Spinach 苋菜

I made this dish for her funeral ceremony. I was sad I didn’t have the chance to cook this dish for her when she was alive as she was on tube for the last 3 years because she was not able to consume any solid food. However, as Chinese believe in after life, I hope her spirit got to appreciate what I had prepared for her.

In addition to stir frying, spinach is good to serve in soup or even in porridge. Spinach is a great veggie to introduce to children because it has no earthy smell. I used to blend in spinach in Ray’s porridge when he was a baby.  Popeye the sailor man turns into a strong guy after consuming a tin of spinach, you kids will be the same too! J

SPINACH Preparation: If you do not like the chewy fibre spinach stems, you can strip off the fibre from the stems. You will get softer and not so chewy stems. (Refer to photo) Simple Stir fry Cooking method : 1.       Heat up your wok/skillet with cooking oil. 2.       Once oil is hot, place in garlic and sauté (optional, if you do not like garlic then skip this step) 3.       Once garlic browned, add in spinach stems then spinach leaves and stir fry for a few minutes and add in some water and simmer for a while until veggie soft. 4.       Add in seasoning salt to your liking, dish up and serve. Tips: You can opt to add in dried shrimps and chili if you like it spicy. Soup Cooking method – 3 simple steps: 1.       Reheat your chicken/veggie broth in a pot. 2.       Once broth boiled add in spinach and let it boil for a few minutes   3.       Add in seasoning to your liking, salt, garlic oil.  Once the veggie is soft then ready for serving! Tips: You can optionally add in fish balls, or tofu into the soup. 苋菜 制备方法： 苋菜有绿叶与红叶（即赤、紫）之分，营养丰富，堪称佳蔬良药。苋菜的吃法很多，可炒食，可煲汤，也可煲粥。 如果你吃不惯苋菜的纤维，参考图片把老茎摘掉。你就会尝到更柔软和不那么有嚼劲的茎。 简单清炒方法： 锅中留底油，油热放入一些拍过的蒜头，爆香一下，翻炒均匀（如果你不喜欢蒜头可以跳过这一步）倒入洗好的苋菜，大火翻炒后加水，加点盐，少许的糖（加糖可提鲜）调味，以中小火将苋菜再烧5～6分钟，使其汤汁完全渗出，梗茎软而不烂即成。，出水了，就可以上菜了。 提示： 如喜辛辣，你可以选择添加虾米和辣椒。 煲汤的方法 - 3个简单步骤： 锅洗净，加入鲜汤/鸡汤烧沸放入蒜头油、苋菜，煮至菜梗软，烧沸加盐、味精即成。你也可放入豆腐， 或鱼丸。

Tribute to my mom

Mom, even though you had forgotten us in your later years but to us you were our greatest mother and you will continue to stay in our heart and we will miss you forever, rest in peace.

27^th November 2011, 3.30am: Woken up by a heart aching call. My instinct told me bad news. True enough, my sister’s sobbing voice over the phone confirmed my fear.  Our beloved mother had left us for good. I was surprised that I took the news very calmly. I promised my sister we would make our way back to home town once the day broke. After putting down the phone, I was not able to go back to sleep, only then I started to feel the sorrow setting in and started to weep.  Shortly, I received a text from my brother in KL telling us they would hit the road first thing in the morning too.

It had been nearly 5 years since my mother suffered from Alzheimer and in her last 3 years she was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and completely bedridden. Since then we were forced to place her in a nursing home for better care. When we moved to Auckland, I was so worried that I might not be able to see her again. However, I guess she somehow might have tried to hang on until all of her children were around to send her the last journey.

My mother was a supermom to me. Before she retired, she was a primary school teacher. Not only did she play the role of a respectable teacher, she showed great time management skill in balancing her work and family life. She had been a great mother to us 4 siblings, a competent house wife with great money management sense, a loving wife, a good cook and a caring grandmother to 7 grandchildren before she suffered from Alzheimer and lost her memory.

To me my mother was a supermom. Before she retired, she was a primary school teacher. Not only had she played the role of a respectable teacher, she had great time management skill in balancing her teaching and family life. She had been great mother to us 4 siblings, competent house wife with great sense of money management, loving wife, a good cook and caring grandmother to 7 grandchildren before she suffered from Alzheimer and erased us out from her memory.

In this post, I would like to feature one of my mother’s favourite dishes – Stir fried Chinese Spinach. Ever since she suffered from high blood pressure, she liked to eat this vegetable. She believed Spinach is an excellent source of magnesium which could help to lower blood pressure as well as preventing heart disease. There are a few kinds of spinach, some have green leaves and some with red and purplish leaves, both are nutrient-rich.