Easy Fish Ball Soup

Children love fish balls. Fish ball soup are very pleasing even to adult like me. In South East Asia, fish ball is easily available in the wet market (pasar). These fish balls are made from fresh fish. We are very blessed because we got these top quality fish ball direct from a good friend from Sekinchan.

Ingredients (serve 4):
1 pkt/500g of fish ball
half a red onion
300g of homemade Kimchi
2 stalks spring onion cut into inches
4 tbsp/60ml of Chongga Touch of Spicy (TOS) Kimchi based sauces
1 knob of ginger (sliced)
650ml water
Some red chilies (sliced for garnishing)

Method:
1) Mix the water & TOS kimchi sauces in the pot. Let it boils.

2) Put all the ingredients in & let it boil on medium high heat.
3)As the fish ball is very fresh & I do not want to over cook it because it will become rubbery.
You will know the soup is done when the fish balls floats on top.

4) Serve hot & enjoy.

If you do not have homemade kimchi, you can always buy from the store. It is easily available in all super market.

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Coolest Oatmeal Walnut Cranberry Vegetarian Cookies

It has been quite sometime that I write baking recipes on my blog. I love baking, it was kind of like de-stress therapy. My little girl always tell me, when I cook or bake anything that she likes, please put it on the blog. When the day she became an grown up adult & when she miss my cooking, she will check out on my website. I asked, how about my collections of cook books & notes? Who will inherit it? She says, it is all mine. Sweet.Yeah, this is one of her favorite cookies.
I always make extra & share with my kid's ex-nanny, Carole.

Ingredients:
150g Brown sugar
128g Big roll oatmeal
192g AP flour
pinch of salt

112g unsalted butter (can replaced by canola oil if you like, cookies will be slightly hard)
6tbsp pure maple syrup
1tsp baking soda
2 tbsp of boiling water
1tsp vanilla essence

1 cup of walnut (roughly chopped)
1 cup dried cranberry

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 160C. Line baking tray with silicone sheets or parchment paper.
2) Mix oatmeal, flour, salt, sugar in a big bowl. Put aside.
3) Melt the butter in a saucepan using small heat, cook until golden brown about 5 mins. Careful, don't burn it.
4) Remove from heat & stir in maple syrup & vanilla essence.
5) Add boiling water & baking soda in a small bowl, stir vigorously to dissolve & pour immediately into the brown butter mixture. Stir quickly & it will become foamy.
6) Pour this butter mixture into the dry ingredients.
7) Mix quickly with a few strokes & fold in walnut and cranberry.
8) Do not let the mixture sits for too long. It need to be done quickly. Otherwise, it will become difficult to handle.

9)Use an ice cream scoop to scoop up the dough, flatten the dough slightly.
10) Leave some gap about 2 inches between the cookies dough as it will expand.
11) Bake for 15-20mins, rotate the pan half way if needed.
12) Let it cool & keep in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Love this healthy cookies recipes as it is not too sweet & not too oily. Best thing of all it does not contains egg, which mean it can be kept longer.

p/s I have tried replacing the butter with canola oil, the result is not too bad. Definitely it is not as flavorful  compared to butter. However, some people just love their cookies crisp & slightly hard. It is just personal preference. It is fun to create your own version of oatmeal cookies.

Tips: You can replace the cranberries with raisin or sultanas.
Tips: You can replace the walnut with almond or any dried nut.

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Easy Stir Fry Pork & Vegetables with Kimchi Base Sauces

Kimchi Base Sauces is making stir fry super easy. It is delicious & convenient to use. Furthermore, I can adjust the spiciness of the cuisine with the amount of sauces that I use. We love spicy food, but my kid can only take a little bit of spiciness. One thing I truly love about Korean food is that it use so little oil but delicious & flavorful.

Good for me who is on diet on week days. For a foodie, diet is needed. Need to save some calories for the weekend. It is more balance this way & we can pamper ourselves with good food sometimes.

Ingredients:
Handful of Cabbage
1/3 carrots sliced
1 pkt of mushroom
1 knob ginger sliced
2 cloves garlic
200g pork (lean/belly- thinly sliced )+ 1tbsp TOS marinate
2 tbsp Kimchi Base Sauces (Chongga Touch of Spicy- TOS)
4 tbsp water
Salt & Pepper to taste

1) Marinate the pork with Kimchi base sauces for 15-30 mins.

2) Use 1 tsp vegetable oil, stir fry the garlic & ginger to slightly brown.
3) Add in the pork, slightly fry for a min or two.
4) Add in the mushroom, carrot, cabbages & stir fry for a min.
5) Add in the water & the Kimchi base sauces last, let it boil on medium high fire until the water reduced slightly. Add extra tbsp of kimchi base sauces if you need extra kick.

6) Serve hot with white rice.

Enjoy this easy recipes.

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Easy Nurungji Porriadge

Nurungji is a traditional Korean food that made of scorched rice. It is a thin crush of scorched rice will be left in the bottom of the cooking pot. In Chinese, it is called guoba (锅巴). My curiosity got me to try out this Korean Nurungji. Spotted these on the selves, asking myself, how does it taste like? How to cook it? It doesn't really looks like a rice crisp (crunchy snacks made of white rice). Hm......   

This is a very practical super fast food that can be served in less than 10 mins. It is almost using the same amount of time on cooking a packet of instant noodles. A lot healthier. Especially love to make these in a busy & cool weekday morning. The hot rice porridge is so comforting.  

Ingredients: 

Nurungji (Chongga Brand)

Soup (Clear)

Only 2 ingredients. Use any left over soup from previous night dinner. Usually we have some extras. It got to be clear type of soup- e.g. chicken soup, vegetable soup etc.....

Why I do not put measurement on this recipes because it is too flexible. You can use more nurungji rice to make thicker porridge. You can use less nurungji rice to make soupy porridge. Honestly, it is really personal.

However, just remember, always start with ratio of rice (1 part) : soup (3 part).
Cook longer if you want thicker porridge (less soupy, soup will reduce with longer cooking time) & vice versa. I like my porridge soupy & nurungji cooked al-dente.

Just pour nurungji in the cool soup straight from the fridge. Do not need to boil the soup at all.

Boil the soup & nurungji for about 8-10 mins over medium fire. Cook longer if you like thicker porridge (less soup). Salt & pepper to taste if needed. This is so simple & everyone can do it.

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Easy Cubed Radish Kimchi (Kaktugi) with Kimchi Based Sauces

Here is another options of Kimchi side dishes that everyone love. Juicy & crunchy Kaktugi (white radish) Kimchi . Kaktugi kimchi comes very handy for stew or soup. It is actually very easy to make. It can be served immediately after the mixing is done. You can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
Pre- preparation:
400g Daikon / White radish (cleaned, skin peeled & cubed)
1tsp of salt
1tsp of sugar

Method:
1) Mix the Daikon, salt & sugar. Let it sit aside for 30mins.

2) Some water will be drained out after 30 mins & pour the water away.

Marinate Ingredients:
50g Chongga Touch of Spicy Kimchi based sauces (TOS)
3g of salt

Method:
1) Use clean plastic glove to mix the pre-prepared Daikon with the TOS Kimchi based sauces & salt.

2) Serve immediately & keep these in clean container in the fridge.
3) Decorate with some spring onion & sliced chili when serve.

Tips: Freshly made Kaktugi Kimchi is great as side dishes.
Tips: Aged Kaktugi Kimchi is great for stew & soup especially during cool weather.

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Korean Spicy Stir-Fry Pork Belly- Extreme Hot

This is a super "Hot" dish. It is seriously hot if you cook this with the 1 whole packet of the Spicy Stir-Fry(extreme hot) sauces. It is label with 5 chili!! Remember, wherever you see any "HOT" Korean sauces, do not empty the whole packet one shot in the 1st attempt, always add 1/4 packet instead, by doing this, you can adjust the additional sauces if you need more. We learn a lesson when we tried out this Korean Spicy Stir-Fry Pork Belly- Extreme Hot version.

This is a "Hot" dishes for people who enjoy super spicy food.

The ingredients

Ingredients (4 servings):
300g Pork Belly sliced (or Chicken)
1/2 ea Red Onion cut into wedges
1 stalk Spring Onion cut into 1 inches length
60g Red Bell Pepper
60g Green Bell Pepper
2 cloves Garlic sliced
3-5 slices Ginger
60ml of water (about 4 tbsp)
**Some Chongga Spicy Stir-Fry Hot Sauces (see Tips)
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Heat wok with 1 tbsp of any vegetable oil, brown ginger & garlic lightly.
2) Add in pork belly & continue to stir fry for about 2 mins.

3) Stir in Chongga Spicy Stir-Fry Sauces (see tips),bell pepper, onion,  & water.

4) Let it simmer for awhile until the meat cooked through & sauces thicken. Last in the spring onion.

5) Serve immediately with white rice.

We found another way to enjoy this spicy hot stir fry pork bell, enjoy with lettuce wrap.  Just wash the lettuce clean, drain the water & chilled it in the fridge.Yes, it was excellent.

Tips on adjustment the amount of Hot sauces:
1) Mild Hot - Use 1/4 packet, which is about 1.5 tbsp.
2) Medium Hot- Use 1/2 packet, which is about 3 tbsp.
3) Extreme Hot - Empty the whole packet, which is about 6 tbsp.

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Korean Fish Stew - Restaurant Grade (Gourmet Style)

My family is so into the Korean fish stew & other K-stuff; we decided to share this great food on my kid's birthday. We love having this Korean theme birthday dinner party. This is so super easy to prepare & presentable. Our guests confirmed this fish stew match their expectation compared to an authentic Korean restaurant.

To prepare this dish, you will take somewhat 10 - 15 minutes, and it serves 4-5 person. You will need the following ingredients,

a. 750 ml of water

b. 1 packet of Chongga Fish stew base

c. 200 gm of Kaktugi kimchi ( or white radish)

d. 5 - 6 slices of fresh mackerel (about 1 - 2 inch thick)

e. 2 stalk of green onion (or spring onion), cut into length of 2 inches

f. 1 onion (cut into wedges)

g. 100 gram of enoki or Bunashimeiji mushroom 

h. 1tsp Korean dried chili powder (if you love some extra spicy kick)

i. 1 box Chongga firm tofu (210g)

j. 100g Enoki mushroom or Buna-shimeiji mushroom

Salt to taste if needed

Method:

Just follow the steps on http://fabulouscake.blogspot.com/2014/08/korean-fish-stew-authentic-and-fast.html

Finally decorate with some sliced Chilis & green onion. 

We served this Korean fish stew with white rice, homemade Kimchi & homemade Kaktugi.

Stay tune on how to make the super easy homemade Kimchi & homemade Kaktugi with Kimchi based sauces.

The finished stuff!

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