Egg Noodles with Pork and Mushroom Sauce (Kon Loh Mee)

One of my favourite home-cooked dishes that mum used to make is Kon Loh Mee. It's a dry (as opposed to soupy) noodle dish which she serves with minced pork and mushroom sauce. As usual, whenever most of us ask our mums how to cook a dish, it's always "agak-agak" (estimated) when it comes to measurements of the ingredients. So, my dish is also based on "agarration", although I managed to get it to turn out the way I liked it. Most importantly, the kids loved the noodles, and even little J who usually only grazes on cheese, snacks and yoghurt, happily slurped up mouthfuls of it.

Earl Grey Biscuits and Buttery Shortbread Stars

These biscuits are super rich and can be addictive if you don't stop and tell yourself how much butter is in each one. This is the first time I'm making shortbread using a combination of flour and rice flour, and I must say it gives a really wonderful texture that is not too hard and not too crumbly either. Just right! The Earl Grey cookies are sweet, salty and fragrant with a hint of bergamot, and they go really well with a hot cup of coffee! As soon as we finish up these cookies, I might try substituting the Earl Grey with some other tea leaves instead, perhaps chamomile, chai or lemon green tea? :)

Unagi Sushi

Z loves eating sushi (and seaweed) and his favourite is the unagi sushi. Unagi is Japanese grilled eel with a sweet and sticky glaze made from soy, sugar, sake, mirin and dashi. You can get them fresh at a good supermarket, and they are also available in the frozen section.

Scallion and Ginger Chicken with Tomato Rice

G made poached chicken ala Hainanese chicken rice last weekend, and I decided to serve it with tomato rice for a change, and top the chicken with a salty scallion and ginger mixture, a perfect combination. We used chicken marylands instead of the whole chicken as we don't usually like the other parts of the chicken. I made a simple tomato rice by using 2 tablespoon tomato paste and frying that with sliced onions and chopped garlic, before stirring in 3 cups of raw washed rice with 1 teaspoon salt. This is then cooked in the electric rice cooker with the chicken broth that was used for poaching the chicken.

Ai Yu Jelly with White Peaches

Aiyu jelly is a jelly made from the gel of the seeds of a variety of fig, and is commonly found in Taiwan and Singapore (where it is better known as "ice jelly"). It is usually served with lime juice and honey or syrup, and sometimes with fruit cocktail in Singapore. The texture is somewhere between agar-agar and konyaku jelly, and makes a light and refreshing dessert.