Ong Lai Rabbit/Rabbit Pineapple Tarts

Would like to share some of my Pineapple Tarts which i made this year.  Since this is the year of the Rabbit, i tried making some in the shape of the Rabbit and it was quite fun to make especially i had Renee helping me.  She was a great help and i should say, we were a great team.  When i had the Rabbit's body ready, which was a round piece of dough wrapped with pineapple jam, she had the Rabbit's tail, ears and nose ready for me.  Alexander, helped too, he did the egg white wash so that i could adhere the tail, ears and nose.  The Rabbits looked great and cute, before they were baked but when they came out of the oven, they had attitute.  Some lost their tails and noses and Renee blamed Alexander for doing a shoddy job in glazing.  Well, these tarts are handmade and can we expect factory-machine made tarts?


I tried making some other shapes like gold ingots, which i gave up after making a few, cos it took up too much time and it was laborious.  Besides it did not turn out so pretty.  The pineapple shape was good, easy and fast.  The next time around i would use more dough rather than more jam, then they would be better looking.


GONG XI FA CAI

Continue HERE

A Prosperous and A Happy Chinese New Year

I know by now most of my relatives and friends in the otherside of the world, should have enjoyed their Reunion Dinner and would be having fun karaoke-ing and waiting for The God of Weath to arrive.  Me, still snuggling under the blankets and dreaming of a luxious meal.  Anyway, i am awake and trying to post this so that i can wish all of you out there who will be celebrating the Chinese New Year - A Prosperous and Happy Chinese New Year. 

Fragrant Hup Toh SouI/Walnut Cookie

I have made Hup Tou Sou several times and i hope you all are not fed-up of seeing another walnut cookie. Luckily nuts are beneficial to our health as i am going nut looking at nuts everyday.  The first recipe i made last year was of a crunchy texture and these Walnut Cookies were delicious but they were flat.  Then  this recipe had the crunch and melted in the mouth but lack the nuttiness.


So, the fourth recipe came into being and it is HERE

Almond London Cookies

What's behind that name of this cookie? For the Almond, it is self explanatory but London????? Could this be a signature dessert for the Londoners? Whatever, these cookies are very popular in Malaysia, more so for the Hari Raya Celebration than the Chinese New Year.


Continue for recipe HERE

Hup Toh Sou II/Chinese Walnut Cookie

I am always concern about nutrition and want to find easy ways to be healthier, one of the best things you could do is eat nuts because they're loaded with vitamins and minerals. Nuts are super healthy! My favorite of all the nuts is walnuts and not only do they taste great, they are a rich source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and an excellent source of those hard to find omega-3 fatty acids. Like most nuts, you can snack or add to your favorite salad, vegetable dish, fruit, dessert or bakings. You can never go wrong when you pair Walnuts with your baking and Walnut cookies is one of them.



The recipe is HERE

Squirrel Fish (松鼠鱖魚)

The most important date in the lunar calendar is Chinese New Year - it’s a traditional time for feasting with family and friends that dates back thousands of years


Fish has symbolic significance to the chinese because the Chinese word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for riches or abundance, and it is believed that eating fish will help your wishes come true in the year to come. So, by cooking this fish dish - The Squirrel Fish" and serving it on Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner. I hope that all your wishes will come true in the Rabbit Year. The fish is never eaten completely since leaving some behind hints at the family's ability to 'always have enough'.


The recipe is HERE

Pork Floss Bread Roll

2010 has been an exciting, happy year and also a sad one for me, I lost my mother but was glad that i get to see all my siblings and relatives when i was back in Malaysia.  The exciting part is that Lily's Wai Sek Hong had a baby Lily's Wai Sek Hong - Favorites.  The baby although still in diapers and crawling, not actually walking properly yet,  is coming along great and hope that it will grow to be like Mommy. who had help and support from all of you.

  Mommy thanks all her readers who have been following her blog and wish them a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

See you all in 2011.

Auld Lang Syne : Lyrics



Should auld acquaintance be forgot,


And never brought to mind?


Should auld acquaintance be forgot,


And auld lang syne!






Chorus.-

For auld lang syne, my dear,


For auld lang syne.


We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,


For auld lang syne.
 
Recipe for Pork Floss Bread Roll is HERE

Super Soft Pau

When my friend. Lena wanted to make pau, i suggested that she try out this Tien Tsin Pau recipe. She liked the pau skin alot and has been suggesting to friends to try it.

The recipe is HERE

Hakka Pestle Tea Rice/Ham Cha Farn/Looi Cha Farn

This dish is from the Chinese migratory Hakka dialect group and is several hundred years old. The Hakkas, especially this sub-group called Ho Poh , have a unique tradition regarding this dish as medicinal, a detox meal which is also reputed to boost metabolism and servet his supersalad, with 7 types of vegetables, on the seventh day of Chinese New Year just like the cantonese tradition of serving Yee Sang which most chinese are accustomed to.

Ham Cha Farn(salty tea), Looi Cha Farn(ground tea) or Thunder Rice, has a lot of variations. The tea used ,be it green or black signifies and determine the flavour and taste of the dish. It is sometimes kept simple by grinding the tea, add salt to taste and hot boiling water, to make a broth. However others may add roasted peanuts, sesame seeds or both together with the tea leaves and herbs like mint, basil, perilla and saw coriander, in the grinding process to make into an almost medicinal tea broth. This alters the flavour of the dish significantly. The taste however, is not for everyone. Some find it enervating and refreshing, others do not like the bitter or strong herbal notes.

The essential ingredients are Farn(Cooked Rice), which can be puffed rice (mee chang) or rice grains fried with garlic and a little oil, prior to cooking and three of the seven ingredients which will determine a good Ham Cha Farn/Looi Cha Farn are dried shrimps, choy poh(preserved radish) and firm tofu. These three are to be sauted and seasoned with sugar and white pepper..

To complement the tea and rice, a wide variety of carefully selected vegetables (including blanched long beans, cabbage, carrots, four-angled beans, chye sim, celery, are used. It should be noted that meat and fish is seldom added to this diah as the the main idea is to eat lots of vegetables, making this dish cheap, hearty , nutritious and a fibre-rich.

Continue for recipe HERE

Pan-fried Fish Fillet with Pace Picante Sauce

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received 2 bottles of Pace Picante sauce. They arrived just in time, making my cooking dinner easier as i was under the weather and did not feel like cooking an elaborate dinner, not that i cook elaborate everyday but at least it must be substantial.

I would usually serve pan-fried fish , fillets or whole fish with some maggi or soya sauce as this way it is more friendly for the younger ones in the household, but since i have Pace Picante Sauce, i decided to serve the adult's portion of the fish with some Pace Picate Sauce, smeared on top, straight from the bottle. It was a hit and thank you Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.

Continue HERE for recipe

Pandan Flavored Ban Jian Kuih

According to Wikipedia - a QUEST is a journey towards a goal and my QUEST is to make the perfect ban jian kuih and the GOAL is that it should be chewy and honey-combed.

Many attempts and i am still 'in search of"???.

For recipe continue to read HERE

Lo Sam Chung Yoke/Red Cooked Belly Pork

I have many a time been told that 'lo soi' means 'old water' but am not able to argue that it is not so, you know why? if you can't read or write chinese, i don't stand a chance in this debate.

Tell me if i am wrong, to me - 'lo' means to steep it with meat/eggs/tofu in this very savoury and aromatic liquid, which is called 'The Mother/Master Sauce'. This way of cooking is also considered to be a kind of "red-cooking" method. I like to refer this sauce as 'The Mother Sauce' rather than 'The Master Sauce' - cos????? I would like to credit all Mothers who will be the one, diligently cooking in any home kitchen from dawn to dusk

Recipe can be found HERE

Rice wine Residue Sweet Soup

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. ~Carol Bishop Hipps

Looking out and this is what i can see - my backyard.

Yes, it is 'Bittersweet October" , today and the week to come is promised chill in the air as the changing of the leaves start to fall, in fact they have started to fall awhile back. Nothing takes away the chill or tastes better than a bowl of warm soup.

Continue for recipe HERE

Step-by-step Mui Choy Kau Yoke

A task which usually take 5 minutes was not so and it was so frustrating.  Anyway, how difficult or time-consuming it was, i made a promise to post the step-by step on How to make Mui Choy Kau Yoke and .........

the promise is kept

The step-by-step can be found HERE

Mui Choy Kau Yoke

This is a very popular dish in Asia which appears on the dinning table during any asian festivals.  It is very deliciously sinful, mouth watering. 

Taste the intense flavour and the fats of the pork melting in your mouth.  . The preserved Mui Choy (dried salted veggie but sweet) has a nice balance which is light tasting  and goes well with the meat soft texture.  This dish might not be so acceptable by healthy freaks who shy away from most fat but in this case the fat actually gets soaked up by the 'mui choy'  and become very 'mui', giving glory to it's name.  "Mui" in cantonese means 'soft' . 

Continue for recipe HERE

Gado Gado

Gado gado is a classic, traditional Indonesian salad drizzled with a luscious. mouthwatering  peanut sauce which has a rich, nutty flavor and a delightful creamy texture. Gado gado is such a hearty and filling salad that it can easily be eaten as a complete meal. A variety of vegetables can be used for this salad - like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, french beans, kangkong etc.  Preparing the vegetables is no big deal, just remember

to allow the water for blanching to return to a rolling boil after adding each vegetable to ensure they are cooked according to the times allocated. DRAIN the blanched vegetables and rinse under cold water to refresh.  For the potatoes - cooked them with skin on until fork tender, peel skin away and then cubed.  The only tedious prep is making the Peanut Sauce -if you have 'sambal paste' ready, it is not a big deal.  It will be easier if you don't want the roast the peanuts - use crunchy peanut butter.
.

Ingredients

Satay Sauce

Cooked potatoes—peeled and cubed

Green beans—cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inches lengths - blanched

Cucumber - sliced

Cabbage - cut into bite size and blanched

Bean sprouts - blanched

Fried Tofu - cut into bite size

Sweet peppers - cut into bite size

Hard boiled eggs - cut into quarters

PREPARE the satay sauce following the method from Malaysian Satay

To assemble the salad:

 ARRANGE equal amounts of each vegetable on plates, garnish with egg quarters, and drizzle with satay sauce to serve.

Chicken With Red Wine Residue

I have always wondered why dishes cooked with Red Wine Residue are so craved for.  Now that i have cooked with it, i can understand the craving.  I cooked this chicken dish with the red wine residue from my homebrewing, added wood ear fungus for texture and it was so delicious.  The depth of flavor in the sauce was so robust and made this dish so acceptable that the plate was licked clean and i did not have to clean the plate.

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken - cut into bite size
1 - 2 ozs wood ear fungus - soak, woody parts removed and cut into bite size

3 heaped tbsp red wine residue(refer to Homebrewing - Glutinous Rice Wine

2 shallots - chopped

2 cloves garlic - chopped

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp soya sauce

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp oil

Pepper and salt to taste

Sesame oil

Coriander or Spring onions as garnishings

Method:

Sprinkle salt and pepper to the chicken pieces.

Heat wok and add in 1/2 tbsp oil, just enough to coat the wok.  Brown the chicken pieces by batches, do not crowd  the wok.  Remove and set aside.

Add in  the rest of the oil and saute the chopped shallots, garlic and ginger until fragrant.

Add in the red wine residue and continue to saute until aromatic.

Add in the browned chicken pieces, wood ear fungus and chicken stock.  Bring to the boil, add in the soya sauce and reduce heat to simmer.  Cover the wok and simmer until the chicken pieces are cooked through.

Remove wok cover and cook down the sauce.

Adjust taste with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with sesame oil and garnish with coriander and/or spring onions.

Enjoy

 Serves