WU TAU KUIH aka SAVOURY YAM (TARO) CAKE

Ingrdients: Yam, dried shrimps, chopped shallots and garlic, mock vegetarian char siew (here I used mock char siew as I sharing it with my halal friends but you can subtitute with chinese sausages, mince meats and etcs), five spice powder, rice flour and for garnishing is diced red chillies, spring onions and lots of fried shallots.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Batter:

1350ml water

500gm sifted rice flour  } blend all batter ingredients till smooth, set aside

1 tsp alkaline water (optional)

Filling:

150 gm dried mushrooms, soaked and shredded thinly

120 gm dried shrimps, soaked and sieved dry

200 gm chinese sausages -diced/sliced finely

(subtitute with other sausages or meats)

100 gm garlic- diced finely

100 gm shallots- diced finely

1200 gm Yam - cubed (less yam if you preffered)

1 tbsp Chinese five spice powder- mix into yam

Salt, pepper and chicken granules for seasoning.

Garnishing: fried shallots, diced red chilli and spring onions.

Method:

1. Heat 5tbsp oil in wok. Stir fry filling ingredients except pumpkin till fragrant.

2. Add the marinated cubes yam and seasoning, stir fry thoroughly.

3. Pour in batter and cook for a while, better become thick, off heat.

4. Spoon batter into a greased 12 inches round tray or small cups.

5. Steam over high heat (12" tray 40min/ cups 15min until cooked)

6. Remove and allow to cool.

7. Garnish and served with chilli sauce.

Fried Foamy Eggs White

With leftover frozen eggs white from my Chinese New Year cookies baking, I have cooked it into a foamy omelette served with green peas and shrimps. As it turn out very nice as a dish for my dinner, infact I just ates it with cooked white rice minus the peas. Simply delicious, reminded me Dragon I restaurant do served this dish, sprinkle with tiny bit of shredded scallop on top the cooked foamy eggs white.

Is very simple to make, just add in some salt and pepper to taste into the eggs white, hand whisked into medium soft peak foam. Heat a pan with some oil, pour in the foamy eggs white to cook on both side with low heat. Simple, right?

Savoury Pumpkin Cake (Kueh)

To cook Chilli sauce: blend 3 pips garlic and 10 red chillies (or chillies paste) together until smooth. Add 1 cup water, sugar and vinegar to taste, cook and simmer for a few minutes. Ready to serve.

Ingredients:

Batter:

1350ml water

500gm sifted rice flour  } blend all batter ingredients till smooth, set aside

2 tsp alkaline water

Filling:

150 gm dried mushrooms, soaked and shredded thinly

120 gm dried shrimps, soaked and sieved dry

200 gm chinese sausages -diced/sliced finely

(subtitute with other sausages or meats)

100 gm garlic- diced finely

100 gm shallots- diced finely

1kg pumpkin - shredded

Salt, pepper and chicken granules for seasoning.

Garnishing: fried shallots, diced red chilli and spring onions.

Method:

1. Heat 5tbsp oil in wok. Stir fry filling ingredients except pumpkin till fragrant.

2. Add pumpkin and seasoning, stir fry thoroughly.

3. Pour in batter and cook for a while, better become thick, off heat.

4. Spoon batter into a greased 12 inches round tray or small cups.

5. Steam over high heat (12" tray 40min/ cups 15min until cooked)

6. Remove and allow to cool.

Meatballs Spaghetti



Here, David is demonstrating and sharing with us his mom classic recipe on making meatballs.
Combine 400gm mince beef + 400gm mince pork + 3 eggs, mix evenly. Add in 1 cup of bread crumbs, 2tsp Italian herbs, black pepper and salt, mix together. Last add in 1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese,mix thoroughly and set aside. David says you can substitute the Italian herbs (Mccormick)with other fresh herbs that you preferred.

  

Heat a few tablespoons oil in a sauce pot saute the pork neck bone lightly brown, removed and set aside. In the same pot add diced onion stir fry still soft and lightly brown. Then, add in a can (340gm) of tomato paste, cook for awhile,  add in the 2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes (lightly smashed), cook for a few minutes. Add in 3 cans of water (use the tomato can to measure) and 2 pinch of black pepper, stir to combine, when boiling add in the sauteed pork bones, simmer to a boiled, lower the heat and add in the meatballs.  DO NOT STIR THE MEATBALL   Continue.....................

All the meatballs are added in and with low heat simmer. DO NOT STIR....continue....to simmer...

 On low heat simmer  2 hours or longer until the sauce thicken and season to taste.
During the simmering stage you can lightly stir (maybe after 20min when the meatballs is cooked but not firm yet) to check the bottom of the pot to avoid burning. Add water if the sauce reduced too fast and continue to simmer until cooked.

Meatballs served with spaghetti and sprinkle with fresh chopped parley. Yum.....yum...

Tomatoes paste and whole peeled tomatoes.

Our dinner: Meatballs spaghetti and garlic bread. Delicious.

Ingredients:

1 can (340gm) tomatoes paste

2 can (425gm) whole peeled tomatoes - smashed into chunks pieces 

2 nos yellow onions - diced

400gm mince beef

400gm mince pork/chicken

3 eggs (grade A)

1 cup bread crumb

1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Salt, black pepper and Italian herbs (any brand or fresh herbs)

Note: use a larger sauce pot for easy stirring.

ASSAM LAKSA BEEHOON IN A HURRY

My girlfriend Val"s gave me a big bundle of bunga kantan (phaeomaria) and the fragrant flower smell make me wanting to have my favourite assam laksa noodle. Hmmm...........looking..looking.....at my kitchen shelfs...hurray! there are cans of tuna. OKay, going to give it a try since I want my assam laksa noodle in the fastest way. Here what I manage to cooked for 3 persons and it is good.

RECIPE:

1 small can of tuna in oil/water

2 stalks bunga kantan (phaeomaria)- halved

4 stalk daun kesum (polyganum)

1 pc assam keping -shredded

5 nos. shallot- pounded coarsely

1 tbsp. chili paste

1 tbsp belachan (shrimp paste -omit if you do not like the taste)

4 cups water                                       }-mix water and assam jawa paste 

4 tbsp. assam jawa (tamarind paste) }-together and sieved into a pot.

Beehoon - soaked and blanch in hot water to cooked.

Garnishing: mint leaves, polyganum leaves, bird eyes chili, sliced onion, shredded cucumber(use whatever you have) and heh koh (black prawn paste)

Method:

1. Put in everything into the tamarind water and bring to a boil.

2. Low heat simmer for 15-20min (since I want it fast)

3. Add in sugar, salt and anchovy granules to taste.

4. Serve hot with beehoon.

KAYA (EGGS COCONUT MILK JAM) method 2 double boiled

This is the double boiled method using the same recipe as method 1, just follow the instruction below.

Recipe, please refer to Kaya recipe method 1.

Method:

1.Keep stirring gently to cook the santan mixture and the pandan leaves near to a boil (not boiling) with low to medium heat.

2. Remove the santan pot from heat and scoop the mixture bit by bit into the eggs, stir to blend well until all are added in. This way the mixture would not get curdles.

3. After this pour the mixture into the double boiler sauce pot and stack it into the larger pot that filled with boiling water.

4. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture is thicken

5. Cover the sauce pot and double boiled until is cooked thru (on/off give it a stir) and the consistency that you like.

6. This cooking process will take between 2 to 3 hours.



KAYA (EGGS COCONUT MILK JAM) method 1



I know I should have eaten with the 'Kopitiam bread' either toasted or steamed. But we (me and hubby) cannot wait any longer with aroma of the cooked eggs, santan and pandan all over the place. This batch I just cooked without the caramel that why you see the colour is pale greenish as I always love it in this style. Most of the time I will used the direct heat method to make the kaya not the double boiled method for it take longer to cooked between 2 to 3 hours. With this fast method I can have fresh kaya anytime I want when the craving came calling hahaha! For storing, happen once to me as I can remember there was a tub in my fridge for more than two weeks (supposed to give someone) and it still edible after this long. My advice is cook half of this recipe where you will get a rice bowl of kaya that manage to keep us (four adults) satisfy for two days only.

RECIPE:

4 eggs (grade A)- whisk lightly and sieved, put aside

200gm sugar                   }

200gm coconut milk        }mix together and sieved in a sauce pan

1 tbsp plain flour             }

5 pandan leaves- washed and tied into a bundle

Method:

1.Cook the santan, sugar and flour mixture in a low to medium heat, keep stirring to avoid burning or curdle
2. After sometime, the mixture become lightly thicken and transparent looking, remove from heat
3. Add in the santan mixture bit by bit (1/2 cup) into the eggs until finish, looked diluted with egg added in.
4. Pour it back into the sauce pot and continue cooking in low to medium heat, keep stirring in a constant speed to avoid the kaya become curdle.
5. The kaya is ready when it become thicken.

Note: if you like the caramel type, cooked 50gm of sugar into caramel and add into the kaya at the stage when the kaya began to thicken. I will reduce sugar from the 200gm to 150gm.

The FLOUR is optional.Some of you may have noticed there are some sugar water separated from the kaya in some recipe.That why I added 1 tbsp of flour into this recipe after some experiment testing with few different kind of flours. Plain flour worked the best so far.With the watery kaya when spread on to the bread, the bread will absorb the liquid and become soggy and it tasted.......eeee....ugly.





Pancakes

Make this soft and light yummy pancakes for brunch last Sunday. This recipe is a keeper and I going to try on my waffle maker soon. We have the pancakes with maple syrup and cold butter plus  cups of black hot coffee, but my husband like it with butter and jam. Here the recipe and hope you will give it a try.

300 gm flour
2 tsp of baking powder       
6 tbsp castor sugar
240 ml milk                           } hand whisk all the ingredients into a smooth mixture
1 tbsp vanilla paste
3 tbsp oil
6 nos egg yolks

6 nos egg whites } whisked into medium stiff (not dry)

1. Take 1/3 of the egg whites and fold into the egg yolks mixture, mix thoroughly
2. Gently fold in the remainder of egg whites to the batter bit by bit until finish
3. Pan cook the pancakes in low heat, turning both sides.

Note: my maid manage to make only 9pcs 6inch round pancakes.