Ingredients

1. 300 grams Chinese spinach (苋菜) (yin choi)
2. 5-10 clove of garlic
3. 1 teaspoon anchovy powder, or 1 anchovy stock cube, or handful of anchovy
4. 2 Century eggs (optional)
5. 1 bowl water
6. salt
7. 4 tablespoon cooking oil
8. 1 tablespoon fried anchovy (optional)

Method

1. “Pick” the spinach.  Ie using fingers to pick the spinach, first the leafy portion, and then the stalk portion.  While picking the stalk portion, peel off some of the fibrous outer layer if they come out along with picking it.  
2. Wash the spinach.
3. Remove the skin of the garlic, and keep it whole.  In a wok or pan, heat up cooking oil and fry the garlic till fragrant and golden brown (watch out that once it turn golden brown, it will burn very fast, so be quick to remove it)
4. If using anchovy, in the soup pot, heat up 1 tablespoon oil, and put anchovy in, fry till fragrant, and then add in the water. Allow to simmer for 30 mins, and then remove the anchovy.  If using anchovy powder or stock cubes, put water in soup pot and add it anchovy powder or stock cubes, allow to boil.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Add in the spinach and cook till soft.
7. Add in the garlic, and boil for 1 min. Remove from heat.
8. If using century egg (de-shelled and cut into pieces), put the in the serving bowl.  Pour in the spinach and soup and serve.
9. Top up with 1 tablespoon pre-fried anchovy (optional) (photo does not have this)

This is an auspicious dish for Chinese New Year! Lots of gold!

Sauce

Ingredients

1. 4 tablespoon of tomato ketchup
2. 2 tablespoon of plum sauce
3. 2 tablespoon of sugar
4. 1 tablespoon of soya sauce
5. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
6. 1 teaspoon corn flour
7. 1/2 cup water
8. 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
9. 1 tablespoon cooking oil
10. 1/2 cup of cube mix vegetables (peas, corn, carrots, pineapples) optional 

Method

1. Mixed ingredient 1 to 7 a bowl. 
2. Heat up sauce pan or work or frying pan, add oil and garlic, stir fry till fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the mix vegetables, and stir.
3. Add in the mixture and bring to boil, simmer till consistency is right.

Nuggets

Ingredients

1. 300 grams Minced Pork
2. 5-10 Water chestnuts
3. 1 teaspoon minced ginger
4. 10 mid size prawns (optional)
5. 1 stalk spring onion
6. 3 tablespoon light Soya sauce
7. 1 teaspoon sugar
8. 1 teaspoon cornflour
9. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
10. Wonton skin
11. Cooking oil for deep frying

Method

1. Peel the water chestnut and cut into very small pieces (about 2mm size approx)
2. Wash and cut the spring onion into small pieces (1mm thin approx)
3. De-shell prawns and cut into small pieces (1/2 cm approx).
4. Mix item 1 to 9 together.
5. Wrap 1 teaspoon in 1 piece of wonton skin.  Here is some trick to make it look like gold nuggets (those used in ancient china).  Lay the skin flat on the table, put the meat in the middle, fold the corner nearer to you forward to meet the furthest corner (ie folding into half).  Then press the sides down leaving the portion having the meat bulging up, fold this portion up halfway, and at the same time bring the left and right corner towards you and meet and touch.  Dab a little water (or corn flour mix with water) on the 2 corners and press firmly, they should stick together. 
6. Deep fry with medium heat till golden brown
7. Either use the sauce as a dip, or pour the sauce over the nuggets.
8. Serve while hot and crispy.

This is a nice Chinese New Year goodie, and very easy to make.

Ingredients

1. 1 table spoon honey
2. 3 table spoon sugar
3. ½ cm slice butter
4. 1 cup corn flake
5. 2 table spoon sliced almonds
6. any nuts or dried fruits can be added

Method

1. In a wok or pan (prefer non stick), put in item 1 to 3, heat up using low heat, until sugar melt and the whole thing turns creamy and bubbling.
2. Pour in item 4 to 6, and using 2 big spoon, very quickly toss it around until all coated. Off the heat.
3. Very quickly, using the 2 spoon, scoop up small portions and drop on a oiled (with butter) tray.  Leave it till cool, and keep in air tight container when cooled and harden.  Alternatively, you can scoop them into paper cups (those use for cup cakes) to cool and then keep (less messy, as it will still be slightly sticky after cooled down)
4. You can control the stickiness or crispiness by adjust the amount of honey.  More honey makes it stickier while less honey makes it crispier.

Note that you have to be quick in step 3.  Hence it is also not advisable to double the ingredients and do it in one go.  You may do it a few rounds.  A lazy alternative of doing a lot at one go is to fill them up on a oiled baking tray, and when it is cooled, remove the whole slab and cut into smaller squares.

In Singapore and Malaysia, BBQ dried pork (肉干) is a common gift during Chinese New Year.  Often we have too much and turn stale if not finish quickly.  To keep them fresh, wrap them up in paper and keep them in zip lock bags, and store into your freezer.  When you need them, take out the amount you need to thaw for 30 mins, and heat up slightly in microwave oven or toaster oven. Careful when using toaster oven, heat up the toaster till hot first, spread out the pork slices on a plate, and put into the oven, turn off the heat and let the heat warm it up, so that it will not burn or dry up the pork slices.

Many people may have different feelings about eating shark fin. Well, cooking this soup without the shark fin doesn’t really change the taste a lot except there is no bite on the cartilage.  Hence exclude the shark fins if you like.

Ingredients

1. 1 litre stock (chicken stock)
2. 1 bowl cooked crab meat (or 2 crabs steamed and strip out the meat),
3. 5-10 sticks bamboo fungus (竹笙)
4. 1 bunch of golden mushroom (jin zhen gu, 金针菇)
5. 1 bowl fish maw (pre-soak)
6. pre-soak shark fin (optional)
7. 5 tablespoon sweet potato flour (蕃薯粉)
8. salt
9. optional condiment (black vinegar, light soya sauce, brandy, pepper)
10. optional 1 egg

Method

1. If using shark fin (pre-soak), boil with water for 10 mins.  Remove and soak in cold water until cool, drain and set aside.
2. Soak bamboo fungus till soft, cut away the hard ends, wash and cut into small pieces
3. Soak fish maw till soft, wash and cut into small pieces.
4. Cut away and discard away the bottom roots portion of the golden mushroom, set aside.
5. Bring the stock to boil. Add in fish maw, golden mushroom and bamboo fungus and simmer for 15 mins.
6. Mix sweet potato flour with ½ bowl water until well mix, strain, and pour slowly into the boiling stock, and keep stirring the stock till thickens to the consistency that you like, then stop adding the sweet potato flour (ok to have some left behind and discard)
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Add in crab meat and shark fin, allow to boil for 1 min.
9. If adding egg (this is usually added for making the soup seems to have more ingredients), beat the eggs with some sweet potato flour mixture you prepare earlier, pour into soup slowly and stirring the soup at the same time so that the eggs will cook into fine strips (蛋花) and not lump together
10. Serve with the optional condiments the bowl.