I’m feeling a little frustrated recently because I’ve been down with a bad flu for more than a month now. Seen the doctor twice and completed two courses of antibiotics and flu medication and I still didn’t recover from my persistent cough loaded with never-seem-to-go-away mucus and phlegm that was enough to leave me breathless all the time. And it’s absolutely not nice to have a coarse voice too. Even my taste buds or rather my sense of smell and taste has gone on medical leave. All the mung bean soup, chrysanthemum tea, almond figs tea, Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, etc didn’t work for me either so I had no choice but to see a TCM physician yesterday who gave me sachets of medicine powder that I could mix and drink with herbal tea.
Lunch was again ‘sick man’s food’. Kway teow soups, fish soups and porridges were starting to get boring now so I decided to just stir fry bean sprouts and eat with some plain rice congee instead. Anyway, everything tasted the same to me – tasteless. For the husband, I needn’t have to ‘penalise’ him to eat the same so I added some crispy silver fish to his share to make it a little more exciting for him. He actually slurped up the whole plate! Lol.
Stir Fried Bean Sprouts with Crispy Silver Fish Recipe
Ingredients (serves 2-3)
100g dried silver fish (or whitebait)
250g bean sprouts, ends removed
2 stalks spring onion, cut into 1″ sections
1 red chilli, sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
dash of fish sauce
Instructions
1. Wash and rinse the silver fish at least 2-3 times till water runs clear. Drain the silver fish and spread them over several sheets of kitchen towels. Allow to air dry for 2-3 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Transfer the silver fish onto a baking tray in a single layer and bake for 10-12 minutes to dry them out.
3. Remove baking tray from oven and give the silver fish a stir. Bake for another 10-15 minutes till the silver fish are golden brown and crunchy.
4. Leave to cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.
5. Heat a little oil in pan and saute the garlic till fragrant.
6. Add bean sprouts and quick fry at high heat for 1-2 minutes. Season with fish sauce.
7. Add spring onions and chilli, briefly stir fry and then dish up.
8. Sprinkle the crispy silver fish on top and serve.
There is no need for heavy seasoning because the dried silver fish is already quite salty. If you like it a little more full flavoured, you can mix 1 tsp of oyster sauce with 2 tsp of water and add the mixture at the point when you’re quick frying the bean sprouts. Then adjust the amount of fish sauce to your preference.
Dear Geri, I am sorry to hear that you have been feeling sick. I have been told in the past that vitamin c helps alot during times of colds and phlegm. Vitamin c can be feed to the system in the form of eating oranges or drinking orange juice. Even mango juice enriched with vitamin c helps. The vitamin c helps the system to fight back the cold virus. Would you like to give it a try? Also wearing socks and keeping warm helps. I once had very severe bronchitis where I lost my voice for a few days. These were some of the things that really helped me then. Things will get better, dear Geri. Please take care and remember to smile. Vitamin c is a friend during times when colds do not seem to go away. Hope that this is helpful for you, Geri.
Hi Chitra, thanks for the message 🙂 The TCM physician advised me not to consume chicken, eggs, grapes and oranges as they make phlegm worse. I think it’s a Chinese belief that oranges are not suitable when we have coughs as that’s also what my folks used to tell me too. I’ve been avoiding oranges since I fell sick but I do take Redoxon every now and then. Just keeping my fingers crossed now to see if the Chinese powder works for me. I think my cough seems a little bit better today so hopefully I can get rid of it totally soon. Thanks again my friend 🙂 Hope you’re doing good there too!