Lotus Root Soup

What is lotus root? To put in plainly it is the root portion of a lotus plant. :) It a commonly found in Asia primarily Chinese cooking. The exterior of this root is covered with a peel that is a reddish brown color and it has a whitish interior. The meat of the lotus root has a texture that is slightly crunchy, and mildly sweet. Lotus root can be eaten raw in salads, stir-fried with vegetables, deep fried as tempura and of course commonly used in chinese soups.

Simple ingredients :-

1) Lotus Root
2) Red Dates
3) Dried squid
4) Raw Peanuts
5) Pork ribs and chicken ribs

Simple steps -
Preparation of soup is the easiest. Throw everything in the pot of water and let it boil. Simple right?!! For best results, let the water come to a boil for 20 mins and then only lower the fire (simmer) and boil for another 2 hours.


The result is a super yummy soup. It is my favourite soup!

Seafood Soup

Ok, this is really simple and I do think that it is rather yummy. If you want a quick hot soup after a hard day's work, give this a try and let me know if you like it.

Simple ingredients -
1) Some prawns
2) Some seaweed - it is dry so soak it a few times to get rid of the dirt.
3) Some fish balls, sotong balls - whatever you like.
4) Some carrot
5) Some napa cabbage.
6) Soup base - anchovies (boiled) or just use the read made Maggie cubes :)


Simple Steps -
1) It is really quite simple so not that many steps. Firstly bring the water to a boil in a pot. If you are using anchovies, you can fry it a bit with some oil before adding water. If you are using the Maggie cube, best to have the water boiling before adding the cube. Next add in the carrot and napa cabbage. Then add the balls and only add the prawns and seaweed last. Bring it to a boil for at least 15 mins in medium heat.

2) Voila! It is so easy. You have a hearty hot seafood soup ready for dinner! Yum yum!

Wonton Dumplings

Inspiration - Someone commented that my wan tan mee recipe did not have wan tan (dumplings) at all. Ha ha....I guess I was really focused on the mee portion. Somehow, in Malaysia, whenever I go out for wan tan mee, I am only thinking of the mee (noodles) and of course the char siu. The wan tan soup on the side is kinda just a side dish. Maybe that is just the case in Malaysia. I know in HK and even here in US, the Wan Tan are the focus for the dish with huge dumplings vs the tiny ones in Malaysia. Anyway, since I posted the wan tan mee, to make sure I have the actual wan tan, this is the one that I made recently. This is also the first ever time that I made wan tan from scratch so I definitely welcome feedback on better ways to improve :)

Simple ingredients -
1) Minced pork (1lb), Minced mushroom (5pcs), minced onion or shallots (1 pcs)
2) Wan Tan wrapper
3) Soup base = Ikan Bilis (anchovies) base.
4) Some choy sum

Simple Steps -
1) Stir-fry the minced mushroom and shallots. As you can see I only chopped it, try to do fast fast, I should have minced it since it ended up a bit too big for my liking.


2) Mixed together with the minced pork, add some seasoning of salt, pepper, sesame oil, a bit of soysauce. Actually a key ingredient to have a nice crunch for the dumplings is to include chopped water chestnut. But since I did not have it, I just omitted it.

3) Now, for the wrapping process. this is really the "exciting" part cos since it is my first time, I kinda just fiddle my way thru. I lay out the egg white, wan tan wrapper and the minced meat = my assembly line!

4) Take one wrapper, I dab some egg white wash on each of the corners.

5) Put a small piece of minced meat on the middle of wan tan wrapper. Try not to be greedy and put a big piece cos during the process of boiling, the filling will likely just fall out.

6) I just wrap up each side of the wrapper.

7) And then do a little twist. I am sure there is a more professional way of doing it but this is my first try simplified version. Luckily it worked.

8) In a pot of boiling water, gently put in the prepared dumplings.....

9) When the wan tan float up, it is ready.

10) For the soup base, I just boiled ikan bilis soup and put in some choy sum. Put in the boiled wan tan, and Voila! Ready to eat! Yum yum!