My Cooking Journal 15 - Stir Fry Leek with Seafood and Firm Bean Curd

Leeks are close relative to onions, garlic and scallions as they belong to the one vegetable family known as Allium vegetables. Compare to onions or scallions, leeks are sweeter in taste, milder and more refine in flavour (when cooked).  

Leeks process few good nutritions to our bodies. It is relatively low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol (capable of possessing low blood pressure effect and hence, lower risk of heart disease), rich in Dietary Fiber (assist in digestion and metabolism), Vitamin A, Vitamin C (Assist in repairing body tissues and boosting immune system), Vitamin K (Promotes strong bone and teeth), Vitamin B6, Folate, Manganese, Iron and Magnesium (Enhance proper growth and function of our body for sustaining optimum health). Apart from that, leeks contain some anti-bacterial properties to assist us to fight against infections.

Buy, Selection and Storage:

You can purchase leeks from local supermarkets or wet markets. Before purchase, choose leeks that are firm and less than 1 1/2 inches long (shorter leeks are more tender and delicate in taste). Make sure that the green parts are un-wilted and no green/yellow/brown spots on stalks. 

Leeks should wrap in paper towels or newspaper and stored in refrigerator for up to 5-7 days. If you have washed and cut, you can stored them in a air-tight container and keep it in refrigerator for 3-5 days.  It can still maintain it freshness.

Ingredients:

1. 3 stalks leeks - Thoroughly washed, sliced diagonally into 2 inches length
2. 4 pieces Medium Size Prawns - Washed, deshelled and deveined 
3. 1 piece Squid - Wash, remove membrane, vein, eyes and cut into rectangle slices with diagonal pattern on surface. (refer my cooking journal 4 - method no. 1 if you want to find out how to process the squid) 
4. 1 block Firm Bean Curd -  Cut into small rectangle cubes
5. 2 tablespoon olive oil
6. 4 cloves garlic - skin peel and sliced
7. 3 slices of ginger
8. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
9. 1 teaspoon fish sauce - for marinate of seafood
10. 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
11. pinch of corn flour - for marinate of seafood
12. pinch of pepper, salt and sugar - to taste 
13. Water (1 cup)

My Cooking Journal 11 - Chinese Style Seafood Soup (中式海鲜汤)

This soup contains several useful vitamins and minerals that can benefit our health. It provides good source of protein, calcium and phosporous (from prawns, squids, pork, tofu and ikan bilis stock) that can helps us in maintaining healthy bones, nails, hair, muscle and skins. Apart from that, prawns and squids are good source of iodine, selenium, zinc, Vitamin B12 and iron. Iodine aid to control growth and metabolism for our body and keeps thyroid healthy. Selenium, an antioxidant assists in relieving arthritis symtoms and decrease the risk of cancer.   Zinc helps to boost your immunity where Iron and Vitamin B12 helps in production of normal red blood cell to avoid the risk in getting anemia. But, do bear in minds that both seafoods are high in cholesterol, so you should moderate your consumption if possible.

To enhance the taste of this soup, I added tomato to make it more flavourful. Tomatoes contain Vitamin C, A, B, folate, fiber, calcium, phosporous and is an antioxidant that found to be protective against cancer. I really love the taste of this soup as it is refreshing and gives a flavourful sweetness that will whet your appetite.

My Ingredients:

 

1. 200g Ikan Bilis - (Stock) Washed and rinsed
2. 4-6 pieces Medium Size Prawns - Deshelled & deveined (Keep the prawn head and shells for making stock)
3. 1 piece Squids - Cut into ring or slices
4. 100g Pork - Cut into thin slices
5. 1 Tomato - Cut into wedges
6. 1/2 Block Tofu - Cut into cubes
7. 100g Salted Mustard Green (Vegetable) - Cut into slices
8. 3 slices Ginger
9. 8 slices Garlic
10. 3 teaspoon sesame oil
11. 2 teaspoon fish sauce 
12. 1 teaspoon corn flour
13. pinch of pepper, salt and sugar - to taste 
14. Water (enough to serve 2-3 person)
15. Fried shallot and chopped spring onions (for garnish)

 

My Cooking Journal 8 - Stir Fry Seafood Spaghetti

Spaghetti (Pasta-comes in different types, sizes and shapes) is made of semolia wheat flour, is low in fat, low in sodium, zero cholesterol and enriched with nutrients such as iron, folic acid and some B-vitamins. It is a good choice of food to go with any other food partners such as vegetables, meat, fish to obtain a nutrition diet.

Buying and Storing of Spaghetti:

You can purchase spaghetti from any local grocery stores or supermarket. Once opened, you can store them in a cool dry place for six to eight months.

Cooking Pastas:

In order to prepare a delicious pasta dish, one must know what types of pastas and sauce that suits for.  You can visit this web site  (http://www.ilovepasta.org/nutrition.html) to find out more about Pasta. For stir fry purpose, thin spaghetti is prefer because its work well with light, thin sauces. Thicker pastas usually blend well with thicker sauce and shape pastas work well with chunky sauce.   

My Ingredients: 

Ingredients: 

1. Thin Spaghetti (250g) - for serving two adult and two toddlers
2. 1 piece Squid/Sotong - cut into ring
3. 4 pieces of medium size prawn - remove prawn's head and shells but maintain the tail.Then carefully lift out the black vein at the back of the prawn.
4. 1 piece Carrot - cut into strips  
5. 1/2 red Capsicium - cut into strips 
6. Broccoli - cut into florets (1 cup)  
7. Cauliflower - cut into florets (1 cup)
8. 1 tablespoon garlic - minced
9. Ginger - cut in slice ( 3 pieces)
10. 2 eggs - break the eggs in a bowl
11. 2 tablespoon oyster sauce 
12. 2 tablespoon oil
13. 1 tablespoon magarine
14. 1 tablespoon fish sauce
15. Salt, Corn Flour & pepper - as needed
16. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
17. Ikan Bilis (Anchovies) stock or water - as needed
18. Fried Shallots - for garnish