Happy Belly Shark's Fin Soup

I have not been cooking much since I came back, was busy packing the house so that I will be able to join Hub in States by August....plus I have so many errands to run before the little one arrive next month. The only thing that I have been cooking is herbal soup for the little one inside my tummy. This is what I can ransack from my fridge this morning and it actually tasted quite good, very clear and tasty ; p
Will definitely make this again...

What I used

Half a chicken, chopped into big pieces
2 carrots, thickly sliced
1 dried honey fig
3 pieces of dried scallops
Half packet of frozen shark's fin, defrosted

What to do
1. Scald chicken briefly with boiling water to remove any impurities (blood, marrow etc)
2. Put everything (except shark's fin) into slow cooker, add hot water until it covers all the ingredients.
3. Set slow cooker on HIGH for 4 hrs
4. Add in shark's fin and let it boil for another hour.
5. Add salt to taste if you want (I prefer mine without)

Pure Chicken Essence

Hub has been making this for me every month since we found out that I was pregnant. This chicken essence is supposed to be very nourishing and it taste great too!

We use a double-boil pot, invert a small porcelain bowl in it (you can see the base of the bowl in the picture below). Skin a whole chicken (without the head and butt), chop it up (smash the bones if you can) and place the chopped chicken into the pot. I like to add some wolfberries into it as well. DO NOT ADD WATER..

Transfer the double-boil pot into a big stockpot and fill it up with water until it reaches about half the level outside the double-boil pot. Boil for about 3 hrs. And this is what you will get at the end of 3 hours...
Exactly 1 small bowl of concentrated chicken essence full of flavor. The chicken pieces are very dry at the end of the cooking. U can discard them after the cooking process or sometimes I use them to make chicken porridge or if I am lazy to cook...I will add some canned stock to cook my rice and that's chicken rice for dinner ; p

Simple Homecook Dinner

Hub's cough is getting better so that means I can start cooking spicy food, made this beef rendang on Monday. No I didn't make it from scratch; I do not want to buy too much spices as I will be here for only 3 mths, plus I don't have a grinder nor pestle/mortle to pound those spices...So I used Delimas Rendang Paste to make this. For those staying in Singapore, you can only get this premix from Sheng Siong supermarket. For those staying in States, you can order it from My Taste of Asia. I added carrots and tomatoes to the rendang, it's not too bad. Not very spicy though but I think they are better than Prima Taste premix (which I think is too sweet)

This is one of my favourite soup and it is suitable for those who doesn't like herbal tasting soup. Hub and T love this, they can finish 2 big bowls at one go. Especially when the weather is turning cold...Trust me you don't have to add any seasoning, it has all the sweetness from the veg and red dates : )

Here's the recipe:

Good ol' Chicken, Carrot & Corn Soup

1 big chicken, chopped into 4 pieces

3 sweet corn, break into twos

3 carrots, cut into abot 1 inch thick

1 handful of dried red dates (okok, about 18 dates)

1 handful of dried longans

1/2 cup of wolfberries

3 to 4 dried scallops (I did not add this as I can't find dried scallops in NC)

Method:

1. Scald the chicken with boiling water to remove all impurities (blood, fats and all)

2. Put all ingredient (except wolfberries) into a pot and fill up with enough water to cover all

3. Boil on high heat for 1 hour and switch to low heat and continue to boil for 3 hours

(If you are using slow cooker, fill up with hot water boil on High for 4-5 hours)

4. Add in wolfberries and let the soup boil for about 15mins before you serve

5. Big bowl of soup for everyone ; P*

Asparagus and mushrooms with oyster sauce and dried shrimp (to replace dried sole fish which can't be found here)

Quail Or Queer

Aren't they georgous? Couldn't remember the last time I had quail eggs.....Saw these at the supermarket and I thought why not add them in my Bak Kut Teh... Hub was skeptical, he said nobody put quail eggs in soup.....

Here they are, ready to be added into my Bak Kut Teh. Will just add 6 so that Hub will not be turn off by it ; P

Well, I am what I cook.... Literally.... I cook what I like and no one is going to stop me!!

This is my version of herbal BKT, took me a while to convince Hub to try the eggs with soup. Seriously it goes well together! I reckon Hub likes it because he told me; you 3 eggs, I 3 eggs ; D

He says this BKT is better than the last one I made.....Hmm, wonder if it's because of the quail eggs...