My Cooking Journal 23 - Spinach Soup with Meat Ball and Silver Fish

One afternoon, I was at an eating house along Joo Chiat Road enjoying their famous delicacy that is the curry fish head with two others dishes to accomplish a satisfying lunch. One of the side dish that we ordered was this spinach soup with silver fish. I really fell in love with this spinach soup because of its refreshing and flavourful taste. It is a simple soup comprises of spinach, silver fish, mince pork and some shallots to enhance the flavour of the soup. I think it would be easy to cook and decided to copy their version using my own cooking instinct.

 

Well, the result was satisfying and I started to cook this soup for my family occasionally. It is a simple, hearty and nutritious soup embrace with high volume of calcium as I used ingredients like ikan bilis, spinach and silver fish which contain significant amount of calcium for our body. You may refer to My Cooking Journal 9 to find out more on the benefits of spinach and I hope you will enjoy this soup as much as I do.   

My Ingredients:

1.      1 pack (200g) Spinach – Wash and trim (Refer to my Cooking Journal 9 for preparing spinach)

2.      200g Ikan Bilis - (Stock) Wash and rinse

3.      100g to 200g minced pork – Rinse, marinate and roll into balls

4.      50g – Dry Silver fish - Rinse

5.      3 slices Ginger

6.      2 - 3 cloves Garlic – Deskin and cut into slice

7.      3 cloves shallot – Deskin and cut into slice

8.      1 teaspoon sesame oil – for marinate

9.      1 teaspoon fish sauce  - for marinate

10.  Pinch of corn flour – for marinate

11.  pinch of pepper, salt and sugar – for marinate and to taste 

12.  1 tablespoon olive oil

13.  1.6 litre Water (enough to serve 2-3 person)

14.  Fried shallot and diced spring onions (for garnish)

My Cooking Journal 12 - Simple Chinese Steam Eggs (中式蒸蛋)

If you want to prepare a quick, easy and nutrition dish for your family, I would suggest preparing a good dish of plain steamed egg that will simply melted in your mouth.

Eggs contain many essential nutrition that benefits our health. It is not only rich in protein and is also a good source of Vitamins A, B2 (riboflavin), B9 (Folate), B12 and D and minerals such as selenium, iodine, iron, zinc, lutein, choline, phosphorous, molybdenum. The health benefits of eggs are mainly contributed in the egg yolks. Choline is well known for brain development. It helps to develop healthy fetal brain, improving our memory function and so prevents us from age-related memory loss. Folate helps pregant woman to prevent birth defects. Then, lutein preserves our eyesight and protects us against macular degeneration and cataract. Needless to say, Vitamin D helps to form and maintain strong bones.

Though eggs are considerably high in fat and cholesterol, the fat it's contain are mostly monounsaturated fat and much of the cholesterol in eggs may not be well absorbed by our body. Therefore, it has little impact in raising blood cholesterol. Nevertheless, we should still consume eggs in moderation and try to maintain our cholesterol intake to 300mg daily. An healthy individual should consume not more than four eggs per week.

Buy and Store Eggs

You can buy eggs from any provision shops, supermarket and local wet markets in pack of tray or carton. Before purchase, make sure you inspect any crack or break eggs.

Storing eggs in their original carton or tray can prevent absorption of odours and lost of moisture. It will still be able to keep its freshness for about one month if you maintain it in the original condition and stored it in the refrigerator. Avoid washing the eggs prior storing them in the refrigerator as it will remove their protective coating. Also, avoid storing eggs near the refrigerator door as the eggs tends to expose to heat more frequently when you opened and closed the refrigerator door. This will reduce their freshness.

Ingredients:

1. 2 eggs for serving 2 adults and 2 toddlers
2. 4 eggs shells of water
3. 100g minced pork - To marinate
4. Pinch of salt and suger - To taste
5. Chopped spring onion - Garnish

Marinate minced pork in a bowl :

1. 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
2. 1/2 tsp sesame oil
3. Dash of pepper & sugar
4. Set aside

Measurement of Water:

Break a small hole at the top of the egg shell, then pour out the egg into a bowl. Filled up the empty egg shell with water (till full), pour the water into the bowl of eggs - (Total: do 4 times)

For every one egg, do the above 2 times. (Ratio - Egg : Water = 1:2)