Easy Recipe - Minced Meat Tofu 肉酱豆腐

Hi, again!

Today I will be introducing a Chinese Style Minced Meat Tofu. There are many variations to Minced Meat Tofu, some like to fry the tofu, some like to cut the tofu into small pieces and some like to use sliced Japanese tofu. In line with my easy recipe theme, I am using steamed whole tofu. No cutting, no frying. It is also my personal preference as I like soft tofu.

Easy Recipe - Chinese Stir-fry Pumpkin 炒南瓜

In view of the extended Movement Restriction order, I believe most of you have ran out of ideas of what to cook for your family. Hence, I would take this opportunity to introduce a series of easy-to-cook recipes that are both nutritious and delicious. Hope these recipes would be able to give you an idea in this trying time.

Three Cup Chicken 三杯鸡

Today I tried the famous Taiwanese San Bei Ji which directly translates to Three Cup Chicken. What prompted me to try this Three Cup Chicken is the simplicity of the recipe. It was originally designed to use only three cups of ingredients comprising soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine. However, what the recipe doesn't tell you is that even in the three ingredients itself it has vast difference. For example, some soy sauce are darker and thicker whereas some are more salty. I would advise you to be careful with the soy sauce as we do not want the dish to be overly salty.

Asian Chilli Paste/Sambal Tumis 参巴辣椒酱

When it comes to SouthEast Asia, eating chilli pastes or sambal is akin to eating to ketchup in the West. This is how popular chillies are here. There are many varieties and versions to making an Asian chilli paste; the Thais have their namprik pao, the Indonesians their sambal oelek and the Malaysian the humble sambal tumis. These Asian chilli pastes have quite similar ingredients but shine with their own distinctive tastes.

Today, I am introducing a basic sambal tumis recipe that is used in a variety Malaysian cooking. It has a fiery sweet and spicy taste with just a tinge of sourness as a balance. This sambal tumis is strongly fragrant with garlic, shallot and the most pungent of all, shrimp paste or belacan. This sambal tumis is meant to be spicy and I wouldn't (and refuse to) recommend it any other way.

Garlic Spread

The garlic spread is so versatile that it could be used on anything that requires butter. Although butter is not popularly used in Asian cooking, try adding a little when you are cooking your veggies. The result would guarantee a more aromatic dish.

It is so easy to make and so easy to keep. Just chill or freeze it after mixing! Once you have tried making it fresh, I believe you will forget the ready-made ones!


Ingredients

125g butter (or 1/2 butter,1/2 marjerine)
30g garlic (mash or grate until pulp like)

2 tbsp chopped parsley or 3 tsp dried parsley

Cooking Instruction

1. Leave butter at room temperature to soften butter.

2. Use a fine grater to grate garlic into pulp. Garlic has to be grated finely so that it would be cooked easily. Alternatively, you can put the garlic into the microwave oven and soften the garlic before mashing it with a fork. I personally prefer to grate the garlic finely.

3. Mix everything in a bowl and you are ready to go!

Serving suggestions:
1. Garlic bread/toast/rolls/buns
2. Frying vegetables.
3. Pasta sauce
4. BBQ butter