Salted Egg Squid, Pumpkin fried rice & Hearty beef soup

best part about having a two-day school week? having the time to do things i love, such as cooking ^^  been in the kitchen every monday on a pretty regular basis so far, and it's so fun to be able to whip up new dishes in the kitchen every week.

Salted Egg Squid

i LOVE salted egg and my two favourite places to have it are Irvins and Thaipan. decided to try it for myself one day since i love it so much! ^^ well as you can see, it's kinda still in a work-in-progress haha. i cooked my eggs a little too long, but other than that, it tasted yummy!! thanks Koi for the recipe!!! (:

Ingredients:

squid (i bought a packet of frozen squid because i was lazy - and had no idea how - to clean the whole squid. but i think buying it fresh would definitely taste better!)

4 salted eggs  

60g butter

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp olive oil

1 egg, beaten

black pepper to taste

curry leaves (optional)

1. Clean the squid (especially if you bought it fresh).

2. For the salted eggs (nobody told me this and i was initially flabbergasted as to what i should do with those black eggs O.o): Clean off all the black stuff and rinse the eggs under running water. You just need the yolks for this recipe.

3. Steam the salted egg yolks for 7-10min and mash it with the fork while it's hot. 

4. Fry the squid with olive oil, sugar and black pepper. Set aside.

5. Melt the butter over low heat, then mix in the mashed salted egg and cook till it forms a smooth paste.

6. Add in the beaten egg and stir till the mixture turns lumpy.

7. Add in the cooked squid and curry leaves. Toss to coat for 1min or less. Serve (: 

Pumpkin Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups rice, cooked the previous night and refrigerated 

100g slightly fatty pork, sliced

1 packet shitake mushrooms

10g dried shrimp, soaked for 30min.

4 cloves garlic, minced

half a large onion, finely chopped

200g pumpkin, chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

1. Heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the pork. Set aside.

2. Fry the dried shrimps, garlic and onion till fragrant. 

3. Add pumpkin and mushroom and stir-fry for 1-2min.

4. Add the rice, pork and soy sauce and fry everything together. You're done! :) 

Hearty Beef Soup

Ingredients: 

1 pound beef (stew meat), cut into small cubes

3 carrots, cut into cubes

3 stalks of celery, cut into cubes

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 large onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

500ml beef stock

500-700ml water (depending on your taste preference)

1. In a large pot, heat up 2 tbsp oil and fry the beef cubes till well-browned. Set aside.

2. Add in onion and garlic, and fry till onion is transparent. Add in carrots and celery and stir well. Add in some beef stock and bring to a boil. Scrape the bottom of the pot to make sure that nothing sticks. Add in the rest of the stock, browned beef, bay leaves, chopped tomatoes and enough water to cover all the ingredients.

3. Bring to a boil, and then let it simmer for 25min. Serve