Recipe For Braised Fish Head

This recipe for Braised Fish Head is a Cantonese dish. The meaty fish head is cooked with roast pork, adding much lard fragrance to the dish.

Ingredients :

• 1 fish head about 900g




• 1 pc ginger, about 10 cm long, sliced




• 4 squares of white beancurd (toufu), cut to large cubes and deep fried




• 2 tablespoons cornflour




• 5 shallots, grinded




• 10 red dates




• 5 mushrooms




• 1 egg




• 110g roast pork

Gravy :

• 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine




• 1 teaspoon dark soya sauce




• 3 tablespoons light soya sauce




• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce




• 4 rice bowls water




• salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Method :

1. First, clean the fish head with water, pat dry. Marinate with 1 tablespoon of ginger juice and grinded shallots for 20 minutes.




2. Beat the egg, dip in the fish head, then coat with the cornflour. Deep fry the fish head till golden brown, remove from heat and drain.




3. Heat a wok or frying pan, add 3 tablespoons cooking oil, fry the ginger and shallots till fragrant. Then add the mushrooms, red dates, roast pork, ingredients for the gravy, beancurd, cooked for 15 minutes and sprinkle with chopped spring onions and parsley.

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Recipe For Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tarts are available for sale all year round in Singapore. They are considered lunar new year treats as pineapples' Mandarin pronunciation symbolises wealth.

Recipe for Pineapple Tarts :

Ingredients for the fillings :

• 2 pineapples



• 250g sugar



• 5 cloves



• a sprinkle of cinnamon powder



• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Ingredients for the pastry :

• 125g butter



• 250g margarine



• 600g flour



• 3 egg yolks



• 1 egg white



• 6 tablespoons water



• 1/4 teaspoons salt



• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil for greasing the baking tray

Method :

1. Peel off the skin of the pineapples, grind the flesh. Separate the pulp and juice with a strainer, stand for about 10 minutes to obtain half a cup of pineapple juice.



2. Fry the pineapple pulp in a non-stick frying pan with sugar, the half cup of pineapple juice, lemon juice, cloves and cinnamon powder in slow heat, stirring constantly. When the pineapple filling can form a ball, remove from the heat to cool.



3. Preheat oven at 180 degree C/350 degree F or Reg. 4. Start making the pastry.



4. Melt margarine and butter, mix them to the flour, turning the mixture to a dough.



5. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, egg white, water and salt in medium speed for about 5 minutes. Then pour the mixture into the pastry dough and mix thoroughly.



6. Place the dough on the table, flatten it using a rolling pin to about 1 cm thick. Cut with pastry cutter. Put a ball of cooled pineapple fillings onto each tart. You can use the excess pastry to cut into small thin strips to lay across the fillings on each tart.



7. Place the tarts on the greased baking tray. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven to cool on the cooling rack.

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Recipe For Strawberry Fresh Cream Cake

If you mention 'cakes' to me, I will think of chocolate cakes and strawberry cakes. My children love chocolate cakes with thick chocolate. If I want a lighter treat, I would like to have a strawberry cake, and it is always such a 'girly' thing.

Recipe for Strawberry Fresh Cream Cake

Ingredients for cake :

• 5 eggs



• 100 g castor sugar



• 2 tablespoons self-raising flour



• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence



• 100g flour



• 20g cornflour



• 125g melted butter

Method :

1. Mix eggs and flour using electric cake mixer in high speed for 10 minutes until mixture is creamy white and fluffy.



2. Add in self-raising flour and vanilla essence. Then pour mixture into a mixing bowl.



3. Sift flour and cornflour together, fold them into the creamy white mixture using a wooden spoon in the same direction.



4. Add in melted butter when the flour is thoroughly folded into the mixture.



5. Pour the mixture into a 26-cm diameter round cake tin that is laid with greaseproof paper. Bake in a pre-heat oven (Reg.5 -6, 350 degree F or 175 degree C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cake from oven to cool, then slice it into 2 halves.

Ingredients for Strawberry Filling

• 250ml water



• 60g castor sugar



• 250g fresh cream



• 150g gelatin powder (jelly powder)



• 250g chopped fresh strawberries



• 12 whole fresh strawberries



• extra whipped cream for cake decoration

Method :

1. Boil water, add sugar and gelatin powder, dissolve, remove from heat to cool.



2. Beat fresh cream using high speed until its volume is increased 2 to 3 times. Add half-cooled gelatin mixture to the cream.



3. Add in the chopped strawberries, mix well. And when the jelly mixture is about 90% solidified, sandwich the jelly mixture between the 2 slices of cake, spreading evenly. Put the cake into the refrigerator to harden the filling.



4. To decorate the cake, we can cover the cake with some more whipped cream on the sides and top. Using a cream pipe to pipe some cream patterns onto the cake and place the whole strawberries all round the cake's top.

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Healthy Drinking Water - Part 3

In Part 3 of the topic "Healthy Drinking Water", lets bring out the third type of healthy drinking water - Ionised water.

3. Ionised Water - The ionised water device produces alkaline antioxidant water. The device filters tap water, removing bacteria, particles, chemicals and heavy metals. Then it adds calcium and other minerals to the water, ionises and makes it alkaline. Ionised water is believed to make our body absorb minerals in the water easily, enhancing our stamina, improving hypertension, diabetes, gout, asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis.

All the 3 types of devices separate impurities and minerals in the tap water first, either boiling or filtering it. It reminds me of the scientific experiment done in school, where we use simple containers filled with layers of pebbles, stones, sand, starting from big to small. Then we passed the water through all of them. The impurities in the water are trapped in the layers of stones and what comes out is a purer form of water. The devices are of course more complex forms of the simple filtration system used in the school. Isn't that interesting?

To judge whether treated water is better is rather subjective. In my opinion, drinking more water and cutting down on other caffeine and sugary liquids surely help towards maintaining a healthy body. Furthermore, in Singapore, we are fortunate that water is safe and clean enough to be drunk directly from the tap.

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Healthy Drinking Water - Part 2

In Part 2 of this "Healthy Drinking Water" topic, lets go into details about 1. distilled water and 2. energy water.

1. Distilled Water -The distilled water device treats tap water by boiling it, obtaining the water vapour and leaves behind the minerals (such as calcium and magnesium) and deposits ( such as iron and copper). Hence distilled water is purified water. It is believed to prevent arthritis, hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, gallstones, cataracts and weight gain.



2. Energy Water - The energy water device filters tap water, removing metals, chemicals, pesticides and impurities. Then it breaks the water molecules into smaller clusters. It also magnetises and ionises the water to increase the oxygen and calcium levels. Energy water is believed to detoxify the body, strengthen the immunity system, improve the body's metabolism and digestion, skin, relieve certain illness such as high blood pressure, rheumatism, migraines, diabetes, gastric and menstrual pain.

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Healthy Drinking Water - Part 1

I remembered when I was young, my mother used to urge my brother and I to drink warm boiled water. I always find warm water leaves a strange unpleasant after taste. On the other hand, boiled water that has cooled down does not taste that bad, as it is normally tasteless. My mother insisted that warm water was healthier than cold water because our internal body is warm and is more receptive to warm water while cold water tends to make us ill. Her reason given was simple. Splash a heated pan with cold water will surely cause a great sizzle!

Seventy percent of our body is made up of water. We need to drink about eight glasses (250ml per glass) of liquid a day. Our body loses over two litres of water a day just through breathing, sweating and excretion. I feel that plain water will be just as sufficient if you lead a normal life. You may need not to drink water fortified with vitamins or minerals. Mineral water or bottled water is just treated tap water, not necessarily better than tap water.

There are many devices in the market that claim to treat tap water to healthier drinking water. They include the following :

1. Distilled Water
2. Energy Water
3. Ionised Water

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Coffee Tips

Need a better cup of coffee to brighten up your day? Follow these coffee tips :

• Good ingredients will contribute greatly to a good cup of coffee. Buy good quality coffee beans from reputable and trusted stores.



• For a fresh blend of coffee, use your coffee beans within 10 days after roasting, or they will lose their fragrance.



• Only grind all that you can consume. Coffee beans lose their flavour and aroma half an hour after grinding.



• Store coffee beans in airtight containers and not in your refrigerator. Beans will absorb whatever smell in your fridge. Keep them away from sunlight will help too.

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The Different Flavours And Types of Milk

Nowadays, milk comes in many different flavours. Apart from the normal flavours like strawberry and chocolate, there are papaya and banana too.

Besides cow's milk, we have goat's milk, soya bean milk, almond milk, rice milk, malt milk and oat milk, just to name a few.

Some people are allergic to cow's milk protein. Goat's milk is a good substitute and it tastes closest to cow's milk. Soy based milk is lactose free and can replace cow's milk too. Infants and children who are recovering from diarrhea should drink other types of milk instead of cow's milk. Rice milk is made from brown rice extract, while malt milk is made from malt extract.

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Singapore's Famous Crab Dishes

Some of Singapore's famous crab dishes include :

• Black pepper crabs from Long Beach Seafood, Quayside Seafood



• White pepper crabs from No Signboard Seafood



• Chilli crabs from Jumbo Seafood, Palm Beach Seafood, Quayside Seafood

Apart from these spicy versions, I do like the plain steam crabs cooked by my mother. Steaming the meaty crabs with a generous handful of ginger brings out the rich original flavour of the crabs. The ginger is used to drive out the cooling effect of the crab as believed by the Chinese.

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Can You Name Some Famous Hong Kong Dishes?

Recently, there's much talk in town about which famous dishes in Singapore originate from Malaysia and vice versa. As I walked past one Hong Kong themed cafe the other day, I couldn't stop wandering what famous dishes represent Hong Kong.

I know Hong Kong is famous for their

• wanton noodles (dumplings filled with prawns and/or meat to go with noodles)




• bo lo bao (a bun that looks like a pineapple, some comes with a slice of butter as a filling)




• tong soi (sweet soups)




• thick French toast that resembles a pillow




• yuanyang (an unique and clever mix of coffee, tea and milk)




• slow-brewed soups




• gongzhai noodles (instant noodles accompanied by luncheon meat)

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Healthy Ways To Cook Fish

Here are some healthy ways of cooking fish :

1. Baking - Seasoned fish with herbs, lemon juice and olive oil, wrapped with foil and placed on lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 180 degree Celsius.

2. Frying - Coat fish with cornflour and flour batter, shallow fry in medium heat.

3. Grilling - Cut slits diagonally on the fish for even heat distribution. Place fish on preheated
grills, brushing with butter frequently.

4. Simmering - Place fish in cooled liquid before bringing to a light boil, simmer till done. Unsuitable for flaky fish.

5. Steaming - Steam fish with natural seasonings such as ginger, spring onions and tomatoes.

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Fish As A Healthy Source Of Food

Fish contains a rich source of protein, vitamins, minerals such as iodine. On the other hand, fish contains less calories than other meats. Most types of fish have little cholesterol and hence consuming more fish is good for preventing high blood pressure and heart diseases. The Omega 3 in fish can effectively reduce cholesterol in our body, reduce blood pressure and prevent the blockage of blood vessels in our heart too.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in fish help to maintain a healthy heart. DHA also helps to promote brain and eye developments in children. Daily intake of 200 to 600mg of omega 3 will be helpful. The types of fish that are rich in omega 3 includes salmon, sardine, tuna and trout.

However, deep sea fish such as the sea bass and other big fish may be contaminated with high levels of mercury. It will not be advisable for pregnant women, breastfeeding mums and women planning to conceive to consume these fish.

When choosing fish from the market, look for fish with bright eyes, firm meat texture with nice natural fish smell. Avoid those with dull eyes, soggy meat and foul fishy smell.

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