Lotus Root Peanut soup with a sweet hint (carrot)

Here's another soup cooked using my Noxxa pressure cooker. This soup is our main dinner, thus I added in some carrots so that we have more vegetables to eat rather than just the lotus , peanut and meat. It's awesome, thanks to Noxxa :) This was done in less than an hour

Old Cucumber peanut soup with carrots

I'm really not a typical Chinese who normally opt for soup with rice. On the contrary, I don't drink soup at all, at least not until I married into the Chong family. The soup made by my mom during those days in Batu Pahat  had an unusual smell which totally puts me off. I started to accept the taste of Chinese soup (minus the porky smell) with some training at my in law's place. Of late, I'm so into soup that I actually forked out another sum of money to invest in a pressure cooker. I promise, this shall be the last kitchen appliance I get in year 2013 (and hopefully 2014 too).

 

This amazing Noxxa pressure cooker from Amway comes with other function : low pressure, slow cook, stir fry and keep warm. It is ideal for someone like me who is always on the go and juggling with time. With just 40 mins or more, soup will be ready for dinner. And mind you, it's part of our one meal diet plan : soup cum meat cum vegetables.

I've been utilizing this machine intensively and aggressively since I bought it. Hubby is wondering how long this weekly soup routine is gonna last but I'm gonna prove him wrong.

Here are some of the variety of soup I've cooked thus far :
1) old cucumber + peanut + carrots + meat + scallop + red dates (as shown in picture above)
2) bitter gourd + tomatoes + red dates + meat + cuttlefish + corn
3) bitter gourd + tomatoes + salted vege + red dates + chicken
4) bitter gourd + anchovies + ginger + tomatoes + red dates + meat
5) lotus root + peanut + carrot + meat + corn
6) ABC soup
7) red bean soup

I'm contemplating to cook a curry chicken and pineapple rice soon. Yes, using this machine :D  Probably sooner than I think.
2 thumbs up for this Noxxa pressure cooker. I simply love it!

Creamy Mushroom Soup & Pork Patty

A juicy piece of patty with a slab of mayo and drizzle with some chili sauce. Awesome.

My blog it seems, has been reduced to quite a pathetic state with the frequency of postings getting few and far between. Blame it on my hectic time schedule and well,  facebook too. What prompted me to make another round of mushroom soup was the finding of 3 wild mushrooms sprouted out from my lawn. I just need to refresh my memory of how to make it by making a call to my sis in law in Singapore. It is typical to have garlic bread to go with mushroom soup but I figure I'll do something different this time : a meat patty. We had several meat projects done for some clients of ours and I remembered my then Application colleague had to come out with the actual meat patty with added flavors from our library collection. All it needed was a message to her via facebook and she obtained the meat patty recipe for me from our the chef.  Thanks Jez for the prompt reply and action on my request :)

The really creamy wild mushroom soup. Yummy....(fatty...)

I think the dinner attempt tonight was fated to be postponed since hubby called to say he ain't coming home for dinner. I went ahead with my dinner plans because for the next few nights, I will not be home early to cook. Less than halfway cooking the mushrooms, I had a major kitchen mishap. I accidentally cut my finger while taking out my food processor. Blood was oozing out and I was fumbling to take a picture of it while manning the mushrooms still simmering in the saucepan.

My homemade mini burger, sandwiched with a mini pork patty.

The so called 'kitchen mishap'.

 It took me slightly more than 2 hours to come our with the creamy mushroom soup and the meat patty plus the cleaning. Hubby came home to taste the soup and for him, it was creamy. He doesn't like it too creamy though but I like it otherwise. I'm not sure whether to consider the meat patty a success because it was obvious that I was over generous with the salt. Yes, you got it right. It was over salty. To make the best of it, I'll just have to top it with lots of veggies then. Other than the saltiness, it was awesome to bite into the burger which I smeared a generous amount of mayonaise and chili sauce. I just wish I have more people to eat it with me and to share the delight. Cousin Soo will get her share tomorrow and perhaps I'll scoup some out for my doctor too since I'll be seeing him tomorrow.

Not cheap. Deliberate got it for the purpose of making the soup.

The real stuffs and therefore, this soup is really costly.

Over estimated again that I had to keep a packet of the mushrooms

Choy kan soup with wolfberry and red dates

I have recently burnt a huge hole in my pocket by purchasing this 6 tier stainless steel steamer pot. Actually, I have been on the hunt for a cheap steamer pot but as usual, when the final transaction came through, I found myself taking home the most expensive pot of all. Needless to say, hubby was flabbergasted with this expenditure but at least, money was spent on kitchen utensils solely for health benefits and not on my cosmetics or apparels. The day I took home the pot, I started steaming my dinner that nite which consisted of a soup, rice, fish and vege. Did 4 dish (if you include rice) with just one pot and one stove. Amazingly easy and superbly clean. The lowest pot was used for boiling Choy Kan soup. Now.. don't ask me what choy kan is named in English. I personally have not seen this 'thing' before but it is actually a kind of dried vege. Anyway, soup was cooked with 4 strands of the choy kan, some wolfberries, some red dates and garnish with chinese parsley and spring onion. Soup will definitely taste more flavorful if I have boiled it with some chicken meat or chicken bones to it. I have attached picture of my pot but it's only 3 tier here. I can't wait for my mom to see and use it.

Wild Mushroom Soup

When I first tasted the mushroom soup at Delicious, I told myself I'm gonna benchmark this mushroom soup from now on. Since then, I have been on the hunt for the next best mushroom soup which will cost me less than the one in Delicious. Coincidentally when I was in Singapore last Christmas, my sis in law whipped out the soup. It was then I silently promised myself that I'll cook it one day too. What held me back till today was it's just an starter and not a main meal. Just by thinking of all the hassel and trouble I'll go through to cook the mushroom soup and for 2 person only kinda put me off. Finally 2 days ago, I could no longer bear it. I was in Jaya Grocers , saw the fresh mushroom and just couldn't resist buying them and bought them I did. I gotta thank my sis in law for sharing the recipe with me which she got from allrecipes. Soup tasted good but lacking in woody note. I should've bought the gigantic mushroom which according to my sis in law, will give me a stronger woody taste. Additionally, I think butter and onion should be lessen to give priority to the mushroom aroma. I made sandwich again to go with the soup. Hubby loved the soup and had had second helping :D