I have no taste for strong Indian curry but I rather like Thai curry for the usage of ingredients and herbs that are familiar to Vietnamese cooking. I have observed this way of making curry before when my Indonesian friends came over to my home and cooked us some traditional Indonesian dishes, one of which was a curry dish. Some herbal and root ingredients are processed into paste – which is the curry paste itself. The way of using coconut milk instead of water to make the slightly thick soup is very authentic and typical to this kind of curry. Coconut milk makes the curry more flavorful though the soup is also fatter, but this is crucial to bring out the genuine taste.

Some prefer the soup to be thick but I’d rather cook it just slightly thick by using thinner coconut milk, which I feel more pleasant to eat. I also use fewer chilies to reduce the spiciness. Besides, I also cook with less oil. It is great to have this curry with hot steamed rice on cold days.

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Wonton soup can be served with or without noodles. I often choose to have wonton soup when I have to eat out, as it is one of the few dishes that are at least more healthy and less oily than the others. I don’t know whether it is the fact in China but most Chinese foods in Singapore are oily, especially the stir-fried dishes. My body would react with those foods so it is safe to eat wonton soup when I happen not to be at home to cook the meal. 

As I make this shrimp wonton with fresh shrimps, I often make use of the shells and heads removed from the shrimps. These shells and heads are good to make the broth, which I would add to the soup and make it more flavorful. That’s why the soup I cook appears lightly orangish.

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Making this noodle requires quite a number of ingredients, however, the cooking method is very simple. It is quick to make this kind of noodle salad and you’ll get a very healthy meal. 

This noodle is refreshing with the juiciness and crunchiness of bell peppers. The flavours of lemon grass, lemon juice and cilantro are strong with the mild sour taste. At first bite, it turned a bit sour for my taste, but the more I ate, the more I liked the taste.

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I got this recipe from one of my baking books. Actually I’ve never had a chance to visit Bangkok and see whether these waffles are in fact very popular as a street food there or not. 

Just because I have been impressed by many other Thai foods, I didn’t hesitate to try making these waffles, or pancakes. These waffles contain typical flavours of Thai cuisine and the ingredients are used widely in many other dishes. According to the book, the dipping sauce is made from pure fish sauce, but when I tried that way, the sauce was too strong, therefore the flavor of the waffles became insignificant. So I decided to lighten the sauce by adding some water and sugar to it. And the dipping sauce became more pleasant to serve with the waffles. 

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There are many other ingredients used in this recipe, however, I never mind cooking this as most ingredients are always available in my pantry and, more importantly, cooking procedure is very simple. Still, we have an impressive dish to serve perfectly with steamed rice, or rice noodles.

I liked this chicken at first bite, but I think I liked the sauce more and wished that I had cooked more rice than usual so as not to waste even a drop of the sauce

I like fresh mushrooms, and king oyster mushroom is one of my best favorites. These mushrooms are not so expensive but they are also not considered cheap as compared with other kinds of fresh mushroom (and with my family’s budget). Sometimes the supermarket offers an acceptable price, I often buy these mushrooms and will cook the most delicious dishes with them. 

This stir-fried mushroom with sesame in particular is very flavorful and fragrant. The texture of the mushrooms is just great with their distinctive flavor. Furthermore, the sesame oil and sesame seeds make them so aromatic, which reminds me of other Korean foods that often use sesame oil and seeds in cooking. Olive oil is advised, however I think other cooking oil is also fine. My favorite soy sauce is Kikkoman, I always have one bottle of this soy sauce brand in my kitchen. At the supermarket, this soy sauce might be more expensive than the other brands, but one bottle can be used for a long time and in lots of dishes. In return, the foods smell and taste better with this soy sauce. In the long time I think it is quite economic. For the spices, herbs and sauce, I am often willing to pay more for better quality. 

Having this mushroom dish made us totally satisfied while thinking about the good health benefits that this mushroom can bring to us. 

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