Useful Link from Quora

I enjoy reading postings on Quora.  I have also been active there by sharing information about bicycles and useful tips about parts and stuff that I sell at my bike shop.  I also enjoy collecting and sharing using tips I discovered at the site.  Some of the information I keep may not be relevant to me but I am sure someone I know will find them useful one day because I have shared or saved them on one of my Pinterest boards.  

This sums up my participation on Quora.

Today, I would like to share the following link to a collection of recipes used by the US Armed Force’s culinary professionals to serve up to 100 people.  You can check out their Index Of Recipes for a quick look to see if any of the recipes there will interest you.

Armed Forces Recipe Service 

I discovered this information from reading this question answered by Martin Bayer.

What is an example of a standard recipe card?

He said that they are all easy to prepare.  As each recipe is for 100 portions, you will have to convert them to cater to the number of people you will be serving.  He recommended trying out the Savory Baked Chicken.

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

When I do not have enough time to cook a meal for the following day, I will consider using a slow cooker to boil a soup or cook a dish the night before.  

I like the way this Teriyaki Chicken dish is cooked in a slow cooker.

These are the ingredients I need:

Baked Eggs with Cheese

I came across this TikTok's Baked Egg recipe reading a newsletter from Martha Stewart.

According to Martha, you need: 

-a baking dish
-12 eggs
-feta cheese or any soft, spreadable cheese, such as, cheddar or Gruyère
-salt, pepper and any other seasonings

After baking it in the oven at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes, mash the cheese and eggs together to create a scramble. You can then sprinkle chopped chives or chili flakes on top of the mixture as garnish.  You can then scoop the mixture out to roll it in a wrap to eat or serve it with your regular toast, bacon, tomatoes and avocado or other seasonal fruits.

Martha shared that the optional ingredients you can add to flavor this dish are:

-mushrooms
-onions
-spinach or peppers. 

You can learn to cook with the above optional ingredients by watching this video I found on YouTube.

Here is another variation I found on YouTube.  The cook added dry tomatoes, onions a handful of fresh herbs as garnish.

Tofu Patties

When I came across this recipe, it reminded me of the tofu patties a classmate from Indonesia taught me.   

These are the ingredients required to cook it.

This is how I cook this dish with marinated minced pork added:

Chopped srping onions or corriander can also be added to the tofu and meat mixture before frying.

About fats and oils

Do you know what the most healthy or the least healthy cooking oils are?  I used to think that vegetable cooking oils are healthy until I saw this cooking oil scorecard by Dr Steve.

I did a search online and came across a video by Dr Steve Ekberg.  I do not know if he is the same doctor mentioned on the scorecard.  This is his list of the worst cooking oils which I have extracted from his video.

I am glad to see that the worst cooking oils listed by him turned out to be the more expensive types of oil sold in Malaysia.

As the doctor said in his video, if you are extracting oil from vegetable, you would think that it should be edible throughout any part of the processes.  However, as hexane is used as a special-use solvent to extract edible oils from seeds and vegetables and also as a cleaning agent, the oil has to be refined before it is edible.  Hexane (C6H14) is a hydrocarbon extracted from crude oil.  I read that it has gasoline-like odor which is why it has to be deodorize so that its flavour will become mild.  Also, the oils may still contain trace amounts of hexane after the process.

He also shared the negative result of refined vegetable oils.

A cooking oil's smoke point refers to the temperature when the oil starts to smoke.  We tend to use high heat when we cook Chinese dishes. So, we should use oils with a high smoke point as they are ideal for frying, sautéing, stir-frying and searing.  So take note of the smoke point of cooking oils recommended by Dr Steve Ekberg because once an oil reaches its smoke point, it is an indication that the fat in the oil is breaking down. 

Overheating oils past their smoking point has been linked to the formation of carcinogens and can also create an off, burnt flavor.  So, if you need to cook a dish with high heat, the smoke point of 250 °C or 482 °F for ghee is a good choice. Palm oil is produced in Malaysia. It is noted on Wikipedia that its smoke point is 235 °C or 455 °F.  However, it has to be noted that it is expelled from the palm kernels via pressing or hexane extraction.

The doctor also suggested that we should not often deep fry our food with oil and to avoid repeatedly heating cooking oil which is often the case in restaurants where they reuse cooking oil over and over again.  I hope that by sharing his clips, you will take the time to watch his video and understand better how he came to his conclusion for all types of fats and oils.  You will also pick up some cooking tips from him.

Stir-fried Okra with Eggs

 I usually stir fry or steam okra with chilli paste.  This is an interesting way to cook it with eggs and onions.

Weird Scrambled Eggs Combination

Most children enjoy eating food with eggs added as ingredients.  I wonder if steamed eggs with okra served topped with meat sauce will encourage children to eat their vegetables.

These are the ingredients required to cook it.