I had SUCH a craving for prawns over the weekend that I decided on a whim to go to Sheng Siong at 8.30pm to get us some!

Prawn dishes are so expensive in Singapore, and we can save a lot by cooking at home. This dish cost us all of $15 for 15-16 large prawns and we’d expect to pay maybe $40+ outside? The prawns are large, about the length of my palm and they’re fat and juicy too. “Lip-smackingly good!” the husband said.

I like to cook prawns in a light-tasting sauce, especially when it comes to fresh prawns like these. I knew exactly what style I wanted: lots of garlic and lemon, and a little butter and white wine, PLUS parsley really brought out the flavour of the sweet prawns. Don’t leave out the parsley. It really rounded up this dish for us!

Remember to de-vein the prawns. I always do!

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Bittergourd is a vegetable that you either love or hate. I hate it. LOL. But everyone else in the family loves it, including the husband. So although I don’t like to eat bittergourd, I often cook with it. I can’t remember if I’ve shared my pork rib bittergourd with fermented black bean sauce recipe before, but my aunts actually said it reminds them of THEIR mom’s cooking. Wow they just propelled me to another level wtf I don’t deserve this.

I shall cook that dish again one day and make their day.

I ordered a crazy variety of vegetables from Opentaste.sg that day (don’t miss their $15 off first order offer. punch in my code ‘240D2E’ at checkout), and added a few bittergourds to my cart. My aunts were quite happy. And it certainly came into good use the week Amber (and I) fell sick and all I could manage was real simple cooking.

How do you choose bittergourd if you’re buying it from the market? If you prefer something more bitter, choose one that’s darker in colour, or better yet, get those baby ones. For less bitter taste, get one that’s light green. Depending on how you slice it, remove the seeds either by scraping them off (together with the white part) with a spoon (if you’re slicing them length-wise), otherwise slice into circles and push the white part out with your thumbs. That’s what I do anyway and I sometimes find it faster than using a spoon or knife.

To reduce bitterness, soak sliced bittergourd in saltwater for 15 minutes, then drain, rinse and pat dry. Why eat bittergourd if you don’t want it to be bitter? Beats me, but that’s why some people do anyway.

For an easy extra dish on the dining table, cook this. 10-15 minutes from start to end if you don’t soak, and that’s perfectly fine. Bought too much? Use them in stews or a simple soup. Those who love them really do.

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The post Stir Fried Bittergourd with Egg 苦瓜炒蛋 appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Now that CBB is out, my love for cooking has increased exponentially. Why? Because whatever time I spend in the kitchen now is luxury. I mean, I do have some other bit of me-time throughout the day, but those 30-minute sessions alone with my Medela don’t count.

I used to plan menus weekly so I know exactly what to cook, but nowadays plans get thwarted by cries for milk, clean diapers, hugs and comfort. So when I found a tiny pocket of time to cook, I jumped at the chance. With the thick bee hoon I ordered over the weekend, I decided to cook Jason’s favourite XO sauce noodles.

He loves everything with XO sauce, but XO sauce alone is not enough. I always find XO sauce on its own lacking in flavour.. ironic as it may sound, but to me XO sauce tastes quite boring despite its premium ingredients. One secret ingredient I like to add to my XO sauce dishes is crispy shrimp floss. I got mine from Yue Hwa, but you can also use any other shrimp floss or even fish floss. It’s a really good booster to savoury dishes. Try it!

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Char Kway Teow.. the dish that I used to eat a maximum of once a year, if not once every two years. I remember when I first met Jason, I had quite a culture shock knowing that he had CKT once every two weeks or once a month. Same for Laksa. It has never occurred to me that anyone can eat these so frequently, until the girls and I were discussing this one night at Ru’s place, and then I realised I am the “weird” one. They all felt it is ok to eat Char Kway Teow once every two weeks.

The conclusion that night was: most people have never been morbidly obese (I was 95kg at my peak when I was just 16!), never had to make drastic changes to their diet, and so aren’t that mindful about what goes into their bodies.

That said, Char Kway Teow is a glorious dish. Whenever I do eat Char Kway Teow outside, I make sure I eat it with lots of crispy pork lard. What’s the point right, without lard? When cooking this at home this afternoon, I left out the lard because I didn’t want my family to eat all these unhealthy stuff. Char Kway Teow can still be delicious and “less unhealthy” with less oil and a smaller portion.

This is a picture of the dark soy sauce that I used, available from NTUC. You can also use Hainanese Chicken Rice Dark Soy Sauce.

I made this version without chilli cos the aunt’s stomach is very sensitive to spiciness. You can add some sambal to your liking plus fresh cockles if that’s your thing (clean them thoroughly, soak in some water, drain and add in together with the spring onions). Cook your Char Kway Teow at home.. control how much oil you add, include more greens and it can still be a not-so-sinful meal!

A point to note- this recipe is for 2 servings. If you want to cook for more people, don’t double the ingredients and fry everything together but instead fry in batches of two plates each. Don’t distribute the love, it’s just not the same ;) Concentrate on one batch at a time!

The post SG Hawker Favourites: Char Kway Teow 炒粿条 appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Some of you ask me if I still cook as often since I’m now 31 weeks. YES I’m still cooking! Cook as often but not so elaborate la. I still prepare my lunchbox for work and come home to cook dinner for Jason, myself and sometimes Ah-mm and 88.

Mealtimes are simple for me. Sometimes when I’m settling dinner alone I don’t really go for the taste and just blanch some veggies and fill up on some protein. But then again I love the taste of plain boiled vegetables over stir fry. I can eat a whole head (or two!) of plain broccoli. You ask me to add some oyster sauce I might not want to eat.

So today is one of those days where you just want to get dinner over and done with. I decided to flake some airfried salmon and cook sambal fried rice for Jason. And then after that I can quickly lie down and see #ChuaBeeBee do her jelly dance! She is now VERY active and my tummy is constantly vibrating. Sometimes her kicks and crazy wriggles actually feel painful. But move all you want ok CBB. You can do whatever you want as long as you are healthy and keep moving.

I love this recipe because dinner can be ready in 15 minutes. It helps if you have an airfryer, if not, you can pan fry the salmon till 80% done, then flake with a fork – the same you do if you airfry. Jason polished off the whole plate and kept saying it’s delicious. The sambal chilli I used is Taho Sambal Belacan, which I got from the provision store opposite my place. I’ve seen it in wet market stalls and Giant.. it’s one of the best, if not the best bottled sambal belacan available. I love their entire range of chilli.. their extra hot chilli sauce with lemon is powwwwwww!

If time is a constraint for you when it comes to meal-planning, try this! One dish settled with no lack of nutrition.

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