The Soup Queen

Was out running a couple of errands this entire afternoon and ended up buying groceries at the nearby supermarket. If I had a choice I wouldn't go into this decade-old supermarket because it's small, cramped and you tend to knock into other shoppers with your trolley (yes, the aisles are that narrow). Nic and I figured that we might as well buy our groceries since we were in this vicinity and he did need some coffee. Finally we ended up with a trolley full of cheese, butter, coffee and noodles. Anyway, I was getting thirsty after all the errands and shopping. We decided to stop and have a drink at this stall which sells Chinese herbal tea. This uncle who mans it is actually a Hong Kong native who has been living in Malaysia for a long time. He drives a little white van which he parks at the corner of a junction and opens up for business. You see, he sells hot and cold Chinese herbal teas of all types - the kind that is slowly boiled and brewed. It's common to see Mal...

Remember how I made my version of Drunken Chicken (and which I was terribly pleased with as it was so easy and so yummy!) two weeks ago? I was inspired to make the dish based on Alvin Quah's recipe which Gary, one of the Masterchef judges, gave the thumbs-up for. Today I am going to share with you Alvin's recipe which he re-created in one episode of Masterchef 2 (Australia). He also shared a cucumber salad which I have made and yes, it is delicious too! And yes, I am going to share both recipes here with you because I realized that the Masterchef Australia website does not (I repeat) does not feature these recipes! Why not? Maybe it is to do with copyright. Maybe the Masterchef brand would be publishing their own recipe book based on the creative recipes of their participants. Oh well. Drunken Chicken by Alvin Quah of Masterchef Australia Season 2 1 liter Shaoxing wine 2 small bottles mirin some palm sugar 500 ml water Put all of the above into a pot. Bring to a...

"Kei Chi" or goji berries or medlar seeds or wolfberry seeds - they refer to the little dried red berries which we Chinese love to use in our soups and dishes because they are packed with nutrition. These berries are given to kids especially by Chinese parents so that their kids will grow up with good vision. In my case,  either I didn't eat enough as a kid or my genes are predisposed to short-sightedness. (Anyway, I had my eyes lasik-ed last year so technology can take care of things for you.) Goji berries help with the Liver and Kidney meridians. That's why they're beneficial for remedying Kidney Qi deficiency which brings about problems like lower back pain, impotence, dizziness and tinnitus. It helps lowers blood pressure, lowers blood sugar levels and lowers blood cholesterol levels besides acting as a liver tonic and nourishing blood. Though they're full of goodness, don't overdo it. All herbs in moderation please. If you are prone to excess ...

Drunken Chicken, Soup Queen's Quick & Easy Version and Absolutely Yummy It's an understatement to say I love the TV series, Masterchef. I'm talking about the Aussie version which I started to get hooked on beginning with the adorable junior chefs in Junior Masterchef. I was bowled over by the kids' passion and knowledge of food. It puts some of us to shame really when you look at the breadth and depth of these kids' wisdom about cooking good food. After that I started watching the Masterchef but I think our Astro here started showing only Masterchef 2. I think I missed a few episodes because I wasn't sure what time the show aired. Astro's programming can get a little weird. But the Australian version of Masterchef, be it the junior or senior/adult versions, are very interesting to watch. Of course, nothing beats the precociousness of the Aussie kids. Anyway, in one of the last few episodes, Alvin Quah (a Malaysian!) despite not being in the...

I've written about kachama or kachangma before. Even included a recipe with photos back in 2008. Kachama chicken is best eaten with dark soya sauce However, back then, I never knew what kachama was called in English. I tried looking high and low and could never find the name. If only I knew, I could google for it. Heck, I only know how it looks like dried and chopped up! Finally one day I chanced upon a herb called Motherwort which was listed as an ingredient in one of my client's products. She confirmed that yes, this herb is quite popular in Sarawak. I don't remember how I counter-checked but in the end, I realized kachama is Motherwort. In Mandarin, it is called Yi Mu Cao. Now this herb is, like its name suggests, benefits the mother! Well, in Sarawak, kachama cooked with chicken is traditionally served as a confinement food to help moms get rid of 'wind' or "angin". This is evident from the plethora of "angin"-busting ingredi...

While in HK, my friend took us to a local food joint which was located on the first floor of a building near the wet market of Causeway Bay. I can't recall the name of the place and anyway, I read very little Chinese (though I am learning, thanks to Skritter) so even if I did see the name of the place, I'd have forgotten by now. We had had enough of wan ton noodles and char siew rice and roast goose rice. The rice you get in HK is one mountain! Sometimes we had to share our rice. In Malaysia we don't gobble that much of rice!  We had met SP at Times Square at Causeway Bay (in Cantonese, "thung lor wan") and we walked towards the wet market, which at 6.30pm was in full swing. Vendors were selling fruits, fish (live ones too), chicken, pork and fresh vegetables. The sky was dark but the bright yellow lights made the market come alive with festivity. The chill was still getting to me though. At 14 C, it was cold for me. Too cold. And the skies were mostly grey whe...

Was in Hong Kong for 10 days last month for a few reasons. Business, leisure, etc. The usual. We try to pack a few things into our travel whenever we go abroad. This time was no different. But the best part is always the food. This is my 3rd time to HK - strangely the country grows on you. Nic and I like the weather though at times it gets to me. Like this time around, we were there late March and while it seemed like spring, to me a tropical girl, it was mighty chilly at 14 C. Yes, I know. To most of you, 14 C is not a problem. For me it was way too chilly. All my limbs were cold. I only took one shower a day (in Penang, I take showers at least 2 times a day and more if the weather's overly warm!). Anyway, I did a great many things while in HK. Will write more! 

Here are some photos of Chinese New Year cookies which I didn't make. All of these were either bought from friends who made them or given to me. Yes, I am fortunate that I am surrounded by capable bakers. I had 3 different types of butter cookies, 2 different types of seaweed crackers, and a host of delicious munchies. Here are some pineapple rolls, courtesy of my youngest sister.  Here is the view from the top. Pineapple rolls are a firm favourite each Chinese New Year.  Below are some seaweed or nori crackers made by my aunts. Apparently it's very easy to make. You just need sheets of nori sandwiched between popiah skin wrappers. Cut them up into bite-size pieces and deep-fry till crispy. Warning - these are completely addictive! I can munch through half a canister of this while watching Glee. Then I get all guilty!  These are called Almond London cookies. Also quite a sweet treat and available to me because my sister makes them for me. Inside each chocolate covered...

Chinese New Year is always about feasting and snacking. It's that one time of the year when you can really tell yourself, "I'll exercise more when CNY is over!" It's hard to resist traditional snacks and biscuits especially when you only get to eat them once a year. I wrote a post about my favourite snacks for Chinese New Year once but I think the list needs updating. Biscuits are in big demand in Penang during this time of the year because many women do not have time to make their own cookies or biscuits (how Americanized we've become - we used to call them biscuits but now they're cookies!). Chinese New Year cookie business is a lucrative business for many homemakers who are good at baking. I am not big on making cookies so I usually order from my aunt (who makes such scrumptious pineapple tarts) and my neighbour. I get cookies from my sister too - she makes good stuff! The most sought after cookies and traditional-style biscuits are the ones...

Hello everyone! It's the 4th day of the Chinese Lunar Year and the festivities haven't really ended yet - after all we have 15 days for the Chinese New Year. Of course, festivities do taper off after the 9th day especially in Penang. Penang Hokkiens celebrate with a thanksgiving prayer session on the eve of the 8th day of Chinese New Year - it is what we Cantonese call the Hokkien Chinese New Year. It is a big deal in Penang as the Chinese majority here are Hokkiens so the markets get busy again when the 8th day rolls around. Shops run by Hokkiens will again close on this special day as the families gather to offer food and prayers. I've been taking it easy this Chinese New Year - this year, Nic and I celebrated Chinese New Year here in Penang. It's been fun decorating our apartment with red - not that we don't have enough red in the house (our feature wall is unmistakably red). We bought a bunch of pussy willow stalks from a wholesale florist supplier on An...

The weather in Penang is becoming unbearably warm, particularly in the afternoons when the heat really sears. I decided to take a break from boiling Buddha Fruit and make something different. I was rummaging in my fridge and found a packet of Eu Yan Sang's Gui Ling Gao powder - it didn't have an expiry date so I thought, what the heck, I'd just use it. The thing is, and this is what I haven't figured out, does it really contain the shell of the turtle? Or is it just a name for a cooling dessert thanks to the ingenuity of the Chinese in naming their desserts? Anyway, I think there aren' that many turtles around these days so I hope the modern "gwai ling kou" is made from herbs. You can see this post I wrote previously on how I made this gui ling gao dessert .

In tropical Malaysia, I usually steer clear of temperate plants and herbs. Planting them is an exercise in patience as it can be quite trying to get some plants to grow properly. One of those herbs I love a lot is rosemary. I first bought a potted rosemary plant, about half a foot tall, for a princely sum of RM20 a pot some years ago. At that time, I was still at my old apartment where my balcony did not get direct sunlight. It worried me that my precious rosemary would not survive. It survived all of 2 years before it started to wilt and die. I blamed it on the lack of sunlight. Fast forward to 2010. I bought another rosemary plant, this time for RM16 at my local nursery. This time, I had a small plot of garden in the back of our ground floor apartment. It gets direct sun every day and I read that rosemary likes the sun (it is after all from the Mediterranean region). I piled on the compost (made by yours truly) and it grew happily. However, the rainy season came and with it, ...

If you have always wondered what makes "cincau" or "leong fan" (Cantonese) or grass jelly, this post will definitely enlighten you. It's from a plant called the Mesona with shiny leaves. Unlike "gwai ling kou" which I have associated with tortoises and their carapaces, grass jelly is less scary. The grass jelly drink is very common in Malaysia. It consists of black chewy jelly-like bits in syrupy sweet water which also gets its dark tinge from the grass jelly. Usually served cold with ice, this drink is a thirst quencher on hot days. It also helps 'cool' the body especially if one gets too heaty. Although it is a typically Chinese drink, many other races in Malaysia drink this too. For instance, Malays mix cincau with soya bean milk to make a sweet thirst quencher when they break fast during the fasting month. In fact, Yeo's usually sell their soya bean drink (1 liter tetrapack) with a can of cincau drink so you can mix them up at ho...

Happy New Year to you! Can you believe it? It's a new decade. I woke up this morning feeling like I've been transported to a new era. Of course it rained very heavily this morning and what struck me was this thought: I am very glad I am not in school anymore. I met a friend who had gone to his daughter's school during her recess to see if she's OK. I remembered how my nephew had the first day of school jitters last year this time. He's all right now but in the early days, he used to search for my mom (his Por-Por/ Grandma) to help him make sense of the Mandarin the teacher was using! This year I hope to blog more at SoupQueen. Last year took me away from my soup-making activities. Business has been good and I've been travelling too. And what with staffing and marketing and client servicing, it really left me very little time for experimenting in the kitchen. SoupQueen will have a little diversion once in a while - for instance, dishes and such becaus...

I know this is not a soup recipe but it is something I promised you. Actually I learnt this when I went home to my parents' place in September. And after that I went travelling for business (first to Kerala, India and then to Singapore ) so I didn't manage to share the recipe. The cool part is, I took snapshots of the process so you can see how easy the entire process is. My mother is a good cook (but then again everyone says this of their own moms). My mom makes very good Nyonya kuih like kuih talam, kuih lapis, abok-abok, onde-onde and kuih seri muka. She used to supply to school canteens and she stopped doing it when I reach secondary school as she found the work tiring. My sisters and I used to help her pinch the edges of curry puffs - we used to do this while watching Incredible Hulk on TV! Back in those days (in the 1980s), the only channels we had were TV1 (RTM1) and TV2 (RTM2) and the only good shows were series like Incredible Hulk. Anyway, my mom knows tha...

I have been travelling about so that is why the blog is a bit slow on the updates. Well I had gone home to Banting to visit my parents and to indulge in mom's homecooked food for a few days. I also learnt from her how to make vinegared pig trotters, a recipe I am going to share with you in the next few days. Fresh vanilla pods! After visiting my parents, I had come home for two weeks before I was packing again. This time, Nic and I were going to Kerala, India. This visit was with a client as he had wanted to visit some organic farms and farmers in the Wayanad region of Kerala. The climate in Kerala is just like our Malaysian climate. We were lucky that when we were there, the rains didn't start yet. I heard that it is flooding now in Kerala and travel may be hindered. Pepper, grown organically in Kerala Kerala is famous for ayurvedic treatments and clinics. Health is a top priority for the people of Kerala. They pay a lot of attention to herbs and plants for medi...

Well this has nothing to do with food or soups but it has something to do with Orientalism and health and in a way, well-being. I came upon this Oriental Tit Tar website when I went over (OK, OK, more like moseyed over) to a friend's blog. He had sprained his ankle so he went to see a Chinese Tit Tar. How shall I translate Tit Tar? It's a Cantonese word for the chiropractor who puts you right again. It's very cool that this particular Tit Tar is smart enough to take hold of technology and use it for his own business. After all, complementary medicine should be here as an option for people like you and me. Particularly me as I love my Sin Seh (Chinese medicine man). Sure, the healing is not as fast as Western medicine. But asking for quick, fast relief isn't always the best way to cure the body. So I like my medicine to work with my body to heal it, not work as a 'patch' and cover up the symptoms but not treat the root causes. That is perhaps wh...

While I've gone ahead and got my eyes iLASIK-ed , my dear husband is doing it the natural way. He says he can train his eyes to see better with a combination of eye exercises, nutrition and Bates pinhole glasses. I'm OK with whatever he chooses to do. He supported me when I told him I needed to laser my eyes and get back my vision before I turn 40 in 4 years' time. Supported me as in financially, he paid for my vision correction surgery. So of course I am supporting him in his endeavour. He diligently does his eye exercises and of late, he can actually sit at our living room sofa and read the time on our Astro decoder (which is like 7 feet away!). I'm really happy for him because it will be so good when he does not need to rely on his glasses anymore. On this note, I told him I'd make him nutritious stuff to help him improve his eyesight. Wolfberry in soups is one of those methods. Wolfberries are great for the eyes and as any Chinese mom will tell you,...

In this recipe, walnuts and dried red dates are combined to make a healthy and life-giving dessert. And with honey added, it packs a punch. A truly simple dessert which is used to prevent the usual flu magnets - colds and coughs. It helps too with your kidneys and with bowel movement. Walnuts are much revered in Chinese medicine, not least because the nut resembles the brain! Again, the Chinese believe that walnuts are good snacks for children as they help boost brain power which is true because of the high amounts of Omega 3 fats (good for the brain). Walnuts are of course a good source of essential omega-3 fatty acids and in Roman times, considered the food of the gods. Walnuts are a 'yang' tonic and useful for toning up weak kidneys. It also warms lung Qi while acting as a laxative, moistening the intestines (hence encouraging bowel movement if you are constipated). Walnuts are called Hu Tao Ren (juglans regia) in Chinese medicine. Walnut & Red Date Dessert 150 gm walnut...

This is an easy soup but it is a warming soup (good for women in confinement). I read that spare ribs or pork are neutral in nature. It is how you cook the soup and with what sort of herbs which turn the nature of the dish. In this soup, you need only 3 herbs: Chinese yam ( which I've written about before ) - 8 gm, rinsed, drained Chinese angelica or Dong Quai - 8 gm, rinsed, drained Wolfberries or Kei Chi - 2 tbsp, rinsed and drained 1 liter water 2 tsp salt 500 gm spare ribs, blanched in boling hot water Combine all ingredients into a slow cooker. If you are using a slow cooker, the 1 liter water must be boiling hot. Cook on Automatic for 2 hours. Add salt at the end of the process. Serve hot (with or without rice). Absolutely deliciousness in a pot! And hearty too.