TUMERIC 'N TAMARIND PRAWNS

The Star, a national newspaper, has in its supplement Startwo a two page spread on the first Monday of every month called 'Don't Call Me Chef'. They feature recipes based on a theme. 

Starting September they intend to feature a food blogger each month as well. I felt quite pleased and very honoured when Ivy, the column's writer and editor of Youth, asked if I would like to be the first food blogger to be featured and to contribute a recipe. Ivy also has a food blog called The Hungry Caterpillar.

My contribution to this column would give the link to my blog as well as appear on kuali.com on Star Online on the same day, that is today 6th September 2010.

We met and I was asked a few expected questions. I spent a few minutes recounting my little blog story. Then I sat back and, somewhat apprehensively (it being my first ever interview), looked forward to seeing it in print. I think. 

I saw the article this morning. Eagerly. The title made me gasp a little. And then I just had to smile. In an age of information technology, space exploration and medical advancement I was under the impression that 50 is the new young. Or so I thought. Indeed I hope I will never be too old for anything.

To view the article please click here.

This is my contribution to 'Don't Call Me Chef's' theme of Ramadan for September - Tumeric and Tamarind Prawns, a simple, quick and delicious dish. 

Who knows, You might be the next Malaysian food blogger to be featured. Sit tight, be good and you might get that email and the opportunity to tell your own little blog story.

This is a simple dish of prawns fried in tumeric with a squeeze of tamarind juice for that added dimension of  sourness, scattered with limp sauteed rings of sliced onions and chillies for some extra bite. 

This is a dish that was often prepared at home when I was a child. It is earthy, simple, light on the stomach with a slight tang from the tamarind and kept everyone busy because the shelled prawns needed to be peeled before you ate them. Unless, like me, you ate them shell and all. 

Like any respectable cook would tell you..... "Use the freshest prawns and you will get the sweetest and crunchiest dish".

The recipe ~

12-15 medium prawns, cleaned leaving shells intact

1 tsp tumeric powder

salt to taste

2 cloves garlic

1 large yellow onion, sliced in rings 

1 large chillie, sliced diagonally

1 tsp tamarind pulp mixed with 1/4 cup water and juice and strained

cooking oil

Chopped coriander leaves and stalks for garnish

Sprinkle tumeric powder and salt over prawns and using your hands rub the mixture evenly over the prawns so that they are well and evenly covered.

Heat enough oil in a shallow pan to cover the surface. When hot throw in the prawns a small batch at a time and fry the prawns until the colour changes, when they turn pink and crispy. It should not take longer than 2-3 minutes. Do the same with the rest of the prawns. Drain and leave aside.

Throw away excess oil from the pan leaving about a tablespoon in. Warm up the oil if necessary and saute the crushed garlic and onion rings until soft and fragrant. Then add the juice of the tamarind pulp. Stir until the sauce bubbles. Throw the fried prawns back in followed by the sliced red chillies. The sauce should just coat the prawns lightly. Adjust for seasoning and for the subtle balance of sourness. 

Serve with piping hot white rice.

I am submitting this recipe to ~

hosted this time around by House of Annie the idea of which was created by Sharon of Test With Skewer and 3 Hungry Tummies.

CASSAVA CRISPS IN CHILLIE JAM ~ KEREPEK UBI KAYU PEDAS

I would finish a packet of this so fast and then hunger for more.

But there really is no other way to enjoy this than to make your own because we all know that commercial varieties are deep fried in the same oil over and over again. Ick! I made this and it was oh! so delicious. It was sweet and spicy  clinging to crunchy. I was on high.

The cassava root may appear quite intimidating because it looks very much like the trunk of a small tree with a very rough, dark and thick bark. It looks hard and heavy too. But once you get the skin off (which is actually not difficult to do) you'll find the inside flesh a smooth, silky, pristine white albeit very firm. I'm always amazed at the contrast.  

These are sliced thinly and deep fried...very much like potato crisps ~ but they're not as fragile. Potato crisps almost break and dissolve the moment you put them into your mouth, without any effort at all, but these are more crunchy as opposed to crispy and slightly chewy. Lets just say you need to oil your jaw hinge a little. But they are so worth it. Trust me.

I made a brilliant, scarlet chillie jam which looked so glaze-y and tempting it should be declared illegal. It's sweet, sticky, spicy, thick and jammy. I doubt it can get any better than that. Trust me on that too. I coated the crisps with it. I believe I almost created nirvana then. To me at least.

Here's the recipe ~

The Crisps....

1  medium sized cassava (about 9 inches long and 2 inches across)
Any vegetable oil for deep frying

Skin the root, give it a quick rinse, pat dry and slice very thinly. I used a knife and it wasn't hard to slice at all. 


Deep fry in a wok or pot of oil. Don't over  crowd that wok. Fry until a light golden brown, drain and keep aside.

Chillie Jam ~ 

6 fresh red chillies, split and de-seeded
125 ml water
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T dark brown sugar
1 T bottled chillie sauce (I used Lingham's) optional
1 T cooking oil (I used grape seed)
salt to taste


Crush the chillies in a  small food processor until medium fine. Put all ingredients in a small pot and cook over a medium flame until it comes to a boil and then lower the flame and reduce until it becomes a thick jam. It should look just like jam. It doesn't take very long. Just watch and stir every now and then.


Place the crisps in a large bowl, dollop the jam on top of it and using a salad spoon and fork turn the cassava crisps over itself until they are well coated with the chillie jam. Store in an airtight container. Serve as a starter or snack. OH. MY. YUM!

GLUTEN FREE KOREAN PANCAKE

 Warning : Healthy Recipe Ahead! 

Don't be alarmed..... I'm not turning vegetarian or vegan. But I do enjoy some vegetarian food and sometimes I'm stunned how satisfying and lip smacking they can be. 

I remember the the sambal tempe, the dhall curry, the spiced chickpeas, the kimchi, the chutney, the spring rolls....Oh my god I counted and I actually have 20 vegetarian dishes on my blog!! 

Perhaps I'm in the process of evolving into one. Perhaps.... I'm healthy! GASP.

Divina of Sense and Serendipity has smitten me yet again with her fabulous and healthy recipes. It all started with the beautiful Mochi Chocolate truffles (well, ok, that's not exactly healthy. It's fabulous), then the sensational Tofu crusted in Bonito Flakes and now some fantastic Gluten free Korean pancakes. All from her beautiful and educational blog. 

And the fact that she has the wonderful gift of making all her healthy food look unhealthy doesn't hurt either.

Completely gluten free this pancake uses mung beans or yellow lentils and rice and includes a whole lot of vegetables to pack in all those heavenly flavours. 

It makes you feel that this is what breakfast could be. This is what lunch could be. This is what dinner could be.......this is definitely a pancake that could be. Good for you. 

It is also very adaptable to tastes. You can almost add anything else you fancy or heaven forbid make it high cholesterol and unhealthy by adding prawns, minced meat or top it with a poached egg (which I tried). I can't poach an egg. I tried and it looked weird. It had entrails.

Enough said ...here's the recipe, adapted a little,....from the wonderful Divina of Sense and Serendipity..... 

1 cups mung beans (skinned) I used yellow lentils
1/2 cup jasmine rice
1 cup water 
1 mediumm zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1/2 carrot, cut into matchsticks
3-4 stalks spring onions, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
a small bunch of coriander,chopped finely
salt
cracked black pepper

vegetable cooking oil


Soak mung beans (or lentils) and rice overnight.


Drain them the next day and place into a blender with1 cup of water. Blitz until it becomes a thick batter like pancake batter.If too thixk add extra water a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.


Sprinkle the shredded zucchini with about 1 tsp of salt and let it stand for about 20 minutes. Squeeze out excess liquid.


Add all the vegetables to the batter, add salt n pepper to taste. Mix well.

Heat up pan till very hot then add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil (I used grapeseed oil) and swirl it around the pan.

Ladle the mixture into the pan giving each pancake about 4 tablespoons of the mixture depending on how large or small you want the pancakes to be. I used an egg ring mould but it is not necessary at all.


When little bubbles become visible on the surface flip it over and cook until a golden brown on both sides.


Do the same with the rest of the batter.


Serve with a dipping sauce like this or with kimchi like I did or just enjoy it as is which is also perfect!!

CASSAVA CAKE ~ KUIH BINGKA UBI KAYU

Ubi Kayu (Oo-bee Car-you)or cassava is one of the cheapest potatoes/roots around at 2 Ringgit (US 0.60) per kilo. It became a staple for many when rice became scarce during the second world war when our then Malaya fell under the Japanese occupation. It was a hard time for many.

I did not come from that era but I've heard stories of how cassava or ubi kayu saved many from hunger. It was a poor man's food and still is in many parts of the developing world because it will grow in poor soil all year round and is starchy thus providing much energy for laborious work or to simply starve off hunger while living on meagre means and in poor conditions.

It is a high energy food like rice because it is mainly starch from which tapioca flour is made.

It is versatile. It can be created into delicious desserts, eaten plain, boiled, with curry sauce or dipped into a combo of grated coconut and sugar or slathered with palm sugar syrup or be sliced thinly, deep fried and turned into the most delicious crisps where they are either folded into a sweet, spicy and sticky chillie sauce or sprinkled simply with salt. Heaven help me......those are my favourite crisps ever.

The ubi kayu/cassava also makes one of the most delicious and popular kuih (pronounced coo-way) ever. Made purely form grated cassava, brown sugar and coconut milk this kuih becomes a sticky, gently sweet and a beautifully textured kuih with a good bite about it and with a beautifully crusty golden top.....quite unlike any other. One that every one simply adores. I have yet to know of some one who simply feels neutral about it.

While it baked I simply immersed myself and bathed in its coconutty  fragrance.

It is easy peasy to do. 

I avoided using eggs as I wanted to make this dairy free but if I had used eggs the kuih would be a lovely golden yellow and softer.

N who is the fussiest eater alive that I know of was even tempted to try just looking at it. And the verdict? MMMMMMMMMMMMMM....reached out for more...MMMMMMMMMMMMMM...reached out for more....MMMMMMMM.....and so on and so forth.....

The recipe ~

This makes quite a lot. I would suggest cutting the recipe in half for a small family. It was a lot for us too!

2 kilos Ubi Kayu/cassava 

21/2 cups brown sugar

1 litre thick coconut milk

3 eggs if you wish (lightly beaten)

a pinch of salt

Peel the thick woody skin, wash the ubi kayu and then grate finely. I used a food processor to grate and then used the blade to process into a finer mush. Place in a  muslin bag and squeeze well to drain liquid. I got about 2 cups of liquid out.

Let the liquid stand in a bowl for about an hour or less until a white powder of starch settles at the bottom of the bowl and then discard the excess liquid. Incorporate the starch back into the grated ubi kayu.

Add sugar, salt and coconut milk and eggs (if using) and stir well to mix.

Once the mixture is mixed well pour into a baking tin. I used a round one measuring 12 inches in diameter. you could use a 10 inch one and get a slightly taller kuih which would work just as well.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for about an hour until the top is a crispy golden brown. 

Allow to cool a few hours or overnight before cutting otherwise it will be too sticky to cut neatly.

This is eaten at anytime of the day or night...for breakfast, coffee breaks, tea, dessert or in between all of that.

KIMCHI

Kim Chi ~ Tell me how cute a name is that? Bimbim Bap ~ Tell me how cute a name is that? Soondooboo Jiigae? Kimchi Bokeum Bap? Have I made my point? And aren't those Korean actors and actresses just as cute too? I know my nieces definitely think they are.

And as cute as the name may very well be....kimchi is not a photogenic food, like rendang. It took me all 2 days of sweat, sweat and sweat to come up with some decent photographs. After all it was simply cabbage on a plate and the other just a brown mash of meat.

But like the Malaysian rendang there is nothing plain about the Korean kimchi. The spiciness from the chillie and the flavours from the garlic, grated ginger and a sweet edge from the fruit puree that I had used made it a fantastic appetizer. Plus I've had this craving for some kimchi-jeon (kimchi pancakes) ever since I saw photographs of my nieces enjoying a Korean meal in Korea with the said pancake in full view of my computer screen.

I was told by a lady herbalist that cayenne pepper was the closest that I could get to Korean chiilie flakes or chillie paste. I chose to believe her because I wasn't about to scavenge all over town in the present scorching weather in search of something that I may never find.

 I had also searched blogs for the recipe. Simple they all say and indeed it was. Finally I used a combination of  recipes from Closet Cooking and Dr. Ben Kim's site. Two very interesting and informative sites. 

I'm not sure if it will past the test with a Korean but it was certainly good enough for me and my craving. 

Tomorrow it will be kimchi-jeon for me lunch! YUMMM

The recipe ~ 

1 napa cabbage
1/2 cup salt
1 cup gochugaru (Korean chillie flakes) I used 1/2 cup cayenne pepper instead
3-4 stalks spring onions
4 cloves garlic
1 in grated ginger
2 T fish sauce
puree from 1/2 apple, and 1/2 pear as per Dr. Ben Kim's recipe


Seperate the cabbage leaves and trim away the hard core. Then slice the cabbage leaves to one inch lengths.


Place one layer of the cut cabbage in a stainles steel bowl and sprinkle some salt over it. The proceed likewise with the rest of the cabbage , sprinkling salt over each layer. Cover with a plate and leave for about 4 hours until the cabbage has softened.


The salt acts as a preservative for the pickle. Rinse away the salt from the cabbage and drain and put the cabbage in a  bowl.

Chop the spring onions into 1 inch lengths, grate the ginger, mince the garlic, place in bowl and to all of these add the fish sauce. Mix. Add the pureed fruits and mix again. Add this mixture to the to the cabbage and sprinkle on the gochugaru. Mix well. Bottle the kimchi and leave to stand for 3 days at room temperature and then keep in the refrigerator. Will keep for a month.


I only let it stand for 24 hours at room temperature because it is so humid and hot here. 

PS  ~ Some of you may find 1/2 cup of cayenne a little too much....I find it a little too spicy myself ....so perhaps 1/4 would be moderately spicy.


Do take note ~ An anonymous reader has pointed out in the comment list that...."kimchi is FERMENTED like yoghurt and miso. It is not just 'pickled'". My sincere apologies for overlooking the difference. I must be more careful.

EGG ROLLED FISH CAKES

I am so inclined to whimsical food. Play food that is fun to make as it is to look at and to play with eat. These egg rolls filled my needs and are as pretty as a picture. 

Tracie from Bittersweet Flavours is whom I have to thank. Thank you Tracie. Her wonderful mother obliges with food for her blog, Tracie herself is quite the accomplished baker and these egg rolls were made by her aunt and displayed on her blog. That is what I call teamwork. Which makes me wish I had a living breathing and an industrious team of little elves in my kitchen right now.

However, these are what I made all by myself while my son hovered around the fringes. Waiting. And although the fish paste had little bubbles of air trapped inside I shall consider them not a failure but cute instead. But Perhaps I should have used white pepper instead of black.

I had used the fish ball recipe that I had posted earlier on, here. I just added a sprinkle of finely chopped red chillies for colour. Then I made and 2 or 3 thin omelets, spread the fish paste over each omelet, rolled them up into a longish log just like the making of pinwheel cookies, and then steamed them for 15 to 20 minutes. I then sliced them on the diagonal and took some pictures for fun my blog. How easy is that? ~ Child's play ~

And they were very very Yummy in our tummies ~

Great with a chillie soy vinegar dip like here ~

FISH FLOSS ~ SERUNDING IKAN

When a warm tropical thunderstorm ceases I'm happy. I feel as fresh as a cold, squirmy fish soaking in a sharp, chilly lake in the lush, mountain jungles of Borneo. With a camera. Snapping cheerfully at my bowl of fish floss. Knees in a puddle, slipping about on wet leaves.

It's the after rain feeling I'm having now. A little bouncy, blithe, light and gurgly. Its the ions. You know ~ the negetive ions~.

And strangely enough my fish floss look almost like fish food. Fish food fit for a Fish King. Or for the Queen of Fish. 

That's how gurgly I'm feeling right now.......pheash forgive me.

Tuna is what I used. 3 whole tunas, filleted, skinned, poached and crumbled. And spiced up with some chillie, coriander seeds, onions, garlic, ginger and tumeric. 

It's an appetizer, a side dish, a sandwich filler. It can be eaten as a topping for fried rice, with steamed glutinous rice or with bread for breakfast or as a snack. I love it. It's one of my favourite appetizers. If only it requires less time to make and if it lasts longer around the house.

This is one of those childhood food that I remember fondly of but rather vaguely because it was always presented to us or bought for special occasions but never made.

The light, airy flossed meat, fish or chicken that I remember is not something one can achieve at home. It usually looks like it has been shredded into strands and then beaten to a pulp until it's looks light and fluffy. Like it was done by a machine. Or a maniac.

But if you make it at home it will almost always look a little grainy not light and floss like.


Now..... Zurin here didn't want that. So to achieve that lightness that she does so covet I pulsed the cooked fish floss in the food processor until the little balls of fish floss became fine, light and airy. 


I thought it looked much better. You're welcome.

The recipe..................


650 gm of cooked fish meat (tuna, mackeral or any meaty fish) I used 3 whole tunas about 12 inches from tip to tail. You could also use an equal amount of minced beef or chicken.

6 medium onions
4 garlic
1 inch ginger
1/2 inch galangal
2 stalks lemon grass (white part only)
3 T coriander seed, pounded coarsely
1 T or more chillie paste (bottled or fresh)

2 tsp tumeric powder 
1 T sugar

250 ml coconut milk or cream
5 T any vegetable oil

salt

Poach the fillets of fish in pan of water until cooked. Drain and let cool. Remove bones and crumble the meat until it is as fine as you can get it....like breadcrumbs. Keep aside.


Peel onions, garlic ginger, galangal. Slice the white part of the lemon grass. Place them all in a food proccesor and process until quite fine.


Heat up the oil in a thick based medium pot. Saute the processed spices, while adding the chillie paste, tumeric powder and pounded coriander seeds, until fragrant and the paste turns a darker colour. About 10 to 15 minutes.



Put in the crumbled fish meat, pour in the coconut milk or cream and mix well. Let it cook on the stove on small to medium heat, stirring now and then to prevent burning. Ad sugar and salt. Stir and mix.


The mixture should not have any sauce or gravy but should be quite like a thick wet paste. Cook until it becomes slightly drier and it is no longer too wet.


Transfer the mixture to a large baking tray that has been lined with foil or baking paper for easier cleaning.

Bake in an oven at 170 C, checking and stirring every 15 minutes until the fish floss becomes golden all over. 


Stirring the floss as it bakes is important so that the floss browns evenly. I didn't time the baking but I think it took about an hour. 


Remove and let it cool completely. Pour half the floss into a food processor and pulse until the floss becomes fine, light and airy. Do the same for the rest of the floss.


Store in an airtight container and in the refrigerator.


Top or Snack.

PINEAPPLE AND MANGO CHUTNEY

The only time I would encounter a chutney as a young girl was when we attended a wedding. And most of the time it would be a pineapple chutney.

Another kind of preserve that we have is called acar (pronounced ah-char). It is very similar to a chutney but it has a bigger proportion of vegetables to fruits. The sauce is made using more oil. Its a little sour and very spicy. Usually it is made up of cucumbers, julienned carrots, whole preserved limes, shallots, garlic cloves, whole bird chillies and sesame seeds or crushed peanuts.



And for the past 10 years or so we have seen the addition of little pieces of dried, salted fish. It became the the avant-garde ingredient for acar and added that oh-where-have-you-been-all-my-life oomph. And an acar without salted fish just wouldn't be right nowadays.

Needless to say acar is the preferred vegetable preserve over chutney in Malaysia simply because it is spicy rather than sweet.


However, I am making a chutney now because I was looking for an accompaniment that was on the sweet side for some black and white sesame seed crisps that I made recently. The recipe for the crisps will follow in my next post.


I had made some lovely Baba Ganoush as a dip at first but it lacked that crazy South East Asian spice factor that is a pre-requisite for my idiosyncratic biological make up.


And chutney seemed perfect because it is 'jammy' in texture, the fruits soft, the sauce thick and syrupy and is a little sweet, almost like a delicious jam. But with that wicked spicy edge to it. A perfect dip for those crunchy sesame seed crisps.

Besides I also get to use those lovely jars that I had bought ages ago but have had no occasion to use quite yet. Until now that is.



The recipe.................

1 small pineapple, peeled and cubed
3 medium mangoes slightly underipe, peeled and cubed
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 white onion, diced
1 inch ginger, grated finely
1 green chillie, cut into chunks
1 sweet red pepper, diced largish pieces
some raisins (optional)
2 T curry powder or less if you prefer mixed with some water into a slurry
1/2 cup pineapple vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T of mustard seeds
The zest and juice of 1 lemon (optional)

2 T cooking oil

Heat oil in a medium pan until hot but not smoking. Saute the diced onions and garlic and ginger and mustard seeds until fragrant. Pour in the curry powder slurry and stir to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Saute for about 6 minutes or more until the curry spice turns a darker shade is cooked well and fragrant.

Throw in the fruits, chillies, peppers, raisins and stir to mix well. Add the cider vinegar and brown sugar and mix again.

Let the mixture simmer and allow the the sauce to reduce to a thick and syrupy consistency. Add salt, the lemon zest and juice towards the end and cook a little while more to incorporate. Taste and adjust.

Leave to cool completely before storing.

This chutney is delicious eaten with the sesame crisps that I will be showing in my next post soon as a snack or a cocktail or as an appetizer. YUM...

CASHEW NUT CHICKEN STIR FRY

Terri don't laugh. This is my attempt at a Chinese stir fry. I love stir fries.... the only downside being I'll be at the dinner table sweating like someone had left a tap running on me head. Terri's the sifu of Chinese cooking and her dishes and her endless treasure box/blog of hints and lectures have always intimidated me. However I didn't think I could go much wrong with a cashew nut chicken stir fry because cashew nuts are so delicious just as they are and oyster sauce is a life saver. Anything with oyster sauce and cashew nuts just has to be good.


The dish is a tad colourful, being me, but pretty pretty tasty especially when I splashed in some zingy fish sauce as well. So maybe it's not exactly Chinese after all....it's a little bit Thai, a little bit Chinese and a little bit me.

Here's the recipe. Serves 1 or 2..........


1 chicken breast, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 small green and red pepper, cut into small chunks
a handful of roasted cashew nuts

Season chicken slices with :

1 tsp light soy sauce
dash of white pepper
salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cooking oil
2-3 drops of sesame seed oil
1-2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tsp water

Sauce ingredients :

2 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp fish sauce
43 - 4 Tbsp water
1 tsp cornflour plus 1 tsp water, mixed

Cooking oil

Season chicken pieces with the seasoning ingredients. Mix well and keep aside for about 10 minutes.

Prepare the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Keep aside.

Heat up a wok. Put about 4 tablespoons of oil in and let that heat up till very hot. Fry the chicken pieces in 2 batches very quickly, about 5-6 seconds until the chicken turns white but no need to worry if it not completely cooked. Lift out and drain them of oil. Keep aside.

Remove excess oil from the wok leaving a tablespoon in. Throw in the garlic and stir it around until it turns soft and fragrant. Pour in the sauce ingredients and stir a little to mix. When sauce begins to bubble throw in the fried chicken pieces and stir quickly for 4 - 5 seconds, add the peppers and stir over very high heat for another minute. Throw in the cashews. Taste and adjust. Serve hot.