White Sauce

White sauce, also known as Béchamel, is used in a variety of dishes and is the base for many sauces. Here are the steps for a basic medium white sauce, with adjustments for other thicknesses.

Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 15 minutes

What You Need:

* Heavy saucepan
* 2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp flour
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 cup milk

Here's How:

1. In a small, heavy saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat.
2. Blend 2 tablespoons of flour into the melted butter.
3. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
4. Cook over low heat, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes. Cooking for this length of time will minimize 'flour' taste.
5. Slowly add 1 cup of milk, stirring constantly.
6. Continue cooking slowly until smooth and thickened.
7. For thin white sauce, follow the instructions above, but use 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour. Thin white sauce is used in cream soups.
8. For thick white sauce, follow the instructions above, but use 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour. Thick white sauce is used in soufflés.
9. For heavy white sauce, follow the instructions above, but use 4 tablespoons of butter and 4 tablespoons of flour. Heavy white sauce is used as a binder for croquettes.

Tips:

1. To make the standard Béchamel, after adding the milk to the medium white sauce recipe add 1 small onion studded with 3 cloves, a bay leaf, and a grating of nutmeg.
2. Light stock, cream, or a combination may be used in place of the milk.
3. Add more flavor by seasoning with celery salt, nutmeg, a teaspoon of lemon juice, onion juice, or sherry, or a few tablespoons of chopped chives or parsley .

Stir-fry mixed vegetables with chicken

Ingredients
1/3 cup(s) teriyaki sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 1/2 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, tenders (about 12 tenders)*
2 tsp canola oil
1 cup(s) bamboo shoots
1 cup(s) canned water chestnuts, sliced
1 1/2 cup(s) carrot(s), sliced
1 1/2 cup(s) Chinese cabbage, shredded
2 cup(s) snow peas

Instructions

1. Place teriyaki sauce, ginger and garlic in a large re-sealable plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag and shake until well combined; marinate at least 20 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a wok (or a large skillet) over high heat until shimmering (very hot). Add vegetables and stir-fry 5 minutes. Remove vegetables from wok, cover to keep warm and set aside.
3. Add chicken and marinade to wok; stir-fry until chicken is no longer pink in center, about 8 minutes.
4. Add vegetables back to wok and stir until well combined; serve hot. Yields about 3 chicken tenders and 1 1/2 cups of vegetables per serving.

Stir-fried brinjal mince meat

Ingredients:
125g minced meat – marinated with light soya sauce, sugar and cornflour
125g mixed vegetable
1 large brinjal (about 360g) – diced and soaked in salt water (to discard the bitter taste)
1 red onion (about 70g) – chopped

Seasonings:
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of pepper
¾ rice bowl of water
1 tsp cornflour (mixed with 1 tbsp water)

Methods:
1. Heat up wok with 1 tbsp oil. Sautee onion.
2. Add in minced meat and stir-fry. (add some water into the marinated minced meat if it is a bit dry)
3. Add in brinjal and seasoning, stir well and simmer for about 5 mins.
4. Add in mixed vegetable. Stir fry with high heat until the sauce is thicken and brinjal is cooked.
5. Add in cornflour solution. Stir well. Dish up and serve.

Scramble egg with anchovies

Ingredients:
~ 1 egg
~ 15ml milk
~ black pepper powder to taste
~ anchovies
~ olive oil

Steps:

1. beat the egg with milk till fluffy
2. heat up pan with olive oil
3. pour the egg mixture onto the pan and whisk slowly with spoon till moist get almost dry and set aside
4. heat up pan with olive oil and fried the anchovies till golden brown
5. sprinkle the black pepper powder and crispy anchovies on top of the scramble egg

Anchovies with soy sauce

Ingredients:
2 handful dried anchovies
1/2 french onion-sliced
1 red chilly-sliced
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
dash of black pepper

Steps:
1. Heat 3 tbsp oil and fry anchovies till crispy. Then add onion and chilly, fry till soft.
2. Season; serve with plain porridge or fried rice

Oyster sauce chicken

Ingredients:
• 1 whole chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into pieces
• 5 tablespoons oyster sauce (oyster flavored sauce)
• 4 tablespoons thick soy sauce or dark soy sauce (or a combination of the two)
• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. In a small bowl, combine the oyster sauce, soy sauces, and sugar.
2. Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and combine with the marinade. Let the chicken stand for 10 - 15 minutes if desired.
3. Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a skillet or preheated wok. Brown the ginger in the oil (this takes about 2 minutes).
4. Turn the heat down to medium. Add the chicken (remove the chicken from the bowl with a slotted spoon, discarding any excess marinade). Cook the chicken on medium heat for 10 minutes, turning over halfway between cooking.
5. Turn the heat down to medium low. Cook the chicken for 6 to 8 more minutes, turning occasionally, until it is cooked through. Serve hot.

Vietnamese Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables

Ingredients:
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1 cup red peppers/capsicums
• 1 cup baby corn
• 1 cup carrots
• 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 Tbsp rice wine
• ½ tsp white ground pepper
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Vegetables

Cut all the vegetables so that they are bite size. Cut the carrots and baby corn so that they are about 1½ inch by ½ inch. Do the same for the broccoli. Cut the red peppers into 1 inch squares.

The trick is to try and ensure that the vegetables are proportionate to each other in size, so that they will all get cooked at roughly the same time.

1. In a pot or wok, bring 10 cups of water to a boil and add 1 tsp of salt.
2. Blanch the carrot, broccoli and baby corn for 30 seconds. Remove and soak these vegetables for 10 seconds in cold water so that they do not get overcooked. Drain the vegetables.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or sauce pan over low heat. Fry the garlic until golden brown.
4. Turn up the heat to high and add the blanched vegetables with the red peppers. Fry for 20 seconds and mix the vegetables well.
5. Add the rice wine, fish sauce, white pepper and salt. Stir well and serve the stir fried mixed vegetables with plain boiled rice and any other Southeast Asian meat or seafood dish.

Fried sauce noodle

1. Dice scallions and garlic.
2. Stir-fry the ground pork until it is slightly brown. Remove the meat from the wok.
3. Stir-fry the green onions and garlic until they are slightly brown. (One could also add shredded tofu or soybeans to this step).
4. Place the meat back into the wok/frying pan.
5. Add the yellow soybean paste, sweet bean sauce, broad bean paste, or hoisin sauce to the mixture with some water and simmer.
6. Serve this meat sauce over noodles. If desired, add condiments like shredded carrots, shredded cucumbers, bean sprouts, scrambled eggs, fresh soybeans/edamame, vinegar and hot sauce.

Mixed vegetables

Sauce options: fish oil / oyster sauce