Smoky Wok

Brownies probably mark my very first foray into baking back when I was still a teenager- prior to that I was never really allowed in the kitchen as my mom had (and still has) an impossibly high set of standards which made me question now and then the necessity for the kitchen help since she still can't resist 'doing stuff' even after the help has completed the cleaning.  I think she inherited this 'neat gene' from my late grandmother and according to mom, I am sorely lacking when it comes to that department, by the way I do need to stress though that I am not a slob by any means, just that my mom has impossibly high standards when it comes to neatness and the like.  Anyway, I digress - today's feature is the ever popular brownies - there are so many versions around nowadays, we have the rustic basic kinds, we have the elegant 'dressed-up' versions but to me brownies mean very simple things = chocolatey deliciousness and just good old comfort food.



It is a wonder to me now as I am typing this post on how I could abandon baking brownies for so many years - baking this brought back so many wonderful memories, (I admit I was using a brownie mix back when I was a teenager though!)  I am still kind of basking in the nostalgia as I am writing up this post.  I guess it's really true what they say, food is more than just a means of filling up your hunger but food is emotionally connected and can mean a lot of different things to different people.  Making brownies from scratch is pretty simple - you will just need to melt some chocolate with butter, beat some eggs together with sugar, add in flour, baking powder and just bake - so easy and totally beats the cardboard copies that I had unfortunately bought now and then.  Anyway, brownies is probably one of the easiest desserts to prepare and I do hope you will enjoy today's double chocolate version.

Curry puffs are one of Malaysia's most popular snacks and as they are rather laden with calories, I only indulge once in a while.  Traditionally, curry puffs are filled with a spicy chicken and potato mixture and then deep-fried, for today though, I decided to go the vegetarian route and just made a simple curried potato filling to go in some puff pastry.  As the Malaysian Independence Day is fast approaching (August 31), I thought it fitting to feature my version of one of our favourite snacks.  I am a huge fan of puff pastry in general, so I actually prefer this version of 'curry puffs' compared to the traditional version.  It is just so satisfying when you bite into the many flaky and crunchy layers and I just love how its' versatile for both sweets and savouries.



This is also great when you're short of time as I used store-bought puff pastry sheets (I know, I cheated!) but as I have been busy with other stuff lately, these ready-made sheets that puff up gorgeously in the oven were just too tempting.  Making puff pastry at home can be a rewarding experience but if you're not used to dealing with laminated dough, the process can be rather messy and tricky - nevertheless, if you're so inclined, please take a look at my photo tutorial for the homemade version.  As always, you can be creative with the filling and add chicken or replace the curried potato filling entirely with tuna, sardines or creamy chicken.  These curry puffs are perfect as party food or when you have company and no one really needs to know you bought ready-made puff pastry sheets right?



In other news, I think I have mentioned on facebook before that I am now an official Getty Images artist and just wanted to let you know that 25 of my food images are officially up and are available for sale here just in case you're interested.  I am extremely excited that I got the invitation and as food styling/ photography is a growing hobby of mine, I am very thankful to receive such encouragement. 

Some of my images that were selected...



Finally, I want to thank you for supporting this blog, for giving me feedback and from many of you, lots of encouragement which I appreciate very much.  Just wanted to share some happy news and I hope you have a lovely weekend! :)

I love cheating, well sometimes.  By the way, I am specifically referring to cheating in the culinary sense - for today's gorgeous blueberry turnovers, I used store-bought puff pastry sheets which I think is totally fine as making puff pastry from scratch may be an arduous and not always rewarding task since puff pastry can be rather finicky.  But, if you have the time and the inclination, do check out my photo tutorial for the homemade version. These turnovers were very popular by the way and I was just so delighted at the fact that they took such a short time to make, can you tell that this was actually my first time baking with store-bought puff pastry?  Will I do it again? Definitely - the payoff is just way better than the 'work' involved.



If you are a beginner in baking, I think these turnovers will be right up your alley. The filling was a simple affair where I dressed fresh blueberries with some sugar, a splash of lemon juice and some lemon zest - the sweet and tart filling was perfectly complemented by the buttery and flaky pastry layers.  The pastry sheets I used were already cut into squares so it was just a matter of assembling the turnovers.  All you need for these pretty little turnovers are blueberries, lemons, sugar and of course puff pastry sheets - sounds so easy right? Of course, if you prefer, you can substitute the blueberries with apples, nectarines, pears and the like. Your guests will just love these pretty turnovers (that took you almost no time to make assemble) and be duly impressed which will be especially true if you omit the store-bought part :O. 

I am such a noodle fiend that it is not even funny - seriously I think I probably won't be able to live without noodles so I hope that may explain my fascination with noodles.  The recipes for noodles I have on this blog make a long list but there are definitely lots of noodle dishes I have yet to experiment with.  There are literally endless Asian noodle dishes from the basics like today's simple Chinese style soy sauce rice noodles to the refreshing Korean cold noodles and the vibrantly beautiful Japanese summer noodle dish of hiyashi chuka, just to name a few.  As easy as today's popular dish is to make at home, there is a little 'secret' I want to share with you - to make sure that your rice noodles do not stick excessively to your wok, you will have to make sure the sides of your wok are well-oiled and just for the record, this is a tip from mom.  Then again, you could always use a non-stick pan (at which my mom would probably shake her head in protest) but then I have to agree with mom this time, the irreplaceable 'wok breath' will then be lost which is what I think makes this humble dish rather special.



As always, you can personalise this noodle dish with ingredients other than what I used here like chicken or seafood instead of pork and chives instead of nappa cabbage.  The dish is mainly seasoned with thick caramel sauce/ dark soy sauce (I used Yuen Chun's) which gives the noodles the rich flavours with a hint of sweetness and the gorgeous mahogany hue. This dark soy sauce I am referring to however differs from the other type of dark soy sauce or 老抽 which is probably more known outside of Malaysia - the thick caramel sauce I am referring to is more viscous than the former and more richly flavoured.  In addition, the thick caramel sauce works great both in cooking with heat or just as a dipping sauce which marks another difference from 老抽 since the latter works best when used as a condiment during the cooking process.  From the questions I have been receiving from readers, the Malaysian type of dark soy sauce seem to be gaining popularity outside of Malaysia and many major Asian grocery stores in the US and UK have started carrying these products so hopefully for those of you outside of Asia, you will be able to find this handy condiment easily.



This recipe is a part of my Yuen Chun recipes, an ongoing project on this blog. 

Cook butter, fresh curry leaves and bird's eye chilli peppers together - the result? An explosively flavourful dish that is aromatic, spicy yet wildly comforting and this is the dish I am presenting today.  'Explosively flavourful' is really not an overstatement for this dish at least in my opinion, this is a truly representative Malaysian dish that is the unique culmination of the culinary methods from the 3 main races living in Malaysia, the Chinese, Malays and Indians.  I may have to add too that the use of butter is probably an early influence from the British that occupied Malaysia before we gained independence in 1957.  Anyhow, origins aside, I am pretty confident that you will love the flavours in this dish - this method of cooking is famously used for cooking prawns but it produces equally fantastic results if you use crab as well.  The version I am presenting today is the creamier version where milk is used and the egg is added towards the end of cooking, for the drier version with the little fried egg yolk bits, please refer to my butter prawns post.



Fresh curry leaves grow in abundance in Malaysia and as their name would imply, these aromatic leaves are used in many curries.  The fragrance of these leaves is really irreplaceable and although many readers have asked me if I could provide an 'easier' substitute, the unfortunate answer is a no as without curry leaves, Malaysian butter prawns/ crabs will no longer be such.  It will definitely be more than worth your while to hunt these leaves down and you can usually find them in most ethnic Indian grocery stores.  In addition, I have to stress on fresh as dried curry leaves have lost most of the aroma we need in this dish.  Apart from the curry leaves, the other ingredients are extremely easy to find and this is really a to-die-for seafood dish that you have to try at least once.

This deceptively simple spinach dish is one of my favourite vegetable dishes to order whenever I visit Chinese restaurants.Today, I am quite pleased to be able to share with you my recipe for recreating this popular restaurant-style dish at home which was quite successful if I may say so myself, judging from the lack of leftovers from this dish earlier tonight. For the uninitiated, this is simply spinach cooked with whitebait, garlic and century eggs in chicken broth or 上汤(loosely translated as superior or deluxe broth). For this dish, it is essential that you use good quality chicken broth and for today, I used organic free-range chicken broth (Pacific brand) that yielded excellent results. Of course, if you are so inclined, you can make your own chicken broth but if time is of the essence, using store-bought versions is totally fine.  Note too that there may be other versions of the broth (or other elements) used in this dish, as always there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way but cooks are a flexible bunch, and recipes may be modified to suit personal preferences and availability of ingredients locally.



The relatively mild flavours of the spinach are complemented perfectly by the natural umami and sweet flavours from the chicken broth while the garlic, whitebait and century eggs provide the final flavour accents.  I refer to pan-fry the century eggs (thousand year old eggs) before adding them to the broth to eradicate the slight 'fishiness' and for added fragrance.  A caveat though,  if this is your first time eating century eggs, the consistency of the yolk especially may seem too 'exotic' but you've really got to try it for yourself and although I am a huge fan of century eggs, I admit that there are plenty of people, Chinese included who dislike eating century eggs - for this dish however, I think it is quite essential to use the eggs, if not for eating but more for the unique savoury flavours they impart to the broth.  I hope that you will give this dish a try and I think this is a great Asian/ Chinese style vegetable dish to keep at your fingertips as it is easy enough to whip up in almost no time and is a little more unique than the usual stir-frys.  As for my fellow spinach in superior broth fans, I do hope you will like this version :O.

This dish has actually been lingering in my mind for quite a while as a feature on this blog as apart from being one of my favourite ways of serving prawns/ shrimp, I thought the sheer simplicity of preparing this impressive looking dish would get your attention, so here it is finally.  The Chinese love steaming seafood, and believe that steaming is probably the 'best' way to enjoy most seafood in all its' natural 'sweetness.  For the prawns today, I am sure if you are a fellow Chinese/ Asian or frequent visitor to Chinese restaurants, you will probably have seen or try this dish before.  Prawns are butterflied, filled with minced garlic, dressed in some Chinese rice wine and then steamed on a bed of ginger and green onions.  Sounds so simple right? Indeed it is, although there is a small caveat, the garlic mincing can get rather tedious - the rest of the preparation is so simple and it only takes about 5-8 minutes to cook the prawns (depending on the size you used), and the best part? Minimal mess!



As the prawns take such a short time to cook, I suggest that you cook this dish as the last dish if you are cooking a usual Chinese dinner that consists of a few dishes served with rice.  This dish should of course be served piping hot, preferably right from the stove top to the dining table.  I used Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing wine) to marinate the prawns as well for an hour or so before steaming as I am a huge fan of the fragrant cooking wine and it really added to the briny and umami flavours of the prawns.  Do remember to avoid overcooking the prawns as there is really very little nothing that can be done to 'save' rubbery, overcooked prawns.  Chinese cooks usually have an instinct for timing these things but I know that sounds very abstract so I purposely kept track today and my prawns were just perfectly cooked at the seven minute mark.  The five minute mark is a good time for you to check on the doneness of the prawns if you want to be safe and if the flesh still looks translucent, cook for another two minutes, again I have to emphasize that the exact duration of time required mainly depends on the sizes of prawns used.

This dish is a potent combination of spicy, sour and umami flavours - all in one neat homey dish.  Today's feature is a classic favourite amongst Malaysians and the version I am sharing today hails from the Straits Chinese or the Peranakans, hence 'Nyonya' style.  The women of the Straits Chinese are known as 'nyonyas' whereas the men are known as 'babas' - in the olden days, the women were the ones who did most of the cooking hence the namesake of this dish.  This style of cooking is a unique blend of cuisine combining classic Chinese culinary methods with the local Malaysian spices, a result from the partial assimilation of the early Chinese immigrants with the locals years ago, most notably in Malacca, the oldest state in Malaysia.  History aside, this is just a heavenly combination of flavours in an extremely appetising dish, you may find yourself reaching for another bowl of hot steamed rice for second, third helpings.  I recommend for you to use either regular mackerel or Spanish mackerel in this dish and if you prefer, you can substitute the fish altogether with some medium-sized shelled shrimp.



As with most curry or spicy dishes, the spice paste is the backbone of the dish - lots of shallots, garlic, dried chilli peppers, lemongrass, a bit of turmeric and shrimp paste is used.  Just add some tamarind juice for the sour notes and for the final fragrant touch, add some slices of fresh ginger flowers (bunga kantan), note though that this may  be a little harder to source if you live outside Asia.   From what I recall I don't remember seeing ginger flowers sold while living in the US although I could be wrong or I frequented the 'wrong' grocery stores.  Please do let me know if you have tips on where to find these overseas.  The ginger flowers add a slightly lemony and grassy scent to the dish which add the perfect finishing touches but if you can't find them, they are not vital that is, provided you are not too too picky with your tamarind curries :O.



This is an extremely easy dish to prepare although the paste may be a tad time-consuming, you can definitely use a food processor to mix the paste up but I do recommend for you to use a mortar and pestle if you can.  The superior texture and flavours are so worth the effort.  Funnily enough, while I was in the US, I hunted for a mortar and pestle at my local Ranch 99, couldn't find it and actually found mine at Crate & Barrel - this amused me to no end at the time.  Finally, note that tamarind curries are also lighter on the palate as coconut milk is not used.

Today's feature is an extremely straightforward yet delicious way of cooking chicken - sea salt and rosemary encrusted chicken thighs are first pan-fried to golden perfection then finished in the oven.  In my opinion, no sauce is needed but if you like, please refer here for my wasabi butter sauce.  I always keep at least one type of fresh herb in my pantry as adding just a sprinkling of herbs makes a huge difference in many dishes.  One of my favourite herbs is rosemary - I love the almost tea-like fragrance of the versatile rosemary but do go ahead and substitute with your favourite herb. 



I just love using the oven to cook my dinners as it frees my time up to make the side dishes and for today, I served the crispy chicken with a simple salad and some garlic buttered mushrooms.  This is definitely my 'lazy-day' dish although I have to admit the pan-frying bit does make a bit of a mess but then the results were definitely worth it - you will realise this when you bite into the perfectly crispy skin!

Today's feature is an extremely appetizing noodle dish - rice noodles to be precise cooked Thai style, so think sweet, sour and of course spicy flavours all mixed together in this vibrant dish.  I love rice noodles for their texture and their (relatively) lower carb content compared to say egg noodles.  If you like Thai flavours, I am quite sure you will like this.  Stir-frying rice noodles is really easy, you have to soak the rice noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes before cooking and you will have to add a bit of water to the wok after frying the ingredients to ensure that the noodles don't get too dry and start burning.  In addition, the accompanying ingredients just like fried rice can be tailored to what you fancy.  For today, I used some chicken cubes and the beansprouts to stir-fry together with the noodles and topped the noodles with some freshly fried shallots before serving.  For the unmistakable Thai flavour, I used lemongrass and a bit of kaffir lime leaves as well.  Serve these easy noodles with some fresh calamansi limes for your guests to squirt on the noodles for an additional refreshing tang.



I used Yuen Chun's Thai stir-fry sauce as a short-cut for my paste, mixed in with some chilli powder, fish sauce and some Thai chilli sauce.  This post is part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.



In other news, I am very excited to share with you that I have just completed my first food photography assignment and I am also now an official contributor for Getty Images, so I've had a busier (in a good way) week than usual.  Hope you have a great week too!

There's really nothing like homemade curry and it's so worth it to make your own curry paste when time (and your mood) permit.  Living in Malaysia which basically means year-long summer (humid though), you might think that we would be eating more cool foods but apparently spicy foods are great to combat the humidity which is also the reason why most Sichuanese food is hot and spicy - think the Chinese philosophy of balance, the heat in spicy foods supposedly help to balance out the 'wetness' due to the humidity.  This was a relatively new discovery for me as growing up in Malaysia, eating hot and spicy foods were part of everyday routine until I moved overseas and 'discovered' eating seasonally.  Maybe that is why I still love hot pot in the sweltering summer and love cold noodles in winter - probably the Malaysian in me, we just eat whatever our appetitites dictate with little regard to the weather?



Today's feature is a classic Chinese Malaysian curry dish which is based on a chilli paste made with red chilli peppers, dried chilli peppers, turmeric, candlenuts, belacan (shrimp paste), shallots and garlic, I'm sure you can imagine the fiery flavours.  I made my curry paste the traditional way with a mortar and pestle although a food processor will definitely save you time and energy.  I do admit that I can be a stickler for (certain) traditions at times - most curry aficionados though will definitely tell you that a paste made the traditional way is far superior in texture and taste, in which I wholeheartedly agree.  But, making your own curry paste even with a food processor is far superior to cooking with store-bought curry pastes although the convenience is extremely tempting and I do succumb now and then.  If you prefer using store-bought pastes, do take a look at how I doctored up some A1 curry paste for my short-cut chicken curry here.



Oh, and another thing - I love seasoning my curries with some light soy sauce in place of salt as I think it gives a deeper savoury flavour to the curries.  Do give it a try and let me know what you think!

I love the nutty aroma of brown butter or beurre noisette which literally translates to hazelnut butter from French.  Brown butter are used in both savoury and sweet dishes and my first time making brown butter was actually for the latter when I made the ever elusive 36 hour chocolate chip cookies.  I have been looking forward to using brown butter in a savoury dish ever since and finally got around to it in today's feature.  I decided to go the fusion route and included some light soy sauce in the mix which complimented the brown butter very well - I threw in some smashed garlic, English parsley and a splash of red wine as well.  As for the red snappers, I simply rubbed them with some sea salt and pepper, sprinkled some parsley and topped them with some lemon slices before grilling them in the oven. 



This is such an easy and summery way of serving fresh fish while the soy-brown butter sauce finishes the dish with just a touch of sophistication, I do hope you will give this a try.  All in all, an easy dinner to throw together whenever you have company or when you just feel like doing more for yourself.  Do note however that browning butter requires rapt attention as the moment it starts to brown (you will see deep golden flakes forming in the butter), you will have to either remove it from the heat or add in your other ingredients to lower the temperature to avoid burnt butter.  Browning butter is such a fun exercise and you will love how the process 'perfumes' your kitchen with the natural nutty aroma.  If you happen to make more than required, you can keep the cooled brown butter in an air-tight container for a few days in the fridge for other uses.



This post is part of my Yuen Chun recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Hong Kong is famous for its' culinary offerings and rightfully so I would say - it is my pleasure today to share with you one of my favourite methods of cooking seafood from the island, the 'Typhoon Shelter' method.  Crabs are usually used for this dish but for today, I used some la la clams instead.  La la clams are a species of bamboo clams that are found in abundance in South East Asia.  The natural umami and briny flavours from the clams were perfectly combined with the fierce flavours in this method of cooking.  Copious amounts of shallots, garlic, red chili peppers, dried chilli, dried shrimp and a sprinkling of chilli powder are used so I'll bet you can imagine the vivid and fiery flavours in the dish. 



It is quite easy to recreate this dish at home and using a Chinese wok will give you the irreplaceable wok breath that is vital to this dish in my opinion.  If la la clams are not available where you are, you can use razor clams, other species of bamboo clams and of course the classic crabs.  If you use crabs, do remember to deep-fry the crabs before adding to the sauce mixture. 

I am not quite sure whether cooking in banana leaf or the famous French 'en papillote' cooking came about first but nevertheless, if you're more familiar with 'en papillote', you could probably say that cooking/ grilling in banana leaf is Asia's interpretation.  For today's feature, I decided to cook some chicken drumsticks first wrapped in some lightly oiled banana leaves and then broiled under high heat (with the leaves peeled away) to achieve that gorgeous deep golden hue.  The drumsticks were first marinated in some green curry paste, garlic, shallots, chilli sauce, soy sauce and a handful of curry leaves.  Grilling food wrapped in banana leaves is very popular in Asia as apart from the convenience of it all, banana leaves perfume the food with its' distinct fragrance that is popular in both sweet and savoury dishes.  If you are living in the West, you can probably find frozen banana leaves in the frozen foods aisle at most Asian grocery stores.




This is an extremely easy and yet impressive dish you can serve whenever you have guests over or just when you feel like doing a little more for yourself.  The vibrant combination of the explosive flavours together with the rustic presentation will definitely be very popular at any dinner party :O.  As always, you can personalise this recipe to suit your preferences e.g. you can use fish or prawns instead of chicken but do remember to adjust the cooking times accordingly.