Cosy evening

The breezy wind, drizzling sky and a light ray of sun added to the cloudy weather. The inviting chill creeps into me, unwillingly I woke up. Finally, I have a day off the long long weeks of school. All the subjects were cramped in my mighty brain for July test and few months later ( or I could say in a wink ) year end test will be approaching and that ends my incredibly insane, memorable sail of my form four year. At one point, I had hatred towards my class, all the shouting and immature act of my classmates  nearly drive me nuts. Never you can imagine what my classmates did whenever there's teacher around or even when teachers are sitting right in front of the class. So yeah, on the past two days, our test was over, the guys ( only 7 of them in my class ) had a limbo session, sound "interesting" right? That's not the end, they even had butt-hitting session, singing session etc at the alley. They may seem really childish at times and inconsiderate when teacher is teaching but in a positive way, they had brought laughter and joy to us. Although our teacher put high hope on us to shine academically and behave maturely as one of the top class, we did not live up to that expectation but I believe if one thinks on a bright side, my class in unique in its own way.

As today is a public holiday, needless to say I prepared a meal for my family. This is a very first experience for me to venture in kitchen all by my own and I could say it was a success for a first-timer like me. The dishes may not look attractive but at least it's satisfying! At least my brother did not complain *chuckles*

Today's dinner:

1. Garlic Rice

2. Tofu with Century Eggs ( Cold dish )

3. Oven-fried Chicken in Papilotte ( 纸包鸡 ）

4. Tomato and Egg Soup

Garlic Rice ( credits to Table for 2 )
Serves 2-4

• 1 cup basmathi rice *I used the normal type 
• 2 cups water
• 2 large cloves of garlic, grated (Use more if you like) 
• 1 heaped Tbsp grated carrots
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp butter
• Small pinch of turmeric powder for colour

1. Wash the rice. Drain well.
2. Put everything together and cook. (I steam mine for 30 minutes) * I chuck everything into the rice cooker
3. Fluff rice with chopsticks before serving.
* I topped the rice with fried shallots ( not the ready made ones ) , yummy!

Tofu with Century Egg

* I invented the recipe!

Serves 3-4

2 tubes of tofu

2 century eggs

3 teaspoons of oyster sauce

Ground white pepper

1. Slice the tofu.

2. Cut the century eggs into tiny pieces.

3. Top the tofu the century eggs. 

4. Add some hot water into a bowl and mix well with the oyster sauce, along with a pinch of white pepper.

5. Scoop the sauce with a spoon and drip it on the tofu.

6. Steam the tofu for 5 minutes.

7. Serve chill!

Oven Fried Chicken Wings In Papilotte  ( Credits to Min's Blog )

• 4 large chicken wings - cut one wing into 3 parts * I used chicken thigh

Marinade sauce:

• 1/2 cup of chopped onions

• 1/4 cup of chopped ginger

• 2 cloves of garlic- chopped 

• 1/4 cup of chinese cooking wine

• 3 tbsp of oyster sauce

• 1 tbsp of thick soy sauce

• 1/2 tbsp of sugar

• a dash of white pepper

• 4 tbsp of canola oil

• 4 pieces of 8" X 8" parchment papers

• a few pieces of mini  bamboo skewers

1. Stir together the marinade ingredients in a bowl till well mixed .  Pour the sauce over the cut wings and marinate for 3 hours or overnight in the fridge.
2. Wrap the chicken wings pieces (3 pieces) with a piece of 8" X 8" parchment paper.  Use bamboo skewers to seal the edges.
3. Pour a few tbsp of canola oil in a baking pan, deep enough to prevent the splattering of oil , heat it in preheated oven at 200'C for 20 minutes, when the oil is smoking hot , slowly put the parcels into the baking pan and oven fried the parcels for 25 minutes and flip over and continue to oven fried for another 15 minutes or till the paper is browned on the outside.
4. Take the parcels out of the baking pan and drain off excess oil before serving

Tomato and Egg Soup 番茄蛋汤 ( Credits to Table for 2 )

• 2 large tomatoes, cut into chunks. 

• 2 large eggs

• 1L water

• 2 Tbsp cooking oil

• Salt to taste

• Good dash of pepper

• Handful of Chopped spring onions

1. Heat wok/pot and put in oil. Put in tomatoes. Stir fry until slightly soft and put in eggs. Scramble and let the eggs cook until fragrant.
2. Put in water and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 1 minute, season with salt and pepper. Put chopped spring onions into serving bowls and ladle soup onto the spring onions. Serve hot with rice :)