CNY - Day 1 & 2

Yes, I know this household consumes a lot of food and it never shows on anyone (well except one).. :-)

Day 1 - Mon, 26th Jan

Woke early and cooked this vegetarian 'chye' dish with 10 ingredients; beancurd stick, tofu cubes, wood's ear, bamboo pith, dried mushrooms, shittake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, lily buds, Chinese long cabbage and vermicelli.

Here I am sauteing some garlic, shallots and ginger with some red preserved beancurd, and braising all the ingredients which require a longer cooking time.

In another huge wok, I fried the aromatics, then added Chinese cabbage.

Finally, tip the braised ingredients into the cabbage, and added vermicelli. Don't worry if it looks a bit watery or is slightly salty - the vermicelli will soon absorb the liquid & take on some saltiness.

Next, I fried a vegetarian kueh teow with a lot of choi sum, eggs, baby corn & mushrooms, and a fried yellow egg noodles with fish cake and prawns, mushrooms and vegetables.

This simple meal saw us through the entire day; each of us popping into the kitchen to help ourselves from the woks when hunger pangs strike in between cookies and snacks.

The children had some visitors and here they are setting off fireworks in the back garden.

Day 2 - Tues, 27th Jan

To 'open' the New Year, Wm and I jointly cooked lunch.

On the Menu:

Steamed cornfed chicken, chicken rice & ginger sauce

Another vegetarian dish of 2 types of tofu, lotus root, tofu pok, dried mushrooms, lily bud, water chestnuts, beancurd stick. Braise ingredients and top with panfried tofu, and let them stew together until the tofu absorbs some of the tasty braising liquid. This is quite healthy, all vegs and natural ingredients and contains only a tablespoon of oil. And of course, no msg.

Here is a black pepper stir fried stuffed tofu & prawn stick thingy.

Long Bean Omelette - we also had 2 other types of vegs - spinach with garlic and blanched lettuce leaves.

Table shots - Sauteed prawns with garlic, shallots, ginger, Chinese cooking wine, oyster sauce, light soy and a bit of sugar. The prawns were sea fresh, with a sweet flavour and crunchy texture. Worth the premium price paid for them.

A very home style no frills lunch with enough leftovers to feed the entire household for dinner too. Oh yes, there was also a huge watercress soup.

I will not mention the dreaded D word.