Stir fried broccoli and cauliflowers with carrots and tofu

This is the dish I cooked to complement the sweet and sour fish. Not only is broccoli and cauliflower low carbo food, they are also great fat burning food! Of course not forgetting that they provide lots of fibre too. This is one of the dish I like to cook when I want lots of fibre.

Stir Fried Broccoli Cauliflowers with Carrot and Tofu
Ingredients
Broccoli flowerets (about 200g), separated into small clusters
Cauliflower flowerets (about 200g), separated into small clusters
1 carrot, sliced
1 tube of tofu, sliced
Handful of cashew nuts
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water/broth
cornstarch mixture

Method
1. Blanched broccoli, cauliflowers and carrots in hot boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and set aside for use later.
2. Heat some oil in wok. Pan fried tofu on both sides till crispy on the surface. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat oil in wok, adding broccoli, cauliflowers and carrots, salt, soy sauce and water. Bring to a boil, cooking for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add tofu.
4. Stir in cornflour mixture till sauce is thickened.
5. Sprinkle cashew nuts on vegetables before serving it with white rice.

Sweet and Sour Fish

My nephew is a very picky eater. It is pretty hard to get him to eat anything unless they are his favourite food. However, he is a big fan of the sweet and sour fish at Jumbo seafood restaurant and can easily polish off a plate of white rice with just the fish. This being the case, I decided to give it a try so that I could cook it for him next round and save my sis loads of money. :)

Overall, I think the sweet and sour fish tastes alright although there is definitely room for improvement. The fish is not coated with sufficient batter and I think I did not add enough ketchup and vinegar. The sauce did not taste sourish enough and was also slightly diluted as I have added too much water at my mum's cajoling. :( Still, I like it pretty well enough and for those who are "courageous" enough to give this a try, here are the ingredients.

Sweet and Sour Fish
Ingredients
2 pcs of white fish fillet, sliced
2 - 3 tblsp plain flour
1 tomato, diced
1 onion, diced
chives, cut into 3-4cm length
8 tblsp tomato ketchup
2 tblsp sugar
2 tblsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 tblsp water or broth
cornflour mixture

Method
1. Mix ketchup, sugar, vinegar, salt and water in a bowl. Stir till it is well mixed. Set aside for use later.
2. Coat fish with plain flour.
3. Heat oil in a wok. When oil is hot, deep fry fish slices till they are golden brown. Drain and set aside for use later.
4. Drain oil and stir fry onions till they are fragant. Add tomatoes and sweet and sour solution. When solution starts to boil, add the fish slices and chives. Give it a quick stir to coat the fish with the sauce.
5. Stir in cornflour mixture till the sauce thickens.
6. Serve sweet and sour fish immediately with white rice.

I will definitely be refining this receipe again, so do keep a lookout.

Is J Co donuts in Spore as good as those in Jakarta?

I finally got a chance to make my way down to J Co outlet in Raffles City this week to get a feel of the donuts selling in Singapore. There were about 5 to 6 people in front of me when I join the queue. Queue management is bad as there is only 1 active server who is taking the orders. This is partly due to space constraint at the counter as there is insufficient space for another server to move behind the 1st server. As such, the box gets pass on from 1 server to another when the customer has done his or her selection of donuts that is within the reach of the 1st server. Donuts that is out of the reach of 1st server will be added to the box by the 2nd server. This arrangement is alright but if the customer decided to buy more than 1 box (i.e more than a dozen), that is when the problem arises. After donuts selection for the 1st box is done, customer will proceed to place order for the 2nd box and 3rd box for donuts that is within the vicnity of the 1st server. All the while, the 2nd server is actually not doing anything as the customer has not moved down to her section as yet. This is actually the main reason for the build up in the queue.

On top of this, I have to say that the donuts are not as impressive as those I saw in Jakarta. The donuts I saw on display are not of standard size. You can see from the picture I posted that 2 different donuts I ordered looks different. One is round shape while the other one strangely is oval in shape. The donut topping is also not as nicely or professionally done. Fork is remotely missing from the counter and I saw many people ended up using their bare hands to eat the donuts. We also placed orders for 2 cappucino and it took 3 visit to the drinks counter before we got them. Weirdly, my friend's cappucino look whitish and tasted like latte while mine is brownish and tasted more like the genuine cappucino. Menu does not offer orange juice and nope, all transactions must be paid in cash, no NETS or VISA available at the outlet.

Overall, I would say the visit is quite disappointing and would definitely hope that J Co in Singapore would iron out the initial teething problems soon to ensure a more seamless and enjoyable experience at their outlet.

For now, I would still flex my hand muscle and lug home as many donuts as I can from Jakarta.

High Protein Bento Lunch

My high protein low carbo lunch. :)

Consists of the following:
1. Teriyaki Chicken Wings
2. Blanched tofu, endamame and baby carrots
3. Bacon roll with enoki mushrooms

Quite easy to put the items together although the bacon roll will take slightly a bit more time. But then they are so yummy, it makes the time spent all worth it. :) So if you keen to try, here it is.

Bacon Roll with Enoki Mushroom
Ingredient
Streaky Bacon, 4 slices
Half a batch of enoki mushroom, stems/roots cut and washed thoroughly
Yakitori sauce (available in Japanese section of any supermarket)

Method
1. Place streaky bacon on chopping board or flat surface.
2. Place 10-15 strands of enoki mushroom on bacon.
3. Roll up till bacon is fully used up, pressing down on the ends.
4. Brush yakiniku sauce on both sides of the bacon roll.
5. Heat some oil in a non-stick pan and place bacon (ends down) on the pan.
6. Pan fry bacon roll till slightly crispy.
7. Remove from heat. Packed into bento box with teriyaki chicken wings, tofu and blanched vegetables of your choice.

Enjoy!

J Co Donuts has finallly arrived in Singapore!!

Hip hip hooray! That's my reaction when I learnt that J Co has finally make its way to Singapore. Due to my work nature, I travel to Jakarta occasionally for business and each time I am in Jakarta, I never fail to "gorge" myself on J Co donuts and of course not forgetting to "lug" home as many donuts as my hands could carry. Although there are many donut chain in Jakarta like Crispy Creme, Dunkin Donuts, I-crave just to name a few, I still think that J Co donuts are the best cos of their texture. It is really soft and springy and of course the multitude of choices is also another reason why I am crazy over J Co donuts. The picture above is donuts from J Co Jakarta. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the donuts so that I could look at them (yup even though they have ended up in my stomach). :p

I used to lament why it is that there is no J Co in Singapore. I was even more upset when I learnt that J Co has "landed" in KL during my trip to Jakarta in Jan 08. Why in KL and not in Singapore, I thought. Why did J Co not thought of setting up operations in Singapore as well since we are so near to each other? So you can imagine my excitement and happiness when finally finally J Co donuts are available in Singapore.

I have not yet had the chance to "chiong" down to the one and only branch in Singapore to lay my hands on any of the donuts yet, so I can't tell for now if the donuts are as good as the ones I had in Jakarta. Hopefully, I can find the time this weekend. And hopefully I will not have to contend with long snaking queues found in other donut chains around Singapore. Well, guess I don't have to fear cos J Co is expected to open 13 branches island wide in Singapore with the 2nd branch opening in Bugis in May. So for now, I shall keep my fingers crossed and dream of sinking my teeth into J Co donuts every weekend! :)