Green Bean Soup With Sweet Potato

Green Bean Soup is one of the common local dessert that can be easily found in most households or dessert stalls at the food centres. For us, we love to add in some chunks of sweet potato and serve it with drizzle of both or either coconut milk or gula malaka syrup. The aroma and taste of the gula melaka blends perfectly into this dessert which makes you definitely go for a second helping.

I have heard from some Chinese physician that Green Beans (绿豆; Mung Beans) can clear Heat; ease mental stress; reduce blood glucose level and stimulate the secretion of body fluid. This is the reason why most of our parents or grandparents always love to prepare some green bean soup for the family during hot weather to cool down our body heat.

These are the ingredients and steps on how to prepare my version of green bean soup :-

Ingredients: (serves 4)
150g Green Bean(绿豆)
1 Medium Size Orange Sweet Potato
50g Sago
10 - 15 Pre-packed Ginkgo Nut, optional
1.5 Litre Water
1 Bundle of Pandan Leave
Rock Sugar/brown sugar to Taste

Optional Toppings:
Some Coconut Milk
Some Gula Malaka Syrup

Method:
1. Rinse a few times and remove any dirt or spoilt green beans from the pool then set them aside and bring a pot of 1.5 litre of water to boil.
2. Next remove the outer skin of the sweet potato, cut it into chunks and add them together with the green beans into the boiling water.
3. Rinse the pre-packed ginkgo nut and remove any greenish pith in the middle of the nut then marinate it with about 1 tablespoon of castor sugar and set aside.
4. When the green bean mixture comes to boil again, lower the heat and let it simmer over medium low heat till the bean begins to soften or cracks open. (takes about 15 minutes or so)
5. Add in the rinse sago, marinated ginkgo nut and pandan leave then continue to simmer till the sago becomes transparent.
6. Removed the pandan leave, add in rock sugar to taste.

Note:

~ You can add in more water if you prefer more soupy dessert.

~ You can make some Gula Melaka sugar by boiling 2 part sugar to 1 part water till the sugar completely dissolved, sieved away any residues, cool and you can kept it in the fridge in a glass bottle till further usage.

I guess it all depend on individual taste and preference while preparing the green bean soup. Some might just like the traditional way of adding sago while others might prefer adding some glutinous rice or even extra chunks of sweet potato to make it a quick meal. No matter which methods, I am sure there is always one prefect recipe from each household. If you do prepared green bean soup at home, perhaps you can share with us some of your ingredients and tips too :p

Vietnam Delight ~ Bún Thit

Bun Thit is a simple and delicious meal in Vietnam consisting of cold rice vermicelli mixed with fresh vegetables and usually topped with barbecued pork. Served with nuoc cham sauce(pouring sauce) which is a good summer dish that is light, low fat, healthy and cooling.

Mum who has being to Vietnam shared with us this version of “Bun Thit” in Singapore taste much better compared to those she had in Vietnam because their sauce there are far too sweet towards her liking.

The dish is served with mixture of fresh vegetables such as beansprout, lettuce, Vietnamese basil, various kind of mint leaves and fish sauce. Other than all the fresh vegetables, this dish also comes with a layer of rice vermicelli that top with grilled lemongrass chicken, some toasted peanut and green onion. Overall it has a very special refreshing taste due to the "mint leaves" and fresh ingredients used.
Price: S$5.00 per bowl

Would like to try out their beef noodles and Vietnamese spring roll too. You can find this Vietnam Delight just beside the Hakka Abacus seeds stall located at basement 4 of Food Opera, ION Orchard.

Food Opera
#B4-03/04

Opening Hours:
10.00am - 11.00pm daily

Dessert Ministry (甜品部)

These two years Singapore is surrounded by all kinds of dessert shops from either Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan or local home brand. Last month, “Dessert Ministry(甜品部)” which opens by Edmund Koh(the founder of Singapore 1st Homegrown fast-food restaurant, Super Dog) has set its foot at level 1 of Cathay Orchard Cineleisure. From a glance on their menu you could find wide varieties of mouth-watering desserts and drinks which inspired by concocted recipes from both East and West.

While waiting for the desserts to arrive, we started with a scoop of this Homemade Mango Ice Cream that is freshly made from mango that are imported from Thailand. Each spoonful leaves you with the lovely mango scent scattering around in your mouth with bits of fresh mango in it. And for those who loves ice cream, you could also try their “Ice Cream Series” on Matcha, Black Sesame or Strawberry too.

For Mango Lovers who always ordered Mango dessert, this "Mango Supreme - 芒果至尊" is a not-to-be-missed item when you visit Dessert Ministry. As the name suggests, “Supreme” consists of all kinds of “mango” items such as their homemade premium mango ice cream, mango pudding, fresh mango cubes, scoops of watermelon and honeydrew as well as pomelo in a sea of mango puree. So how can you resist all these wonderful ingredients in one combination?
Price: S$8.80 per plate

On the other hand, this “Mixed Fruits Sago in Papaya with Lemon Jelly - 爱玉西米三瓜盅” was not really towards our liking compared to the Supreme Mango above. We find this mixed fruit combo seems to be a bit too complicated in taste with all the mixture of items. Perhaps by removing either the sago or lemon jelly would be a better choice.
Price: S$6.50 per plate

What is your preference in ordering cream paste dessert? Do you like almond paste, black sesame paste, peanut paste or? For me, almond and black sesame paste is always one of my favourite choices compared to the rest. In Dessert Ministry you can either order “Individual” or “Combo” flavour with extra sticky rice balls as sides to go with the paste. According to Chef Meis, all these paste are freshly made from roasted and grind ingredients that sieved through once in order to achieve an extra smooth and creamy texture. And each day he would also sample all the ready cooked paste in order to make sure that they are all of good quality before serving to the customers. Too bad Chef Meis shared that the black sesame paste is not up to his standard for that day so he could not serve it to us. But he recommend this "Almond and Peanut Cream - 花生杏仁糊" combo which I really love it's smooth and creamy texture.
Price: S$5.50 per set (serves with 3 sticky rice balls and crushed peanuts)

For a Durian craze like me, this "D24 Durian Sago - 榴莲西米露" would definitely be something new to challenge our taste buds. Imagine having a mouthful of pure D24 durian together with some fresh coconut juice and runny bits of sago tingling around in your mouth. You would have to try this at least once in order to experience the combo of these two fruits together.
Price: S$5.50 per bowl

When comes to the drinks menu, Dessert Ministry also have their special range of cold and hot drinks that can either quench your thirst or nourish your body. While flipping through the menu I was fascinated to this “Red Date with Longan Tea - 红枣桂圆奶茶” because the usual longan tea that we used to drink is without milk and it is normal boiled with some ginger. So when Chef Meis brings out this pot of freshly brews tea, I was totally amazed by it’s lovely fragrant and milk infused taste with the Longan tea.
Price: S$5.50 per pot (serves 2)

With the recent Bubble Tea trend current bursting among the KOI and Gong Cha lovers; here we have some healthier choices from either pure fruity base or adding of fresh milk or coconut milk to go along with their toppings such as pearls, jelly, aloe vera or sago. This cup is one of their popular choices known as “Papaya Milk and Honey Jelly - 木瓜奶昔爱玉爽”. You can see it is divided into 3 different layers of colour where the white at the bottom is “fresh milk”, follow by honey jelly and orangey red for the fresh papaya juice. This is a very refreshing drink that is good for digestion and provides extra dose of calcium for your bones.
Price: S$3.80 per cup

This is the Daifuku (大福) counter which is located beside the cashier. According to Chef Meis he could made around 80 Daifuku per day with array of fillings such as Durian, Strawberry, Mango and Matcha. And the most pouplar choice from patrons would be the "D24 Durian Daifuku" @ S$4.20 for 2 pieces.

You definitely won’t missed out this shop with it bright and glaring furnishing of Yellow Wall, Red and White Chairs with a huge wall poster on their signature “Supreme Mango Sago with Pomelo” in the m. And for your information, Dessert Ministry is just next to Burger Bench & Bar (read more HERE) so after your movie you can either grab some burger or dessert for supper.

Lastly, I would like to thank Mr Jansen Siak from Word of Mouth Communications Pte Ltd and Dessert Ministry for hosting this tasting event.

Dessert Ministry
8 Grange Road
#01-03 Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
Singapore 239695
Telephone: 6887 5347

Opening hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 11.00am – 11.00pm
Friday, Satursday & PH: 11.00am – 2.00am

Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee

Last week we had dinner at one of the Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee (香港街老珍记) Cze Char stall near our area and I was surprised to see they have quiet a number of unique dishes featured in their menu. And from one of the banner hanging near their stall, it stated that they are also one of the recommended stalls from Channel 8 Food Show, Sizzling Wok(煮炒来咯). Here are 3 of the dishes that we have tried.

First we have Sum Lo Hor Fun - 三捞河分 which we think the texture can be better because most of the rice noodles seems to be bundle and stick together which makes it very lumpy. But overall the taste is still good with that slightly burnt wok taste and generous amount of fish slices.

Next we also ordered one of their signature dish known as "Golden Dragon Beancurd - 金龙豆腐". As you can see from the photo, each tofu cube consists about 3 different layers of colour. And each different layer, the chef used different type of vegetables such as spinach, carrot and dried fish to blend with soya bean milk and steam each colour layer by layer together with a layer of Japanese seaweed sheet to achieve the colourful effect. Lastly the steam beancurd is cut into cubes, deep-fried and top with floss and mayonnaise which makes this a unique and appetizing starter.

"Mongolian Pork Ribs - 蒙古排骨" might not look appealing on sight due its colour but it has a very sauce that goes with the deep-fried pork ribs. This sauce taste a bit spicy and creamy with the combination of curry leaves, black pepper sauce, mayonnaise and etc. I would recommend this for a change of the usual usual sweet and sour pork or pai gu wang.

For those of you who frequent Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee I am sure all these dishes are not new to you. If you have any recommend dish from their outlets do let me know so that I could get the chance to try them out too. I also spotted something seems to call “Smoke Dual Duck - 双色熏鸭” but the waitress told us that dish need to pre-order as it cannot be done on the spot. Have anyone of you tried this duck dish before? If yes, do let me know your view on it.


Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee (Yishun Branch)
Block 293 Yishun Ring Road
#01-1237
Singapore 760293
Telephone: 8264 4116

Thai Red Duck Curry

This Thai Red Duck Curry is one of my favourite curry dishes during my 2.5 years in Brisbane. I remembered we used to drive at least 3 hours once a month to and from our home to Chinatown in order to get roast duck to make this dish. And I must admit that duck meat definitely goes well with something sweet and sour like plums sauce so in this case this dish blends well with lychees and pineapples as one of the ingredients.

Paradise Dynasty @ ION Orchard

Located on the top floor of ION Orchard, Paradise Dynasty is the latest addition to the Paradise Group of restaurants by the founder Mr Eldwin Chua. This young entrepreneur is often spotted in the restaurant walking around to make sure that things are going on well in operation. And this restaurant is aiming to sell their signature Xiao Long Bao such as Black Truffle, Foie Gras, Garlic and Cheese pricing between $8.80 and $12.80 for six pieces.

Upon entering the restaurant from the front counter, there is a very unique entrance path that leads you passed their glass view open kitchen into an incredible modern and beautiful dining area with 206 seats. Eating at this restaurant definitely give you a feeling like having a “royalty meal” at the palace especially with the backdrop Qing Dynasty Emperor’s throne.

I was captured by a poster on these colourful Xiao Long Bao (XLB) near the bus-stop outside The Hereen at Somerset some weeks ago. And also with some good recommendation from friends who have tried, we decided to pop by and try out their “Signature Dynasty Xiao Long Bao - 皇朝小笼包” which consists of eight different flavour in a basket. Each flavour is represent by an unique colour such as:-

White: Original taste featuring fresh pork filling in sweet soup broth.

Green: With Ginseng smoothing herbal soup broth with pork filling but too bad the herbal taste is not strong enough for herbs lover like us.

Brown: Foie Gras with a touch of French luxury combine with Chinese delicacy.

Black: Black Truffle stands out with a fantastic aroma soup broth with pork filling which makes us tempted to order another basket full of just black truffle XLB.

Yellow: Cheesy with a hinge of the silkiness of cheese with pork filling which I think is a very interesting combination.

Orange: Crab Roe are finely minced and mixed with the pork filling which bring out the freshness of seafood taste.

Grey: Garlic infused soup broth with pork filling for those garlic lovers, but not me.

Pink: Szechuan flavour consists hint of spiciness when sipping the broth and it gives out a light aroma from the Szechuan peppercorn.

In order to get the correct and finest taste from each Xiao Long Bao, you would have to start from the original flavor, follow by the sequence ending with the strongest taste from the Szechuan Xiao Long Bao.
Price: S$13.80 per basket (8 assorted pieces)

"Pork Dumplings with Chili Sauce - 油抽手" is one of our all time favourite whenever we visit Din Tai Fung or Crystal Jade Kitchen. But today after trying the one served at Paradise Dynasty we declared that they have won our vote for this dish compared to the other two restaurants mentioned above. The Pork Dumplings are indeed more tender and juicy with its filling wrapped by a thinner layer of wrapper which is smooth and soft when bite. The accompany chili sauce is also not too salty or spicy and it goes perfectly with the dumplings.
Price: S$4.80 per plate(6 dumplings)

Mum and I both love this "Scallion Pastry - 葱油饼" which is so crispy on the outer layer and fragrant in its filling with the chopped scallion (spring onion). This is sure to be a great tea-snack if you are looking for some snacks for tea time to accompany with the Xiao Long Bao.

Each mouthful of this you ccould taste the flaky pastry that is well wrapped with generous amount of scallion mixture that makes you crave for more.
Price: S$2.80 per plate (2 pieces)

For those who fancy La Mian, Paradise Dynasty has prepared 18 different types of La Mian freshly made from their open kitchen. Each strand of noodle comes with fine and silky threads that are served with different pairing soups and ingredients. And for your information, their soup broth used ingredients such as pork bones, pork ribs and whole chickens that are simmered over slow fire for at least 12 hours before being served.

Out of so many La Mian in their menu mum chooses this "La Mian in Signature Pork Bone Soup with Pan-fried Chicken Chop - 煎鸡扒拉面" as she preferred something light instead of seafood or beef. Overall their pork bones broth taste just as good compared to the others and their noodle's chef definitely has done a good job in making such tasty and springy noodles to go with the broth. I am sure after this La Mian we would definitely come back to try out more on the other 17 choices soon.
Price: S$9.80 per bowl

After all the savory food that we had now it’s time for some dessert and after looking through their dessert column, I decided to get a bowl of this “Rice Ball Dumplings -酒酿丸子” which I believe not many youngest would order unless they like the taste of rice wine.

This is one of the common Shanghainese sweet desserts where the cooked mini glutinous rice balls are added into the distiller’s grains sweet soup together with fragrance candied osmanthus(桂花). When consumed you would find it a bit sweet and sour due to the distiller’s grains leaving it with a mild alcohol and floral aroma.
Price: S$4.20 per bowl

To avoid long queue and waiting time during weekends, lunch/dinner timing maybe you could call for reservation or try to reach slightly earlier.

Paradise Dynasty
2 Orchard Turn
#04-12A Ion Orchard
Singapore 238801
Telephone: (65) 6509 9118

Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday: 11.00am - 10.00pm
Satursday - Sunday & PH: 10.00am - 10.00pm

Spooky Halloween Trick or Treat

What are you planning on this year Halloween which is just two days away on Sunday, 31 October 2010? This year there are a lot of exciting Halloween activities found in most tourist attractions such as Singapore Night Safari, Sentosa (spooky event) or even some restaurants or pubs are having Halloween parties and special dining menu to brings up the spooky atmosphere.

For this coming Halloween, I would like to share with you our quick and easy "not so" spooky Halloween treat which is the "Pumpkin Soup" and "Spooky Pizza".

Fish & Co. New 4Fs Dining

Recently in September 2010 Fish & Co has launched their new 4Fs in dining which are “Fresh healthy food, Fabulous service, Family-friendly environment and Fun”. And in order to serve healthier food to their customers they also introduce some new dishes prepared by cooking methods such as bake, poach or grill which are approved by the Health Promotion Board’s Healthier Choice.

At our recent visit to their flagship Glass House outlet at Park Mall on the “Halloween Set”(read more HERE), we also tried out one of their new items on the Grilled menu section which we find it rather a good choice from the usual deep-fried stuffs.

To complete the set meal, you can always top up another S$5.50 for an additional soup of the day and complimentary drink or coffee. On that day we are lucky to have our favourite “Clam Chowder” served as the soup of the day. We love the thick and cream soup with chunk of vegetables and lovely seafood taste in it. But we felt a little pity that it would be great if it does serve with some toast which we could dip them with the soup.

For those who frequent Fish & Co I am sure there is definitely one condiment that suits your taste out from the range that they served. For us their Sambal Chili and Tatar Sauce are always the two items that we are to grab for more. Here are some of the condiments that they would usually served:- Tatar Sauce(White), Sambal Chili, Minced Garlic, Sweet Chili Sauce and etc.

We have "Pasta & Shrimp" as starter because we love its light and refreshing taste with a tinge of cold noodle and crunchy bites of shrimps and salad green that are toss with the special dressing and sesame seeds. For your information, this starter is also one of dishes with the Health Promotion Board’s Healthier Choice symbol.

Our family loves fish especially when they are grilled with herbs or spices as this method retains the freshness and sweetness of the fish. And for those who love their fish with a hint of spiciness, I would recommend this New “Grilled Red Fish Fillet with Peri-peri Sauce”. The peri peri sauce used in this dish is not those extreme "spicy” type and I find it blends quiet well with the grilled fish that you could still taste the freshness of the fish.

This set also comes with 2 sides of your choice which you could choose from either mashed potato, mixed vegetable, homemade coleslaw, rice and etc. As for me I find their butter rice goes well with the fish and you can also pair them together with either mixed vegetables or coleslaw to balance the meal.
Price: $15.95 per set (serve with 2 sides of your choice)

As usual after you have made the payment, their friendly staffs would always offer you some mint sweets depending on the number of person. And this is also one of their signature items that even some patrons would love to purchase some extra to bring home. For those who are interested, Fish & Co NEW healthier menu is available at all Fish & Co outlets around Singapore or you could join their exciting Facebook Page for more upcoming contests at this link HERE too.

Fish & Co. Special Halloween Treat & Event

What are your plans for this coming Halloween weekend? If you are not intend to scares yourself by going to the Night Safari Halloween Horror or Sentosa Spooktacular Adventure, perhaps a pan of this “Las Vegas Fish & Chips” at the Glass House will be a great choice for you.

This Halloween Fish & Co. flagship Glass House outlet at Park Mall is having a game competition in collaboration with CapCom and SoftSource that is open to all ages. The competition is held on two consecutive Saturdays, 30 October and 06 November from 6.00pm – 9.00pm. And whoever that kills the most zombies would be the overall winner to walk away with a Xbox console (worth $499 before GST) and Dead Rising 2 game pack (worth $74.90) too.

Before serving the main course, I was shocked to see the waitress placing a glass of sparking water on the table while passing me a syringe filled with “red” liquid that seems like blood. According to the rules we have to be vaccinated against the undead with a dose of this Fish & Co’s Zombie-fied Drink. To do so, we have to inject the syringe of red granadilla into sparking water and it would infuse it with a beautiful tinge of red. This drink comes with a mixture colours such as orange(at the base which is some mango syrup), red(granadilla) and white(sparking water). This is indeed a very beautiful and refreshing drinks to go with the main course.

In less than 10 minutes our main course the "Las Vegas Fish & Chips Set" is served in the usual Fish & Co. long handle sliver pan that is filled with a huge portion of fish fillet and their special fries. The fish taste great with its crispy batter and cheesy herbs sauce which makes it a excellent choice for cheese lovers like me. But we find the batter seems to be a bit salty and we thought this be better if it can be served together with some salad to balance the taste and at the same time promote healthy eating life-style with more “Green” too.
Price: S$18.95 per set (comes together with the Zombie-fied Drink)
Available: 20 October 2010 to 07 November 2010 (all 16 Fish & Co. outlets)

From today to anytime before 07 November 2010, you can always pop-by any of their 16 outlets(HERE, check under fish world) to get yourself feed and vaccinated with their Special Halloween Treat. And if you want some spooky or gaming environment perhaps you can go down to their “Glass House” flagship outlet on either 30 October or 07 November (between 6.00pm - 9.00pm) and who knows you might be one of their “Weekly Winners” to win $50.00 Fish & Co. dining vouchers. More Details about the competition are on Fish & Co. Facebook link HERE.


Fish & Co @ The Glass House
9 Penang Road
#01-24
Singapore 238459
Telephone: 6334 1858
Website: http://www.fish-co.com/