I got a simple but awesome tip from my mom about pan frying defrosted frozen scallops. I thought I will blog about it and share it with all of you out there who are looking for the perfect way to prepare yummy scallops :D Photos kindly taken by my husband.

I tried cooking the scallops before the results were not very pretty — water kept coming out from the huge scallops as I fry it, and it resulted in small (half or smaller of the original size!) and over cooked scallops. I was a bit wary about trying to cook it again to be honest, but I was glad I decided to try again.

Ingredients:

1) Frozen scallops, defrosted the day before in your fridge section. (we bought the above from Costco, making sure it’s the “no water added” type, it has 12-14 pieces)
2) butter (to fry the scallops)
3) garlic slices or shallots
4) oyster sauce (or teriyaki sauce whichever you prefer)
5) Mirin (Japanese rice wine for cooking)
6) salt

Instructions:

1) Open the bag of defrosted scallops and put it in a clean bowl– preferably glass or metal — Plastic container may have small traces of oil which will apparently affect the results of the pre work.

2) With cold running water rinse  off any frozen ice from the scallops and put enough water to just cover the scallops, add a table spoon of salt and gently mix until salt dissolve and set aside, go prepare other stuff– maybe pasta or other dishes/vegetables which you want to accompany this dish.

3)  About 30-45 minutes later (if any longer, maybe put the scallops in the salt water solution in the fridge — but this may affect cooking time) scallops + salt water solution will probably be almost room temperature or just slightly cooler, put a couple paper towel on a clean plate, scoop the scallops out and using more paper towel, dry the scallops as much as possible – moisture will make oil spatter.

4) When the scallops are pat dry, you’re ready to fry them. Heat up a non stick frying pan to high heat, add some butter, when the butter starts to bubble and turn slightly brown, put some garlic slices in (take them out with chopsticks if they start to brown too much later) the main thing with garlic is to give it some fragrance.

5) Start placing the pat dry scallops into the pan, from the largest pieces first — they will take a bit longer to fry than the smaller pieces, depending on how big the scallops are, fry until the top/bottom sides are caramelised, may take 2-3 minutes each side, smaller the scallops less time needed.  Main thing is do not over cook!  Watch it, if a piece looks like both sides are done/caramelized, take it out quickly with a spatula or chopsticks onto a plate.

6) Sometimes you need to cook the scallops in 2 batches, when the 2nd batch looks done, quickly slide the first batch of cooked scallops onto the plate into the pan again, add a dizzle of oyster sauce(or Teriyaki sauce), a splash of mirin quickly stir it once or twice don’t over cook it! I notice sometimes there may still be some moisture coming out from the scallops after serving but usually it is not excessive. Serve hot/warm on a plate. :)

On this plate of scallops, I also prepared some caramelized shallots ahead of time using microwave. (Photo below was taken with my iphone)

Ingredients:

1) Shallots, thinly sliced (2-3 bulbs)
2) cooking oil
3) microwave safe bowl

Instructions:

1) The thinly sliced shallots must be dry, as moisture cause hot oil to splatter. If you wash shallots after peeling, pat dry with paper towel before slicing. Be warned slicing dry shallots may make you cry :P After slicing shallots put in a microwave safe bowl, drizzle with oil enough to almost cover the shallots, mix shallots and oil together a bit with a pair of chopsticks (dry) to make sure the shallots are evenly coated with oil – take note any excess oil can be kept to be used for cooking later.

2) Microwave on high for 2 minutes, check and gently stir with chopsticks, after that, microwave another minute (or less if you are using less shallots!), gently stir with chopsticks again, the oil will be bubbling and the container will be very hot, so be careful! When the oil is bubbling and shallots slightly changed colour, any further microwaving has to be minimum (by seconds rather than minutes). I burnt some shallots accidently before and they are not edible — super bitter!

3) Stirring/mixing the shallot in between the microwaving will ensure a more even cooking. When the shallot starts to turn light golden brown it should be almost ready, the hot oil will continue to cook shallot a bit more when you take it out from the microwave oven. Make sure to handle the container with mittens or pot holder! Good luck :D

Hope you enjoy this little random food segment :P

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I find this particular soup quite easy to make, just need some time to prepare, and a “space pot” – 太空锅 , I mean a “Thermal Magic Cooker”. XD

I documented most of what I did when I prepared the soup this afternoon, must mention tsunamidelta for poking me for it in the first place — I hope this will help you out if/when you do try to make the soup! ^^

Ingredients
- Pork shank one piece (no bones, no skin, kinda look like this http://www.featurepics.com/online/Raw-Pork-Shank-Photo-376261.aspx)
- 1 red carrot
- 1 green radish (how big of a carrot you use depend on how big the pot you have)

(items  below are found in those chinese herbal shops or dry goods shop)
- 3-4 candid dates (sorry I thought these were figs, turns out they were dates too :P)

- about 8-10 dry red dates

- approximately 20 pieces – northern apricot kernels

- approximately 10 pieces – southern apricot kernels (reason why you need only about half amount of this compare to the northern variety as too much of this one can result in trips to the washroom apparently)

Instructions:

1) First, put the pork shank in a bowl, sprinkle salt all over, especially on parts with fat on, set aside on the counter for about half an hour (we use the time to prepare other stuff)

2) Wash and then peel carrot and green radish and cut into approximately half inch thick slices, place them in the pot (for slow cooking)

3) Put Figs, dates, kernels into a bowl large enough to fit, fill with water, mix it around a bit, strain off the water (this is to just remove any dust or whatnot), then add enough water to cover all the items (this 2nd round of water is to be included and is use to soak the items a bit).

Use a small knife to remove the seeds from the dates.

Set aside for them to soak.

4) When half an hour’s up (I use a timer), rinse off the salt from the pork shank by running cold water from the tap, trim off extra fatty bits (if any), the salt will make some of the fat melt off.

Put the pork shank into the pot, and pour the figs/dates/kernels into the pot as well, add enough water to about 1 inch below the rim of the pot, cover and bring to a boil.

As the soup is boiling (do not let it overboil if you can help it!), you’ll see that scum has formed. At this point in time, turn the fire to medium, and then I use a fine wire sieve to carefully scoop out the scum, this will result in a clearer soup at the end ^^ doing this also removes some fat  from the soup at the same time.

When you’re done skimming the scum let the soup boil for about an hour, and put it in the themal container. The soup will continue to cook in the thermal container for about half a day or overnight. (ie. if you prepare it at night, you get a yummy soup the next day ^^) By the time the soup is boiling you’ll smell it lol! (it reminds me of fart ^^;)

Before serving I’ll bring the soup to a boil again, skim off any remaining fat, and serve the soup in bowls for each person. You can taste the soup before hand and add a pinch of salt to taste if you wish. ^^ The pork shank by now is very tender, you can take some of it out, pull it to bite size pieces, and eat with a simple light soy sauce + sesame oil dip with steamed rice. You can eat the carrots too if you like. ^^

If there’s only a couple people having the soup (like me and husband) you can reboil the left over soup with the pork shank (if you haven’t already taken everything out) and put it in the thermal container to continue cooking. After another serving you can just chill the soup for future consumption ^^

I will try to talk about the other pan fried dish you can make with the cooked pork shank next time! :)

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The green tea frappe (shaved ice) is yummy and fragrant, red bean is not too sweet, and mochi chewy everything goes well with the scoop of green tea ice cream will definitely have it again if we go :P

Decided to have something salty to go with the sweet… potato croquette, the taste reminds us of a bento we had when we met up with Danny last summer time flies! ^^;

Takoyaki’s been sitting in their warmer for a bit :P

During a grocery shopping trip at Izamiya, husband’s picks decided on what I was gonna make for dinner ^o^

Mixed kani kama with some japanese mayo

Avocado was perfect ripeness!

Japanese cucumber sliced into sticks

Masago kept in fridge until everything else is ready.

And of course before all these, rice was washed and put in rice cooker. Mixed with some sugar and rice vinegar 10 mins after the rice is done. Then arranged it all on a piece of seaweed on top of the bamboo sushi mat.

I put a bit less rice cos trying to reduce the carb we are taking, so end up it doesn’t wrap all around the ingredients in the center ^^;

On a different evening we decided to try this pasta seasoning XD, there’s 2 people serving of sauce in it, and seaweed bits ^^

Back view

Contents of the above ^^ pasta not included ^^;/

It was a salty and spicy sauce XD we added the masago and kani kama, may have changed the taste a bit I guess ^^; I found it a bit too spicy for my preference, but husband like it so we might get it again the next time we go ^^

Below is before we mix everything up, and before adding seaweed bits ^^; Forgot to take a picture after mixing cos the pasta was cooling down quick ^^;

Husband picked caramel cream for his dessert XD

Mmmmm yum ^^

I already had my dessert when we were out shopping – cheese cake stick from beard papa’s :3

muhuhu

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Today I managed to hand over the items I made for the Doll Show to Mai Little Alien, I probably haven’t had enough sleep for a while and my brain feels like it need a load of defragmentation lol.  Today was a glorious day to hang out tho!

Mai chan always try bring one of our favorite cake places’s cakes over when she visits, so today I get to do it for her this time (YEY) and luckily I picked the green tea cake which she liked!

I took some photos of Mokotan, will post it at the doll blog later on ^^ while doing that I found some cute flowers — Lily of the Valley I think?

Had some friends over last friday nite for a small gathering, a whole day of cleaning/cooking/cleaning for me lol, but we can has cake after dinner :9~~~

Cake serving accident ^^; All of us were LOLing when the cake ended up like this…

Oven has trouble ^^; we tried to fix it by replacing oven sensor… but no workie (Nyou~ron) =_= these 2 things below cost almost double here compared to USA O_o pretty crazy!

Went to the Mall’s post office one of the afternoons few moons back… and caught some Lolis doing some cheer leading routine XD!  Husband said they are cute in the sense that they’re still not very graceful, but they’re trying their best XD

Greasy chinese food :P Had a relative from out of town here :3 that meant a lot of food abuse ;_;

Flied noodles

Flied yam dumplings(?)

Vivi and Mokotan shared their Easter eggs with Psycho Gundam san… lol

Psycho Gundam will crush your…………..

Home made okonomiyaki~! Luckily it turned out okay that day :P This dish I seem to have good and bad days… on bad days it taste bleh lol

Okay I’m bushed, will edit doll pix tomorrow :) I wish Mai chan a safe flight and fun journey with her doll kids!!!

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Insert some non related kitty post because they’re funny :P

Warning, this blog post also contains food images which may make your stomach rumble ^^; you has been warned :P

Hmmm why does the angle of Yoshi’s head look somewhat odd?

Answer :P It’s like they’re challenging the what’s the next new sleeping pose each day ^^;

Princess Ginko :3

This is her favourite spot to watch me cook :3

Princess Ginko is tired….

Nani?

Ginko earlier this evening :P they’re getting big XD

These were from another day XD The tongue was a lucky catch :3

Seriously, how can this be comfortable? ^^;

Some neat finds at Daiso a foam cutter! (Except for the coloured foam pieces and paper with the sketch there) want to test something out ^o^

Some evil food photos ahead… ready?

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Tried Mazazu crepe for the first time, I find that like the sweet variety (because it’s not overly sweet) ^^; and yes that’s a small slice of cheese cake in there :P there’s strawberries and blue berries in this combination :3

Comparing it to my doll which my friend’s helping me hold :3 I’ll post some of the tiny doll meet pix photos on flickr later ^o^

This was a couple weekends ago at least? It turned out better than expected so I felt that it deserves a mention! :P I made ramen from the frozen variety at home, I reserved 2 pieces of porkchop and vegetables I made for dinner a night or 2 ago, added pan friend shallots, corn and hard boiled egg… omg *dead* :P

*Dives in*

I leave U with this gorgeous evening scene we saw on our way home :) Have a nice week/weekend!

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Husband decided to pick up Gunpla (Gundam model) building, which is great :D

What is Gunpla?

ETA: omg I found out that I won first place in the mascot contest! O_O; Am very pleased and thank you punynari san!

It means I get to use his airbrush and tools :P to do doll stuff LOL

This time my project is still blythe doll related ^^ I do not have the confidence to try airbrushing on dollfie dream yet.

We took over the bathroom ^^;

Okay some other random stuff ^^; Blossoms

Loud airplane flying past ^^;

In LOL cat news (I told you it’s random!) Yoshi sleeps on top of Ginko this time ^^;

Couldn’t find the laksa paste I used the last time, so we try a different brand

Notes about this brand: It has a lot more chilli oil ^^; so me and husband were coughing from the spicy as we eat ^^;

What’s in it? Tofu puffs, cucumber slices, hard boiled egg, and pan fried shallot slices :3 Nom nom!!

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3. Work stuff ^^;

I was inspired to try to prepare home made version of Soto Ayam at home thanks to Moonberry :3 Will put the food shots after the cat photos :P

I suspect Ginko is the alpha kitty in the family ^^;

Ginko for some weird reason likes to sleep on top of her brother ^^;

Yoshi doesn’t seem to care… least when he was deep in slumber :P

puni puni…

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn~~~

Princess Ginko :)

Princess and the beanie, Ginko enjoys hanging off the edge ^^;

Wonder if I was just a bit home sick when I felt inspired by moonberry’s post about making Soto ayam, a little while back, it was Laksa lol!  I wasn’t gonna make it from scratch tho! Found this packaged paste during our last grocery shopping :D Product of Singapore even ^^;

Food pix ahead!

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So part of the morning was spent preparing these:

Made 2 servings :) the soup is enough for around 4-5 servings tho, will keep the rest in the fridge after it cools down.

1) tofu puffs cut diagonally
2) chicken breast, pulled into strips after cooking in Soto paste and 1000ml of water
3) hard boiled eggs
4) cucumber strips (I’m not a fan of picking bean sprouts lol)
5) coriander (or otherwise known as Chinese parsley)
6) pan fried shallots – into golden brown, be careful not to burn it ^^;

The above is  set aside, and the noodles was cooked and strained just before serving, and the soup re-heated :3

Arranged the dry stuff in 2 bowls…

Pour the steaming hot soup over… and itadakimasu!

Husband liked it ^o^ So this is a keeper :P will reduce the noodles for next attempt ^^; The shallots smells very fragrant, reminds me of my mom’s cooking ^^;

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Basically these muffin cupcakes (?) was made with this recipe but I put the batter in cupcake liner instead of a cake pan, and baked until the top is slightly browned.

I think it can stay in the oven a smidge longer ^^; It felt like it baked longer than an hour tho! I had to watch it in case they get burnt ^^;

Next time I think I might try to bake these without water bath and see how it goes, will have to remember to put it in the middle of the oven and watch the timing ^^; Suspect it will also end up dryer in texture.

We bought fresh blueberries about a couple weeks (oops) back and I had intended to make some blueberry sauce to accompany cheese cake, only got around to baking this week ^^;

While cooking up the blueberry sauce, the fragrance of the blueberries reminded of the blueberry tarts which I was really fond of when I was little, often sold around Singaporean bakeries :P Nostalgic neh ^^;

Okay time to cook real food for dinner lol laters!

ETA: after putting in fridge for a bit, the texture of the cake changed to what feels like slightly denser, and a smidge dry but still light.

The blueberry sauce complimented it well ^o^ But it feels like need to eat 2 per person to feel satisfied :P

Definitely gonna revisit this!

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