E for egg for #AtoZChallenge: 5 easy ways of enjoying eggs

While living frugally in Malaysia, an egg for our breakfast was a treat for me. Now, most of us can easily buy and enjoy eggs. Sometimes, we enjoy eggs without paying much attention to the eggs: from crispy fried finger food to sweet desserts, cakes, cookies. What are your favorite ways of savoring eggs?

For #AtoZChallenge on 2014 April 05 Sat, I lovingly share 5 simple & easy ways to enjoy an egg or more eggs:
1. sunny side up egg
2. steamed egg
3. soboro egg
4. cheesy egg
5. egg mask

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In this post, egg refers to chicken egg. Egg is an inexpensive source of complete protein as it contains all essential amino acids.

Essential amino acids are termed as essential because human bodies do not synthesize them.

A list of essential amino acids:
♥ phenylalanine (F)
♥ methionine (M)
♥ isoleucine (I)
♥ leucine (L)
♥ lysine (K)
♥ tryptophan (W)
♥ threonine (T)
♥ histidine (H)
♥ valine (V)

To remember, Fat MILK WiTH Vitamins as a mnemonic. 

Besides essential amino acids, babies and children also need the following amino acids:
♥ cysteine (C)
♥ arginine (R)
♥ tyrosine (Y)

To remember, CRY as a mnemonic.

♥ ♥ ♥

SUNNY SIDE UP EGG

Normally, I fry sunny side up egg with a tea spoon of olive oil. Use sesame oil for a more fragrant sunny side up egg.



Some cherry tomatoes and bok choy mixed with tiny amount of sesame oil as happy companions:



Serve with green apple yogurt salad:



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STEAMED EGG



Recipe is here.

♥ ♥ ♥

SOBORO EGG

To make egg soboro そぼろ, also known as iritamago,
mix 2 eggs, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp anchovies in a bowl.
Cook over a frying pan over medium heat.
Use 2 wooden spoons (or 2 pairs of wooden chopsticks) to keep stirring the egg mixture to allow them to form fine granules.





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CHEESY EGG

Melt a slice of cheese while the egg is just scrambled & still hot:



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EGG MASK

I am grateful for the gift of luxurious Kose white mask. Once I finish using it, I am going to use egg white as a DIY face mask to tighten & tone our skins, a happy (bi)weekly beauty routine.



Egg white consists predominantly water (90%) and 10% proteins (albumins, mucoproteins, and globulins).

For a quick face mask, an egg white alone is sufficient.

If you have extra time, you can whisk egg white with any / some of the following ingredients:
♥ 1 tsp fresh lemon juice (masks the egg white odor & lightens skin)
♥ 1 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice (tones skin)
♥ 1 tsp honey (moisturizes skin with antiseptic & antibacterial properties)
♥ 1 tsp plain unsweetened yogurt (enlivens dull skin)
♥ 1 tbsp instant oatmeal, soaked in hot water (absorbs oil from oily skin)

Directions:
1. Relax your face & apply the egg white mask for 10-15 minutes.
2. While on mask, minimize talking, smiling or laughing to prevent wrinkles.
3. When the mask has completely dried on your face, gently scrub it off using warm water.

The egg yolk can be used as an ingredient to make meatballs. 

♥ ♥ ♥

Recipes that I also love:
♥ different degrees of soft-boiled eggs by Marc Matsumoto @ No Recipes. Thank you Marc! You are an awesome private chef, recipe developer & restaurant consultant. 
♥ Chawanmushi / 茶碗蒸し / savory egg custard by ServicefromHeart


With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140405

easy sushi rice balls with balsamic vinegar recipe (ada Bahasa Indonesia juga)

What is sushi rice? It is vinegared rice used to make sushi. We remembered: once we were told, at an Asian restaurant that we managed to find open at a late winter night in Paris, that they were running out of steamed rice. "Would you mind if we use sushi rice instead?" Being hungry, we quickly nodded and accepted the offer. It turned out to be a very delicious meal - a meal to remember.

The choice of vinegar matters. Normally, rice vinegar is used to make sushi rice. Japanese rice vinegar normally contains ~5% acetic acid. For today's sushi rice balls, I used balsamic vinegar of Modena (Leonardi brand) with 6% acidity.



Do you love adventures? Sushi that we love has probably traveled from southern China to Japan - a country symbolized by sushi, in accordance to Marc Matsumoto.

In preparing our meals in simple and easy ways, we can be adventurous too. Perhaps, sushi rice can go with other not-so-common sushi ingredients.

Recently, baby Ren's Godmother introduced us to Nestle Cheerios cereals. Both ouf us love them. Besides eating them as a snack, with oatmeal, how else can we enjoy them?




Soft sushi rice can go well with crunchy cereals. Serve with goldfish made of cherry tomatoes and kids will like them!



Serving: 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes (depends on your rice cooker)

Ingredients:
♥ 1 rice cooker cup (newly harvested, if possible) rice grains
♥ 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
♥ 1 tbsp honey
♥ 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Rinse and gently rub rice grains (using sieve, if possible) to remove dirt. If you have extra time, soak washed rice for 30 minutes before cooking for fluffier texture.
2. Cook rice using rice cooker using rice:water ratio of 1:1.5 (normally, I will use 1:2 ratio for steamed rice).
3. Meanwhile, mix balsamic vinegar, honey, salt in a small bowl.
4. While the cooked rice is hot, add vinegar mixture over the rice (in a wooden container, if possible). Gently toss without destroying delicate grains of rice*.
5. Make into balls. I prefer to use thoroughly washed bare hands. Wet hands can minimize sushi rice get stuck on our hands.
6. Garnish sushi rice balls with cheese, cilantro, cereals, sesame seeds (optional).


* It is okay if you break some grains, so do I. We are learning, and even great sushi chefs practice over 10,000 hours to retain the original shapes of each grain of rice. 


  
Other recipes that I love:
♥ Marc Matsumoto's sushi rice at No Recipes
♥ Namiko Chen's sushi rice at Just One Cookbook
♥ Issendai's how to cook Japanese rice

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.



Brief ingredients and Directions in Bahasa Indonesia:
♥ 1 gelas (ukuran rice cooker) beras baru panen
♥ 1 sdm cuka
♥ 1 sdm madu
♥ 1/4 sdt garam

1. Bilas butiran beras dengan saringan untuk menghilangkan kotoran. Jika anda memiliki waktu ekstra, rendam beras  selama 30 menit sebelum dimasak supaya teksturnya pulen.
2. Masak nasi menggunakan rice cooker dengan perbandingan beras:air 1:1,5 (biasanya, saya akan menggunakan perbandingan 1:2 untuk nasi putih).
3. Sementara itu, campur cuka, madu, garam dalam mangkuk kecil.
4. Ketika nasi masih panas, tambahkan campuran cuka ke dalam nasi (dalam wadah kayu, jika ada). Aduk secara lembut tapi cepat tanpa merusak butiran beras.
5. Buat bola nasi sushi dengan tangan bersih. Basahkan tangan sedikit supaya nasi sushi tidak lengket di telapak tangan.
6. Hias nasi sushi dengan keju, ketumbar, sereal, biji wijen.



With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140222

No-fry udon with vegetable soup recipe by ServicefromHeart

We love udon meals, especially on cold nights. Hot udon soup reminds me on Lunar New Year's steamboat in simplified form. Although udon (うどん) -- thick wheat floor noodle -- originates from Japan, I used Made in Korea udon for this recipe, simply because the brand was on promotion at NTUC Fairprice today.



Udon has soft, slight chewy texture and slight salty taste. In term of diameter, udon is thicker than thick rice noodle (粗米粉) commonly used for laksa in Singapore. Udon is also similar to pici / pinci, which is fat spaghetti originating from Sienna, Tuscany, Italy.

We prefer to have our no-fry udon in dried form to soup-based one, with a bowl of hot soup rich in ingredients as a companion. This preference is because dried seasoned udon is more fragrant and less scalding than the soup-based one, especially for toddlers' relatively sensitive tongues.

Udon soups are often served with delicious crispy tempura or fried tofu, but tonight I am preparing no fried meal. This recipe is a good choice when we or a family member suffers from sore throats, cough (please pray me to recover quickly from cough that has waken me up at nights), or flu.

Servings: 1 adult + 1 child
Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes*

* You can do faster because I took my own sweet time, and wash some utensils in between preparation.

Ingredients:
♥ 1 packet fresh udon noodles (乌冬面)
♥ 1 cup lettuce (生菜)
♥ 1 cup baby spinach (菠菜)
♥ 1 cup green bok choy (小白菜)
♥ 1 tomato (番茄), quartered
♥ 1 egg (鸡蛋)
♥ 3 imitation crab meat sticks (kepiting imitasi), cut into inches long
♥ 1 tbsp anchovies (ikan teri)
♥ 1 tsp sesame oil (麻油)
♥ 1 tbsp honey (madu)
♥ 1 tbsp fresh cilantro / coriander (daun ketumbar), finely chopped
♥ 1 clove garlic (bawang putih), pressed

Directions:
1. Boil water with anchovies to let flavor out.
2. Meanwhile, wash vegetables thoroughly.
3. Add tomatoes, crab sticks, and later vegetables to boiling water.
4. After vegetables are cooked, add egg to soup and quickly stir to obtain soft tofu-like texture for 1 minute.
5. Pour soup into bowls.
6. Boil water to cook udon for 2 minutes or until the noodles are separated.
7. Meanwhile, make seasoning by mixing sesame oil, honey, cilantro and garlic.
8. Drain cooked udon noodles and coat them with seasoning by gently tossing them.

Tips:
♥ Use pre-made soup stock (if any) to replace water for soup.
♥ For variations, substitute anchovies with miso (fermented soy bean paste). Jaden Hair at Steamy Kitchen shared that to dissolve miso, whisk it in a separate bowl with parts of hot soup before adding the mixture back to saucepan. Directly adding undissolved miso to saucepan may cause the miso to turn gritty. However, Marc Matsumoto at No Recipes appears to disagree with this. For me, I simply try whatever methods that work.

Other recipes that I love:
♥ Namiko Chen's kitsune udon with aburaage** at Just One Cookbook
♥ Bon Appétit Test Kitchen's udon noodle soup with vegetables
♥ Katie's veggie miso udon soup at Produce on Parade 

** Aburaage (deep-fried tofu) sweetly reminds me on tau pok (fried tofu) of Singapore, a favorite food of baby Ren's Dad.

For faster-to-prepare recipes, consider our #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140218