Happy Lunar New Year: reunion dinner 2016 (recipes included)

Since I'm 守岁-ing, I shall take this time to blog about our reunion dinner this year. :) 

Catch me on dayre for more behind the scene photo! Haha!

As usual, reunion dinner was at home. ^^ 

I don't remember even having reunion dinner outside before? Haha! 

Anyway we have 9 dishes this year for 5 of us (wish Mr Tan could join us as well.. :/). 

Lou Hei, 八宝饭 and Tang Yuan are complimentary of Din Tai Fung. ^^

While the bro and I each made 3 dishes. :)

Let's start with what my bro has made! :D

 

Chicken soup with homemade meat balls 贡丸鸡汤。

The bro starting boiling the chicken soup in the slow cooker since early morning! Much effort in the making of the meat balls as well. He minced the chicken breast and incorporated mushroom and mixed nuts.

Chicken Roulade.

Technically, this is more like a Xmas dish? Hahaha! You can find the recipe here. :)

Pen Cai 盆菜

My mum has been anticipating this the most. Haha! 

I'm greedier this year, I could hardly cover the claypot! :P 

I've shared the recipe over here. :)

Yam ring 佛钵飘香.

After last year's reunion dinner, I've already started brain-storming on what to cook for this year!:P

No doubt, yam ring has always been a dish that I want to challenge. 

Not to mention how mummy and I are huge fans of yam! :D

I did some modifications to make it 'healthier' as compared to the tze char version though. ^^

Ingredients:

400g yam, cubed
50g wheat starch 澄面粉

3tbsp organic coconut oil

1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 piece of dried rice vermicelli 

Method:

1. Steam the cubed yam on high heat for 30 minutes or until it is soft enough to mash.

2. Once the yam cubes are cooked, mash the yam when hot. Add in the wheat starch, coconut oil, five spice powder and pepper into the mashed yam. Mix well. 

3. Knead the yam mixture until it becomes a smooth dough that does not stick. Cover the dough with cling wrap and allow it to rest in fridge for 60 minutes. 

4. Mould out a ring shape with the yam dough.

5. Heat up a wok with cooking oil, deep fried the rice vermicelli, remove and drain. 

6. Deep fried the yam ring until it is golden brown. Drain and set aside.

Note that my yam ring uses more liquid (coconut oil not lard or shortening), so the dough will be wetter than normal recipe. :) Also I chose to incorporate lesser flour, I prefer to have the real taste of yam! ^^

Sweet & Sour Pork 咕嚕肉.

Ingredients:1 pork tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces1/2 green bell pepper, cut into pieces1/2 red bell pepper, cut into pieces1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into pieces
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

Cooking oil

Lee Kum Kee sweet and sour sauce paste

Marinate:

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp oyster sayce

Frying batter:60g all purpose flour

1/2 egg

1/2 cup water

Method:

1. Cut the pork tenderloin into pieces and marinate with the ingredients for 15-20 minutes.

2. Coat well the marinated pork pieces with the frying batter. 

3. Deep fry the pork pieces until they turn golden brown. Dish out and drain on paper towels.

4. Heat up a wok with cooking oil. Add in the chopped garlic and stir fry until golden brown. Add in the bell peppers followed by the sweet and sour sauce. When the sauce thickens, transfer the fried pork into the wok and coat well with the sauce. 

5. Dish out and arrange on the yam ring. 

Abacus seeds 算盘子.

Since I have some yam dough leftover. :D

You can find the recipe of this over here. :)

Alright, this is all that I have for my reunion dinner, Wishing everyone a great Lunar New Year! ^^

//

On a separate note, Mr Tan and I just collected our keys the day before!! 

Can't wait to kick start the renovation work after CNY. :')

I will update my BTO and renovation journey more frequently on my dayre. So see you there~ ^^

Love,

Lirong.