Week 7, 2015

Feb 9 (Mon)

Spent 3 hours making more than 200 pineapple tarts.  Assigned dogs to handlers for the pack walk on Wednesday at SOSD. Then went to the Polo Club to let Istria out to stretch her legs and eat some grass. After that I was completely pooped so I didn't cook.

My mother in law made a stir-fried rice cake dish. The ingredients she used is not traditionally Shanghainese, but it was still pretty yummy. I'll post a recipe when I make it again with nappa cabbage and pork, the usual ingredients.

Feb 10 (Tue)
Shrimp Curry with Yu Choy and Kabocha

I always use fresh coconut milk whenever possible in Thai curries. I used a mild green curry paste for this. The starch in the kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) thickens up the sauce nicely. It's comfort food for me

Feb 11 (Wed)

I've seen this bottle of fermented red rice sauce (红糟酱）at the supermarket a few times. I went on line to find out what it is, and as far as I know, it's some kind of fermented red rice combination. I found a chicken recipe using it and tried it out. The smell was very pungent when it was cooking, the resulting dish looked a little scary, and I can't make up my mind about whether I like it or not. The taste is hard to describe. I thought it was not very strong, while J thought it was too strong. My in-laws, on the other hand, seemed to like it a lot. It's not something I either really love or hate, so I guess I'll make it a few more times until I use up the bottle of sauce.

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a go:

Fermented Red Rice Chicken and Chinese Veggie

1 whole chicken, chopped
2 T olive oil
1 spring onion
4 slices of ginger
5T fermented red rice
3T water
1.5T light soy sauce
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t salt
34g vermicelli, soaked in hot water until soft, drain

1. Heat olive oil in pan and add chicken, stir fry until meat turns pale.
2. Add spring onion and ginger, stir until fragrant.
3. Add fermented red rice and the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for 8 min.
4. Uncover pan and cook on medium heat until juice thickens, about 2 min. Add vermicelli and cook for 1 more minute.

Feb 12 (Thur)

Turkey Burger with Tomato Jam and Salad

There's no ground turkey in Singapore so I used ground chicken. It's a healthy gourmet burger that's easy to make and delicious.

Feb 13 (Fri)

Friday the 13th, not a good day. I had to ride a different horse today since Istria has to rest for three days after the vet treated her girth gall. I had a choice between two naughty geldings and I randomly chose one. He was misbehaving and testing his limits from the get-go, but nothing too hard to handle. Just when I thought he was going nicely he saw an opportunity to throw a big "spook" and gave a huge buck. I flew over his head and landed with a thud to my head. Luckily nothing hurt and I got back after dusting off myself on and finished the lesson.

See me fly off at the far end of the arena in the first half of the video

I resumed my day, went to the stores, picked up my new car, but by the time I got home in the afternoon I had a huge headache. Spent the whole afternoon in bed trying to sleep it off, and cancelled dinner with friends.

Come dinner time, it was frozen leftovers to the rescue again. This time it was some extra gnocchi and pasta sauce I had frozen a while ago.

Feb 14 (Sat)

Dutch Baby

I made Dutch Baby for breakfast with an old recipe that I've been using for years (the recipe photo on the website is again taken by yours truly). It's super easy and fool proof, even if your oven can't get up to the high temperature called for. You also don't really need a cast iron pan, a glass pie dish works just as well. It does deflate very fast after you take it out of the oven, so make sure your table is set and your coffee is ready when you take this baby out of the oven.

J and I don't usually celebrate Valentine's day, or any other fake Hallmark holidays for that matter. I was going to just cook dinner and eat at home, but when J went for his cooking lesson, my friend L who owns the cooking school invited us to her place. Dinner at L's place is not to be missed, because there is always plenty of amazing food. Since this year V-day is so close to Chinese New Year we combined the two. One CNY tradition in Singapore that I've never heard of before moving here is the "Lo-hei" or "Yu Sheng". It's basically a salad consisting of shredded vegetables and salmon sashimi. Diners are encouraged to toss the salad with chopsticks while saying auspicious things such as 步步高升(better and better)，恭喜发财(prosperity)，年年有余(abundance). L ordered our favourite healthy Yu Sheng from Chef Shi Erh, which is light and crunchy with a very nice dressing that is not too sweet.

the salmon is all hidden under the crackers, which are supposed to be golden nuggets

The tossing part is always fun. The higher you toss, the better new year you'll have, but you also have to make sure they don't all end up on the table. L bought extra long chopsticks for this occasion. I think we did a pretty good job tossing, despite the fact that nobody knew too many auspicious phrases to say while we tossed.

 

We had appetizers made by her chefs and some dumplings made by a friend's helper. My favourite was the seafood skewer on lemongrass sticks made by chef Alfie. The texture is similar to otak, but a much nicer version.

 

 

Main dish was a hot pot, which is always nice when you have a large group. The soup gets tastier and tastier as more things are thrown in the pot.

 

Whenever we eat at L's house there's always always tons of dessert. A made her famous PBJ cake, we had four kinds of pineapple tarts to taste and compare, and L brought home some choux and eclairs made by chef Louis. We were spoiled for choices



Feb 15 (Sun)

 

I had a really good jumping clinic today but it was so tiring because we were under a very hot sun at 10am. Luckily my mother in law made wontons so I could just eat when I got home. Shanghai styled wonton is very different from Cantonese style. The skin is white, with no alkaline agent in it, and it's thicker. We usually put veggie in the filling as well as meat and sometimes shrimp. Most of the wonton wrappers in Singapore are either yellow or are too thin, but I finally found the right kind in a supermarket I rarely go to.

 

The soup for the wonton usually has seaweed, Zha Cai and dried shrimp skin in it, with a drizzle of sesame oil and a dash of white pepper.

 

 



We went to the Botanic Garden for a picnic today. I was supposed to cook these dishes as our V-day dinner, so they're not exactly picnic friendly, but the chicken was already marinated so it had to be cooked.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

If you get tired of Thomas Keller's simple roast chicken recipe I shared on week 1 or just want some variety, this is THE recipe to try. I highly recommend marinating the chicken for one full day, and cook the whole recipe, or even increase the number of chicken if you have more than six people eating. The chicken has a pretty nice intense flavour after cooking so you don't really need the sauce. It is a very nice BBQ sauce however, so you can always save the extra for other uses.

Roasted Potato Okra Salad

This is one of the best roasted veggie recipes I've tried. I always use fresh corn whenever possible and it's much nicer than frozen.

We brought our dogs with us, but I had forgotten how much attention Yuki gets whenever we go out. In the end we had to tie her away from us so people can go and pet her, or take photos without interfering with our eating.

I think I should bring her to SOSD's annual fundraising and set up a petting booth ;o)

Week 6, 2015

So the dressage show on Sunday didn't go too well. Istria has been spooking a lot lately, and it didn't help that during warmup there was a huge truck dragging a roller across the polo stick and ball arena. Even worse is when that monster decided to come towards us. She freaked out and went crazy around the warmup arena. Although I stayed on and stopped her without crashing into anyone, my hairnet flew off in the struggle and it was not pretty. Long story short, she was still nervous going into the competition, and although we had pretty decent 6 and 7 in the beginning of the test, she saw a "baby monster" moving outside the arena half way through the test and refused to go into a corner, resulting in a wrong lead canter, which I couldn't correct. We got two 1s for that part, and it cost us dearly.

It's frustrating in times like this because she is such a pretty horse and when she's good she looks fantastic. She is, however, sensitive, and many things can set her off. Lately she has been spooking on average 2-3 times in a 45-min lesson, and I guess it's only natural that she'd be on high alert during a competition when tensions are high. I suppose I have to look at the bright side. She used to fidget nonstop and unable to halt, but we did two square halts this time. So there is progress...

Feb 2 (Mon)

I picked up my health screening report today and all the numbers are good. I guess this means I'm doing something right with my food, despite pigging out regularly =oP I think the key is to go light once in a while, so today I'm going light with
Toasted Quinoa Pear Salad

It may not look much but this salad is very filling. The flavor is mild but not bland. I like the sweetness of the pear with the goat cheese.

Feb 3 (Tue)

Honey Lime Tequila Shrimp Taco

I ate this on the wrap, and J ate it as a salad without the wrap. Either way it's pretty yummy. I don't put in nearly as much oil in the dressing, and I use home made low fat yogurt instead of sour cream, making this a very healthy and low fat dish.

Spicy Black Bean Soup

This soup is a little spicy, not to the point that you're gasping for air, but it has a kick. So go easy on the chili powder and increase as needed.

Feb 4 (Wed)

I used to make this dish quite often when we lived in Tokyo. The recipe was from a cookbook I borrowed from the library, but I forgot who the author was. If you're not used to the taste of umeboshi (Japanese sour plum) you may find this too sour, but both J and I like it a lot. It's pungent and punchy. I was too lazy to dig out my clay pot, but if I start making this more often I'll definitely make it in the clay pot, because it looks so much more impressive that way.

Baked Onion Chicken Thighs w Umeboshi & Shiso
serves 2-3

6 tbsp extra virgin Olive Oil, divided, plus additional for the baking dish
1 large onion, minced
sea salt
fresh coarsely ground black pepper
10 umeboshi, pitted
20 shiso leaves, chopped, 1 tbsp reserved
splash of sake
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thigh

- Preheat oven to 400F/200C
- Saute onion in 3 tbsp olive oil in heavy skillet over high heat. Salt and pepper liberally, until soft, about 5 min
- Place onion, umeboshi, shiso and 1 tbsp olive oil in blender and blend (add as much sake as needed for blender to work). Reserve 3 tbsp of this mixture.
- In small skillet, heat up the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil over maximum heat and fry the chicken until brown spots begin to appear
- Transfer the chicken and the blended onion mixture to a large bowl and mix
- Spray some olive oil into a baking dish (or clay pot) transfer chicken into it, and bake until golden, about 30 min
- Remove chicken, mix the reserved sauce through it, and return to the oven for another couple of minutes before serving
- Serve on a warm plate or in clay pot, topped off with the chopped shiso.

Here's another dish that I make ALL the time. It's super easy but tastes really good. It goes well with both Japanese or Chinese food. I use the skinny green beans if I can find them.

Green Bean Sesame Salad

250g Green beans                                  

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp soy sauce

3 tbsp white sesame

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce                        

- Wash beans and rub salt onto beans 
- Boil water and cook beans for 2-3 minutes.  Immediately plunge into ice water 
- Cut beans into half or 1/3, depending on length.  Sprinkle 1 tsp soy sauce all over
-  Toast sesame seeds and coarsely grind using mortar and pestle 
- Drain beans and add to a large bowl 
- Add sesame and reaming soy sauce, mix thoroughly

Feb 5 (Thur)

Korean Styled Spicy Marinated Pork Belly

This is one of my favorites. I use very thinly sliced pork belly (paper thin) meant for hot pot, so you get maximum sauce coating. If you don't want too much starch you can just use the lettuce without the brown rice, but I really like the firm texture of the rice.

Smooth Cauliflower Soup

I haven't made this soup in years, but I wanted something warm and soothing to go with the spicy pork, and found this recipe in my files. It tastes really creamy, but there's no cream in the soup at all. By the way, the photo on Allrecipes.com was taken by yours truly when I first started documenting my food with photos. It was taken with a real camera, way before the smart phone era.

This is a short week, since we are flying off to Jaipur for a wedding tomorrow. I'll see if there's any interesting food to report on, but until then, happy cooking! 

Week 4, 2015

Jan 19 (Mon)

 

Mondays are the only non-riding days, so I had lunch with my riding buddies at an Italian restaurant in Duxton Hill.  The food was very very good. Calamaris were crispy but not oily, the semolina bread was warm and fragrant. The brurrata could've been creamier, but my penne with eggplant sauce was excellent. I especially liked the fried eggplant skin threads on top. Also pictured is the shrimp pesto pasta ordered by one of my friends. I was so stuffed I had no space for dessert, which is a very rare thing for me =o(

Since lunch was so heavy and satisfying, dinner was a light Ginger Scented Chicken Soup

I always think of this as THE chicken soup for the soul. The first time I made it, I kept on inhaling the heavenly gingery fragrance that filled the house as the chicken was being cooked. The resulting broth is light but very sophisticated in flavors. You can either drink it as a soup, or add noodles to it to make it a meal. I served it with stir fried green vegetables I bought from the farmer's market on Sunday.

Jan 20 (Tue)

Beer Braised Beef Brisket

I can't believe it when I saw the date of my blog post when I first wrote about this dish. 2007, when we first moved to Singapore! So much has happened since then, but I'm still making this dish, with a few modifications. I've acquired a local voltage slow cooker, so I usually cook it in that now (high for 5 hrs). I've also found frozen beef tendon at a butcher called Mmmm! so I throw in two packets of those, but the tendons need to be cooked in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes before being added to the stew, otherwise it'll take ages to get them tender. Eggs are added in the last 1.5 hours of cooking, and carrots the last hour. I still make beef noodles with the leftover on the next day for lunch.

Tofu Century Egg Salad

Since the beef has a strong flavor, I paired it with a tofu salad. This is another favorite Shanghainese dish and it is super easy to make.

1 pkt (300g) Japanese silken tofu
1-2 century egg (I use Yung Kee's because they always have a soft center)
3-4 tbsp minced Zha Cai
Light soy sauce

Assemble as shown in photo, and drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil (optional) right before serving. Use the best soy sauce you can find, and don't pour on too much, start with 1 tsp per block of tofu 

Jan 21 (Wed)
Cilantro Lime Fish Taco

Had beef noodle for lunch, so dinner is light. This is really easy to make, and I usually don't bother making my own salsa and use store bought ones. Make sure the fish is nicely charred and you have yourself a light and healthy dinner.

Jan 22 (Thur)
Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Miso Dressing

I had a big lunch with another group of riding friends at my old neighborhood Chinese restaurant whose stir-fried kailan with two sausages I often re-create. I discovered they have another dish where they throw in copious amount of duck liver sausage and traditional Chinese sausage - chicken claypot rice. Needless to say, I ate way too much again. So dinner is this light salad. I ate it with home made bread, which I shall write a post about some other time.

Jan 23 (Fri)
Steamed Pork Ribs with Black Bean Sauce

The link above is a video of a Taiwanese TV show where the chef demonstrates how to make this dish. They spoke Taiwanese, but luckily there's subtitle. I've written it down with my estimate of how much each ingredient he used. The toughest challenge for this dish is actually finding the right meat. It's called 肋排 in Chiniese, which translates into ribs, but you only want the parts that have soft cartilage bones. I had to settle for frozen, which affected the texture. I also ran out of light soy sauce and had to use dark, which explains why the meat turned out so dark. Taste-wise it was pretty good, and it is really easy to prepare. 

250g pork ribs

1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp. Black fermented beans (豆豉）
Corn starch
Light soy sauce
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 tsp finely chopped red chili
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Chinese wine
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp corn starch
½ tsp Chicken granule
Sesame oil
1 green onion, chopped

1.      Soak ribs in cold water for 5-10 minutes, rinse

2.      Add about ½ beaten egg, 2 tsp corn starch, 1 tbsp lig soy sauce to the pork and mix. Pour into a shallow dish.

3.      Wash black beans with water for a few seconds, drain.

4.      Combine ginger, chili, garlic, wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken granule and corn starch. Add to the black beans and pour on top of the ribs

5.      Sprinkle with green onion, drizzle with some sesame oil

6.      Steam for 15-20 minutes, until done

Sesame Crusted Tofu with Nuoc Cham

This dish takes a little prep work: weighing down the tofu to squeeze out the water. You also have to buy the right kind of tofu. I found a tofu labeled as for 揚げ出し豆腐 (agendashi tofu) the Japanese batter fried tofu, which is essentially what this is. The sauce makes a ton, so I only make 1/4 and there's still a lot of leftover. It's completely vegetarian, and looks very impressive, good for if you have vegetarian friends coming for dinner. 

Jan 24 (Sat)

My in-laws live in Shanghai but come to stay with us every winter for three to four months. Sometimes they read about certain foods in Singapore so when they're here they want to try. This time they are curious about Roti Prata. When we first moved here, J used to play pick-up basketball every Sunday and across the street is a 24-hr prata joint called... Mr. Prata. He used to buy take-out after his game and we'd have it for Sunday breakfast. He quit the basketball game years ago and I never had a prata since then.

Today I stepped into Mr. Prata for the first time. The prata guy is very efficient and makes it look all so easy. You can see, however, how much oil is used in the prata. I'm so glad we stopped eating this. But once every couple of years is ok.

To counter all that oil, I ate bircher muesli. I realize there are many ways to make this and you can add all kinds of stuff to it, but here's a basic recipe. I usually add some fresh fruits on top or some nuts inside.

The first time I had bircher muesli was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai. It was love at first bite. Their version also had almonds and raisins in it, and just the right balance of acidity and sweetness. I asked for the recipe and they promised to email it to me, but they never did =o( So till this day I'm still searching for that "perfect" recipe.

We went to a friend's house for BBQ and I took the opportunity to make a crepe Suzette millecrepe cake. The crepes took 2 hours to make =o( I think I need another crepe pan...

I was too greedy and made too much filling. Not wanting to waste it, I piled the fillings on, but when there's too much filling between the layers they tend to slide against each other. When I left the cake to chill in the fridge an avalanche effect happened. Luckily I was able to shove everything back in place, but the sides look a little messy. Boy I'm out of practice =o( 

Jan 25 (Sun)

I had a great riding clinic with a visiting trainer this morning. For the first time ever I felt I was communicating with Istria with my mind. I never knew this, but horses actually mirror the riders action. I mean I sort of knew this, in the way that when you're nervous, your horse gets nervous, but I didn't realize they actually do EXACTLY what you do. Anyway, without boring anyone to death, suffice it to say the "high" I got from the clinic was incredible.

Then I came home to scrambled eggs with smoked salmon made by J. I pulled some of the Limpa bread I made last week out of the freezer and had a very satisfying post-ride brunch.

J has been going to his Chef in Training classes for three weeks now, and yesterday he learned duck confit, coq au vin, grilled steak and mashed potato. Eager to practice, he offered to cook steak tonight, along with the duck confit that he brought home.

We had gotten the steaks from a wagyu appreciation class at Palate Sensations two weeks ago and kept them frozen. Last night I took them out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge, and one hour before cooking I took them out of the fridge so they can come to room temp. To speed this up I placed them (vacuum sealed) on the black surface of the induction cooker and placed a heavy metal flat bottomed pot on each of the steak (Le Creuset works well for this). Because metal and black coloured surfaces conduct heat faster, by doing this I'm essentially "drawing" out the coldness in the steak faster, allowing them to equalize in temperature with the environment in a much shorter time.

On the left is Miyazaki and on the right Darling Down. When you have good beef all you need is a generous amount of salt and pepper, and a little bit of olive oil so the beef can shine on its own. I like to serve steak on a bed of salad to cut the greasiness a little bit, especially with wagyu steak.

J also fried up the duck confit that he brought home, and he's planning to make it again soon. Can't wait =oP

Week 2, 2015

Some friends asked where the recipes are =o( They can be found by clicking on the title =oP
Also, if you tried and liked, or didn't like, any of recipes, please let me know in the comments. Thank you!

Jan 5 (Mon)

Grilled Pineapple, Chicken Avocado Salad 

On Mondays I consciously try to eat healthier and lighter, to balance out the inevitable weekend binge, so most of the times I make a hearty salad. This is a repeater packed full of proteins (chicken, avocado, feta), vitamins and antioxidants (pineapple, blueberry, salad greens). I had baby arugula left from the steak salad so used that instead of baby spinach, and cut down the amount of pineapple by half.

Jan 6 (Tue)

Breakfast smoothie: 


I use a variety of fruits, depending on what's in the fridge, but frozen bananas and blueberries are pretty standard. I normally use almond/quinoa or low fat milk and sometimes home made yogurt, but today I used a mixed fruit juice because I think it goes better with pineapple. This was like a slushy because of the frozen blueberries and banana, and gives you 150% of your daily Vit C requirement. Not bad, huh?

100g pineapple
80g frozen blueberries
1/2c purple mixed fruit juice
1/2 frozen banana (peel banana, slice and wrap in cling wrap before freezing)




Dinner at Big Eater Restaurant

A childhood friend was visiting and he loves crabs so we went to our favorite place for salty egg yolk crab. Their crab beehoon and frog dishes are also very nice. Yup, the three of us ate all that...

 Jan 7 (Wed)

I was invited to Joyce's birthday boat party, and she asked me to make the Ferrero Rocher cake.  It's my third time making it, and I finally figured out the right proportions for all the components.

However, with the new size I over-baked the cake a little so it ended up being dry. Also this needs to be taken out of the fridge about 30min to an hour before eating for best results, which we didn't do. But here's a photo of the beautiful sunset we were sailing into on the catamaran called Annette.

Jan 8 (Thur)

After two days of binge eating, it's time to cleanse again, so I made these two light and tasty dishes:

Fish in Crazy Water

I've made this a couple of times with frozen grouper filet. You can also use canned tomato if you don't have fresh, making this a pantry dinner that can be prepared on days you don't want to go to the supermarket. The sauce is yummy either on rice or soaked up with bread.

Asian Cabbage Mango Slaw

Easy to make, tasty, and pretty to look at. Need I say more?

Jan 9 (Fri)

Post-riding two layered smoothie

Bottom layer: 1/2 c each frozen blueberry & raspberry, half a frozen banana and some water to thin it
Top layer: 1 c pineapple, 1/2c home made yogurt, 1 tbsp PB2 to sweeten.

PB2 is, IMHO, the best thing that happened to smoothies and you can get it on iHerb.com It's basically  peanut butter in powder form. I use it as a sweetener for my smoothies in place of honey or maple syrup. 1 tbsp only has 22 calories and less than 1 g of fat but is full of peanut butter flavors. It also comes in a chocolate version, which I just ordered and am waiting for it to be delivered.

Garlic Lemon Shrimp with Root Veg Rice Pilaf

This dish makes a lot, so you may want to cut the rice pilaf portion in half if you don't have a lot of people to feed (or just have it for lunch the next day). The shrimp has a nice smokiness to it. I only have a grill pan but it turns out pretty well so imagine what it'll be like if you used a real grill. The pilaf is mild in flavor but I like the texture contrast of the crunchy jicama (called turnips in Singapore), and it accompanies the shrimp pretty well.

Orange Salad w Avocado & Watercress (need to google translate, or just guess)

This is another favorite of mine. Blood oranges are hard to come by here so I use all naval oranges. The sweetness of the oranges, the peppery taste of the watercress and the tartness of the dressing are all tied together by the creamy avocado and pungent feta cheese. If you don't like watercress I suppose you can substitute with arugula or baby spinach, but I read an article somewhere that says watercress is a far superior salad green in terms of nutritional value. I can't find that article, but here's another one touting its virtues as a powerhouse vegetable. 

Jan 10 (Sat)

Roast Chicken Legs with Lemon and Thyme

Not as crispy skinned as the Thomas Keller roast chicken but this one can be made with all legs and thighs! :0) If you want crispier skin, don't cover the chicken with lemon slices, slide them underneath instead. 

Polenta Crusted Roasted Potato

I declare this as my new favorite roasted potato recipe. The polenta (I used regular corn meal) really gives the potato pieces a nice coat, which stays crispy even as it cools. 
Green Salad

See Week 1 post  

Jan 11 (Sun)

Taking advantage of the cool weather to have brunch al fresco. French toast is one of the easiest and fastest breakfast items to make. I use soft thick sliced bread instead of brioche to cut down the fat a little. I also freeze unused bread and when I want to make French toast, or bread pudding, I put them in the fridge to thaw overnight. Today I used a cranberry bread bought in one of the local bakeries, may have been Bread Talk. For 4 slices of bread I used 3 eggs and half a cup of milk to soak them in. I have two pans going at the same time so it takes shorter time. Use very low heat and just a tiny sliver of butter in a non-stick pan. Slow and easy will give you a nice color and ensure the eggs are cooked. While the toast are cooking there's plenty of time to cut the melon, set the table, and make coffee :0)

I have friends visiting from Shanghai from time to time and being the good friends that they are, they always offer to bring me food. I usually ask for some seasonal vegetable that I can't get in Singapore. This time I asked for spring bamboo, and lucky for me, it has just come into season. Spring bamboo shoots are skinnier and more tender than the winter bamboo shoots, and seems to have less wastage. 
This is what's left after I peeled and chopped off the tough parts on the bottom. I freeze the bottom and use it in other soup stocks.

There is a traditional Shanghainese soup called 腌笃鲜, which literally means "braising the fresh with preserved" It's a slow cooked soup of salted and fresh pork, and one other ingredient: the spring bamboo. You can use winter bamboo but it won't have the same level of umami. When I lived in the US we substituted Virginia ham if there's no salted pork, or you can also use Jin Hua preserved ham but of course nothing is as authentic as Shanghai styled salted pork.

In case you're interested, here's a recipe if you want to make it yourself. It's in Chinese, but it basically entails rubbing a piece of pork belly with lots of salt and ground Sichuan pepper, place it into the fridge and weigh it down with something heavy. Flip it daily for 6 days, then dry it (in the fridge if you live in Singapore). It is then ready to be used. You only need two to three pieces for the soup, and can keep the unused portion in the freezer. 

Another "preserved" ingredient you can add is salted bamboo roots. They're like baby bamboo shoots before they come out of the ground. Too bad I don't have it and didn't feel like going to Chinatown to get it, so had to go without :0( 

Knotted bean curd sheets are also tossed into the soup usually half way through cooking. I make my own knots using bean curd skins. They come in a package like this     

I cut each sheet into four, about 15x6cm, roll it up lengthwise, then tie into a knot. 

For the amount of bamboo shoot I had, I bought 1kg of pork. I asked the butcher which parts are good in soups. He gave me two choices: tenderloin and "muscles." I took half kilo of each, but the muscles turned out much nicer. Next time I'll remember to use only muscles. 

Making the soup is relatively easy:

Cut pork into big chunks and parboil. Chop bamboo shoot into 2" pieces and place into the bottom of a slow cooker. Lay pork and salted pork pieces on top, cover everything in water, throw in some ginger pieces and spring onion, and add a splash of Chinese cooking wine. Cook on high for 4 hours, add bean curd knots and more salt if necessary. Cook for another hour. It looks plain but I promise it's packed full of umami. I had two large bowls :0) 

As a side dish I stir fried some baby kailan with oyster mushrooms and two kinds of Chinese sausages: duck liver and regular Cantonese styled pork sausage with Chinese wine. I always order this at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in my oldneighborhood  . Their version is much much tastier (without the mushroom) but they use about ten times the amount of oil, so most days I'm happy with my "healthier" version. Besides, J says he likes my version better :0P

I buy my duck liver sausages in Hong Kong. Yung Kee , the famous roast goose restaurant, has a good one, but if you don't have time to go, or if you visit HK in the summer (they don't make it in summer) you can also pick some up at the airport from

Wing Wah. 

Here's my version of the dish:

2 pkts of baby Kailan

3 oyster mushrooms, sliced

1-2 duck liver sausage

1 pork sausage 

Ginger slices

- Hear oil and stir fry ginger briefly

- Add sausages and stir until fragrant

- Add mushrooms and stir fry. Sausages will be releasing oil to coat mushroom, continue until mushroom softens slightly

- Add kailan, stir fry and season with salt until wilted. 

The duck liver sausage is really key to this dish and has a very intense Chinese wine flavor. So far I haven't been able to find a good one locally, which is why J has to haul some back for me when he goes to HK next week, hahaha!