I love to cook dinner for my family. But I only do it once in a while when I am super free as it is a therapeutic but tiring process. First I have to brainstorm what to cook, create a shopping list, buy the ingredients, prepare them and cook. In between, I have to take some photos. By the time I finish cooking, I was already drained. But still have to take photos. LOLOL. So the pictures you see in this blogpost are not really up to standard ones. I feel I didn’t do justice to the dishes here because they tasted much better than the photos.
Anyway, one free day, Aunty and I decided to cook dinner together so these are what we came up with. Our local TV variety show 《三菜一汤》(3-plus-1) is our favourite show where celebrities will cook three dishes plus a soup, all within an hour’s time and the cost of the food must be within the budget of S$20. Unfortunately we don’t really have a budget because we seldom cook so when we cook, we want to cook a good meal for the family. Hope these recipes inspire you to prepare a meal for the family this weekend! TGIF


- 100g garlic, minced
- 120g blue ginger, cut into slices
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 100g sugar
- 1.5kg pork belly, cut into 1.5 inch thick
- 500g water
- Mix Ingredients A with pork belly and marinate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat wok, add in sugar. Be careful not to burn the sugar.
- When the sugar has melted, add in the marinated pork belly and mix well.
- Add in water to boil. Turn the fire to low and simmer till dry.
- If you don't like pork belly, can replace with other parts.
- You can also replace caramelized sugar with honey.



- 600g Song fish head (or bighead carp), cut into halves
- 3 stalks spring onions, shredded
- 20g butter
- 10 cloves garlic, deep-fried till golden brown
- 80g old ginger, flattened
- 1200ml stock
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp chicken seasonings powder
- 3 tbsp shao-xing wine
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- Scald bighead carp with hot oil.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in claypot, and fry ginger till fragrant. Add in seasoning and fried garlic.
- Add in bighead carp, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add in butter and spring onion sections, sizzle in wine, and serve.



- 400g eggplant, cut into strips
- 4 bird’s eye chilli
- 2 red chilli
- 40g dried shrimps, chopped
- 60g minced garlic
- 2 stalks spring onions, diced
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- Ingredients D (mix together)
- 4 tbsp self-raising flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 150 ml water
- Mix eggplant strips with ingredients D, and deep-fry with hot oil till golden brown. Remove and drain.
- Heat up oil in a wok, and add dried shrimps. Deep-fry briefly, then add minced garlic, and stir-fry over low heat till golden brown. Add in remaining ingredients B and ingredients C, and stir-fry quickly. Serve hot.



- 250g pork ribs
- 1.5 litres water
- 2-3 potatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 stalk celery, cut into small pieces
- 2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 2 slices ginger
- 4 cloves garlic
- some ikan bilis
- some salt
- Blanch pork ribs in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then rinse with cold water, set aside.
- Add water, blanched pork ribs and the rest of the ingredients (except salt) into a soup pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low fire for about 45 mins. Season to taste with salt.