The Man who moved a Mountain.....Literally!!!

Way before the word, "multi-tasking", was in vogue, my late mom was practicing it.

She used bed-side stories for my siblings & I, as a channel to teach us.
Viz: "24 Filial Piety", Chinese myths & legends, heroes ... the list goes on.

My siblings & I loved the heroes from the "Water Margin" & Yue Fei.  However, we loathed Yue Fei's blind loyalty to the king.  Impatient, ill-tempered me, would fumed over his "stupidity" for walking into a trap ...knowing full well that it was set for him!

Another tale which stayed vividly in my mind is "The fool who moved the mountain".  In spite of my "smart Alec" comments that the feat is impossible without machinery.
I admired the "fool" for his perseverance & shared his dream to accomplish his feat.

Today, I stumbled on the article:

The Man who moved a Mountain.....Literally!!!

The page told how a frail, uneducated man, the late Mr. Dasrath Manji, moved a mountain, with a hammer and a chisel ... a set of rudimentary tools!  Not heavy machinery!
What I believed was impossible, is made possible by this humble man.

He made my mom's bedside story came to life!

It humbled me.

My mom's exhortation "If there's a will, there's a way" came to my mind.

Yes, mom, I'll push on in adversity.  Watch over me & bless me with your stoical personality.

Thank you Mr. Dasrath Manji for your inspiration to the world & I.

PS  I dedicate this page to "Little Darling" & all the children of the world.
      Wishing you the courage to stand up in adversity & the perseverance
     to push on till you achieve your dream

Happy Birthday Singapore

Wishing all my Chinese visitors a Happy & Prosperous New Year.

My New Year gift of a Yu Sheng recipe follows..

Enjoy. 

My Yu Sheng recipe 


Around this time of the year, pre-packed Yu Sheng galore are found in various shopping centres & markets.


In each pack, you'll find some green, red & yellow pickled stuff. Their very high sugar content & colourings, meant "chemicals" to me. The purpose of those pickles are to add colours to the dish and to make it "chi chai" (7 colours)

I prefer to employ the natural colours of the different vegetables to fulfill the 7 colours in the dish

Let me share the recipe & method of how I do it.

Ingredients: 150 gm each of the following (A)
Purple cabbage,
Radish,
Carrot,
Green carrots,
Cucumber (please get the Japanese type which is slender, firm & has very little seeds)
Turnip

(B) One Beet-root -- small to medium size
(C) A fistful of corn cereals
(D) A pc of ginger -- thumb size (abt 3 cm)
(E) 4 bulbs of pickled leek
(F) 2 red chilly (optional)
(G) Remove the pulps of 2 slices of pomelo & break them into small pieces

(H) Slice your choice of fish/seafood: (parang, Salmon, abalone...)
       Omit (H) if you want a vegetarian "yusheng"

Sauces & spices:
1 bottle of plum sauce
2 dessert-spoon of Soya sauce
3 table-spoon of oil with fried shallots
3 tea-spoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of fried white sesame
100 gm of grounded, roasted peanut
1/3 small teaspoon of Pepper

A pinch of 5 spice powder
A few shakes of sea salt (optional)

2-3 small lime cut into half
Chopped spring onions & Chinese parsley for garnishing

Method

Slice (A) into long thin strips with a slicer, soak the sliced vegetable in ice water for about10 minutes, squeeze dry & keep in the fridge.

Most slicer can't handle (B), (D), (E) & (F).  So you need to slice manually.  Keep in the fridge, after slicing.

Just before dinner, take (A) out of the fridge.  Lay out the all the sliced radish flat, on a large plate.

Next, place 3/4 of the the sliced carrot on top of it, in a slightly raised circular, mound.  Do not cover all the radish with the carrot.  Leave a circumference of about 3 -4 cm uncovered.


Divide the turnip, cucumber, carrot, beetroot & purple cabbage into 3 portions each.
Imagine that the plate has 3 sections. Distribute one portion of the turnip, cucumber, carrot, beetroot & purple cabbage in that order within one section, covering the radish circumference on the plate.

Repeat that in the other 2 sections on the plate.

Divide the ginger, pickled leek & chilly into 3 portions.
Place the ginger & chilly on top of the turnips & the leek on top of the beetroot.

Sprinkle the grounded peanut, pomelo,fried shallots, roasted sesame, chopped spring onions & parsley  evenly over the arranged vegetables.

At the table:

Squeeze the lime over the fish (not necessary if it is abalone) & watch it "cooked"
Pour the fish onto the vegetable

Scatter the corn cereal on top

Add the sauces & spices according to your personal preference.

Invite everyone to toss the yu sheng together & wish everyone with the various well wishes before you tuck in.

Happy Chinese New Year

Fatt ah!!