3 Plus 1 Recipes

I love to cook dinner for my family. But I only do it once in a while when I am super free as it is a therapeutic but tiring process. First I have to brainstorm what to cook, create a shopping list, buy the ingredients, prepare them and cook. In between, I have to take some photos. By the time I finish cooking, I was already drained. But still have to take photos. LOLOL. So the pictures you see in this blogpost are not really up to standard ones. I feel I didn’t do justice to the dishes here because they tasted much better than the photos.

Anyway, one free day, Aunty and I decided to cook dinner together so these are what we came up with. Our local TV variety show 《三菜一汤》(3-plus-1) is our favourite show where celebrities will cook three dishes plus a soup, all within an hour’s time and the cost of the food must be within the budget of S$20. Unfortunately we don’t really have a budget because we seldom cook so when we cook, we want to cook a good meal for the family. Hope these recipes inspire you to prepare a meal for the family this weekend! TGIF 🙂

Caramelized Pork Belly

Author: Maureen

Peranakan style dish which is similar to sweet and sour pork.

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Ingredients

Ingredients A

• 100 g garlic minced
• 120 g blue ginger cut into slices
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp black pepper

Ingredients B

• 100 g sugar
• 1.5 kg pork belly cut into 1.5 inch thick
• 500 g water

Instructions

1. Mix Ingredients A with pork belly and marinate for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat wok, add in sugar. Be careful not to burn the sugar.
3. When the sugar has melted, add in the marinated pork belly and mix well.
4. Add in water to boil. Turn the fire to low and simmer till dry.

Recipe Notes

If you don't like pork belly, can replace with other parts.
You can also replace caramelized sugar with honey.

Bighead Carp Soup

Author: Maureen

Tasty soup which warms the tummy!

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Ingredients

Ingredients

• 600 g Song fish head or bighead carp, cut into halves
• 3 stalks spring onions shredded
• 20 g butter
• 10 cloves garlic deep-fried till golden brown
• 80 g old ginger flattened

Seasonings

• 1200 ml stock
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp chicken seasonings powder
• 3 tbsp shao-xing wine
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. Scald bighead carp with hot oil.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in claypot, and fry ginger till fragrant. Add in seasoning and fried garlic.
3. Add in bighead carp, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Add in butter and spring onion sections, sizzle in wine, and serve.

Stir-fried Eggplants with Dried Shrimps

Author: Maureen

This simple eggplant recipe is aromatic and flavorful.

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Ingredients

Ingredients A

• 400 g eggplant cut into strips

Ingredients B

• 4 bird’s eye chilli
• 2 red chilli
• 40 g dried shrimps chopped
• 60 g minced garlic
• 2 stalks spring onions diced

Ingredients C

• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• Ingredients D mix together
• 4 tbsp self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 150 ml water

Instructions

1. Mix eggplant strips with ingredients D, and deep-fry with hot oil till golden brown. Remove and drain.
2. Heat up oil in a wok, and add dried shrimps. Deep-fry briefly, then add minced garlic, and stir-fry over low heat till golden brown. Add in remaining ingredients B and ingredients C, and stir-fry quickly. Serve hot.

ABC Soup

Author: Maureen

This ABC soup is super easy to prepare!

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Ingredients

Ingredients

• 250 g pork ribs
• 1.5 litres water
• 2-3 potatoes cut into chunks
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 3 carrots peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 stalk celery cut into small pieces
• 2 to matoes cut into quarters
• 2 slices ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• some ikan bilis
• some salt

Instructions

1. Blanch pork ribs in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then rinse with cold water, set aside.
2. Add water, blanched pork ribs and the rest of the ingredients (except salt) into a soup pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low fire for about 45 mins. Season to taste with salt.