Simple Lunch

I wanted my daughter to have a balanced meal but did not want to spend hours labouring over the stove. So I decided to defrost some minced pork, marinated it with soya (dark and light), oyster sauce, sesame oil and left it in the fridge until I was ready to cook it. For the soup, I fried some chopped garlic, onions and ginger put in some ikan bilis and let the simmer till they turned a little brownish. Then I poured water into the pot, threw in two pieces of dried oyster and three mushrooms and set it to boil for about 20 minutes.

I then washed the spinach and put it aside. When it was near lunch time, I took the minced pork out of the fridge, added a little more sesame oil and put in a whole lot of chopped garlic and mixed them thoroughly with some cornstarch. Then I rolled them into balls and fried them in the saucepan together with some pieces of tomato. For the gravy I scooped some of the soup in the slow cooker for that natural taste. I put the spinach into the soup and let it boil till it is cooked careful not to overcook it. For variety, I fried two eggs and it was a yummy lunch with rice.

Minced pork and tofu

This was a dish that did not materialise till the very last moment. I had a tube of silken tofu and some minced pork. I had an idea of mixing the two. Somehow inspiration came just before I was to serve dinner in half an hour's time. First, I squeezed the tofu from the tube. It was a little mashy and I cut it up further. Then I fried it in the saucepan with some oil, chopped small onions and garlic. When the tofu was turning slightly brown, I took everything out and put them in a bowl.

Next, I fried the minced pork. Prior to this, I had marinated the minced pork with soy sauce, a special sauce for meat that I had bought at Takashimaya, a teaspoon of XO vegetable sauce, some dark sauce, sesame oil and mixed them well. I added water and some cornstarch so that the sauce would thicken, covered the saucepan and let the meat simmer for about 10 minutes or so - can't remember exactly but the important thing is not to overcook the meat. I also added some chilli tomato ketchep to give the sauce a slightly spicy taste.

Lastly, I poured the tofu into the saucepan, stirred things for a while and turned off the fire.To garnish the dish, I used some chopped-up capsicum, cucumber and bits of red chilli.

Verdict from the family: Yum Yum except that I should have used more silken tofu. Next time folks 'cos your mum only makes do with what's in the fridge at a particular point in time.