Sweet Corn And Pork Soup (Slow-Cooker)

We're going through a heat wave. Water rationing has started in several places. The haze is also back.

In the news! Haze hits KL, Selangor as heatwave continues to grip Malaysia: As Malaysia continues to be in the grip of the hottest weather it has ever experienced, parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have now been hit by the haze.

Things are looking pretty gloomy down here but as they say, 'life goes on!' ; it's better to stay focused on drinking more water and at the same time do our best not to waste any, than on moping around.

In this household at least, there is always soup to look forward to. It's one way of staying hydrated and to me, it's pick-me-up food. You don't need a whole lot of ingredients to make a delicious pot of clear soup. Sweet corn, red dates and onions is my favourite way of going about it along with either chicken or pork. With a slow-cooker, this is an effortless meal. 

Sweet Corn And Pork Soup (Slow-Cooker)

I add a dash of soy and sliced chilli onto the meat, spoon it up with rice and be like, "Gosh, this is soooo satisfying.."

Sweet Corn and Pork Soup
Ingredients:
- 380g pork ribs
- 1 sweet corn (slice into 4)
- 1 yellow onion (cut into large slices)
- 10 dried red dates (make a small cut in the middle)
- 1.4L water
- 1/8 tsp salt as a start, and then to taste
- Ground white pepper
- Spring onion to garnish (chopped)

How-to:
1) Place all the ingredients into the slow-cooker. Add water. Season with some salt and pepper.
2) Cook on high for 5 hours. Taste (the soup should be sweetish at this point). Season with more salt (optional) to get a savory flavour.
3) Serve garnished with spring onions.

Place all the ingredients into the slow-cooker.
Add water, season and voila!

Sweet Corn And Pork Soup (Slow-Cooker)

 Best eaten on its own or with plain white rice.

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Cream Corn And Minced Pork Soup

Do you remember comfort foods from your childhood? This soup is that for me. It was a popular dish for working mothers in my kampung because it was quick to make and oh-so-easy to get kids to finish their meals off.

Fast forward today, it's something I hardly make as my preferences lean toward clear soups. However, I don't want to lose my roots completely. So, here it is on my blog today.    

Cream Corn And Minced Pork Soup

I add quite a bit of white pepper to make it peppery. This is because I love a little spice in my soup. It's a personal preference.

Cream Corn and Minced Pork Soup
Ingredients:
- ½ can of 425g whole sweet kernel corn
- ½ can of 425g sweet corn cream style
- 100g pork meat (chopped/minced)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 2 eggs
- 2 stalks spring onions (chopped)
- ¼ tsp white pepper (or flavoured pepper)
- A dash of black pepper (optional)
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt to taste
- 3 cups water

How-to:
1) Heat oil in wok. Saute garlic until lightly browned.
2) Add minced pork, along with ½ cup water. Stir furiously (to keep the meat from lumping up).
3) Then, add both the corn and remaining water. Wait for it to come to a boil.
4) Once it's boiling, season with salt and pepper.
5) Stir the eggs in, then switch the fire off.
6) Serve garnished with spring onion.

Best eaten with white rice or on its own, as a starter.

1) Garlic, Corn, Minced Pork, Egg. 2) Cook the pork.
3) Add water and corn. 4) Flavour and add the egg.

Corn Soup Garnished with Spring Onions

Yum-yum Corn Soup

The easy way of doing this soup : Add water into a soup pot, along with the corn. Stir to combine. Then, wait for it to boil. Stir the minced pork in. Once it's cooked, season with salt and white pepper. Finally, stir the egg in. That's it!

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Pan-Fried Shrimp Corn Cakes

Shrimp Corn Cakes and Tomato Ketchup

Bloom wherever you are planted, and right now my feet is firmly rooted to the kitchen. Hence, the inspiration for this little floral design using shrimp cakes, spring onion and tomato ketchup.

I have been diligent in ensuring that my fridge does not get loaded with leftover cooking ingredients. A spotcheck revealed that it was time to clear off the spring onions which was starting to lose it's shade and some leftover corn kernels which had been sitting there for a week.

With it, I made shrimp corn cakes - a very doable and versatile recipe. It makes for a nice tea treat.

And how did I come about this recipe? I went by blind intuition that surely egg and some flour could stick all the ingredients together!

Ingredients:
- 400g small shrimps
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)

- 2 tbsp sweet corn kernels
- 1 tbsp spring onions (chopped)
- 3 tbsp rice flour
- 1 egg
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Oil for frying

How-to:
1) Blend shrimp, onion and garlic into thick paste.

2) Add corn kernels, spring onions, rice flour and egg into the blended shrimp paste mixture.

3) Season with salt and pepper. Stir well.

4) Heat oil in cooking pan. Spoon tablespoon-sized paste onto pan. Fry until cooked and browned - takes just a few minutes.

I got 16 pieces out of this portion.

Best eaten with tomato ketchup.

Note: You can double the quantity of corn and spring onions if you prefer or replace it with other ingredients, like chopped boiled carrots or coriander.  

Rice flour, corn, shrimp and an egg

Add spring onions and mix it all together

Fry it

Tadaa..Shrimp Corn Cakes!

Shrimp Corn Cakes on the inside

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Shepherd's Pie - Cream Corn Style

Shepherd's Pie, also known as Cottage Pie, is probably one of the easiest pies to make. It's basically meat pie with a mashed potato crust on top. No flour based pastry required. Like! I know this isn't Facebook but I had to say it.

I was left with half a can of cream corn when I used half to make soup earlier. And I figured I should clear it off before it stays too long in the fridge. I have this habit of keeping too many things in there - waste not, being the motivation.

But I have been keeping track of my fridge hoarding activities! I contain it by making a conscious effort to include leftover cooking ingredients into the pot even though the recipe does not call for it. I've now come to realise that this is good practice and I don't need a bigger fridge after all.

Ingredients:
- 3 large potatoes (more or less, enough to cover the bowl/s, skinned)
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 3 tbsp milk

- ½ can sweet corn cream style (425g can)
- 1 tbsp whole kernel corn (can)
- 200g minced beef
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 tbsp cooking cream
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- Pinch of salt and pepper

How-to:
Corn Filling
1) Heat cooking oil in pan. Add chopped garlic. Give it a quick stir-fry.
2) Once you can smell the garlicky aroma, pour in sweet cream corn, cooking cream, whole kernel corn and minced beef.
3) Stir until meat is cooked. Don't let it dry out, add water if necessary.
4) Season with salt and pepper and you're done.

Mashed Potato Top
1) Boil potatoes until tender. Then, mash until fine.
2) Stir in butter and milk.

To assemble, pour the filling into a baking dish (not too high - leave some space for the topping). Lay the mash potato on top or pipe it on (I used an icing bag). Bake until lightly browned which took me about 30 minutes at 180c.

Minced meat and corn in cream

Potato piped on - Into the oven it goes!

 

Mmmm..mmm..yum!

Nom nom nom

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