Fresh cabbage kimchi

Ingredients for 10+ servings

(Prep time:1 hour 10 mins incl. soaking time, Cooking time: Less than 5 mins)

Main ingredients

• 820g Napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage) – About ½ of medium to large size cabbage
• 240g White radish (Daikon radish) – About ⅓ of large size radish
• 50g Brown onion – About ½ medium sized onion
• 40g Spring onion
• 2/3 cup Rock salt
• 1 cup Water

For sauce (mix these in a small bowl)

• ¼ cup Korean chilli powder (Gochugaru)
• 1 Tbsp Minced garlic
• ½ tsp Minced ginger
• ½ Tbsp Soy sauce
• ½ Tbsp Fish sauce – (I used Korean salted shrimp sauce/ you could also use Korean anchovy sauceinstead)
• 1½ Tbsp Sugar (I used raw sugar)
• 1 Tbsp Sesame seeds

Steps

1. Prepare the main ingredients.

• Rinse the outer layer of the Napa cabbage in running water. Cut the stem off. Tear the leaves into long shapes (using hands and/or knife). Alternatively you could cut the leaves into 4-5 vertical sections.
• Rinse the radish, peel the skin and thinly slice it (Julienned).
• Peel the onion skin, rinse then thinly slice it.
• Rinse the spring onion and cut each stalk into 3-5 sections.

2. Put the torn/cut Napa cabbage in a big bowl. Add the salt and the water into the bowl and mix well with the cabbage. Put something heavy on top of the cabbage to assist saltiness getting into the cabbage. (Osmosis process) – I used a big sauce pan and water to put pressure on the cabbage. Leave the cabbage like this for about 1 hour. During this time, mix the cabbage every 20 mins so that salt water gets into the leaves evenly.

3. After 1 hour, drain the water off. Rinse the cabbage in running water several times and shake off the salt (if any). Tightly squeeze the cabbage to remove the water.

4. Put the cabbage and other prepared vegetables into a big clean bowl. Add the sauce and mix them well together.

5. Serve it on a plate & enjoy!

Words from a great man

他曾说：“人活着一定要运动，我每天用餐之后都做运动。即使是现在（晚年），我还是在饭后做12分钟的跑步机运动，每天做三次。不过，到了90岁，我的消化力没有以前那么强，所以我吃的是容易消化的食物。我吃比较清淡的，好像粥啦。现在红肉我不吃了，白肉就可以吃。我也吃鱼，好像鳕鱼啦。我一路来喜欢甜食，还是吃的，但是不会太多，吃少一点。当然，到了90岁，我没有从前那么充沛的精力，所以我要调整，适可而止。我每天照常上班，照旧做我应该做的事情，也有很多文件要看。一个人在退休之后，不能把自己关在屋子里。这样下去，就会走向灭亡。我们对生活要有热忱，好像明天要做什么啦，要见谁啦。我们对明天要有期待，这样生命力才能保持下去。”

李光耀说：“我听耳鼻喉科医生说，如果你喝冷水，就会降低鼻腔和喉咙的温度，使你对咳嗽和感冒的抵抗力下降。所以我喝温开水，为了不让沸腾的热开水烫伤自己，我避免喝热开水。”

他说：“人生就是要不断根据身体状况来作出调整，尽量把剩余的生命过得充实。如果你不断顾影自怜，抱怨为什么不能回到过去，那你就是在给自己制造痛苦。”

“我的忠告是如果你想在婚后改变他，那就不要与这个人结婚。你必须准备接受他的一切，对两人的任何分歧采取包容和迁就的态度。如果你幸运的话，你会找到一个和你想法相同的人。”

Mr Lee and his wife. They were a loving couple.

When they were young.

Their favorite spot in Cambridge university.

They were in Italy. 

They were always together as a couple.

They celebrated Mr Lee 80th birthday together.

They shared sad moments together.

They shared happy moments together.

Mr Lee loving farewell kiss for his wife. This photo speaks a thousand words.

The moving of Mr Lee to Parliament House was a sad moment. It was telecast live on TV on 25 March 2015 at 9am. 

Ginseng Herbal Chicken Soup

Ingredients
Serves 3-4

1/2 chicken*, chopped to small pieces and skin removed
40g American Ginseng “Beards” 洋参须**
1.6 litres of water
25g Huai Shan 淮山
10 red dates
1/2 tbsp wolfberries
a pinch of salt* (optional)

* You can also substitute with 1 small black chicken or 250g lean pork, sliced thickly. Skip the blanching part (step 1 below) if using lean pork. I personally prefer using chicken.
** If you are ‘scared’ of the ‘bitter’ taste of ginseng, reduce to 30g. Similarly, if you want a richer ginseng taste, you can increase the amount to 50g.

Directions

1. Blanch chicken pieces in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Place the blanched chicken and the rest of the ingredients (except wolfberries) into a pot with the water. Bring to a boil, continue boiling over high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to a lower flame and simmer for at least another 40 minutes (and longer if you can). Add wolfberries at the last 15 minutes of cooking. You can also slow cook, or use a thermal pot (or whatever you have) to prolong the cooking (at a gentle pace) to bring out the tastes. Add salt to taste.

Kimchi Stew

Kimchi JjiGae (Kimchi Stew) 
Serves 2-3 
Ingredients:

• ½  Lb. Pork Belly, (OR READ the notes)
• 1 Tbsp. Garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 Onion, chopped
• 2 Cups Fermented Kimchi, chopped
• 1.5-2 Cups Stock/chicken, beef etc. 
• ½ Cup Kimchi juice 
• ½ tsp. Sugar 
• 1 Tablespoon Red Hot Pepper Paste (gochujang) or to your taste
• ½ teaspoon Hot Pepper Powder (gochugaru)
• ¼ teaspoon Ginger, finely minced (or powder) 
• ½ Cup Green Onions + 2 chopped for garnish
• ½ Pack Tofu, cubed
• Salt to taste
• Drizzle of Sesame Oil

Directions:

1. Cut the bacon into bite size or 1 inch size. Discard the skin if any. 
2. Preheat deeper saute-pan on medium high and drop the bacon in. After a few minutes, drop in garlic and onion. Stir and let it cook for a few minutes.
3. Chop fermented cabbage (kimchi) into bite size pieces, and drop in the saute-pan. Stir fry it for 2 to 3 minutes on medium high. 
4. Pour in broth and fermented cabbage (kimchi) juice, stir. 
5. Add red hot pepper paste, red hot pepper powder, ginger and scallions; Stir again and cook on high temperature until boiling point, then turn down the heat and let it simmer, covered for 15 minutes. 
6. Add in the stew cubed tofu, salt to taste if necessary and drizzle of sesame oil. 
7. Garnish the stew with more chopped scallions, chilies and crunchy bacon bits.

Serve it hot and with rice and other banchan{side dishes} 
Enjoy! 

NOTE*

• I am sure some of you don't eat pork. You can use instead: chicken, beef(ground also good), tuna or keep it meatless and use mushrooms as a sub. Most authentic recipe I would say uses pork belly, but you are more than welcome to use whatever is your personal preference. I like adding the pork, and smoked sausages (meat) with pork belly or smoked bacon. It adds so much more flavor. 
• As for Tofu, you can use soft or firm, it's up to your likes, you will not go wrong either way, but it is optional.   
• Also, you can add gochujang (hot pepper paste) and/or gochugaru (hot pepper powder/flakes) half the measurement that I added in the recipe if you cannot handle or tolerate spicy food. OR simply add a little bit at the time until you reach what you like.