I'm not sure what to call this dish. I've never seen it in recipe books or in restaurants, so have never known it's official name. (Or maybe, there isn't one!) But my good friend V's mom made this for us when I was staying at V's place over Christmas when I was a sophomore in college (eons ago!). I remember the cold weather (I hate American winters!) - it might even have been raining that night - and this dish just warmed the cockles of my heart (and stomach). It's definitely a Chinese-y dish of sorts - V's family is Taiwanese-American, so it could be a Taiwanese dish, or maybe it's just a good ol homestyle Chinese-y dish. Whatever it is, this medley of egg tofu, crabstick, peas & creamy corn definitely warmed the cockles of Husband's and my hearts (and stomachs) tonight. There's something about creamy corn that is just so heartwarming, wouldn't you agree? Here's the recipe - enjoy!
Dish with no name
1 packet of egg tofu, cut into 9 or 10 discs.
6 mock crabsticks, cut into halves
1 can creamy style corn (available in supermarkets in Singapore & America!)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water
2 handfuls of frozen peas
1 ts soya sauce
1 ts sugar
1. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the egg tofu discs, flipping them delicately to brown on both sides. Remove from pan and arrange on serving dish.
2. Throw the crabsticks & the frozen peas into the pan and stir fry quickly, just enough to heat them up thoroughly. Arrange them on serving dish, together with the egg tofu.
3. Meanwhile, combine the creamy style corn and water in a pot and heat till boiling. While stirring the mixture vigorously, throw in the beaten egg and continue to stir. This will cause egg to break up while being cooked, creating an "egg drop" soup effect. Stir in the sugar & soya sauce.
4. Pour the creamy corn mixture over the egg tofu, crabsticks & peas. Serve with steamed rice.
Our Yosemite National Park Thanksgiving holiday! Click above to see pictures.
What we do to keep ourselves warm, now that it's 10-13 degrees C on average:
*chuckle* Some other titles of this post could have been: How Husband entertains Daniel, What we do when we're bored, Celebrating the end of mid-terms and Why a child needs a Father. ^__^
By the way, I am still cooking, though admittedly I have not blogged about cooking in eons. My husband & I still need to be fed yknow and eating out is way too expensive to do on a daily basis, especially in Palo Alto.
Well, last night, we had our second dinner party since we got here. With a Korean couple, and their kids, and a Japanese man as our party guests, the food we ate included Japanese curry (by Husband), Galbi and salad greens (by HW, our Korean lady guest - very yums!), and Wasabi potato salad, by yours truly. I thought a wasabi potato salad would be quite a common dish to a Japanese, but turns out it was the first time our Japanese guest had ever tasted anything like it - and he was really impressed! (I suppose wasabi potato salad is a sort of fusion dish that is more common in Singapore than in Japan?)
Anyway, here's the very simple recipe that adds a fusion Asian twist to a traditional dish - enjoy!
Wasabi potato salad (serves 4)
6 potatoes, average size (I didn't use any special type or anything. Just regular old potatoes)
6 eggs
400g prawns
5tb onion shoots, chopped
1 cup Japanese mayonnaise
3ts wasabi paste
1. Scrub the potatoes clean. Immerse them in pot of water and heat till water boils. Boil for 20-25 minutes, using a fork to prick for doneness. Set aside to cool. Then, remove skins with a knife and chop into chunky cubes.
2. Immerse eggs in another pot of water and heat till water boils. Then, closing the pot with the lid, turn off the heat and let the eggs sit there for 20-25 minutes. * After that, de-shell the eggs and chop into chunky cubes.
3. Blanch the prawns in boiling water, then peel and chop into chunks.
4. Put the potatoes, eggs, prawns and onion shoots into a mixing bowl. Add the Japanese mayonnaise and wasabi paste. Mix thoroughly. Chill and serve slightly cold.
* This is Australian chef Neil Perry's method for attaining perfect hard-boiled eggs. The eggs are immersed in the water before the water is heated up. After the water hits boiling point, the heat is turned off and the eggs are allowed to cook by just sitting there in the water. May sound a bit weird, but hey it worked!
Daniel has gotten into the lovely habit of picking a book from his shelf and waddling up to us, book held firmly in outstretched hands. As we open up the book to read to him, he'll nestle himself in our lap or perch on our knee, and announce images he recognises. "Truck!" "Car!" "Bird!" "Vroom vroom!" are common proclamations from the tyke.
I'm really pleased that there is a library within walking distance from our home. Laden with pram, diaper bag, and a 23-week old squidge in my belly, I can still make it to the library in 10 minutes flat. The College Terrace Library is so unlike the libraries in Singapore, I was a bit taken aback when I first saw it. It basically looks like a quaint bungalow from 1960s Singapore and is surrounded by a small garden with shrubs, shady trees, and birds. The children's section is humbly enclosed in a room the size of our living and dining area. And yet, honest to God, I have found more attractive and appropriate books for Dan in that section than in the main National Library in Singapore! There's even a comfy sofa, a carpet, and stuffed toys - for parents to read to their kids! Nice!
Don't poo poo this library just because it's quaint and small. It's really quite technologically-up-to-date too - for example, you can go online and search the catalogue of books and DVDs found in all four Palo Alto libraries and have the ones you want reserved and sent to the College Terrace Library for your convenient pick-up - all free of charge! (Can anyone tell me if such a service is available in Singapore?) The library also sends you a friendly email reminder a few days before your books and DVDs are due - once again, free of charge! And here's the clincher - guess how many books and DVDs you can borrow at one time? Not 5, not 10, not even 100. The answer is, "999" or "as many books as you can carry out the door". I kid you not. (The borrowing period for books is 1 month and it's 1 week for DVDs, so of course, that immediately limits how many books and DVDs any normal person could actually realistically borrow, but still! Technically speaking, there IS NO LIMIT!)
So, Dan & I now have a weekly ritual trip to the library. Here are some of his favourite books, which I've had to keep re-borrowing, and which I've pretty much memorised!
I'm really glad that Dan loves books. Let's hope that this trend stays for the long run!
Need I say more? Daniel will have a baby brother in March 2007!
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* Einstein Never Used Flash Cards - How Our
Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize less
* The Bible
* Love & Respect by Dr Emerson Eggerichs
* What to Expect When You're Expecting
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