mum's ginger soy beef and oyster sauce broccoli

i had been craving for mum's cooking lately and having indulged in too many luxuries during the holidays , my pockets are losing their depth liao . furthermore , my housemate and i have also decided to cut the cost of eating out . so i attempted to recreate two of mum's most basic dishes that will ultimately cost only a total of six dollars . split that into two and it's only three dollars a meal . good value leh?

what you need leh ? (for ginger soy beef...serves two hungry growing guys)
500 grams of beef (stir fry cuts are readily available in makets)...i used stroganoff hor.
2.5 inch piece of ginger , peeled and cut into thin strips .
marinade : depending on how much you require , keep the dark soy sauce to oyster sauce ratio one to one . i normally use five full tablespoons of each . add the ginger slices and also white pepper to taste (a little spicy taste will make it taste better hor) .
1 tablespoon of oil (any oil will do lar)

then how liao?
wash the beef to get rid of excess blood and massage your beef . that's just an option hor haha . then let the beef mixed with marinade sit for at least an hour .



after that , it's just as simple as heating the oil and cooking the beef in the wok for a few minutes till the beef is cook lor . so simple hor? if too salty add brown sugar lor . if too sweet , add soy sauce lor . if not nice , don't eat lor haha .



for the oyster sauce broccoli leh?
a bunch that is of a nice size ( i believe mine was about 300 g) , big fat stalk chopped away and the rest split into feasible mouth sizes .
sauce : a cup (250 ml) consisting of 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce , 1 tablespoon of cornflour and the rest is water . my bottle of oyster sauce was finishing...hence , the opportunity to just mix the stuff in the bottle...heh heh :



5 cloves of garlic , chopped . most people like to mince it well , but in this case , because of the time used to cook this , i recommend the garlic to be a little coarse hor .
1 tablespoon of oil .

how to cook leh?
wash the brocolli properly and after splitting it accordingly , leave it aside hor . heat the oil in a pan / wok , and then fry the garlic until fragrant . then ar , throw in the broccoli and cover for awhile to let it cook in it's own water and also seal the garlic flavour into them . i do this so that you don't get the raw broccoli taste later too hor . after a few minutes , the broccoli should be soft without the raw taste liao . then quickly stir fry the broccoli with the prepared sauce . everything should be done within a minute hor . don't leave it too long or the broccoli becomes too soft lor . oh ya...if got money , then add chopped chinese mushrooms too .



that's it . time your rice to be done at the same time and eat everything warm ( i assume everyone know how to cook rice hor ? ) .

Tags: ginger beef broccoli soy sauce budget recipe

Zen Ramen

This recipe's inspired by watching an episode of Japan Hour. It's really simple to do, really cheap to make, although it takes some time to prepare because it's best used with home-made stock. It's Zen because it's so simple - just stock and noodles, and what you use as toppings is really up to your preference.



Zen Ramen
Pork bone - Use one for a litre of water, or two for up to three litres of water. Get your butcher to split the bone open, too, so that all the flavour comes out.
Egg noodles - or use instant noodles if you don't want the hassle.
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
pepper
salt
Pork cutlet
Breadcrumbs
Spring onions, chopped.

1. THE STOCK: Is the most important part to this recipe. None of that msg nonsense, if you want to do this right, you get a big pot of water, throw in the bones, a dash of salt and pepper, and simmer for at least two hours. This picture was taken at two and a half hours, but I only actually cooked the Zen Ramen at 4 hours. The liquid should turn murky white. Top up with water where necessary.



2. After that, it's real easy. Measure out the amount of soup you need and use it to cook your noodles. Meanwhile, add the soy sauce and sesame oil into your empty bowl. Pour everything - noodles and soup - into the bowl and let the flavours infuse.

3. Place your toppings. I fried a breadcrumbed piece of de-boned pork chop and then sliced it a la tonkatsu. Top it all off with a generous handful of chopped spring onions. The spring onions really make a difference.

4. The soup can be kept in the fridge for up to three days. After the first spell in the fridge, you can skimm the solidified fat from the surface of the stock.

5. Other toppings you can consider: egg (crack an egg while the soup is still boiling, turn off the heat and let it slowly cook); fried onions; sliced lettuce, seaweed.


ohmmmmmmm.......

Tags: Japanese pork stock ramen soup budget recipe

still onna budget....

but no longer a student. Hi everyone, I'm Noel and I started this site the beginning of last year (Jan 2005) to blog about my cooking experiences while studying in Melbourne. The premise, of course, is that eating out is indeed very expensive, and that by spending some time in the markets you can pick out stuff that would be both tasty and nutritious that you could make at home, and most importantly - was a lot cheaper than what you could get from you average $8-a-meal outside.

Since then, I've graduated from school and I'm back in Singapore, working. And cooking with a totally new paradigm. To my amazement, it's actually cheaper to eat OUT rather than cook in back home! Needless to say, it's been plenty hard to try and come up with really cool recipes while trying to keep within a budget. These days, I usually rotate between eating out one week and cooking a packed lunch the next (usually using recipes that I find on this site. I eat what I post!). The flip side about eatng out is, a lot of food out there is really unhealthy, and so i'm trying to be a bit more health conscious when preparing my meals - making sure that there's at least a balance of carbs, meat and veges.

So, stay tuned. I hope to upload more recipes in time to come - particularly when i get inspiration to cook something that's not already featured here. If you've got a recipe and you want to share it, send us an email on studentsonnabudget [at] gmail [dot] com.