Healthy Bitter Gourd Rice Vermicelli (Bee Hoon) Soup

Bitter gourd has many health benefits.  It can be stir fried, stewed or used it for soup.  Please click  here for more info about bitter gourd's health benefits and different recipe.

Most people don't like bitter gourd as it is bitter.  As for me, I like bitter gourd.  In fact, I find it tastier if it's bitter.  Bitter gourd rice vermicelli (bee hoon) soup is very yummy especially if you eat it with bird's eye chili (cili padi).  I had my first experience with this yummy soup when we were eating out about 2 years ago.  It costs RM5.00 to RM5.50 per bowl in Kuala Lumpur.  Since then, I used to cook this dish quite often and you can just add any ingredients you like.  It has been quite sometimes I didn't cook this dish and lately due to the hot weather, I cooked this dish as it is cooling for our body.

Ingredients for Soup :

- 1 bitter gourd (washed and thinly sliced)

- 2 tomatoes (washed and cut into wedges)

- 1 bowl of minced meat (marinated with salt, pepper, soy sauce and 1 1/2 tsp tapioca flour)

- 1/2 bowl of wood ear mushrooms (washed and soaked until soft. Thinly sliced)

- 1/2 bowl of dried anchovies/ikan bilis (washed)

- 1 packet of rice vermicelli (washed, soaked,  blanched and set aside)

Ingredients for Bird's Eye Chili Sauce : (Mixed all together) to taste

- 3 bird's eye chilies (washed and finely chopped)

- 2 red chilies (washed and finely sliced)

- 1 sprig of Chinese parsley (washed and chopped)

- some soy sauce

Method :

1)  Prepare stock by boiling the dried anchovies and discard the anchovies when done.

2)  Add wood ear mushrooms. Also add minced meat bit by bit into the stock.  Lastly add tomatoes and let it boil for about 15 minutes.

3)  Lastly add bitter gourd and seasoned with salt.  Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

4)  Prepare blanched rice vermicelli in a serving bowl.  Add soup and serve it with bird's eye chilies sauce.

Note :

You can add any ingredients you like such as fish balls or even fish fillets.  Sometimes instead of bee hoon , I have it with instant noodles or just the bitter gourd soup with rice.

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Stir Fried Chinese Leeks with Roast Pork and Hard Tofu (Taukwa/Bean Curd)

This is one simple and popular dish which is being liked by many. It's delicious and easy to prepare.

Ingredients :
- 1 bowl of roast pork (cut into medium sized)
- 3 stalks of Chinese leeks (washed and sliced)
- 4 tofu (cut and deep fried)
- 1 medium sized carrot (washed and sliced)
- 2 red chilies (washed and sliced)
- 1 whole garlic (peeled and finely chopped)

Seasonings : (to taste)

- salt

- soy sauce

- abalone sauce

- sugar

- Chinese cooking wine

1)  Heat oil in a wok and saute garlic until aromatic.

2)  Add leeks and carrot and stir fry over high medium heat for about 1 minute.

3)  Then, add roast pork, fried taukwa, chilies and seasonings except chinese cooking wine. Stir and mix well.

4)  Add some water if too dry.  Briefly stir and mix well.

5)  Turn off the heat and drizzle some Chinese cooking wine. Stir.

6)  Dish up and serve with steamed rice.

It's simple and yummy......

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Sweet Fragrant Rosemary Salmon

I happened to buy a bunch of Rosemary from Tesco and my intention was to stew chicken with Rosemary and trying my luck to grow this herb from the stems itself.  However, after going through my freezer, I realised I still have 4 slices of salmon!  So, I decided to cook salmon with Rosemary as I don't want to keep the fish in the freezer for too long.  Since I didn't have any lemon on that day,  I just made do with whatever I have; ORANGES!  Wow, it's delicious......

Benefits of Rosemary

Rosemary is used in many culinary dishes and is commonly used to flavor soups, sauces and meats. In addition to being used in cooking, it has also been used as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments over the centuries. 

Benefits of rosemary includes cancer prevention, improved memory, mood elevator, remedy for migraine, pain relief, anti-inflammatory, immune booster, antibacterial, digestive health, hair growth, fresh breath, diuretic properties, respiratory health, liver detoxification, anti-aging, etc.

Precautions
Pregnant women should avoid consuming large amounts of rosemary because it may lead to uterine contractions and miscarriage. People with high blood pressure should not take rosemary because it may raise blood pressure.

(For more info on Rosemary, please go to Health Diaries)

Ingredients :

(The ingredients in this pic is for photo shooting purposes only.  I used 3 oranges instead of 1)

- 2 slices of of salmon (washed and marinated)

- 3 Sunkist oranges (use the juice and the pulp only)

- 1 tbsp butter 

Seasonings for Marinate : (to taste)
- salt

- pepper

- garlic (finely chopped)

- 3 sprigs of Rosemary (finely chopped)

Method :

1)  Marinate the salmon fillets with seasonings and set aside for about 20 minutes.

2)  Heat butter in a pan.  I used Happy Call Pan.

3)  Place marinated salmon fillets into the pan.  Close the lid and slow grilled over medium low heat.

4)  Grill until both sides are slightly brown.

5)  Pour half of the orange juice onto the salmon fillets.  Let it pan fry for a while.  Do the same on both sides.

6)  Pan fry until the juice almost crystallised.

7) Serve hot.

Hope you like this simple and healthy salmon.

Note :  If the orange is too sour, you can adjust according to your taste by adding some sugar.  As for me, I like it sour, so no sugar is needed. The amount of orange juice is used  depends on individual's preferences.

Here are other salmon recipes, you may like :

Simple Pan-Fried Salmon with Dried Basil          Pan Fried Salmon with Fennel and Coriander Powder

I'm linking this post to September 2013 Cooking With Herbs Blog Challenge hosted by Lavender and Lovage.

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