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Deepfried Nam Yue Chicken Wings Recipe 南乳雞翼

Sunday, August 31, 2008 | Labels: , , , | 3 Comments »

Everyone loves chicken wings right? I have featured chicken wings before but this time these chicken wings were marinated in red fermented beancurd (Nam Yue- 南乳). The latter is quite pungent and is a cousin of the other plain fermented beancurd or Fu Yue (in Cantonese). See my Kangkung with Fu Yue. Due to Nam Yue's distinctly pungent flavour, you will either love it or hate it but do give it a try. Think of Nam Yue as a much stronger version of miso or as some red Chinese cheese. These chicken wings can be served on its' own as a snack or served as a dish with some rice. I included some pictures of the Nam Yue for reference purposes. With chicken wings, as long as you have a decent marinade, it's pretty hard to mess them up! Oh, and of course you have to make sure they are cooked throughly as well....

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Audrey's (My mom's) Mashed Banana Fritters (pisang goreng) 炸香蕉 Recipe

Saturday, August 30, 2008 | Labels: , , , | 2 Comments »

Growing up in Malaysia, I was surrounded by sellers hawking their snacks/ food on streets. Living in Malaysia, it is so easy to simply pop out of the house or office and you will usually find at least a few hawkers selling delicious snacks unique to Malaysia (yes, and Singapore) where Chinese, Malay and Indian flavours intermingle all the time. Fried banana fritters or famously known as Goreng Pisang (Pisang Goreng is actually the correct term in Malay grammatically but somehow Goreng Pisang seems to be used more widely) literally translate to Fried Bananas. The outer part is a little crunchy with a sweet, soft banana center.

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On another note, due to the fact that I now have a cooking blog, most people usually think that I've been cooking all my life, in fact, au contraire- living at home in Malaysia, I never had to lift a finger in the kitchen. Even if you did not have moms or maids to cook, the dizzying array of hawker (street) food readily and cheaply available really did not call for a lot of cooking at home unless of course you were like my Dad who demanded home-cooked food since he does have a rather fussy palate! Yup, I sort of take after him, hence I started cooking on my own while studying in London since I was quickly bored of the average China Town fare and refused to eat sandwiches for dinners, I guess I am really 'Chinese' in that sense. Some more traditional Chinese people may even claim that sandwiches are only for snacks and believe firmly that rice is always required for a filling and satisfying meal!

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Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Saturday, August 30, 2008 | Labels: , , | No Comment »

Today I feature my simple vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Photobucket

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup full cream milk

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For another simple cake recipe: Click here for my colourful Neopolitan Marble Cake Recipe

Method:

Firstly, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Next, add in the vanilla extract.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour while scraping down the sides.

Fill the muffin tray with the batter and bake for about 18 minutes or until browned Use a toothpick to test if the cupcakes are cooked throughly, once the toothpick comes out clean, the cakes are ready. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with icing. Since I wanted my cupcakes to be flat topped, I used a knife to cut off the 'domes' of the cakes. I cheated this time by using store-bought chocolate frosting! You can always get vanilla or white frosting and add food colouring for different coloured cupcakes.

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Deep-fried Chicken Kebabs Recipe

Friday, August 29, 2008 | Labels: , , | No Comment »

These crunchy chicken kebabs are delicious and pretty to look at - absolutely perfect for parties! Milk is added to the marinade which really helps to make the chicken bites crunchier. I used garlic powder for simplicity's sake, you can always use garlic cloves if you have more time to marinade. The red bell peppers go well with the chicken. You can also alternate with green or yellow bell peppers. I sprinkled some chilli powder on the kebabs for some extra spice and colour.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Friday, August 29, 2008 | Labels: , | 2 Comments »

I made these Chocolate Chip cookies a while back - very easy to make and of course chocolate chip cookies don't require much introduction! I think I could have done better with my sizing of the cookies. But don't you think the irregular sizing adds to the 'rusticness' and the 'home-made' level of these still delicious cookies? These turn out alright but I'm still on the quest for the 'perfect' chocolate chip cookie recipe.

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Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps hot water
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, white sugar, brown sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time while mixing, stir in the vanilla essence. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add to the batter. Add the salt as well. Mix in flour and chocolate chips. Use a tablespoon to drop generous dollops onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in oven. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on wire racks. You may add in almonds/ walnuts if you so prefer.



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Shrimp noodles in Chicken Broth Recipe

Sunday, August 24, 2008 | Labels: , , | No Comment »

Noodles in hot chicken broth is always comforting and delicious at least for me. Here's a very simple chicken-broth based noodle for those busy and lazy days. I used dried shrimp noodles and merely added some deep-fried shallots, green onions and some Japanese fish cakes I found in my freezer. A dash of sesame oil and some chopped red peppers top the noodles off!

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Ingredients:
2 shrimp noodles (dried)
2 cups chicken broth (good if you can do homemade, if not just use canned/ powdered form)
2 tbsps deep-fried shallots (you can get some packaged, pre-fried ones at most Asian stores)
2 stalks green onions, sliced thinly
Red chilli peppers or bird's eye chilli peppers
Fish cakes/ balls (optional)
Dash of sesame oil

Method:
Firstly, prepare the noodles by boiling them and then running the cooked noodles in cold water to remove some of the starchiness. Next, cook the fish cakes or you can also subsitute with chicken strips or pork strips. Now, heat up the chicken broth. Arrange the noodles in individual bowls topping with the fish cakes, shallots, green onions and chilli peppers. Carefully pour in the chicken broth for each individual bowl. Add a dash of sesame oil. Serve hot.

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Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe - 咕嚕肉

Friday, August 22, 2008 | Labels: , , | No Comment »

The ubiquitous sweet and sour pork might have earned Chinese fare a 'bad' name depending on where you first sample it but is actually a very authentic Cantonese dish that can be traced to approximately 18th century Canton. According to some old Chinese books I've read, the test of a true Chinese chef is the way he makes sweet and sour pork. The challenge is to keep the crunchiness of the deep-fried pork and infuse the sweet and sour flavours while minimising sogginess. The 'best' pork should have a thin layer of fat and muscle for texture, however I merely used pork loin cubed (use spareribs if you can) as I don't like eating fatty meat. As you can see, my sweet and sour pork dish is not red colour per se, this is because I don't use food colouring, often when you see a very crimson sweet and sour pork, food colouring has been used. My other recipe (or rather my mom's) Audrey's King To Spareribs is a cousin of the perennially popular Sweet and Sour Pork.

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Ingredients:
Spareribs (About 2 strips), cut into bite-sized pieces
Marinade for ribs:
1 tbsps sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
Flour for dredging
1 lightly beaten egg
Enough oil for deep-frying

For the sauce:
4 tbsps ketchup
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 cup water
2 tbsps sugar
1 tsp salt

The accompanying vegetables:
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and quartered
1/2 red & green bell pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tomato, quartered
1/2 canned pineapple, cut into bite-sized pieces (you may also use fresh pineapple if you prefer)

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Method:
Firstly, marinade the spareribs in the mixture listed above. Try to marinade for at least 2 hours, the longer the better (max: overnight!). Heat the oil up for deep-frying, once hot enough dip the pork in the egg, then the flour and place gently (!) into the wok for deep-frying. Once golden brown, remove from oil and set aside on some oil-absorbent towels. Now, prepare the ingredients for the sauce in a cup. Place about 2 tbsps oil in the wok again discarding the rest - saute the onion slices until fragrant. Pour in the sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Please do a taste test at this point and this is when you can add more sugar if you feel that it's not sweet enough. Now, finally add in the pork and all the cut up vegetables and stir carefully to evenly coat the ingredients. Serve hot.

Some other pork recipes:

Porky Potatoes

Claypot Pork with Tofu and Mushrooms

Miso Cooked Spare Ribs

Steamed Spare Ribs with Ginger

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Soy Chicken with Chinese Sausage Recipe

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Labels: , , , | 4 Comments »

Chinese sausages have a uniquely sweet and savoury taste and quite a chewy texture. These sausages are also good on their own, simply steamed served with hot rice or they also make good omelettes. This is another quick dish - perfect for those of you who don't want to labour in the kitchen for too long but unwilling to compromise on flavour (haha).

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Deep-fried Eggplant (brinjal) Sandwich with Fish Paste Recipe

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | Labels: , , | 2 Comments »

Growing up in Malaysia which is a Commonwealth country, I have always referred to the vibrantly hued vegetable (btw, purple is so in for Fall! yeah, have to go shopping) as brinjals instead of eggplants but anyhow I think both sound alright. The eggplants are sliced diagonally and are used to sandwich home-made fish paste and subsequently deep-fried. Very yummy indeed! For my non-Asian readers, you can usually order these at dim sum restaurants or if you stop by in Malaysia, the pretty eggplant sandwiches are usual fare in places that sell yong tau foo (stuffed tofu).

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To take a look at some of my other fried dim sum offerings, please click on the recipe below:

Deep-fried Shrimp and Pork Paper Rolls Recipe

Deep-fried Shrimp Wontons Recipe

Golden Wrapped Tiger Shrimp Recipe


Ingredients:

2 eggplants, diagonally sliced about 1 inch thick
Fish paste (you can buy pre-made versions for the sake of convenience)
1 tsp corn starch
Enough oil for deep-frying
Flour for dredging
1 egg, beaten


Method:

Firstly, add the corn starch (diluted in equal 1 tsp water) to the fish paste mixture. Add about 1/2 lightly beaten egg to the mix. Meanwhile, heat enough oil for deep-frying. While waiting for the oil to heat up adequately, apply the fish paste to your eggplant slices ala making regular sandwiches. Once you have used up all your eggplant slices, dredge them in flour and the oil should be hot enough by now. Carefully deep-fry your eggplant 'sandwiches'.


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Chicken Congee Recipe (雞粥) and thanks!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | Labels: , , | 26 Comments »

Before I present tonight's dish, I would like to say a big thank you to all of you (those whom I know personally and those who just stumbled upon this blog) who have taken the time to comment and email me with tons of compliments. They really make my day and I am very flattered that some of you actually went ahead and tried my home recipes and actually (liked?) them. Cooking is very fun for me and sometimes therapeutic as I don't have my piano here in San Diego with me and cooking has proven to be my main hobby apart from reading and er..shopping.

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Okay, you're probably wondering what happened to tonight's recipe - I made chicken congee as I was feeling (just a little) feverish this morning and I was longing for some hot congee. Yes, what do Chinese people like when they're sick? Answer: it's congee or porridge. Since I had some boneless chicken thighs in the freezer, I decided to make chicken congee. Chicken congee operates on the same concept as chicken noodle soup to a certain extent, there's chicken broth, there's chicken (woohoo) and of course instead of the noodle, we use rice. Congee is just a lot of water and a little rice. I was quite happy with the texture of tonight's congee, very smooth and comforting! Food of course is sometimes not only about the taste or the ingredients, it's also the connotations that come with them, for instance, the highest grade of abalone or shark's fin may be very expensive and rare, but more often than not it's the simplest, most basic food that may prove to be the most delicious and most comforting. Ok, enough of the rambling, on to the ingredients!


Click below to check out other claypot recipes of mine:

Claypot Beef with Glass Noodles
Claypot Pork with Tofu and Mushrooms
Seafood Claypot


Kangkung (Water Spinach) with Fu Yue (fermented beancurd)

Sunday, August 17, 2008 | Labels: , , , | No Comment »

Most South East Asians will be very familiar with this popular vegetable that has a crunchy texture in part due to its hollow stalks. The famous kangkung belacan is a must order when you travel to Malaysia! However, tonight I eschewed belacan as I find it difficult to get good ones here and I was not industrious enough to make some from scratch tonight! I used the equally delicious but milder flavoured fermented beancurd (nicknamed "Chinese Cheese") with some chopped up red chilli peppers. Here's a little background information on kangkung . It's just amazing how certain vegetables go with certain flavours, for instance it would be a travesty to try to use Chinese cabbage with fermented beancured (?!) - but do correct me if I'm wrong.

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Ingredients:
1 bunch of kangkung
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 red chilli peppers, sliced (you may use bird's eye peppers if you prefer a hotter flavour)
4 cubes fermented beancurd
Dash of soy sauce

Method:
Firstly, boil the kangkung until almost cooked (add some oil into the water for boiling to keep avoid the leaves from turning yellow). Saute the garlic, chilli peppers until fragrant. Add the beancurd and stirfry for a bit. Finally add the vegetables in and stir around to mix well. Add a dash of soy sauce. Serve hot.

Tip: While stir frying vegetables, try not to turn it too many times to avoid yellowing, hence my preference for pre-boiling the vegetables beforehand.

Note the hollow stalks
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Advisable to soak in water for quite a while
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Fermented beancurd (fu yue)
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Soy Stir-fried Pork with Potatoes Recipe

Sunday, August 17, 2008 | Labels: , , | 5 Comments »

Updated on April 2011 - I updated this post with some new photos and polished up the recipe- I can't believe that it has been years since I first posted this recipe.  This is an ever-popular recipe in many Chinese households and I hope you'll enjoy this simple stir-fry.  For better results, use fingerling potatoes as cooking time will be lessened and I find that these potatoes absorb the savoury sauce better.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! The weather in San Diego as usual is quite perfect, last night I decided to cook a family favourite of mine, a very simple dish that only requires 5 ingredients (water is not counted right?) - I remember watching one Top Chef episode where the contestants were required to only use 6 ingredients for the Quick Fire Challenge and I think I could probably enter with this dish.  This easy stir-fry combines great texture with the softened potatoes and chewy pork slices in a 'garlicky' flavoured savoury sauce thickened naturally by the starch in the potatoes.


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Ingredients:

1/2 pound pork, sliced (I used fatty pork but I don't eat the fatty bits, it just adds more flavour to the whole dish) - marinate in corn flour for about 1 hour (place in fridge) for better, springier texture
6 fingerling potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/3 inch thick slices (approximate guides)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsps thick soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
A pinch of salt

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Method:

Heat up your pan or wok until hot.  Turn heat to medium.  Add in the garlic and fry until aromatic.

Add the pork slices and stir fry for a bit. Add the light soy sauce then add in the potatoes, then add in the salt.  Add in the thick soy sauce.  Stir fry around again to coat well. Add water.  Bring to a boil and turn heat lower to allow for simmering until everything is cooked. Serve hot.  Garnish with some green onion slices if desired.




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Claypot Pork with Tofu and Mushrooms Recipe

Saturday, August 16, 2008 | Labels: , , , | 4 Comments »

When I went to Mitsuwa (the local Japanese grocery store) to get sashimi for some sushi, I saw these cute deep-fried tofu packets that I thought would be good with some fresh shitake mushrooms I just got as well. So, I decided to make a simple one-pot dish, a claypot of sorts. I love one-pot dishes due to the simplicity of course and er also minimises dishes! I put together some cabbage, mushrooms, pork and the tofu packets with some Japanese flavours, hmm, I seem to be in a 'Japanese cooking phase' lately. You can buy these pre deep-friend tofu packets at most Asian grocery stores but sadly, the ones I've bought at the local Chinese grocery store, Ranch 99 had an almost rancid taste, the Japanese ones were perfect! This dish is great served with rice or on its own. You can also make this a vegetarian dish by simply omitting the pork.

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Ingredients:

Deep-fried tofu packets (about 10 pieces)
Fresh shitake mushrooms (you may use dried ones but remember to soak them first)
Half a Chinese/ Nappa cabbage
1/4 pound pork (sliced)
3 cloves garlic, smashed (no need to mince)
Green onions (only white parts - sliced)
Ginger, 3 slices
2 tbsps sake
3-4 tbsps light soy sauce
3 tbsps mirin
Dash of sesame oil
1 cup chicken broth (canned or powdered form)

Method:
Firstly, saute the garlic, green onions and ginger in some cooking oil until fragrant. Add the pork slices in and stir-fry for a bit. When pork is almost cooked, add the chicken broth into the claypot or pan. Add the sake, soy sauce, mirin and bring to a boil. Add the tofu packets and mushrooms. Turn heat lower and allow to simmer until liquid is almost down to about 1/4 cup. Do remember to taste it before serving. When I do claypot dishes, I like to just place the entire claypot at the table and serve guests from there as the claypot retains heat very well and I think looks pretty too.

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Rainbow Roll Recipe (Sushi)

Thursday, August 14, 2008 | Labels: , , , | 2 Comments »

Tazuna Maki

This really cute looking rainbow roll was part of a huge sushi dinner I made last weekend when some friends came over. Perfect for when people come over, just a different way of making a regular sushi roll! This is considered decorative sushi and tastes quite good as well. Just remember to use Japanese short grain rice to ensure the right consistency and of course fresh sashimi grade shrimp (ebi), yellowtail (ahi) and smoked salmon sashimi.

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Want to make more sushi?
Check out my step by step posts when I made an assortment of sushi

Ingredients:

5 shrimp (cooked) - you can find these prepackaged at all Japanese grocery stores
Smoked salmon (sliced about 1/8 inch thick)
Japanese cucumber (sliced thinly as well)
4 pieces of yellowtail sashimi or you may substitute with any white fish sashimi (the idea is for different colours on the roll)
1 cup Japanese rice

Method:

Firstly, prepare the sushi rice. When the rice has finished cooking, turn it out into a large bowl (preferably wooden). Slowly pour about 2/3 cup of the sushi dressing (which should be cool - you can force cool the dressing by placing the bowl in iced water). into the cooked rice and mix by 'slicing' across the rice instead of mixing in a circular option with a rice paddle. Mix well and let cool to room temperature. Once cool, mound the rice in the center and cover the bowl with a damp cloth and the rice is ready for use.

For the sushi dressing:
1/2 cup rice vinegar
5 1/2 tbsps sugar
1 1/2 tbsps salt
1 inch length konbu (kelp)

Mix the ingredients above together and heat until sugar dissolves.

Hand vinegar:
1 cup water plus 2 tbsps rice vinegar (this is for wetting your hand while rolling sushi to avoid the rice sticking to your hands)

Place the ingredients alternately across the mat
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For the roll:
Moisten your hands with hand vinegar. Form about 1/3 cup unpacked sushi rice into a loose log and roll in a bamboo rolling mat until it is about 1 inch in diameter. Line the bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Lay out the ingredients diagonally, alternating between them. Repeat to the end of the mat. Lay the roll on top of the strips and carefully roll up. Press and shape the roll, remove the bamboo mat and set aside. Cut into about 1 inch pieces and serve. Remember to wet your knife with water and flick with your wrist to get rid of excess water each time you slice the sushi roll - this is avoid the rice from sticking onto your knife and will ensure nice cuts.

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Seared Hamachi (Yellowtail) Recipe

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 | Labels: , , , , | 8 Comments »

Wow, I truly didn't know that seared hamachi was so easy and simple to make! I've only ever had this dish at 'fancy' restaurants hehe. Always use sashimi-grade tuna only for this dish as the fish is eaten very rare and only seared quickly on each side. The marinade is hence very important. I usually dislike the black pepper crusted versions of this dish and I opted to use some Japanese flavors since I think this is where seared hamachi originated from.

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For more fish recipes from Tastes of Home, please click below:

Red Snapper in Spicy Ground Bean Sauce

Chinese Steamed Copper Rockfish

Deep-fried Rockfish Cheeks with Soy Bonito Sauce 

I wrote this post while living in San Diego and my friend who is an avid fisherman caught this hamachi/ yellowtail tuna.  Please refer here if you still want to argue that hamachi is not yellowtail tuna.  I am quite bored getting comments telling me that this is not yellow tail or this is not yellow fin.  I am not sure how yellow fin came about as you can see from the blog post title, it says yellow tail.  As always, I reserve the right to delete or not publish any comments I perceive to be rude. Thank you.

Tuna Sandwich Rolls Recipe

Monday, August 04, 2008 | Labels: , , , | No Comment »

hese cute and petite tuna sandwich bites make perfect little bites at parties. This is just good old tuna sandwich rolled and presented in a sushi-esque manner.


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