Monday 5 April 2010

Yee Sang

I found out that Yee Sang is only popular in Malaysia and Singapore and parts of South east Asia, used to be eaten on the 7th day of Chinese New Year but now commonly eaten as the popular appetizer course in the standard meal course for any CNY dinner.
The fun of eating Yee Sang is the communal tossing of the salads with chopsticks. The action of tossing is known as Lo Hei which symbolizes increasing prosperity, abundance and vigor. This is why this dish is very popular among businessmen.
The Yee Sang comes in facinating colours. It is serve in a large flat platter with vegetables arranged around a small serving of raw fish in the middle.
Ingredients:
  • 100g white raddish, shredded
  • 100g of carrot, shredded
  • 100g mango, shredded
  • 100g of raw papaya, shredded
  • 100g purple cabbage, shredded and boiled to soft
  • a bunch of coriander leaves
  • 5 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
  • 30g pickled ginger. (can get them in bottle in oriental supermarket)
  • 50g spring onion, shredded
  • 80g pink grapefruits or pamelo
  • 50g toasted sesame seeds
  • 80g roasted peanuts, pounded
  • 10 sheets of wan tan skin, cut into bite pieces ans deep dry until golden brown

Seafood:

  • 20-30 thin slices of raw salmon/jelly fish/abalone
  • 1tbsp lime juice

Sauce:

  • 300g plum sauce
  • 1 tbsp apricot
  • 3 tbsp lime juice
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

10g of five spice powder, put into a red packet

Method:

Combine all the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan. Bring to a low simmering boil. Leave a side to cool completely before use.

Arrange all the shredded vegetables attractively on a big, round serving platter. Put the raw fish in the centre.

To serve, pour the sauce over the yee sang and sprinkle with the five spice powder. Add the sesame seeds and the pounded peanuts.

Kuih Rose/Kuih Loyang

Ingredients:
  • 200ml tin coconut milk and add 175ml water
  • 100g castor sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten lightly
  • oil for deep frying

Sift:

  • 125g rice flour
  • 125g plain flour

Method:

You need the kuih rose brass mould as show above picture.

Combine sugar and coconut milk. Use a handheld wire whisk to mix both ingredients until sugar has disolved. Add in the egg and whisk until well blended. Stir in sifted flours and mix to form a smooth batter. Strain the mixture through a wire mesh sieve to prevent any lumps. If the batter is thick, just add a little more water until the consistency is just right.

Heat oil in a wok. Put in the brass mould to heat up. When it becomes hot enough, remove the mould and dip into the batter. Make sure that the sides are coated with batter.

Return the mould to the hot oil and deep-fry the batter till its turn golden brown and crispy. Shake a little to remove the pastry from the mould. Remove the kuih rose from the oil , then drain and leave to cool on absorbent kitchen paper. Store in airtight container.

Kuih Lapis (Layer Cake)

Ingredients:
  • 160g rice flour
  • 20g lek tau hoon (green beans flour)
  • 150ml water

For the syrup

  • 150g castor sugar
  • 300ml water
  • 2-3 daun pandan (screwpine leaves), knotted
  • 250ml coconut milk
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • a few drops red colouring

Method:

Combine sugar, screwpine leaves and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Strain and set aside to cool.

Put rice flour and green bean flour into a large mixing bowl. Pour in water gradually and leave aside to soak for 45 minutes. Add coconut milk and salt to the rice flour mixture and mix well. Stir in syrup. Strain the batter to ensure it is free from lumps.

Divide the batter into two. Leave half a portions white and add the red colouring to the other half.

Places a greased 20cm tray in the steamer and heat up for 5 minutes. Pour half cup of the white batter on to the heated tray. Cover and steam over medium heat for 5 minutes or until set.

Pour half cup of the pink batter over the white layer and steam covered for 5 minutes or until set. Repeat the procedure, alternating white and pink batter until all the batter is used up.

To the very last layer, add a little more red colour to make it a deeper shade of pink.

After the final layer is set, steam the kuih for a further 15 minutes. Halfway through open the lid to release the stem, then cover again until the end of the steaming process.

Cool the kuih throughly before cutting into small diamond-shaped pieces.