Ngoh Hiang/Spring Rolls

Busy, busy, very busy for the last whole weeks. Busy baking CNY cookies. And went back to home town to pray for my sister's 1 year death anniversary. And yesterday had dinner with relatives from China.

Today I prepared my CNY dish - spring rolls which I used to cook and bring back to my mother-in-law's house every year without fail, because we celebrate CNY there.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

~1 kg minced pork
~600 g lightly diced prawns (shell, devein)
~10 shallots -slice and fried until golden brown
~16 water chestnuts -chopped coarsely
~2 nos. eggs
~1 teaspoon 5 spice powder
~2 teaspoons salt
~2 teaspoons sugar
~2 teaspoons light soy sauce
~2 tablespoons corn flour
~2 teaspoons pepper
~1 tablespoon oil

~50 g diced carrot

~30 g diced spring onions and coriander leaves (optional)

~2 pcs of big bean curb sheets - cut into 14 - 16 pieces

Gentle reminder: Use A DAMP CLEAN CLOTH TO WIPE THE BEAN CURB SKIN BEFORE WRAPPING. Don't oversalt the stuffing mixture as the beancurb skin is already slightly salty.

Mix all ingredients and seasonings, except the beancurb skins, thoroughly until they form a sticky paste..

Place stuffing in the bean curb skin, wrap and roll up.

Place the rolls in a lightly oiled dish and steam over meduim heat for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

After cooling off, coat with flour, deep fry till golden brown.

Slice the ngoh hiang at a angle and arrange on a serving plate.

CHEESE FU ZHU ROLL 芝士腐竹卷

I got the idea from a recipe book using cheddar cheese put in the roll. The original recipe uses prawn paste. As I have leftover of fish paste from my previous preparation of Niang toufo , I used the fish paste instead of the prawn paste . It is simply delicious .

One must use Hong Kong bean curd skin as it is unsalted (otherwise the food will be too salty) . Don't buy from market, the bean curd skins found in the market are salted. hence they are not suitable for this recipe. Hong Kong bean curd skins are available at Kwong Cheong Thye Pte.Ltd.

The food can be a starter of a meal or a snack. The skin is crispy and inside is moist. I am sure the children will love it very much.

Recipe

Ingredients:

600 g shrimps

2 pieces Hong Kong bean curd skin

1 packet of cheese

Seasoning:

6 g salt

15 g sugar

dash of pepper and sesame oil

9 g premium cornflour (wind mill flour)

Method:

~1) De vein and wash the shrimps, marinate with sesoning,blend the mixture until turns into a gluey paste.

~2 Cut cheese into 3 cm long

~3) Cut bean curd skin into 12 cm x 12 cm

~4) wrap the filling and cheese with the skin and roll up.

~5) Deep fry in medium heat until golden brown.

~6) Garnish and serve hot.

ENJOY !

Niang Toupok and Chillies

When talking about niang toufu (stuffed bean curd), most of us know it is the signature dish of the Hakka people. When I was young, my mother used to prepare this dish during Chinese New Year and other Chinese festivals. She bought the fish from the market and scraped the meat to make into fish paste and used the fish bones for making stock. In modern society, fish paste can be bought easily from wet market from the fish ball stall. It really saves a lot of the trouble and work needed to make it ourselves.

Today, I didn't make niang toufu. I "niang"ed tau pok and chillies. My gravy for the chillies is unlike people who put black bean paste (taucheong). I only used light soy sauce, sugar and water. This is my mother's recipe and my family liked it very much.

Recipe

Ingredients:

~ 1) fish paste 400g

~2) Minced pork 200 g

`3) water chestnuts 6 ( coarsely chopped)

~4) red chillies 10 pcs

~5) green chillies 5 pcs

~6) small square taupok 20 pc

~7) spring onions ( finely cut)

~8) pepper, salt, sesame oil to taste

Gravy for the chillies:

3 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 1/2 - 2 tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup water

cornflour for thickening the sauce

Method:

1)THOROUGHLY COMBINE fish paste, minced meat, salt, spring onions, water chestnuts.

2) cut each red and green chillies length ways. Remove the seeds and thick membranes. Pad dry

with kitchen tissue pepper and spread little cornflour on the inner surface.

3) Cut each taupok into half. And turn inside out.

4) Fill the chillies, taupok with minced mixture.

5)Heat up wok, put enough oil , When the oil is hot , carefully place the taupok pieces, meat side down, deep fried until lightly golden brown, turn to the other side. When both sides are golden brown, transfer to a plate.

6) With the same wok, remove excess oil, just leave enough oil to pan fry the chilies, meat side down. When the meat colour change white , pour the light soy sauce , stir fry for few seconds until you smell aromatic. Pour in water and sugar, let simmer (low heat, do not cover with lid) until the chillies are cooked. Thicken the sauce with cornflour. Garnish and serve.

NOTE: fish paste from the market is quite salties. So do not add too much salt.