Asam Prawns

We had a crustaceans fiesta last weekend. As I wanted to clear the Prima Taste DIY Singapore Chilli Crab since the expiry date is drawing near and PiggyBeng was craving for some prawns. So we went to the market and grabbed some crabs and prawns and had chilli crabs on Saturday and asam prawns on Sunday. I prepared the chilli crabs and PiggyBeng was the chef for the asam prawns.

This was one of PiggyBeng's 'specialities' and it tasted so yummy that I wallup almost 3/4 of it!

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Ingredients

• 10-12pcs Big Prawns (Tiger Prawns) - cut the shell along the 'spine line' lightly so the sauce is able to sip into the prawns


• 20-30g Tamarind (add 8tbsp water to get the juice)


• 1/4tsp Black soy sauce


• 1tbsp Brown sugar

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Methods

1. Mix tamarind juice with black soy sauce and brown sugar.


2. Clean prawns and dried them using some kitchen towel before marinade for 20-30 minutes in the tamarind juice mixture.


3. Heat up wok with 2tbsp oil on medium fire, slowly place the prawns and let them fry on slow fire till cooked. Lift up when cooked.


4. Pour the remaining marinade juice into the wok and sti till boil and glaze the cooked prawns.

Braised Asam Pork

I always crave for sourish dish! I just don't understand but the sourish taste give me good appetite for sure!!

It has been some time since I cook this dish and I just love it especially if it's cooked by my mom. Since I don't stay with her now, I will have to prepare this myself. It turned out quite ok - I guessed! However, it will taste even better if I had used some pork belly instead of all pork pinic shoulder for this dish. Pork belly will get soften more easily and the oil will give the sauce more aroma.

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Ingredients

• 400-500g Pork belly or pork picnic shoulder - cut into cubes


• 3/4 bulb Garlic - chopped finely


• 7-8 Shallots - chopped finely


• 2pcs Dried chilies


• 1pc Fresh red chili


• 2pcs Asam pieces (asam Gelugor)


• 2tbsp Glutinous rice wine (optional)


• Dark soy sauce


• 1tbsp Tau-chu (preserved bean paste)


• Water (around 3/4 - 1 cup)

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Methods

1. In a separate sauce pan, boil some water for removing the porky smell from the pork cubes. When water is boiling, pour in the pork cubes and keep stirring for about 1 minutes, drain and put aside.


2. Heat up wok or casserole pot with 2-3 tbsp of oil, saute garlic and shallots till fragrant. Add in dried chillies and sliced fresh chili, stir for another minute.


3. Add in the boiled pork cubes, stir, add in dark soy sauce, stir and add in the glutinous rice wine (pour at the side, around the wok or casserole pot) while continue to stir for a minute. Cover for a few minutes.


4. Add in the asam pieces, stir and add in the tau-chu, stir for a minute, add in water, stir and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Turnip and Carrot with Pork Ribs Soup

Most of the time we associate turnip with 'carrot cake' or 'lobak-ko' that most dim-sum places offered in their menu. In the Chinese context, turnip is regarded as 'white carrot', thus the given name for that particular dish.

Turnip is considered as 'cooling' vegetable, hence not many Chinese will use it in their cooking. However, the Japanese uses turnip almost daily in their meals either cooked or raw.

What I like about turnip is, it has this sweetness from within when we cook it, especially in soup. I've even tried 'turnip cool tea' which is supposed to heal dry cough when boil with rock sugar... tasted so good!

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Ingredients

• 1pc Turnip - Large or medium size


• 1-2 Carrots - Medium size


• 300-400g Pork ribs


• 8-10pcs Red dates - pitted


• 3-4 pcs Dried cuttlefish (1"x1.5")


• 3.5-4L Water


• Fish sauce or salt for taste

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Methods

1. Slice away the skin of the turnip, cut into free-shape cubes of about 2". Same for the carrots.


2. Boil water till boiling, add in pork ribs and allow to boil for 5 minutes before adding in the turnip and carrot cubes. Boil for a while and add in the red dates and dried cuttlefish slices. Boil under small fire for about 2-2.5 hours.


3. Add fish sauce or salt to taste.

Note: If you prefer to taste the natural sweetness of the turnip, try not to add in fish sauce or salt but instead put in more pork ribs.

Braised Longbeans with Pork

Guessed some of you knew that I loves to eat beans. It's yummy, nutritious and easy to cook. Steam, stir-fry, deep fried, grill and braise.

I'm going to share this recipe which is one of the all time favourite in my family (my own family, not PiggyBeng's). In fact I have a cousin who only want this dish everyday! So, when he was staying with us at one time, my mom just cook this dish almost every other day!


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Ingredients

• 12 strands Longbeans - cut to 2" long


• 150g Pork loin - cut to strips, marinade with corn flour and soy sauce and pepper


• 3 cloves Garlic


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• 1 chili padi (optional)


• Water (1/2 cup)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with a little oil and lightly fry the longbeans till light brown, lift up.


2. Add another 2tbsp oil into wok and sautee chopped garlic then chili padi.


3. Fry the pork until about 50% cook, add in the longbeans, stir, add dark soy sauce, stir, add water, stir and cover for 5 minutes on slow fire.


4. Add in light soy sauce, stir, cover till the water starts to thicken (about 15 minutes).


5. Serve.

Sourish Curry Chicken

I've never attempted cooking curry with coconut milk as I tried not to cook too much of high colestrol food at home since we are eating them outside when we are not cooking.

Last weekend, I have a sudden crave for curry chicken... probably after cooking the DIY Singapore Curry, I just need to have another fix of curry again. I've wanted to cook the dry curry using curry powder but PiggyBeng don't normally eat as he think it will cause constipation... ok, he can be crappy at times with loads of theories!

So, PiggyBeng drove me to the market to get the necessary ingredients but I've missed out the most important item - coconut milk! Well, too late to turn back as the market has already closed when I remembered so went to Tesco and bought those so-called fresh coconut milk but pre-packed ones. The verdict - not as fragrant as the fresh one but taste quite ok.

And being me, I always like my food on the sourish side (PiggyBeng prefers those really lemak type) as I will be eating most of it! :P

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Ingredients

• 4 pcs Chicken thighs with drumsticks (cut into 3 pcs)


• 4pcs Potatoes (medium size and cut into 4 sections)


• Water (approx. 1 cup)


• Coconut milk - 1 whole or approx. 200ml

(A) - Blender/grind

• 8 Chilies


• 2 Chili padi (optional)


• 1 stalk of Lemongrass


• 4 cloves Garlic


• 6pcs Shallots


• 1tbsp Turmeric powder


• Belacan (0.5mm x 1")

(B) - Additional

• 1 stalk of Lemongrass - smash the end


• 1pc Cinnamon stick


• 6pcs Shallots - cut into 4 sections


• 1pc Tomato - big or medium size, cut into 4 sections


• 1tbsp Lemon juice


• 3 stalks Curry leaves (removed the stems)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil enough to fry the potatoes till golden brown.


2. With remaining oil from the potatoes, fry the chicken pieces lighty for 2-3 minutes.


3. Blender item (A). Put about 2tbsp of oil and fry till fragrant, add in the stalk of lemongrass, curry leaves and cinnamon stick. Stir for a few minutes then add in the cut shallots.


4. When shallots soften, add in water and continue to stir (you may want to change over to a caserole pot if you are using a non-stick wok to avoid scracthes by the chicken bones) and when boil, add in the fried chicken pieces and stir.


5. When the curry boils again, add in the fried potatoes pieces and stir till boil before adding the tomato and lemon juice.


6. Before serving, add in the coconut milk.

Tips: Frying the potato pieces is to help it to disintegrate at a slower pace

Stir-fry Bittergourd and Chicken with Preserved Black Beans

Bittergourd is not everyone's favourite due to its bitter after taste. However, if it is cooked with a particular ingredient, it can taste just as heavenly....

This is one of my favourite dish but not to my PiggyBeng... he don't fancy eating bittergourd be it fresh or cooked! My mom ever gave him a glass of fresh bittergourd juice which was supposed to detox of bodily waste.... poor PiggyBeng was so horrified over the after taste! :P

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Ingredients

• 1 medium Bittergourd - sliced to 4/5mm thick in a slanting manner


• 200g Chicken breat meat - sliced thinly


• 1 chili - chopped


• 4 cloves Garlic - chopped


• 10g Preserved black beans


• Corn flour


• Salt


• Black soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Pepper


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil, lightl fry the sliced bittergourd till 70% soft, lift up.


2. Add in more oil into wok and sautee the chopped garlic, chilies and preserved black beans.


3. Add in chicken (marinated with some corn flour, light soy sauce and pepper) and stir until about 50% cooked, add in the fried bittergourd, add in a little dark soy sauce for a dark tone.


4. Continue to stir for a while and add in some water (around 1/4 cup), stir and cover for 3-4 minutes. Stir until the bittergourd looked soft.


5. In a small bowl, mix water with 1tsp of corn flour and a dash of salt. Pour into the cooked bittergourd and lift up when the sauce is thicken.

Stir-fry Lentil Beans with Ikan Bilis

With the festive season recently and insane weather, good ole veges' priceshas somehow sky-rocketed in the wet market. Not to mention the limited choices offered by these vege sellers.

Last Sunday was Chap Goh Meh (last day of the Lunar New Year) and the wet market was basically a battle ground with people mountain-people seafighthing for whatever is left on the racks... not to mention about the insane price increased for the occasion. Therefore, I seldom swing to the wet market now as I can't really tell what I'm paying for is actually the right price... these sellars will just tell me so much is the amount and I will pay them... pretty silly isn't it? Even if I asked, I still can't mentally calculate the $/kati/kg or whatever... I'm not a math person. :P

So, as a customer, I should have the rights to know what I am paying for. Where else but supermarkets where they won't feel offended if you dump back that bundle or packet of spinach if the price is not right? I love shopping at supermarket these days... apart from not to have to wake up early, battle with the crowd and with air-condition, they are just as good from the good ole wet market though I must confess that sometimes some fresh produces are not 'very' the fresh but at least I can see the dates it has been packed. Best of all, it indicates the weight and the $/kg. Fair deal especially when I'm buying price controlled items. The chicken sellars always give me different quotes!

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Back to the topic, I saw these gigantic beans last Sunday at Tesco. My mom bought them a few times when I was back in KL the last time but so far I've not seen them being sold here. OK, must confess again that Penang is still quite backward! It is called lentil beans... it's a bigger version of the sweetpea but lest the shinny surface. One thing I like about this bean is, it's crunchy even after I fried them for quite a while.

Ingredients

• 1 pkt of Lentil beans (around 10pcs cut diagonally about 1" in length)


• 25g Ikan bilis - chopped


• Carrot (a few slices)


• Light soy sauce and pepper for taste


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the lentil beans for about 5 minutes. Lift up.


2. Add some more oil to the wok and fry the chopped ikan bilis till fragrant (3 minutes)


3. Throw the lentil beans back into the wok and stir for a while then add in the sliced carrot and continue to stir for another 2 minutes


4. Add a little water (around 1/4 cup), stir and cover wok for 2-3 minutes


5. Before lifting, put a dash of light soy sauce and pepper to taste

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Note: Ikan bilis is generally salty, so if you prefer it to be saltier then add more light soy sauce or if you prefer to use salt, you can put a pinch but not too much or it will over the sweetness of the beans

Deep Fried Fish Beehoon

Yesterday was my 2nd wedding anniversary to my fat piggy. He has a conference call at 8pm (not 3, not 4 kind of timing) thus we can't go out to celebrate. So I prepared a simple dinner, of course, with his favourite ingredient.... fish.

I have wanted to try cooking this dish for a while as it's quite a popular dish here in Penang. And I must say, it's expensive too as it used thick fish fillets. I would recommend to use sang-yu (the fish we used in yee-sang), kurau (also known as cod) or salmon as they have a stronger texture. I used siakap (barramundi) as we just purchase two whole fish last weekend... it cost us RM76 for 16 slices! Siakap was not meant to be deep fried but that was what i've got....

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Ingredients

• 4 slices Fish fillets


• Some flour and salt (to cover fish fillets)


• 1 pkt Beehoon (vermicelli) - soaked


• 2 Onions - sliced thinly


• 1 Red chili - sliced


• 1 Chili padi - sliced


• Grated carrot and Chinese cabbage or bean sprouts (preferred amount)


• Light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and pepper for taste


• Water (to soften the beehoon)


• Sambal belacan with calamansi juice


• Oil for deep frying fish fillets

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Methods

1. Pour enough oil in a small sauce pan to deep fry the cut fish fillets until light brown. (Those selling at the stall will normally deep fried with flour batter so the fish fillet would not break up easily)


2. Heat up wok with oil and sautee the onion, chilies and all the vegetables (if you are using bean sprout, add in when beehoon is almost ready) for few minutes till soft.


3. Add in beehoon and stir for a while, add in preferred amount of water, stir and cover.


4. Pour in dark soy sauce, stir, add in light soy sauce and pepper to taste and continue to stir for a few more minutes till beehoon is soft.


5. Served with sliced fish and sambal belacan... Yum!

Salted Seaweed Cookies

Been eating too many sweet cookies previously and when I discovered this salted cookie, it's kinda nice for a change. I've adapted this yummy recipe from one of my baking idol, Aunty Yochana.

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Ingredients

• 250g Butter or margerine


• 75 g icing sugar


• 3/4 tsp Salt (orignal recipe ask for 1 tsp.)


• 10 g blended seaweed (nori) - blend till fine


• 300 g Cornflour


• 80 g Hong Kong flour (pau flour - I used the Blue Key brand)

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Methods

1. Beat butter or margerine, icing sugar and salt till creamy


2. Add in blended seaweed, corn flour and Hong Kong flour and mix into a dough.


3. Roll a small dough to about 4-5mm thick and cut out with a cookie cutter or place dough into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe onto baking tray


4. Bake at 150C for about 20 - 25 mins (don't over baked or it will turn brownish)


5. Remove from oven and leave to cool before storing into containers

Black Cupcakes (Chocolate)

Happy Lunar New Year!!!

My apologies for the long break as I seldom cook these passed weeks. What I have been busy about is not with my wok and pans but rather with my new toy, the oven. Those who has been visiting my other blog knows that I am into baking these days. Have been experimenting with a few recipes and thought I should share some of the successful ones with my dear readers here.

Got this recipe from one of the site (lost the link) and it was by Donna Hay. For those of you who loves chocolate, this is a must try recipe.


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Ingredients

• 125g Butter


• 3/4 cup Sugar


• 2 Eggs


• 1 1/4 cup Flour


• 1 tsp Baking powder


• 2 tbsp Cocoa powder


• 1/4 cup Milk


• 100g Dark chocolate

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Methods

1. Mix butter and sugar and beat until light and creamy (use a mixer)


2. Gradually add the eggs and mix well


3. Sift over the flour, baking powder and cocoa and beat until combined


4. Fold through the milk, stir in the dark chocolate and spoon the mixture into medium muffin pan.


5. Bake at 320F or 160C for 12-15 minutes.