Donburi Series - Tamago Butadon

This Tamago Butadon recipe is really belated as it was created last tuesday. Due to heavy work engagement and busy "burning" TVB drama during the weekend, I'm only able to post it now.

If you like Yoshinoya's Beef bowl, you will like this Tamago Butadon as it taste similar with just a fraction of price. I'm quite surprised the Tamago Butadon turn out quite good as the pork slice is very tender and juicy just like Yoshinoya's beef slice.

 Tamago Butadon

• 1/3 portion of Por Kee Shabu Shabu Pork (available at NTUC price $5.90)
  
• 1 Sprig of Spring Onion
• Oyakodon Season Mix (Available at Cold Storage or Mediya) or Chicken Stock
• 2 Tablespoon of Sugar & Soya Sauce (If you don't have Oyakodon Mix)
• 1 Bowl of Cooked Rice
• 1 Teaspoon of Wine/Mirin
• 1 Tablespoon of Cooking Oil
• 70ml of water
• 1 Egg
  

Heat up the donburi pan with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and add in the finely chop spring onion. Next add in the Por Kee Shabu Shabu pork equally distributed across the pan (make sure you separate the pork slice and not big chunk as you might have difficulty in cooking them thoroughly). Add in the oyakodon season mix or 2 tablespoon of sugar and shoyu together with 1 teaspoon of mirin into the pork and add in 70ml of water. You do not need to wait for it to boil before you can pour in the whip egg. Make sure the egg is evenly distributed across the pan and cover it with the lid. The reason you do not need to wait for the pork slice to fully cook to add in the rest of ingredient as you dun wan the pork slice to become overcook and become tough.

After 5 mins, you can open the lid and you notice the egg is 90% cooked you can turn off the stove and gently slide it into the bowl fill with warm rice. For those who dun like it well done can run it through the microwave at high settings for 1 mins.

Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤)

Lately, easy to cook herbal soup is in fad and A1 is one of the first food manufacturer to jump into the bandwagon with Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤) and Ten Whole Nourishing Soup (十全大补汤). Chinese herbs are grind to fine powder and put in filtered bag for easy cooking. So you no need to mess with the herbs quantity directly and after cooking you can easily remove it from the soup.

Today, I cook easy Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤) to try haha. Those who verse in herbal soup will laugh their head off why a guy need Eight Treasure Soup as this soup is primarily for female to rejuvenate after their (big aunty come) also known PMS. On the contrary to such belief, this soup is suitable for all sexes, especially if you are anemic, or suffering from faint spell and poor appetite.

Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤）

• 3 to 4 pieces of Chicken Thigh
• 1 Sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup ( Sold in Giant Megamart)
• 1 Cup of Baby Carrot or Chopped Carrot
• 2 Teaspoon of Salt & Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon of Cooking Wine
• Dash of Pepper
• Microwave Glade Wrap (Optional)
  

The rule of thumb for "brewing" Chinese Soup, the meat used to brew the soup need to rinse through hot water to remove any traces of bloods or rawness that might affect the soup. I personally find this procedure reduce the soup flavour so I devise a procedure to overcome it. Soak or rinse the chicken thigh in water to get rid of the excess blood. Drain the chicken thigh dry, then add in 2 teaspoon of salt & pepper and 1 teaspoon of cooking wine and massage the chicken thigh thoroughly. Keep it marinate overnight. I enclosed 2 variants of making Eight Treasure Soup depends on individual liking.

Consomme Version:
Soak a sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup in water and put it at the base of the bowl. Cover it with 1 cup of carrot or baby carrots then add in the pre-marinate chicken thigh. Seal the bowl with Microwave Glade wrap and put in the steamer and steam it for 2 to 3 hours. Slowly, you will see strong consomme soup will form in the bowl.

Normal Version:
Soak a sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup in water and put it at the base of the bowl. Cover it with 1 cup of carrot or baby carrots then add in the pre-marinate chicken thigh. Put the bowl in a steamer and steam it for 2 to 3 hours. As the steam is condense directly into the bowl, the soup will not be as concentrate as the consomme version. 

 

 

Donburi Series - Oyakodon

Nowadays you can see donburi sprouting everywhere in the heartland food court and hawker centre with alluring signboard showing generous serving donburi at attractive prices as low as $3.50. For those who have tried it will say you don't get what you paid just like Mac Donald's fillet'o'fish burger's fish patties had shrunk so much that you could hardly taste any fish when you take a bite. I'm a donburi fan as it easy and fast to cook with everything in a big bowl and oyakodon is my favorite.

  Oyakodon

• 1 Chicken Thigh
• 2 Sprig of Spring Onion
• Oyakodon Season Mix (Available at Cold Storage or Mediya) or Chicken Stock
• 2 Tablespoon of Sugar & Soya Sauce (If you don't have Oyakodon Mix)
• 1 Bowl of Cooked Rice
• 1 Teaspoon of Wine/Mirin
• 1 Tablespoon of Cooking Oil
• 70ml of water
• 1 Egg
  

You can prepare the chicken thigh beforehand slice it to chunk of 4 - 5 or slice it thinly depends on your preference but for my case chunky is the way to go. Marinate the slice chicken thigh with 1 teaspoon wine or mirin and a dash of salt and put it in container in fridge. Chop the spring onion 5cm or finer depending on your preference. You can do this all beforehand to cut cooking time when you get back from work.


You can use a small frypan with cover or get the donburi pan with cover at Daiso at $4 (cover & pan). I got the Daiso donburi pan which is pretty unique as unlike normal frying pan the pan handle is upright at 90°. Heat up pan with tablespoon of oil and add in the chopped spring onion and fry for 1 mins. Once you smell the aromatic fragance of the spring onion add in the chicken and fried for another 2 mins then add in Oyakodon Mix and 70ml of water and cover with the donburi pan with the lid until it boils. For those who dun have Oyakodon Mix can substitute with 1 Tablespoon of Mirin mixed well with 2 Tablespoons of Shoyu and 2 Tablespoon of Sugar. The measurement can be adjusted according to individual taste.



Beat up the egg and gently lace it on top and cover with the lid and let it boil for 2 mins and open the lid to check. Depends on individual, oyakodon serve in Japan normally the egg is not cook fully as they prefer the egg to be a bit runny. My case I prefer it more well cook, once ready you take the pan off the stove and gently slide it on bowl of hot rice and the Oyakodon is ready for the taking.

Caipirinha - Ideal Cocktail For Summer

Recently, my friend "jio" as in invite me to go try the Brazil Churrasco (Fiesta Brasilia) at United Square with assurance the offering will be more authentic Brazilian than the Churrsaco (Carnivore) at Vivo City. True to his words, I had the best Churrsaco experience as Fiesta serve a very wide spread of meat and authentic Brazilian side dishes. What knock me off the rocker is Caiprinha serve in Fiesta Brasilia is extremely refreshing as it cleanse you of those feeling of oiliness you feel after binging too much. I believe it is a best summer cocktail for hot summer and I decide to share with you all.

Caiprinha

• 2 Lime
• Fine Sugar
• Cachaca (for purist) or Vodka (if you cannot find any)
• Sprite (for watered down version)

The version shown here is a watered down Caiprinha as I wanted it to be more suitable for people across the age as the alcohol content is so low it unlikely you can get drunk from it. First slice one of the lime into thin slices and put aside. For the second lime, cut into 4 quarters and put one of the quarter into a mug or drinking glass lined with 3 teaspoon of sugar. With a spoon, crush the lime so that the lime juice is released and mixed with sugar. Add in additional lime slices you cut earlier and fill the mug/glass full of ice. For original version, fill the mug/glass with Cachaca or Vodka and stir it well. For the watered down version, pour in Sprite then add in 1 tblespoon of Cachaca or Vodka. For those who want a stronger punch can add in more Cachaca or Vodka.

Smoked Black Pepper Duck Toasted Sandwich

Rice & noodles dishes are the common dinner choice for average Singaporean in heartland heavily populated by food court or hawker centre. I personally don't like to eat the same kind of food that you can commonly find in food court or hawker centre.

One can say fast food can offer alternative economical dinner option, but the fast food serving have shrunk considerable over the years and their menu still stagnate with the same offering. Even new fast food item are rehash from their current menu without any novelty, so you left with not much choice or option.

Smoked Black Pepper Duck Toasted Sandwich is one of the few unique sandwiches I created so far for my dinner and managed to capture on my PSP camera. As most of them tend disappear into my stomach way before they get a chance to be photograph. LOL     

Smoked Black Pepper Duck Toasted Sandwich

• 12 Pcs of KSP Smoked Black Pepper Duck (no longer retail in Sheng Siong try contact KSP)
• 1/2 Tomato Sliced Thinly
• 4 Pcs Bread
• 1 Hard Boiled Egg Sliced
• 2 Slice of Cheddar Cheese
• Sandwich Maker (Any Brand)
  

For those who frequent Saizeriya (an economical italian/western restaurant located at Liang Court) will notice there is a smoked duck in their menu. The smoked duck offer in Saizeriya is source from KSP. By sheer luck, I manage to purchase it from Sheng Siong during the CNY period. As it's no longer retail in Sheng Siong, I take great care not to deplete the smoked duck too fast and keep some even until now.


Boil the egg with Burton Egg Timer until it hit Medium indicator and chill it with cold water and peel it. Use the egg slicer to get equal portion of egg slices. For the smoked duck, you need 6 slice with 2-3mm thickness as too thick, one will find the smoke duck too overwhelming in the sandwich.

With sandwich maker, place in the following order bread, smoked duck, slice tomato, slice egg, cheese and finally the bread. Close the sandwich maker cover and power it and toast until slight brown. There you have a hot tasty sandwich as alternative meal for your dinner with just 15 mins cooking time.   

Zheng Yi Hainanese Beef Noodle

I used to work at Siemen Pte Ltd for a period of time. Zheng Yi Hainanese Beef Noodle is one of the best tasting Beef noodle I ever tasted. It is a located in a nondescript "Kopitiam" at  intersection between Macpherson Road & Tai Thong Crescent. Even now, if I happen to pass by that area on business (because I don't own a car) I always made the effort to reserve tummy space for a bowl of rich beef noodles. The photo here is taken last year when I happen to pass by when I sending a faulty hard disk for RMA and it high time I should give the photo I took due credit.

Zheng Yi's Beef noodle retail from $4 to $6 and and you can customise which beef part (stomach,intestine,cartilage) or just the meat itself. You don't see this kind of offering in famous beef noodles in Katong or Odeon beef noodle. Similar to other beef noodles, you have the option of dry or version with either noodles or rice flat noodles(kwaytiao). The dry version is basically the wet version whereby it was thicken and additional dark soya sauce is added to darken it.

My personal preference is the dry version as you can better savour the beefy rich sauce as its cling on the noodle better. Despite that, you won't find the Zheng Yi's dry version too starchy like Odeon or Scott. Zheng Yi's dry version also doesn't have overpowering dark soya sauce that is very predominant in the common Beef Noodle staff. Zheng Yi doesn't overcook the beef slice like common beef noodles stall which is plus as I don't like overcook beef. The chilli served together is special belachan chili that really blend well with the noodle and being a chilli fanatic I always add it into the noodle for additional spiciness.

The dry version of the noodle is also served with a bowl of beef soup as a side. This beef soup is the best beef soup I ever tasted as its very rich with a tinge of herbs giving you "power" when you drink it. The attributing factor of it richness is due to assortment of beef parts use to made the soup and the soup gets better when you have it near to the stall closure.

Another worthy must try is Zheng Yi's wet version as the noodles is serve with the concentrated beefy soup that was serve as a side in the dry version. Zheng Yi's beef soup is comparable to Viet's beef pho soup with slight variant in the herb use to concoct the soup.The ideal time to eat this beef noodle is during rainy season as the richness can simply warm your heart or rejuvenate your tired soul. For those beef noodle lovers who haven't try it, it is a die die must try.