Loh Mai Kai

Ingredients:

• 250g glutinous rice-washed and soaked for 4 hours, steam for 30 minutes
• 1½ cups of water
• 150g chicken meat
• 15g Chinese mushroom, soaked and cut into thin slices
• 1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), optional
• 4 shallots, sliced

Seasoning (A):

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp ginger juice
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp pepper
•  ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp corn flour

Seasoning (B):

• 1½ tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• ½ tsp Five Spice powder (ng heong fun)

Method:

Cut chicken into slices. Marinate with seasoning (A) for 2 hours.

Heat oil in a wok and sauté shallots till soft and fragrant. Add mushroom slices and stir-fry quickly, then dish up.

Add cooked glutinous rice and seasoning (B) and water. Stir fry well for 5 minutes.

Greased a bowl that big enough. Put in fry shallots, mushroom slices, Chinese sausage and seasoned chicken. Fill up with glutinous rice and press down the rice. This is to compact the rice.

Steamed for 45 minutes. Then turn over the rice bowl onto a plate and serve with chilli sauces.

Curry Kapitan

A thick spicy chicken curry dish, broadly influenced in its spicing, Curry Kapitan conjures up some of the cosmopolitan atmosphere of old Malacca and recalls the traditional role of the 'Kapitan China' as the functionary who stood between the Malay Rulers and the Chinese communities. The 'KAPITAN' would have been a man of standing among both Malays and his own Chinese people and would have had considerable social mobility. 'Curry Kapitan' reflects this in culinary terms.

Beside serving as a main dish with rice, this dish is also nice to serve with Roti Jala or with bread. You can reduce the chillies according to your requirement.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken, cut into pieces
• 1 cup coconut milk

(A)

• 5 dried red chillies
• 4 fresh red chillies
• 6 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 cradlenuts (buah keras)

(B)

• 2 stalks lemon grass (serai)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (kunyit) powder

Seasoning:

• salt to taste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 lemon, squeeze out juice

Method:

Grind (A). Marinate chicken with 1 tbsp ground ingredients (A) and 1 tbsp coconut milk.

Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in wok. Stir-fry remaining ingredients (A) and add in (B). Add marinated chicken pieces and mix well. Add in coconut milk and simmer curry over low heat. keep on stirring. When chicken is cooked and gravy is thick, add in seasoning.

Ayam Ponteh

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken, cut into bite size pieces
• 500g potatoes, quartered and peeled
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

pounded ingredients:

• 8 shallots }
• 4 cloves garlic } pounded together
• 2 tbsp salted soya beans (tau cheong)

Method:

Heat oil and lightly brown garlic and shallots. Add salted soya beans and fry until fragrant. Add chicken pieces and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Pour in water and seasoned with sugar, dark soy sauce and salt. Add in potatoes and cook until the potatoes are soft and the gravy is thick.

Serve hot.

Indian Mee Goreng

Oh! yes...this is my favourite mee goreng. When I was young & living in Penang, I used to buy the fritter where it was slit in the centre and stuff with shreded sengkuang, cucumber and blanched taugeh. Finally some sauce will be poured into the fritter. We used to called it "tikus" as it was shaped like a little rat.
Thanks to Winnie for making us the homemade noodles.



Ingedients for the fritters:

• 175g plain flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 130 ml water
• 1 tbsp finely chopped green chilli
• 1/2 medium size onion, finely chopped
• extra plain flour for dusting hand
• enough oil for deep frying

Method:
Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking soda in a mixing bowl. Gradually add in water to mix into a dough. Set aside to rest for 1 hour.
Mix in the green chilli and onion. Dust hand with the extra flour and shape the dough into ablong shape for about 3" in lenghts. Taper the ends.
Heat wok with oil and deep fry the fritters until golden brown. Drain well and cut into slanting pieces.
Ingredients for the sauce:
Spices-ground and combine:

• 7 shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 dried chillies, soaked until soft
• 2 fresh red chillies
• 1/2 tsp belacan

(A)

• 75g mashed sweet potatoes
• 75g gula melaka
• 2 tbsp tamarind, mixed with 50 ml water and squeezed for juice
• 125g roasted peanuts, pounded
• 600ml water
• salt to taste
• 4 tbsp oil

Method:
Heat oil and fry ground ingredients until fragrant. Add in A and simmer until the gravy turns thick.
Ingredients for frying the noodle:

• 1 packet noodles. Here I used the egg noodles that available in supermarket
• 150g taugeh.
• 2 medium size potatoes, boiled and cut into 1/2 cm thick slices
• deep fried firm beancurd. Use only half block. Cut into about 1cm square
• 3 eggs
• 3 fritters ( ingredients and method is as above), sliced 1cm slantly.
• 3 tbsp dep fried shallots
• some curly leaves for garnishing, slice thinly
• some lime wedges
• 3 tbsp oil

Method:
Heat the wok until hot. Put in the noodles and 21/2 cups of the rojak sauce ( ingredents and method is as above). Stir to coat well. Add in the fritters, potatoes, beancurd and taugeh. Stir well again for about 2 minutes.
Move the noodles to the side of the wok and break the eggs into the empty space of the wok. Scramble well and cover the noodles over the egg. Leave for 1 minutes and stir well.
Dish out to a serving plate and garnish with deep fried shallots, curly leaf and 1 lime wedges.

Rempah Udang (Pulut Panggang)

This is a fantastic tea time snack. I have been longing for this for a long time. The only thing that stop me from making this is because of banana leaf. You need the banana. The smell of burnt banana leaf imparts the rempah udang with a smoky flavour. Many thanks to Gina for sharing her banana leaf that she grows in her garden. We met-up recently & have a go at our rempah udang making session. Also thanks to Ling, who helps us to grill the ready one. She says that it brings back her childhood memory where she used to help her grandma making this kuih for a living.
We are going to have more of this session girls!

Ingredients:

• 300g glutinous rice, washed, soaked overnight and drained
• 200ml thick coconut milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 banana leaf, cut into 20 pieces (of 14x12cm rectangles), scalded to soften and wiped dry

Filling:

• 125g white grated coconut
• 50g dried prawns, soaked, drained and pounded finely
• 1 tbsp oil

Ground finely (A):

• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 small piece cekur root (sar keong)
• 1 clove garlic
• 5 shallots
• 2 red chilli, seeded

Seasoning (B)

• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 3 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 3 tbsp water

Method

Mix coconut milk with salt and sugar. Add to the glutinous rice and steam for 30 minutes.

Pan fry the grated white coconut until evenly browned then pound until fine (kerisek). Heat oil in a wok and fry ingredients (A) until fragrant. Add the dried prawns, seasoning (B) and kerisik.

Dish out and set aside to cool. Place 2 tablespoonful of glutinous rice in the centre of a banana leaf. Spread one tablespoonful of filling in the centre and top up with another tablespoonful of rice. Wrap each roll firmly in the banana leaf, press the ends together and secure the ends with staples. Pan-grill the rolls in a frying pan, to brown the banana leaves all over, until aromatic.

Claypot Chicken Rice (Nga Po Fun)

This rice is usually cooked in a clay pot. As I do not own one, I decided to cook it in the rice cooker.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of rice, washed and drained well
• 4½ cups of water
• 1 piece of boneless salt fish , chopped

(A):

• 1 tbsp oil
• ½ tsp sugar
• dash of pepper
• 250g deboned chicken meat

(B):

• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
•  tsp pepper
• ¼ tbsp fresh ginger juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 3 black mushrooms, soaked till soft and cut into thin slices
• 25g Chinese sausage (optional), sliced thinly

Seasoning (mix together):

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic oil
• ¼ tsp dark soy sauce

Method:

Marinade chicken with (B) for 1 hour or overnight. Marinade salt fish with (A) and leave aside for 10 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and stir-fry marinated chicken meat. Add mushroom slices, sliced Chinese sausage and seasoning. Dish out and put aside.

Mix rice with water. Put rice into an electric cooker and cook rice as usual. After seven minutes, or when rice is almost cooked and dry, add stir-fried chicken meat and the marinated salted fish. Continue to cook till rice is completely cooked. Dish rice into a serving bowl and garnish with chilli strips and chopped spring onions.

Serve hot.

Chee Cheong Fun

This is one of my favourite breakfast. As it is difficult to get a good chee cheong fun in Exeter, I decided to look around & tried all recipes that I've found & finally I managed to modify the recipes to make a real smooth chee cheong fun.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of rice flour
• 1 tbsp of tapioca flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp oil
• 3/4 cup of cold water
• 1/2 cup of hot boiling water
• 1 tbsp of chopped spring onions

Fillings:

• 16 pieces of big prawns or
• some char siew or
• 3 tbsp of dried prawns, soaked to soften

Sauce (mix and combine well)

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1-2 dash of sesame oil
• 1/2 cup of boiling hot water

Method:

In a mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, tapioca flour & salt with 3/4 cup of cold water. Stir until smooth. Add in 1 tbsp oil. Add in the hot water and the chopped spring onions.

Lightly grease 2, 7" to 8" pan. Here I used the sandwich pan. Lightly greased the pan each time it has been used. Also prepare a cold water bath by filling a second large pan with cold water

Bring the water in the skillet to a boil. Put the greased pan in the steamer to heat it through. Stir the batter and ladle 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan . 

Spread the batter evenly by tilting slightly. Put in the filling and cover to steam for 3 minutes or until the sheets has cooked through. Transfer the pan to the cold water bath for 1 minute. Use a spatula to loosen the sheet along one edge, then roll it up loosely. Transfer the roll onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, cleaning and oiling the pan each time, and replenishing the simmering water in the skillet as necessary.

Serve with some chilli oil and sauce.

Ban Jian Kuih (Peanut Pancake)

Ingredients:

• 100 g plain flour
• 25 g rice flour
• 1/8 kan sui (lye water)
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50g sugar
• 160 ml water

Filling :

• 100 g chopped roasted peanuts}
• 50g castor sugar } mix together
• 2 tbsp Margarine cut into small pieces

Method:
Mix all the ingredients well into a batter and leave aside covered, to rest for at least 30 minutes. Lightly grease a 8-10 inch non-stick frying pan and heat it over a medium low flame. Pour in all the batter and using the base of the scoop/ladle , spread the batter evenly around and to the sides of the pan. Cover pan.
When bubbles are seen on the surface of the half cooked batter, sprinkle a handful of filling over. Spread the pieces of margarine all over the filling. Cover the kuih and cook further for half a minute. Remove the cover and use a flat-bladed knife/spatula to release the sides and bottom of the apam and fold into half. Cool before cutting into wedges.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

• 75 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 egg white
• 100 castor sugar
• 11/2 tbsp corn oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp pandan paste

Methods:

Cream egg yolks, 70 gm of sugar until it is creamy and thick. Add in sifted flour and baking powder, vanilla essence, coconut milk, corn oil, pandan paste into the egg yolk mixture. Use machine to mix it well.

In a clean dry bowl, beat egg white, remainder 30 gm of sugar, cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until stiff. Mix the eggwhite into the flour mixture and mix it thoroughly and gently using a spatula. Pour into a 20cm chiffon pan and bake in a preheated oven at 160C for 45 mins. (My oven is fan assisted. If conventional oven, bake it at 175C )

When cake is baked, invert it immediately to cool down for about 10 mins. After 10 mins, use a sharp knife to loosen the side and then the bottom to release the cake. Leave it on a wire rack to cool down further.

Lek Tau Th'ng

This is nice to be taken hot or cold.

Ingredients:

• 150g gula melaka
• 1 cup water
• 300g mung beans, soaked for 1 to 2 hours
• 100g castor sugar
• 1.5 liter water
• 2 pandan leaves
• 250ml thick coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Boil gula melaka and water in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved completely. Strain the syrup and set aside. Combine mung beans, sugar and water in a deep pot. Bring to a boil for 20-25 minutes.

Add syrup to the mung beans and simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the beans are soft and the liquid in the pan is reduced to half. Stir in coconut milk, add the salt and bring to a low boil. Serve this sweet dessert either hot or if preferred, cold.

Acar Hu

Ingredients:

• 200ml vinegar
• 400g sugar
• 600g ikan tenggiri slices
• 1 cup oil

Ground spices:

• 45g coriander seed
• 3 tbsp jintan manis
• 250g shallots
• 150g garlic
• 90g dried chillies
• 11/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 15cm ginger

Ingredients for garnishing:

• 5 green chillies}
• 5 red chillies} seeded and sliced half
• 4cm ginger, sliced finely
• 20g garlic. sliced lenghtwise

Method:

Heat oil and deep fry fish until crispy. Put aside to drain.

Heat oil and saute the ground ingredients until fragrant. Add in vinegar, sugar, ingredients for garnishing and salt to taste.

Add in fried fish. Keep overnight and serve with rice.

Kiam Chye Boey

Whenever you have left over of roast pork or even some roasted duck/chicken, you can always make this kiam chye boey dish which is salted vegetables stewed with leftover meats. It's pretty spicy too and has chillies and tamarind which is boiled for a few hours for the flavours to develop.

Ingredients:

• 400g of fresh mustard vegetable ( Kua Chye in hokkein)
• 1 kg of roast pork. can also use the left over roasted pig head/tail/leg, chop into smaller pieces
• 10 dried chillies
• 1 lemongrass, smashed
• 8 tamarind pieces (asam keping)
• 6 cups of water

Method:

Wash and cut the mustard in to pieces. Do not cut too small as it will be smash up when it is cook.

Put 6 cups of water in a big pot over a high heat. Add all the remaining ingredients and le it boil for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat & boil further for another 45 minutes to an hour.

Jui Hoo Char

Cooking jiu hoo char involves tedious cutting of the ingredients and then another one half hour patiently stir-frying it. This is a Hokkien dish which means fried cuttlefish. It is usually cooked only during major festivals such as the Chinese New Year and for praying to the deceased on the Chinese seventh month and death anniversaries. It also used to be one of the main dishes for wedding eve dinners and wedding day lunch which is now mostly being replaced with buffet for aesthetic purposes and convenience.

A good jiu hoo char must have its sengkuang, carrots, mushrooms and pork sliced into thin layers and then finely shredded, preferably cut by hand with a knife. Those that are processed with a metal shredder would be mushy and not taste as good. It is also important to stir fry the garlic, cuttlefish and onions until fragrant before adding the other ingredients.

Jiu hoo char keeps well. In fact, it tastes even better if kept overnight and then heated again. It is usually cooked enough for a few meals.

Ingredients:

• 600g sengkuang
• 1 medium sized carrots
• 1 large onion
• 4 pips garlic, chopped
• 6 shiitake mushrooms
• 75g shredded dried cuttlefish
• 200g belly pork, skin removed
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:

Soak mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water for about 30 minutes. Keep the water that mushrooms had been soaking in. Rinse shredded cuttlefish and leave to dry. Cook meat in boiling water and remove. Finely shred sengkuang, carrots, mushrooms and pork. Cut onions into halves and then slice thinly.

Heat oil in wok. Add garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add cuttlefish and stir-fry until fragrant. Add onions and pork and stir-fry until fragrant and onions are soft. Add the rest of the shredded ingredients and stir-fry until they become soft and turn a few shades darker. Add salt. Add mushroom water bit by bit, stirring all the time to prevent the vegetables from burning and sticking to the bottom of the wok. Continue stirring until fragrant, the volume of the ingredients reduced by half, which should be approximately one half hour.

Onde Onde

It it also know as Buah Melaka.





Ingredients:

• 250g glutinous rice flour, sifted
• 100g steamed, mashed sweet potatoes
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup boiling hot water
• A few drops pandan paste
• 11/2 cup dessicated coconut,

Filling (combine):

• 100g gula Melaka or palm sugar

Method:

Put sifted glutinous rice flour and pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Add in the mash sweet potatoes. Pour in boiling hot water and pandan paste. If the sweet potatoes is in orange colour, you can omit the pandan paste. Stir well to form a smooth dough. If dough is too stiff, add a little water; if it is too wet, add a little glutinous flour.

Divide dough into small pieces and form lime-size balls. Flatten each piece, put half a teaspoon of filling in the centre and roll again into onde-onde balls.Drop the onde-onde into boiling water. When the balls are cooked they will float. Scoop up the onde-onde with a perforated ladle and toss in grated coconut.

Sambal Udang

This dish is best to eat with nasi lemak.

Ingredients:

• 300g medium-sized prawns, shelled
• 200g petai seeds, skinned
• 3-4 tbsp oil

Ground (combined):

• 5 dried chillies, soaked
• 2 fresh red chillies, seeded
• 4 shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 candlenuts
• 1/4 tsp belacan granules
• 1 tbsp tamarind, soaked in water and squeezed for juice

Seasoning:

• 1/2 tbsp sugar or to taste
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a wok, saute ground ingredients and belacan until aromatic. Put in prawns and cook for three to four minutes. Add ltamarind juice and seasoning. Stir well to mix. Add petai seeds and stir-fry well. Dish out and serve with nasi lemak.

Loh Bak (Pork Roll)

Loh Bak is a mixture of food you can pick which will be quickly deep fried for you as a side dish. You can pick from prawn fritters (her chee), cuttlefish, 100 year old eggs, tau kuah and many more. It comes with 2 dips, a chilly dip and a slimy loh/starch dip.
Loh Bak is normallyserve with 2 type of sauce. A sweet chilly sauce and the other is a sticky starchy sauce call loh, hence the name loh bak where bak means meat.





Ingredients:

• 600g lean pork, cut into strips
• 1 pinch five spice powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp corn flour
• 1 tsp soya sauce
• 1 egg yolk (separate white to use as paste for skin)
• 3 pcs tau foo pauy (soya skin), cut into 14cm x 14cm
• 3 shallots, chop finelly
• 6 water chestnuts (can be replace with sengkuang), dices into small little cubes
• enough oil for deep fry

Method:

Mix pork with the spice, sugar, salt, soya sauce,corn flour, egg yolk, water chestnuts and shallots.

Place the pork on a piece of the soya skin and roll and tuck the skin neatly. Apply some of the egg white at the egg so that the skin will stick to the roll.

Heat the oil and deep fry until brown and cook.

Tau Ewe Bak (Soya Sauce Pork)

This is a typical Penang dish. Best to eat the next day.

Serve this dish with sambal belacan

Ingredients:

• 150g sum chan bak, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2-3 pips garlic
• 10 peppercorns
• 11/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp dark sauce
• 2 tbsp soya sauce
• 3 hard boil eggs, remove shell
• 1 cup water

Method:

Place pork, garlic, peppercorns, sugar, dark sauce and soya sauce in a pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Increase the heat to medium. Add in water and the hard boil eggs. Mix well and bring to boil. Reduce to low heat again and simmer until the pork is tender.

Thab Thim Krob (Thai water chestnuts dessert)

Ingredients:

• 300g water chestnuts, diced

Mix and sift:

• 125g tapioca flour
• 25g corn flour

• 1/4 tsp rose essence
• red colouring

• 1/2 pot of water

• 200ml coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp salt, for the coconut milk

• plenty of ice cubes or crushed ice

To make sugar syrup:
Bring to boil the following and leave to cool:

• 250g sugar
• 150ml water
• 2 or 3 daun pandan leaves, knotted

Garnishing

• nangka, cut into strips

Method:

Bring water to a boil. Put diced water chestnut pieces into a mixing bowl. Add rose essence and red colouring. Toss the coloured water chestnut pieces into the sifted flours.

Shake off any excess flour and drop the water chestnut pieces into the boiling water. Give it a good stir and cook until the pieces floated up. Dish up and soak in ice water, then drain well.

Mix coconut milk with salt and add the cooled syrup. Place the water chestnut pieces into the coconut milk. Garnish with nangka strips. Add plenty of crush ice.

Oh Kuih (Savoury Yam Cake)

Ingredients:

• 250g yam, diced
• 1 cup water

(B) Mix together and sieved:

• 125g rice flour
• 20g tapioca flour
• 1 1/4 tsp five spice powder
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 tsp alkaline water

Seasoning:

• 1 tbsp chicken stock granules
• Salt to taste
• Dash of pepper
• 1/4 tsp sugar

For garnishing:

• 100g dried prawns, soaked and chopped coarsely
• 4 shallots, sliced
• 2 stalks spring onions, chopped
• 2 sprigs Chinese parsley
• 2 red chillies

Chilli sauce (mix till sugar dissolves):

• 10 red chillies, blend in food processor
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tbsp lemon/lime juice (can substitute with vinegar)

Method:

Heat 4 tbsp oil and sauté shallots till crisp. Remove and leave the oil in the wok. Add dried prawns and sauté till fragrant. Remove and set aside 3/4 for garnishing.

Add 2 tbsp oil to the remaining oil in the wok, add yam and stir fry well. Mix in water and bring to a boil. Add in (B) and seasoning and cook till batter is fairly thick. Pour thick batter into a well-greased 25cm round tray.

Steam till kuih is set and cooked through. Leave aside to cool, then garnish and cut into diamond shapes. Serve yam cake with chilli sauce.

Kuih Bingka

Ingredient:

• 450g grated tapioca/cassava
• 1cup of sugar
• 400g pure santan (or 2 grated coconuts), add 1/2 cup of water to it
• 3/4 cups of freshly grated coconut or 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut

Method

Mix grated tapioca, sugar and grated coconut.. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Take out from the microwave & give it a good stir. Put back into the microwave again for another 1 minute. Repeat until the tapioca mixture becomes thick and sticky and quickly transfer to the cake tin. Smooth the surface of the mixture in the tin and puncture it with a satay stick to release the air. Bake in oven at 180º C for 45-50 minutes. . Leave the kuih overnight to set before pouring it out of the mould and cutting.