Homemade Burger Patties

I really hate frozen burger patties and I hate ordering from fast-food joints. They are tasteless, too much mayonnaise inside and you do not know what kind of meat inside or what they put inside!

I love creating burgers and sandwiches. You can put anything inside and it is really fun!

You can make thick burger patties or thin once. You can even make a nice shape out of it by getting a mould.

Ingredient:

• Pork Meat 500g (good to make 3 thick patties) - you can use beef or chicken meat
• Brown Onion - 1 cut in small cubes
• Garlic - minced
• Garlic Powder
• Black pepper
• Worcester Sauce
• Light Soya Sauce - 1 tablespoon
• Butter

Butter in pan and stir-fry onion till soft and add garlic. Remove from pan once you smell the garlic fragrance and set aside until cool down.

Pork meat mixed with Garlic powder, light soya sauce, black pepper, Worcester sauce and lastly add the cooked onion and garlic. Mixed well and leave it overnight in fridge.

Next day, add 1 egg york the k and panko breadcrumbs into the meat. Mixed it well and divide mixture into three or four patties. Form into a ball (picture below). Size will depend on how big and thick you want the meat to be.

You can use a non-stick pan or a stainless steel pan to pan sear the meat. Use high fire to pan sear the meat just to get some browning on the meat. This way, you will seal the meet from being dry. The meat will be juicy after oven finished baking it.

If you are using a non-stick skillet, you do not need to worry about meat sticking to the skillet and make a messed just to get the patties out.

For Stainless skillet, make sure you have enough oil on the skillet and make sure the skillet are hot enough. Sprinkle a very small amount of salt on the skillet. Put the meat on the skillet and use a spatula and push the meat to flatten it (picture below).

Wait for 3-5 seconds and turn the meat. Make sure the meat a nicely brown with char marks.

Use a glass baking tray, line the fresh thymes and rosemary on the baking tray. Put the meat on the tray and put the fresh herbs on top of the meat. When you bake the meat with the herbs, the herbs will infused additional flavour into the meat. These 2 herbs are just great for Pork.

Send into oven baking for 25-30 minutes for 170C.

To check whether the meat are nicely done, just use a knife or fork and stick into the meat. If it is cooked, clear water will run out.

Look at the lovely and juicy patties! (picture below). 

Once you take it out from the oven, cover the glass tray tightly with a piece of aluminium foil for about 20-25 minutes. By doing this way, the juices will return to the meat patties and it will be very juicy.

You can add these lovely and juicy patties into 2 piece of bread and add tomato slices, lettuces, mayonnaise or cheese. Do it the way you want it to be.

Just be creative!

Bell Peppers Salad

I love bell peppers. It is very versatile. You can add to salad, eggs, meat dish etc.

It has high nutrition values and health benefits. I've made a point to use this in whatever I cook. I just love the taste, texture and flavour!

One of my favourite would be the Bell Pepper Salad. Good to serve whenever you invite friends or family over. It is soooo colorful that it is really a show stopper.

I know not everyone likes the taste of the bell peppers. But if you give it a try, you will like the taste sooner or later.

This dish is suitable for vegetarian or those carnivores out there ;)

Ingredient :

• Red Bell Pepper - Julienne in thin slices
• Yellow Bell Pepper - Julienne in thin slices
• Green Bell Pepper - Julienne in thin slices
• Mini Red, Orange and Yellow Bell Peppers - Julienne in thin slices (optional)
• Fresh Blueberries or Blackberries or Orange (remove flesh)
• Feta Cheese - crumble it into the salad
• Fresh Parsley 
• Zest of 2 Lemon 
• 1 Orange Zest (optional)

 Julienne the bell peppers and put it onto the big salad dish. You can add blueberries or blackberries or remove the orange flesh.

Chop a bunch of fresh Parsley. Add lemon and orange zest. 

Lastly, crumble some nice Feta cheese onto the salad. Chill the salad in the fridge and serve it white it is cold.

Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing :

• Red Wine Vinegar
• Honey
• Fine Salt
• Black Pepper
• Juice of half of Lemon
• Olive oil

Use glass or steel big bowl with a sauce whisk. Add red wine vinegar, honey, salt pepper and lemon juice. Mix it all in a bowl with a whisk.

Increase your whisk and add the olive oil in small amount so that the sauce will emulsified.

Very important - It is really difficult to tell you the exact amount of ingredient to make a sauce. Always taste it while you are mixing until you like or satisfied with it. Trust me. You will love this.

When you want to serve this, pour the vinaigrette in and mix the salad together.

Love it!

Lap Mei Fan/Waxed Meat Rice

Lap Mei Rice is always a welcome dish during Chinese New Year (CNY).  Ive find that it is really nice having this dish not only during CNY but whenever there's friends or family visit. 

It is really a show stopper because the rice brings so much flavour that adults and kids just love it.

I would buy all these wax meat during CNY and keep it in the fridge for later use. You can use thai fragrant rice or glutinous rice to make this dish.

My Mom loves this dish and she recently requested this during one of her visit. It makes me very happy to see Mom enjoyed the food that I cook.

This is really simple to make ;)

Stage 1

• Dried Mushroom - 8 pieces

Wash and soak the dried mushrooms with cold water. Squeeze the water out from the mushrooms and soak it over night.  Some people would save some water to add it to the rice. I find it very dirty so I discard all the water after soaking.

Next day before cooking, boil some water and soak the mushrooms.

Squeeze the mushroom dry, slice it and leave aside for later use.

Stage 2

• Chicken Meat - Slice 
• Sesame Oil
• Oyster sauce
• Sugar

Chicken fillet, you can use chicken breast or thigh. I prefer the thigh area because the meat are not too dry. Slice it and marinate with Oyster sauce, a little sugar, sesame oil and a little corn flour. Marinate overnight or at least 3 hours before cooking.

Stage 3

• Oil - 3 tablespoon
• Wax Chinese Sausage - 2 
• Liver Sausage - 2 
• Wax Duck - Half, Slice it
• Wax Pork Meat - Half, Slice it

Use a wok, add oil and heat up the dried sausages and wax meat.  Do not overcooked it. Just heat up the wax meat until oil fragrant.  Remove the sausage skin and slice it and set aside.

The oil from the wok, split it into 2 portions.

Stage 3

• Minced Garlic
• Fresh White Mushrooms - Slice  (Optional)
• Dried mushrooms soaked earlier
• marinated chicken meat 
• Light Soya Sauce 1 tablespoon
• Dark Sauce 2 tablespoon
• White Pepper

Use the same wok with 1 portion of the oil saved. Add garlic and stir till fragrant. Pour into the wok the soaked mushrooms (stage 1), white mushrooms, stir for about 5 minutes and add  chicken meat marinated earlier. Add 2 tablespoon of dark sauce, white pepper and 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce.

Cook the for about 10 minutes (3/4 cooked) and set aside.

Stage 4

• rice 
• oil from frying the wax meat earlier

Wash rice and use rice cooker to cook rice. Add oil to the rice and cook for about 10 minutes. You will noticed rice half cooked. Add the ingredient from stage 3 into the rice and stir the rice so that all mixed well.

Put the wax meat on top of the rice and close the rice cooker lead and continue to cook. Add light soya sauce it flavour are not enough.

• Chinese Parsley
• Spring Onion
• Fried Onion

Add fresh herbs and fried onion on rice before consuming. It adds flavour and very refreshing.

 

Bacon wrapped Chicken Fillet

My Mom and Aunt came for a visit and since my brother and hubby is around too, I have decided to make a nice simple dish for everyone.

This is a last minute plan so I want the meat to have flavours fast and create a dish that is yummy.

Ingredient :

• Chicken Thigh meat - bone removed
• Streaky Bacon
• Sharp Toothpicks
• Salt 
• Black Pepper
• Fresh Thymes
• Fresh Rosemary
• Olive Oil

Direction :

Chicken thigh - remove skin, fats and bones. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on to the meat.

With toothpick, wrap the bacon around the chicken meat. Use a toothpick and stick it into the chicken meat so that the bacon would not fall.

Olive oil on pan, pan sear both sides of the bacon wrapped meat for browning. Make sure the meat have slight brown char mark.

If you are doing more than 2 pieces, split it into a few batch so that you can control the pan sear and would not overcooked it. Leave the pan aside for further use.

Use a glass baking tray, line the fresh herbs into the glass tray. Add the pan seared meat and put another batch of fresh herbs on top. 

Heat up the oven in advance and send the meat for baking 180C for about  20-25 minutes.

To check whether the meat is fully cooked, use a fork or small knife, stick the fork into the meat. If it is fully cooked, clear water will flow out. 

Picture below are the lovely meat from baking.

 For sauce for the chicken, add some heavy cream into the same pan used early, add some salt and pepper to taste. Add some garlic powder if require for taste.

 You can have these with bread or with a simple fruity salad.

Baked Bacon with Toast

Sunday is always a nice day to make a nice breakfast or brunch with family.

Everyone loves bacon. You can have bacon with salad, bread, eggs etc. 

I love to baked my bacon with brown sugar and chilli flakes to add additional kick to the meat to make it more interesting. And it taste like "bak kwa/chinese pork jerky" too.


Ingredient :

• Streaky Bacon 6-8 pieces
• Brown Sugar
• Chilli flakes

Line the bacon on the pizza tray and cover with brown sugar. Add chilli flakes and bake it for 10-15 minutes.

Ive bought some lovely Ciabata bread and cut into half. Add some lovely Mozzarella cheese on the bread, Ive sent the toast to the oven to melt the cheese a little.  Put the baked bacons on top and serve.

You can add a sunny side up or hash brown to go with this dish.

A wonderful meal to start the day :)

Steam Egg with Pork and Park Minced Meat

This is a recipe of my Mom's. My Mom used to make these for us and this dish just reminds me of my childhood days and it makes me misses my Mom alot.

This is really a simple dish that adults and children likes, with lotsa flavours.

Sometimes we just want a simple dish to eat with white rice.

Ingredient :

• 3 eggs
• 1 century egg (Optional)
• 1 Salted Egg York (Optional)
• 500g of minced Pork
• Medium Prawns - 7 pieces, shelf remove and minced (Optional)
• Salt
• White Pepper
• Light soya sauce
• Sesame Oil

 Direction:

Minced meat marinate with Sesame Oil, light Soya Sauce and white pepper for at least 2 hours.

Remove the century egg shell and cut into small pieces and set aside.

Oil the glass plate before adding the meat so that the meat will not stick to the plate. Add the century and salted egg york on top of the meat and steam for 10 minutes. 

3 eggs, salt and pepper and mixed it together.  Pour on top of the meat and steam for 15 minutes.

Use a fork and stick the fork into the meat. If clear liquid flow out and meat doesn't stick to the meat, its cook!