JAPANESE CURRY

Japanese Curry

When I tasted the Japanese Curry for the first time,

I find it something different, 

though not really outstanding,

especially I am so used to our local curries which are savoury and spicy.

Nevertheless, it is acceptable to me because

I prefer food that is slightly on the sweet side.

As for the colour of the gravy,

it is darker compare with its counter parts.

However, the colourful vegetables added has brighten it up all together!

Special thanks to Kenneth Goh's  recipe.

I have adjusted it to my taste:

(A) Curry Roux

mix all ingredients together:

2 Tbsp garam masala

1/2 Tbsp curry powder

1/2 Tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

2-3 Tbsp water

(B) Japanese Curry

45g cooking oil

1 cup chicken meat, cubed

1 cup big onions, cubed

1/2 cup green peas (I did not use)

3/4 cup carrots, cubed

3/4 cup potatoes, cubed 

2 cups water

1 tsp sugar (to taste)

1/2 tsp salt (to taste)

1/2 tsp plain flour (thickener)

Method:

1) heat oil in a frying pan, add the curry roux mix

2) at low heat, fry until aromatic, and oil will appear at the sides of the pan

3) when the mixture becomes 'light', add the onions to fry until soft

4) add chicken, potato and carrot cubes, stir fry for 2-3 min

5) add 2 cups water and allow to simmer until tender

6) add green pea, if using, salt & sugar to taste

7) sprinkle 1/2 tsp plain flour, and stir to mix in

8) allow to sit for awhile for flavour to develop before serving

PULUT PANGGANG

Pulut Panggang

is a favourite among both the 

Chinese Community and our Malay friends.

These are either made with sambal (spicy) or kunyit.

My late mom liked these non-spicy type

but they may be hard to come by

because the spicy ones are more popular.

My brother Richard started to plant bananas recently

and 

I managed to get some banana leaves from his farm.

And, I was told that I must not use the leaves from pisang emas 

because it makes the kuih bitter!

Try, if you want to prove my friend wrong!

Pulut Panggang

(A) 1 cup glutinous rice, soaked for 4 hours)

       100 ml water

       50ml coconut milk

       3/4 tsp salt

(B) 3/4 cup shredded coconut
       1/2 tsp kunyit powder
       3 shallots
       1/2 old ginger
       1 lemongrass
       2 Tbsp dried shrimp, washed, soaked & keep the soaking water
       2-3 Tbsp cooking oil
       salt & sugar to taste

(C) 1-2 banana leaves for wrapping
             a) soften by heating over the griddle
             b) cut into 5" or 6" squares
       few tooth picks for securing
                         

Method:
1) steam (A) until glutinous rice is cooked
2) slice shallots, ginger and lemongrass thinly
3) blend them together until fine, add kunyit powder
4) blend the soaked dried shrimp
5) Heat up the oil & add the blended ingredients and fry
6) add dried shrimp & continue frying until fragrant
7) add shredded coconut, soaking water and salt & sugar to taste.
8) remove from heat when the ingredients bind together. Let cool
9) wrap as shown in the photo below & secure the ends with tooth picks
10) heat the griddle with a little oil & arrange the kuih on it to 'char'
11) serve warm is nicer

PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE

Pineapple Fried Rice

is a popularThai Delicacy.

It is loved by many because of its

1) colourful presentation in the shell of a pineapple

2) mixture of taste, spicy, sweet & sour

3) mixture of texture, soft and yet crunchy because of the added cashew nuts

I have some sweet pineapples in the fridge
and
with the inspiration of Serena Kuan
I have come out with this simply pineapple fried rice
served in a plate.

Toasted Cashew nuts  must be added to get the authentic Thai

Pineapple Fried Rice

1 bowl cooked rice

a handful of prawns, skin removed

1 egg, beaten

1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced

1/2-1 Tbsp oil for cooking

ripe pineapples, cut into small slices

seasoning:

soya sauce, fish sauce, pepper

garnishing/topping:

spring onions, diced

red chilli, diced

fried shallots (optional)  

1) heat oil in a wok, fry garlic until fragrant

2) add prawns & fry

3) push ingredients to side of wok, pour beaten egg to the centre to cook

4) turn the egg when it is cooked, add rice 

5) stir fry everything together, add seasoning

6) lastly, add pineapple slices & garnishing 

7) dish out to serve

Note: reserve some garnishing for topping

STEAMED ONE POT CHICKEN RICE

I like simple meals,

more so if it is one pot.

It saves a lot of time cleaning up.

Sometimes when you are busy with chores,

too troublesome to get dressed and go out and eat,

this is an easy way out, 

One Pot Meal

Just these 3 easy steps: cutting, marinating & steaming

and 

it is stress free bacause

you will probably have all the ingredients in your pantry!

Like it?

Here is the straight forward recipe.

You need to adjust the seasoning according to your liking.

Steamed One Pot Chicken Rice

chicken, cut into bite size

ginger, shredded

Chinese sausage, sliced

Marinate: amount of seasoning is not fixed but to your liking:

soya sauce, dark soya sauce, oyster sauce,

Chinese cooking wine, sesame seed oil, pepper

and a little sugar

Garnishing: spring onions, red chili & fried shallots

1. marinate chicken & leave aside for an hour or so

2. cook rice in a steamer, reduce the water 

    (how much to reduce depends on the amount of marinate sauce you have)

3. keep an eye on the rice when cooking. 

4. when water in the rice starts to dry up, add the marinated chicken, sauce & all

5. also, add the shredded ginger & sausage slices on top

6. continue steaming until rice & chicken is cooked.

7. serve with cut spring onions, red chili & fried shallots.

Note:

you can cook this in the rice cooker too.

Steamed Chicken Rice

you can actually cook it inside this small steamer

FOOCHOW PEANUT DUMPLING

It is the time of the year again

5th Day of the 5th month of the Lunar calendar

Duan Wu Zei

or

Zhongzi Zei as many prefer to call it


There is a story behind it, as Ellie Lee puts it:

Foochows 

make their rice dumpling with 2 simple ingredients,

glutinous rice & peanuts.

Today in Sitiawan

you can find Foochow dumplings with red bean paste filling

sold throughout the year

My late mother in law 

usually bought one big bundle of 30 dumplings 

to celebrate the occasion

My mom likes to make her own dumplings.

Foochow Dumplings is not readily available in Ipoh where we reside.

It is also the time of the year that all of us girls in the family
sit together to help wrap these dumplings.

If  you are interested 

I would like to share you the following recipe

Foochow Peanut Dumpling

1 kg glutinous rice, soaked overnight or at least 4 hours

200g peanuts, with skin on (boiled until soften)

2 tsp salt

2-3 tsp alkali water

400g red bean paste, divide into 20 balls of 20g each (optional)*

Bamboo leaves & hempstring

soaked in boiling water overnight to soften, cleaned

1. drain rice, add salt & alkali water, mix well

2. mix in 1/2 soften peanuts

3. fold bamboo leaf into a cone, add 1 Tbsp rice

4. put 1 ball of red bean paste in, & cover with more rice

5. fold the leaf to cover the cone & fold in the sides

6. use a hempstring to secure the sides. 

7. cook in a pressure cooker (beans function)

8. when cooked, remember to hang the dumplings up so that it will not be soggy

Homemade red bean paste filling

250g red bean

165g sugar

50g oil

Day 1

1. boil red bean until soft, use pressure cooker

    let cool overnight

Day 2

1. blend the beans until fine

2. fry blended beans with sugar & oil until mixture leaves the side of pan

3. let cool overnight

TAIWAN BRAISED PORK RICE

A bowl of white rice

filled with the fragrance of braised pork,

juicy and shinny (meat fats)

is one that is popular and often served in Taiwan

This is simply called

'Lu Rou Fan'

or

Braised Meat Rice 

in direct translation

I have adapted this recipe from Kenneth Goh's 

Lu Rou Fan

(A) 200g minced pork
       some pork belly, shredded
       some pig skin, boiled & cut into strips

      2 shiitake mushroom, soaked overnight & shredded

(B) 5 shallots. sliced thinly

      5 pips of garlic, shredded

      5 slices ginger, minced

Seasoning:

combined together

1 Tbsp light soya sauce

1/2 to 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce, depends on the colour you are comfortable with

1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp 5 spice powder

1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cooking wine

Thickener:
1 Tbsp peanut butter

mix together 1.5 Tbsp corn flour & 1 Tbsp water

Method:

1. Heat up 1-1.5 Tbsp cooking oil & 1 tsp sesame seed oil in a wok

2. add (B) and fry until fragrant, then add (A) & seasoning

3. when the meat starts to shrink, add 1 cup water to simmer 15-30min

4. add salt & pepper if necessary (optional)

5. thicken the gravy with thickener to required consistency

Serving Ideas:

the following can be added

a) braised hard boiled eggs

b) pickled vegetables e.g. Daikon/sweet Takuwa

c) blanched leafy vegetable

FOOCHOW EIGHT JEWEL RICE

Eight Jewel Rice

八宝飯

when spoken in Foochow dialect is

either

"Bei Koh Bhon' 八菓飯 meaning 8 fruits rice 
or
"Bei Po Bhon" 八宝飯 meaning 8 treasure rice

is a popular dish during Festive Seasons and Celebrations Dinners

Basically this is just

a bowl of glutinous rice topped with some dried fruits!

Any choice of 4 to 5 types or even more
from the following list will do:

soft boiled lotus seeds, cooked gingko nuts, roasted groundnuts,

dried longan, dried golden lime, red dates,

barley pearls, melon seeds, raisins,
sweet winter melon strips,

 green & red cherries (for colour) 

& shredded red plum strips ( for mild sour taste)  ...........

To break the monotony of the thick layer of rice,

and to add some colour,

a layer of mashed yam (oor nay) or golden sweet potato may be added 
as an in between layer within the rice portion

Foochow Eight Jewel Rice

Ingredients:

1) 2 cups glutinous rice, rinsed, 

                and soaked for at least 4 hours or overnight

2) 150g yam, a) sliced & steamed until cooked

                   b) while still hot, add 35g sugar & 7g cooking oil and mash until smooth
                   c) add some boiled water if necessary
                   

3) choice of at least 4 types from the list

    - dried fruits, chopped or cut

    - leave the soft boil nuts whole

    - groundnuts or walnuts, roasted & ground, to be added upon serving
             

Method:

1) steam glutinous rice, use enough water to cover the top of rice, for 35min, until cooked

2) stir in 8g cooking oil & 90g sugar (to taste), mix well and leave to cool
3) sprinkle some water on chosen dried fruits & steam for 5min to soften

4) spread the steamed dried fruits onto the base of a medium size bowl or 5 small ones

5) add a layer of rice, alternate with mashed yam

6) topped with another layer of rice, press in and level
7) sprinkle some water on the rice and steam on high heat for 10-20 min 

8) to serve, overturn the bowl onto a serving plate

9) topped with some chopped groundnuts & serve immediately

   

The softened dried fruits are arranged at the bottom of a metal bowl
before adding the steamed rice

Once over turned on a serving plate
the fruits are on top




If you prefer
all dried fruits can be mixed together 
before putting at the base

EASY CHICKEN RICE

 Chicken Rice

is popular in both Malaysia & Singapore

and 

is often referred to as

Hainan Chicken Rice

It is simply

steamed rice with boiled chicken

but

nowadays it comes with roasted chicken too

Chicken Rice

 is served with a special chilli sauce & ginger sauce

that makes it so different

In Singapore

it comes with an additional sweet sauce - the Black sauce!

The chicken needs to be juicy 

to qualify for the name

Hainan Chicken Rice

so it must not be overcooked or dry

Steamed Chicken Rice

A. 1 chicken Thigh, free range chicken

B. 1 cup rice, rinsed & drained

     2 pandan leaves, knotted

     2 slice ginger

     1 lemon grass, lightly smashed

      pinch of turmeric powder
      salt to taste. if required

C. Sauce: 2 Tbsp garlic oil (oil fried with minced garlic)
                 1.5 Tbsp soya sauce
                 1 tsp sugar
                 3 Tbsp hot water 

D. Garnish: spring onions, cut
                     cucumber, peeled & sliced 

1. add rice, knotted pandan leaves, ginger & lemongrass in the rice cooker

2. add enough water for cooking rice
3. add turmeric powder little by little to the water, the colour of water should be very       pale yellow (if too dark, the rice will be very yellow)
4. place the chicken thigh on top the rice (can lightly colour the chicken skin with        turmeric too)
5. switch on power of the rice cooker & cook 
6. when rice is cooked, allow to keep warm for at least 30 min
7. use a chopstick to poke the thigh, if the chopstick can go through easily, the chicken is cooked
8. take out the chicken & chop to bite size, arrange on a serving plate.
9. mix ingredients for sauce & pour onto the chicken
10. garnish dish with sliced cucumber & spring onions.
11. serve with rice, chilli sauce & ginger sauce

  

Before cooking

Done

Hainanese chicken rice is not complete without the following sauces:

Chiili sauce

4 red chilli, partly de-seeded

3 chilli padi, optional

12 cloves garlic, peeled

1.5 tsp sugar, to taste

1/8 tsp salt, to taste

juice from 1 lemon

1) combine chilli & garlic in a blender

2) add enough boiled water to blend until smooth

3) add lemon juice

4) season to taste with sugar & salt

Ginger Sauce

2 large pieces of ginger, peeled & cut

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp shallot oil (oil fried with shallots)

1/2 tsp LKK mushroom sauce

1/4 tsp salt, to taste

2 tsp sugar, to taste

1) put ginger in a blender, add enough water to blend until fine

2) heat up blended ginger

3) add sesame oil, shallot oil & mushroom sauce

4) add salt & sugar to taste

5) remove from heat when boils

I have tried cooking the chicken rice 

in this Electric Lunch Box

or Steamer

BAK CHANG

Bak Chang, a Hokkien name 

for savoury dumplings

Of course, Cantonese have their version,

with added beans, 

green pea or black eye beans

My mom loves Bak Chang

She is 86 years old,

and a diabetic

Glutinous rice should definitely be out of her menu

Yet, at times she would take a spoon or two,

especially during a Festive Season 

Duan Wu Zei

These dried chestnuts need to be soaked overnight and cleaned

It is not easy to make dumplings 

It is time consuming

As many of the ingredients need to be soaked, 

and prepared before wrapping

Bamboo leaves and hempstrings

are soaked overnight  and cleaned

Ingredients:

1000g pulut rice (washed, soaked overnight & drained)

bamboo leaves & hempstrings (soaked overnight & cleaned)

chestnuts ( soaked until soft, cleaned & soaked overnight. Keep the water to fry rice)

500g pork belly, cut into bite sizes (20pcs)

10 salted egg yolk (halved)

20 dried shrimp (large size)

20 mushrooms (soaked overnight & cleaned)

2 tsp garlic, minced
oil for cooking (+sesame oil for flavour)

Seasoning:

2 tsp 5 spice powder

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 tsp black soya sauce

4 tsp soya sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp oyster sauce

1) marinate pork with 1/2 of the seasoning

2) fry garlic in some oil (+ some sesame oil)

3) add shrimp, pork, mushroom & chestnuts

4) fry till half cooked, remove

5) fry rice with remaining seasoning

6) add soaking water of chestnuts

7) add more salt, oyster sauce and dark soya sauce if necessary 

8) wrap in bamboo leaves, can make 20 bak chang

9) add 1 tsp salt to boiling water
10) put in bak chang & cook for 4 hours, turning during half time

11) remove & drip dry

Duan Wu Jie falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Lunar Calendar.  It is also known as Double Fifth Festival.

Celebration of Duan Wu Jie involves eating zhongzi or rice dumblings, and racing of dragon boats.  

This Festival is to commemorate the death of a Poet and a Minister, Qu Yuan.  He committed suicide by drowning himself when he was accused of treason.  The local people liked him very much and they raced their boats trying to save him.  This eventually became the dragon boat race that we have today.  

Finally, when they could not find Qu Yuan, they decided to throw sticky rice balls into the river for the fish to eat so that they would not eat the body of Qu Yuan.  This was how the zhongzi came about .

GLUTINOUS RICE CHICKEN

A common dish in the Dim Sum Restaurant

The glutinous rice is usually soft & tasty

I found this recipe in http://auntyyoung.blogspot.com/2014/06/steamed-glutinous-rice-with-chicken.html?utm_source=bp_recent&utm-medium=gadget&utm_campaign=bp_recent

I have made it with some alterations:

Ingredients:

(A) 220g glutinous rice (soaked overnight)

(B) 1 Tbsp oil

      1 shallot-chopped

      

(C) Sauce: 2 portions 

      2 tsp sugar

      1 tsp oyster sauce

      2 tsp light soya sauce

      1 tsp dark soya sauce

      1/3 cup water

      salt & pepper to taste

(D) 1 chicken thigh-chopped into 8 pieces

      1 lap cheong - sliced into 8 pieces

      4 mushrooms, soaked until soften & cut half

      2 cloves garlic-chopped

      1 Tbsp oil

      1 Tbsp sesame oil

Method:

1) Mix together (c) X2 portions

2) heat oils in D & fry garlic until fragrant

3) add chicken, lap cheong, mushroom & fry until dry

4) add sauce C (1 portion only)

5) dish out when cooked

6) in the same pan, fry B until fragrant

7) add drained rice & fry

8) when dry, add sauce C

9) dish up & steam in steaming pan for 15min

10) fluff the rice & let cool

11) distribute chicken, mushroom & lap cheong into steaming bowls

12) top with steamed glutinous rice, press down lightly

13) distribute all sauce into the 8 bowls

14) steam for 30min until cooked.

           

BAKED TERRIYAKI CHICKEN RICE

Hayley:" Mama, can you bake for me terriyaki chicken rice?"
Mama:" Ha? You just had it yesterday."
Hayley:"But I love it, it is so yummy!"
Mama:" OK, I will bake again tomorrow."
Hayley:" Mama, Can you cook more sauce? I like it with more sauce."
Mama:" fine."

2 drumsticks, partly de-boned

marinate with 

1 Tbsp terriyaki sauce

1 Tbsp soya sauce

1/4 tsp dark soya sauce

sugar, salt & pepper to taste

1 bowl cooked rice, in baking bowl

1& 1/2 slice cheese

1/2 Tbsp oil 

1) heat oil in a pan, lightly fry drumsticks until cooked

2) add marinate sauce and some water

3) when boil, remove from heat

4) arrange drumsticks on top of the rice, pour in some sauce

5) put pieces of cheese on the chicken

6) bake in toaster oven until golden

7) garnish with boiled vegetable, serve hot

STEAMED SAVOURY PULUT

SAVOURY PULUT

300g pulut - soaked 4 hours & drained

4 shallots - chredded
2 Tbsp cooking oil

150g char siew - cut into cubes
25g dried shrimps - soaked to soften & drained
4 shitake mushrooms - soaked to soften & shredded

Seasoning: combine all
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp 5 spice powder

salt to taste
120g water

1) Heat oil in a pan & fry shallots until fragrant
2) add dried shrimps, char siew & mushroom & seasoning
3) fry until fragrant & dish out 1/2 for topping
4) pour drained pulut into the pan to fry, add salt to taste
5) bring the whole lot to a steaming pan, water & mix well
6) add topping & steam on HIGH for 30min until well cooked
7) serve with chopped spring onions and shredded egg