Gräciõ's LäveñderBliss Café: August 2007

Monday, August 13, 2007

A Good Good Meal

I wanted to make something unique for dinner tonight, but there wasn't any inspiration or ideas. So in the end, I just took out the minced pork and marinated them, not knowing how I wanna cook it.

I looked around and saw the Korean Ottogi Sauce which I bought many weeks back. Hence, I decided to make Minced Pork Patties to go with it. Anyway, we've not been eating deep fried stuffs for quite awhile. I'm glad it turned out really well, DH likes it and even my indian colleagues whom I dine with everyday during lunch time. They love to say it this way, "It's very nice and tasty". :)



Here's my version of the patties. Try it and let me know how it is.

What you need:
300gm minced pork
1 red onion, diced
1 sprig of spring onion, diced
some bread crumbs
1 egg & 1 egg-white

Marinade for pork:
1 egg white
2tsp dark, light soy sauce
a pinch of black pepper & sugar
3tsp corn flour
1tsp oyster sauce

Way to go:
1) Marinade the pork with spring onion, onion and the marinade for 30mins.
2) Crack the whole egg in a bowl and prepare the breadcrumbs. Set aside.
3) Think of how big you want to make the patty, then knead to the size you want.
4) Dip the patty in the egg and breadcrumbs.
5) Heat oil in wok, when hot, either pan fry or deep fry them till golden brown. Serve hot.

Since I've got so many vegetables left in my fridge, I decided to Fry the Big Cabbage in Oyster Sauce. Yumyum!




After this whole cooking, I was totally tired out, but anyhow, I'm glad we enjoyed a good good meal. :)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

All About Seasonings...

I kind of love this seasonings. It contains seaweed, sea-salt and all other kinds of herbs which made it so tasty. However, I did not buy this. It was bought by my LOUSY, LOSER ex-boss for me. It's really good and sadly, it's from South Africa. I don't think can be found in Dubai... Oh well, if any of you ever go to South Africa, please remember to get this for me.. hehe...


Anyone knows whether we can get this in SG?




Here's the
homepage for the above seasoning.

If ever we're leaving Dubai for good, this is something I would definitely buy and bring back to Singapore. I'm not sure whether we can get this is SG, but to have an authentic Phillipino dish, you will definitely need this.

Datu Puti Vinegar

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

The Weekend...

Usually, weekends are spent at home, lazing around, reading, being a couch potato the whole of Fridays and Saturdays.


Friday mornings are usually spent either having breakfast at home or out. We love lazing at home in the mornings, having our ready-made dim sum which can be purchased at Carrefour here. While eating, we'll be watching Seinfeld or any other movies we have on hand. After feeding ourselves, DH will be working at his table, and me, oh well, cleaning the entire house. Hehe... I find washing toilets (or rather, my own toilets) therapeutic for me. All anger, thoughts and inspiration of mine comes from washing toilets. Sounds weird? Well, I guess everyone has their own way of finding inspiration. :)

Saturdays evenings are always dining at home 'cuz we need to "da bao" to work the next day for lunch. Curry Chicken was what I made yesterday. I've not eaten this for a long long time. Almost forgot how it tastes like. Yum yum!



Followed by an expensive fruit for dessert. I've NEVER bought this fruit here before as I found them super expensive here. But now, hehe, since I am working, I guess I just don't mind spending alittle more on food. :)

The expensive but yet beautiful fruit- Dragon Fruit

Monday, August 06, 2007

Glad 2B Back!

Yes, though I've been working, I've never ruled out the option of cooking daily. It's tiring, I must say honestly. But eating out here is expensive, and most of the time we run out of ideas on where to eat.

Rather than spending tons of money on eating chinese food, I would rather cook them myself. I craved for chinese, and nothing beats to having to eat a good meal after a hard day's work.

Yesterday I made Stir Fry Tom Yam Chicken. Added some fresh mushrooms & coriander instead. It's simple and easy. That's all I need nowadays,
just to reward ourselves for working so hard. Hehe... This ain't a recipe of mine, you can find it at Ching's Little Corner. Thanks Ching, for your wonderful & easy recipe, as always! :)



Was so excited when I finally found fresh Cai Xin! Look at the fresh green colour!! Okay, I might sound alittle "sua gu", but it's really not easy to get fresh vegetables, especially chinese veges here. So when I saw it, I couldn't help but just grab whatever is there. Though much more expensive, it's still very worth my money. Hehe... Oh well, that's life here. :)

Saturday, August 04, 2007

A Delicious Meal for Two

Okay, eversince I started working, I've had much more friends in Dubai now. Haha! (yea, of course lah)... They're a mixture of Indians, Filipinos, Japanese, Russian, German, Jordanian and yours truly- The Singaporean.

Since the indian community is the largest in Dubai, many of my colleagues are of this nationality. But I must say that I enjoy working with them more than I enjoyed working in singapore among singaporeans. Hehe... and everyday, they never fail to teach me Hindi, Konkani, Tamil, Malayalam and all sorts of languages they have. But not all can be registered through my brain cells. Too much tounge-twisting. hehe... and I even learnt how to cook some of their dishes.

Stir Fry Onions- The Indian Way



What you need:

2tsp turmeric powder
2tsp dark soy sauce
a pinch of chilli powder, salt & sugar
1 large red onion, sliced
some water
some mustard seeds


Way to go:
1) Heat some oil in the pan.
2) When hot, pour in the mustard seeds and saute till fragrant.
3) Pour in sliced onions, saute till translucent.
4) Add in turmeric powder, dark soy sauce and chilli powder.
5) Add in some water and let it simmer till onions are soft.


I love this dish, it's simple, easy, and not much preparation time needed. This is a dish which is especially convenient for people who are working and at the same time, being a chef-at-home after office hours. :)

Easy Tuna Salad



What you need:

1can of tuna (Marinade with a pinch of Herb Salt Seasonings)
1 large red onion, diced
1pc fresh red chilli, diced
2stalks spring onion
a pinch of pepper and sea-salt
3tbsp datu puti vinegar


Way to go:
1) Pour tuna out from the can into a bowl and mash them with a fork. Set aside.
2) Heat some oil in the pan.
3) When hot, pour in the onions and saute them till fragrant.
4) Add in spring onions, red chilli to stir fry them together for 1min.
5) When done, pour them over the mashed tuna, tossed them well and pour in vinegar.

Ps: I love this dish with the tint of sourness, you can add more vinegar if you want.


I also learnt many dishes from my fellow fillipinas. They taught me the easy words like "Thank You, How are you" so on and so forth. But they are easier for me to register 'cuz they sound more like Malay. :P

I love the way fillipinas cook their dishes, very similar to chinese, and this is one of it. They called it "Pork Steak". A tint of sourness, saltiness and it's very tasty. However, I turned it into a "Pork Chop" dish and tweak the recipe alittl. Try it. I hope you like it. :)


What you need:
4pcs of pork loin
1large red onion
3tsp datu puti vinegar
10ml of water


Marinade for pork: (1hour)
2tbsp dark soy sauce
1tsp light soy sauce
a pinch of sugar, sea-salt & ground black pepper
1tsp of olive oil


Way to go:
1) Heat oil in wok. When hot, throw in the onions and saute till fragrant.
2) Add in the marinated pork loins and pan fry till alittle crispy on the outside.
3) When crisp, add in vinegar and water. Simmer till pork is soft and cooked. (This step is neccessary as the pork will soak up all the gravy)
4) After this, dish out, transfer to a pan and pan-fry it till it's crispy and dry. Serve hot with rice.

PS: If any gravy is leftover (from step 3), set it aside and serve as a dipping sauce.