我的试验室 My Lab

Other than the common usage, toilet roll is really good at absorbing funny odour in the kitchen cabinet. 

Sometimes, when you accidentally keep the dishes which are still wet, this will create an odd smell in the cabinet. 

Try to put a toilet roll at the corner of your kitchen cabinet as a smell buster. 

You won't regret doing it.

Our family love silken tofu a lot.  I buy tofu only once a week.  So the tofu has to stay fresh at least for 3 days.  I got this tip from my friend which I think is rather useful.

Procedure:

1. Pour away the water in the tofu container. 
2. Rinse the tofu with clean water.
3. Add 1 tsp salt to a container of water which just enough to cover the tofu.  Stir until salt is dissolved.
4. Submerge the tofu into it.  Make sure tofu is fully covered with the salt water.
5. Keep in the fridge chilled room.

Note: If tofu still smell 'sourish' rather than soy after 3 days, most likely the sarine is not salty enough, add a little bit more salt the next time.

It should work.  The tofu should be able to stay fresh for 3 days.  I know it because I usually consumed mine within 3 days.

My mum cooked me sambal petai last week.  Wah, it was so good......

I also learnt a lesson from there - How to clean belacan

Undeniable, there is always lots of sand in belacan.  So, what my mum does is:

1. Slice the required amount of belacan.
2. Put them in a small bowl, then pour some hot water over them. 
3. Soak it until the belacan has melted.  (Note:  It looks rather ..... )
4. Roughly use your finger to press to break down the bigger piece.
5. Pour slowly into the dish during cooking until you see the 'solid'.
6. Throw away the 'solid'. 

I think it won't be 100% sand free, but can probably avoid 80% of the sandy bit?

Especially when it is charcoal black and rough to touch!!  I found a solution to it.  Try this.

Cleaning steps:

1. Wet that stained area with water.
2. Sprinkle washing soda on the stained area.
3. Pour white vinegar onto the washing soda.  It will bubble + very mild smoke !!
4. When it stop bubbling, the stain can be scrubbed off easily.

Do you know that you can cook porridge without boiling it for 30 minutes (or even longer) continuously?  Especially when you use a small pot, not to mention the overflow..

Here is how....

Procedure:

1. Cook rice with enough water until it boils.  Do not open the lid, turn off the heat.
2. 1 hour later, it will become 'Teo Chew' moi.  If you want it very mushy, heat up the stove again, wait till it boils.  Turn off the heat.
3. Wait for another hour before serving.

Interesting right?

Yes you can!!

Get a fry pan

Add some water

Throw in some bamboo chopsticks



Add fish in steel plate



Close lid and turn on the heat

15 minutes later.....



Dinner time!


I learnt this from Better Home and Garden.

I fried veggie meat patty again yesterday.  I don't know why, whenever finish frying, my pan is full of stubborn oil stain.  Could it be I use too little oil?  

Anyway, I recall Ms Chan's handy tip.

After frying, don't turn off the heat yet, pour a cup of water, try to scrub them out with the turner.  They actually came off!  To make it more thorough, I even put the 'green cloth' inside the pan, use the turner to hold the 'green cloth' and scrub them again.

Wow, perfect!!

Thank you Ms Chan :0

Note:  I think this tips can only be applied for Stainless steel cookware because a caution note for my hard-anodised wok was 'Do not pour cold water onto hot wok!'.

I don't have a magic porridge pot, but I do have a magic rice cooker :-)

Before I proceed further, I have to clarify that I am not the sales representative of this product.  And, I earn nothing for publishing it in my blog.

Now, let me introduce you to my Magic Rice Cooker.

• Save time - You can cook rice/ porridge/red bean soup/ black glutinous rice/ gandum/.... using this cooker.  It takes very short time to cook.  Can you believe that the cooking time for black glutinous rice is only 20min?
• Save gas - With the above fact, you will definitely save gas.
• Have hot food at any time anywhere - It will keep warm for hours.  It is especially useful when you want to have some hot rice for a picnic.

1. Wash rice and add water as usual. 
2. Heat up the inner pot on the stove using high heat until it boils( It takes me about 7 min).
3. Turn down to low heat until the rice is 'dry'(It takes me about 12 min).
4. Keep the inner pot in the magic rice cooker. 
5. It is ready to be served after 1 hr.  If the lid is not open, it can keep warm for about 8 hours if the weather is not so cold.

B.  Cook black glutinous rice porridge using this cooker

Procedure

1. In the morning, wash glutinous rice and red bean and add water as usual.
2. Heat up the inner pot on the stove using high heat until it boils( It takes me about 14 min).
3. Keep the inner pot in the magic rice cooker.  Leave it for >1 hour. 
4. Heat up the inner pot on stove, add sugar and coconut milk, turn off the heat after it start to boil(It takes me about 6 min).
5. Keep the inner pot back to the magic rice cooker.
6. The sweet soft porridge will be ready to be served after 1 hour.

C.  Cook white rice porridge using this cooker
 
Procedure:

1. Wash rice and add water as usual.
2. Heat up the inner pot on the stove using high heat until it boils( It takes me about 12 min).
3. Keep the inner pot in the magic rice cooker.  Leave it for > 1 hour. White rice porridge is ready.

Do you find it very tediuos to ladle the floating chicken/pork fat from the soup?  It just likes to play hide and seek with you, isn't it?  Let me give you some handy tips.

1.  Boil chicken/ pork bones in water for 30 min.
2.  Cool the stock to room temperature.  Remove the bones.  Keep in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Forget about chasing the fat with a ladle in the pot FOREVER!

I am so scared of cold, especially during winter, my toes numb easily. Whenever this happen, I will quickly blow my toes with hair-dryer. The feeling will come back again after a few minutes.
Last Saturday, heard from a friend about 'warm wheat pillow'. That sounds too good to be true. So, last night, I used Zhe's old pillow case and filled it with about 6 cups of white rice grain(that is the only grain I have in hand). While watching 'Master Chef', I sewed up the 'rice pillow'. It is then put to microwave for 3 minutes(will vary according to the power of microwave oven)with a small cup of water(to keep the rice moist). Ting! Warm rice pillow is ready to be cuddled....
I usually put it on top of my feet to keep my toes warm. It can actually stand for about 2 hours(It will stay warm longer if you put it under the quilt to keep the bed warm). It is so comfy....
No more numb toes ;-)