Recipes: Penang Prawn Mee

Cooking prawn mee from scratch has been on my mind eversince I saw one of my friends posted this on FB sometime last month. When I searched for the recipe online, most of them called for a lot of prawn shells and heads to prepare the stock.

So that's what I did - collecting my prawn shells and heads painstakingly for about 3 weeks before I have 1 kg worth. In order to reach this 1 kg goal, I bought in total 1.8 kg worth of prawns, all of these in batches because it's only two of us and there's only so much prawns that 2 people can eat over one to two seating. And each time, I shelled, cleaned, bagged and freezed the shells and heads until I think I have just about enough.

So without much futher ramblings, here's the recipe. :)

Penang Prawn Mee (serves 4)

To prepare a day before:

Prawn stock
1 kg of prawn heads and shells
3 cloves garlic, chopped
100 gm dried shrimps, soaked in some water to soften
1 chicken carcass
1 onion, sliced
5-6 cloves garlic, smashed
1 inch ginger, smashed
4 liters water
8 pcs of rock sugar or to taste (I used the cubed type)

Method:
1. Heat up some oil in wok and fry garlic and dried shrimps till fragrant. Add in prawn head and shells and fry until the shells turn red
2. In a big pot, bring water to boil and add in chicken carcass, onion, garlic, ginger and cooked prawn head and shells. Bring to boil over high heat before reducing the heat to simmer for 2 hours.
3. Cool and refrigerate overnight.

To prepare on actual day of serving:

Sambal belacan
20 pcs dried chillies, boiled to soften and deseeded.
20 pcs fresh chillies
1 bulb garlic
10 pcs shallots
10 tablespoons water
20 gm belacan, toasted
Salt and sugar to taste

Method:
1. Blend both types of chillies, garlic, shallots, belacan and water until turn into smooth paste.
2. Heat up enough oil to fry the chilli paste. Pour in the paste and keep on stirring on medium heat to prevent burning. Fry until paste turn fragrant or when it turns from bright red to dark red colour.
3. Add sugar and salt to taste.
4. Set aside to cool.

Prawn toppings
300 gm prawns, shelled and deveined

Method:
1. In the same wok used to fry sambal belacan (unwashed), heat up some oil to fry the prawns until cooked.
2. Dished up and set aside.

Prawn mee soup
Prawn stock
15 - 20 pcs bite-sized pork ribs
3 tbsps sambal belacan
1 tbsp fried shallot crisps
Salt and rock sugar to taste

Method:
1. Bring prawn stock to boil.
2. Add in pork ribs, sambal belacan and fried shallots. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until pork is cooked.
3. Take out the pork ribs and set aside.
4. Strain the soup of prawn heads and shells.
5. Season with salt and rock sugar to slightly saltier than your usual taste.

Condiments
Yellow mee and/or mee hoon, scalded and drain of excess water
Kangkong, scalded and drain of excess water
2 hard-boiled eggs, halved
Pork ribs
Prawn toppings
Fried shallots crisps
Sambal belacan

To serve, place a portion of mee/meehoon, kangkong, pork ribs, hard-boiled egg halves, and prawn toppings in a bowl. Ladle hot prawn soup over. Sprinkle with some shallot crisps and one teaspoon of sambal belacan.

Buying live prawns in Jakarta (Warning ahead: TMI)

Whenever I go to the wet market in Mayestik, I'm always fascinated by the fishmongers who have live prawns for sale. Of course these are pretty small prawns. We are talking about a cooked size of between 2 - 2.5 cm in diameter, but I love to have them in stir-fry dishes with vegetables for instance. So last week when I was there, I decided to buy 1kg which cost me IDR 60k.

When I got home, I gave them a rinse (and they are still alive!) and begin to peel off their heads. Took awhile to get over my own initial awkwardness of "beheading" them (and thinking that they must be saying "Don't peel my head off"), but kinda got used to it. One thing I noticed that with live prawns, their heads is surprisingly very strongly attached to their bodies. A very different tension compared to "beheading" dead prawns. And of course, there were a couple of them walking and swimming legs that were still twitching out of involuntary reflexes after they have been beheaded!

Well you can't get any fresher than these...

Before:

The aftermath: 

Recipes: Meatball curry

This dish is one of Hubs's family favourite and really easy to make. My first attempt in making this dish a few years back was not very successful and I never had the opportunity to try again with work commitment and all. However, being in Jakarta, we do miss home cooked curry every now and then, hence I decided to try this again. It turn out well this time around, and I foresee there will be more request of this from Hubs. :)

Meatball Curry

For the meatball:

500gm of beef mince
1 egg
1 potato, boiled and mashed
1 onion, minced
3-4 stalks of coriander leaves, minced
1 red chilli, minced
salt and pepper to taste

- Combined all the ingredients in a large bowl. Stir to mix well. Roll the mixture into small balls i.e. golf ball size

For the curry:
2 tablespoon of meat curry powder
1 tablespoon of chilli powder
1 onion, sliced
1 stalk curry leaves
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (about 3cm)
3-4 cloves
3-4 cardamom 
2 potatoes, cubed
1 tomato, cubed
Water or stock


- Mix the curry powder and chilli powder with a some water until turn paste.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry onion till soft. Next add in curry leaves and spices and fry till fragrant.
- Add in the curry powder mix and continue frying for about 15 minutes. If paste dries up, keep on adding water to make a watery paste. 
- Add in potatoes, and cook for a futher 10 minutes.  Next add in the meat balls, and add just enough water to cover. 
- Bring curry to boil for 20 minutes. Do not stir the curry as this will break up the meatballs. Instead, carry the pot and give a couple of swirl to mix.
- Add in tomatoes and cook for another 15 minutes. Allow curry to sit for at least half an hour before serving. 

Recipes: Grilled Chicken Breasts with Cumin and Thyme

When I made this dish the first time, we loved it so much that it warranted a repeat. I thought the combination of cumin and thyme was a bit odd but the end result was superb! I especially love the use of cumin in this marinade which gives a hint of spice and sweetness to the chicken.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Cumin and Thyme

3-4 pieces of chicken breasts

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/8 teaspoon cumin

- Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl, mix well. (I used a pestle and gently grind the mix to release the flavours of cumin and thyme

- Coat chicken breast liberally with marinade and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator

- Heat some oil in a non-stick pan. Grill the chicken breast until no longer pink in the center and juices run clear, roughly about 4-5 minutes on each side

On my 2nd attempt, I used the leftover marinade to flavour the vegetables, which turn out pretty good as well. What I did was to heat up 1 tbsp of butter, pour in the leftover marinade and quickly added the parboiled the broccoli for a couple toss before serving.

Recipes: Chicken Curry Kapitan

I have fond memories of chicken curry kapitan. The first time I had this was also the first time we made it as well. You see, it was the last session of this Catholic pre-marital course that we attended before we got married and the couple who led our session decided to organise a little pot-luck celebration. We offered to cook a curry dish and bought our made-from scratch rempah from this aunty in TTDI. She also gave us instruction how to cook it and the dish turned out to be a favourite.

I searched for the recipe online and found an easy-to-follow version at Rasa Malaysia. I sorta agak-agak on the amount of ingredients, because when I attempted this, I haven't bought my weighing scale yet. But it turn out lovely and received praises from our Indonesian friends. So this is my version below:

Chicken Curry Kapitan

1 whole chicken, cut into small pieces
4 stalks serai, bruised
5-6 daun limau purut
¼ cup packet coconut cream
salt and sugar to taste

To blend into fine paste:
10 red chillies
3 red chilli padi
4cm ginger
2cm lengkuas
2cm tumeric
3 garlic cloves
5 shallots
5 candlenuts, soaked in warm water
1 tsp belacan powder

- Heat some oil in a wok and fry paste till turn darker red and fragrant. Take care not to burn paste.
- Next add in bruised serai and fry for another 2-3 minutes before adding chicken pieces. Stir to coat well.
- Add sufficient water to cover chicken. Bring to boil and simmer on slow fire for another 20 minutes.
- Next add in the coconut cream, daun limau purut, salt and sugar to taste.
- Allow curry to rest for 30 minutes before serving

Recipes: Our take (Hubs and Me!) on Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Hubs wanted to have yong tau foo last Saturday lunch, and informed he invited a couple-friend of his to come over for lunch. To make sure we use the freshest ingredients, I decided to go to Pasar Tomang on Friday to buy the necessary ingredients. Alas, my usual Pak Haji was sold out on his ikan tenggiri (spanish mackerel) and after checking out other sellers, I bought what I thought look like a juve king mackerel (I believe this is called 'batang' in Malaysia wet markets)

When I came home, I prepared the fish for Saturday's stuffing. When I first gut the fish, my knife came out with blood so red that I thought "Wow! That almost looked like human blood!" I then proceed to fillet the fish to scrape the flesh off the skin and my next thought was "What an unusual red colour flesh for a tenggiri. This fish must be a very strong swimmer!" I told Hubs what I bought when he came back later in the evening and one look at the now frozen flesh, he said "I don't know what you bought, but that's not a tenggiri. I think we better go to Pasar Mayestik early tomorrow morning to get the right fish."

The next morning, while at Mayestik, we bought our tenggiri and solved the identity of mystery red-blooded fish. I had bought a juve tuna instead. Thank God for Hub's hindsight, otherwise it would have been a disastrous meal! Some more with guests! 

Anyway this is the Patrick's Hakka Yong Tau Foo recipe. Tailored to how Hubs likes it. Because he thought my mum's version is a bit porky. Obviously the Hakka is courtesy moi, since I grew up stuffing yong tau foo whenever my mum makes it. :)

The Patrick's Hakka Yong Tau Foo (serves 4)

300gm tenggiri flesh (keep the bone for soup base)

100gm prawns (keep the shells for soup base)
150gm pork belly
4-5 spring onion heads, chopped  (keep the green parts as garnish)
1 tablespoon of crispy fried shallots
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soya sauce
half an egg white
salt and pepper to taste
chillies, ladies fingers, bitter gourd and brinjal for stuffing

- Combine meats with chopped spring onion heads, fried shallots and seasoning with a large bowl.
- With a food processor or electric chopper, grind the meat mix into paste. If using electric chopper, do this in batches.
- In the same large bowl, add in the egg white and mix till well combined i.e. paste feels sticky. Shape paste into a big ball and throw against the bowl a few times to add a springy bite to paste.
- Stuff paste into the vegetables. If there's any excess paste, it can be rolled into ping-pong sized balls or frozen for another batch. (For this recipe, we managed to stuff 8 pcs chillies, 8 pcs ladies finger, 1 medium bittergourd and 2 medium brinjals)
- In a pan or wok, heat some oil. Pan-fry the stuffed vegetables till just done.
- Add in bittergourd, ladies finger and chillies into prepared soup base and bring to boil just before serving. Garnish with spring onions.

Most yong tau foo specialty shops tend to serve their brinjal, fried, on the side, which is what we did because Hubs like it that way. Anyway, I don't fancy brinjal that much so I will reserve my comments. ;p Or you can try this method which I prepared my chillies with this time round.

In a small heated pan, add crispy fried shallots and some of its oil.* Add in the fried chillies and very quickly a dash of soya sauce and toss. Garnish with spring onions before serving.

*I always make sure I have crispy fried shallots soaked in oil handy in my kitchen because I love this and it's so handy and versatile

I lurve my chilies prepared this way. Adds a non-spicy "kam heong" aroma to the whole dish. Try it!

Recipes: Kue Lapis Legit

After I quit my job in June this year, I had a few months to kill before moving to Jakarta. One of the things I did during this time is to travel back to Kluang for some Asian cooking lessons from Mom. My Mom, she loves Kueh Lapis and annually for Chinese New Year, we will get one for her from Lavender Bakery in Pavilion.

Having saw how easy it was to make on Poh's Kitchen on Asian Food Channel and hunted down the recipe here, I convinced Mom to make this together with me. This original recipe actually works, but Mom and I have made some modifications to it, mainly the spice ingredients and tone down the sweetness. Try it out to impress family members or guests with your labour of love. :)

Kue Lapis Legit

6 egg whites
3 tsp vanilla essence
220 gm icing sugar
15 egg yolks
400 gm unsalted butter at room temperature, softened and beaten
120 gm plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp all-spice powder
2 tbsp brandy

- Whisk egg whites and vanilla to soft peak. Gradually add icing sugar till stiff peak form
- Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each yolk
- Add butter and beat till well incorporated.
- Sift the flour, baking powder & spice powder together
- Fold in the flour mixture in three batches. Then stir in brandy
- Grease a 20-22 cm square cake tin with a lift-up base and line outside of tine with foil so batter does not leak through any gaps
- Turn oven to grill function
- Warm cake tin in oven for about 1 minute as this this helps to spread the 1st layer evenly compared to a cold tin
- Put about a third of a cup of cake mixture onto base of cake tin and spread evenly
- Put the tin under the grill for about five minutes or the top turns golden brown (Roughly takes about 3-5 minutes)
- Remove from oven and scoop the same amount of batter for 2nd layer. (No need to wait for the cake to cool between layers)
- Repeat the same process. Keep going until you have finish all the batter.

Tips: After you have about 4-5 layers, it helps to use a weight of some sort, in this case I used a slightly smaller loaf tin and gently pressed down to compact the layers. This will ensure tight layers once you cut the finished cake. 

The batter sorta melts when comes into contact with heat, so this helps to spread it out evenly

Cake browning under the grill

How one layer looks like once browned

Voila! And it's done! :)

Recipes: Bintang Beer Bread

The interest to make homemade bread started for couple of reasons. I have got a lot of time on hand so wanted to try something new, apart from run-of-the-mill cooking and baking cookies/cakes. I also have an idiosyncratic allergy to wheat (as confirmed by skin-prick test) which is kinda peculiar. Because you would think I can't take anything that's wheat-based but somehow some wheat products are less allergenic than others. So it's a bit of a minefield for me. For all I know I could be allergic to some preservatives but I'm a bit blase to do another test. Maybe homemade bread solves the problem because no preservatives right? As for the wheat part, well we shall see about that.

I started following these 2 food blogs Rasa Malaysia and its sister site Gourmand Recipes, and stumbled across this idiot-proof (so I thought by just looking at the method) beer bread recipe which requires no yeast at all. Since I have no experience working with yeast, i thought "why not try this out". Hence earlier last week, I went shopping for all the required baking tools and ingredients and last Saturday was Attempt No. 1.

It was disastrous. I got a beer brick instead. Haha. Halfway into baking, the gas oven ran out of gas! And poor bread was sitting in the oven for a good 20 minutes cooling off. But I guessed that didn't factor too much (maybe it should be "at all" hehe) into the failure of Attempt No.1 when I realised belatedly last night that I had used the wrong ingredient right from the start: baking soda instead of baking powder. Didn't realised that baking soda and baking powder are two different thing altogether *sheepish blush* ;p

So here I am today, on my 2nd attempt. Turned out lovely. This is my first time eating beer bread and it's a crusty and rather dense loaf. This recipe (below) yielded a bread which is slightly sweet, so maybe I will reduce the sugar by 1-2 tablespoon at my next attempt. But otherwise I'm quite pleased with the result. And you can smell a hint of beer in it also. :)

Basic Beer Bread

3 cups of flour (the way to measure this is to spoon the flour into measuring cup to avoid packed flour)
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 can of beer
1/4 cup melted butter (about 50g of butter and 20 seconds on the microwave)

- Preheat oven to 190 Celcius or 375 Farenheit
- Combined all dry ingredient in a mixing bowl
- Add in beer and stir lightly with a wooden spoon until you get a lumpy batter-like consistency
- Pour into a greased loaf and add melted butter to the mixture
- Bake for 1 hour, remove from pan and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes

This is the basic recipe. You can make variations to this recipe by adding grated cheese and herbs instead of butter or use different type of beers. Which I'm going to try out at my next attempt.

Recipes: Caesar Salad with Baked Rosemary Chicken Breast on the side

Our low-fat and low-calorie journey continues in the form of this 100% made-from-scratch dinner.

Baked Rosemary Chicken Breast

2 skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest and juice of half a lemon
2 tsp dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine garlic, oil, lemon zest and juice, rosemary, salt and pepper to form marinade. Make 3 slits on each breast to allow marinade to penetrate through. Rub marinade liberally over chicken breasts and allow to marinate in the fridge for 5-6 hours. Preheat oven to 190 Celcius. Place chicken breasts in a baking dish and bake for 35 minutes.

Caesar Salad dressing

1 egg
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic puree
150 ml olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the egg for 1 minute and break into a bowl. Add in all the ingredients, except the olive oil and whisk together. Finally add in oil in slow and steady stream until all combined and smooth.

Croutons

1 pc white sandwich bread, cut into small cubes.
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic puree

Melt butter into liquid (take care not to burn) and add in garlic puree. Spread cubes on a pan and lightly brush with liquid butter. Toast over fire till crispy

Soft yolk boiled egg

Bring water to boil in a pot and add in some vinegar. Gently lower eggs into boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Remove and put in ice-cold water to stop cooking process. Peel shells before serving.

To assemble:
Toss romaine and cubed tomato in dressing till well-coated. I only used at most about 3 tbsp of dressing for the both of us and refrigerated the rest. Garnish with croutons and egg, and serve with baked chicken breast.

Recipes: Steamed Minced Pork with Cuttlefish

Today has been a good day, experimenting with home cooking. Last weekend I tried out grilled chilli-stuffed selar, and although the sambal was pretty good for the stuffing, I unfortunately overbaked the fish. For lunch today, I tried it again but this time using ikan kuning and the result was pretty good. Just need to try it one more time before it deserves a blog post :)

Anyway for tonight's dinner, I kept 2 pieces of ikan kuning from lunch experiment for Hubs to try it out, and at the same time, I made steamed minced pork with cuttlefish. This is a favourite traditional dish of every Chinese household, and there's a lot of variation to it. Basically it's a marriage of the plain minced pork with a heavier-taste (read: saltier) ingredient such as tong chai (i.e. preserved chinese cabbage), mei xiang salted fish (usually of kurau fish which has been cured to produce a soft fermented texture and a unique fragrance and taste) or sometimes it can be seasoned well enough with soy sauce and salt to be steamed on its own. A light-bulb moment last night just before bedtime made me decide to try this with cuttle fish. Why cuttlefish? Well simply because this is all I have and in the words of Masterchef, this is an invention test. Hahaha!

Steamed Minced Pork with Cuttlefish (serves 2)

200gm of minced pork,
3cm x 6cm portion of dried cuttlefish
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp corn starch powder
1-2 drops of sesame oil
Pepper to taste

- Clean and soak cuttlefish in a small bowl of water till soft. Cut cuttlefish into fine strips. Do not discard water used to soak cuttlefish.
- In a saucepan, heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry cuttlefish strips till crispy. Set aside to cool down. Grind half portion into powder with a mortar and pestle. Retain the other half as garnish.
- To season minced pork, add in salt, soya sauce, fish sauce, corn starch powder, sesame  oil, pepper and cuttlefish grind and mix well. Place in a steaming bowl.
- To prepare sauce, combine 3-4 tbsp of cuttlefish liquid with 1 tbsp of soya sauce. Add this to the steaming bowl.
- Garnish with fine strips of ginger, chopped chilli padi and remainder of cuttlefish strips.
- Place in a steamer and steam for about 10-15 minutes.

Recipes: Pan-Grilled Southwest Chicken Breasts with Tomato Salsa and Potato and Egg Salad

As part of our stay-fit-eat-healthy plan, I decided to try out this recipe. I have since modified the original recipe (it was actually grilled chicken sandwiches) in order to make use with what I have in the fridge. The resulting dish was awesome, with a lots of flavours and I took care not to over-grill the chicken breasts.

Pan-Grilled Southwest Chicken 

4 chicken breasts without skin

1 sprig of cilantro, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 red chilli padi, deseeded and minced

Finely grated lemon zest (I used half a lemon)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 tbsp olive oil

- Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl until well mixed. Rub marinade onto chicken breasts, placed in a medium bowl and covered with cling wrap. Allow to refrigerate for 1 hour. In the meantime work on the salsa and the potato and egg salad

- Heat up 1 tsp vegetable oil on a non-stick pan

- Grill the marinated chicken on heated pan until no longer pink in center and juices run clear, roughly about 4-5 minutes on each side. 

Tomato salsa

2 sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shallot, finely sliced

2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, deseeded and cubed

2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

- Mix well all ingredients in a serving bowl, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate till time to serve

Potato and egg salad

2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and boiled whole in salted water till soft

2 hard-boiled eggs, cubed

2 tsps butter

Salt and pepper to taste

- Mash potatoes with a fork. While mash is still warm, quickly work in the butter. Add in cubed eggs and mix well. Season well with salt and pepper

Recipes: Devil Curry

I was first introduced to this Eurasian dish 3 years ago by Hubs (then boyfriend) during Christmas lunch with his family. I love the spiciness of this dish and always look forward to family gathering at his uncle's to eat to my heart's content. I have since got the family recipe from Hubby's uncle and decided to cook it myself today.

Devil Curry

Half a chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces, seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper
2 whole onions, quartered
2 stalks lemon grass, lightly bruised
1 tomato, quartered
1 green chilli, halved length-wise
500ml water
5 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Chilli paste (blend into smooth paste):
20 dried chilies, deseed and boil to soften (I prefer boiling over soaking in order to kill of any fungal spores)
8 fresh chillies, deseed
10 cloves garlic
12 shallots
3 thumb size ginger
1 1/2 thumb size fresh tumeric
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 candlenut (buah keras)
5 tbsp water

Method:
- Heat oil in wok. Add in chicken and fry until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add blended chilli paste into heated oil. Fry until fragrant and the oil bubbles through, i.e. paste turns from bright red colour to a dark red colour. If using non-stick wok, make sure there's enough oil to prevent paste from sticking and getting burnt.
- Add in serai and onions. Fry until fragrant before adding chicken. Stir to coat chicken pieces with chilli paste.
- Add in water and bring to boil. Next add in tomato, green chilli and salt to taste. Lower the heat and simmer covered for another 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked and tender. Leave curry covered and set aside at least 30 minutes before serving.