Ngo Hiang or Lor Bak

Ngo Hiang or Lor Bak is a local snack which you can find in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. This dish is from the Hokkien and Teochew community.  The stuffing will be rolled inside a beancurd skin and then deep-fried.  It is served with chilli sauce or sambal.

My other half was telling me about his childhood days where he will have ngo hiang with bee hoon as his breakfast. As for me, lor bak is kind of a snack where we will have it during tea time (between lunch and dinner).  Since we were able to find beancurd skin in the supermart...we just had to do make these babies at home..wohoo.

Here's a photo of our Ngo Hiang or Lor Bak.

So happy to say that everyone including our 2 precious loved it!!!
 

Everything Peranakan...

Peranakan Chinese....this is term which I am proud of as I am a halfie and Peranakan Chinese runs in my blood.  Peranakan Chinese call themselves Babas (for the men) and Nyonyas (for the women).  So, what does "peranakan" means? It means descendant and we are mixed race descendants of part of chinese and part of malay.  Some of the Peranakans are Christians / Catholics and others are Buddhists and other religions.  The Peranakan food is influenced by Malay culture as the Nyonya food uses a lot of Malay herbs and spices.

My other half was looking through the old photos and we saw the Nyonya Kueh and we just had to satisfy our tastebuds.  Hence, I ransacked the kitchen and started making some kueh.  Here's what I came out with...
Pulut Tai-Tai which is delicious with Kaya Jam
Pulut Inti
Ondeh-Ondeh
Kaya Toast

Here's the photos of our version of the Nyonya Kueh...

Homemade Kaya Jam
Kaya Toast

Ondeh-Ondeh, Pulut Tai-Tai which is eaten with Kaya Jam and Pulut Inti

Close-up of Pulut Inti & Ondeh-Ondeh

We finished everything within a day....haha!  That's how much we missed the nyonya kueh...

Till next time....salut!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?
No me!
Then who???

Who doesn't look chocolate chip cookies?  So far, I have never met someone who doesn't like it.  My two precious love it and so does my other half.  My little Prince...he is 7 years old now proudly informed dear old Mummy that chocolate chip cookies originated from USA and it was discovered by accident.  He was so proud to know the history of this little cookie and I am just so proud of him being so proud....that's my son!!!  To add to my son's discovery, there's a lady called  Ruth Wakefield accidentally made it in 1930.  It seems that a bar of chocolate fell into the cookie dough due to the mixer's strong vibration and the mixer broke the bar into pieces......tadaa....chocolate chip cookie is discovered.

I remember how we had dunking competitions when my Grandma bakes chocolate chip cookies.  My cousins and I will be begging our Moms and Grandma for milk and we will start the competition. Whoever can finish 10 cookies and the glass of milk will be the winner. Ooo....those childish things we do...haha!

Here's a photo of my chocolate chip cookies.  I am a firm believer of re-cycling and I must say these blue danish cookie tins are quite air-tight.  I have been using these blue tins for ages to store my cookies and no one ever complained that the cookies have gone stale.

This box of cookies vanished in 3 days.....

Curry Puffs

Curry Puffs or karipap or even epok-epok...that's what this little delicious snack is called in my household. If you venture to Malaysia or Singapore, curry puffs are sold every where.  One can say its similar to a little pie and it is filled with curry chicken, potatoes and sometimes even a piece of hard boiled egg.  Most of the time, curry puffs are being deep fried. Besides curry chicken, you can also find chilli sardine puffs and even vegetarian curry puffs.  However, I still prefer my Grandma's good old chicken curry puffs.

Hubby and I were watching a cooking show and curry puff was one of the snacks which the Chef tried in travels to South East Asia.  We just had to have some and so, hubby and I made this together.  We made it, deep fried it and ate it in the same day...haha!

Here's a photo of our humble curry puffs.

One word....delicious!!!

Busy in the Kitchen.....Cakes, Desserts, Noodles, Rice and everything nice...

I have not been blogging for a while as I have just started a new job and am trying to familiarize myself with my new position. Since today is my off day, I decided to blog a little.

Pongteh is a peranakan dish and when someone mentions pongteh, people who knows this dish will directly have an image of a non-spicy dish with pork, pig trotters cooked with preserved fermented soya bean paste.  However, as I had lots of chicken meat in my freezer, I decided to whipped up another version - Chicken Pongteh. Furthermore, my 2 kiddos love hard boiled eggs and I made sure I included that inside the dish.  I often add in stuff which are not suppose to be added in.  However, for a busy Mom like myself, as long as everyone in the family is happy and is eating well, adding or taking out an ingredient is not a big deal for me.  Here's a photo of my version of Chicken Pongteh.

A friend of mine just loves pandan chiffon cakes and she is willing to travel miles just to buy a couple.  As I had some pandan leaves and coconut in my cabinet, I decided to make a pandan chiffon cake for her. Pandan is actually known as Pandanus Amaryllifolius Leaves and chiffon cake is a light airy cake made from oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and flavourings ( in my case, its pandan).  I was quite fearful at first as I did not have a chiffon cake mold and I was using my silicon bundt mold but thankfully, it came out pretty OK.  Here's a photo of my pandan chiffon cake.

Noodles...that's like a staple food in my family.  My 2 kiddos just love noodles..just like their Mommy and Daddy.  So, what did I make recently?  A simple version of Wat Tarn Hor (Flat Rice Noodles in Egg Starchy Gravy).  This is a hit with my kids and I suppose its a much loved dish for a lot of kids.  Most of the time, I will just ask my kids what they want for lunch / dinner and then go searching for the ingredients in my fridge.  So, if I run out of one ingredient, I will substitute with another...haha!  Here's a photo of my simple version of Wat Tarn Hor.

I had a friend from USA visiting us recently and we were talking about General Tso's Chicken which is a famous chinese take-away dish in USA and we decided to make it at home.  I did some research and I found out that this dish is not originated from China but from New York, USA.  So, here's our version of General Tso's Chicken and its really yummy with white rice.  My friend gave me 2 thumbs up... :)

Moving on.... I had to do some cupcakes for a function.  They wanted chocolate cupcakes and it must be a little fancy too.  So, I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a dallop of ganache inside of it and I pipe roses on top of it.  Thank goodness everyone loved it.  Here's a photo of my chocolate cupcakes.

My other half wanted some lor mai kai which is a popular item in a dim sum menu during yum cha hours.  Since I still  have 1/2 packet of glutinous rice left, I decided to make him some since dim sum also mean touch your heart. So, gonna make some lor mai kai to touch my other half heart...haha!!!  Here's a photo of my lor mai kai.

I also made some macarons for a friend of mine who is gluten free.  She just loves macarons and what better way to spoil her than make her a batch of her favourite cookies.  Here's a photo of my macarons.

Had some over-riped bananas in the kitchen the other day and I decided to do some Cokodok (Banana Fritters) which is a traditional Malaysian snack made of flour and bananas and its deep fried.  This snack is delicious when its hot or cold.  Here's a photo of my Cokodok.

And since I am on the topic of snack, here's another delicious snack which I often make when I want something Malaysian.  This is my version of cucur badak (lazy version) and here's my photo of it.

Lastly, I made cupcake bouquet for my lady boss. It's her birthday and I decided to make something so that she can share with her family when they celebrate her birthday with her.  Here's a photo of my cupcake bouquet.

These are some of the things which I made for my family and friends last month.  Most of the time, I just totally forgot to take photos of the things I made as I am always rushing, rushing, rushing...haha!!!  Will update soon.  In the meantime, have fun in the kitchen and see ya!!!

Chicken Pau

I have been wanting to make some pau for ages but I can't seem to find any pau flour.  I googled to see if I can just use plain flour and voila!... I can but the pau might turn out to be yellowish.  Heck man...yellowish is a small issue, what's important is I can taste my favourite pau once again.  So, I told my other half that I am going to do pau with plain flour and he was trying to discourage me as he thinks I might fail. I told him that no matter what, I am going to try..just once.

I took out my family recipe and made the pau.  Everything went well.  The last stage was to steam the pau.  My hubby told me that he will watch the pau and I go and play with my kids. Oh well...since he offered, I accepted it.  When I saw my hubby's face and seeing him munching the pau, I knew I succeeded..wohoo.

Here's a photo of my pau using plain flour

Now that I got it right, I am no longer afraid to use plain flour to do pau..wohoo!!!

Potstickers (Guo Tie, Jiao Zi, Gyoza or Yaki Mandu)

Potstickers...now, this is one snack which everyone loves. I came across so many other names for this little babies ~ gou tie, jiao zi, gyoza, yaki mandu...the list goes on for the same old thing. Hub was pestering me to whip up some gou tie as he wasn't too keen to buy it outside. He said its too expensive - 6 pieces for $7.50

So...I went into the kitchen, ransack my fridge and voila!....made my gou tie skin with plain flour and water, marinated my minced pork with napa cabbage, chives, sesame oil, soy sauce, seasonings, ginger and chinese cooking wine. I let the dough and my marinate sit for an hour before I begun.  I really am not good in plaiting the gou tie but I guess it really does not matter as its for my family...ha!ha!

After an hours, I rolled out the skin. As you can see from the photo below, my skin is not as round as the commercial bought ones. Then I seal the edges with some water and plait it. Gou tie has a thicker skin and its chewy. After that I shallow fry and followed by steaming  the gou tie.

When I was a child, gou tie was only eaten during festivals like Chinese New Year. My Grandma will even hide a clean coin into one of the gou tie for the lucky one. However, these days, gou tie can be found in spring, summer, fall and winter. Aren't we lucky...ha!ha!

Here's some photos to share:

The verdict from my hubby - DELICIOUS!!!

Fried Beancurd Puffs with Peanut Sauce

My DH has been craving for tauhu goreng (fried beancurd puffs with peanut sauce) and finally, we got all the stuff and made it as quickly as we could...ha!ha!  This can be eaten as a starter, a snack or a dessert.  Here's a photo of it before it vanishes...

Yummy!!! Sedap!!! Delicious!

Spring Rolls (Popiah)

It has been awhile since we last made popiah (spring rolls). Its a tedious job....firstly, we have to handmake the skin for the popiah. Then, we have to make the fillings so that we can add it in before we roll it and gobble it up.  I for one prefers the floured popiah skin. I know that my cousins prefer to make the egg popiah skin. To each, its own...as my Grandaunt will say.  My Caucasians friends call it the Asian Crepes. Sometimes, we will have a popiah party and it is just awesome! Anyway, my other half helped me to handmake the popiah skin. He got the hang of twisting the ball of flour mix into a ball and with a twirl, coat the non-stick pan with a thin layer of the flour mix.

We also made the filling for our popiah. We had bamboo shoots, mangkuang (turnips), taugeh (beanshoots), prawns, lettuce, eggs, tofu, etc. One can get really creative here. Once, we had crabmeat in it too. So, how do we assemble our popiah?
Skin
Brush skin with hoisin, sweet sauce and chilli sauce.
Lay a piece of lettuce on top of the sauced skin.
Add a spoon or two of the bamboo shoots & mangkuang filling.
Sprinkle on top some eggs, tofu bits, prawns, etc
When you are satisfied with your fillings, wrap the popiah up.

Here's a photo of my popiah and the popiah skin.

My other half decided to be creative and created bacon rolls (adapted from peking duck rolls).  We did not have any peking duck, so we decided to substitute the duck with bacon.  Verdict....pretty nice!!! Tadaa...a new creation...ha!ha! Here's a photo of our Bacon Rolls.

Cokodok or Kueh Kodok (Banana Fritters)

When we have too many ripe bananas, the easiest way to ensure that it will not go to waste is to mash it and deep fry some cokodok.  Some of my friends call it kueh kodok. Its actually banana fritters. Cokodok is a favourite snack in my household. Its really easy to do...just mash the bananas, add in some eggs, sugar and flour. Stir it well and deep fry it.  The outer layer is crispy and the inside is soft and yummy.  It has been known as a comfort food for some...:)  My other half prefers to sprinkle icing sugar on top of the cokodok but I prefer to eat it plain.  Here's a photo of our Cokodok or Kueh Kodok:

Do try this simple snack...its just delicious!!!
You won't regret it....

Deep Fried Fish Soup with Rice & Fish Nuggets with Thai Chilli Sauce

This was the first time that I could not resist buying 2 pieces of fish fillet...it looks so fresh and juicy.  With these 2 pieces, I made nuggets and deep fried fish soup with milk which we ate with rice.  Oh me, oh my...its really awesome on rainy days.

Deep fried fish soup with / without milk is a popular dish in my household.  Some of my friends prefer adding 1-2 tsp of carnation milk into the soup to make it more milky. Others just prefer the soup by itself.  This soup dish can be eaten with plain white rice or with noodles.  One of my friends loves to add XO into the soup.  However, even though I love XO, I do not use any as I have 2 kiddos in my family. To do the soup, I will fry some garlic and ginger till fragrant. Then I will add the ikan bilis stock, salted vegetable, tomato and seasonings. To serve, just add in 1-2 tsp carnation milk and seaweeds.  Here's a photo of our Deep Fried Fish Soup which we ate with rice.

While I was deep frying the pieces of fish fillet, my other half and my prince were happily eating these nuggets. My eldest called it fish nuggets. Discovered that it taste delicious when we dipped it into some sweet thai chilli sauce.  Here's a photo which my other half took - Fish Nuggets with Sweet Thai Chilli Sauce

Ain't it plain awesome when everyone in the family enjoys the food which we cook? What's more awesome, I created 2 dishes out of it...ha!ha!

Donuts, Donuts, Donuts...

Donuts...which kiddo doesn't like donuts? Don't talk about kiddos, quite a number of adults love donuts too...yummy!!!  I found lots of recipes online, in recipe books, etc to get the nice, fluffy and soft donuts withOUT adding bread softeners or other preservatives.  I am still trying other recipes to get that heavenly texture.

Right not, I am just using the basic recipe of flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, egg, oil and milk.  I glazed it with melted chocolate and chocolate shavings...


Here's a photo of it in my princess's Dora bowl....ha!ha!