Breakfast with dishes as before, with the added boil min-asparagus tips and runny eggs. Simple to cook. Healthy!
First attempt at Ramen.
Target: 4 servings
Broth or 'Dashi':
Shiitake (China) fresh mushrooms: 1 pack, $1.95, wash soak 10mins water, dump in ~1L boiling water for 1hr (way too long, suggest 10mins next time). Limpy mushrooms were added before final stock onto the noodles
Honshimeiji, dried Sardines, 1 small pack $3.90. Added to boil for continuously heated broth. 1 Teaspoon of Miso. Tasted excellent, till I realised the broth wasn't enough for 4 pax. (<1L already). Added more water, slightly miso, but turned too plain. Should have added some shoyu directly at the end.
Shogayaki , pork slices from Canada, 7 slices for $8.95. Marinated with 2 part Shuyo, 1 part sake,1 part mirin, drain of marinate, put in plastic bag, refrigerated for 2hours, pan fried, absolutely yummy though it doesn't look like the regular japanese 'char siew' though it is the 'correct' cut.
Eggs, Meidi-ya Fresh Eggs 350G, 6 for $4.60 (super ex!!!), Seng Choon farm fresh eggs 360G,6 for $1.80. (Just as good!). As a fan of eggs, I wanted a side experiement to see/taste if 'branded' eggs are different from 'regular ones'. Seng Choon had markings on the eggs and Medi-ya's didn't and I thought that should do. Upon boiling, all the markets were gone and I couldn't tell what from what! Recipe: Try to get eggs to room temperature as much as possible. Put eggs into water, heat water to boil, time 4 mins, take out eggs and dunk into ice cold water. Peel shells carefully (eggs are fragile!). Prepare small amount of (shoyu, sake, mirin,2:1:1), heat it and pour into a plastic bag, put eggs into plastic bag, store in fridge. Dice eggs into half before serving.
Spinach, China. $2.0 for ~6 bunches. Cut away root, cut into two as my pot was small. Put veg into boiling water, ~2-3mins (should have put longer), take out veg and dunk into ice water (yes..u know...ice water bucket is aways good). (Added crunch to the veg,...which my dad wasn't a fan)
Ramen: Ryushobo fresh frozen ramen. $2.75 (Serving for 4). Didn't expect a touch time dealing with this! Boil water (simple enough!), throw Ramen in, (big mistake: dumped 4 packs in), pot was big, but the whole noodle/boiling water got into a big tangle, the smell of 'gee1', (the yellow colouring chemical on noodles), was overpowering and causing a yellow froth to float around. Noodles were sticking to each other and were getting soft after ~3mins and emergency solution solution was to take all out, flush tap water, mixed with ice to stablise the noodles and rid the 'gee1' smell. Noodles were pretty much salvaged in the end, an unforgettable battle well worth fighting to taste fresh ramen.
Leek (China) $4.50 for a pair. Dump ~2cm of the lowest portion, cut the next lowest 3cm, use the outermost 2-3 layers, cut into strips longitudinally. Soak in water for 1hr before serving. This is for a garnish purpose. I think spring onions will do too, as leek is very expensive! (Side note, the rest of the leek were cut/chopped with 4 small potatoes, boiled in water for ~30mins, drained of water, blended with ~300ml of milk, added grated Parmesan, salt, pepper to taste for a very vegetal, fresh, thick leek/potatoe soup!)
Shiitake (China) fresh mushrooms: 1 pack, $1.95, wash soak 10mins water, dump in ~1L boiling water for 1hr (way too long, suggest 10mins next time). Limpy mushrooms were added before final stock onto the noodles
Honshimeiji, dried Sardines, 1 small pack $3.90. Added to boil for continuously heated broth. 1 Teaspoon of Miso. Tasted excellent, till I realised the broth wasn't enough for 4 pax. (<1L already). Added more water, slightly miso, but turned too plain. Should have added some shoyu directly at the end.
Shogayaki , pork slices from Canada, 7 slices for $8.95. Marinated with 2 part Shuyo, 1 part sake,1 part mirin, drain of marinate, put in plastic bag, refrigerated for 2hours, pan fried, absolutely yummy though it doesn't look like the regular japanese 'char siew' though it is the 'correct' cut.
Eggs, Meidi-ya Fresh Eggs 350G, 6 for $4.60 (super ex!!!), Seng Choon farm fresh eggs 360G,6 for $1.80. (Just as good!). As a fan of eggs, I wanted a side experiement to see/taste if 'branded' eggs are different from 'regular ones'. Seng Choon had markings on the eggs and Medi-ya's didn't and I thought that should do. Upon boiling, all the markets were gone and I couldn't tell what from what! Recipe: Try to get eggs to room temperature as much as possible. Put eggs into water, heat water to boil, time 4 mins, take out eggs and dunk into ice cold water. Peel shells carefully (eggs are fragile!). Prepare small amount of (shoyu, sake, mirin,2:1:1), heat it and pour into a plastic bag, put eggs into plastic bag, store in fridge. Dice eggs into half before serving.
Spinach, China. $2.0 for ~6 bunches. Cut away root, cut into two as my pot was small. Put veg into boiling water, ~2-3mins (should have put longer), take out veg and dunk into ice water (yes..u know...ice water bucket is aways good). (Added crunch to the veg,...which my dad wasn't a fan)
Ramen: Ryushobo fresh frozen ramen. $2.75 (Serving for 4). Didn't expect a touch time dealing with this! Boil water (simple enough!), throw Ramen in, (big mistake: dumped 4 packs in), pot was big, but the whole noodle/boiling water got into a big tangle, the smell of 'gee1', (the yellow colouring chemical on noodles), was overpowering and causing a yellow froth to float around. Noodles were sticking to each other and were getting soft after ~3mins and emergency solution solution was to take all out, flush tap water, mixed with ice to stablise the noodles and rid the 'gee1' smell. Noodles were pretty much salvaged in the end, an unforgettable battle well worth fighting to taste fresh ramen.
Leek (China) $4.50 for a pair. Dump ~2cm of the lowest portion, cut the next lowest 3cm, use the outermost 2-3 layers, cut into strips longitudinally. Soak in water for 1hr before serving. This is for a garnish purpose. I think spring onions will do too, as leek is very expensive! (Side note, the rest of the leek were cut/chopped with 4 small potatoes, boiled in water for ~30mins, drained of water, blended with ~300ml of milk, added grated Parmesan, salt, pepper to taste for a very vegetal, fresh, thick leek/potatoe soup!)
Absolutely the most pretty tomatoes, from Thailand, $5.65 for 8 crunchy, so-good-you-must-eat-on-its-own-only tomatoes! Superb as appetizer.
