Fishball Soup with Egg and Tofu (Sop Bebola Ikan dengan Telur dan Tofu)

Hello Cooks!  Life has been busy and tiring the past few days.  Suhaym was extremely clingy.  Maybe because he just turned one and is maybe experiencing what is called as "separation anxiety".  He just wants to be carried.  He enjoys it when I cuddle and kiss and tickle him!  His laughter makes everyone else in the house started laughing too. 

Lately, whenever I reach home after work, he would cry if I don't pick him up the moment I enter the door.  His cries sounded as if he was being hurt or abused.  A cry full of sad story.  To avoid that, I have to smile like a clown and head straight towards him the moment he sees me when I am home.  That saves me a lot of crying woes but I would have to work around the house with a weight of about two 5 kilograms of rice bags on the side of my hip.  When I put him to sleep at night, I can't go anywhere.  I can't move away from him.  Not even an inch.  If I do, he would start screaming so I would have to wait until he is fully asleep whilst humming the tunes of his favourite lullabies.  It is a plus that he goes to sleep at 8 pm though. 

Then of course, my darling Sayf will appear like magic into the picture prolonging my delightful night! I have to play throwing planes, hide and seek and everything else that would not make me create a hole, ok, maybe a crack, on the ceiling of my neighbour's flat who is staying just below my unit ;p.  I really wonder why I haven't lose much weight though.  Hmmm...maybe it was because I ate twice as much when I am tired and stressed. Knowing me!  This reminds me of a particular quote that I love, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien.   I would add at the end though, "and a heavier one".  Ok, Mr Tolkien is gonna slap me!
 

Well, all I know is that it is not easy being a working mother.  You have a set of other responsibilities and duties that awaits you once you arrive from work.  Though we do it out of our loving hearts as a woman, a wife and a mother, there is certainly no doubt that it does take away a whole lot of energy.  At the end of the day, you are so tired, you just want to be embracing your "ME" time that you'd rather be gulping food, sitting on the sofa and watching tv or sleep right after rather than spending your time exercising.  See, I got an excuse to be fat!  HAHA! I know it is bad but I am sure the rest of the mothers out there would have been there and done that.  Your hectic day only ends after everyone else in your family is asleep.  Thank God for my kitchen-ing assistant, I don't have to be the first one to wake up in the morning.

So back to the sole purpose of this post, here is a very easy recipe of my mum which is great when you just want something non-spicy, chop-chop, simple yet very nice to make your meal complete.

Ingredients:

20 pieces of fishballs
2 packs of silken tofu - cut into smaller pieces as you prefer

6 eggs - optional (depending on my mood, sometimes I don't add in eggs)

3 litres of water

2 large onions - finely sliced

6 garlics - finely sliced or chopped

2 red chillies - finely sliced

1 piece of Knorr ikan bilis (anchovies) cube

1 teaspoon of sugar or Ajinamoto, if you prefer

white pepper powder to taste

salt to taste

a small bunch of spring onions - finely sliced

a small bunch of celery leaves with stems - finely sliced

a handful of fried shallots

Method:

1.  Heat oil in a pot.  Once heated, add in the sliced onions and garlics.  Saute for a minute.

2.  Add in the sliced red chillies and sauté for a few seconds.

3.  Add in the ikan bilis (anchovies) cube and sauté whilst pressing on it to dissolve.  Saute for about a minute.

4.  Add in water.  Add in sugar or Ajinamoto, if you prefer and salt to taste. Stir and leave be.

5.  Once the water is heating up, if you are adding eggs, break them in now and leave be.

6.  Bring to boil and let boil for a minute or two until the yolks are cooked.

7.  Add in the fishballs and let boil for another two to three minutes.

8.  After boiling for two to three minutes, bring fire to medium.

9.  Add in the silken tofu.  Let simmer for about a minute or two.

10.  Do a taste check and season accordingly.  Off fire.  Sprinkle as much ground pepper as you prefer.

11.  Sprinkle the finely sliced spring onions, celery and fried shallots on the top.  Stir them in and serve.

Enjoy it with white rice, bee hoon (vermicelli) or as it is.  Happy Kitchen-ing!!