Annielicious Food

This is my 2nd submission for MFF Kedah Perlis Month. And I don't know how to name this Kuih in english. It is basically a combination of glutinous rice flour, dark brown sugar and grated coconut flesh, wrapped in banana leaves.

For those who know me well, they should know, I had been crazily busy at work, the errand at home and I barely have my own time to sit down and write. But well, I have to find time.

This kuih is easy. Really easy. Cooking time is short. Ingredient is easily available too. Stress free!

When I decided to make this, I did plan to make Kuih Lepat Liat at the same time. But time doesn't allow me to. So, I just managed to do this. This is like dodol, but baked version.

When I ask Max to choose between Kuih Lepat Liat and Kuih Gedung Cak, he chosen this. He said that this kuih should taste nicer because it has crust at the edge. Well, I didn't wanna argue, because I never taste both of them before. So, let's do it!

Ingredient (Makes 10 to 12 pcs)
(Source : Memori Kedah and WendyinKK)

For the filling

120g Glutinous Rice Flour
200g Grated Coconut Flesh
½ tsp Salt
100g Dark Brown Sugar (Gula Merah or Jaggery Sugar)
60g Sugar (Reduce to 55 or 50 if you prefer less sweet)
160g Water
1 Pandan Leaf, tied into knot (Optional)

For the wrap

12pcs of 5 x 8 inch Banana Leaf pieces.
Toothpicks or Staplers
Oil for Greasing

Method

In a saucepan, add water, sugar, dark brown sugar and pandan leaf in. Under medium heat, bring to a boil. Once it is boiled, off heat, stir until the sugar melted. Leave it there and let it cool until warm to touch.
Wilt the banana leaves by either steam them, blanch them or over open fire. I prefer open fire of course. Don't ask me why. My mother always use this method. It's influential preference.
Preheat oven to 200 degree, fan ON.
In a big mixing bowl, mix glutinous rice, grated coconut flesh and salt together.
Strain and pour the warm syrup into the coconut mixture, stir until well combined.
Use a brush and lightly grease banana leaf, add 1 heaped tablespoon of the coconut mixture into leaf.
Wrap it up, secure ends with toothpicks or staple. I used staple. Easier.
Repeat step 7 until the mixture is used up.
Bake for 15 minutes. Leave it cool abit before serve.

Step 5 - Pour syrup into the coconut mixture, stir till combined. Easy!

Basically, this is just mix, wrap and bake!

According to Memori Kedah, the recipe ask for Nipah Leaves. But living in Singapore, you won't get it. So, I leave it to fate. As what WendyinKK did, use banana leaves instead loh.

Look at my wrapping method... I staple it, and then, I bend the edge beneath when I bake. This is to prevent excess liquid leakage (if any), and you won't have burnt edges. But you could just ignore this part. Traditionally, you don't have to bend the edge. Burnt edges is fine too. Depends on individual :)

Now this is it! Kuih Gedung Cak!

This kuih might not looks good by it's appearance, but definitely nice to eat! It's chewy, taste simple. When you chew on it, you could also chew the sweetness of the grated coconut flesh. The crust at the edge is the part where I like it the most! :D

Crusty outside, chewy inside. And if you were to replicate this, I would suggest you to eat them fresh! Don't keep it too long. Just eat it while it's warm. If you eat it cold, then, the chewy texture might be different :)

Do check out my 1st submission for MFF Kedah Perlis Month is Daging Masak Asam that I'd posted early this month too!

I am submitting this to MFF Kedah Perlis Month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for two...or more.

Okay, I'm really slow when it comes to this Chilled Soya Beancurd rave. People already go gaga over the Lao Ban Soya Beancurd (老伴豆花) selling at Old Airport Road. And I'm not into it at that point of time.

Since a year ago, hardwarezone chanzhf who have tried every possible combination of coagulants available in the market in order to recreate this dessert, and finally he came up with the recipe that makes people really go into replicate it at home.

I supposed to make this somewhere Aug'12, where the Diner en Blanc's 1st appearance in Asia that causes the blast of Make And Eat Tau Huay Day. But then, at that point of time, I'm super busy with house moving. So, I didn't even have the time to cook myself a bowl of instant noodle! Let alone making soya beancurd.

I had Lao Ban Soya Beancurd once when Max brought me to Old Airport Road hawker centre. Nice! But I'm not a person who will go gaga over it la. It's S$1.50 for a half-filled bowl. Say me stingy, but I feel expensive. Max asked me if I could taste what's the ingredient in there. The only thing I remembered I told him was Coffee-mate. I'm very very sure that they added Coffee-mate.

I adapted this recipe from Noob Cook. I didn't bother to compare this recipe with another recipe before I make it. I just follow it blindly for convenience sake. Don't worry about it. Yumms!!! This recipe works! It taste really really close to the one I ate at Old Airport road.

All you need to do is to gather all these ingredients before you get started. You can get both Soya powder and coffee-mate from NTUC, and Instant Jelly Powder from Phoon Huat.

This is super easy, and I think I will make this often at home. I double up the original recipe because I find it no point making a recipe that only serves 2. Max can swallow all of them in just a glance loh.

Ingredient (Makes 4 servings)

60g 'Unisoy' Instant Organic Soya Milk Powder
30g 'Polleney' Soya Bean Powder
30g 'Nestle' Coffee-mate coffee creamer
30g Sugar
700ml Hot Water
10g Instant Jelly Powder

Noob Cook slightly modified the recipe by reducing the amount instant jelly powder (originally should be 14g), because she wanted to achieve wobbly and soft texture. She also swapped the quantity of Polleney and Unisoy powders around. I'm ok with it. I just follow. I like it wobbly too.

Method

Measure all the ingredients using a digital weighing scale for accuracy.
In a saucepan, add all the ingredients except instant jelly powder. Pour over hot water, in low fire, use a whisker to stir until the soya milk powder fully dissolved. At this point of time, the soya milk should be warm, but NOT boiling.
Heat off, stir in instant jelly powder until fully dissolved.
Run the soya milk through a sieve, slooooow and steadily. I did it twice. If you see bubbles on the surface, use a sieve or a spoon to fish it out.
Gently pour into bowls. Leave it cool at room temperature, and then chill it in the fridge.

Step 2 and 3 - Stir until everything fully dissolved.

Did you see lots of bubbles in there? This is why we need to sieve it away. If not, your soya beancurd will end up with lots of bubbles and holes.... like Mark Lee's face. Hahaha... Ok, just joking. Mark Lee's face looks nice and smooth now compared to last time.

You must be slow and steady when you sieve it, and even pouring the mixture into the bowls. Please do it gently and at a low height to avoid bubbles, and so that you could achieve this smooth surface. I used small container this time. I prefer smaller, and I get more portion. But well, it's really up to you. :)

And there, after I unmould it, it's soft and wobbly! I think I like this version.

Each gram of instant jelly powder makes a difference. If you prefer more firm, add another one or two grams of instant jelly powder in it. It's really up to individual preference.

Seriously, this recipe is worth a try. I love it. Maybe I shall try using 12grams Instant Jelly Powder next time and see which texture I prefer :)

I'd highly encourage you to do it at home over the weekend! :D

Thunder Tea Rice 雷茶 is a traditional dish among the Hor Poh 河婆 clan which is part of the Hakka's 客家. This dish bound to have mixed responses. If you don't like it, you'd rather settle your meal with a pack of instant noodle. But if you are the person who know how to appreciate this dish, you will get hooked on it and started to tell others how wonderful this dish is. Lower cholesterol, detoxify the body, aid digestion, lose weight, clear complexion and the list goes on...

Well, I grew up in a Hor Por Family. My mother is Hor Poh 河婆, and now, my husband's family too.

My grandma used to cook this. All my uncle and aunts will gather at my grandma's house and have Thunder Tea Rice feast! I forgotten when was the last time I had this dish cooked by my grandma. All I could remember is, during my teenage time, should be somewhere around 13 years old I guess. I miss my grandma. Sigh! People don't make this at home anymore. Because they think this dish is too troublesome, and youngsters don't really appreciate such traditional food.

3 years ago, because I missed my grandma so much, I walked to Lau Pa Sat (Singapore Festival Market) and bought a bowl of Thunder Tea Rice that cost me S$5.00. Look at the bowl of rice that they served me, it's like.... prison food? Well, perhaps hospital food.

After my grandma's passing, the more I knew I won't have the opportunity to eat this anymore. Well, we can still get it outside, but it's just taste different lah. But Malaysia's shop-bought thunder tea rice definitely taste better than Singapore's one. I'm pretty sure.

Traditionally, this dish calls for 7 types of vegetables and condiment. Those shop-bought one's won't give you the complete traditional ingredients! The most, shop-bought one's gives 4 types of vegetables. 5 if you are lucky. Sigh!

制作河婆擂茶的擂钵和擂棍

During my trip back to our hometown (Ipoh / Kampar), I've got this ultimate traditional equipment to make the tea soup for this dish. When I saw it, I was like "Whoaaaa~!!! Precious~!!!". Mad happy! Hahaha... Well, this is inherit by my Father-In-Law's granny, and since I'm the Daughter-In-Law, I'm now the owner of the 4th generation. I wonder if my future child will appreciate this thing if I were to pass it down next time.

This recipe is from Max's eldest aunt (大姑妈). She happened to come to Singapore for a few days, and stayed over at my place. So, I grab this opportunity to squeeze her time to teach me this! Wuahahaha!!! I did a comparison between 大姑妈's recipe with my grandma's recipe (I ask my mom for grandma's recipe over the phone), they are almost the same. Except my grandma's version do not have fried anchovies for the soup. I hope my mom didn't remember wrongly.

This is basically plain rice, topped with veggies, condiments and drenched with tea soup. This recipe is only 99% complete. Not 100%. Because I couldn't get the herb called 'Fu Lit Sum' (苦列心) in Singapore. I don't know what is it called in English. Probably they have, but I just no luck on it. If you are making it at home, try to hunt for it.

This ingredient will be separated into 3 part. The tea soup, 7 types of vegetables and the condiments.

INGREDIENTS

The Tea Soup

8gm 'Luk Bou' Chinese Tea Leaves 六宝茶-茶叶
10gm Toasted Sesame 芝麻
100gm Toasted Peanut 花生
80gm Old Ginger 老姜
30gm Fried Anchovies 炸江鱼仔
50gm Thai Basil 九层塔
50gm Mint Leaves 香花菜
50gm Manicai 树仔菜
30gm 'Fu Lit Sum' 苦列心 I don't know what is it called in English. (If you could find them)

*At first, I thought 'Fu Lit Sum' was Yomogi. But luckily Wendy told me that it is not. Please let me know if you know what is the english name of this herb. Ok?

The 7 Vegetables

300gm Choy Sum / Chye Sim 菜心
350gm Romaine Lettuce, aka You Mai油麦
400gm Manicai 树仔菜
300gm Kai Lan 芥兰
200gm Thai Basil 九层塔
200gm Mint Leaves 香花菜
250gm French Beans 鬼豆 + 15gm Dried Shrimps 虾米, but dried shrimps is optional.

*Usually, Long Bean is used. But we prefer the crunchiness of french beans instead.

The Condiments

200gm Black Eye Peas 味豆 + 30gm Dried Shrimps 虾米
150gm Preserved White Radish 菜圃
80gm Dried Shrimps 虾米
1 block Pressed Tofu 豆腐
250gm Toasted Peanut 花生, or more if you want.

Lots of things to prepare eh? Indeed. But well, if you are feeding a family of 5 or more, this is worth the effort. I really encourage you to do it. Stay cool, follow the flow, and you won't go wrong.

Preparation

The night before - Soak black eye peas in water.
Rinse veggies, cut them into small piece, separately. Set aside.
Rinse preserved radish and dried shrimp, separately. Drained. Set aside.
Fry anchovies. Drain it on a kitchen towel, so that it could absorb excess oil. Set aside.
Cube the tofu for later pan fry use.

METHOD

First of all, cook a pot of white rice - good for about 5 to 6 person. But I'm sure you could feed about 7.

The tea soup :

Now let's make the tea soup first. Usually people won't have the ultimate traditional equipment to make the tea soup anymore. So, please just use your food processor if you don't have it. Blend in the tea soup ingredient, adding in item by item in the order as follows : Luk Bou' Chinese Tea Leaves - Toasted Sesame - Toasted Peanut - Old Ginger - Fried Anchovies - Thai Basil & Mint Leaves - Manicai - 'Fu Lit Sum' (If you could find them). Blend them into a paste. Set aside for later use.
Boil a kettle of water. Once it is boiled, pour it on the tea paste. Give it a good stir. And this is the hot tea soup! Do this only when all the rice, condiment and veggies are ready to eat.

Note :You might need to add abit of hot water while you blend the tea soup paste if you are using blender instead of food processor. Food processor tends to be more powerful, I don't think they have problem. I didn't use blender to do the work, so I don't know. Well, you just have to eyeball it yourself.

The condiment :

For the peanut - I did it the night before because I know I won't have enough time for that. So, pan-fry raw peanuts under low heat, until the peanut skin turn charred, check and try it. If peanut turned crunchy and fragrant, then you are there. Remove from pan, leave it cool. Rub and remove the peanut skin. Once the peanut is completely cooled, keep it in air-tight container for next day use.
For the black eye peas - Wash and drain the peas. Half tbsp oil, add in dried shrimps, fry till fragrant, and add in the beans and a pinch of salt, fry for awhile. Add in 400ml (or more) water, bring to a boil. Reduce to low fire, let it slowly simmer until the beans are soft to eat and dry.
For the pressed tofu - Pan-fry tofu under medium low heat until golden brown. Set aside.
For the dried shrimps - Fry dried shrimps until fragrant and crispy (but not burnt), drained the excess oil using kitchen towel.
For preserved white radish - Heat up half tbsp oil, pan-fry Preserved White Radish until fragrant and dry. And maybe slightly charred. Dish up and set aside.

Note : Cooking black eye peas takes me about 35 to 40mins using normal stainless steel stock pot. So, cook the peas first while you could do other stuffs. If you are using those ultimate pressure pot, the cooking time will be reduced. Do check the water level often. Add water if necessary. Once it's cooked, dish up, set aside for later use.

The 7 vegetables :

For the French bean – half tbsp oil, add in dried shrimps, fry till fragrant, and add in diced French beans and a pinch of salt, fry until cooked.
For Choy Sum, Romaine Lettuce, Manicai, Kai Lan – Cook it individually. Half tbsp of oil (or less if you want), stir fry veggies; add a pinch of salt, fry until the veggies just wilted.
For Mint leaves and Thai Basil – Combine both together. Some oil, stir fry veggies, add a pinch of salt, fry until the veggies just wilted.

The ingredient for tea soup. Yes, there's no Manicai and Yomogi in the picture. Sigh!

This is the particular 六宝茶 'Luk Bou' Chinese Tea Leaves meant for Thunder Tea Rice. Do not attempt to use other tea leaves like Tie Guan Yin铁观音 or Pu Er 谱耳 or OoLong乌龙 and other high quality tea leaves. Because these expensive tea leaves gives you bitter taste, whereby 'Luk Bou' Chinese Tea Leaves taste milder, and this is cheap chinese tea leaves.

The 7 vegetables...

This is alot of hard work here.. seriously!

This is the tea soup paste ready to use. I know, modern people use food processor or blender instead. Save all such hard work doing such grinding work manually. It's tiring. But the "feel" of the entire cooking process is just different lah. It's just simply nostalgic!

The Tea Soup and the Condiments. Done!

1. The tea soup
2. Pan fried pressed tofu.
3. Toasted peanut
4. Braised black eye peas with dried shrimps
5. Fried dried shrimps
6. Pan fried preserved white radish

The 7 Vegetables. Done too!

1. Manicai
2. Romaine Lettuce, aka You Mai
3. Choy Sum / Chye Sim
4. Kai Lan
5. French Bean with Dried Shrimps
6. Combination of Mint Leaves and Thai Basil

Once rice, vegetables and condiments are ready to eat, pour boiling hot water onto the tea soup paste. This gives you really hot tea soup. And you're gonna drench the rice later :)

The 'master chef' is preparing the tea soup. She warned me not to post her photo online. LOL!

This is the final assembly. Scoop some white rice, and then topped with all the veggies and condiments.

Pour a bowl of tea soup, mix, and tuck in!

You call this messy! No. I call this characteristic! Wuahahahaha!

Ok, I know the appearance of this mixed rice dish might looks yucks to some people. But I have to assure you that it wasn't that bad. Peanuts, radishes, dried shrimps and other condiments goes very well with the rice. The overall fragrance of the tea soup is simply indescribable!

You must try this AT LEAST once in your life!

Le Creuset selected 10 lucky fans to attend Chef Jeremy Choo's cooking demo yesterday. And I'm one of the lucky one. I'm happy, and I really thankful to Le Creuset for the opportunity.

This is my first time meeting Chef Jeremy. He's really a nice, humble and yet funny man. I like him! :)

This cooking demo is done at La Galerie De Dietrich's showroom located at The Cedex. The showroom is really simply *OMG-jaw-drop* awesome! It's so elegant and atas looking! Well, De Dietrich oven is my dream oven. But the price is also very dreamy of course. And with this elegant showroom, it must match with Le Creuset cooking pots, pans and utensils! Hahaha...

I wouldn't wanna say much. I think I will go straight to the cooking part. Chef has got 3 course meal that is being featured. The appetizer, the main and the dessert.

~ ~ ~

The Appetizer

Baked Snails in Vol-au-Vent with Garlic Butter Sauce.

Pan-frying the snails with chopped garlic, shallot, parsley, and then simmer with red wine. Using Le Creuset pan of course. Hehehe... I'm sitting right infront of him. I really feel like asking him for a piece while he's cooking. Hahhaa....

Spoon slains in Vol-au-Vent, add garlic butter sauce on top.

And bake in the oven for 6 to 7 minutes.

While chef busy preparing the 2nd dish, the staff there helping chef to watch the oven. However, the Vol-au-Vent burnt abit. No. It's not the De Dietrich oven's problem. It's user's problem. Hahas!

~ ~ ~

The Main Course

Crayfish with Mango Sauce.

Lightly pan-sear the marinated crayfish in the skillet before it goes into the oven. OMG! Look at the super thick piece of crayfish meat!

Chef pan-seared some japanese mushroom slices to go along with the crayfish later. Yumms!!!

Topped with parmesan cheese, and then caramelized the cheese with a blow torch, and then sprinkle some pepper and parsley flakes on top. Omph! Perfect!

~ ~ ~

The Dessert

Pineapple Suffle.

The best part about this souffle is this pineapple with white chocolate ganache.

Chef make sure everyone of us has a share of this souffle. Even the photographer. He's really good to us. Saw the Le Creuset the ramekin? It's really nice! I have it at home! Haha..

After 8 minutes in the oven, the souffle is finally done!

Topped with some icing sugar, and it's ready to serve!

The pineapple white chocolate ganache melted at the bottom. When I eat the souffle, it's full of pineapple taste. It's simply indescribable!

If you were to ask me, I think this is one of the best souffle that I've ever had so far. It's really refreshing and it's just... something different :D

Thank you Le Creuset and De Dietrich for the awesome demo class. I learnt some cooking tricks and tips from Chef, and of course, the food is awesome. I hope this will happen again. It's really a wonderful experience.

Is there anything better than a perfectly roasted chicken? With its crisp, browned skin and juicy, succulent flesh, it’s so simple and yet irresistible!

I post this early, so as to allow you to plan for Christmas meal. If you are just feeding barely 4 pax, do consider roast chicken instead of the traditional big fat roast turkey that takes forever to finish.

But some cooks find the idea of roasting a chicken really daunting. How to choose a nice bird? How long should I roast the bird? What is the temperature? Marinating the bird seems stressful. How long should I keep the bird marinated? Should I truss it? Do I need to baste it? If so, how often? How will you know when the bird is well cooked? Urgh!!!

Well, relax! It's Christmas soon! There’s a way to eliminate most of those worries if you read on: My lazy roast chicken guarantee foolproof, stress-free and welcoming. Just marinate it, lightly pan-seared the bird, and then roast it using high-heat and medium heat method. It’s the easiest, fastest way to roast a chicken.

Superb flavor and nicely browned skin is the result you're gonna get. The chicken that tastes way better than those supermarket rotisserie birds, and I’m sure your guests will be impressed by the roast chicken that you presented infront of them.

You might call this a cheat recipe due to the existence of Roast Chicken Seasoning. Yes! In a way, I do agree. But, well.... I would say, probably this is not really a recipe post. It's more like a fuss-free method for you to get your meal done! As long as you feed your guests well, who cares?

I prepared this as part of my mother in law's gathering with her friend.

Fresh Chicken, olive oil, roast chicken seasoning, rosemary, salt, pepper and strings. This is all you need! Let's get start cooking!

Ingredient

1 large Fresh Chicken, weight about 1 to 1.2kg
10g Masterfood Roast Chicken Seasoning
3tbsp Olive Oil
10g Sea Salt
few dashes of Pepper
some Fresh Rosemary, about a tbsp or so. Just estimate lah.

Optional Ingredients : Some potatoes, carrot and celery.

I just grab a large sized chicken at NTUC, cost S$6.80. Masterfood Roast Chicken Seasoning S$5.10 I think. For fresh rosemary, I have it planted, so I could pluck it whenever I need it. If you don't have it, go Cold Storage. You could get a pack of fresh rosemary for S$2.00, available at the vegetable section.

Method

(Marinating)

1. Clean the chicken, cut away the chicken feet and neck. Use kitchen towel to pat-dry the chicken.

2. Mix olive oil, roast chicken seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper together. Stir well, and the marinade mixture is ready.

3. Spread the marinade mixture on the chicken and give it a good rub all over. Lift up the breast skin (be gentle, don't tear the skin), rub some marinade mixture underneath the skin too. This will give your chicken breast lots of flavor!

4. Once marinade rubbed evenly, add more rosemary all over if you want.

5. And this is the trussing part. Use the string and tie the end of the leg and join them together. However, since I did not stuff the chicken, this part is optional. You could just leave it if you are lazy to tie them up. It's perfectly alright. For appearance wise, of course if I truss the chicken, it looks kinda more presentable in a way. But well, it's individual. I will only truss it when I'm feelin' good. Oh yes! Pls make sure you are using oven-safe strings! Don't use strings that is not meant for cooking / baking ok?

6. Use cling-wrap to wrap the chicken tightly.

7. Double or even triple wrapping of course! Marinade juices leaked all over and mess up your fridge is the last thing you wanna see. Check if there's leakage. If you are still not confident, put them into a plastic bag before you throw the bird into the fridge.

This can be kept in the fridge for very long. I usually prepare this few days in advance.

So, here's the tips...

If you need it for lunch, the night before you go to bed, take the chicken out of the freezer and let it thaw overnight.
If you need it for dinner, in the morning, once you wake up, take the chicken out of the freezer and let it thaw.

Like this, the chicken is perfectly thawed at room temperature by then... perfect for roasting!

(Roasting)

1. Turn on the oven at 220 degree - top and bottom heat, fan ON.

2. Before roasting, pan-sear the chicken about a minute at each side, let it slightly browned. If you are lazy, this is optional. But for it's appearance wise, I would always want to do this before I roast it.

3. I added some potatoes, carrots and celery to roast together with the chicken. What I did is just cut them into big chunks, coat them with half teaspoon of salt, drizzle some olive oil, dashes of pepper if you want. You could even add some paprika or other spices if you want more flavor Oh yes! You don't have to coat them with too much oil. During the roasting process, the rendering chicken fat will add enough additional fat to cook them nicely.

4. Put the chicken into the oven for 30 min. Set alarm, and go do the washing. After 30 mins, turn the oven to 190 degree, and roast for another 15 mins, and wala! You're done!

Don't worry if the chicken is too big. Well-wrapped leftovers keep a few days in the refrigerator. I love left-over roast chicken! I could just pull the leftover meat into small pieces and eat it together with my salad for lunch! No stress!

If you are hosting a Christmas lunch or dinner at your place, there's alot to organise. But well, this probably the best stress-free dish on your Christmas dining table!

Tiramisu is simply the perfect combination of light cheese, cocoa powder and coffee, I can't really describe it explicitly enough. It's just heavenly Italian dessert!

This is the marking of the 100th post in my blog. So, I wanted to share something significant. There’s a tale behind on why I learn making Tiramisu and why I put in so much effort to perfect my Tiramisu recipe. Of course I know, there's no shortage of Tiramisu recipe out there. But at least, my version of Tiramisu makes my husband asking for more!

Once upon a time (that’s somewhere 3 years odd ago), me and my music friends had a BBQ gathering at YuTong’s apartment for post Youth Ignite Concert celebration. It was a successful concert, and since we put in so much effort to make the concert happen, we shall give ourselves a treat! YuTong handed a box of Tiramisu to Max, and when Max tasted the 1st scoop of Tiramisu, he said to me “Wah! Darling, if you can make this, I will marry you!”

And so, I asked YuTong for the recipe, and take up the task to learn making Tiramisu for Max. Without anyone guiding me, for the first attempt, it was quite disastrous! So, for the second attempt, I’m smarter. I asked YuTong where went wrong, and I watched YouTube for a few Tiramisu tutorial to do comparison. Read lots of Tiramisu recipe too! Along the way, for the past 3 years, on and off, all I did is to try various Tiramisu recipe, twist and turn them, so as to perfect the texture and the taste. My reference includes YuTong’s Tiramisu recipe, a few random recipes from the internet, and also Nigella Lawson’s Tiramisu recipe from Nigella’s Christmas book.

After 3 years of trials, feeding numerous of guests. Asking friends who has the pickiest tongue for feedback and even mass produced 100 mini box of Tiramisu for the Soka Youth Musical show cast 2 years ago as an encouragement for their great effort and performance. Now I could humbly conclude that my Tiramisu recipe really makes me proud! Max is the witness on how hard I work just to perfect it :D

Well, I wouldn’t wanna say that my Tiramisu is the best in town. But at least, to me, so far, this is the best. Many friends asked me for the recipe actually. I refrain from posting my Tiramisu recipe on my blog at earlier stage is because I had been trying out different type of sponge fingers, whipping cream, so as to allow readers to have alternative source or something. I wanted to give myself and others some options.

But hell, NO! I’m so wrong. The last two attempt, I used different brand sponge finger (price is slightly cheaper), used cheaper whipping cream. And I brought the Tiramisu to the bloggers gathering at Edith’s house. When I eat it, my heart sank like a TITANIC! Hell yea! Lesson learnt! Never anyhow change the brand of the sponge finger. Always believe in the quality food comes with a higher price tag. I know you could simply bake nice sponge fingers at home. But since shop-bought ones could serve me well, I really don't mind. I won't wanna go thru the hassle of making it (at least for now).

My recipe could make TWO 6 inch round cake. If you are making only one cake, half the recipe.

Ingredients :

8 tsp Instant coffee powder (I used Moccona Continental Gold)
8 tsp caster sugar, or fine sugar if you want.
10 tbsp Kahlua (Coffee Liqueur)
1 tub Mascarpone Cheese (500g)
200ml Chilled Whipping Cream (always kept in the fridge)
2 large Eggs
1 large pack of Cantreau brand Savoiardi (Ladyfingers / Sponge Fingers)
Cocoa Powder (To sieve on top before serving)
Ribbons for finishing (Optional)

Method :

1. Mix 8 tsp instant coffee powder and 8 tsp caster sugar in a bowl. Add 8 tbsp Kahlua into the coffee mixture. Stir until coffee and sugar completely melted. It takes a little bit of patience here. If you are using castor sugar, it will be easier. Fine sugar takes longer time to melt tho.

2. Pour coffee mixture into a dish. Dish length must be longer than the Sponge finger.

3. Whisk cold whipping cream till stiff. Once done, put the cream back to the fridge.

4. Separate egg whites and egg yolks. Beat egg yolk till pale color.

5. In another clean and dry mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till stiff peak.

6. Add mascarpone into a mixing bowl, add egg yolk and mix well.

7. Add in whipping cream, egg whites and kahlua into the mascarpone mixture. Mix until everything incorporated. Put the whole bowl of mixture back to the fridge for later use.

8. Prepare a loose base cake tin, line the side with baking paper. No need to line the base. If you have mousse cake ring, use it. It will be easier. If you don’t wanna make it into a cake-like form, just use oblong dish or a square Tupperware. I always did that when I feel lazy.

Assembling

1^st Layer– Dip sponge fingers (Sugary side) into the coffee mixture. Do not wet the sponge finger too much. Just dip in, count 1, 2, 3. And you will have to take the sponge finger away.

Cut the sponge fingers to fit onto the cake tin (if required). Put dipped sponge fingers into the cake tin, sugary side up.

2^nd Layer - Spread half of the creamy mixture on top of the sponge fingers. Sift some cocoa powder on top.

3^rd Layer– Repeat step 1. Dip sponge fingers into the coffee mixture (NON-Sugary Side this time). Put another layer of sponge fingers on top of the cream.

4^th Layer - Cover with another layer of creamy mixture on top.

Use cling wrap to cover the cake tin. Keep tiramisu into the fridge for at least 8 hours. But I highly encourage you to keep it overnight for better result. 1 day is the best!

Finishing

Remove tiramisu from cake tin. Remove baking paper at the side.
Use a sharp and thin knife to run around the base of the cake. And then, carefully transfer the cake to a plate or a serving dish. If you are using mousse cake ring to do this cake, you will be easier. So, the choice is your’s.
Sift cocoa powder on top. Wipe away the cocoa powder at the side to give it a clean finishing.
Cut sponge fingers into half, and place it at the side of the cake.
Tie ribbon around, wipe the side of the plate one more time to give it a clean finishing, and the cake is ready to serve.

Tips :

1. You can get all the ingredients from Cold Storage.

2. For goodness sake, please DO NOT use 3 in 1 instant coffee powder. You will end up claim that my recipe no good. Trust me.
3. For the eggs, try to use fresh eggs. The egg that you bought on the same day. If you are worried, use pasteurized eggs.

4. For the whipping cream, always keep them in the fridge till the time when you want to whip them, then you take it out. If your whipping cream is not cold enough, you won’t be able to whip em’ up. So, keep the whipping cream chilled is VERY important.

5. For sponge fingers, I realized that different brand of sponge fingers gives different texture and taste. This particular brand is my all-time favorite, and I don’t think I will wanna change it.

6. Buy Kahlua from airport if somebody happened to travel. It cost about S$27 per bottle only. Buying outside (Cold Storage & etc hard liquer shop) could easily cost you S$55 or more.

7. Do add more Kahlua into the coffee mixture if you find that the liquid is not enough for you to wet all the sponge fingers.

8. The purpose of lining baking paper at the side of the cake tin is to ease the pain of removing the cake. If you don’t want to line baking paper at the side, it’s still fine. You might end up need to use blow torch to burn the side of the cake tin before removing it. But trust me, most of the people don’t have blow torch at home. They usually use hot towels. So, please line baking paper.

9. I don’t know how tall your cake would turn out to be. But if you are making 6 inch cake (this recipe can make TWO 6 inch cake), cut sponge finger into half, the height of the sponge fingers would be just nice. So, if you want, measure the height of your cake before you cut the sponge fingers. I used 11 pcs of sponge finger for my 6 inch cake, cut into half, I get 22 pcs to stick at the side of the cake.

10. If you are taking too long to do the cake finishing part, once it’s done, chill the cake again and let the shape set better before you serve.

Step 1 - Mix 8 tsp instant coffee powder and 8 tsp caster sugar in a bowl. Add 8 tbsp Kahlua into the coffee mixture. Stir until coffee and sugar completely melted.

Step 3 and 5 - Whisk cold whipping cream till stiff and beat the egg whites till stiff peak.

Step 4 and 6 - Beat egg yolk till pale color and add into mascarpone. Mix well.

Step 7 - Add in whipping cream, egg whites and kahlua into the mascarpone mixture. Mix until everything incorporated. Put the whole bowl of mixture back to the fridge for later assembly use.

So now, this is the assembly part

1^st Layer – Dip sponge fingers (Sugary side) into the coffee mixture. Do not wet the sponge finger too much. Just dip in, count 1, 2, 3. And you will have to take the sponge finger away.

Cut the sponge fingers to fit onto the cake tin (if required). Put dipped sponge fingers into the cake tin, sugary side up.

2^nd Layer - Spread half of the creamy mixture on top of the sponge fingers. Sift some cocoa powder on it. However, sifting cocoa powder is optional.

3^rd Layer – Repeat step 1. Dip sponge fingers into the coffee mixture (NON-Sugary Side this time). Put another layer of sponge fingers on top of the cream.

4^th Layer - Cover with another layer of creamy mixture on top. Use cling wrap to cover the cake tin. Keep tiramisu into the fridge for at least 8 hours. But I highly encourage you to keep it overnight for better result. 1 day is the best!

And here's the finished product!!! Simply love it! Did you notice that I have uneven spreading curves on the surface? I did it intentionally. It's home-made cake! The messier it is, the more welcoming it will be. Agree with me?

Pardon me for the messy slice. It's really a rush when I slice this cake because everybody is watching me when I slice em'. It might not look appealing to you. But I could assure you that this slice of cake taste heavenly!

The moisture level of the Tiramisu can be very crucial. Too dry, the sponge fingers will not gives you good texture. Too wet, you will end up eating drenched sponge fingers, and the layer of mascarpone cheese won't stand tall and proud.

Max ever told me that his favorite Tiramisu is the one selling at La Foketta. That tiny piece of dessert that probably sized 2.5 inch x 2.5 inch could easily cost him S$10.00. But after I learnt making Tiramisu at home, he never visit this restaurant anymore.

Although it sounds really nonsense, but hey! this is the cake that makes my husband marry me! Hahahaha...

I hope you like this recipe of love :D

Try to make full recipe of you could afford to do so. Make one, eat it fresh. Keep the other one, nicely wrapped, keep it in air-tight container and throw it into your freezer. It can keep upto a month. When you are ready to eat it, transfer the frozen cake to the chiller and let it thaw overnight. Sift cocoa powder before serving. It will still taste equally good.

This is another great idea for you to make ahead for your Christmas party :)

Do to show me your end product if you happened to follow this recipe ok? Email to me at mwmannie@yahoo.com :D

I think traditionally iced and decorative Christmas cake is a lovely thing. It brings joy to Christmas!

This is Nigella Lawson's recipe. It takes abit of time to make this. But you still have a week away. Still in time for Christmas! It bakes well, and can be iced beautifully, and is a satisfying way to get a Christmas really going on the dining table.

Aside religion, as usually only Christian or Catholic friends celebrate Christmas, which I'm not. Christmas is my favorite holiday season! It is the time when overindulgence is not just encouraged, it's pretty overdained. But it also need to be relished. I love it when I sees everything in red when I walk into the shopping centre. I love to see Santa, Rudolph, all the Christmas motif, Christmas food, and everything about Christmas! Now that I had my own residence. I wish and I'd like to try to make it a tradition - that my house celebrates Christmas every year. Just like Chinese New Year, we never failed having reunion dinner with our family. So that my future child will appreciate Christmas too!

This is the 2nd time I baked this recipe. The very 1st time I baked, that was 2 years ago. It is meant for Max birthday that falls on 26th December, boxing day. Last year's Christmas was hectic and I didn't even have time to feed myself well. So, I skipped all the cooking and baking. This year, I want to bake it again, and I pledge, I will try to bake it every year!

This ingredient uses 23cm Round cake tin or 20cm Square cake tin. But I baked TWO 6 inch round cake tin instead. So that I get 2 cakes :)

Ingredient

(Source : Nigella Lawson's Nigella Christmas, slightly modified)

Mixed fruits

700g Raisins
300g Currants
50g Mixed Citrus Peel (This is not stated in Nigella's recipe, and it's optional)
100g Glacé Cherries
400ml Bourbon or Brandy (I used Brandy)

Nuts

150g Chopped Pecans (or Walnut as alternative), just roughly chopped will do

Wet ingredients

300g Butter
180g Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Lemon Zest, grated
4 large Eggs
2 tbsp Molasses or Black Treacle
1 tsp Almond Essence (but I think this is optional)

Dry ingredients

300g Plain Flour
150g Ground Almond
½ tsp Ground Cloves
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp Ground Ginger

Icing (Optional)

250g Snow White Fondant
250g Marzipan
1 to 2 tbsp Orange Marmalade

This is the shop-bought fondant and marzipan. Fondant can be found at Phoon Huat, while Marzipan can be found at Cold Storage.

Preparation

In Nigella's original recipe, she place all the dried fruits in a saucepan, add bourbon or brandy. Bring to the boil, then take it off the heat, covering once cooled, and let it steep overnight, covered.

But for this particular step, I didn't follow Nigella's instruction. Because I don't wanna cook the Brandy. I pre-soaked the fruits (except Glacé Cherries) into Brandy, nicely sealed them in a big glass air-tight Tupperware. Occasionally give it a good shake, so that the fruits are well coated with Brandy. I did this 2 weeks before I bake them. So, I usually plan ahead. But well, you could just follow Nigella's way of doing it. Or you could just soak your fruits for a week, and then bake it a day before Christmas! It should be fine! :)

On baking day, make sure eggs and butter is in room temperature.

Method

Prepare cake tin - line the sides and bottom of the cake tin. The paper should come up to a good 10cm higher than the sides of the tin. That's about twice as deep as the tin. This is to protect the cake from burning, because this cake takes longer time to cook in the oven.
Preheat oven to 150 degree.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then beat in the grated lemon zest.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the molasses and almond extract.
Sift the dry ingredients together, then under low speed, mix the soaked fruit alternatively with the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, combining thoroughly. Fold in the chopped pecans.
Put the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven until cooked. Cooking time is between 2hrs + 45mins ~ 3hrs + 15mins or until a cake-tester / skewer inserted into the cake comes out cleanish.
Once the cake is cooked, it will looks dry. So, do brush with couple of extra tablespoons of brandy. Wrap it immediately in it's tin - using double thickness of tin foil, as this will trap the heat and form steam, which is turn will keep the cake soft on top.
When it's completely cooled. remove the cake from the tin and re wrap in foil (or clingwrap), storing, preferably in air-tight container for at least 3 weeks to improve the flavor. But I don't think I could keep that long. I'd probably just keep it for a week or two the most. I have a big mice in my house.
The day before your party, take the cake out of the chiller (or freezer), make sure cake are thawed into room temperature before you do your icing. If you cake is cold, the fondant will sweat and end up melting. Spread a layer of marmalade, roll marzipan and cover it nicely. Cut away the excess. And then cover it with fondant by repeating the process. Roll fondant flat, cover the cake, cut away excess. Give the cake some nice deco's and you are done.

Note :

I added mixed citrus peel to give this cake more citrus taste in overall. However, the choice is your's. It is not stated in Nigella's recipe tho.
I didn't soak the Glacé Cherries in the Brandy, as for appearance wise, I want the cherries color to outshine in the cake. If the Glacé Cherries soaked with brandy for long time, it will turn dark in color. But of course, soaked Glacé Cherries taste better. So, this is an option for your consideration.
For ground cloves, ground cinnamon and ground ginger - If you can't get all of them, just get a bottle of Mixed Spice. It's fine to use.
You could get all the ingredients from Phoon Huat or Cold Storage. But Cold Storage might not have everything listed above. Especially ground almond and mixed citrus peel. For Brandy, try to get it from duty free store at the airport. It's much cheaper.
You can choose to ice your cake or you can choose to leave it naked. I usually don't ice my cake because I don't really fancy fondant. For this time, I ice it with fondant is because I needa take photos. But I didn't handle my fondant well. It is my first time using fondant, so, please forgive me for this awful fondant result.

The naked christmas cake...

Here's the "make-ahead tip" given by Nigella.

Make the cake upto 6 weeks ahead and wrap in a double layer of greaseproof paper and then a double layer of foil. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Chiller is the best place. You could add abit more brandy over this storage time to feed the cake and keep moist.
Or you could make this way even ahead! You could wrap it as above, freeze for up to 1 year. To thaw, unwrap the cake and thaw overnight at room temperature, or thaw it in the chiller for 24 hours (or more). Rewrap and store as above until needed. I tried this before. I baked earlier, freeze it and thaw it for later use. I can assure you, IT WORKS WELL!

With the make-ahead tip, you can now bake it ahead and store it for Chinese New Year! Once the cake is nicely thawed, you could decorate it with flower motif according to the festive season! Cool idea heh? I baked 2 cakes at a time. One for Christmas, another one freeze it for Chinese New Year. One stone kill two birds! Hehe... :D

This is my Mother-In-Law's idea. Full of candy cane. She says this can make people happy. She join in the fun when she sees me doing icing for my cake.

While for me, I'd prefer something simple :)

Let the scent of Christmas baking fill the air and bring joy to your home!

It's really my pleasure to have this opportunity to up-close and personal with celebrity Chef Sam Leong and his wife Chef Forest Leong at Forest 森 @ ResortsWorld Sentosa. This lunchtime demo class is organized by The National Population and Talent Division and I'm one of the invited one.

The culinary maestro - Chef Sam Leong, the well-known Singapore celebrity chef who has 26 years of culinary expertise and innovation. And no. This guy is not your traditional chinese chef. He's much much more than that. I remembered how my mother adore Sam's way of steaming fish after she watched the cooking show on the TV last time.

Max supposed to go with me. But he couldn't make it. So, I brought Henny along instead. She 's very happy when I asked her to join. Hahaha..

They serves lovely Canapés, plated in Western-style. They doesn't looks plain lovely, but yummy too!
The spread of the Canapés are decent, and for the ingredients used, it's on the pricey side.

This is one of my favorite, baby ice cream cone with a scoop of tuna tartare. And I think there are mango and avocado in there.

This pickled cherry tomatoes preserved with juice plum I assume, it taste really nice and refreshing!

My saliva dripping when I saw this, and then, I took this picture of it. And when I wanna eat, the demo starting. So, I didn't get to taste this! Sigh! :(

Forest Restaurant has super high ceiling that provides ample space for it's centerpiece. This place serves chinese fusion cuisine. You don't expect to see so much of a greens in the restaurant, although the restaurant's name is "Forest". You have to walk out of it in order to see the greens. It's pretty spacious and cozy. I think it's really nice.

An open kitchen is a rarity in a Chinese restaurant. For Chinese restaurant, this is the first time I see open concept kitchen. Which gives me the first impression that, "I think Sam Leong's menu might avoid hard core wok hei cooking." Hahaha...

Chef Sam and Chef Forest cookbook displayed in the restaurant :)

This is the lunch that Forest Restaurant prepared for us. MaPo Tofu with short grain rice, and Ee Fu noodles. When the food is served, it smells really good!

The food is indeed delicious and I promise, this definitely won't let you down. And this is the proof... Look at Henny, she's happy holding her bowl of food. Hahahha..

The first thought I had when I saw the Ee fu noodles, I was thinking, okay, I love this! Does this involves dramatic big fire cooking? But it's open concept kitchen. How? Hahaha... But when I tasted it, I knew this Culinary Maestro is indeed has his ways of pleasing the palate. Yes, you won't miss the wok hei! And I realized that this taste really really close to the one I had in Hong Kong. The unique taste that I'd never taste it somewhere else. For instance, I thought it's something like toasted ground peanut or something. The aroma is just indescribable. Out of curiosity, I asked chef Forest, she said that it is Bian Yu. The ingredient that only Hong Kong chef will use. You can't find it else-where, unless you fly to Hong Kong.

The MaPo tofu taste really good. Minced meat spicy beancurd, cooked in excellent gravy that goes well with rice. And then it makes me feel even happier when I saw lots of chives on top. Hahaha... It taste pretty mild, not too hot. Although I prefer it to be hotter, but well, it must suit the general taste-bud. Some people can't take too spicy food. This might be something simple, but I'd assure you, this is really satisfying!

After we enjoyed our lunch, chef Sam demonstrate his signature dish - Black Pepper Prawn. It supposed to be black pepper crab, one of the most welcoming way to cook crabs in Singapore. But he substitute with prawn, as prawn is easier for a demo class :)

And it's done! It's pretty simple actually. This scrumptious dish consist of black pepper, butter, ketchup, HP sauce and others. Easy!

This piece of black beauty really makes me wanna eat more. Too addictive!

After attended his demo class, I think he is not as fierce as what we usually see on the TV. He is quite friendly and approachable actually. He and his wife is there ready to answer to all our questions. And this guy crack really good jokes too! Hahaha...

I really have to thank chef Sam and chef Forest for their hospitality. It is such a wonderful experience. We had good food, nice environment, awesome people, and great time!

If I had a chance, I would definitely revisit Forest Restaurant again :)

What about serving a bowl of French Onion soup for lunch this weekend? Yes! absolutely easy to prepare and simple ingredients, but it makes great soup! Well, I'm sure about it. With this classic favorite soup, and I'm sure it will definitely wow your family and guests!

It's rainy season recently. I serve this to our friends on our dining table for casual Sunday lunch at our home. This soup warmth the stomach and gives really good comforting flavor.

If you are looking for something fuss free, this is the right soup you should prepare. You could cook this the night before. I did it. The next day, I reheat it when you want to serve. It taste even better!

These are the main ingredients we need. Easily available at Cold Storage and NTUC. It's easy! I assure you. Don't fret.

Onions

White wine, dry thymes, bay leaves, garlic and pepper.

Beef stock and Chicken stock

I know what you'd probably thinking, "Using pre-packed soup stock? It's not healthy you know?!" Uh! Well, life is short. This is what restaurants had been serving you actually. Aside hotels and restaurants that has big organization behind, small medium sized restaurants serving you this! And you won't wanna go thru the hassle of making your own beef stock! Well, chicken stock, yes. Possible. I did it at home too. But no. Not for beef stock. It's too expensive and too much effort to do so. Beef in Singapore is expensive.

If you don't agree with me, skip this recipe. Or share with me how much you struggle cooking your own beef stock at home. I'd be very happy to hear your story.

If you agree with me, let's move on and start cooking....

Ingredient (Serves 6 to 7)
(Recipe Source : Two Fat Bellies,with modification to suit my own)

For the soup

750g Yellow Onions
1 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Sugar
2 cloves Minced Garlic
150ml White Wine / Sherry
1 pc Bay Leaves
1/4 tbsp Dry Thymes
1L Chicken Stock
1L Beef Stock
dashes of pepper to taste
a pinch of salt to taste (optional)

For the cheese toast

Few slices of baguette slice
a tsp of minced garlic
generous amount of grated Parmesan Cheese

Method

Halved the onions and cut thinly.
Melt the butter in a large pan, under medium low heat, add onions and sugar, slowly caramelize the onions till slightly golden and wet. About 30mins cooking time.
Add in minced garlic. Give it a good stir.
Add beef and chicken stock, bay leaves, dry thymes, and white wine. Bring to a boil.
Reduce to medium low fire, covered with pot lid, and slowly simmer for 30mins, remember to stir it occasionally.
Add pepper and salt to taste. But beef stock and chicken stock has mild saltiness. So, adding salt is optional.
Meantime, cut the baguette into thick slices, rub some minced garlic at one side, top generous amount of Parmesan cheese on top, and grill it in the oven. Once the cheese is melted and slightly golden brown, and it's done.
For serving, dish up on a soup bowl, drench a thick slice of cheese toast and serve immediately.

Step 1 : Halved the onions and cut thinly.

Step 2: Melt the butter in a large pan, under medium low heat, add onions and sugar, slowly caramelize the onions till slightly golden and wet.

After 30mins of low fire cooking. The onions are nicely caramelized. But not burnt at all.

Saw the sticky liquid stick on the spoon? This is the caramelized sauce. Slowly caramelized onions bring out deep, rich, sweet flavor as the natural sugars in the onions caramelize.

Although it takes abit of time to cook em'. This soup will gives your home a transcendent aroma bouncing off every wall, the kind of distracting that makes you kept thinking that onion soup is waiting for you!

Making this soup is indeed simple, cheap and guaranteed comforting! I hope you like it! :D

This is the most memorable food that I'd ever had in Cameron Highland. The weather is cold and drizzling. I was wearing thick jacket and my shade. Walking along the roadside with my empty stomach, and when I saw a stall selling fried sweet potato balls infront of me, it's like seeing water in the middle of sahara desert! OMG!!! This is really to-die-for! Hahaha :D

OMG! It's crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy inside. The feeling is just out of the world!

This month is Pahang month Malaysian Food Fest (MFF). I had been crazily busy due to my assignments over assignments. But I tell myself, no matter what, I will want to contribute something to MFF every month if I could. I know it's pretty late now. But at least better than nothing la :)

This recipe makes about 50pcs balls. If you think this is too much for you, half the recipe.

Ingredient
(Source: SeaSaltWithFood, with modification)

450g Orange Sweet Potato Flesh
250g Glutinous Rice Flour
30g Corn Flour
130g Sugar
½ tsp Sea Salt (Original recipe asking for ¼ tsp only)
Oil for deep-frying

The original recipe ask for 100g Grated Coconut. But I omitted this. Because I don't remember there's grated coconut in the fried sweet potato balls that I tasted in Cameron Highland. You could add grated coconut if you want.

Method

Skinned sweet potatoes, cleaned, cut into big chunk. Boil sweet potatoes in a pot of water until tender. This takes me about 20mins.
Discard water, in a big bowl, mash the potatoes.
I put mashed potatoes into mixer bowl, add in glutinous rice flour, corn flour, sugar and sea salt and let my mixer do the work. If you are using hand, mix all ingredients together and knead lightly to form a smooth dough.
Pinch a small piece of dough (about 15g each), with both palm, roll and form into a smooth ball.
Heat up oil in a wok, with medium low fire, put the balls into the wok, estimate about 6 to 8 balls each time, fry until golden brown. This should take about 3 minutes. Remove and drain on a paper towel.
Repeat the frying process until all potato balls are done. Serve immediately.

Please do not attempt to make the potato balls bigger. If you intend to make it bigger, the deep-frying time will be longer. You won't wanna eat half cooked potato balls.

This is the orange sweet potatoes that I got from the wet market. 530grams, and it cost me S$1.50.

I love to see the beautiful orange color sweet potatoes. Nice!

This home made sweet potato balls, golden brown, crispy on the outside, soft and chewy inside, the natural sweetness and flavor of sweet potatoes.

Take a bite.... Yumm!!! It's simply addictive!

The best part about this fried sweet potato balls is that, they are so so so soooo easy to make! :D

I am submitting this to MFF Pahang Month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for two...or more.

I'm not a perfectionist, I'm just somebody ordinary who cook at home. Home-cooked food with flaws is absolutely forgiving. So, you don't have to worry when your home-cooked food doesn't looks like those in the restaurant. It is silly to think that anything less than perfect is a disappointment.

Here, I'd like to introduce you this Duck Fats Potatoes. The perfect roast potatoes!

The original name of this dish is Perfect Roast Potatoes. But I didn't use goose fats. Instead, I used duck fats. Also, I don't think I roast it perfectly as appeared in Nigella Lawson's book. And the main reason why this potatoes taste that welcoming is because of rendered duck fats! So, I named it Duck Fats Potatoes instead.

This is a bottle of Rougie Graisse De Canard - duck fats that I got from Delicia.com at S$12.00 during promotion. You could find it from The Butcher, Jones The Grocer and some other gourmet shops that sells french food supplies.

As stated on Nigella's book, I quote "A good roast potato isn't about showing off or about striving desperately to impress. Nor is it a difficult thing to achieve, but can't pretend it isn't a high pressure zone."

Well, to me, as long as you follow some important steps, I don't know why you will fail.

Ingredients(Serves 5 to 6 as side dish)
(Source : Modified from Nigella Lawson's Christmas Perfect Potatoes recipe)

1 to 1.2kg Potatoes
160g Duck Fats (Half Jars from 320g bottle), or goose fats if you want
2 tbsp Semolina (or Plain Flour as a substitute)
sprinkle of sea salt (optional)

There's nothing further to say. This recipe is most pleasing for it's simplicity.

Method

Peel and cut potatoes, each one into 3, by cutting off each end at a slant, so that you are left with a wedge or triangle in the middle.
Pre-heat oven to 250C, top + bottom heat, fan ON.
Put the potatoes into salted, cold water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Letting them cook for 4 minutes.
Drain the potatoes in a colander, then tip them back into the empty, dry colander, and sprinkle the semolina (or flour) over.
Shake the potatoes around to coat them well. Give them a good proper bashing so that their edges fuzz and blur a little, this facilitates the crunch effect later. Leave them to rest at this stage.
Put the duck fats into a large roasting tin and then into the oven to heat up, and get frighteningly hot. You can heat it up over stove if you want. It's up to you. As long as you make sure the duck fats is frighteningly hot. It's like, you could see smokes coming up, and you started to worry that your kitchen is gonna burnt down anytime. Yea. this is the right time to add your potatoes in.
When the fat is as hot as it can be, tip the potatoes carefully into it. Becareful! They splutter terrifically as you put them in, but it's just the beginning part. And roast it in the oven for an hour, but take it out and give the potatoes a flip every 20 minutes. Not necessarily 1 hour, but as long as the potatoes are darkly golden and crispy, you're done.
When everything else is served up, transfer the potatoes to a large serving dish, sprinkle a pinch of salt over if you want, and bring to the table with pride in your heart!

Step 4 - Sprinkle semolina / flour over.

Step 5 - Shake the potatoes around to coat them well.

Note : I only used half jars of duck fats. If you want really good result, go ahead and use the whole jar. With lots of fats, it cooks well, and minimize the work of flipping the potatoes (at least not that often). But to me, I'd say, it is not really necessary to cook it with that amount of fats when you can take it out and flip the potatoes every 20mins. It works.

Boastfulness and vainglory are not attractive nor would I want to encourage them in you (or myself), but when you've cooked these and see them in all their golden glory on the table, I think you deserves the praises by your guests on how awesome these roast potatoes are. They looks plain and not really appealing. But the first bite, it is sweet and soft inside, and a golden-brown crunch outside. Yumms!!!

Get that right and the rest should follow. No reason why not! Just do it! :D

Chinese New Year is a season for savoring cakes. Not those typical type of baked cakes like butter cakes. It's like sticky rice cakes (年糕), the most common one. Because the word "cake" (糕) and "high" (高) are both pronounces as 'gou' in cantonese. It is somehow regarded as a simbolic food for bringing 'rising' goodwill.

Water Chestnut Cake is commonly eaten in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year. But not a 'must-have' cake in Malaysia and Singapore on this festive season. Some family does this, some don't. But I'd like to have this at my home during Chinese New Year :)

Since it is not so possible for me to make the super-time-consuming sticky rice cakes at home, I decided to make water chestnut cake instead. It is a cake that is much more easier for you to replicate it at home. It's not time consuming. You can plan to do it ahead and keep it in the fridge for upto a week. Spread the schedule! And you will be able to handle the Chinese New Year feast for your family :)

These are all you need. It's easy, and not complicated.

Ingredient

220g Water Chestnut Flour (马蹄粉)
1.2L Water (水)
3.5 slabs of Sugar Piece (冰片糖) About 308g (Mine is about 88g per piece)
160g Water Chestnut (马蹄) About 8 pcs (or more if you want)

This cake is easy to make. With all the ingredients ready, I get this done in less than an hour.

Method

Water Chestnut - cleaned, peeled, chopped into pieces or diced. Up to you. If you are slow, soak the peeled chestnut into the water to avoid turning rusty. Chop it only when you are ready to cook.
Grease a 7 x 7 inch cake tin or a dish that is big enough for your cake.
In a bowl, add in water chestnut powder with 600ml water (cold tap water). Stir until smooth and dissolved.
In a pot or a cooking wok, boil 600ml water with sugar. Once it's boiled, take 1/3 portion of dissolved chestnut powder mixture and pour it into the boiling sugar water. Do not stop stirring while you pour them in.
Continue to stir it until it thickened.
Once it is lightly boiled, turn off heat. Immediately, stir in the remaining 2/3 portion dissolved chestnut powder mixture.
Continue to stir them. This takes some effort here. I stirred mine for about 7 to 10 minutes. This is to achieve lump-free smooth paste.
Pour the mixture into the greased cake tin or the dish. Use a spatula to flatten the surface.
Steam it for about 20 minutes.
Leave it at room temperature environment until it's completely cooled. Cling wrap it and you could keep em' in the fridge for upto a week.

To Serve

Remove the whole cake from the cake tin or dish. Cut them into pieces.
In a non-stick pan, add some cooking oil.
Prepare a bowl of sugar, pat some sugar (a few pinch) on each piece of water chestnut cake, and put them on the pan to lightly fry it under medium heat.
When the cake turns light golden brown, then, it is ready. Dish up and serve.

Note

Dissolved chestnut powder mixture is like corn starch mixed with water. The powder will settle to the bottom. Do give it a good stir before mixing them into the hot water. This will ensure the dissolved chestnut powder mixture are evenly mixed.
Other water chestnut recipe won't tell you to pat some sugar on the water chestnut cake before pan-frying. But mine, yes. The sugar gives good caramelized color on each piece of cake. This also explains why the sugar level that I used to cook the water chestnut cake is is lower than other recipe. Because I split up the usage of sugar.
You could get water chestnut flour at Phoon Huat and other neighbourhood chinese medicinal hall. You could also get sugar slabs from these two place too.
You could substitute sugar slabs with rock sugar. But rock sugar won't gives you the light brown color. If you couldn't find sugar slabs, try to get brown rock sugar instead. This lovely light brown color indeed gives more festive feel :)
If you are pan-frying the chestnut cake pieces for the first time, do it with a small portion to get the feel of it, and see how it works out in your pan. For the first time, it might cause easy sticking. But if your pan is decently heated, it shouldn't be any problem.

Take a bite on this warm caramelized, sweet and gooey cake. Chewing on it, the bits of juicy water chestnut add a nice crunch and gives you another level of refreshing sweetness. Wooh!

There are so many Chinese New Year goodies that I wanna make. But I have very limited time. So, I'd probably settle with some basic Chinese New Year food instead of fanciful cooks and bakes this year. Maybe next year, I will make more varieties :)

I hope you like it!

What are comfort foods? They are foods that soothe the psyche, mostly are those food that reminding us of comforting childhood memories. For most of us, these foods are far from gourmet and generally epitomize home cooking. They invoke feelings of nostalgia, safety, and security. Did I hit the spot? Yes? Haha...

Braised Mushroom, Sea Cucumber and Pig Trotter. This is actually one of my childhood dish that I will only get to eat once a year during Chinese New Year. Since I said it is my childhood dish, of course, this is also my mother's recipe.

I cooked this about 8 months ago I think. But I wait till now then I post this recipe up. My mother passed this recipe to me, and I just do it accordingly. No more, no less. With that, I whipped up the dish that is exactly the same as the one my mother cook.

This dried seafood dish is expensive. Ingredients are costly. And probably because of it's high cost, we only get to eat it once a year.

Here, these are the ingredients that you need. You can get all of them from Chinatown wet market.

Ingredient

2 Shop-bought roasted pig trotter 烧猪脚, about 880gm (you could use raw pig trotter also)
1pc Sea Cucumber 海参, buy pre-soaked one at the market, about 250g
10pc Dried Chinese Mushroom 香菇
1pc Dried Cuttlefish 鱿鱼干 / 铞片, about 25g
10pc Dried Oysters 耗干, about 50g
10pc Dried Scallops 干贝, about 50g
40g Garlic 蒜头 / 香蒜 (I used fragrant garlic)
50g Ginger 姜
2tbsp Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce 李锦记特制耗油
1tbsp Dark Soy Sauce 黑酱油
1tbsp Sugar 糖
1/2 tbsp Salt 盐
1L Water 水
Corn Starch (est. 1tbsp corn flour / tapioca flour 薯粉 / 钛白粉 + 3tbsp water 水)

Note :

1) You could get roasted pig trotter at wet market. I got mine from Chinatown. I know it's difficult to get it over Chinese New Year. Try to get it in advance. Bring home, wrap it nicely and you could freeze it and cook it a week later. I did it. No problem at all. Oh yes! Remember to get them to cut into big chunk for you. If not, you will have hard time to chop it yourself at home.

2) If you can't get roasted pig trotter, you could use raw pig trotter too. But you have to blanch it before you use. But of course, roasted pig trotter gives better taste in overall.

3) Pre-soaked sea cucumber too, you could get it from wet market. Available at tofu and fishballs stall. Price usually slightly more expensive during Chinese New Year.

4) Try to use Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce if you could. Especially for this dish. Yes, this is more expensive. About S$6.50 during promo and it should be S$6.85 at a normal price at NTUC. But I swear that this taste the nicest of all.

Preparation

Soak dried mushrooms the night before. Drain and and squeeze away the water.
Rinse dried cuttlefish, give it a good rub, snipped into pieces.
Dried oyster washed and soaked. Discard the water once the dried oyster soaked till swollen.
Dried scallops washed and soaked. Take away the scallops from water once scallop size expanded. Keep the water. We can use it for cooking later.
Ginger and Garlic - Skinned off, and bruised.
Cut pre-soaked Sea Cucumber into big pieces.

This is how it looks like, and it's ready to cook.

This is the Sea Cucumber that I got from the wet market. This cost me about S$12 per piece. I'm not feeding the whole village. I only need 1 piece. I don't have to soak dried sea cucumber on my own. If I do, it takes 3 days to do so. This is too time consuming.

Cut them into big chunks. Don't cut them too small. Because once you braise it later, sea cucumber will "melt" abit. If the sea cucumber too small, it might end up gone vanished! Hahaha...

Method

In a big wok, heat up 2 tbsp cooking oil. Fry garlic and ginger till fragrant.
Add in pig trotter pieces, cuttlefish and mushroom, fry for a minute.
Add sugar, salt, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce. Fry for another 5 minutes or so. Until you smell the fragrant. Heat off. Prepare a pot (I use slow cooker).
Dish up pig trotter pieces and put it at the bottom of a pot as 1st layer.
Pour in the mushrooms and cuttlefish on top of the pig trotter as 2nd layer.
Add in 1L Water, and also the flavorful water that you used to soak the scallop, put dried scallops on top as 3rd layer. Water level should cover the mushroom level nicely. Not too much, not too little. If not enough water, add more. Do take note, you are not cooking a pot of soup. If too much water, it will affect the taste of the dish.
Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat and braise it for 45 to 50mins. DO NOT disturb or flip the dish during braising! After 45 to 50mins, mushrooms should be soft and flavorful by now.
Add in sea cucumber pieces as 4th layer. Continue to braise for another 10 to 15mins, or once sea cucumber soften, it is ready. If your sea cucumber is bigger piece, it might need to braise slightly longer. You just have to eyeball it yourself.

To Serve

Gently scoop the sea cucumber and scallops aside. Scallops are now soft and fragile, try not to break it. If you break it, it won't looks nice in appearance. And this is why I said, DO NOT flip or disturb the dish during the braising process. We wanna maintain the ingredient in nice piece. If you flip it, you will break the scallops into pieces, and it won't looks nice anymore. Pig trotters are soft, and it will also torn into pieces.
Dish up the rest of the ingredients, arrange them nicely on a plate. Leaving the sauce behind.
Put scallops and sea cucumber on top of the dish.
Now, strain the sauce. Try not to skip this. Straining the sauce gives you nice and clean looking sauce in appearance.
Reheat the strained sauce in a saucepan. Taste. Adjust to your preferred saltiness if necessary. But to me, not necessary.
Once the taste is right and it's heated, add in some corn starch to kinda slightly thicken it. Eyeball it yourself. If you want thicker sauce, you just add more corn starch.
Pour the thickened sauce on top of the dish. It will give the dish a beautiful glaze look.
Garnish, and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Step 5 : Reheating strained sauce.

While I'm writing this post, my tummy actually rumbling so loudly. Look at those golden brown color yummy pieces of dried seafood, I really feel like eating it now. How I wish I could turn this photo into real dish in just a click! Hahaha...

Urgh! My plate too small. I know. This is the only large plate I have back then. So, I just make do with it la.

It is a time consuming dish. But this is the most significant dish in my family's reunion dinner! I'm so so so proud of my mama for this dish. I just can't help sharing this recipe to everybody :)

I'm gonna cook this again over Chinese New Year. Yumms! :)

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover.

This is a very last minute submission for Negeri Sembilan's month for Malaysian Food Fest (MFF). Hody is the host for this month. I wanna support her so much and I tell myself I must create something for Negeri Sembilan!

Ikan Goreng Bercili - The minang cuisine from Minangkabau people.

The Minangkabau people of Sumatra came to settle down in Negeri Sembilan in the 15th century. And that is why, Minangkabau people has become part of the population in Negeri Sembilan. Their staple ingredients are usually rice, fish, coconut, vegetables and chilli. Yes! Chilli! Spiciness is a characteristic of Minangkabau food. The most commonly used herbs and spices are chilli, turmeric, ginger and galangal.

I fought my way through the rush hour right after work. Telling myself that I must make this dish tonight. From buying fresh fish, prepare ingredients, to cooking and cleaning. With the time limitation, it's really not easy. Not that the dish is difficult. Time limitation is always the challenging part you know. But I did it!

I wanted to use Tilapia for this dish actually. But no luck today. I couldn't get fresh Tilapia. By the time when I knock off and rush to the super mart, I already quite late. Not much of a choice tho. I make do with Sea Bream instead. Sea Bream is cheap and taste good too. This two fishes cost me less than S$4.00. Infact, you can use any fish you want for this dish. It's really up to individual.

Ingredient
(Recipe Source : Wendyinkk & Atie Aizam with slight modification)

1 Sea Bream or Tilapia or any other fish.
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar (optional)
1/2 cup Cooking Oil

Chilli Paste

4 Red Chillies
3 Bird's eye chillies (you could use green or red color)
1 Red Onion
1 inch Ginger
4 cloves Garlic
1 heaped tsp Tamarind Paste + 2 tbsp Water

You could adjust the ratio of your chilli paste. You want it more fiery, add more bird's eye chillies. I didn't strictly follow their recipe. I just take it as a reference and adjust to my preferred taste. Max can't take too fiery food. He will complain. So, I reduced the amount of bird's eye chillies drastically. I'm glad that he didn't complain. He said the spiciness is ok for him to accept.

Method

Clean and scored the fish. Use kitchen towel to pat dry.
Marinate fish with salt and turmeric powder. Rub all over and inside out.
Pound the chilli paste ingredients together. You could use grinder to coarsely grind it too. But the result would be different. Pounding definitely gives better result.
Rub tamarind paste with 2 tbsp of water. Discard the seeds, and pour the tamarind juice on the chilli paste. Mix well. Set aside.
Heat a frying wok, add in cooking oil. Once oil is hot enough, put in the fish. Immediately turn the heat to medium low, fry both sides until golden brown. Once the fish is done, dish up and set aside.
Pour the oil (that you used to fry fish) on a bowl. You will see some residue at the bottom of the wok. Discard them. Give your wok a wash, and dry it with kitchen towel.
Return the wok to the stove. Heat up the oil that you used to fry fish. Saute the chilli paste and tamarind juice until fragrant and glossy. Taste, and season with salt (and sugar if needed).
Spread the cooked chilli paste on both side of the fish. Garnish and serve.

Note :

I only used 2 tbsp water to rub the tamarind paste. Reason is because I don't want too much liquid. I only want the flavour of the tamarind. So, very minimum water is used to rub the tamarind paste.
Pouring the oil on a bowl, discard the residue at the bottom of the wok, and washing the wok sounds tedious. But if you skipped this step, and straightaway pour your chilli paste to fry, your chilli paste will mix with unwanted residues that left behind after frying the fish. Look at the picture. My bowl of oil is clean even though it is used to fry fish earlier.
Sugar is to neutralize the spiciness of the chilli paste. I prefer to add some. But it's up to you.

Step 2 - Marinate fish with salt and turmeric powder.

Step 3 - Pound the chilli paste ingredients together.

And now, the fish is well fried. Pour the oil on a bowl, discard the oil's residue at the bottom of the wok, and you will see clean oil on the bowl. Use this clean oil to sautee the chilli paste and tamarind juice later.

This dish requires much lesser effort compared to my Ikan Gerang Asam that I cooked for Melaka Month. So, to me, this dish is pretty easy! And this dish looks pretty impressive too.

Don't get freaked out by the thick chilli paste spreaded on top and thinking that this would taste too fiery. When you are cooking it, you could adjust your own fiery level. It's all about individual preference! :)

I am submitting this post to MFF Negeri Sembilan month hosted by Hody Loh of Cook For You & Me.

Max enjoyed this crispy roast pork very much. He said this taste exactly like shop-bought one's. But for me, yes, it taste close to shop-bought one, but not exactly.

We were debating about it while we are having it over dinner. And I come to a conclusion that this taste more like Singapore's roast pork version. Not Malaysia version. To be precise, it doesn't taste like the one that I had in my home-town. I know, I had cursed tongue. So, please ignore me.

Roasting this piece of pork is not difficult. Getting the right piece of pretty pork belly is a challenge. Especially you don't know how to sweet talk with the butcher. Haha...

One fine Saturday, I woke up really early. Reach wet market 8.30am just for the sake of buying a piece of nice pork belly. (I usually wake up at 9.30am earliest during weekend. It's weekend you know? Haha)

I supposed to buy a piece of pork belly that gives me nice even layer of meat, fats, meat and fats. But I can't. Max will complain. Hahaha... Well, I picked this piece of nice pork belly. There's only a very thin layer of fats in-between. Not too fat. It's good enough to make him eat the whole piece of roasted pork without splitting out the fats when he eat. My butcher really not bad and I never regret for waking up early just to get this nice piece of meat.

After I bought my pork belly, I walked to the nearby Chinese medicinal hall to get a nice pack of five spice powder. And for the rest of the ingredients, I already have it at home. Easy! All I need is five spice powder, garlic, ground white pepper and salt to make our spice rub.

Ingredient
(Recipe Source : Nasi Lemak Lover, with modification)

1.2 kg Pork Belly, with skin on
1 tbsp Salt (for the skin)

For dry rub2 cloves Garlic, mashed (about 1 heaped tsp in total)
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp ground white pepper

1.5 tsp Salt

Nasi Lemak Lover's recipe is meant for 2.8kg pork belly. But I want my roast pork more flavorful. So, I just retain the ratio of five spice powder and ground white pepper. Also, I used fresh garlic instead. How flavorful you want your roast pork to be? Well, that's individual. So, please just take this as a guide. You can use the same recipe but make 1.5kg pork or 2kg pork. It's absolutely up to you.

Method

Heat up a wok of water. Blanch the pork belly in the wok of hot boiling water for about 4 to 5 minutes.
Fish up the pork belly and pat dry with paper towels. Be careful, the pork belly is hot.
With the ultimate skin torturer (skewer actually), prick the skin all over. Try to prick as much holes as you could. The more the better.
Mix dry rubs ingredient together, and apply on the pork belly all over. Give it a good massage. So that the dry rubs will go into every nook and cranny.
Once massage is done, place the pork on a wire rack. Rub 1 tbsp salt on the skin. Yes! Only the skin.
With the pork belly on the rack, place a tray underneath to catch the drippings, uncovered, place it in the fridge overnight and let it dry out. By keeping it overnight also allow the pork belly fully absorb the flavor of the dry rub. So, no short cut please.
Pre-heat oven 200C, top + bottom heat + Fan ON. With the pork belly still on the wire rack, put it into the oven. Let it roast for 25mins.
Switch the oven to top heat, increasing temperature to 230C. Grill until the skin is evenly blistered and browned. This takes me about 40mins. I did take the pork belly out twice during roasting to kinda check it and turn to another direction to let it roast evenly.
Once it's done, let it cool on a wire rack. I know it's hard to resist, but please leave the pork belly alone and let it cool down before you chop it.
Once the pork belly cooled down. Use knife to scrape away the charred skin (if any). Then, cut it into long strips, and chop them into bite size. Serve.

The ultimate skin torturer (skewer) that I used to prick the pork belly skin. I got it from Malaysia. Cost me RM 12.90. I think Singapore do sell too. If you want, you could try to hunt for it at places like Sia Huat or Lau Choy Seng at Chinatown. I think they should have this.

Step 6 - Place pork belly on the rack, place a tray underneath to catch the drippings, uncovered, place it in the fridge overnight and let it dry out.

Skin dries out after overnight drying in the fridge.

Make sure the pork has certain level away from the top heating element.

After 25mins roasting. Only very minimum blister on the skin. Not yet!

This is what we want! Nicely browned, and skin blistered all over! And slightly charred! But nevermind about the charred part. We could scrape them away. Mine charred actually. And when you achieved this, I assure you, your kitchen smells heavenly roasted pork! Hahaha...

One thing that I need to warn you is that, please be prepared to do thorough cleaning for your oven. Once my roasted pork is done. I let my oven to cool down, and then I spent alot of time cleaning it. Hahaha... Roasted pork smell~!!! LOL~!!!

Step 10 - Cut cooled roasted pork into long strips. Did you see how juicy the pork is? Yes! Let the meat rest is very important. It retain it's meat juice in there. If you chop your roast pork when it's still hot, the meat juice will all gone! And what will happen? You've got very soft meat pieces (because they are still hot), meat juices moisten the crispy skin, and your roast pork pieces will end up having soggy skin. Also, the meat will dry when you eat it. You just visualize that and you will know what I'm saying.

Did you see? Did you see that piece? The piece of roast pork at the side, with big and thick piece of crispy crackling skin on top!!! Yes!!! I want that piece~!!! I love it~!!!

I'm going to do this again. The next attempt, I will want to find back the taste like the one that I had in my home-town. That version contains chinese red fermented beancurd. So, it's gonna be different. Stay tuned!

Steamed taro cake aka woo-tau-koh (芋头糕) in Cantonese is another dish that people like to make during Chinese New Year. Anything with the word "koh" 糕 (高) is auspicious during CNY. As I mentioned before, "koh" (高) means achieving great heights in all endeavors. Sounds auspicious, exotic and colorful looking kuih!

After Serene grumbled to me that she did drastic failure of her steamed pumpkin cake, I decided to get her to come to my place and I do a demo of this steamed savory steamed taro cake. I prefer taro cake than pumpkin cake by the way.

This is one of my favorite savory kuih during my childhood time. We usually had this for breakfast :)

I have my own steamed taro cake recipe last time. But I lost that paper during house moving. So, no choice. I googled around for a good steamed taro cake recipe, read a few recipe book. Finally, I decided to follow the recipe from Y3K recipe book. Simply because Y3K's version ask for five spice powder. Haha! I call this Malaysian style steamed taro cake!

Recipe
(Adapted from : Y3K Recipe Book)

Ingredient (A)

300g Rice Flour
3 tbsp Plain Flour
1200g Water

Ingredient (B)

450g Taro (I used Thai Taro), diced
300g Water
75g Fried Dried Shrimps
1.5 tbsp Minced Shallot
1.5 tbsp Minced Garlic
6 tbsp Cooking Oil

Seasoning

1.5 tsp White Pepper
1.5 tsp Good Quality Five Spice Powder
2 tsp Salt

For Garnishing

1 Spring Onions, diced
1 Chinese Parsley, chopped
2 Red Chillies, sliced
1 tbsp Toasted Sesame
50g Fried Dried Shrimps
100g Fried Shallots
some Shallot Oil

Steamed taro cake can be simple, but can be tricky too. So, searching for the recipe that gives you the right flour and liquid ratio is very crucial.

Preparation

Do all the necessary cutting and chopping for spring onions, parsley, chillies, shallots, garlic and yam.
Soak dried shrimps (75g + 50g) till soft, drained, and finely chopped. Some cooking oil on a heated wok, pan-fry chopped dried shrimps under medium low heat till dry and fragrant. It depends on the quality of your dried shrimps too. If your dried shrimps is at salty side, add a teaspoon of sugar during pan-frying. Once done, dish up, divide 50g out and set aside for garnishing use.
Peel shallots, washed, sliced, and fry till golden brown. Dish fried shallots up and put it on kitchen towel. Set the shallot oil aside. You need it later.
Combine Ingredient (A) together, stir well to dissolve. Strain trough a sieve to free batter from lumps, rest it for 15mins.

Method

Prepare a square pan, about 8.5cm. Grease it with some oil.
Heat up a wok with oil, add in minced shallots and garlic in, and fry till fragrant. Add in 75g pan fried dried shrimps and stir well.
Toss in taro cubes, add in seasoning (pepper, five spice powder and salt), give it a toss. Add 300g water. Simmer the taro for awhile, like 2 minutes or so.
Turn fire into medium low heat, mix the rested batter into the taro. Keep on stirring batter till it turns to a thick consistency and then heat off.
Pour the thick batter into the greased pan. Steam the taro cake on high heat for 45mins or till cooked. Use a satay stick to test the cake. If the stick comes out without stickiness, then, the cake is cooked.
Garnish the cake while it's hot. This is to prevent the garnishing from falling off.
Cool the cake well before slicing.

Step 4 : Turn fire into medium low heat, mix the rested batter into the taro. Keep on stirring batter till it turns to a thick consistency.

Step 5 : Pour the thick batter into the greased pan. Steam the taro cake on high heat for 45mins or till cooked.

Step 6 : Garnish the cake while it's hot. This is to prevent the garnishing from falling off.

Here's the garnishing that I've prepared. Sprinkle everything on top of the steamed taro cake except shallot oil. Drizzle some shallot oil on top of the steamed kuih when served, this is to add another level of fragrance.

Every family has different recipe. Be it the ratio of flour and liquid, or the garnishing part. It all depends on personal preference. Some people prefer to add some Chinese sausage, some recipe is without five spice powder. For peranakan version, they add pork belly in it too. But for this recipe, it taste very very close to the one I had during my childhood time.

I like my taro cake filled with chunks of taro with bite texture. But Thai taro get soften easily, and I did a mistake for dicing the taro too small. So, my taro cake end up didn't have visible taro cubes on the picture. Well, you could adjust the amount of taro cubes as you desire.

I steamed quite a big portion of taro cake actually. Serene took some home. Max had some as supper, and I keep a portion for next day breakfast. All of them gave good review on my steamed taro cake. I'm so so so glad. Max is very particular over steamed savory cake. So, if the texture is not right, he will just walk away. This is how fussy he is towards such kuih.

If you are feeding a small family, half the recipe. If you have left-overs, keep the cake into the fridge. When you want to eat, add abit of oil and pan fry it and serve hot :)

I hope you like it :)

I prepared this as part of the dish on the 7th day of Chinese New Year for my family. My mother says this dish need abit of kungfu 功夫 (skills) in order to make it perfect. Somehow, I do agree. Especially the heat control part. Haha..

My mother told me that Cantonese usually prepare fish porridge, stir fried rice vermicelli and fried sticky rice cake in celebrating of 7th day of Chinese New Year. Although I don't really know the significance behind, but this is what my family usually do when I was young.

This is not just for Chinese New Year. It makes great party finger food too. I always keep left-over sticky rice cake in my fridge every year :)

Ingredient (Makes about 10 pieces)
(Recipe Source : My mother - Mdm. Chai)

about 250g Sticky Rice Cake 年糕 (must use hardened sticky rice cake)
about 300g Taro 芋头 (I use Thai Taro)
about 300g Orange Sweet Potatoes 橙色番薯

Don't buy exact weight of taro and sweet potatoes. You have to buy more. Because if you want to cut them into equal square piece like mine, get prepared to have some wastage. Oh well, if you don't want wastage, you don't have to follow my way :)

The Batter

4 tbsp Plain Flour 面粉
1 tbsp Cake Flour 蛋糕粉
1 tbsp Rice Flour 粘米粉
1/2 tbsp Tapioca Flour 薯粉
1 Egg 鸡蛋
40ml to 50ml Water 水 (or more)
1/2 tsp Sugar 糖
a pinch of Salt 盐

Method

Heat up some oil for deep frying using medium low heat. Once the oil is hot enough, reduce to low heat.
Sandwich the sticky rice cake with taro at one side, and sweet potato at another side.
With the help of chopstick and spoon, coat the sandwich with batter, try to maintain it's shape, put the coated sandwich into the oil and fry it.
Under low fire, slowly fry the sandwiched sticky rice cake. This is to ensure the taro and sweet potatoes are equally cooked before the batter turned golden. If your fire is too high, the batter will turn brown very fast, and you get raw taro and sweet potatoes. This is very important. Do remember. Heat control is very very important. If you are not confident enough, use a skewer to test poke on the sandwiched sticky rice cake to see if the entire piece of sandwiched sticky rice cake is cooked. When you tested one, you should be able to gauge the frying time for the next batch.
Once it turned golden brown, dish up, drain on paper towel and let it cool down abit before serving.

Tips : If you are so worried that the taro and sweet potatoes will not get cooked evenly, you can steam the taro and sweet potato for awhile (till half-cooked) before you sandwich the sticky rice cake for frying. Another alternative, slice your taro and sweet potato into thinner piece. Easier to get cooked :)

Chef Mdm.Chai at work. Hahaha...

See? This is the right consistency of the batter. It must be lump free and smooth. Not that thick and not that runny. If it is too runny, batter won't stick to the sandwich. If batter too thick, you will end up having thick crust.

Look at my sandwiched sticky rice cake again. Nice? I spent quite abit of time to do all the cutting. And by the way, the hardened sticky rice cake will be much easier to cut than when it is soft and sticky. If your sticky rice cake is soft, do consider to put them into the fridge overnight before cutting. It would be easier.

I need certain level of oil, deep enough for me too deep-fry. So, I used a pot insted. Because smaller pot use less oil. But of course, it will slow down my work. Because with this small pot, I can only fry 3 sandwiches at a time. Not more than that.

Ahhh.. I love seeing the sandwich. Orange, brown, pale purple. Nice! Wendy commented that the taro at the bottom layer looked raw. But it is not. It's soft! Hahaha. Don't get cheated. The reason why I could halved it nicely is because I let it down before I cut them into half. I want it looks nice on photos lah. Cooled down sandwich gives better cutting result. If I cut it when it is hot, then you will see the softness of the taro. But the sticky rice will just ooze all over.

My niece is standing beside me when I doing the deep-frying work. She's pinching the hot slices right off the hot oil and eating them at the risk of burning their mouth! Duh!

But seriously, this is really very hard to resist :D

This month is Johor month, and it is my turn to host Malaysia Food Fest. Last month was Negeri Sembilan and please visit Cook 4 You Me (Hody's blog) for the round up.

Johor (also known as Johore in English) is the state located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. Johor is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The Straits of Johor to the south separates Johor and Singapore. I'd been chosen to host Johor month is because I stayed in Singapore permanently, and I travel to Johor for food and groceries quite often whenever I'm free.

Source : Wikipedia

Being at the tip of the peninsula, it was once a flourishing entreport during the the 1600's. The port attracts traders from Makassar, Mollucas, China, Arabic countries, not forgetting the Dutch. With it being once in the Johor-Riau empire, the Bugis and Javanese influence was definitely apparent not only in the history and culture, but also on the food.

In Johor, there are a few popular Arabic influenced dishes. For example, Kacang pool is a popular dish from middle east, but it has been localized to the Johorean tastebud with the addition of heat and meat. Royal dishes like Arisa, that is made up of minced chicken with milk and spices is also Arabic in origin. Let's not forget the ever popular Nasi Beriani Gam.

Johor was in constant feud with the Bugis long ago, but that was history. When the wars and fights are being put behind, food unites the hearts with Burasak being the most famous Bugis food around the state. There might be other Bugis dishes, but as time goes by, they might have been forgotten or not recorded.

There are a lot of Javanese in Johor. They are neighbors across the straits and it's easy for migration to take place back in those days. The Javanese bring along their food and now, it plays a major role in the Johorean food culture. Dishes like Nasi Ambeng, Soto, Lontong and Pecal have been adapted suit the local tastebud.

Besides being influenced by the neighboring places and visiting traders, Johor has some food of its own that is found in no other places. Noodles like laksa johor and mee bandung (it does not originate from Bandung) and mee racun are specialties created or adapted by the Johoreans to be called their own. There is a type of laksa in almost every state in Malaysia but I am very very sure, no other states uses spaghetti as its filler. It is fusioned, very special.

Here, I would like to share with you a list of specialties coming from this state :

And we call it... Johorean dishes

1) Otak-Otak - It's a spicy fish cake. There are 2 types of otak found in this state. One is wrapped in coconut or nipah leaves and grilled. The second form is mainly made by the Chinese and is in big slabs, usually steamed and grilled. Take note that it is different from the nyonya style otak-otak.

2) Ikan Masak Asam Pedas - There are many types of Asam Pedas in Malaysia but for Johor style, it calls for daun kesum, also known as Laksa leaf.

3) Ayam Masak Merah - Chicken dish cooked with tomato sauce and chilli. These cooking combination usually served during Malay wedding together with Tomato Rice

4) Telur Pindang - This is basically hard boiled eggs infused with lots of local herbs and leaves, boiled for 3 days.

5) Kacang Pool - An Arabic influenced dish. Spiced fava beans with minced meat.

6) Roti Jala or Roti Kirai - Fondly called here as Lacy Crepes too. Popular all over Malaysia but is listed as Johorean food here (Wikipedia, Makanan tradisi orang Johor and Grand Reception Johor)

7) Lontong Johor - This is a Javanese influenced dish, using combination of pressed rice and special coconut soup with vegetables. Served with boiled egg and chili.

8)Nasi Briyani Gam - A rice dish with long grain rice, it's different than the Indian Muslim version commonly found here. Extremely popular in Batu Pahat.

9) Nasi Ambeng- A rice platter, with a few dishes that includes fried noodles served in a big round tray for a few persons. There are individual servings of nasi Ambeng and is usually packed in a conical shaped wrapping.

10)Arisa- Spiced chicken paste eaten like a dip. Once a dish for the royals but is now made available for the commonfolks.

Johor Noodles

1) Laksa Johor Jati- This Laksa is very different from any other forms of laksa in Malaysia. It uses Spaghetti and served with a very thick fish and coconut gravy.

2) Mee Rebus Johor - This is one of the famous noodle dish in Johor too. Due to the existence of beef and sweet potatoes, the gravy of Mee Rebus Johor makes the difference.

3) Soto Johor - This originated from Java, but very popular in Johor. A spiced chicken broth that is served with either pressed rice or noodles of choice.

4) Mee Bandung Muar - Mee bandung comes from Muar, Johor. It's yellow noodles served in a sweetish spicy gravy with meat and vegetables.

5)Mee Racun - Literally translated as Poisonous Noodles, but it's not fatal. It's a spin off from Mee Bandung, but it uses Lamb shank. Extremely popular in Batu Pahat.

Johor Dessert's

1) Kueh Kole Kacang - A Johorean Kueh made from toasted green bean flour and lots of coconut milk.
This kuih is intense in aroma and rich in flavour.

2) Biskut Batang Buruk - Crispy pastry in tube form stuffed with either toasted green bean or toasted peanuts.

3) Kuih Talam Tokyo - It's almost like kuih Seri Muka, but the base is made of glass noodles and sago. Created in Johor, not Japan.

(Source : Yatie Memories)

4)Air Kathira - a green beverage made of a lot of ingredients, seen sold all around Johor during the month of Ramadan. It's different from the Singaporean version.

You could simply google for more Johor food recipes. Or if you have any special Johor recipes to share, please let us know. I urge all of you to join this month's event by replicating some Johor dish at home to share it with us! I will look forward to your entries!

TO JOIN
1. Who can join? Anyone can join. Come let's replicate some Johor Food at home!
2. Prepare a dish (sweet or savory) that is from Johor, be it old time favorite, modern dishes or dishes that has been localized. Chinese or Malay or Indians cuisines. All are welcomed. Take a picture of the food or many pictures. If possible, tell us the story about the dish, share with everybody so that others will learn.
3. Provide a recipe that is credited (from books, internet, friends or family or maybe it is from your own, be specific). Submissions without stating recipe sources will not be accepted for all forms of submission.
4.Submit your entry latest by 31st March 2013 except for Facebook submissions.

TO SUBMIT
1.Bloggers
a. Prepare a dish (sweet or savory) that is from Johor
b. Blog about it from 1st March - 31st March 3012
c. Include this caption below your blogpost
"I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Johor Month hosted by Annie of Annielicious Food"

Send the following information to this email address (mwmannie@yahoo.com) with the email subject as
" MFF Johor"

Name/Nickname :
Blog name :
Name of dish :
Url of post :
Picture : ( URL or attachment that is lesser than 500k)

2. Facebook user
a. Like this Facebook Page
b. Prepare a dish (sweet or savory) from the state of Johor
c. Take a picture and upload it into Facebook ( this month's FB page link )
d. Provide recipe with picture

Bloggers can submit old recipes to Facebook. Anyone that has once cooked a Johor dish and have a picture and recipe can submit to Facebook. Not necessarily a recently done dish.
For a pictorial guide on how to submit via facebook, pls click here

3. Non Facebook users and Non Bloggers
Email a picture of the dish together with the recipe to (mwmannie@yahoo.com) latest by 31st March, 2013 by 11.59pm (Malaysian / Singapore time)

A Round Up will be done for all blog entries and emailed in entries on 1st April 2013. Facebook entries are not included in the round up.

Happy Cooking!!!!

Otak-otak (aka Otah or Otar in Singapore) is a fish cake well known in Johor, particularly in Muar. This fish cake is basically made by mixing fish paste with mixture of spices, shallot, garlic and coconut milk. And then, the mixture is wrapped in coconut leaves or banana leaf. Usually grilling or steaming method is used.

Although otak is traditionally made with fish meat, crab meat, prawn meat, cuttlefish or even fish head is used in modern versions of otak. There are different forms of otak originating from different regions. Nyonya version's otak from Melaka and Penang, they wrapped their otak in parcel, like a piece of kuih, and of course, there's a difference in the spices they use too. Otak from Muar is wrapped up as a thin slice using coconut leaf, some uses banana leaf, and then grilled over charcoal fire. There are commercialized version too, we see frozen otak selling in blocks, usually can be easily spotted at our neighborhood super-mart too. These frozen one's are meant for steaming.

I did this recipe twice.

For the 1st time, I prepared all my ingredients, but realized that my blender spoilt. Damn it! But I still continue. Because I've got really nice Spanish Mackerel at that time. And so, I just go ahead to do whatever I can. I use knife to mince the fish meat into paste instead. Yes! tiring! And the result might not be that good. Oh well, never try, never know. In the end otak taste good, but texture is ROUGH, FIRM AND DRY!!!

Taste wise, pass. Texture... FAIL!!!

For the 2nd time, it's much better with my new bought blender. I get to blend my fish meat into paste and I slightly modified the ingredients to make it more moist. Better texture and softer meat. So, the recipe that I stated here is my 2nd attempt modified recipe. It may not be the best otak, but my family like them! :D

The usual way of making otak is to wrap em' in coconut leaves, and then grilling it over an open flame. But hello?! I'm staying in Singapore. Where to get coconut leaves??!! No choice. I settled down with banana leaves instead, and I'm happy with it.

This recipe makes about 12 pcs otak, weight about 100g each.

Ingredient
(Recipe Source : Y3K Free Recipe with modification)

450g Fish meat from Spanish Mackerel or Ikan Tenggiri
250ml Coconut Milk
100ml Water (or more)... However, this is optional.

For Seasoning :
3 tbsp Corn Flour
3 tbsp Curry Powder

1½ tsp Turmeric Powder

1½ tsp Chilli Powder
3 tbsp Blended Chilli Paste (shop-bought chilli paste is fine)

2 tsp Salt
1½ tsp Sugar
2 tsp Minced Garlic
2 tsp Minced Shallot

For Wrapping :
If you are using banana leaves : Grab a bunch of banana leaves from the wet market. Cost about S$1.50.
If you are using coconut leaves : About 40 to 50 finds of coconut leaves (est. 8" in length), and staples.

Method

Prepare your banana leaves - Wilt the banana leaves by either steam them, blanch them or over open fire. I did it open fire. And then, trim it into your preferred size. Mine is about 6" x 10" big.
Debone fish. Use a spoon, scrape the fish meat out. I did this a day in advance. Freeze it. The day after, thaw it before use. Separate my work load.
Set aside 150g of fish meat. Place the remaining 300g fish meat into a food processor (I used blender. So, my work is tougher). Add in coconut milk. Blend it into a smooth paste.
Scrape the fish paste mixture into a big bowl, add in all the seasoning. Mix until everything is incorporated. And then, add in the 150g fish meat chunk.
If you find the fish paste too dry (which I think you will), this is the time you add 100g water. Mix again. If you are not confident about the texture, put a dollop of fish paste on a frying pan, pan-fry it. Give the texture a try. If the otak is soft enough to your liking when it is cooked, then, proceed to wrap your otak paste with banana leaves. If you want your otak to have softer texture, add more water, mix, pan-fry it, try again. Until you achieve your preferred soft texture.
Wrap otak paste using prepared banana leaves. I wrap mine at about 100g otak paste each. How big you want your otak to be? It's up to you.
Steam the wrapped otak under high flame. My otak is bigger and thicker, hence, I steam it for 5 mins, and then grill it to perfection. The 5 mins steaming is to set it's shape too.
Grill the otak over charcoal fire until slightly charred. Serve hot.
If you are not able to finish all the grilled otak, wrap them well and keep it in the freezer. When you want to eat again, just re-steam it.

Note :

Get fish monger to debone the fish for you. Like that, it save your trouble from doing it yourself.
Fresh fish meat tends to be more bouncy, and gives otak firmer texture. I realized this for the 1st attempt. For the 2nd attempt, I scrape the fish meat out, and freeze the fish meat for next day use. Like that, fish meat will be less bouncy and otak will have less firm texture.
Set aside 150g fish meat chunks and add them into the fish paste later. This is because I want my otak to have some chunky bite. Unfortunately, mine doesn't looks obvious in my photo. I think my fish chunks not big enough. Sigh!
If you can't setup charcoal fire at home but still want to grill it, use oven. Bake it at 200 degree till it achieve the grilling result you want.
If you find it too troublesome to do both steaming and grilling like me, you could just steam it and skip the grilling part. Although I grilling makes significant difference in overall fragrance.

Otak can be eaten as a snack or with bread or rice as part of a meal. Once otak is cooked, it can be wrapped nicely and freeze it for next time. I'm totally not worried for making it in a big batch. So, I buy big fish and make bigger batch. So, I got myself a beautiful and big Spanish mackerel from Tekka Market :)

Incase you gonna debone the fish yourself...

Step 4 : Mix fish paste and seasoning together

Step 6 : Wrap otak paste using prepared banana leaves.

Step 7 : Steam the wrapped otak under high flame for 5mins to set it's shape.

Step 8 : Grill the otak over charcoal fire until slightly charred

This photo is from my 1st attempt. Bigger parcel. For the 2nd time, I make it smaller. You don't have to worry that the banana leaves all burnt. This is exactly what we wanna achieve.

And tada!!!! Must eat it while it's hot! :D

I don't know about you. But I like my otak to have abit of charred at the side. The charcoal grilled taste is just awesome!

This version of otak is simple enough for people like us to make it at home. I hope you like it!

Mee Rebus Johor is my 2nd dish for Malaysian Food Fest (MFF) Johor Month. I really love this! And I don't think I will ever forget it's taste. To me, this is a deluxe version of mee rebus! Hahaha..

I love mee rebus. Max loves it too. When I cooked Mee Soto Johor (recipe comin' up soon), Max asked if there's Mee Rebus Johor too. I said "Yes!", and he immediately request me to cook it.

Mee Rebus Johor is the least well known but special and well received dish. It is a noodle dish which consist of mee (yellow noodle) and served with tangy, spicy brown gravy, and then topped with condiments.

This might be a simple meal, but it gives you lots of satisfaction!

I had been living in Singapore for almost 15 years. So far, I couldn't find any mee rebus stall that makes me wanna revisit them. It's either their gravy are too bland, watery, or too salty. This version of mee rebus Johor is not the ordinary mee rebus that has peanut sauce in there. This is really different, and I love this version of mee rebus gravy more than the usual ones.

The preparation is easier than Mee Soto. I assure you. Lesser ingredients, not that time consuming too. I adapted the ingredient from Masam Manis, source from Iza Akma, but did minor modification.

Recipe (Feed 6 to 7, generously)
(Recipe Source : Masam Manis, with minor modification)

Ingredient for gravy

300g Minced Beef
1 tbsp Corn Flour
250g Orange Sweet Potatoes, cook till soften, drained, mashed.
35g Dried Shrimp, washed, drained, finely grinded.
2 stalks of Lemongrass, cut into 5 inch length, bruised
8 pcs Star Anise
4 tbsp Pre-Packed Chilli Paste (You could grind your own fresh chilli paste too)
2 tbsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Tumeric Powder
1 tbsp Chicken Powder (Original recipe ask for 1 cube Beef Stock)
½ cup Tamarind Juice / Asam Juice (35g Tamarind Paste + ½ cup Water)
70g Grated Palm Sugar / Gula Melaka, or more. Adjust to suit your own.
1 tbsp Salt, or adjust to taste.
800ml Water, or more
4 tbsp Cooking Oil

Spices for gravy (for grinding)

3 Onions
4 cloves Garlic
1 inch Garlic
¾ inch Galangal
1 pc Candlenut / Buah Keras

Noodles and garnishing

800g to 1kg Yellow Noodles
200 to 250g Bean Sprout
1 piece Tofu, Fried, cubed
3 to 4 hard boiled eggs, halved
3 to 4 Calamansi, halved. I used Lime, and cut into wedges.
some Celery Leaves / Daun Sup
some Red and Green Chillies, sliced.
some Fried Shallots

This is the main influential ingredient for the kuah (Gravy) for Mee rebus johor - Minced beef, Sweet Potatoes, Dried Shrimps and Chillies.

The irreplaceable spices that we usually found in Malaysian dishes

.
Preparation

Cook potatoes till soften, mashed, set aside.
Grind onions, garlic, candle nut, ginger and galangal, set aside.
Grind dried shrimps, set aside.
Mix beef with 1 tbsp corn flour, form into small beef balls, set aside.
Lemongrass, cut into 5 inch length, bruised.
Rub the tamarind pulp, strained, discard the seed. Keep the juice.
Grate palm sugar, set aside.

Make sure everything is ready before you start cooking the gravy.

.
Method

Heat oil in a wok, under medium heat, add in star anise and lemongrass, fry till fragrant.
Add in grinded spices, fry till fragrant.
Add chilli paste and fry till you could smell the chilli aroma.
Add grinded dried shrimps and mix well.
Add curry powder and tumeric powder, mix well.
Add water, chicken powder and bring to a boil.
Add in meat balls, stir, don't let it stick together. Don't break the meatballs, stir gently.
Under medium low heat, add in mashed sweet potatoes, tamarind juice, palm sugar and salt. Continue to stir until the mashed sweet potatoes incorporated with the gravy.
Let it simmer for awhile until gravy thickened. If you wants your gravy more watery, add more water. I prefer my gravy to looks really thick.
Taste, and adjust accordingly. If too spicy, add more palm sugar.

It's a simple meal. But I have to be frank to you that this is quite alot of ingredients to prepare.

I love the color of the gravy. It looks thick and curry-ish, but it totally doesn't taste curry at all. It's sweet and spicy. This Mee Rebus has got meatballs in it and a whole ladle full of sauce sitting on top of the noodles. How to describe such a dish? Perhaps the word that comes to mind is - Power!

Look at the noodles incorporated with the thick gravy.... Oh my! My saliva dripping while I writing this!

I will definitely repeat this recipe if I were to cook mee rebus again :)

Kuih Gedung Cak - (MFF Kedah Perlis)

Chilled Soya Beancurd (冰冻豆花)

Thunder Tea Rice (河婆雷茶)

Le Creuset cooking demo with Chef Jeremy Choo

Lazy Roast Chicken

Annie's Tiramisu

Traditional Christmas Cake

Lunchtime Demo Class with Celebrity Chef Sam Leong

French Onion Soup

Fried Sweet Potato Balls (炸番薯蛋) - (MFF-Pahang)

Duck Fats Potatoes

Water Chestnut Cake (馬蹄糕)

Braised Mushroom and Pig Trotter with Sea Cucumber (香菇海参焖猪脚)

Ikan Goreng Bercili / Fried Fish with Chillies - (MFF N9)

Crispy Chinese Roasted Pork 脆皮烧肉

Steamed Taro Cake (芋头糕)

Fried "Nian Gao" / Sticky Rice Cake (炸年糕)

Malaysian Food Fest (Johor Month) Introduction

Muar Otak (麻坡乌挞) - (MFF-Johor) #1

Mee Rebus Johor - (MFF-Johor) #2