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 4 - Sambal Sotong

As a working mum, my target is to cook a express and delicious dish for my family. Usually, I would prepare my cooking ingredients one night in advance. Then, I can start cooking dinner (available time preparing for dinner is approximately 40 mins) once I arrived home from work. After preparing my dinner, I would then fetch my kids home from their child care centre and shall be able to have dinner together by 7.00p.m.

This dish is very simple to prepare and this recipe can be considered an instance cooking dish. I would buy the sambal paste from our local supermarket. Both brands are considerably nice. I usually pruchased the brand known as "Singlong" from NTUC and the other brand  which is known as "Tean's Gourmet" (in packet form) from Sheng Shiong Supermarket.

Ingredients:

1. 200-300g of fresh squid
2. 1 clove of Shallots (sliced)
3. 4 clove of garlic (diced)
4. 1/2 inch of ginger (diced)
5. 1 Red Onion (Sliced)
6. 1 packet of Sambal Paste (photo shown as above)
7. 1/2 teaspoon of Sugar
8. Small pinch of pepper

Methods:

1. Clean the squid and peel off the skin. Remove all cavities and cut off the ink sac and cut the head into 2 pieces. Slice the squid wide open, use the tip of the knife to lightly score a diagonal pattern on the entire surface, without cutting through it. Cut into rectangle pieces and set aside, with the tentacles.
2. Heat a wok with oil. Put in ginger, stir fry till they turn slightly brown, then add garlic and shallot, saute till they are fragrant. 
3. Add sambal paste, stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until fragrant.
4. Add in squids, sugar and pepper and stir well until cook.
5. Simmer on low heat, put in the sliced red onion and stir fry until it about to get soft.  
6. Remove from heat and garnish and serve.