Mini Glutinous Rice Dumplings

This is my last post for the year 2012.  Wishing all the bloggers, my friends and followers a very Happy New Year 2013!!!

Today I am making a savoury kuih dumpling which is  different  from my earlier post -colourful kuih dumpling which I used red bean paste for the filling. This time I give it a change, I used pork, chai po , mushroom, dried shrimps for the filling .The dough is springy (Q texture) and the fillings is perfect for the taste. 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

A) 300 g  glutinous rice flour

     1 tablespoon   plain flour

     1 tablespoon   fine sugar

     2 tablespoon   corn oil or sun flower seed oil

     160 cc  or more boiling water

B) 20 pcs  bamboo leaves (soak, clean and pat dry)

     20 ps x 35 cm length cotton strings

Filling: 

2  shallots (diced)

250 g pork belly, cut into thin strips or mince

1 tablespoon diced cai po (菜脯碎）-Preserved Radish

1 tablespoon dried shrimps, soak, drain and dice

2 Chinese mushrooms, soak, clean and  diced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon light soya sauce

dash of  pepper.

Method:

1)  Place ingredients  A) into a big mixing bowl. If the dough is too dry add more water if too wet add little more plain flour. Knead till forms a smooth dough. Scale the dough into 20 g each and shape into balls..

2)  Heat some oil in the wok, fry the filling ingredients till fragrant and the pork is cooked.. Dish up and divide into 20 equal portions (about 11 g to 12 g).

3)  Flatten the round dough, wrap in filling and seal up properly. Lightly oil your palms and  into balls. Fold 1 piece of bamboo leaf into a cone, place the greased ball inside. Wrap and tighten with string. Repeat the same to the rest.

4) Steam over high hear for 10 minutes, turn to moderate heat and  continue to steam for 10 minutes.

 TIPS:  TO PREVENT THE FINISHED PRODUCT FROM STICKING TO THE LEAF, GREASE THE INSIDE OF THE LEAF.  THIS IS ALSO GIVES THE PRODUCT A SHINING LOOK.

A Foodie Encounter

I was window shopping at Empire Shopping Mall in KL when a distinctive hair style caught the corner of my eyes. Immediately it rang a bell in my memory. Isn't that... the blogger for QuayPo cooks? I ventured closer to take a better look and yes, I wouldn't be wrong, it is indeed Veronica from Quay Po cooks!

I was nervous because I have never met up with any food bloggers/followers before but it was just too coincidental. A warm and friendly smile she returned when I introduced myself. "Oh yes!!" she replied as her eyes lit up with happiness. I also felt honoured she remembers my humble blog. And the above, a picture for safekeeping, the euphoria felt when recognising a familiar place in a foreign land was almost like bumping into an idol.

Thank you Quay Po, for the sincere chat and your amiable smile. Hopefully in future, there will be more opportunities to bump into fellow food bloggers... ;)

(You can follow Veronica here)

Marmite Chicken - 妈蜜鸡

From infancy till now, my youngest son never liked to eat Marmite. I remembered when he was a toddler I fed him marmite mixed in porridge, he spitted out and used his hand to cover his mouth to show me he did not want to eat . As he grew older, I tried to give him the same thing, only for him to show me the same reaction. The reason given to me was Marmite does not smell appetizing. Well..   ... well until last week we had a dinner at K.Lumpur and ordered Marmite Chicken, out of my surprise he ate the Marmite chicken and  even commented that the chicken was good. ?????? I was stunned with my jaw dropped.

So today I got the chance to try on this Marmite Chicken recipe. His comment was," the chickens were fragrantly fried and the marmite is not overpowering, I like."

:)

Recipe:

Ingredients:
~  500 chicken, cut into pieces

Seasoning:-
~  1 teaspoon light soya sauce
~  1/2 teaspoon salt
~  1/2 teaspoon pepper
~  1 tablespoon corn flour

Sauce:
~  1 tablespoon Marmite yeast extract
~  1/2 tablespoon maltose
~  1/2  tablespoon honey
~  1/2 tablespoon light soya sauce
~  50 ml water

Method:
1) Mix chicken with seasoning for 1 hour.  Deep fry until cooked.  Dish and drain.
2) Leave one tablespoon of oil in wok, pour in sauce and cook at moderate heat until thick.  Put in fried  chicken and mix well. Serve .

材料：
500 克   鸡肉，切小块

腌料：
1 小匙        生抽
1/2 小匙     盐
1/2 小匙    胡椒粉
1 大匙       黍粉

汁料：
1 大匙      妈蜜酵母精华
1/2 大匙   麦牙糖
1/2 大匙   蜜糖
1/2 大匙   生抽
50 毫升  水
少许 胡椒粉

方法：
1）将鸡肉块加入腌料腌1小时，然后放进热油中炸至熟。盛起及沥干油。
2）留1大匙油，倒入汁料用中火煮至浓，马上加入鸡肉炒拌均匀便可上碟享用。

Assam Curry Pork -亚叁咖哩猪肉片

It  is really awesome. I strongly recommend this dish if you like spicy, sour food you can't give it a miss.  It is tangy, spicy and fragrance, this makes you drooling for more and more rice to eat along. So if you gain weight please do not put into my account. lol. It is so easy to prepare give it a try.

Recipe: QUICK & EASY  HAWKER FARE by Chef Alan Kok

Ingredients:
300g sliced pork
100 ml water
100 ml thick coconut milk (I used Kara brand)
1 tbsp assam paste- mix with 100 ml water and squeeze out juice , discard seeds
2 tablespoon cooking oil

Curry  Spices:
4 tbsp chopped shallots
2 stalks lemongrass- bruised
2 tablespoon curry leaves (about 4 twigs)
1 tablespoon curry powder
3 tablespoon chilli paste
3 pieces dried assam slice (assam keping)

Seasoning:
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon  sugar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method:

1) Heat up 2 tbsp oil and saute curry spices until fragrant.

2)  Add in pork and stir well. Add in coconut milk, assam juice, seasoning and bring to boil.  Cook until meat is tender.  Dish and serve hot.

ENJOY!

Food Review:  I find this dish is abit too sour. In my next cooking, I will only put 1 piece of dried assam slice.

Peach shaped Teochew Kuih-潮州桃粿粄

Few days ago I received a phone call from my nephew's wife asking for a favour from me whether I could make the steamed meat sponge cake as the offering to my sister (her mother-in-law). Of course I very much agreed and pleased to do it..  And I also made this "teochew glutinous rice kuih as one of the offerings.

The rice kuihs were not neatly done however the feedback I received was that they tasted good.“我很丑但是我很可口” he..he... not bad ya, it rhymes.

Recipe: makes 20 pieces

Ingredients:

(A)

For the dough (skin):

240 g rice flour  ) mixed together

1/2 tsp salt        )

400 ml  water

(B)

3 tbsp oil

3 tbsp tapioca flour

3 tbsp tangmin flour (wheat starch)

some red colouring

For the filling:

(A)

300 g glutinous rice

60 g  precooked peanuts (I used canned braised peanuts)

(B)

4 mushrooms (soaked, drained)

50 g dried shrimps (soaked, drained)

little minced chai poh 

3 shallots (chopped)

3 pips garlic (chopped)

Seasoning:

1.1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp white granulated sugar

For coating:

some rice four and some cooked oil

Utensil needed:

1 peach shaped kuih mould (80 g nett weight)

Method: For the filling:

1)  Soak glutinous rice  for 4 hours,drain well. Steam rice for 30 minutes, top in 220 ml water.  Continue steaming  process for 20 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

2)  Heat some oil to to saute shallots of filling (B) until fragrant. Add in chai poh, dried shrimps, garlic, mushrooms and fry till fragrant.

3)  Add in no.(1) ,stir-fry for few minutes. Lastly add in seasoning make sure they are well mixed. Scale at 40 g per portion.

4) For the skin: Place the rice flour and salt into a big bowl. Bring 400 ml water to a boil.  Pour the boiling water into the rice flour and quickly stir and mix thoroughly till dough becomes cooked. Now add in skin ingredients (B), knead till dough becomes smooth.  Scale at 40 g each portion.

5)  Flatten the dough (step no.4) and then place a filling in the centre and enclose. Place kuih into the mould and press. Knock lightly to dislodge kuih. Coat surface with some rice flour and glaze with oil.

6) Place into a steamer.  Steam for 10-12 minutes.

Source:  from CALDO Recipes by Mrs. Woon (Shirley Chong)

Steamed pork belly with fermented bean paste

One day, my eldest son asked me:
My son:    " Mom,  where is your post of steamed pork with fermented bean paste?"
Me           :" ah? you want the recipe? It has no recipe. It is all agak-agak*. You mean you don't know how to cook?"
My son:     " Ya, please post it otherwise I don't know how to cook when you are not 'available'."

This is a very common home-cooked dish. This dish is simple and fast to prepare and yet can be eaten along so well with alot of rice and porridge.  This dish can be alternately steamed with pork ribs too.

So my dear son, this is my agak agak recipe specially for you:

Ingredients: (serves 4 - 5 persons)
400 g pork belly ,cut into thin pieces or pork ribs cut into small pieces
2 chilli padi, diced
6 pcs gingers- cut into thin slices
1 teaspoon fine sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 to 1.1/2 tablespoon minced fermented  yellow bean paste
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 limes

Method:
1)  Mix all the above ingredients and steam over high heat for 25 minutes ( Steam for 45 minutes to 1 hour for pork ribs).
2) Squeeze some lime juice to your liking. Serve.

*agak-agak: estimate

Fried Prawns with Tomato Sauce - 茄汁煎虾碌

In the year of 1960s, they were four Heavenly Culinary Kings, They were the late Mr Tham Yui Kai （谭锐佳）, Mr Hooi Kok Wai  （许国威）,  Lau Yoke Pin （刘育培) and Mr Sin  Leong (冼良)..   The late Mr Tham Yui Kai who was also one of the founders of Lai Wah Restaurant (丽华）now located at Bendemeer Road is run by the descendants of the late founder Mr Wong Kok Lum - Mr Wong Kah Onn, the eldest son and his wife.

Mr Tham was a master of the Cantonese cusine and he is an author of a cook book. I have a copy of this book and I am cooking this "fried prawns with tomato sauce". It is really awesome. I bet it is so yummy and tastes better than any restaurants.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:
900g big prawns (I recommend deep sea prawns than cultivated prawns it give better texture)
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 slice ginger, chopped

Sauce: Mix well
6 tablespoons  water
1.1/2 teaspoon or to taste - fine salt
1 tablespoon or to taste -sugar
2 teaspoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoon tomato sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
pepper
I added 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce and 1 tsp dark soy sauce to enhance the flavour

Method:
1) Cut and clean the prawns, Remove the veins. Pat dry with kitchen towel or paper.
2) Heat oil in a wok, pan fried the prawns until both sides are golden and 80% cooked. Dish up.
3) Pour some oil in the wok and saute the chopped garlic and ginger till fragrant , add sauce and cook for a while. Stir and pour prawns into the sauce, continue to cook for few minutes (with a covered lid).
4) Once the prawns are cooked, thicken the sauce with some cornstarch water. Garnish with spring onions and red chillies.

Colourful Marble Butter Cake

Recipe: Adapted from " I Love Butter Cake Too 2" by Kevin Chai

Ingredients: 

300g butter (room temperature)

250g caster sugar

250g plain flour      

5g baking powder

20g milk powder

4 eggs

100 ml fresh milk

12 teaspoon  pandan essence

1/4 teaspoon strawberry emulco

15g cocoa powder

Method:

1)  Preheat oven to 160 degree C, grease and line a 18 cm (7 inches) square baking pan.

2)  Beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy.

3)  Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4) Sift together the flour, baking powder and milk powder. Fold into (3),  alternately  fold in fresh milk. Mix until well combined.

5)  Divide batter into 3 portions.  Stir in pandan essence and strawberry emulco respectively.  The other retains the original flavour.

6)  Spoon and spread batter alternately into prepared pan, sprinkle cocoa powder through a sieve on each layer, repeat the steps until done.

7)  Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes or until cooked.

Food review: Looks colourful and tastes more confusing than it looks! In my opinion, the flavours clash with one another and the cake ends up too sweet. Next time, I will try to only add colouring without the flavours, and reduce sugar content at the same time.

Assam Pedas Ikan (sour fish curry)

From Debbie Teoh's recipe

A few days ago my relative gave us a Malay Cuisine treat at one of the popular Malay Restaurants in Johor Baru. We had their signature dish Assam Pedas Ikan. The taste was not bad but I found that it lacks of something, I just can't put a pen to what it was. I will say it did not have the "kick" factor. In order to satisfy my craving of the sourness and spiciness of this curry, so today I gathered all my ingredients and tried my hands at dishing it by myself.  For comparison's sake, I cooked 2 different recipes, one is adapted from Ms Debbie Teoh and the second  from a magazine. Both tastes good and surprisingly similar, with the former slightly more sour.

Recipes for the above click here. The original recipe called for stingray (ikan pari), I replaced with red snapper.

Recipe adapted from a magazine

Ingredients:

800g stingray or ikan  kembong

3 tablespoon tamarind pulp/assam jawa (mixed with 400ml water, strained and discard)

10 belimbing buloh (cut into pieces) - optional

2-3 sprigs laksa leaves/daun kesom

200g ladies fingers/okra (steamed)

5 tablespoon oil

Seasoning:

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 tablespoon sugar or to taste

Grind or blend ingredients:

10 shallts,

6 fresh red chillies

5 dried red chillies (soaked , and drained)

A small knod of fresh tumeric/kunyit basah

3 slices galangal

1/2 inch toasted belacan

Method:

1) In a wok or frying pan, heat oil over medium heat, saute ground spices paste until fragrant, stirring continuously to prevent burning. Add in the belimbing and continue cooking.

2) Once spice paste is fragrant, add in assam water and daun kesom.

3) Simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes.

4) Add fish, salt and sugar to taste. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes until fish is cooked.  Add in ladies fingers and cook for 1 minute.

5) Turn off heat. Serve .... Enjoy. Get ready some milk to quench the spiciness... heh heh.