My Cooking Journal 26 - Stir Fry Button Mushrooms With Sliced Pork In Oyster Sauce

 

This time, I would like to introduce one of my favourite dishes – “Stir Fried White Button Mushrooms with Slice Pork in Oyster Sauce”. In this dish, I have added red onions and spring onions to give a touch of pungent aroma. I personally enjoyed the intense flavour and crunchy texture of this dish.

White button mushroom (Scientific name: Agaricus bisporus) has great value of nutrition facts, easy to cook and taste more flavourful when cooked. It is believe that button mushrooms contain several valuable nutrients that will benefit our heart, boost our immunity and enhance weight loss. It has high amount of copper that assist in producing blood cells. Research studies show that it is capable of reducing inflammation in arterial cells that will help in lower the risk of blood flows problem. 

In addition, button mushrooms contain anti-oxidants properties and are beneficial to our immune system. It helps to increase the production of natural killer cells and other proteins to fight against foreign invaders and assist in repairing our body tissue. It is low in energy density (low-calorie) that improves our body compositions and helps maintaining body weight loss. Additional nutrients are vitamins B and D2 and minerals such as iron, zinc, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium that will also enhance our diet nutrition.

 

Select and Store

 

You can easily buy them in any supermarkets or local wet markets. If choosing mushrooms, make sure that they’re firm and plump with uniform colour, no signs of bruising or dampness. I usually wrap them in paper and store it in an air tight container. They can last for 3 to 7 days in the refrigerator.

 

Preparing and Cooking

 

When preparing, give them a quick rinse avoiding them absorbing too much water as mushrooms are porous. Then use a paper towel to pad dry. Cut or slice them as desired. When they are cooked, majority of their nutrient contents remains and only between 5 to 20 percent of their value is lose. It is recommended to sauté for approximately 7 minutes in high heat to maximize their flavour and nutrition. 

 

Ingredients

 
 1. 1 pack White Button Mushrooms - Cut into thin slice, rinse and pad dry before cook

 2. 1 piece of pork loin (2 inch thick) - Cut into thin slice 

 3. 2-3 stalk Spring Onions - Wash & Cut into 2 inch length 

 4. 2 medium size red onion - Wash, remove skin and cut into thin slice 

 5. 2 slices Ginger 

 6. 1 clove Garlic - skin peel and slice (1 table spoon)

 7. Oyster sauce – ½ table spoon for stir fry and 1 teaspoon for seasoning of pork slice

 8. Pinch of corn flour, pepper & sugar 

 9. 2 tablespoon Olive Oil

Hong Guo (红锅) @ Nex Mall

I was hungry and desperately looking for a place to settle my dinner at Nex mall. Most of the eatery in Nex mall seem crowded and worst, some with queue. We happened to pass by this Chinese restaurant in oriental style with red and white decorations. It appeared to be less crowded and a female waitress approached us politely to see if we want to dine in Hong Guo (红锅). So, we decided to try out.

I have not heard of this restaurant and no idea what their specialty was. Then I saw the white wall and menu written with a story of "Cross bridge vermicelli" (过桥米线 ).  The legend of this noodle was originated from Yunnan.

This "Cross bridge vermicelli" comes with an old history about a devoted wife preparing daily meal for her husband, a scholar who always forget his meal when he study hard. One day she accidentally discovered that the top layer of oil from the chicken soup could prolong the soup warmness. She soon adopted this method and improvises a combo-style meal with other ingredients such as vermicelli, vegetables and meat added into the soup. It then becomes very popular in Yunnan and others began to name the dish as “Cross bridge vermicelli” because of her devotion crossing the bridge daily to deliver this heart warming dish for her husband.  

I decided to order their specialty – Zhuang Yuan Mi Xian (状元过桥米线) and share with my kids. The dish is served in a tray contains 15 different kinds of ingredients dished in a sauce plate and with a bowl of hot soup and vermicelli served seperately. The waitress will provide assistant to pour in the ingredients starting from egg and raw and lastly, vermicelli. You can also DIY yourself if you do not requires any assistant. To my surprise, the soup was good and appetizing. 


There's something I need to highlight. You must add pepper in the soup, it really makes a great difference in taste. I choose to opt out pepper in the soup at my 2nd time dining because my kids complaint about the spicy taste when we 1st tried out in the restaurant. Well, the taste of the soup turned out to be alittle bland which is not as tasty as I have had before.



Cross Bridge Vermicelli



Vermicelli waiting to swim in the soup!

  

Ingredients all queue up for a good shower with the soup....yee pee!





All ingredients dive into the great soupy ocean waiting for me to enjoy... the soup was indeed tasty.



As for my hubby, he choose to try the spicy beef noodles which is quite satisfying. We also order two side dishes which are “Sichuan Saliver chicken” (口水鸡) and the crispy silver fish (椒盐银针鱼) . The Sichuan Saliver Chicken is a cold dish. The chicken is tender and coated with sichuan style chilli paste and bean sauce. The latter is the deep fried silver fish wrapped up with a layer of golden flour coating. It is also a spicy dish but I requested them not to sprinkler chilli power on it (For the sake of my kids). Both side dishes are indeed delicious and my kids enjoy the silver fish very much!


If you are a 1st timer tasting the Cross Bridge Vermicelli, you might find it quite cute and interesting in term of the food presentation. The food that Hong Guo's served is delicious and not too expensive, say about $8.00+ for noodles and $6.00-$7.00+ for one side dish. In overall, the sevice is good, fast and the staff is responsive and polite. It is worth giving a try! 

Yummy Beef Nooldes

Non Spicy Crispy Silver Fish

Address: 23 Serangoon Central #B1-75 S(556083)

Operating Hours: 11am - 9.30pm



My Cooking Journal 19 - Chinese Fried Rice

Sometimes, if I have run out of idea on what to cook or my laziness has simply shut my brain to generate any cooking ideas, I would then choose to cook fried rice (Chinese Style) for my family. It is a very simple dish to cook and the ingredients involved are usually very easy to source in your fridge.

The main ingredients are white rice (preferably overnight/left over rice), egg, garlic, fish sauce whereas the rest of the ingredients really depends on individual's preference. 

However, to get a nice and tasty fried rice, it is best to use chilled overnight rice as the freshly cooked rice contains more moisture in it tends to give you a sticky lumpy texture after cooked.

My Ingredients:

1. 1.5 cup cooked rice, preferably refrigerated overnight or for at least 4 hours
2. 5 cloves garlic, minced
3. 1 carrot (small size), cut into small cubes
4. 1 piece fish cake, cut into small cubes
5. 1 small stalk cauliflower, wash and cut into small florets
6. 1 piece chinese sausage, cut into thin slice
7. 4-5 pieces sliced ginger
8. 2 eggs
9. 2 tablespoon olive oil
10. 2 tablespoon fish sauce
11. Sugar, Sea Salt and Pepper, as desired
12. Fried Shallots and sliced red chilli, for garnish