Kailan in Oyster Sauce

Back in the days when I still stayed at Serangoon Gardens, and Boon Tong Kee had an outlet there, this is how I ate my Kailan.

Cut off the end of the stems of the Kailan, wash them and drain the water out.

1. Boil a pot of water enough to cover the Kailan with 2 tbsp of salt
   
2. Immerse all the Kailan into the water when it starts to boil
3. After 2 & 1/2 mins, remove and drain water out of Kailan
4. Serve with Oyster sauce, fried shallots and a little of the oil used to fry the shallots
   

Long Beans

• 1 pkt long beans
• handful dried shrimp
• handful dried scallop
• 3 tbsp coconut milk
  
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp light sauce
• garlic
  

Brown the garlic and add in the light sauce and ground dried shrimp and scallop which have been pre-soaked in water so they're softer. Fry till fragrant and add in the water and coconut milk. Add the long beans and stir-fry. Serve.

Old Cucumber Soup

• handful wolfberries
• half handful red dates
• 3 honey dates
• 2 med sized old cucumbers
• 1 large pot of 9 cups of water
• pork bones
• Little bit of salt to taste

Throw everything in and boil. Add more water when necessary. Serves 6.

Kang Kong

• 1 Sotong cleaned & cut
• 3 pkts kang koang
• 3 tbsp sambal belachan
• 1 cup water
  
• handful of dried shrimp
• salt & oyster sauce to taste

Wash Kang Kong and soak dried shrimp in water for 5 mins. Dry and grind the shrimp. In a little oil, fry the ground shrimp till fragrant with the sambal belachan. Add the sotong and cook 3 mins before adding the kang kong in. Season with salt & oyster sauce and cook 2-3 mins. Serve.

White Cabbage Signature

"... this is Your recipe.

...hand this recipe down to your grand-daughter... "

- from the mother who loves her mother's cooking -

White Cabbage Sign-Off
(serves 5)

• 1 full elongated white Chinese (Napa) cabbage
• full handful wolf berries
  
• 4 red Chinese dates (Jujube)
• half handful dried scallops
• half handful dried shrimps
• splash of Chinese Wine (Hua Tiao Jiu)
• 1 bottle Essence of Chicken
• few drops Benedictine DOM
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• pinch of salt & white pepper
• chopped garlic & ginger
• 5 big dried Chinese mushrooms
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cube chicken stock
  

Chop off the base of the cabbage, separating all the leaves, and rinse. Set aside and in a wok, heat enough oil to scald 3 to 4 leaves at a go (submerge one side of leaves in oil). The oil must be very hot so that the oil burns off relatively quickly. The kitchen will smoke very bad so keep ventilation under check. Scald each side of the leaves and remove quickly from the wok onto a plate, till all leaves have been scalded. Oil in wok is no longer needed. Using the oil drained from the scalded leaves, brown the garlic & ginger. Remove the garlic & ginger and pour in shrimps (pounded), scallops (pounded), mushrooms (cut into strips), chicken essence, water, wolf berries and dates. Add light soy sauce, sugar, salt & pepper, chicken stock & Chinese wine. Throw in cabbage and mix well. Cover and let it cook for 15 mins over low flame, stirring occasionally. Remove leaves from wok into casserole and pour everything else over.

Grandma's Kailan

• 2 pkts Kailan
• 1/2 red chilli
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 and 1/2 tsp corn starch
• 200ml water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• rice wine
  
• chopped garlic
• extra light olive oil
  

Heat wok till very hot over high heat, lower the fire and pour oil in. The oil should be very hot. Add chopped garlic into the hot oil so that it burns slightly, and throw all kailan in quickly, tossing and flipping the Kailan immediately. Pour the combined water, salt, sugar, corn starch & oyster sauce over the Kailan, all the while tossing and stir-frying.

Once Kailan is cooked, add a few dashes of rice wine while still tossing. Throw in the cut chilli & blast that fire up for 2 full seconds, turn the fire off, and dish out.

If stalk of the Kailan is cut out so it is shorter in length and makes for easier consumption, blanch the stalks with the combined water and condiments after browning the garlic, till the gravy boils for 1 or 2 mins, before adding the rest of the Kailan.

A really quick and easy stir-fry, you can add prawns, mushrooms or baby corn to the dish. When stir-frying, you might want to keep everything in the wok moving at all times, ensuring a well-tossed, equally cooked result.