Monday, 01 March 2010
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Nasi Goreng
Sambal belacan is a uniquely Indonesian spice paste that is a secret ingredient in many Malay dishes in Singapore. Toasted dried shrimp paste is a crucial part of the ingredients for this easy-to-make paste. The smell of the shrimp paste is extremely intense when toasted, and some people might not like it, but the sambal belacan obtained is well worth a few minutes of nose pinching. My grandmother used to fry a large quantity in the kitchen, and the whole house would literally be covered by smoke whenever she did.
Today I used a portion of it to make Nasi Goreng, the Malay version of fried rice. It's best cooked with leftover rice, but I wanted to eat it so much that I cooked the rice on the spur of the moment!
Nasi Goreng reminds me of Nasi Lemak, another common Malay rice dish cooked with ikan bilis, roasted peanuts, and scrambled egg. They used to sell a super good nasi lemak in my primary school for only 50 cents, and also for $1 under my house a few years ago. I love it when they wrap it in a huge banana leaf, it's like opening a present tied with a bow - makes me jump with joy and anticipation.
This is good especially for lunch, when one can't be bothered to cook up a storm or wait a long time. The egg sunny side up isn't just for decoration (although it sure seems like it), but for that extra protein contained in egg whites. Discard the egg yolk for the cholesterol conscious.
Ingredients
For Sambal Belacan
10 red chillies (fresh or dried)
2 scallions/green onions, sliced
1 tbsp toasted dried shrimp paste
3 tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
For Nasi Goreng
1 cup cooked rice
1 tbsp sambal belacan
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
1 egg, sunny side up
6 almonds, chopped (optional)
Method
1. To start, heat up 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan and lightly fry the dried shrimp paste until it emits an intense aroma.
2. In an electric blender, mix all ingredients for the spice paste together until you get a smooth paste. Store in a container and keep any unused paste in the fridge for up to a week.
3. Break an egg in a nonstick pan with one teaspoon oil. Wait until it becomes firm and quite cooked before flipping over to brown on the other side. Remove from pan.
3. In the same pan, heat some oil until it becomes hot. Add the sambal belacan and stir for a few seconds before mixing in the rice. Stir well for a minute to blend the rice with the sambal.
4. Pour in the sweet soy sauce and let it boil on high heat. It should sizzle for a few seconds. Add in the sugar. Stir for two minutes and remove from heat.
5. Place the cooked egg on top of the rice and serve. You can also add in some chopped almonds. It's not in the original recipe but I tried it on a whim and found it to be even more delicious.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
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Pandan Kaya
A typical breakfast during my childhood in the 90s: two pieces of toasted bread with pandan kaya and a cup of iced Milo or Horlicks. My grandmother used to wake up early in the morning to prepare me for primary school and to make breakfast.
I would be all dressed up in my green pinafore, short-sleeved yellow blouse and white school shoes, bleary-eyed and confused in that ungodly time of the day. Grandma would carry my awful school bag, which was heavier than a sack of rice, and then bring me down the endless maze of stairs to the bus stop. I used to take bus 131 and 145 regularly... also to visit my best friend's house in Depot Road after school.
Those were the good times, back in the day when I was young, I'm not a kid anymore but some days I sit and wish I was a kid again... (a rap song by Ahmad whose lyrics really strike home)
Today for the nostalgia I had a shot in making my own pandan kaya, because in Italy there are all kinds of fantastic jams but not kaya
Kaya is basically made up of only four ingredients: eggs, coconut milk, sugar and pandan leaves/essence. We love putting pandan kaya on toast with a slab of butter, like they still do in some coffee shops in Singapore and Malaysia.
In my childhood home, my grandma used to grow a huge plant of pandan at the corridor. The aroma of the pandan was so intense and compelling that our neighbours even stole some leaves from us! ;) She even grew fat red tomatoes (one time there was an equally fat green caterpillar on the leaves...yuckss!), chili, cactus, and several types of flowers (roses, orchids...). Our house was something like a botanical garden and a restaurant, and every weekend all my relatives and cousins would come over for dinner.
Ok, enough of the blabbering. I'll get started on the recipe for a good homemade pandan kaya
Ingredients
5 eggs
320gr castor sugar (substitute: fine white sugar)
380ml coconut milk
5 pandan leaves, cut
1 tsp pandan essence
Method
1. Using an electric blender, mix the pandan leaves and 100ml of coconut milk together. If the coconut milk is a little lumpy and inconsistent like mine, add a tablespoon of water and stir before pouring into blender.
2. Strain the juice from the pandan mixture into a big bowl using a fine sieve. Press on the leaves with a spoon to extract more of the juice. Discard the leaves after use.
3. In another big mixing bowl, crack the eggs and beat well with a fork.
4. Add all the sugar inside and stir with an electric hand whisk at full power for 1 minute, ensuring that the sugar has completely dissolved. It should look like this:
5. Pour the rest of the coconut milk and pandan juice into the beaten eggs. Blend well for 10 seconds with the whisk until a little of the green color shows and the mixture is homogenous.
6. Pour the kaya mixture through a sieve into another deep bowl. This is to ensure consistency of the kaya.
7. Put a deep stockpot over the smallest flame of the stove. Pour all the kaya mixture inside the pot and boil over medium heat. You can also add the pandan essence now, if you wish. When it becomes hot, turn the flame to the lowest and stir occasionally.
8. After 10 to 15 minutes, kaya should thicken. At this point, stir continuously for another 15 minutes or more, depending on how thick you want the kaya to be.
9. Allow kaya to cool down in room temperature before transferring it to a jar to put in the fridge.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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Hainanese Chicken Rice
Another Singaporean favorite, let me present my version of Hainanese Chicken Rice. Singaporean cuisine is my latest fixation, after my previous Vietnamese phase
I love chicken rice because it's so healthy and simple. I remember working near Maxwell Food Centre in Chinatown, the haven of good food, and eating Tian Tian Chicken Rice, which is the best in my opinion. The boiled chicken is succulent and smooth, and the aroma of the rice practically pulled me by my nose over there. There was also the complementary chili sauce, sesame soy sauce, and ginger sauce. All these things for the price of S$2! In this overdeveloped country, a $2 meal has becomed almost just a languishing memory.
The secret of this dish is the ginger, used abundantly, chicken stock, parsley, and pandan leaf. The complementary sauces really add a new dimension to boiled chicken. Healthy can be delicious too, as this dish proves
My grandma was able to do a good Hainanese Chicken Rice, and I'm so proud that I can follow in her tradition. I didn't use a whole chicken as we're only 2 people, so I used chicken breast fillets only, that is the best part anyway.
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
350gr chicken breast fillet
2 green onions, top part only
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 dashes white pepper
2 tsp salt
For the Rice:
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup chicken stock (obtained after boiling the chicken)
1 pandan leaf
1 tsp ginger, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 scallion (scalogno), sliced thinly
A small bunch of parsley
For Ginger Sauce:
3 tbsp ginger, chopped
3 tsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp water
For Sesame Soy Sauce:
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
For Chili Sauce:
5 red chilies, fresh or dried, cut
1 scallion, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp lime juice (substitute: lemon juice)
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
For Garnishing:
2 sprigs of parsley
1 cucumber, sliced thinly
1 fresh tomato, sliced
Method
1. In a large pot, put a large quantity of water and boil on high heat. When water bubbles appear, add all the ingredients and then lower the chicken carefully, to avoid spilling of the hot water. Foam may appear. When this happens, stir with a spatula and transfer pot to the smallest flame and simmer with a cover for 50 minutes on low heat. When chicken is ready, rub a small amount of sesame oil on them.
2. While chicken is cooking, heat the sesame oil and sunflower oil in a non-stick pan. Fry the ginger, garlic and scallion until they turn aromatic. Add the parsley and continue stirring for half a minute before adding the rice.
3. Brown the rice for two to three minutes until they take on a slightly yellow sheen. Switch off fire and transfer rice to a rice cooker or pot. Pour in the boiling chicken stock and add a pandan leaf and let it steam.
4. Prepare the sauces, one at a time, using a blender. Put them aside in tiny bowls.
5. Serve steamed rice with chicken and sauces. Place garnishing by side.
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Yong Tau Foo
I know of people who actually don't like tofu. They find it bland, tasteless, and artificial. Personally I've loved tofu in all its forms since I was little, be it tofu cubes, fried tofu puffs, dried tofu sheets ('fuzuk'), firm tofu, soft tofu, and my favorite, egg tofu.
I find them so versatile - they can be cooked in almost any manner, and with almost anything. For Monday's dinner I did yong tau foo, which means firm tofu with pockets of fishmeat. It is one of my favorite dishes ever, and in Singapore there are many stalls that sell this. There are usually a wide and varied array of yong tau foo, some with vegetables as well, that one can select and put in a bowl, to be eaten with noodles or rice. I usually add two tablespoons worth of hot chili sauce, cuz I just can't get enough
That is one of the things that I miss most about home. Italian food is great, but everything is served in a formal fashion consisting of the first and second course (i primi e secondi piatti) and then dessert (dolci). I miss being able to choose what I like to eat, and having many different dishes all at the same time without having to wait. And I would take a bowl of plain white jasmine rice over a risotto anytime. Don't get me wrong, I love risotto, but rice is best eaten simply for me.
For my version of yong tau foo I made the fish paste using shrimps, crabmeat (surimi) and a bit of chicken, as I don't have any fresh fish in the house. This is my original recipe, and I even dipped it in boiling chicken broth so that the tofu absorbs its fragrance.
The quantity in the picture seems rather small, because I didn't remember to take a picture until after I had already eaten! So the picture is just of the leftovers, but the fact that only few remained means that my family liked it I put the statue of Tour Eiffel behind on a whim, I was there in October last year ;)
Ingredients
3 extra firm tofu cubes, cut into 2 or 4 triangles
2 cups chicken stock (boiling)
2 green onions (long part only, cut, edges trimmed)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp sunflower oil
For Thickening
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
For Filling:
3 prawns, deveined and shelled
6 crabmeat sticks
80gr chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tsp sesame oil
3 dashes white pepper
2 tbsp water
1 tsp corn starch
Method
1. Boil chicken stock and soon after it starts boiling, simmer under low heat.
2. Slice the tofu with a knife, making a deep hole to stuff the filling. Do not discard the leftover tofu, you can always stir fry it with the yong tau foo.
3. To make the filling, mix all ingredients together in a blender and grind well till it becomes a consistent paste.
4. Stuff the filling inside the pockets of the tofu or other vegetables, such as bell peppers, ladies fingers, large red or green chilies, and bittergourd. When the tofu is completely filled, pat the top of the paste with the bottom of a spoon to flatten.
5. Heat a non-stick pan with some oil. When it becomes hot, stir fry the garlic till it becomes fragrant. Add the tofu inside carefully, taking care not to break them).
6. Brown them on each side, turning over every few minutes. Keep flame on high.
7. Pour in the boiling stock in the pan. It will sizzle intensely. When the stock is completely absorbed by the tofu, pour in more stock. To avoid the sizzling process, simply lower the heat and add the cornstarch mixture.
8. Sprinkle the green onions over the tofu and remove from heat. Ready to serve with white rice or noodles.
Monday, 22 February 2010
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Muah Chee ;)
What can a Singaporean girl do if she's homesick? Why, make muah chee of course
It's funny how I never learned to boil even an egg in Singapore and overseas I've learned so many things. I guess it's the purpose of leaving our comfort zone and seeking new pastures.
Muah chee is a typical snack found in a pasar malam ("night market" in Bahasa Melayu), which I loved as a kid and still adore now. They sell almost everything: typical Singaporean snacks like muah chee, onde onde, different types of kueh, burgers, clothes, shoes, pirated CDs (in those days), ornaments, you name it, they've got it. What I liked most were the prices.
A small box of muah chee costs only S$1. It's so simple yet so delicious: glutinous rice flour mixed with water and a tablespoon of oil, submerged in a nutty bed of grinded peanuts and sugar.
I admit that I only realized that now; back then it seemed an impossible task to do muah chee. Now I finally understand that the elastic and sticky nature of the muah chee is due to the properties of glutinous rice flour, and that peanuts can be sweet as long as you add enough sugar (I always wondered to myself, "aren't peanuts supposed to be salty?!")
Guess I'm an enlightened former cooking idiot
Ingredients
(A)
100gr glutinous rice flour
150gr water
1 tbsp sunflower oil
(B)
100gr unsalted peanuts, grinded
20gr fine white sugar
Method
1. In a bowl or a shallow dish, mix well all the ingredients in (A) together. When the consistency is uniform, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes or more, depending on the power of your microwave. To avoid overcooking it (it may become stiff and hard), take out the bowl and check the texture and consistency every 1/2 minute. Ate a tablespoon of water if there are still some signs of uncooked flour. When it seems extremely sticky and stretchy, it's ready.
2. In a blender, mix the peanuts and sugar together and grind until the peanuts become very fine.
2. Cut the dough with a spoon and fork or with a pair of scissors into small round balls. Dip them inside the plate of grinded peanuts and serve with a toothpick for that extra pasar malam touch
kykykat
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- Name: KK
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- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 12/13/2009
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Looking In...Outside
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The birds do its melodious chant Under the first warming rays of the sun The scent of life made them do a merry little dance :)
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Grass may be greener on the other side Sun may shine brighter Sea may be bluer But nothin really matters When we're together in love :)
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Tonight I dreamed of running from giant waves Jumping into the welcoming embrace of my cushion Taking romance into fantasy So lovingly
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Waves lap against shore As the sun slowly reveals Its silky rays illuminating The stretch of white sand So fine it slips thru ur hands
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In hot pursuit Turning me left and right A swift escape Eyes open to the light Arms of solace I stay in the cocoon Awaiting flight.
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