Wanton etc

For dinner tonight, I made wanton for the first time. Yesterday, I hid behind the pillar at the market to observe how the wanton mee lady did it. She was so skillful and fast, she could make them with her eyes shut.

As you would imagine, it took me quite a while to make 17 pieces. It takes deft hands to crimp the skin into a nice shape, a motorskill I'm not particularly blessed with.

Using my clumsy fingers, I enveloped the filling (minced meat/shrimp/spring onion) in the skin and crimped it tightly into a ball to ensure they don't fall apart while boiling. They turned out quite well actually.

Here they are, ready to be eaten. The chye sim vegetable is from my garden.

I stir-fried some baby pak choi which I bought from the market yesterday.

Today's the last day of the Chinese New Year, so I decided to include some leek (an auspicious vegetable) into some of the dishes. In the dish below, I used the leafy part of the leek to stirfry with bean sprouts and tofu.

Leek is featured again in the dish below. I used the thick stem to braise with leather jacket fish and fresh tomato until it is soft and delicious.

Why is leek auspicious, you may ask? Chinese Leek is called da suan, which sounds like "counting". It is served by the Teochews with other dishes to make a combination symbolising auspicious abundance. So, I hope we'll have lots of money to count this year!