Hello Kitty Egg Mould

Never thought that I would ever succumbed to Hello Kitty's saccharine sweet claws. BC (i.e. before children), my sis and I used to looked at Hello Kitty with distaste and declared her as "the Cat without a Mouth".

However, the mission to feed / coerce / trick my children into eating more nutritional stuff, had lead to my ever-growing collection of cartoon related kitchen tools to disguise food as cutesy characters. So this was how my HK collection started. I must say that I'm somewhat a convert nowadays. I do honestly think that HK do have a certain cute factor. :p

Here's an attempt to make my older girl to eat hard boiled eggs.Hello Kitty Egg Mould

1. Boil extra large eggs, weighing about 65 grams each.
2. While boiling, try to roll the eggs around so that the egg yolk will settle at the middle of the egg.
3. Let the eggs cool slightly, peel off the shell and squish the egg into the egg mould. In order for the egg mould to work, the eggs have to be as hot as possible.
4. Latch the moulds and let the eggs cool for about 10-15 mins
5. Unlatch and remove eggs.

Unfortunately, HK failed to work her charms. The egg was untouched by her.

Dry Mee Siam

Sedap! This is another recipe from Sunday Times. However, as I read the recipe, I felt that the taste could be improved with the addition of a few more ingredients. So buah keras, lemongrass and assam were added to the recipe. The end result is very good!! My spice loving dad and hubby gave their stamp of approval to this mee siam.

Ingredients

Spice Paste:
20 dried chillies, deseeded, soaked in water till soft then drain
6 fresh red chillies, deseeded
8 cloves garlic
1 rice bowl of shallots (about 15 small ones)
2 stalks lemongrass, cut off lower bulb and outer tough leaves and use only pale yellow part. sliced thinly
4 pieces buah keras (candlenut)

Method: Pound or blend the above until coarse paste forms. May need to add some oil or water if using blender

Garnishing:
6 hard boiled eggs
350 gms fresh prawns
2 pieces firm soya beancurd (tau kuah), cubed
fresh limes
Chinese parsley

Method:
1) Boil prawns with shells intact until cooked. Reserve prawn stock for later use. (Can also steam prawns with shells still intact.)
2) Fry tau kuah till golden brown and set aside. Make sure wok and oil are hot before adding tau kuah

Other ingredients:
3/4 rice bowl of dried shrimps, rinsed, soaked in water till soft, drained and coarsely pounded
6 tbsp fermented soya beans (tau cheo)
2 tbsp assam soaked in 1 cup warm water, squeeze seeds and reserve assam water for later use
400 gm dried rice vermicelli, soaked in water till soft then drained.
350 gm bean sprouts
100 gm Chinese chives, cut into 2 cm strips (optional)
Soya sauce, to taste

Method:
1) To a hot wok, add oil and fry spice paste for about 5 mins or more until fragrant
2) Add dry shrimps and tau cheo and stir fry until incorporated
3) Add bean sprouts and Chinese chives, mix well
4) Add assam water, and appropriate amount of prawn stock
5) Add vermicelli, mix well and stir fry until cooked.
6) Add soya sauce to taste.
7) Top mee siam with prawns, tau kuah, egg and Chinese parsley. Squeeze fresh limes over noodles and toss well before eating.

Serves about 6-8