Fried Silver Pin Noodles ????

I still haven't deliver......... can't wait for it.... When u know it's fully engaged..but dunno when the bb wants to come out, the wait is rather......nerve wrecking!

Malaysians call silver pin noodles as Loh Su Fun ???, which literally translates to rat noodles. Why such a disgusting name.. Simply because the noodle looks like a short rat tail.

I�ve once cooked this with my Malay students back in Pahang, 5 years ago. Boy were they shocked when I told them that we�re cooking rat noodles that day, �Mi tikus� , and it got the other teachers scrambling to the Home Science kitchen to see what the heck are rat noodles when they heard that my students will be learning to cook it that day.

I like to cook this the way that roadside hawkers cook �kueh kak� or fried radish/carrot cake, or chow loh bak gou ????, depends on what u may call it, with preserved radish, chilli and lots of beansprouts�

Ingredients:
450gm Silver pin noodles (loh su fun)
300gm beansprouts (I love a lot of this)
3 eggs
� cup peeled prawns
� cup chopped preserved radish , ??(I use the less salty type, if using the salty type, chop and soak in water b4 use)
1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
4-5 Tbsp oil (yes, this much!!)
4-6 Tbsp light soy sauce (depends on the saltiness of the brand u use)
1 heaped Tbsp chili paste (cili boh/giling)

** Work very quick in Step 2-5. You can relax in the later steps.

Method:
1. If u�re using supermarket bought noodles, blanch in boiling water for 5 seconds, drain well. If wet market ones, just leave them as they are.
2. Heat wok until very hot (if not noodles will stick), add in oil. Coat wok well with hot oil.
3. Put in chopped garlic, quickly stir. It�ll burn easily with a very hot wok.
4. Put in chopped radish and prawns. Stir until prawn gets fragrant and half curled.
5. Put in drained noodles and toss well. When noodles are well warmed through, as in 1-2 minutes time, push them aside in the wok.
6. Crack eggs into centre of wok and let the eggs fry for a few seconds before pushing back the noodles onto the eggs. Toss well.
7. Put in 3 or 4 Tbsp soy sauce. Stir well. Taste. Add soy sauce tablespoon by table spoon until desired saltiness is achieved. (I put in 6 Tbsp of Lee Kum Kee light soy sauce). Stir in chili paste.
8. Spread noodles around wok to let noodles dry up a bit. No need to stir too often. Mix and spread noodles every 30 second interval. Do this for about 2 to 3 minutes or until desired dryness is achieved.
9. When desired dryness and fragrance is achieved, put in beansprouts and toss for another 1-2 minute, depending on how crisp u want the sprouts to be.
10. Dish up and serve.

Method of cooking is done differently than the hawkers simply because our home stoves are not as hot as the hawker�s fuming stoves. You need to know the heat level of ur stove to adjust the cooking method stated above to achieve the �wok hei� that is greatly needed to make this noodle dish yummy yummy.





My Lydia were all thumbs up with this dish.. even tho it contains hot chilli!!!

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Kerabu bihun ??????

First attempt! Liked it a lot, so did the guests at Lydia's birthday in KK.
Got the idea from a magazine I read few years back.



Kerabu is Malay salad. One can use anything to make kerabu, there's kerabu perut (cow's stomach salad), kerabu sotong (squid with salad), kerabu mangga (young mango salad), kerabu paku (fern shoots salad), kerabu jantung pisang (banana flower salad) and many many more... It's basically hot and sour, with a light tinge of sweetness and laced with local herbs and spices like lime, lemon grass, torch ginger flower, coconut and the list goes on, depending on the dish.

Ingredients
250gm bihun (rice vermicelli, I love Hutou Rice Vermicelli, it looks like Tang Hoon, but not as fragile and sticky like Tang Hoon, can be found in Tesco )

� cup lime juice
4 tbsp sugar
1 � tsp salt
2 Tbsp chopped bird�s eye chilli
2 stalks torch ginger flower (bunga kantan, finely chopped)

1 large red onion (sliced, marinate with 3 Tbsp vinegar, 1 � Tbsp sugar, it�ll turn pink)
1 � cups very finely julienned carrots
� cup finely sliced green onion (cut into 2 inch lengths, then slice vertically, soak in cold water)
� cup squids (blanched)
� cup shelled prawns (cooked)
5 eggs, fried into thin omelettes and finely julienned

Method
1. Soak bihun in cold water.
2. Mix lime juice, sugar, salt, bird�s eye chilli and chopped ginger flower. Taste. It should be sweet, sour and a bit over salty.
3. Blanch bihun in boiling water until cooked. Put cooked bihun under running cold water, drain well.
4. Pour in (2) onto bihun. Mix well. Taste. The saltiness should be slightly less, but the sourness will surface, accompanied with subtle sweetness. Anyway, adjust it to ur liking.
5. Drain red onion from marinade, do not discard marinade. Mix squids and prawns in marinade for few seconds, drain.
6. Sprinkle carrots, green onion, squids, prawns, egg strips and red onion onto bihun. Toss well.

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Maggi Goreng (?Maggi ?)

In Malaysia, many brand names have turned to become generic names..

Diapers ... Pampers

Correction fluid... Liquid Paper

Photostat.... Xerox

Plastic containers.... Tupperware

and instant noodles are called Maggi noodles.. Maggi Meen in Cantonese, and very curly hair is called Maggi hair

So, if one is ordering maggi goreng (fried instant noodles) at the mamak(Indian Muslim) eateries, sometimes, it may be noodles of some other brand... well, no need to be at mamak... even at home.. Maggi Meen la!!!

Different mamak shops will have different versions of maggi goreng.. and I fell in love with the first version I came across from a mamak shop called Mubaruk in Kampar. My friends and I used to go to this shop after our Girls' Brigade meetings on saturday mornings.. so, this noodle dish sort of reminds me of the good old times. I watched the mamak guy cook it..so I copied it.. hehehe

Ingredients

1 packet of instant noodles (curry flavour)

1 Tbsp sliced onion

2 Tbsp sliced tomato

1 stalk choy sum (cut short lengths)

1 egg

2 Tbsp oil

1. Boil a saucepan of water and cook noodles until just soft (it'll still retain it's square shape). Cut noodle cake in half.

2. Heat wok and put in oil.

3. Fry onion until softened, put in tomato, fry until fragrant (it'll turn mushy)

4. Put in choy sum and stir.

5. Put in cooked noodles and stir well.

6. Sprinkle in seasoning from noodle pack. Stir well.

7. Push noodles to the side of wok and break in an egg. Stir and push noodles back onto egg.

8. Stir and toss for 1-2 minutes, until noodle becomes very fragrant.

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Long Beans Rice ???

My mom taught me how to do this (conventional rice cooker method), but I improvised it with �. an additional egg� cos there�s always lots of oil left after frying the sausages, and the oil remains quite a lot even after cooking the beans.. So, I soaked up the oil (plus flavours)with a scrambled egg�. and I'm cooking the rice in the microwave this time.

2 cups long beans ( cut into 2cm long, I cut 13 strings of beans)
1 chinese sausage (deskinned, sliced)
1 Tbsp dried shrimp (chopped)
1 egg
2 shallots (thinly sliced)
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 � tsp salt

1 � cups rice
2 cups water (depends on the type of rice, but reduce it slightly as long beans release some moisture)

Method:
1. Heat wok with oil
2. Saute shallots until golden, dish up and drain off excess oil.
3. With remaining oil in wok, carefully fry Chinese sausage. Be careful not to burn them. When they are cooked, remove and put on a plate.
4. There should be oil in the wok, as sausages release oil when cooked. Use the same oil to saut� dried shrimp until very fragrant.
5. Put in long beans and stir fry for 1 minute or until cooked, but not soft. Put in dark soy sauce and salt. Mix well. Dish up.
6. Pour in egg into the same wok and scramble them (u can omit the egg, but I use the egg as a method to not waste the seasonings and oil.. haha).
7. Put rice and water into a covered casserole.
8. Microwave High 4 minutes, Med 6 minutes. Give rice a stir.
9. Pour in everything (sausages, eggs and long beans) except shallots. Spreading them evenly over rice.
10. Microwave again 2 minutes on high, 8 on medium.
11. Remove from microwave and sprinkle on shallots and mix up everything.
12. The rice is ready to be served.

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Bak Chang (Savoury Rice Dumplings) ???

All rice dumplings in Mandarin are called Zongzi.

I'm making savoury meat dumplings. Hokkiens call it Bak Chang, Cantonese call it Harm Yook Joong... other dialects.. no idea

I dunno whether this is cantonese style, hokkien or hakka...
But u can check the differences here at this prominent food site in Malaysia

My grandaunt came from Panyu, Guangdong province made white coloured savoury joongs, with pork, mung beans and mushrooms as fillings. She doens't put salty egg due to $$$, she finds it wasteful to throw away the whites. Hers was damn good, but I never knew how to do the seasoning... No fried shallots and stuff.. but very fragrant and yummy.

My maternal grandma of Kwongsi descent, made white joongs with soaked black eye peas and pork. She added sodium benzoate to hers and mom said it lasted for weeks w/o referigeration.

When I was in Form 6, during duan wu jie season, a bunch of us will bring a few joongs and a spoon. When it's time for break, we'll open up our joongs, each holding a spoon, will be digging into each other's parcels. It's such fun... The way our mothers did the joongs are quite similiar, except for Yoke Waie's (with peanuts, loads of garlic pips and pork)

This is the way I make it.. with marinated pork, precooked black eye peas, fried garlic pips, shitake mushrooms, chestnuts, salted egg yolks and of course, fragrant lightly fried glutinous rice. The fried garlic pips thingy came from eating Yoke Waie's mother's joongs..

It differs a bit from joongs made from other parts of Malaysia, the black eye peas are precooked and seasoned.... It's the way it's done in Kampar, Ipoh and other towns nearby.. but not Kuala Kangsar (which happens to be just 1/2 hr from Ipoh)

My Step by Step Bak Zhang recipe

Main ingredients to buy:

1 kg pork belly

50 pcs dried chestnuts

25 salted duck eggs

Dried Shitake Mushrooms

5 bulbs of garlic

600gm black eye peas

100 gm dried shrimp

300gm shallots

2kg glutinous rice

Preparation:

Marinated Pork Belly

Cut pork belly (w/o skin) into 50+ pieces

Add in 2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce(depends on how dark the sauce is), 2 Tbsp light soy sauce, 1 Tbsp 5 spice powder.

Mix well and marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours, best for 2-3 days.

Black Eye Peas

Soak peas overnight. Drain.

Chop finely 3/4 cup shallots

Wash dried shirmp.

Heat a heavy bottomed pot and put in 3/4 cup oil.

Saute shallots until almost golden, add in dried shrimps and fry until very fragrant.

Put in black eye peas and fry for a while.

Put in water enough to cover peas and put in 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp salt (adjust accordingly, dried shrimpsmay have various degrees of saltiness), 4 Tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tsp pepper powder.

Simmer until 90% dry and peas are soft.

Let cool down a bit.

Chestnuts

Soak chestnuts the night before.

By using a sharp slim object (a small knife or skewer), remove membrane bits in slits.

Salted duck eggs

Clean egg shells.

Seperate yolks from whites.

Retain only yolks and cut into halves.

Dried Shitake Mushrooms (50 portions)

Soak mushrooms and prepare 50 pieces of it.

If mushroom is about the size of an oreo, soaking 25 will be enough. If dried mushrooms are as big as a marie biscuit, 13 mushrooms will be sufficient.

Garlic

Peel pips of garlic carefully.

Wash and dry garlic.

Fry in oil until golden. You may do this using the oil to fry the rice.

Savoury Glutinous Rice

Soak Rice for at least 2 hours.

Drain rice in a big colander.

Finely chop 1 cup shallots and 2 pips of garlic.

Heat wok and put in 1 cup cooking oil. (at this point u may fry the whole garlic pips first)

Saute chopped shallots and chopped garlic until fragrant and 90% golden. Put in 2 Tbsp salt.

Put in drained rice and mix it evenly with the fragrant oil.

Add in 4 Tbsp light soy sauce and 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce.
Continue to fry rice until slightly sticky.

Assembly:

Mix rice with black eye peas (I prefer it this way to avoid having more of either at the end)

Fold bamboo leave into a cone.

Put in 1 Tbsp of rice pea mixture. Use spoon to lightly press.

Put in 1 pc mushroom, 1 pc marinated por, 1 pc chestnut, 1 fried garlic pip, and 1/2 egg yolk.

Top up with 2 Tbsp rice pea mixture. Using hands to firmly pack rice.

Fold in the bamboo leaves.

Tie with soaked grass strands or rafia strings.

Prepare all dumplings.

Cooking

Cook in boiling water for 2 hours and remove from water inmmediately while still hot and hang up to air dry for 1 hour.



Yummy, yummy, yummy!! My hubby eats 2 at one go... minimum..

Video on how to wrap (updated 6/6/13)

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Red Bean Paste Rice Dumplings (Hong Dau Gan Sui Joong) ?????

It's near Duan Wu Jie again...

I first learnt to make Gan Sui Joong when I was 16... and they were hard and stuck to every bit of the bamboo leaves...

Then my mum asked a "professional"... he told us..... "When the dumplings are cooked, leave them in the water for at least 4 hours, then hang to air dry. This way, u'll get soft dumplings."

My MIL asked me why my Gan Sui Joongs were not bouncy..... To make them bouncy... just add Boric Acid/Borax (pang sar), a type of additive for many types of comercially prepared foods and it can also make fishballs bouncy. My mom told me that my maternal grandmother used to put this into all her zongzi and they lasted for weeks w/o referigeration.

Up to u then to put or not to put, but I'd rather sacrifice the bounciness.... Even the "professional" said.. "Aiya, a bit of pang sar won't kill you la, if not, the gan sui joong will not be nice"

I only made Gan Sui Joong with fillings since last year.. requested by dear hubby..

1st attempt-2007.. soaked the red beans overnight.. and I tried steaming them... 3 hours!! Kill me...

2008.... I used my mom's pressure cooker to cook the beans.. 15 minutes of cooking after soaking overnight...but later have to reduce over fire uncovered.. another 20 minutes..but, it's nothing to be compared to steaming for 3 hours!!

So, here's how I did it, step by step

Red Beans Filling
400gm red beans (soaked overnight)
250gm sugar (adjust to ur preference, but have to be sweeter because they will loose some of their sweetness after boiling in the dumpling)
Cook beans either by steaming or boiling until soft. Add in sugar, mix well.

Dumplings
1 kg glutinous rice (soaked overnight, or at least 2 hours)
4 Tbsp Lye water (gan sui)
Mix rice with lye water until rice turns yellowish.

Wrapping
50 pieces of softened bamboo leaves
Enough grass or rafia strands tied with a hanging knot.

AssemblyHang grass strands or rafia strings on a strong hook.

Shape bamboo leave into a cone.

Put in 1 tsp rice.


Put in 2 tsp red bean paste.

Cover with 2 tsp rice.

Wrap up. Make sure rice is not compact with space left for expansion. (method below)Tie with soaked grass strands or rafia string.

Method to wrap up





4 pretty dumplings all tied up on 2 grass strands. Gan Sui Joong are rather small, so, one strand can tie up 2

CookingPut all dumplings into a big pot and cover with water.
Boil for 2 hours and turn off the heat.
Leave dumplings in water for at least 4 hours. This is best done before u sleep, so that u can leave them overnight in the water.
The next day take out dumplings and hang up to air dry for an hour. If the wrapping leaf is too dry, the dumpling will stick to the leaf.

Video on how to wrap (updated 6/6/13)

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Pasta in Cream Sauce ????

This may be a very common recipe to many others, but many of my friends have been asking me how to do a cream sauce for pasta.

Here's how I do it. You can put in whatever you may like.... calamari, chicken, ham, peas, carrots...

I use whipping cream because it is the most common form of cream available in Malaysia.

Pasta in Cream Sauce Recipe

Portion for 2
150gm pasta, cooked al dente.
1 pip garlic (chopped)
1/2 red onion (chopped)
1/2 cup prawns
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 cup dairy whipping cream (Anchor, Emborg... bla bla bla)
1 tsp parsley flakes
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat pan and put in olive oil. Saute garlic and onion until fragrant and softened.
2. Put in prawns or whatever meat preferred and stir fry for a while until almost cooked.
3. Put in mushrooms or whatever vegetables preferred and stir until everything is cooked.
4. Pour in whipping cream and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in parsley flakes.
5. When sauce has boiled and thickened, put in cooked pasta and coat pasta with sauce.
6. Remove from heat and serve.

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Szechuan Veg. & Chicken Noodle Soup ??????

Szechuan Veg. & Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
200 gm Chicken breast, julienned
100 gm Szechuan Vegetable
1 � Tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1.5L water
1 � tsp salt
3 Bird eyes chili (optional, chopped)
Flat noodles for 2 (prepared according to packaging)

Method:
1. Heat wok and put in oil. Put in chopped garlic and saut� until fragrant and golden.
2. Put in chicken and stir until it�s half cooked.
3. Put in Szechuan vegetables. Stir.
4. Add in water, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes
5. Season with salt. It has to be slightly more salty.
6. To serve, place noodles in a bowl, place amount of bird�s eye chili as needed. Pour boiling soup over noodles.

the type of Szechuan Preserved Vegetable I used

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Fish Porridge ???

Some call this congee, some call this porridge. Well, we call this porridge.

Other types of fish may be used as well, just that frozen dory is really convenient to use anytime.

Fish Porridge Recipe

Ingredients:

� cup Thai fragrant rice
1.5L Water

250gm dory fillet (about a cup, sliced thinly)

2 Tbsp ginger, julienned
2 Tbsp green onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sesame oil

A)
1 Tbsp egg white
� tsp salt
Dash of pepper
� tsp sesame oil

Method:
1. Bring water to a boil, wash rice and simmer for 1 hour.
2. Marinate fish with (A)
3. When porridge is simmered to desired texture, put in fish, piece by piece.
4. Add in salt.
5. Ladle porridge into 2 noodle size bowls. Top with 1 tsp sesame oil each, ginger and green onion.

***
Japanese short grain rice may also be used to achieve similar texture.

***
Egg white is added to strengthen fish�s flesh texture, and to give it a smooth feel.

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Wendy's Lasagna

This is a backpost, way back to Chinese New Year 2008.

I had open house for my friends, and I made lasagne for them, they are fans of cheese and all things close to the cow.



Did some research and I find that the cheeses that they use is kind of rare in Malaysia, and the most important is they are darn pricey here.

I saw on pioneerwomancooks the way she does hers was easy, but finding hot sausages is rather difficult here. She uses cottage cheese, mozarella and grated parmesan... I just downed it all to mozarella. Used fresh tomatoes and did away with the hot sausages. I added cream to the white layer to make it creamier... Some of my friends can't take beef, so I changed it to chicken... the rest of it, stayed kinda similiar.

So, here's my way of doing it, using easier to find ingredients.

Wendy's Lasagna Recipe

Tomato base
1 Kg minced chicken
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 bulb Big onion (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 cups pureed fresh tomatoes
1 large can San Remo tomato paste (I think it's around 500gm)
2 tsp salt

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil. Put in minced chicken and cook until brown. Add in tomato puree, tomato paste, parsley, basil and salt. Cook mixture until it is almost dry. Dish up and let mixture cool down

White Sauce base
1 cup whipping cream
2 eggs
300gm grated Mozarella Cheese
2 Tbsp dried parsley

Mix everything together well.

Final Assembly
1 Packet of instant lasagne sheets (250gm)
200gm grated mozarella cheese
1 Tbsp butter

1. Butter the base of a 9 X13 inch baking pan.
2. Lay a layer of lasagna sheets on the bottom.
3. Spoon carefully half the white base onto the lasagne sheets.
4. Spoon 1/3 of the tomato base onto the white layer, making sure not to disturb the white base.
5. Lay another layer of lasagne sheets on top of the tomato base layer.
6. Repeat step 3, 4 and 5.
7. Top the lasagna sheets with the final 1/3 of the tomato base and sprinkle grated mozarella on top generously.
8. Bake at 170C for 30 minutes.

I made this 2 days in advance and kept it in the fridge until my friends arrived. Made them wait for lunch..... hahaha!!!

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Secret Recipe Inspired Tossed Noodles

One Sunday afternoon, hubby asked me to cook something. Remembered I had this vegetarian soba in Secret Recipe�and I have most of the ingredients in the fridge. I improvised a bit on the recipe, adding in egg shreds and sausages, taking out the celery and changing the soba to air dried noodles, and some other modifications.

Here it goes..

Secret Recipe Inspired Tossed Noodles Recipe

2 eggs (beaten with some salt and oil, made into thin omelets, cooled and shred)

Half big red onion, 2 sausages, half a carrot, half a chili and 2 big pieces of button mushroom. All cut into thin strips.

Medium fire, heat a table spoon of oil in wok. Saute red onion til soft, add sausages, fry for half a minute, add carrot, chili and mushroom. Cook until they wilt slightly. Off the fire.

Cook 2 pieces of air dried noodles (I used Cintan, you may use soba if u like) in boiling water. Drain.

Seasoning : 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp onion oil. Toss everything together.

Cut 2 leaves of lettuce into strips and toss in. Lettuce is in last, to make sure they remain crisp and uncooked.


*****
This is not a strong tasting dish (u know, those smokey, garlicky fried noodles, full of wok smell �wok hei�)
It looks like fried noodles, but doesn't smell like one.
If one likes the noodles in Secret recipe, one will enjoy this too.

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Claypot Chicken Rice w/o the claypot ????

My hometown is famous for Claypot Chicken Rice. Mom used to tapau this when she�s not cooking. A big pot of it would feed the whole family bao bao. But I never like it with sausages and salted fish. Prefer the plain chicken version.

How many of us do have a claypot of home? Good for u if u have one, but I don�t. So, I make this w/o the pot. It may not have the claypot smell, but it does taste similar (not the same cos I put mushrooms). I like to cook this one pot dish. My friends have seconds when I do this for them.

Very easy and delicious!!

Claypot Chicken Rice Recipe

Recipe for 2.

(A) 1 bowl of uncooked rice(washed)
1 bowl of water (adjust to preference and type of rice)

(B) 2 chicken drumsticks cut into small pieces(or which ever part u like)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
� tsp salt
Dash of white pepper powder
2 tbsp ginger juice( if u�re lazy, just julienne 1 inch of ginger)
1 tbsp corn starch

(C) 5 black mushrooms (sliced and squeezed dry)

(D) 3 tbsp light soy sauce (or how salty u want it to be)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (some brands are darker, some lighter)
2 tbsp oil ,fried with one pip of garlic and 1bulb of shallot
� tsp sesame oil
� cup green onion(cut finely)

1. Mix (B) all together and marinade for at least an hour ( I do it overnight to save time)
2. Mix in the mushrooms to marinade for another 10 mins at least.
3. Cook the rice til it�s � cooked through. (you may steam the rice or use rice cooker(water almost dry))
4. Put in the marinated chicken and mushroom. Arrange it nicely and try to make sure the chicken don�t overlap each other.

When everything is cooked, take it of the fire (if u�re using rice cooker,the light is off)
6. Put in (D) and mix it all up. If it�s not salty enough, add more soy sauce according to personal taste.


7. Dish up and serve with some blanched veggie to make the meal nutritionally more balanced, eg: Sawi or Lettuce or Taugeh.

Tip: When I prepare the garlic shallot oil, I make some for my veggie too. Then using the same wok, w/o washing, put in water, boil and blanch the veggie.

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