KY cooks – Mint and Egg Soup

This is one of the fastest soup to prepare that is perfect to clear up sinus problem – the mint and egg soup. Everything can be done in about 10-15 minutes, and makes a perfect companion to another dish, or even to be consumed just by itself.

I’ve always thought that making the mint and egg soup means chucking everything into the pot and just boil away. As it turns out, the process involves a few more steps in between, and here’s how you do it:

the two main ingredients – mint leaves and egg

Ingredients (for two as companion dish):

• a bunch of mint leaves – pluck and use only the leaves
• 1 egg – lightly beaten
• ginger – in strips
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon oil
• half a chicken cube (or soup stock if you have)
• salt and pepper for seasoning

with some oil, fry ginger, garlic, then the mint leaves

Cooking instructions:

• with a pot, heat up cooking oil then fry ginger as it takes longer to cook
• a minute or two later, add in garlic
• when garlic is fragrant, add mint leaves, stir till you can smell the mints, around 1-2 minutes
• add egg, and cook it to the consistency of soft scrambled egg
• add 1.5 bowl of water and chicken cube (or soup stock)
• bring to boil, add salt and pepper  according to taste

make a scramble egg, almost, then add water and chicken cube

So there you go, 2 small bowls of mint and egg soup ready to serve. The frying process, together with the addition of ginger and garlic really brings out the flavor of the soup. The only little tricky part with the mint soup is that mint leaves generally doesn’t last very long in the fridge before turning black and bad. You should always cook it at the lastest 1-2 days after purchasing for best results.

Get cooking! There are more recipes here.

and it’s ready to serve after boiling for a couple minutes

P/S: the recipe for prawn dish on the photo above is here.

KY cooks – Thai Minced Pork Cucumber Soup

This Thai minced pork cucumber soup is something that we came across while staying over at Khaolak for degassing purposes after a satisfying live-aboard diving trip at Similan Islands.

The soup was so good that when we came home, Haze and I tried to re-create the same dish at home, and I think she got it pretty close. Here’s the resulting soup that is somewhat healthy, simple to make, and may I say, quite delicious.

Thai Minced Pork Cucumber Soup

Ingredients:

• big fresh cucumber
• fish sauce (or salt)
• white pepper
• minced meat (300 gram or enough for stuffing)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

ingredients are simple, we use fresh cucumber

Instructions:

• While heating up 3 bowls of water, remove cucumber skin, cut in halves, then into bite size, remove the seeds
• mix minced meat with generous amount of pepper, a teaspoon of fish sauce (or a dash of salt), and a teaspoon of sesame oil
• apply minced meat on cucumber where the seeds used to be (you can 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch to make the mixture more sticky)
• carefully put the cucumber into boiling water with meat side on top
• boil for 15-20 minutes or until cucumber is soft
• serve while hot

minced meat and cucumber is a great combination

This soup usually comes with tong fun (glass noodle) so if you wanna add that, do go ahead. For even more flavorful soup base, feel free to add chicken/pork bones too.

Happy cooking!

KY cooks – Chinese Corn & Spare Ribs Soup

It’s been a while since I posted the last recipe, so here’s another simple to make soup dish that anyone can make at home – Chinese corn and spare ribs soup. If you want it without pork, feel free to substitute spare ribs with chicken wings or bones.

I use a pressure cooker for this, but a normal pot would work too if you just increase the cooking time a factor of 2-3. Preparation time for this dish is less than 10 minutes.

corn, red dates, dried cuttle fish

The ingredients are fairly simple to source, and they aren’t expensive either. This is good for 4 small bowls of soup

• 2 x sweet corns (best if you get those from Cameron Highland, they are extra juicy)
• 600 grams of spare ribs
• half a dozen dried red dates
• 1 x dried cuttle fish or some dried scallops

boil the spare ribs for a while to remove impurities

Now the cooking instructions:

• boil the spare ribs separately for 1-2 minutes to remove impurities
• cut the corn in 2 and put all ingredients with 4 bowls of water in pressure cooker (6 bowls if you are using normal pot to account for evaporation)
• bring to boil and cook in pressure for 45 mins to an hour
• add salt to taste (about 1.5 teaspoon for me)
• add pepper to taste
• additionally, sprinkle some chopped spring onion before serving

just boil everything in pressure cooker for at least 45 minutes

The result is a clear soup that has the taste of sweet corn and spare ribs infused in it. It goes well with steamed rice or even just on its own.

Easy, healthy, and delicious, try it!

add a sprinkle of spring onion and you’re done – corn & spare ribs soup

KY cooks – Beef Stew Recipe with Pressure Cooker

I’ve always love beef stew, a hearty dish with super tender beef in thick and flavorful broth, and with the various vegetable in it, a full and balanced meal all by itself.

ingredients for beef stew

I always thought making a pot of mean beef stew is an exercise in patience, but after doing a bit of research, I found out you can actually make a perfect bowl of beef stew in less than 30 minutes, including time for preparation – with the help of a pressure cooker.

pan fry the beef till brown, then add water and rosemary

The ingredients (this is good for 4 bowls)

• 4-500 gram beef (lower quality is fine, I love those with some tendon and fat attached)
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 4-5 sticks of celery
• 2 onions
• 3 carrots
• 2 potato
• 1 table spoon rosemary (dried is fine)
• 1.5 table spoon salt
• 1 tea spoon black pepper
• 2 table spoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 table spoon cooking oil
• 1 table spoon flour

chopped up vegetables and put in pressure cooker for another 8 minutes

Here’s the instructions, pressure cooker is used twice to ensure the beef gets to it’s super tender consistency while keeping the vegetable not overly cooked

• heat up some oil in the pressure cooker, then add garlic, and fry beef till all sides are brown
• add Worcestershire sauce, 3 cups of water, pepper, and rosemary
• bring to boil, cover the pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes in high pressure
• in the mean time, chop up all vegetable and potato to bite size chunks
• release pressure (by running cold water over the pressure cooker in the sink), then add vegetable to the pot
• bring to boil and cook for another 8 minutes in high pressure
• add salt
• slowly add up to a table spoon of flour while stirring to make the broth thicker
• serve while hot

a bowl of hearty stew with super tender beef

The result is a pot of beef stew that is prepared in less than 30 minutes but with beef so tender it almost melt in your mouth. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you’ll have to boil the stew for at least 3-4 hours to get the same result. Alternatively, use a slow cooker.

KY cooks – Peanut soup with pork ribs in pressure cooker

Not long ago my mom gave me a brand new pressure cooker that she’s kept with her for the last 10 years or so after knowing that I’ve started cooking a bit. It was a godsend, suddenly cooking soup become way faster and easier, and I think everyone who loves any sort of Chinese style soup should invest in one.

Today I’m going to share with you a very simple peanut soup with pork ribs recipe. A dish that I always love as a kid but never did get to have them very often due to the time it takes to cook using a conventional pot.

chinese peanut soup with pork ribs

With a conventional pot, you’ll have to boil the soup for at least 3-4 hours to make the peanut soft, but with the pressure cooker, 30-45 minutes is all you need for the same results. This is possible because with the increase in pressure (usually at around15 psi), the water will boil in much higher temperature at 122 Celsius compared to the usual 100 Celsius, and this make a world of difference.

Ingredients:

• raw peanuts (a small bowl is enough)
• some pork ribs or pork bones (chicken carcass if you prefer it to be pork free)
• 5-6 dried red dates
• 5-6 small dried scallops for added sweetness

ingredients for peanut soup – raw peanuts, red dates, dried scallops, pork ribs

Instructions:

• boil the pork separately for a few minutes to remove impurities
• put all ingredients in the pressure cooker (including the pork after removing from pervious pot)
• add just enough water for amount of soup you want (eg: 3 bowls for 3 bowls, this is because with pressure cooker very little water is evaporated, they are kept as steam within the system instead)
• boil in pressure cooker for 30-45 minutes

pressure cooker working, check out the little bronze stem

Pressure cooker consume quite a lot less cooking gas compared to a conventional pot too. After bringing the water to boil and the cooker to working pressure (indicated by the bronze valve being “erected”), usually achieve within a few minutes, the fire can be turned down low to keep the same pressure. I believe with this you’ll save at least 3-4 times the amount of cooking gas needed.

The result is old fashion peanut soup that is good for the soul. The peanut is soft, and the pork ribs even more tender, you should really try this for yourself.

p/s: it is also said that boiling the soup with a clay soup spoon will speed up the “softening” process of meat/peanuts too as clay will serve as a catalyst of sort. I haven’t try that yet, but if you do, let me know how it works out.

Happy cooking!