Prawn with Vegetable Fritters (Cucur Udang)

Introduction:

An easy to cook food snack.
For those who are new to this snack.
Cucur Udang has a crispy golden brown crust on the outside but a softer texture reveals when you taste the fresh shrimps and
crunchiness of the vegetable ingredients therein.
You can add any type of vegetables to make this snack.
Can be eaten on its own or dip in sweet chilli sauce or peanut sauce.
For me, on its own is still the best especially when all the ingredients are fresh and light.
For a simple start, I have added beansprouts, Chinese chives and sweet onion and fresh medium prawns.

Serving: 4 pieces

Ingredients:

1 bowl of bean sprouts
Few pieces of fresh medium size prawns
Few stalks of Chinese chives (cut lengthwise)
One large sweet onion (sliced thinly)

For Batter:

5 tablespoons Plain Flour
1 tablespoon Self Raising Flour
1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
250ml water

Method:

In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients for the batter.
Add water bit by bit and whisk to a smooth batter. Not too thick nor runny.
De shelled and deveined prawns leaving the tail intact so to stop the prawn from shrinking during deep frying.
Once the batter is ready, mix all the ingredients.
Gently fold the ingredients with your palms or spoon.
Take note to be careful in handling so as not to crush the bean sprouts.
The bean sprout is the key ingredient to make this prawn fritters crunchy.
When the oil is ready, gently drop the batter one by one.
Flip over both sides until golden brown and crunchy.

Scoop out and place them on paper towel.
If the prawn fritters is large, you can cut into halves.

Pumpkin Kaya

Introduction:

This recipe is a tweak of the traditional Malay Jam (Kaya). Instead of eggs, I have replaced it with fresh steamed pumpkin. Gula Melaka (palm sugar) has been added for a more flavorful taste. Best eaten with toasted bread with a spread of this fragrant Pumpkin Kaya.

Ingredients:

Half portion of medium size fresh pumpkin
1 cup of coconut milk
5 pieces of Pandan leaves (knotted)
One and half to two pieces of Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar)

Method:

Sliced the pumpkin into medium slices and place them in a steamer .
Bring to boil, cover and steam the pumpkin slices until soft.

With a potato masher, smoothen the cooked pumpkin.
In a sauce pan over low fire, add the coconut milk, gula Melaka (palm sugar) and knotted pandan leaves to cook.

After a few seconds, add the cooked pumpkin paste and continue to cook.
Stir frequently until the mixture is thick and smooth and the sugar are all diluted about 20 minutes.
Remove and discard the pandan leaves.
Cool the Pumpkin Kaya before serving.
You can store the unused portion of the kaya in a sterilized container or bottle and refrigerate.

Serving: Two almost full bottles for this recipe.

Yam Puff

Pastry Skin Preparation:

1 medium size whole yam (peeled and diced)
4 tablespoons Wheat Starch
130ml hot water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon coarse sugar
1 teaspoon five spice powder
2 tablespoon lard
Breadcrumbs

Filling:

5 tablespoons of cooked roasted meat (char siu) diced
10 pieces of fresh small prawns (de shelled and diced)
3 tablespoons of frozen green peas (defroze)
1 medium sweet onion (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon of Premium Oyster Sauce
1 tablespoon of Superior Light Soy Sauce
Half teaspoon of coarse sugar
Half tablespoon of corn flour
1 tablespoon of water

Preparing Yam Pastry:

Steam yam until soft.
Remove into a mixing bowl.
Add sugar and salt.
Mash the yam while it is still hot until a smooth paste.
Combine hot water with wheat starch and mix well.
Stir until smooth and mix with mashed yam.
Add lard and five spice powder and mix until well combined.
The dough should be soft and pliable.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for an hour minimum or more.

Method for Filling:

To make each pastry puff, break off a small amount of dough.
Mould the yam puff by rolling a small portion into a ball.

With your thumb create a hole and press the sides of the dough to a flat piece so that you can include more fillings.
Close the gap and mould it into a longer shape.
Coat each yam puff with breadcrumbs totally covering all sides.
Heat cooking oil over medium heat and fry the puffs until both sides till golden brown.
Drain on paper towel to remove the excess oil.
Serve while warm.

Pulut Panggang (Grilled Glutinous Rice in Banana Leaf)

Introduction:

Pulut Panggang literally translate to English as “Grilled Glutinous Rice in Banana Leaves”. A delicious savory snack made from glutinous rice steamed with coconut milk. The aromatic fillings of chilli shrimp floss or spiced prawn floss and finally grilled to perfection for a wonderful smoky flavours.

Ingredients:

2 rice cup of glutinous rice
1.1/2 rice cup of coconut milk
4 tablespoons of Chilli Shrimp Floss

5 pieces of Pandan Leaves – cleaned and bundled
Pinch of sea salt
10 pieces of banana leave size about 8 inches by 4 inches – cleaned and blanched in hot water for 5 minutes to soften the leaves.
Toothpicks to fasten the banana leaves

Method:

Wash the glutinous rice, throw in the bundled pandan leaves, add in the coconut milk and pinch of sea salt. Cook in the rice cooker until the glutinous rice is softened.
You also can steam the rice until it is totally cooked, soft and transparent.

If the cooked glutinous rice is not soft enough, add water tablespoon by tablespoon.
Let it rest in the rice cooker for another 15 minutes. Once done, cool and set aside.
On a piece of banana leave, place some cooked glutinous rice, flatten it.
Add a tablespoon of chilli shrimp floss in the centre (or your desired quantity) on top of the cooked glutinous rice.

Roll the glutinous rice like the way you would do with the sushi.
Seal both ends of the banana leave with toothpicks or with a stapler.

Baked for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven until the leaves are slightly withered or burnt.
The purpose of baking is to allow the glutinous rice and chilli shrimp floss have a better binding and to infuse fragrance of the banana leaves this rice combination.
It is best to serve hot as a snack and goes well with a cup of tea or coffee.

Note:

I managed to prepare 10 pieces of Pulut Panggang with this recipe.

Char Kway Teow – Singapore Style

Serving: 3 to 4

Ingredients:

250g Kway Teow (rice cake strips)
250g Yellow cooked noodles
1 packet of fresh cockles (optional)
1 XO Chinese Sausage (sliced thinly)
1 small bowl of bean sprouts
12 pieces of large prawns (deshelled and deveined)
2 eggs
2 fish cake (thinly sliced)
Few stalks of Chinese chives (sliced about 1 inch lengthwise)

Sauces for frying:

2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of Superior Light Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon of Superior Dark Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon of XO Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons of Dark Sweet Sauce
Sea Salt to taste
3 tablespoons of homemade chicken stock
3 tablespoons of cooking oil or lard (own preference)

Method:

Heat up wok with cooking oil and fry the minced garlic till fragrant and golden brown.
Add in the sliced Chinese sausages and stir fry until they become glossy and fragrant.
Add in the sliced fish cakes and prawns and stir fry till they are almost cooked.
Remove the ingredients and set aside in a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium fire.
Add in the Kway Teow and yellow noodles and chicken broth.
Stir fry till they are well combined.
Add in fish cakes, chinese sausages, prawns and chinese chives and fry ensuring the ingredients are mixed well.
Continue to fry to prevent both noodles from sticking to the wok.
Add the fish sauce, light soy and dark soy sauces.
Again continue to stir fry until they are mixed well.
Remove the ingredients from the wok and set aside.
Add some cooking oil and heat it over medium heat in the wok.
Add the eggs and mix the yolks and whites with the spatula.
While the egg mixture is slightly wet, quickly mix the noodles and all the other ingredients and stir fry them allowing the egg to coat the ingredients.
Add in the dark sweet sauce to combine with the ingredients together with the sea salt to taste.
Add the bean sprouts and stir fry for 15 seconds, lastly add the fresh cockles (optional) and stir frying for a few more seconds.
Transfer the noodles to individual plate and serve while hot.

Recommendation:

Here’s is another recipe using flat rice noodles.

Click:
https://flofoodventure.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/san-lor-hor-fun-flat-rice-noodles-with-snakehead-sliced-fish/

Happy Call – Muah Chee

My favourite Muah Chee fast to cook and good to eat in less than 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup Glutinuous Rice Flour

1 cup water or  ¾ cup water (if you prefer chewy)

1 tablespoon of coarse sugar

2 tablespoons shallot oil/cooking oil

(Serve 3)

Coating with Crushed Peanut:

3 cups of Crushed Peanut

2 tablespoons of Refined Caster Sugar

2 tablespoons of Toasted White Sesame Seeds

Method:

Sauteed 5 thinly sliced shallots with 2 to 2.1/2 tablespoons of cooking oil on Happy Call Pan over low heat until golden brown.

Remove the shallots and leave the oil in the HC Pan.

In a mixing bowl, add glutinous rice flour and coarse sugar.

Slowly stir in water with a whisk thoroughly.

With the HC Pan at medium heat with the shallot oil, slowly swirled in the flour mixture and stir it using a wooden spatula till it begins to form a soft dough.

Lower the heart and continue to toss and cook dough for another 3 to 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly transparent surface.

Remove and set aside on an oiled plate or container.

Toss the white sesame seeds over low fire and add the crushed peanut and stir till fragrant and the white sesame seeds has become slightly light brown. Set aside to cool before adding the refined caster sugar and mix well.

Transfer the cooked glutinous rice dough to the peanut mixture, toss well and cut into bite sized pieces and serve.

Long Forgotten Breakfast – French Toast or Eggy Bread

A dish using bread and soaked in beaten eggs and fried.

Ingredients:

1 loaf of white bread (preferably two to three days old)
5 beaten eggs
Coarse Sugar

Method:

Trim the sides of each slice of bread.
Cut into two pieces (halved).
Beat eggs.
Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture. Make sure the bread is soak up with some egg mixture.
Over a frying pan, add a tablespoon of cooking oil and place the coated bread slices and fry both sides until brown.

You can add as many slices of bread into the frying pan as will fit at a time.
Flip the bread when necessary.
Add additional cooking oil if the frying pan is too dry.
Coat the fried bread slices with coarse sugar and serve.

Bird’s Nest Dessert – A Chinese Delicacy

What are bird’s nest?

Swallow’s salivia nest.
They are expensive due to the difficulty in harvesting.
A wonder drink for good skin, soothing throat and lungs.
When cooked, the bird’s nest takes on a gelatine texture.

I like my bird’s nest dessert plain. Just one or two pieces of bird’s nest with water and sugar cane.

Ingredients:

1 piece of dried bird’s nest
1 rice bowl of hot water
Half slab of sugar cane

Method:

Soak dried bird’s nest piece in a bowl of cold water for at least an hour until softened and transparent.
I normally buy the better grade of bird’s nest without any debris.
You may require to pluck out any feather or debris using a pair of tweezers or toothpick.
Rinse and drain.
Using a fine sieve to drain the soaked bird’s nest to prevent any wastage.
In a slow cooker, add the soaked bird’s nest and hot water.
Cover the lid.
Boil the ingredients for about one and half hours to your desired texture.
Half an hour before turning off the heat, add half a slab of sugar cane to taste.
Allow the sugar cane to dissolve fully.
Serve this dessert at room temperature.

Note:

I used only one piece of dried bird nest for this dessert.

Notice the thickness of the cooked bird nest.

Majority would prefer to add rock sugar to this dessert but I prefer sugar cane because its provides a better colouring to this gelatine textured bird’s nest.

320 Below – Singapore’s First Nitro Cream Cafe

Fresh – made right in front of you.

Smooth – Quick freeze process ensures no build up of ice crystals, results in smooth texture.

Taste – Unique and less sweet.

Chempedak Ice Cream

Clean – No nasty germs. Survive at – 320 degrees F.

320 Below Pte Ltd Locations:

33 Mackenzie Road
#01-01 Mackenzie Regency
Singapore 228686
Tel: 65-68848683

10 Tampines Central 1
#B1-32 Tampines 1
Singapore 529536
Tel: 65-65556341

Review: http://sg.openrice.com/singapore/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=75972

Chwee Kueh (Steamed Rice Cakes with Preserved Radish)

Ingredients:

150 grams (1 cup) rice flour
1 tablespoon Wheat Starch
5 tablespoons of Cooking Oil
160ml Cold Water
500ml Hot Water
Half teaspoon of Sea Salt

Topping Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of sweet preserved radish
2 tablespoons of salted preserved radish (optional)
3 tablespoons of minced dried shrimps
Cooking oil for stir frying
2 tablespoons of coarse sugar
2 tablespoons of minced garlic

Method:

Lightly greased 10 aluminium pie cups (traditional serving).
Since I do not have any of the aluminium pie cups, I replaced with the standard Korean metal rice bowl. For the ingredients provided above, you can fill four standard Korean metal rice bowl with 90% full of flour mixture.
Have a steamer ready with adequate hot water for steaming about 15 to 20 minutes and pre-steam the metal bowl with flour mixture.
In a big mixing bowl, add the 160 ml cold water, rice flour, wheat starch and stir well.
Add in 5 tablespoons of cooking oil and sea salt. Stir well.
Add the 500ml of hot water and stir well.

Fill the flour mixture to the pre-steamed metal rice bowl with about 90% full.

Steam in the steamer under medium to high heat for about 15 to 20 minutes or when the cake is fully set.

Let it cool completely before using a bread butter spreader to take out the steamed rice cake from the respective metal bowl. Set aside.

In the meantime, add some cooking oil to the frying pan and stir fry the minced garlic and the ingredients for the topping.
I do not like the topping to be too oily, therefore I have minimized the cooking oil quantity.
Over medium heat, stir fry the ingredients until the radish turn slightly brownish and fragrant. Add in the dark soy sauce and sugar.
Stir fry for another one to two minutes until well mixed and sugar has dissolved.

You can store the cooked topping ingredients in a small claypot and heat it up before serving.