I sent Kitty on a shopping spree last Thursday for Chinese herbs required for this soup. He had an appointment after that, so he said felt so pai seh carrying these things (except the weighing scale), haha. I decided to get a weighing scale cos some recipes specify ingredients in grams. Actually I already bought one 2 weeks ago but the unit of measurement was not ideal, so I sold it off on eBay (luckily there was a buyer) and bought this orange one yesterday.



Steamed cabbage, steamed egg with century egg (no egg tofu this time, haha) and herbal chicken soup.

Fried arrowhead chips



I read online that fried arrowhead chips are super nice and taste much better than potato chips. Arrowheads are only sold during CNY period once a year, so once you miss it, you will have to wait another year before you can see it on sale again. I found some at NTUC on Saturday and decided to buy some to make chips. They look kinda like water chestnuts. I cut off the tip and bottom and sliced them as thinly as I could (I don't have a slicer) with a knife. I soaked them in salt water for a few hours and the old cat helped me to spread them out on plates to dry. I deep-fried them after work on Monday and tried a piece. Manz, they are yummy!! Very crunchy and tasty!! They are indeed much, much better than potato chips!! Even the old cat agreed and can't stop eating!!

This is how it looks after frying:



I bought the Kikkoman Special Fragrance Soy Sauce and found that I like it a lot better than Tai Hua Standard Light Soy Sauce! I have always thought the one I am using has a strong taste and I didn't really like it. The Kikkoman is good - the taste is just nice! Now I wonder what to do with my bottle of Tai Hua. Maybe I should just wait till May when it expires before throwing it away. I had a quick look at the shelf where I put my corn flour and realised to my horror that I have MANY packets of flour. Corn flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, sweet potato flour...etc! Oh manz! I must have bought them when I was trying out different recipes over the past year! I found out recently that they can be used for the same purpose - thickening gravy. Manz, its such a waste! I mean, I could have used my regular corn flour when the recipes asked for tapioca flour. Sigh. I had to throw out those that have expired. Another thing.... I bought a packet of cane sugar to replace my white sugar. I found that I still have half a packet of white sugar on the shelf and its 100% PURE CANE SUGAR!!!!! Manz!!!!!! Arrrrgh I should not have bought the cane sugar without checking my shelf lor! I mean, just cos it is white colour does not mean it is regular table sugar mah!!! Plus, how could I have doubted my own fussy nature in buying "healthy" options even 2 years back???? Liew, I feel kinda peeved knowing that I have bought so many "extra" food items for nothing!

Wall decals for our study wall - half completed

Let the pictures do the talking!

Mock-up done by Wink Play

A default colour was set for the leaves cos we were waiting for the sample metallic colours to be mailed to us. Gave the go ahead for the layout on Thursday without realizing that the leaves ain't maple leaves! Decided on metallic silver for the maple leaves.

Wink Play delivered the decal to my office on Friday - so fast! It later occurred to me that the leaves were not maple leaves. I called them immediately and they agreed to do a reprint of the leaves. Got to wait till 19th or 20th Jan for delivery, so I went down after work to collect it myself.

The wall had to be cleaned before applying the wall decal. The old cat removed the big portrait and I told him to use the vacuum cleaner to vacuum the wall, haha.

We were given 2 hard squeegees and instructions on how to apply the wall decal. Prior to that, kiasu me had already read up and viewed several videos on how to do it.

This is how it looks like before we cut out all the leaves to avoid accidentally applying them.

1st step: The old cat using the squeegee to rub over the entire graphic so that the graphic would stick onto the transfer tape.

Used masking tape to paste the whole thing on the wall to see how it looks.



We cut out all the leaves, removed the backing and pasted the transfer tape on the wall.



Using the squeegee to rub over the transfer tape.



I'm obviously not tall enough to reach the top, lol.



Peeling off the transparent tape!



Tada!!!!!!!! 1st part completed!!! Now we're only left with the leaves!



The mess we created. Nothing has changed till now.

We cut out the leaves and a few cherries and used masking tape to stick them on the wall. Haven't applied them on the wall for good cos the old cat said "wait and see for a few days to confirm if we really want this layout".

2 versions at the moment:



Version 1

Version 2 (with only 1 extra cherry and maple leave)

Which do you think looks better?? Or is there something we should add or remove? Comments please!

Wanna put photo frames on the wall at the empty space. Checked out IKEA's website to get the dimensions of their various photo frames. Gonna cut out the various sizes of photo frames and stick them on the wall to see which sizes would be most suitable. I can't wait to get it over and done with! Cos... I am thinking of repainting our bedroom doors (thankfully only 2 cos we hacked off the 3rd one) and adding decals to them, wahahahhahahahaha! The Nippon service personnel had already advised me on which paint to use and taught me how to do it. They have also mailed me the paint catalogue for me to better visualize the colours (online not accurate). Now I got to convince the old cat that we got to repaint the doors... cos he'll be the one doing, wahahahahahhaha!

Yet another new protection for our dining table

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that we placed a layer of transparent sheet over our black dining table to protect it from scratches. Don't know whether is it because I am in the "Fix-it" mood recently, I have added "Replace the ugly plastic sheet on the dining table" to my "Things to Fix in the House" list despite it being there for only 10 months (March 2009). Since we are already doing something to the study wall, I reckon there is no harm settling one more "problem",lol.

I can't help but notice that even though the plastic sheet protected the table well, it looked UGLY with all the trapped air bubbles. After much consideration, I told the old cat that I wanted to remove the sheet and replace it with window film, haha. Thus, we went to Selfix on Monday (11 Jan) to buy a roll of translucent matte window film and applied it to the table on Tuesday. We chose a matte translucent film just in case we have a kid (in future) and the kid ruins the film if we choose a transparent (which is thinner too) one. As this is our first time doing such things, we didn't do a fantastic job. The surface doesn't seem to be totally dry even though we have swiped out the water thoroughly (need to spray mild detergent water onto the table and film during application) from the bottom of the film. On a happier note, at least it looks better than the ugly plastic sheet. If we ever get sick of it again, we'll remove and change a new one.

Window film:



Original:



Plastic sheet:



UGLY plastic sheet:



After applying the window film:

Ok, its still not as nice as the original, but we'll have to live with it. At least it sticks to the table and its not flapping at the sides like the plastic sheet (I trimmed off the edges). Haiz, if we ever buy another dining table in future, I will never choose one with a black glass table top. Not only is dust super visible, scratches stand out very well too. Transparent glass is the best. The one at Mdm Yik's place has many fine scratches but they ain't noticeable, lol.

My new toy - a Slow Cooker

After hearing much about the benefits of using a slow cooker (e.g no need to watch the fire), I have been asking the old cat to buy one for me. As usual, he told me to "wait and see". I don't know wait for what and see what, but impulsive me went to Kong Tai last Thursday (7 Jan), bought a 4.7L Takahi slow cooker and helped myself to his online banking account afterwards, haha!

The old cat was like, ".... you better make sure you make full use of it now that you have a slow cooker and steamer...."

I love buying electrical appliances at Kong Tai. The prices are reasonable and cheaper than Harvey Norman and Courts. I saw the 3.2L Takahi slow cooker selling for $75.90 at Boon Lay while Kong Tai was selling it for only $65! Anyway, I got my 4.7L model from the boss cos she gives better discount. The 4.7L was selling for $78 and she offered it to me at $73! Wahahahhahaha the same model was retailing at about $88+ at Boon Lay! So happy with my purchase!

Most of the time, I use oyster sauce for seasoning and I am getting bored of it. Read online that chicken stock serves as a good base too and tada, thats where my new slow cooker comes in! I'm not comfy with the idea of buying packet chicken stock. They either contain MSG, or they contain too much sodium. Anyway, homemade chicken stock is the best! As usual, kiasu me went online to google "is chicken stock healthy?", "is chicken stock fattening", "calories in homemade chicken stock", "chicken stock recipe", "ways to store chicken stock", "food storage", "types of containers used to freeze foods and soups"...etc. LOL. I love the Internet!

After reading all that I should know, I went to buy freezer safe containers. I intend to bring chicken stock based soup (e.g. tomato & egg soup, cabbage soup...etc) to work twice a week in addition to my current once a week lunch box & soup, and in order to make my supply last for 2 weeks, I bought 4 650ml freezer safe containers to store my chicken stock. I'm gonna make chicken stock once a fortnight instead of making enough to last for months to ensure that my supply is fresh, lol. Must make full use of the slow cooker mah, else the old cat will say its another white elephant in the house. So each time I want to make my lunch, all I have to do is to defrost one container of stock, heat up over the stove and add in the ingredients I want. Easy huh? I also bought 3 250ml freezer safe containers to store the chicken stock so that I can use these for cooking dishes.

I read conflicting articles about the usage of the microwave. Some said that the microwave is absolutely safe and beneficial for health as shorter cooking time helps to retain more nutrients in food. Some said that the microwave is not good for health cos of radiation. Anyway, to play safe, I decided to minimize my usage of the microwave. I had initially wanted to buy a thermos lunch box, but after much consideration, decided to save money. The old cat said, "Skarli you use a few times only then put aside, waste money lor!". Ya... he has a point, so I thought of getting a single layer tingkat. He then said metal is a good conductor of heat.... So in the end, I bought a GLASS lunch box, lol. It may not be as good as a thermos in keeping food warm, but it is better than metal. Plus, its cheaper. I got my pretty glass lunch box for only $10.30 at NTUC, haha.

On Friday night, I filled the slow cooker with 3L of water and added 1kg of chicken bones. I read that this will yield about 2.5L of chicken stock. I left it on auto throughout the night for about 12hrs and the next morning, there was a nice aroma of chicken stock. I removed the chicken bones from the cooker and used a soup ladle to scoop out the oil on the surface of the stock as what I usually do when I make soup. Hmmm not very effective cos there is a lot of oil for chicken stock despite already removing the skin before cooking. Used a strainer to filter out smaller chicken bits before filling my containers with the stock. I later bought a metal skimmer from NTUC to filter out even tinier particles and it worked very well as a fat skimmer!!! Yay I can use it to skim off the fats from my soups in future instead of using the soup ladle which usually results in some soup wastage! Here comes the interesting part: I got 3.1L of chicken stock from 3L of water!!! I think its because there is no where for the water to evaporate. There ain't any hole on the glass lid.

Dinner on Sat

Steamed golden promfet (Teochew style):

Haha, I managed to find a nice oval shaped metal plate at the hardware shop at Jurong Point and it was perfect for the fish! The previous one I bought was too shallow and may not be able to contain the fish essence. Both the old cat and I feel that the silver promfet tastes better. This is the first and last time I am buying a golden promfet. The meat is slightly tougher than that of the silver promfet's. Despite adding ginger, there is still a slight fishy smell. This is why I never prepare fish the Teochew style. I prefer the Cantonese style of cooking steamed fish. The sauce is prepared separately. But since the purpose of using a steamer is to minimize hassle, I used the Teochew method, lol.

Papaya soup with white fungus and spare ribs:

I made this soup over the stove instead of using the slow cooker. Found this recipe in one of my cookbooks and decided to try it out. I had wanted to try making papaya soup with snakehead fish but don't know why, I couldn't find any snakehead fish at NTUC that day.

Steamed broccoli:



Eaten plain without any gravy. Sweet.


Dinner on Sun night

Watercress soup with spare ribs:

On Sat night, I used the slow cooker to cook Watercress soup with spare ribs. Set it on high for 1 hour before switching to low throughout the night. We had it for dinner on Sun night. I personally feel that soup cooked over the stove (3hrs) smells and tastes slightly better, but this is quite good too. For the benefit of not having to watch the fire, I'll gladly use the slow cooker, haha!

Rosemary chicken with lemon:

This is the steamed version of the Rosemary chicken recipe, haha. I used the same ingredients but steamed the chicken instead of baking it in the oven cos I don't have one anyway. I marinated the chicken with chopped garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and some salt and pepper and steamed it for 20mins. It was quite tasty! Kitty said it tasted a bit like lemon chicken, haha.

Steamed cabbage with fishballs:

Not only does broccoli tastes great when steamed, cabbage tastes very good too! The steamed cabbage was crisp and naturally sweet, very nice!!! I steamed it for 4mins and let it stand in keep warm mode for 3-4mins, and the result was great! Not too hard, not too limp and soggy - just nice! Took out one of my 250ml container of chicken stock, heat it up in the steamer together with some fishballs and poured the mixture over the cabbage. Very nice! Kitty said it has the "homemade meal taste", whatever that means, lol.

As usual on Sunday night, I packed lunch boxes for both of us. Kitty's lunch box is 4-5 times the size of mine, waahahahhahhaa! I have been trying to stuff him with food and more food, but seems like it is not working. He is still a lean old cat.