Easy Porridge for Kids

This is a nutrituous meal that I cook for the kids regularly. It's really easy. I always cook before I go to work and it only takes 20 mins. I use my all-time favourite thermal pot to cook. I'll prepare the ingredients the night before. It helps to mass prepare some of the ingredients. For example, I'll shred more carrots and then store it in the fridge and it can be used for few days. Sometimes, I'll prepare some stock the night before and use the stock to cook the porridge the next day.

Method:

1. Rinse and soak some brown rice in water over-night.

2. Rinse the rice again before cooking.

3. Add whatever you like (veges, meat, fish, whatever...)

4. Once the porridge starts boiling, cook for another 15 mins to ensure the meat is thoroughly cooked.

5. Turn off fire and transfer the metal pot into the thermal pot.

My thermal pot looks something like this:

Ikan Bilis Powder

This is something that I always have in my fridge and I highly recommend it if you have babies or young children who eats porridge.

Method:

1. Wash the ikan bilis thoroughly.

2. Drain away the water and spread them on a metal plate.

3. Bake at ~180C for 25 minutes. Half way through baking, stir the ikan bilis evenly to make sure they’re well-baked and don’t stick to the plate.

4. Pour the ikan bilis into the chopper and blend as powdery as possible.

5. Store in the fridge in an air tight container.

If you have young babies, you need to sift the powder to separate the bigger bits out. And you need to devein the ikan bilis first. What I do is I'll buy those that are already deveined. Cost more but it's worth to pay more than to do it yourself.

Just sprinkle some on top of your porridge and mix. Believe me. Even plain porridge will turn out yummy!

Wanton Soup

My 4 year old is a die-hard fan of wanton noodle so this is something I'll cook occasionally. I added carrots, water chestnuts, mushrooms and black wood fungus into the pork meat to make the wanton. I use soy beans and ikan bilis to make the soup base.

Stir Fry Bean Sprout with Salted Fish

Stir Fry Garlic Prawns

Skinless Chicken Cutlet

Besides removing the skin, I took the trouble to remove the fats and muscles as well. Followed by seasoning and coating with rice flour + egg batter. No deep frying required and no wasted oil:)

Squeeze some fresh lemon juice before serving.

Baby Porridge

To get a fine texture so that little babies can swallow without chewing, strain the cook porridge with a sieve.

Baked Rice

Mango Pudding

Antelope's Horn Water (Ling Yang)

This is a traditional chinese drink to cure 'heatiness'.

1. Wash the horn shreds and put inside a small ceramic pot with lid.
2. Add a cup of water.
3. Add a few deng xing.
4. Add a few winter melon strips.
5. Double boil for ~1 hour.
6. Pour out the water and drink when cooled.

Make sure you get from a reliable chinese medical shop because I heard some are fake and you can't tell when it's in shredded form.

Fried Chai Tow Kueh

Healthier version (less oil) with generous amount of eggs, garlic and chai poh...

Fruit Juice

Our all time favourite - Green Apples + Carrots + Celery

Muffins

Fish & Chips

Bought everything ready-to-cook from NTUC.

Teochew Braised Duck 卤鸭

Method:

1. Wash the duck thoroughly.
2. Boil duck in hot water to remove odour. Discard water and allow duck to cool down slightly.
3. Rub the duck with one handful of salt and one handful of five spice powder.
4. Stuff some garlic and a small piece of blue ginger into the duck's cavity. Close up the cavity with strings or toothpicks.
5. Heat up wok. With low fire, fry 5 tablespoons of sugar until bubble starts to form. Add 2 tablespoons of dark soya sauce and continue to fry until golden colour. Then add half cup water.
6. Gently place the duck into the wok. Top up with more water.
7. Cover lid and cook for 30 mins.
8. Flip to the other side and continue to cook for another 30 mins.
9. Remove duck from wok and allow to cool before chopping.

Omu Rice

My first attempt on Omu Rice. I got a free demo from youtube actually before the attempt. This is a simple dish because it's just fried rice wrapped nicely in egg. I didn't manage to get a perfect wrap, as you can see from the first pic the egg was slightly torn. And I forgot to shape the egg nicely at the end.

Ingredients:

1. Some garlic and white onion (diced)

2. Mushrooms of choice

3. 1 chicken thigh (seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper, boiled and cut into small pieces)

4. 2 tablespoons of mixed veges - carrot, corn, peas (washed and rinsed with hot water)

5. 1/3 chicken stock cube, smashed (I use knorr msg free stock cube)

6. 2 portions of rice

7. Salt and pepper to taste.

8. 3 beaten eggs (add 1 tablespoon of fresh cream, some salt and pepper)

9. Tomato sauce, lettuce and cherry tomatoes (for garnish)