Spicy Tauchoo Bamboo Clams

 It is once in a blue moon would you fine these delicious bamboo clams in the wet market. My favourite way of cooking this 'razor blades yummies' is using chilly and tauchoo. I like it simply bcoz it is easy and a quick dish to make.

To make this dish, basically u need 4 ingredients:

• 1 kg bamboo clams
• 1 large onion
• Chilly tauchoo paste made of: 5-8 dried chillies, 1 tbsp tauchoo, 3 shallots and 2 garlic
• tamarind juice from 1 tbsp of tamarind
• coriander leaves
• brown sugar & salt to taste

Method:

1. Stir fry the onions till golden.

2. Pour in the chilly-tauchoo paste, a little brown sugar and salt to taste. 

3. Once the paste is done ( oil raises to the surface), pour in the tamarind juice.

4. Let it simmer for a while and add in bamboo clams.

5. Stir fry the clams for a few minutes and put in coriander leaves.

6. Best served hot.

- bon appetite - 

Chicken Makhani ~ Indian Butter Chicken

Chicken Makhani... the first time i heard about this dish was a few years back when my sis came back from her 3-month course in India. She was head over heels with this dish that she almost jump in joy when she managed to find a restaurant in town that serve this dish. Soon the dish becomes our all time family fav! My version of chicken makhani is a little bit sourish and best eaten with cheese kulcha / naan cheese. The combination of creamy cheesy naan and chicken makhani is superb.. do try it .. :)

Chicken Makhani & Smoked Cheese Kulcha

Ingredients:

2 pieces of chicken breast - sliced and seasoned with salt, pepper and corn flour.
1 large red onion
2 shallots
3 garlic
1cm ginger
1 tbsp masala powder
1 tbsp fennel powder
1 black cardamon pots
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 cup greek yogurt
1 can of Heinz Tomato Soup
butter , olive oil.
1 bay leave
fresh crack black pepper

Method:

1. Heat olive oil and stir fry chicken breast till half cooked.

2. Scoop and set aside.

3. In the wok, stir fry the onions, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick,

star anise, black cardamon pots.

4. In a bowl, mix all the powder together with water.

5. Pour the mixture into the wok when the onions turn slightly golden.

6. Once oil surfaces from the mixture of spice powder, pour the can of tomato soup.

7. Let it bubble for a few minutes.

8.  Put in bay leave, chicken breast and greek yogurt.

9. Add in salt and brown sugar to taste.

10. Stir fry for a few minutes. 

11. Add in a slab of butter and freshly cracked black pepper.

~ bon appetito ~

Fried Glutinous Rice Flakes

Glutinous Rice Flakes or what we called Emping is one of the traditional dish in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia particularly in Penang, Kedah and Perlis. How these green flakes are served as a dish depends on which state you are in. In Kedah and Perlis, mostly, emping is preferred to be eaten as a sweet dish where it is served with fresh grated coconut, sugar and a bit of salt. As for Penangites, we like it to be a little bit spicy and crunchy.

Sold in packets, you need to discard the husks from the flakes.

Basically fried emping is done just like you fry fried rice. The only difference is that, the ingredients need to be dry in order to have crunchy emping :)

Ingredients:
1/2 packet of emping
omelette (separate d egg whites n yolk to have the different colour effect) ;)
fried minced beef (fry mince beef with salt and pepper till the juices dry up)
diced carrot, cabbage
sliced spring onion and chinese celery
diced big yellow onion
chilly paste made of 4 red chillies, 3 garlic & 4 shallots.
salt & sugar to taste










Methods:

1. On a medium heated pan, toast the flakes till slightly golden / crunchy and put aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok and put in the chilly paste, a little sugar and salt.

Fry till fragrant.

3. Once the paste is done - fragrant and the oil arises to the surface, put in the fried mince beef, carrots & cabbage. Stir for a few minutes.

Then, put in the diced big onion.

4. Put in the flakes and mix well. 

Remember, the heat should be medium.

5. Finally put in sliced spring onion and chinese celery.

Serve hot to savour the crunchiness of the flakes ~ kruk kruk kruk.. ;)

 serve with julienne omelette, red & green chilly (optional )

~ Bon Appetito ~

Golden Ball

It was truly a sweet surprise when I came home one day  ~ my eldest in the kitchen (she seldom in d kitchen unless i ask her to)... and what more surprises me was that in the pot of hot oil, there were 3 big balls all covered with panko. I must say ~ I was really impressed. So, waking up fresh this morning, I've asked her to teach me on making this Sushi King inspired gunkan dish ~ the golden ball.

Basically for this dish, you need:

Hard-boiled eggs

Japanese Breadcrumbs / Panko  

Plain Flour

beaten eggs for coating

Method:

1. Coat the hard-boiled eggs with beaten eggs - one egg at a time.

2. Place the egg coated hard-boiled egg into the flour and let it roll till the flour covered the egg.

** Repeat step 1 & 2 for five times (coat with beaten egg then roll into the flour then place it back into the bowl of beaten egg  coat it and roll it back into the flour) .This will make up the outer layer of the egg. This step is quite messy especially when it comes to the third, fourth and five coating onwards. By the fifth layer of egg and flour coating the oval shape of the egg has turned round. 

3. After the fifth coating of the flour, dip the ball one last time in the beaten egg.

(Note: this could be quite tricky as the flour & egg coating can be easily dis-formed.

4. Finally, place the egg coated ball into panko-filled container and roll it making sure that the ball is fully covered with panko. Repeat this step for 3 to 4 times. (quite tedious right.... huhu)

5. And.... finally, refrigerate d balls for about 30min the least before they are ready for deep frying... ;)

6. Heat the oil in the pot with medium heat and slowly place in the balls and deep fry them till golden. 

7. Once golden, scoop out the balls and let them cool before cutting them into 2. 

8. The usual filling of golden ball is finely diced crab sticks served with japanese mayonnaise.

    However, i choose to indulge myself with a bit of luxury... ;)

mix chopped english parsley, smoked salmon and creme fraiche

9. Serve the golden balls with your favourite filling. I choose to mix the egg yolk with chopped english parsley, smoked salmon and creme fraiche. 'Drizzle' japanese mayonnaise on top of the filling and sprinkle bits of seaweed as finale.. bon appetito ;)

Acar Rampai ~ Vegetables Acar

Having acar with rice is one of my favourite. My mom would always make acar whenever she cook flavoured rice like ghee rice and tomato rice or even fish biryani. .. I remembered - my mom would cook vegetable acar in a small pot and i'll be the one who keeps on going in and out from the kitchen eating it on its own like it is some kind of snack.. ;)
For those who love vegetables.. this is one of the dish that i would highly recommend it.

The ingredients:

A. The Vegetables
1 medium carrot (cut into the length of 1" thick strips)
1 medium cucumber (de-seeded and cut into the length 1" thick strips- skin in tact)
a few strands of young long beans (cut into 1" length )
3 plump green chillies (de-seeded and cut into 1" length strips)
2 red chillies (de-seeded and cut into 1" length strips)
8 - 10 shallots (cut into quarters depends on its size)
6 garlic ( julienne)
1" ginger (julienne)
1 1/2 big red onion (sliced)

B. Ingredients for stir-frying/ gravy

2 tbsp dried shrimp (fried till fragrant)
5 - 8 dried chillies (blended into a paste)
2 garlic
1 cm ginger
5 candle nuts
3 shallots
1/4 big red onion (optional)

(all the stated ingredient above is blended into fine paste)









C.
2 tbsp sesame seed (fry in oil for a few seconds and put aside)
1/2 cup of vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
salt

Let's get started!
1. Heat the oil in the wok and pour in the B ( the blended ingredients/gravy). Cook till the oil rises or what we refer to as 'pecah minyak'

2. Once the oil rises on the top, put in vinegar, sugar and salt to taste. Stir for a minute or two - then put in all the vegetables in. Make sure that the fire is in low heat.

3. Stir the vegetables for about 3 minutes and pour in the sesame seed.

The acar should be scoop out from the pot immediately to avoid overcooking the vegetables.

4. In a bowl mix well the sesame with the rest of the vegetables and the acar is ready to be served with rice. :)

Note: The vegetables should be cruncy - not cooked.

~ bon apetito ~

Steamed Lobster with Salted Egg Yolk

Hmmm.... Lobster.. my all time fav!
Whenever i think about lobster.. it would definitely remind me of Labuan. Yup ~ d island where you can get Lobsters cheaper! (well.. compared to Peninsula M'sia of course) ;)
So.. today.. let's go a bit extravaganza with the menu... :)

Ingredients:

Part A:

3" ginger
10 garlic
10 fresh shitake mushroom
(all thinly sliced)







Part B

1/2 cup Japanese Sashimi Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Fish Sauce
1/2 - 1 lemon (juice)







Part C

4 salted egg yolks - diced







Method:
1. Once cleaned, cut the lobster in d middle and flattened it ( to make it spread open)
2. Place the egg yolk in d middle evenly.

 

3. Drizzle all d sauces evenly onto all parts of the lobster.

4. Pour evenly lemon juice onto the lobster:

5. Steam the lobster for about 20 - 25 mins (depends on the size of the lobster).

The one I am using here is 750gm. 

6. In a pan, stir fry till crispy ginger, garlic and shitake mushroom separately.
7. Once, the lobster is cooked, sprinkle the crispy ginger, garlic and shitake mushroom.
8. Garnish the dish with chopped coriander leaves.

~ bon appetit ~

Sea Cat Fish Curry in Laksa Leaves with Roe

.. was browsing for fish in the market this morning when i came across a plate of fish roe and sea cat fish or ikan sembilang as the Malays refer to. My mouth watered and immediately i remembered my mom's curry. This version of curry is a bit different as it includes laksa leaves.. hmm.. a curry between normal fish curry and nyonya assam curry.
For this curry.. you'll need:

Part 1:
1 packet of Baba's Fish Curry Powder
2 tbsp dried chilli paste
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 big onion
3 shallots
2 garlic

Part 2:
1 sea cat fish
1/2 fish roe (telur ikan duri)

Part 3:
tamarind juice from 1tbsp of tamarind paste
100gm coconut cream

Part 4:
1 large tomato
a handful of laksa leaves
1/2 big onion

Method:

1. In boiling hot water, boil fish roe till it cooks.

(Note: cut the roe sacks open before boiling it)

2. Once cooked set aside.

3. In a curry pot, heat oil and stir fry the onions and garlic.

4. Once done, pour in tamarind juice.

5. Combine curry powder, chilli paste, grinded coriander seeds, cumin and black pepper into a paste.

6. Pour in the paste into the pot and let it simmer.

 7. Simmer the paste till the oil appear on the top of the paste- d sign that the paste is done.

8. Pour in coconut cream and water. Once it started boiling, put in fish roe and the cat fish.

9. When the fish is about 3/4 cooked, put in sliced big onion, tomato, salt and laksa leaves.

10. Simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Serve hot.

Goes well with sambal belacan, ulam and fried salted fish.

~ Bon Appetite ~