JDS Squid Rice

This was one of those happy accidents that occurred. I had wanted to make some sort of sambal squid, and have it with steamed rice, and because I was too lazy to steam the rice, I decided I will just toss it in with the squid dish I was making, and cook it all in a claypot so I can go from stove to table without needing to wash a pot and serving dish separately.

When I eventually took a spoonful of the result, I couldn’t help but exclaim happily to myself: “You ARE a culinary Goddess!”

Well of course, I am biased. But since then I have tried to recreate the dish 2 more times and now that I am satisfied that I can consistently create it, I would like to share it in this blog post.

First, a little bit about the ingredients. I used small squids (about 8-10cm per squid, 6 in total) with roe for this. I just love roe. Don’t cut them too thinly because they might cook too quickly and end up tough. These are about 2cm thick. Then there are these 2 sauces: Kwong Cheong Thye Crispy Chilli and also the Lee Kum Kee Shrimp Sauce (or paste). I guess if you cannot find these substitutes can be used, but I am not sure if it will taste as good!

Asian Onion Pork Chop In Sugar-Vinegar Sauce (糖醋洋葱猪扒)

In my university days, I was briefly dating a guy from Hong Kong. He was what we would call a mummy’s boy, and his mum would make it a point to travel all the way to our hostel by public transport to bring him home-cooked food. While the relationship didn’t amount to much, the one thing I never forgot was when he shared one of those dishes his mum brought him with me – a very delicious onion pork chop dish – much to his mum’s dismay. Yes, I could see the “how dare you eat my son’s food” glare from her eyes. Nevertheless, I did manage to pry some information from her on how she made it, there was the need to stir fry the onions over low heat first, then a need to add black vinegar and sugar. And that was all I got.

JDS Chinese-Style Glutinous Rice

The thought of cooking glutinous rice had never occurred to me, since it’s not something that I particularly craved. Growing up, I just remembered it as being a common breakfast that grandma would sometimes buy back for us from the market, being very oily, with not much ingredients. But all that changed when I visited my sis in Finland Jan 2019, when she reheated some of the frozen batch she had made for me. It tasted really nice – perhaps also due to the cold weather (it was winter) – a steaming bowl of glutinous rice with amped up ingredients totally hit the spot. And I asked her for a rough rundown on how she made it.

So more than a year later, I made a first batch of it based on my own take and I truly liked how it turned out to be such a convenient and tasty meal. Especially for days when I do not want to eat much. I didn’t record the process the last time round, so now, another half a year later, I am making it again so that I can log this recipe into my blog. I like to test my recipes before I put them out there. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Certainly easy to make but just need to have time to prep as you need to soak, soak, soak!

Let’s talk a little about the ingredients preparation process.

Claypot Pig Liver

I love liver, but it has to be done right. My favourite pig liver dish is the claypot version made by the Hillman and Manhill Restaurants in Singapore. I have been eating at this restaurant as a child and have never had another chinese-styled claypot dish that is as good as theirs, not even the famed Keng Eng Kee at Alexandra Village.

I have been trying to recreate this dish in the comfort of my home, afterall, fresh pig liver in the market is so cheap, I owe it to myself to try. While I can’t say I can replicate them 100%, I am fairly happy at this version which I have arrived at. Other than having really good fresh pig’s liver, you definitely need a claypot. Do note, the liver needs to be in room temperature, and not chilled, to ensure proper and even cooking. 

Meat Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Chinese Style)

Recently thought about making this dish again, the first time I made it was years ago, before I started this blog. This time round, I made a sauce to go with it that I really liked, and it really enhanced the taste of this dish. I ate it on it’s own without rice as a meal for myself, felt pretty nice and healthy after that so give it a go if you are keen!

Braised Pork Belly With Mushrooms, Chestnuts and Dried Oysters

One of my mum’s win in the kitchen is her braised dishes. From braising 3-layered pork, to pig’s trotters, to chicken feet, she has always had a flair of getting it right. Since I have moved out I have tried recreating the simple 3-layer braised pork quite a few times but never got it right, till recently, when I finally felt I made some progress. Still not as good as my mum’s but I’m happy enough to share. It’s a simple recipe, nothing elaborate, no 5-spice powder, no added star aniseed. Just simple braised fatty 3-layer pork the way I like it.

What I set out to achieve was a stew that had little sauce, so that the oysters would have a nice bite to them, not stewed and watered out till soft. That is the most important part for me since I love the taste of dry oysters very much and aim to retain the flavour within the oyster as much as I can, yet allowing it to perfume the stew. So if you are the kind who likes to have very soft oysters then this recipe is not likely something you will like.

Stewed Chicken Innards With Peas

This is not a common recipe, it’s one comfort food that my mum used to make on occasion and the family loves it. Mum told me that was what her mum used to make for them, and it was a cheap dish because they were very poor when she was young.

Best served wrapped with lettuce before you push it into your mouth, it’s a good marriage of tastes, but I improvised and served it with cucumbers instead because a whole head of lettuce was too much for me.

Anyhow, if you are into chicken innards give this a try, I love it.

Negitoro Ikura Don.

This is a very simple and quick one dish meal to prepare provided you stock up the ingredients in your fridge like I do. I almost always have ikura in the fridge, and I recently ordered 2 packets of Negitoro from Zairyo.sg, so when I was lazy to cook I have something to make for a quick meal.

Negitoro is essentially sashimi grade tuna made from the scrapings and odds and ends around the bones, usually around the belly area, with added spring onions. It is very affordable and it tastes really good. I really love it. One time I went to a restaurant and ate a negitoro gunkan, and found that there was something special about the taste, it was extra creamy. It was then that I realised they had added in mayonaise. So that is how I make mine, with added mayo. I am not sure if this makes it ‘less authentic’ but I love it so that’s how I eat it. Recipe here is for just 1 person with a big appetite.

Clams In White Wine Sauce

I love clams. In fact, I love almost every common bivalve mollusk that you get, but the problem was, that I could never bring myself to make my own, because it would mean that I would have to “kill” them myself. Clams are one of those things that need to be alive when you cook them, and the pre-boiled ones are really just not great. So there is this couple at the Tiong Bahru market that sells ONLY clams and I have been walking past week after week, ogling at the clams but never buying them. But one day, someone told me to think of it this way, by ‘killing’ clams, I am ‘rescuing’ them from further suffering a slow death at the market, which made sense to me (others may not agree), so I decided once and for all to do it, and boy, was I hooked!

Before you start cooking them, you will need to de-grit them. First wash the shells under running water and rub off any gunk with your hands. Then make some cool sea salt water. Use ONLY sea salt. My purpose is to give them a nice little spa and treat them well since I will be killing them, that’s the best I can do. Taste the water to get it salty enough to mimic sea water to a certain point (ie. Not too bland – you can see the amount of salt I add to the water in the picture). You need to make enough to cover the clams but not too deep (I keep it at about an inch above). Then, drop in your clams gently into the sea salt water, you will see that some will start to open up and spit out gunk within just a minute or two. I love watching them.

IMPORTANT: Do not de-grit them in unsalted tap water, it will kill them. Also, if you can, use filtered water (yes, nothing but the best for these little babies!). The water needs to be cool, not warm, so you can opt to drop in a couple of ice cubes if you like.

Chilled Truffle Angel Hair Pasta with Ikura

I have recreated cold pasta with caviar for some time now, after I sampled the ones made by either Garibaldi or Gunther at the Savour Event that I went to years ago. Then I forgot about it for a while until I went to an event for an Uni Pasta that was similar in nature. Because I was totally peeved off by the latter event, I went home and decided to make a cold pasta that weekend just to satisfy my anger, and came up with this. I enjoyed eating it because it tasted good and was so easy to make! Best part is, you can several variations which I will list at the end of this page.

The basic components are simple: angel hair pasta, salt, truffle oil, spring onions, roe.