Amok Trey @ Cambodian Fish Mousse - AFF Indochina~ Cambodian #3

Amok Trey is freshwater fish in a spiced egg mousse.
It is not too foreign to us, as it is similar to the local nyonya otak-otak, but quite different in many ways.

One of the important ingredients in amok trey is again, prahok. You can substitute it with other ingredients like fish sauce or shrimp paste, but I personally find the flavour profile to be quite different. The other special ingredients used is fingerroot (krachai, temu kunci).

Steamed Arrowhead with Waxed Duck 腊鸭蒸慈菇- Arrowhead Week#1

3 years back, when I did my arrowhead chips post, I did say I want to do a few recipes using Arrowheads.
Finally I did it this year :) I'm a slow blogger, LOL. Very slow.

This is a dish introduced to me by my “ 3 Kow Mou”, the wife of my mother’s 3rd brother. That's how we call them in Cantonese.

Steamed Cucumber with Dried Shrimp 蒸青瓜- Cucurbits #3

I know this sounds weird to many.

Both my sister in laws, although Cantonese, have never heard or eaten this.
So far, I have never bumped into anyone who has eaten this before, besides my relatives.

This dish is simple to prepare, with simple flavours, doesn't look appealing but we find it appetizing. We grew up with it. The gravy was light and sweet. It's just a frugal homey dish.
I remember once, when I was about 10, I had 3 bowls of rice (spread out in a span of 2 hours) just because the cucumber that day was absolutely delicious. I just ate my rice with this steamed cucumber plus some gravy.


Wish-filled Jade Chrysanthemum 有余碧菊 - Vege Blooms # 2

Another auspicious veggie dish for the Lunar New Year. Actually I made this 2 days before the reunion dinner for an ordinary dinner. I didn't have time to do my post and by now.. the dateline to submit to Aspiring Bakers have ended.

Did I fill these with wishes? Hahaha, no. It's fish paste filled, fish-wish, see?
And in Chinese, the word 余(abundance) is always related with 鱼 (fish) because it sounds similiar.

Osmanthus Double Boiled Pears冰糖桂花炖梨 - Pear Week # 1

Recipe tried out in April 2011

Pears are everywhere now! I don't want to miss this period to post so that you may be able to try these out too.

This is one dessert that you can serve your guests if you’ve having a small scale entertainment with a Chinese menu. Looks beautiful when serve with stem still intact or sliced if you want.

Beetroot Tofu Salmon Parcels with Brocolli Xmas Tree - Red/Green Week # 3

I wanted to do a Brocolli Xmas Tree, but has been contemplating between Chinese style or Western style.
Not until Mike's relatives came back for the weekend, and I'm hosting them a dinner did I finally decided on how to do it.

It'll be Chinese style :)

Candy Cane Steamed Buns - Red Green Week #1

My girls had a blast with these. They had fun "making" them and had fun eating them.

Kwong Sai (GuangXi) Stuffed Tofu 广西酿豆腐 - Heritage Week # 2

My mother's parents came from GuangXi, China. If you've heard of the beautiful mountains of GuiLin, that is located in GuangXi. But my maternal grandparents are not from GuiLin, but from Rongxian 容县, which is located in the South of Guangxi. So that makes me half Cantonese half Guangxi. Can I speak the Guangxi dialect? My mom refused to teach us, saying that this dialect is of no use here. No one speaks it, so there's no need to learn. My mom speaks Guangxi, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien. But her kids can only speak Cantonese. Pathetic.... I may not know how to speak the dialect, but once I hear someone saying "Ngo Eew Lei " (I'm calling you) I know that person is of Kwong Sai origin as they speak "call" as "Eew", unlike Cantonese it's  "gew", or Hokkien is "giu", or Hakka it's "gew" as well. KwongSais will 'Eew" you.

When the KwongSai Chinese came to the then Federation of Malay States, they settled in areas where there are mines and rubber estates, doing 'dirty jobs' that is not done by the other dialects (Hokkien-businesses like  grocery shops, Hainanese-food, Hakka and Cantonese -Mining, Teochew-rice and liquor) Most of those in Perak settled along Perak river, mostly from mid Perak up to the north. Towns like Lenggong, Manong, and Kuala Kangsar and all small villages nearby these towns is where you find the most KwongSai Chinese. Other places with lots of Kwong Sais are in Pahang-- Bentong and Mentakab. If anyone that knows the whereabout of other Kwong Sais, please tell me. I'd love to know.There is one facial trait among the KwongSai, and that is the forehead 广西额头 which is typically wide and flat, with a high hairline. My friends who are KwongSais especially the men, they do possess this typical forehead (I won't say all, but just those that I happen to know). Even my mom has it, so does my brother.

Steamed Flax Seed Milk Flower Rolls 亚麻子花卷 - Steamed Buns # 3

Flax seeds are nutritious. According to Wikipedia, besides being high in fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, it also helps to lower cholesterol and benefits those who are having breast and prostrate cancer. If you're diabetic, it's also good for you because it helps by stabilizing your blood sugar. But take this with caution if you are on oral medication. It's high fibre content may interrupt with the medication and you must drink lots of water whenever you take flax seeds, if not you may end up with intestinal blockage.

Purple Sweet Potato Rose Mantou - Steamed Buns # 2

25/6/2019 Updated: New Instructional Video below recipe

I've been looking for new ways to form my steamed buns or mantou and this is one of them.

If you want to make a heartfelt low cost present for your loved one, try making this and form it into a bouquet. Every bite of it sure comes full with sincerity and bliss :p

Steamed Banana Buns - Steamed Buns # 1

I love these buns. When they were steaming, they smelled so good. But Mike hated it. Mike only likes Sweet Potato Buns. He even hates my kids’ favourite glorious pumpkin buns. He said this smell like our kids’ s***

Golden Skin Tri-Colour Egg - CNY week #1

Happy Chinese New Year to all!! Still many days of celebration to go...

It's been 10 days of rest. I was feeling a bit lazy to start posting again. Haha, but can't lose the momentum, once it slows down, then it'll just get slower and slower. Anyway, here I am again.

I made this dish for this year's reunion dinner. This is not my creation. I first tasted tricolour steamed egg in restaurants, and it's usualy silky smooth, like silken tofu, or steamed egg. But this version that I tasted in a Japanese buffet in Sunway Giza is very different. It's sliced and firm. Mike fell in love with it. So, how can I not recreate something that my hubby loves. But I'm sure the restaurant didn't use soy milk for this. I purposely made a small amount of soy milk for this dish so that it'll create a firmer texture.



Golden Skin Tri-Colour Egg
Recipe source: Wendyywy

Ingredients

Base layer
3 salted egg whites
2 egg whites
200ml unsweetened soy milk (check volume of eggs whites before putting in)
3 century eggs

Golden skin layer
3 salted egg yolks (steamed and mashed)
2 egg yolks
1 egg
50ml unsweetened soy milk (check volume of eggs whites before putting in)

Method:
1. Prepare base layer. Coarsely chop century eggs.
2. Mix salted egg whites and egg whites. Measure volume. Put in equal amounts of soy milk.
3. Prepare golden skin. Mix egg yolks with egg. Measure volume and put in soy milk. The soy milk should be 50% of the egg volume.
4. Mash steamed salted egg yolks and mix with egg yolk mixture. Pour mixture into a strainer and mash balance of salted egg yolks in strainer. Pour egg mixture over strainer (with the egg yolks that can’t pass by the strainer) and strain again, stirring all the while to facilitate the yolks to pass the strainer.
5. Line a 6X6 steaming dish with cling wrap for microwave cooking(or any heat safe cling wrap). Prepare your steaming vessel (wok or ur steamer)
6. When steaming water has come to a boil, mix prepared egg whites with chopped century eggs and pour into steaming dish.
7. Cover with lid and steam on medium low heat for 5 minutes or until surface sets but still wobbly.
8. Gently pour in egg yolk mixture and cover with lid again.
9. Turn heat to low and steam for another 10-15 minutes until surface sets.

There were leftovers of this dish after the dinner, and Mike's aunts prepared some porridge the next day with leftover roasted chicken and threw in these as well. Yummylicious!

Steamed Eggplant with Garlic Vinaigrette 蒜泥茄子

A western recipe? Nope. This is a Chinese dish.

I’ve eaten this before at a local lunch spot, serving mixed rice (chap fan or 经济饭), and this is one of my fav dishes from them. And when I saw the recipe here in MeishiChina , gosh, I knew I just got to try this.

There is a difference though with both recipes. The one I had was lightly deep fried to cook it through, but this is steamed, but the garlic thingy is the same. But I made my own modifications to it.

Even my "sour food hater" hubby found this to be nice and appetizing, maybe due to his love for garlic, hahahaha.

 

Steamed Eggplant with Garlic Vinaigrette 蒜泥茄子
Loosely adapted from: Meishi China

250gm aubergine/eggplant/brinjal
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 Tbsp lime juice (original recipe was vinegar)
1 Tbsp sugar (use ¾ first, if not sweet enough then put in the other ¼)
½ tsp salt
Some lime zest
2 bird’s eye chillies, thinly sliced (I used one red and one green)

1. Peel and cut eggplant into strips (bear in mind they shrink about 40% when cooked mixed with the vinaigrette)
2. Steam on high heat for 5 minutes, until cooked and tender, but not mushy. Leave t cool, if you like to eat it cold, you may chill it. Pour away juices if there is.
3. Grate garlic into a heatproof bowl (just don’t use plastic).
4. Heat oil until smoking and pour onto garlic. Stir.
5. Put in lime juice, salt, sugar, lime zest and half of the chillies into the garlic mixture.
6. Stir until salt and sugar dissolves. Taste, adjust accordingly. It has to be lightly sour, but well balanced with the sugar, slightly oversalted.
7. Pour vinaigrette over cooled eggplants and toss.
8. Put tossed eggplants onto serving plate and top with balance of sliced chillies for garnish.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

For mothers out there, pregnancy is a wonderful experience. The changes that one goes thru thoughout the pregnancy is sometimes weird and unanticipated.

I've heard of people eating toothpaste, eating shoe polish or some find clay to be tasty. Disgusting, right? But I've only heard about such incidences where those people actually consume a limited diet, and they might be malnourished in some way and the body makes then comsume something that in nature contains the nutrient that the mother so needed. I've never heard of funny stories from people who lived in town, or consumes a veriety of food and never impoverished.

In one of the schools I worked in before, the school cleaner once chatted with me, about how she survived all her pregnancies craving for toothpaste, consuming only cream crackers with chilli paste and drinking only tap water for 9 months!! The rest are all, yucks to her. And she was the one who told me stories about people who eat funny stuff, and those people are relatives of hers.  Hard to believe? But I guess it could be true. Just that we are too privileged to be in contact with people who are never deprived of proper food.

When I was pregs with Lydia, from week 5 onwards, I was binging. Eating meals, not snacks every 3 hours. I gained 4 kg in just 2 weeks. Mike looked at me in horror, to see the way that I'm eating.I told him, I can't help it, my tummy is growling furiously.  But when week 7 came by, my appetite dropped drastically. I could eat nothing except fruits. Food made from rice were the worse. From congee to vermicelli, they all smell yucks! I could look at a burger, just look. I don't feel like picking it up. And if I pick it up, I won't feel like biting. And if I finally bit into it, I don't feel like chewing. After chewing, I don't want to swallow it. The whole eating process is just a torture to me. But if I see fruits, I can eat and eat. I dropped 7 kg throughout this difficult period. Which was 3 kg less compared to pre pregnancy. If I wasn't binging during early pregnancy, I'd lose even more.

Actually that time, my hormones were all crazy and I was having bad constipation. Constipation during pregnancy is due to the increment of progesterone. It's the way that my body reacted and helped me to overcome the problem that I was facing by rejected all foods except fruits. Taking in whatever that is needed to help the mother. When the constipation stopped at week 14, my appetite came back, in a snap! Even now, I totally believe in listening to my body. Eat when it tells u to, and don't eat when it doesn't tell u to. So, if I crave, there's no excuse for not eating. That's one pretty good excuse. Hahahaha!

This time, the pregnancy affected not my appetite, but my kitchen mojo. It hit me so bad that I don't want to wash my cup. I didn't want to touch the sink, didn't want to cook anything at all. I didn't bake anything out of fun, but only out of neccesity. I was craving for something with coconut milk, so I made and oil-less pandan chiffon. It was Mike's birthday and  I made him Chocolate Enigma Cake. With the extra cream from the cake, I baked another cake (I'll post that within this week) And I did a sponsored post with a health product that I've promised way before my pregnancy. I didn't cook a proper meal for almost 4 months!! We were eating out daily. Now that I'm at week 22, I'm pretty much the old me now. Not all there, but almost. Still not cooking 3 dishes 1 soup, but one plate meals mostly, like noodles, pasta, fried rice, and congee mostly. Won't call them one pot meals as cooking rice uses one pot and frying uses another wok. LOL.

Funny right? Hard to believe? I was still posting daily, right? hahaha! What you are seeing were usually posts so stale that they were made months ago. Haha! I still have lots of back logs to last me til I move in March.

So now, if you think that this bun in me is a sausage roll, which explained the different pregnancy experience, nah!!! Even Lydia and Lyanne weren't the same. Being pregs with Lyanne was a breeze. I loved food, especially white plain rice during the first 3 months, whereas I hated rice when I had Lydia. Both were burgers, and yet, different. Even now, both girls are very different. One is lingustic, the other technical and artistic. Haha.

Enough pregs talk, let's food talk.
This is the first thing I made, right after I got back my mojo at week 16. And I attempted this recipe twice.

First attempt flopped bad time. Simply because I read in one of the comments that aunty Yochana said the baking powder has to be double action baking powder, whereas the recipe itself called for only baking powder. My first attempt used DABP and weirdly the muffin was super dense and tasted sourish. I’ve encountered this when I simply substituted regular baking powder with DABP and my baking results were always less than acceptable.

So, with some pumpkin left, immediately I did my 2nd attempt with just regular baking powder. The results were wonderful, all smiling happily and they were all soft and fluffy. I’m now wondering how the taste will be with coconut milk… maybe next time.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Aunty Yochana

Yields12 steamed muffins (I used egg tart pans)

125gm steamed pumpkin flesh

1 egg

120gm sugar

100gm evaporated milk or coconut milk

30gm corn oil

180gm cake flour

20gm rice flour

1.5tsp baking powder

1. Prepare your steamer and bring the water to a boil

2. Put steamed pumpkin flesh, egg, sugar, milk and oil in blender and whizz for 30 seconds.

3. Sift cake flour, rice flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the blended ingredients into the well. Mix until well combined.

5. Spoon into lined steaming cups and steam on high heat for 15 minutes. It will bloom by itself, no need to make a cross with oil.

Verdict:

I love this. My kids love this. My hubby the pumpkin hater said nothing. But please don't ask me if this taste like Fatt Gou, I have no idea. I've never eaten a proper fatt gou in my life, except once, a very very dry yucky one. The muffin stays soft the next day, not as soft as fresh from the steamer, but acceptable even when cold.

See Lydia's thumb????

LOL

Salted Egg White Tofu

Why waste the salted egg whites? Salted eggs are no longer as salty as yonder years. I remember when I was a kid, I’d squince when I eat the salted egg whites and would only take yolks.
But the salted eggs nowadays seem to have lost their salt. Not that salty, but still salty.

Many months back, some time around Chinese New Year, I was trying to use up 30 egg whites after making a Prune Layered Cake. A blogger friend, SK Fong suggested I make tofu with egg whites. Yeah, rather than making yellowish tofu, egg whites are perfect to retain the whiteness of the soy milk.

So, what I did with the 3 salted egg whites from the salted egg yolk chicken, is to make this into a steamed tofu dish. But then again, please taste the egg whites before you embark on this. Add additional regular eggs if your egg whites are salty and add more soy milk. Just keep the ratio of egg to soy milk, 1:2 and you’ll be fine.


Salted Egg White Tofu
Recipe source: Wendyywy, inspired by SKFong

3 salted egg whites, about ½ cup
1 cup unsweetened soy milk (actually can use 300ml, 250ml is quite firm)
1 sprig spring onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp cooking oil
2 drops of sesame oil

1. Prepare steamer and bring water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, combine egg whites with soy milk, whisk to combine.
3. Put cooking oil and sesame oil in steaming dish. Rub with fingers or brush so that the dish will be well oiled.
4. Pour the egg white mixture into prepared dish and sprinkle sliced spring onions onto the egg.
5. Steam on medium low heat(lid on) for 10 minutes or until set. Touch the center of the tofu, if it has turned solid and nothing sticks to your fingers, it’s done.

Verdict: Somehow this steamed tofu is much firmer than my other homemade egg tofu. But it's slightly crunchy, like egg whites usually are. It could be due to the eggs being just egg whites and not whole eggs. Egg whites have better coagulating effect than yolks. The spring onions added a wonderful aroma to the tofu. Delicious!

Steamed Tofu with Prawns and Glass Noodles

When I saw this on 3 Hungry Tummies, it looked so so delicious.
When I served this for dinner, everybody says it's so delicious.
Credits to 3 hungry tummies for creating this yummylicious dish.

I did some minor adaptations, by lining the base with glass noodles instead of wrapping the tofu with it, so that the glass noodles will have juices from the tofu and prawns because glass noodles need a lot of liquid during the cooking process. And I also used soft tofu, instead of firm tofu.

It's actually very simple, not much rules here.

Steamed tofu with Prawns and Glass Noodles
Recipe source : 3 Hungry Tummies

Ingredients:
As much soft tofu as you like,
As many prawns as per pieces of tofu.
As much glass noodles as you like, just soak them until they get soft before you use them.
Garlic oil for drizzling
Light soy sauce for flavouring
Sliced spring onion for garnish, and definately extra aroma and flavour.

Method
1. Soak glass noodles until soft, Drain and snip shorter. Place in steaming dish.
2. Cut tofu into prefered sizes. Arrange on top of glass noodles
3. Arrange one piece of prawn on each tofu.
4. Steam on high heat for 10 minutes.
5. Drizzle with garlic oil and light soy sauce and top with sliced spring onions.

Hakka Beetroot XiBan 甜菜根客家喜粄

When I saw a kuih called ki ka ku on Sonia's blog, I was totally intrigued. Then later I found that it was actually a traditional hakka steamed chewy bun called 喜粄, "Xi Ban", translated as "Dough of Joy"

I tried making this with some adaptations from Sonia's recipe

Hakka Beetroot XiBan
Recipe adapted from Sonia

250g Glutinous rice flour
300g All purpose flour
150g Caster sugar  (you may increase, if you want sweeter)
50g Shortening
1 ½ tsp Yeast
300g Beetroot infused Water (boil some peeled beetroot chunks in 350ml water for 15 mins, just use the water), use more if needed
Banana leaves (soften in hot water, cut into round shape)

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, knead until soft and smooth.
2. Divide dough to equal portion (about 40g), shape into small round ball. Grease your hand with some cooking oil, place small round ball on the banana leaf, and flatten the dough by pressing your palm on the dough ball.
3. Cover with cling film and rest for 1hour
4. Steam over hot boiling water for 15mins or until cooked

Verdict:
Frankly speaking, this bun looks like a regular bun when torn, but it's chewy like a mochi. My husband didn't quite like it as it was too chewy for him, but it was fine for me. Colour wise, I was rather dissapointed when it turned into a peachy hue instead of remaining pink. And I steamed the buns in 3 batches, as my wok can only accomodate 9 at a time. And all 3 batches came out with different colours. You can see 3 out my 4 buns in the pics comes in different hues. The next day, the bun was crumbly without steaming, something like a scone. So, I'd say this bun is best eaten on the day it is made.

I did another recipe, with a much longer fermentation period, watch out for the post :)

Steamed Pork Slices with Bean Paste

Grandaunt used to make a lot of steamed dishes. Only steamed pork and she has loads and loads of recipes. This is one of them that I love to eat.

The gravy is very, very nice with rice.

Steamed Pork Slices with Bean Paste Recipe

200gm pork fillet or other soft meat (You may use chicken meat if prefered)
2 tsp hot bean paste (or substitute with 1 tsp finely chopped chilli and 1 ½ tsp regular brown bean paste)
1 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp cooking oil

1. Thinly slice pork fillet.
2. Put bean paste, garlic, water and sugar onto pork and mix well.
3. Put in cornstarch and mix. Finally add in oil.
4. Let the pork marinate for at least half an hour before cooking.
5. Steam on high heat for 10-15 minutes. I prefer pork to be very well done, so I do it on 15.

Steamed Flower Bowl Tofu

I saw this type of steamed dish quite often on China's sites.There are many variations, some serve it with sharkfins, some in superior broth, and some with noodles. It is actually called "Steamed 3 Silk", or 扣三丝

After lining the base of the bowl with the "silk" They just stuffed extra  silk (egg, hams, mushrooms or whatver) into the bowl cavity to steam. Instead I used tofu as the filling. And I used egg as the tofu's binder.
Sigh, the egg might be a wrong decision, as you can see, the egg has covered up most of the "flower".

Anyway, I quite like this dish.

70gm ham

3 filament crab sticks

1 egg, fried into a thin ommelete

1 Chinese Black Mushroom, soaked

240gm pressed tofu (firm tofu)
1 egg
½ tsp salt
Dash of pepper

1. Cut ham, crab sticks and ommelette into long thin matchsticks

2. Line a heatproof bowl with heat proof cling wap.

3. Put mushroom on base of bowl, cap side down.

4. Arrange ham, crab stick and egg strips in bowl.

5. Mix tofu with egg, salt and pepper.

6. Pour tofu mixture into bowl and steam on high heat for 5 minutes and medium heat for 15 minutes.

Steamed Layer Stuffed Tofu

Recipe inspired by SweeSan

Stuffing
150gm minced pork
50gm shelled prawns, finely chopped
2 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked and finely chopped
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
Dash of pepper
1 heaped tsp cornstarch
½ tsp sesame oil
1 egg, beaten

Mix everything together except egg. Lastly drizzle in half and egg first, mix and adjust consistency with more egg if needed. The consistency should be spreadable but not dripping.

Assembly
1 piece silken tofu about 350gm, sliced horizontally.
See picture for instructions. You can cut as many layers as you like and spread the stuffing.
Steam tofu on high heat for 25 minutes.

Gravy
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped (omit this if using hot bean paste)
1 level Tsp bean paste or hot bean paste
½ tsp preserved black beans (dau see), chopped
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
½ tsp cornstarch +1/3 cup water
2 tbsp oil

1. Heat oil in wok, saute chopped shallot until fragrant. Put in red chilli, bean paste and black beans and saute until fragrant.
2. Put in oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch solution.
3. Bring to a boil and let it reduce to prefered consistency. Dish up and pour onto steamed layered tofu.