Chinese New Year indulgence and shedding off the extra calories

Wow! Glorious food! How not to over indulge yourself when you are surrounded with all the sumptuous spreads come each Chinese New Year. I have tried not to buy too many goodies and cookies for this festive season, partly because most of it, are so unhealthy and I tend to put on a few pounds every Chinese New Year. Another reason is that I have yet to find a nice supplier of nice cookies. All mediocre and I do not want to be in a position whereby I ended up with jars of half tested cookies.

However I was asked "how could you celebrate Chinese New Year without any cookies?"

So there you are, carrying home some jars of my favorite though not outstanding pineapple tarts and peanut cookies. Did not have time to bake anything this year, besides I cannot guarantee that what I bake will turn out superb.

Well, as the Chinese New Year progressed I found myself with more than a few jars of cookies. Gifts from friends and relatives kept my waistline firm and round. Frankly, it is an indulgence I could not resist come every lunar New Year. Inevitably I gain a few pounds. But not this Chinese New Year. I lost a few pounds. Not very much, but it did have me grinning to the cookie jars more often. A word of warning though, not putting on any extra pounds does not mean all these New Year goodies are healthy. And it is not only cookies, our new year reunion dinners or get togethers overflow with our favorite foods.

Come to think of it, society has changed such that most of what we normally serve on our dinner table the whole year through used to be what was reserved only for Chinese New Year or some other festivities. But that definitely has not stopped us from dishing out something special for the occasion.

How did I manage to shed those additional calories? What happened was I was helping out my cousin sister at her new restaurant. To get rid of the extra layers of fat you cannot be sitting at the till. Put on a good pair of running shoes and get down to the floor to serve those customers. Better still, is when you serve during weekends or public holidays. It might not get you your six-pack abs but it sure can build up your stamina and convinced you of the magic of physical activities.

If that is not your cup to calories reduction, an alternative is to do something that keeps you fast on your feet, while you do something productive or useful.

Thanks, Ms. Swee Nee (Tan) for the wonderful experience. 

If you are keen for a wondrous spell serving at tables or care to enjoy a great lunch, click on the link www.chickenricecentre.com to find out more.

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone

What’s in for this Chinese New Year? Honestly, it is a low key celebration this year,planned not to have too many things, partly getting lazier and partly because of my other commitments, therefore less time to indulge.

Having said that, the New Year greeting is late too.

Downloaded a special Chinese New Year app to my iPad mini, I am able to choose some of the  decorative icons/pictures to design my own card.

Simple Stir-Fried Mee Sua (wheat vermicelli)

I recently received a gift packet of thick mee sua. I have never tried frying mee sua but decided that it could not be much different from frying beehoon or mee. I did not deep fry the mee sua as that would make it a very unhealthy dish.

The dish ended up tasty, not unlike stir-frying noodles or spaghetti. Yes, I do fry spaghetti in the same manner that I fry my noodles or beehoon. It is a good, localized change from the usual fare of tomato based spaghetti.                      

For 3 pax

Ingredients :

300 gm thick Mee Sua (wheat vermicelli)

5 pips garlic, minced

Some chicken meat and/or pork slices (seasoned with some salt, pepper and light soya sauce, and some cornflour) or prawns

3 pieces of cabbage thinly sliced

Some carrot strips

5 shallots thinly sliced and 3 pips of minced garlic, fried in oil for garnishing

Coriander(cilantro) leaves, for garnishing

1 cup chicken stock

Cooking oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method :

1. Lightly boil the mee sua in boiling water to soften it a little, but not too long, otherwise it becomes too soggy to fry.

2. Fry the minced garlic in oil till fragrant, add in the chicken meat/pork slices .
3. Add in the drained ‘mee sua’, fry a little. Add in chicken stock and vegetables.
4. Stir well, add seasoning to taste.
5. Fry till, the chicken stock is nearly all absorbed.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and fried onion slices.
7. Serve warm with some sambal belachan.

Appraisals and Rewards

Time for that year end appraisal(could be over for some) and for the new year's increment, and not forgetting the bonus too.

How have you fare? Have you been adequately compensated and rewarded? Is your organization fair in its rewarding its employees? Do you have an opportunity to present to your superiors your performance for the past year and are you given the chance to bring up issues that have been troubling you or the challenges that you feel are not adequately supported with the right resources.

Appraisal is a process loathed by most people, appraisers as well as the appraisees. This is particularly so as it is almost impossible to be fully objective for a very subjective operation.

How does one then ensure that all that are involved are impartial and shows no favoritism? This will be much easier to adhere to if those in authority are seen to be so.

Managing the human side of an organization is never easy. Leadership in the right vein plays a crucial role here.

My wishes to all of you for a rewarding and fruitful assessment and that you do get what you wish for. If not, chart and document your progress as you work hard and perform better this year and hopefully your remuneration committee is receptive and wise enough. Otherwise, search for greener pastures.

For bosses, quoting Mr. Tan Thiam Hock "never underestimate the power of inspired teamwork".

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year

Bye-bye 2012 and welcome 2013. How do I feel? A little sad, as with all goodbyes, saying goodbye to year 2012, makes one feel nostalgic too. Happy to welcome another year. Another year of opportunities to do and be better in all that I do and love to do and that I do not love but have to do. Ha! Ha! Ha! Happy New Year!

Baked Otak Otak

The Otak Otak, a fish dish cooked in a blend of spices, thinly shredded limau purut(kaffir lime)leaves and coconut milk. My mum’s signature dish, I remember how she would fill banana leaves that have been folded into packages with the fish mixture for steaming. The waft of delightful spices and aroma filling the air would not fail to stir our appetites.

I have modified the recipe a little, using only the daun kadok(aromatic wild betel leaves), omitting the banana leaves to simplify the preparation a little. My mum would say, “not bad at all.”

  

Baked Otak Otak Recipe

Ingredients :

300 to 400 gm white fish meat (2 blocks of Red Snapper or Garoupa or other similar fish meat)

8 dried chillies (seeded for a mild flavour)

12 shallots

5 pips garlic

1 inch piece of fresh tumeric (about the size of your distal phalange of middle finger

1 lemon grass

½  inch piece of belachan (I do not like it too strong for this dish)

4 tabsp of fish curry powder, or 3 tabsp of wet curry fish paste(this can be bought from the market)

Some limau perut/kaffir lime leaves (thinly shredded)

Half grated coconut, to get half a cup of coconut milk

3 eggs

Sufficient 'daun kadok' or wild betel leaves(a type of aromatic ground creepers) for lining tray or pan

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation :

1. Grind the chillies, shallots, garlic, tumeric, lemon grass and belachan together.
2. Mix the ground ingredients with the fish curry powder or wet curry fish paste.
3. Add the beaten eggs, and mix well.
4. Add the thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves.
5. Add in the fish meat that has been thinly sliced.
6. Stir well, add salt and pepper seasoning.
7. Line a baking or steaming tray with ‘daun kadok’.
8. Scoop the fish meat and egg mixture into the tray, leave about ¼ cup of the gravy for spreading over the top of the top 'daun kadok'.
9. Cover the fish and egg mixture with a layer of ‘daun kadok’.
10. Pour the remaining gravy onto the ‘daun kadok’ and bake for about 30-35 minutes at at 180 deg. till sides of tray are slightly brown.

NOTES :

·              You could steam the Otak Otak in a plate/tray for about 15-20 minutes instead of baking it.

·              You can estimate the proportion of coconut milk used. It should be approximately 1.5 times the volume of eggs.

·              Some cooks omitted the curry powder and some do add some rice flour to thicken the gravy.