Grilled Duck Legs

Grilled Duck Legs

Recipe passed down by my mother. It will take quite a long time though - almost two hours. But at least the meat wasn't dried out and the skin was really crispy.

Ingredients:

2 duck legs

Salt
Black pepper

Instructions:

1) Clean and dry the duck legs as much as possible, then use a toothpick to poke holes over the skin.

2) Season with salt and black pepper, then leave it outside in room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

3) Dry the duck legs again with a kitchen towel, then place it into the oven at 160 degrees Celcius for 90 minutes at 'bake' mode. The oven does not need to be pre-heated.

4) Turn the oven temperature up to 200 degrees Celcius, change the settings to 'grill' and leave it for another 15 minutes. You can use the fan setting but remember to monitor it closely or it may get burned.

Steamed Minced Pork with Eggs

Steamed Minced Pork with Eggs (serves 2 to 3)

For this dish, the minced pork is actually the main, not the eggs.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 salted egg
250g of minced pork
2 tsps of sesame oil
1 tsp of light soy sauce

100ml of water
Pepper

Instructions:

1) Mix all the ingredients together. You may need to cut the salted egg yolk into smaller pieces so that it will mix better.

2) Steam it for 8 minutes, and serve.

Parmesan Mushroom Rice

Parmesan Mushroom Rice (serves 2 to 3)

Looks like risotto but it ain't risotto. Taken from Plain Chicken.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp of butter
200g of white mushrooms
2 tsp of minced garlic
1 cup of raw rice
250ml of chicken broth
200ml of milk
0.25 cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp dried parsley

Salt
Black pepper

Instructions:

1) Melt the butter in a skillet, then add the mushrooms and cook for around 4 minutes.

2) Add the garlic and rice (remember to wash it first) and cook for around 2 minutes.

3) Add the chicken broth, milk and a bit of salt. Mix well, then cover and let it simmer for around 20 minutes.

4) Add the parmesan cheese, parsley and black pepper, mix well, and serve.

Salmon Porridge

Salmon porridge (serves 2)

An improvisation from my previous post on plain porridge, this time with salmon.

Ingredients:

120g of rice
Water and/or chicken stock (with a rice-liquid ratio of around 1:7 to 1:8)
Dried scallops (optional)
200g salmon fillet, chopped roughly into cubes

Instructions:

1) Rinse the rice (at most twice).

2) Boil the water/stock, then lower the heat and add the rice in and salmon cubes in. If you want to add dried scallops, add them in now.

3) Once it boils again, lower the heat and let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir it occasionally to prevent any rice from burning at the bottom of the pot and to help break the salmon into smaller pieces.

4) Porridge is ready.

Steamed Chicken Wrapped in Paper

Steamed Chicken Wrapped in Paper

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken legs
1 bunch of spring onion
3 to 4 dried Chinese mushrooms, halved
Lup cheong (optional)
Sesame oil
Light soya sauce
Cooking wine

Instructions:

1) Immerse the Chinese mushrooms in water, preferably overnight.

2) Marinate the chicken with some light soya sauce and sesame oil. If possible, do it a few hours beforehand.

3) Place the spring onions in the centre of a piece of baking paper.

4) Place the chicken legs on top of the spring onion, and the mushrooms and lup cheong around it. Drizzle some cooking wine over everything.

5) Wrap everything in the baking paper (fold lengthwise then breadth-wise), and steam for 30 minutes.

Plain porridge

Plain porridge (serves 2 to 3)

Perhaps the word "plain" isn't really a good adjective - this is so tasty that it can be eaten on its own, especially if you use some chicken stock and dried scallops. For me, I used one small packet of Swanson chicken stock (250ml) and used water for the rest.

Ingredients:

⅔ cup of rice
Water and/or chicken stock (with a rice-liquid ratio of around 1:7 to 1:8)
Dried scallops (optional)

Instructions:

1) Rinse the rice (at most twice).

2) Boil the water/stock, then lower the heat and add the rice in. If you want to add dried scallops, add them in now.

3) Once it boils again, lower the heat and let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir it occasionally to prevent any rice from burning at the bottom of the pot.

4) Porridge is ready.

Steamed Garlic Prawns

Steamed Garlic Prawns

One of the few recipes that I followed most of it. Sourced from meatmen.

Ingredients:

10 large prawns
2 tablespoons of chopped spring onion
4 tablespoons of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of hua diao wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
0.5 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
2 tablespoons of minced garlic

Instructions:

1) For the seasoning sauce, mix the chicken stock, light soy sauce, hua diao wine, sesame oil, salt, minced ginger, minced garlic, and 1 tablespoon of spring onion.

2) Cut away the feelers and legs of the prawns, then devein them. Using a sharp knife will make the deveining process much easier; if not, use a pair of scissors and cut the prawn along its back. Make sure you split enough of the shell and flesh so that the prawn can be spread properly for seasoning.

3) Lay the prawns on a steaming plate, and add the seasoning sauce to the slit along the prawns' back.

4) Steam for 6 to 7 minutes.

5) Garnish remaining spring onion over the prawns, and serve.

Success rates for Servant Enhancements in Fate/Grand Order

So I have been playing the mobile game, Fate/Grand Order, for the past 10 months. I have always been quite curious on the probability rates of their servant enhancements, which can be broken down to the following categories:

• Success - gain the normal experience points
• Super Success - gain 2x the normal experience points
• Great Success - gain 3x the normal experience points

Now that there is a campaign on this, granting double the probability of getting a Super or Great success, I decided to log down the actual observations to estimate the probability. 

After 1,729 observations, which is definitely a sufficiently large sample size, 1,306 were Success, 362 were Super Success, and 61 were Great Success. 

Interestingly, the probability seemed to have stabilised from the 400th to 900th attempt at around 79% (for the Success probability). Subsequently, the trend seemed to be clearly going down (which is good for me as I got more Super and Great Success occurrences).

Based on the observed data, the odds during the campaign are:

• Success - 75.53%
• Super Success - 20.94%
• Great Success - 3.53%

Which also means that during normal times, the odds are around:

• Success - 87.77%
• Super Success - 10.47%
• Great Success - 1.76%

My guess is that the actual probability settings are 88% / 10% / 2%.

Steamed Squid with Garlic and Soy Sauce

Steamed Squid with Garlic and Soy Sauce

Ingredients:

3 whole squids
5 teaspoons of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of butter
1 teaspoon of sugar
6 teaspoons of light soy sauce
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of cooking wine
A handful of spring onions

Instructions:

1) Clean the squids, cut it to rings and place it on a steaming plate.

2) Boil around 1 cup of water, then add the garlic in and a pinch of salt.

3) Let it simmer for 5 minutes, then drain. Mix the butter with the garlic uniformly.

4) Mix the sugar, light soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and cooking wine together. Pour it onto the squid.

5) Top the squid with the garlic-butter mixture, then steam it for 3 minutes.

6) Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Crispy Ikan Bilis

Crispy ikan bilis

When I was young, my mother used to deep fry ikan bilis, and they were wonderfully crunchy and addictive. Now given that I stay in an apartment, there was no way I was willing to deep fry it, so I opted for the next-best option - the microwave.

It turned out to be very easy, just that you need to do it multiple times for bigger quantities. The smell is quite strong too, so make sure your place is well ventilated.

Ingredients:

Ikan bilis
Oil

Instructions:

1) Wash the ikan bilis (I usually wash them for two rounds), then let them dry. The key to getting crispy ikan bilis is to ensure they are as dry as possible. I spread them out on a tray and left them near the window for several hours.

2) Spread out the ikan bilis on a tray or microwave-safe dish. They should be in a thin layer.

3) Drizzle some oil over the ikan bilis.

4) Put the tray into the microwave, cover it and switch it on high power for 2 minutes.

5) Pour the ikan bilis onto a kitchen towel to let it absorb any excess oil.

6) Store in an air-tight container once it has cooled.

Stir-fried Chinese Spinach with Chilli

Stir-fried Chinese Spinach with Chilli

Ingredients:

1 bag of Chinese spinach
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 teaspoons of chilli paste
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Instructions:

1) Preheat the wok and add some oil, then saute the garlic for a while.

2) Add the chilli paste and stir fry it for a short while.

3) Add the spinach and mix it uniformly until the spinach has wilted. It should just take one to two minutes.

4) Add the sesame oil, mix it, then serve.


Because of the particular brand of chilli paste I used, I didn't need to add any salt. If you are using another brand of chilli paste, you may need to add a bit of salt.

Japanese Marinated Beansprouts

Japanese Marinated Beansprouts

I have always loved the marinated beansprouts from ramen restaurants, and can finish off several helpings even before the ramen arrives. While having Ippudo in Osaka, I thought of trying to make it myself as it shouldn't be too difficult.

I searched for recipes online, but had to modify and experiment quite a bit before getting the exact taste I wanted. It also tastes better after you have left it overnight in the fridge, as the beansprouts would have soaked up all the seasoning and flavour.

Ingredients:

300g of beansprouts

1 tablespoon of baked sesame seeds

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

2 teaspoons of light soy sauce

2 teaspoons of Japanese seven spice powder (or chilli powder for more spiciness)

0.5 teaspoon of salt

Black pepper

Instructions:

1) Immerse the beansprouts in water for 10 minutes or so. Clear away as much dirt and sediments as possible, along with the stray roots.

2) Boil a pot of water, then add the beansprouts in. After around 2 to 2.5 minutes, remove the beansprouts and run them under tap water to cool them down quickly.

3) Mix the sesame seeds, sesame oil, light soy sauce, salt, black pepper and Japanese seven spice powder together in a mixing bowl.

4) Drain the beansprouts as much as possible. This is important - if the beansprouts are still wet, the excess water the dilute the seasoning.

5) Add the beansprouts into the mixing bowl and mix well.

6) Leave it in the fridge, preferably overnight.

For the beansprouts, I used the Sakura brand. I tried another brand during one of my experiments and it turned out quite disappointing. Sakura's beansprouts also seemed a lot cleaner than other brands.

Baked Fish with Asparagus

Baked Red Garoupa with Asparagus

The fish can also be substituted with salmon or barramundi. For the asparagus, I used Mexican asparagus - they are thicker and have more bite, but normal asparagus will do as well.

The cooking time for the fish and asparagus are quite similar, which makes this dish even more convenient.

Ingredients:

2 fillets of red garoupa

300g of asparagus, cut into approximately 3-4cm pieces

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Lemon (optional)

Instructions:

1) Season the fish with salt and pepper, then lay them on a baking tray with the asparagus. Try not to overlap any of them.

2) Add a little bit of lemon juice on the fish - the amount is up to your preference.

3) Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the fish and asparagus.

4) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius, then grill it for 12 minutes.

Oven baked squid

Oven baked squid

I prefer the squids to still be whole and intact, so instead of cutting them into rings, I leave its back intact. How you can do this easily is to lay the squid flat on its back, insert a knife into the squid, then cut it using another knife.

This recipe doesn't give the squids a smoky taste. Instead, it relies on the marinate and the juices that come out of the squid during cooking to give a wonderful flavour.

Ingredients:

2 whole squids

1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of cooking wine

White pepper

Instructions:

1) Dry the squids as much as possible, then mix in the light soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine and white pepper. Leave it to marinate for at least an hour. (Three hours would be best.)

2) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius, then grill it for 12 minutes.

Cacio e Pepe

Cacio e Pepe (serves 2)

Cacio e Pepe simply means "cheese and pepper" in Italian. Unsurprisingly, this is a very simple dish that requires very little time to prepare.

This recipe is slightly modified from Delish.

Ingredients:

200g of pasta

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

0.75 cup of parmesan or pecorino cheese, or a combination of both

Freshly grated black pepper
Sea salt

Instructions:

1) Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the pasta packet. Reserve 2/3 cup of pasta water.

2) In a skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and 1 (not 2) tablespoon of butter. Add black pepper liberally and mix everything for around 1 minute.

3) Add 1/3 cup of pasta water. When it starts to simmer, add in the remaining butter and pasta, then mix well.

4) Add the cheese and toss. It will be good to taste it first, as some cheeses may not be salty enough. If the dish tastes a bit bland, add some grated sea salt and continue tossing.

5) Turn off the heat when approximately half the cheese has melted, and serve.

UOB Mighty FX versus YouTrip

I started travelling quite frequently to Hong Kong and China for business last year. Wanting to save on FX fees - or should I say, avoid being ripped off by credit card FX surcharges - I went to apply for two solutions, UOB Mighty FX and YouTrip. 

Over the past few months, I have used both and have become quite familiar with them. Here is a side by side comparison of the two.

Signing up - YouTrip > UOB

My experience with YouTrip was quite smooth. I downloaded the app, signed up with my personal particulars and mobile phone - and the card arrived in slightly more than a week. It was easy activating it as well.

For UOB, the experience was nowhere as pleasant. At their website, I was informed that I had to open a UOB One Account (a multi-currency account) first. I was supposedly promised that it will be an easy process as I could retrieve my personal information using MyInfo. As a new UOB customer, applications submitted before the cut-off time of 9pm were supposed to be opened instantly. 

My application was submitted after the cut-off time. It was supposed to be processed the next working day, but I heard nothing from them for two weeks. Here is a timeline of my application process:

19th Aug (Sun) - application sent

2nd Sep (Sun) - chaser email sent

6th Sep (Thu) - second chaser email sent

10th Sep (Mon) - UOB replied, saying that they are still looking into my application

12th Sep (Wed) - I asked what the standard turnaround time for account opening is, since it has been three weeks versus their promised one working day

20th Sep (Thu) - UOB replied, saying that they are still looking into my application

A few days later, UOB called me and asked me to visit the branch personally. I was quite irked, as I detested wasting time walking and waiting in bank branches. I demanded an explanation on why my account opening took so long, and they said during my application, I left one field blank. I retorted that if this field was so important, their system should have made it mandatory in the first place! And it didn't explain why this caused such a huge delay.

UOB, you liar.

Foreign Exchange rates - YouTrip > UOB

This should obviously be the most important consideration for most people. UOB Mighty initially promoted themselves as having zero FX fees. I scoffed at that and went to do a comparison myself. To my surprise, it was true - using 13th Aug rates, they basically had zero spreads (or perhaps just a couple of pips). That was what got me to sign up in the first place. I was even prepared to discard my YouTrip, given that their FX spreads were around 0.31% (that was during September 2018). 

Subsequently, UOB stopped saying that they had zero FX fees, and sneakily added in spreads. By that time, they should already have gotten quite a large customer base, hoping that most will still continue to use them. Their spreads are now slightly higher than YouTrip's, though the significance isn't too great if you are changing a few hundred dollars worth of foreign currencies.

Other fees - YouTrip > UOB

YouTrip's fee structure is quite simple. 0% transaction fees, no minimum account balance, and a S$5 admin fee for cash withdrawals overseas. A dormancy fee of S$5 per month will be charged per month if the card has not been used for 12 consecutive months. 

Similar to YouTrip, UOB also has 0% transaction fees and a $5 admin fee for overseas cash withdrawals. They have an annual fee of $18; this is waived for the first three years and subsequently waivable if a minimum of 12 Mastercard transactions are performed a year. While the fee is lower compared to YouTrip's dormancy fee (which translates to S$60 a year), it is much harder to satisfy. And from 2019, UOB announced that there will be a minimum balance fee charged on account balances below S$1,000. I am not sure how much the account fee is and whether the S$1,000 includes foreign currencies equivalent - I contacted them a few days but haven't received a response yet (unsurprisingly).

I can't say I like the way UOB does things (adding on FX spreads and implementing minimum account balances only after you have signed up). It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

User interface - YouTrip > UOB

I like YouTrip's user interface (which I suspect is modelled after GrabPay). It is clean, simple, and clear. Transactions are displayed in the app immediately, so you can have a very quick view of what you have just spent on. As it is essentially a debit card, your balances and historical transactions are obviously very important.

This is where UOB lags behind. The UOB app is very slow, and has a rather primitive design and user interface. Also, historical transactions take days to be reflected in the app, something which I do not understand. 

Account size - UOB > YouTrip

UOB Mighty FX, being linked to a bank account, has no limit to how much balance you can have. YouTrip, however, is not a bank and they have limits on how much "deposits" they can take in per customer. Currently, it is the equivalent of S$3,000. 

S$3,000 worth of foreign currencies should be sufficient for most trips, unless you plan to stock up on certain currencies when they look attractive. If not, you can always top up and convert on a need-to-use basis.

Number of currencies - YouTrip > UOB

UOB offers 10 foreign currencies = AUD, CAD, CHF, CNH, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, and USD.

I should highlight something important about CNH transactions for UOB. A few months ago, I made a CNH transaction but was charged in SGD instead (with a hefty 3% FX fee). When I emailed to ask, I was told that CNH is unavailable for point-of-sale transactions, online transactions and overseas ATM cash withdrawals. (Doesn't this seem to cover everything?)

So I asked their customer service staff and was given this reply:

"We wish to share with you that CNH currency is offered only for investment purposes (buy/sell CNH)."

I practically rolled my eyes when I saw this reply. So unless you are some FX speculator or trader, just don't touch their CNH. 

YouTrip offers 9 foreign currencies = AUD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SEK, and USD. If you were to ignore UOB's CNH currency, this will make them equal. 

However, these are only the currencies that YouTrip allows you to convert anytime. They also support 140 other currencies. 

That's a lot of currencies.

I haven't tried any of the 140 before, but I assume that they will be converted at roughly the same margins.

I am not too sure about whether UOB will apply their preferential FX rates for unsupported currencies though. From my experience with their CNH, I strongly suspect that they will apply their normal rates (i.e daylight robbery rates). 

Interest - UOB > YouTrip

UOB actually offers some interest on certain currencies. The rates are published here. 

As of 6th Feb 2019, the interest rates for the following currencies are:

• CNH = 0.20%
• USD = 0.05%
• AUD = 0.05%
• NZD = 0.05%
• CAD = 0.05%
• GBP = 0.05%
• JPY = 0%
• EUR = 0%
• CHF = 0%
• HKD = 0%

YouTrip doesn't offer any interest at all. But the rates offered by UOB are not really that attractive anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference. CNH may be higher but as mentioned in the previous point... there is no point.

Functionality - YouTrip > UOB

The main steps in using either card are 1) topping up your balance in SGD, and then 2) converting it into the foreign currency of your choice. 

YouTrip makes it extremely easy. You can top up your SGD balance via another credit card - once this is saved in the app, topping up can take as little as five seconds. Of course, YouTrip pays dearly for this convenience for customers - they most likely have to absorb the credit card charges for every top-up. My guess is that it is most likely a flat fee plus a percentage, so if people keep topping up small amounts, their transaction costs can balloon.

Because of the ability to top up via another credit card, YouTrip, which is supposed to be a debit card, can function essentially as a credit card. This is assuming you only top-up and convert it when you need to use it. And this is one of the biggest advantages in using YouTrip. Don't expect to get credit card points from the top-up though; YouTrip top-ups should fall under exclusions by most banks.

Converting your SGD (or any other currency) to another foreign currency is also very simple and honestly, dummy-proof. Again, you can probably do it in five seconds.

For UOB, there is a bigger hassle in the whole process, which is hampered further by how slow the app is. If you are using UOB Mighty only for foreign transactions (as I do), then chances are that you wouldn't deposit a lot of money with them. To top up, you will then need to login to your main internet banking account to do a FAST transfer before going back to UOB Mighty to do the conversion. At least the conversion process is also quite simple and straightforward.

Conclusion - get YouTrip

From the points above, it is quite clear that YouTrip is more competitive, more convenient, and more user-friendly compared to UOB. If you do not need to change large amounts of foreign currencies before the trip, YouTrip is definitely my preferred choice.

However, even if you were to use UOB Mighty, you will not be seriously disadvantaged given that their FX rates are only slightly higher than YouTrip. Just make sure that you do not touch their CNH, and do not use them for any foreign currency transactions that fall outside the scope of their supported currencies. Of course, you will need to make sure that you maintain the S$1,000 minimum account balance as well as 12 Mastercard transactions a year.