Fish Otak Otak (Spicy Fish Mousse)

HAPPY CHAP GOH MEH or Happy Chinese Valentine Day! Today is the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar Year and also the last day to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year

Hmmmm, Yum! Yum! I just love my grandma's homemade fish otak otak or some sort of spicy fish mousse. I have "inherited" the recipe from my mum and enjoy making it for the family. It taste great as compared to those commercial ones found in the frozen corners. The great difference between home cooked and commercial ones are the wonderful aroma of banana leaf and daun kaduk when it is cooked. It is a great appetizer.

Otak Otak is one of the Nyonya dishes served either wrapped in small package form with banana leaf or can be served in a tray with the banana leave underlining it. I am not good in wrapping, so I took the alternative choice of steaming in a tray.




Simple Ingredients :

1 big piece of fish cutlet - debone and cut into pieces
6 pieces red chilly
4 stalks lemon grass (serai)
10 shallots
2 thumbsize fresh tumeric
1 thumbsize belacan (shrimp paste)
3 eggs
1/2 cup coconut cream
10 pieces daun kaduk (wild pepper leaves)



Simple Process :

1. Line the steaming tray with a piece of banana leaf and on top of it lay the 10 pieces daun kaduk.

2. Spread the pieces of fish on top of the daun kaduk.

3. Next, blend the chilly, lemon grass, shallots, tumeric, shrimp paste with 1/2 cup water in a blender.

4. Use a big bowl to beat up the eggs, then add in the coconut cream and the blended chilly mixture. Mix well, add salt, a little sugar to taste.

5. Lastly pour the combined mixtures into the tray and cover it with a aluminium foil (to prevent dripping water when steaming). Just make sure the mixtures covers the fish.

6. Pre heat the steamer before steaming, steam the tray of otak otak for 25 minutes and it is ready to serve.

Yam Coin Ball Delight

I once had this Hakka dish called "yam abacus" many years back at a shop and I really enjoyed eating this "chewy ball". I was so delighted when I saw a stall in the night market selling the freshly made yam ball and as it is easily accessible, now I can have it home cooked and free of MSG.....Wow, that's wonderful!

This yam ball is made from mashed yam plus flour and shape into the form of "coin" and I guess that's where it got its name as yam abacus... :))
Simple Ingredients and Process

• Packet of yam coin ball
• 4 pcs of chinese mushroom - soaked in water and chopped into pieces
• handful of dried shrimps - soaked and chopped into pieces
• some minced meat
• 1 stalk of corriander - chopped
• 1 onion - chopped
• 3 pips garlic - chopped
  
• 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
• salt to taste

1. Heat the pan with a little oil and saute the chopped onion and garlic till aromatic
2. Add in the dried shrimps, stir fry for 2 mins, then add the minced meat and chinese mushrooms, sprinkle with some water to keep it moist
3. Put in the yam coin ball, dark soy sauce and lastly the chopped corriander
4. Stir to mix well and keep it well coated with the ingredients for another 3 mins
5. Salt to taste and serve hot

Fried Rice with Pineapple and Chicken Meatball

An easy to prepare hot meal for the family. Yes, this is Fried Rice with an extra "hot flavor".
Can you see the little green chilly....wow, these little green thing gives the fried rice a punch!

I have added on cubes of fresh pineapples or you may use canned ones (a little sweet as it has been soaked in syrup), chicken meatballs and some chopped french beans.

pineapples from the Can

I have used the following to flavor the fried rice for 4 person :

• 1 chopped onion
  
• 3 Tbs Oyster sauce
• 1 Tbs light soy sauce
• 1 Tbs fish sauce
• dashes of chilly flakes
• 10 pcs of chilly padi (little green chilly) - optional

1. Heat the wok with some oil and saute the chopped onion and chilly padi till it is aromatic, add in the cut chicken meatball, french beans and give it a good stir
2. Add in the cooked rice, the sauces together and stir to mix well over medium heat
3. Stir well for next 10 minutes, then add in the pineapple cubes, dashes of chilly flakes
4. Ready to serve a yummy hot meal

Nasi Lemak Chicken Curry

A delicious one set meal that can be easily prepared and served at home. Eating at home means eating healthy as we can control the level of oil used to prepare those dishes and definitely NO MSG.. for sure.

Nasi Lemak is a typical Malaysian dish and Malaysians eat it all the time. It can be served as a set meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is rice cooked in coconut milk with screwpine leaves or pandan leaves - which produces a beautiful aroma.

I normally served Nasi Lemak with varieties of dishes like chicken curry, chilly prawns, rendang chicken, fried fish with sambal (pounded chilly with prawn paste and lime). The sidelines are fried peanuts, fried anchovis, fried egg, hard boiled egg or even pickled salad which consist of onion rings, cucumber and pineapple.

You may retrieve the chicken curry here posted March 3 2009 and way to cook Nasi Lemak or Coconut Milk Rice posted April 11 2009.

Have fun!

Thai Chicken Rice

Here is a simple and easy to cook dish for the family. It is Thai Chicken Rice, home cooked, clean and hygienic. The various spices used for this chicken rice produces a beautiful fragrance and it taste real good and healthy. Try it... The recipe below serves 4 - 5.

Spices used : 3 Tbs curry powder, 2 Tbs cummin powder, 1 Tbs cinnamon powder, 1 Tbs turmeric powder

Take 3 Tbs of the mixed spices and marinate 3 pieces of chopped chicken thigh together with 1 cup (140g) of natural yoghurt. Marinate for about 30 minutes or more. Keep the balance of the spices for used later.

• Leave the marinated chicken aside for 30 minutes or more
• Wash 2 cups of rice and set aside in the rice cooker
  
• Peel and slice thinly 6 shallots for frying
  
• Heat 2 Tbs of oil and saute the shallots and the balance mixed spices till aromatic
• Add in the marinated chicken and give it a good stir
• Add in the water - enough to cook the rice - and allow the chicken to simmer for 5 minutes, add salt to taste
  
• Arrange the chicken on top of the rice then pour the chicken stock into the rice pot
• Finally, let the chicken rice to be cooked in the rice cooker
• Serve with vinegar chilly... Enjoy a Good Meal!
  

Orange Sauce Chicken

A delicious chicken dish with real orange aroma and it whets the appetite. So next time if you have too many oranges in your refrigerator, try cooking this dish. I have added straw mushroom to enhance the look of this dish, it is optional. Simple to prepare and fast to cook.

All you need to do :

First marinate the 2 pieces chicken breast or 1/2 chicken with the following ingredients for 30mins:

• 3 Tbs orange juice
• 2 Tbs ginger juice
• 1 Tbs chinese cooking wine
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• dash of pepper and salt

Next, prepare 1/2 cup orange juice, add 2 tsp cornflour and set aside. Peel and cut 1 orange into cubes and set aside for use later.

Next, heat the wok with 2 Tbs oil, and saute the chopped garlic and add the chicken (drain out the marinated liquid and set aside), stir fry till slightly browned or medium cooked

Finally, add in the 1/2 cup orange juice mixture and the balance marinated liquid onto the chicken, lower the fire and allow it to simmer for 10 mins. Add in the straw mushrooms and the orange cubes.

Seasoned with salt and sugar to taste, ready to serve with hot steamed rice...

Spicy Sour Tasty Chicken

Easy and fast to cook....This chicken dish is yummy! I was browsing through some old recipe books recently and found this recipe card that read "Masala Chicken" and I find it appealing. Masala Chicken is an Indian cuisine. The most important factor for me is the dish must be easy to prepare and easy to obtain ingredients. This dish is spicy and has soft sour flavour and goes well with bread or rice, sounds appealing to you, try it then... :))

Simple Ingredients

Half chicken or 3 Chicken Thigh - chopped into small pieces

• 3 Tbs chilly powder
  
• 2 large red onion - cut it into 1/2 rings
• 2 cm young ginger - shredded
• 2 cloves garlic - cut into thin slices
• 4 dried chilly - cut into 3cm length
• 1 pc cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cummin powder
• some curry leaves
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• salt and sugar - to taste

Simple Process :

1. Heat 2 Tbs oil in the pan and saute the onion rings, garlic, ginger, dried chilly, cinnamon stick and curry leaves till aromatic

2. Add in the chicken and sprinkle the chilly powder and cummin powder all over the chicken, stir mix well

3. Add 1/4 cup water, lower the heat and let the chicken simmer with the lid covered for the next 15 - 20mins or till meat is almost cook

4. Lastly, add in the rice vinegar, salt and sugar to taste, give it a good stir for 2 - 3 mins

5. It is ready to serve. You may eat with steamed rice or bread

Seafood n Vegetable Curry

Hi there.....thank you so much for continuously visiting my Blog.... and it is a quite a while I have not been updating my Blog....so, here is one of my collection for a hot and spicy dish..... and I am sure you would enjoy a good meal either with rice or noodles.....





Here is a simple process of preparing a seafood curry with vegetables...easy to prepare and no fuss about getting the ingredients grounded..

Simple Ingredients :

4 Tbs of dried Curry Powder for Meat (I use Babas)

1 Tbs dried Chilly Powder

3 Large Onions - blended and mix with the curry powder to make it into paste

1 box Concentrated Coconut Milk (200gms) or 300 ml Fresh Milk

600 gms Prawns

4 Squids or 1 Medium size Cuttlefish - cut into small pieces

6 leaves Cabbage - cut into small pieces

5 Long beans - cut into 3 cm length

5 Ladies Fingers - cut into 3 cm length

1 small Brinjal - cut into 3 cm length and half it

Simple Process :

1. Heat 3 Tbs oil in a pan and saute the curry paste over low heat till aromatic

2. Add 1 cup water, put in the pieces of squids, cabbage, long beans, brinjal and allow it to simmer over medium heat for 10 -15 minutes.

3. Next add in the prawns, ladies fingers, coconut milk or milk and salt to taste. Allow it to simmer over low heat for the next 10 minutes or till prawns are cooked. Do stir occasionally to avoid burnt at bottom of pan.

You may add in extra coconut milk or milk instead and cut down the amount of water to have a more creamier curry based on your preference.

Enjoy A Good Meal at Home!

Will Be Back Soon..

Thank you for visiting my Blog. I have been busy of late and have not been updating my Blog.

Will be back once I have the time......... Happy browsing for those Recipes that you like and enjoy a good meal at home....

See you soon..

Gulai Assam Pedas

This is one of the nyonya sour-spicy curry fish and my grandmother called it Gulai Assam Pedas. A healthy curry with no oil added. I remembered when we were small, we would request for blanched vermicelli to eat with the curry soup and it taste so good, an alternative of "Assam Laksa". The important ingredient in this curry is the aromatic herb called "daun kesum", the fresh green leaves that is seen in the photo. The taste of this curry or gulai is a little sour and spicy and it is real appetizing, yummy!

All you need:

• 1/2 kg small fish - ikan selar
• 2 sprig of daun kesum
• 10 shallots
  
• 6 red chilly
• 2 cm size galangal (lengkuas)
• 4 lemon grass
• 2 cm size dried shrimp paste (belacan)
  
• 2 Tbs tamarind juice
• salt to taste
  

Simple Process :

1. Ground the chilly, shallots, galangal, lemon grass into a paste
2. Put 1 litre of water in a pot and add the daun kesum, grounded paste and put to boil over medium heat
3. Once the soup smells aromatic, add in the tamarind juice, salt to taste, add in the fish
4. Boil over low heat till fish is cooked. If you wish to increase the sourness, just add in extra tamarind juice.

Wow! Super Appetizing, Enjoy your Meal!

Herbal Tau Pau (BeanCurd Roll)

This is a beautiful dish and we all love tau pau. Tau Pau or Beancurd Roll is very nutritious and I have this newly created simple recipe to go with steamed rice. The gravy are made up of boiled dongqui, red dates, dried longan, wolfberries and chinese mushroom. Wow, the extracts are very aromatic especially the dongqui (tongkui). Dongqui is a type of roots which is sweet and pungent and it helps in revitalising energy in our body, the chinese called it "blood tonic".

Lightly pan fried the Tau Pau before adding in the "tonic" gravy

All you Need:

• a packet of beancurd roll - obtainable from Vegetarian grocery stall
• 3 pcs dongqui
  
• 10 red dates
• 20 dried longan
• some wolfberries
• 4 chinese mushroom - soaked and cut into slices

Simple Process :

1. Lightly pan-fried the tau pau / beancurd roll till golden brown
2. Boil 1/2 cup water with dongqui, red dates, dried longan, wolfberries and mushroom over low heat till all the ingredients has soften
3. Pour the gravy and the boiled ingredients over the pan-fried beancurd roll
4. Ready to Serve with warm rice

Enjoy the great taste of the herbal tonic

Hand Made Chai Pau

This is another of my hubby's contribution. Great attempt and he successfully make dozens of delicious Pau for all of us. Hand made Pau taste so great as compared to machine made ones. It taste real good and the Pau is not sticky, unlike those "machine made" Pau. The filling of the Pau is made up of fried vegetables - shredded carrots and yambean aka bangkuang fried with lots of garlic.. Wow! Worth his effort as we enjoyed it very very much! Thanks Daddy... :))



All you need :

500 gms of plain flour
100 gms of shortening
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs instant yeast
1 cup warm water


The Process :

• Sieve flour into large bowl, add salt
  
• Mix warm water, sugar and instant yeast together in a bowl and rest for 5 mins
• Next pour the mixture into the flour and mix it together
• Add in the shortening and start to knead till it becomes a non stick dough
• Next, rest the dough for 1 hour to double the size, cover with a cloth
  
• Once the dough has doubled, re-knead it for 10 minutes
• Roll the dough into lengthwise and cut into 40gms per piece size
• Flatten it with a rolling pin then fill it with the filling of your choice
  
• Shape it and lastly steam it for 15 mins and ready to serve
  

Have Fun and Enjoy Trying...

Spicy Beancurd Roll

Look at this plate of yummy spicy beancurd roll. We just love this beancurd roll, it taste good and nutritious. It is made up of layers of thick soft beancurd skin and it is tender when it is not cooked. What I did was pan fried it before serving with this wonderful sauce of mine.

The sauce are made up of grounded fresh chilly, chopped ginger and onions, some fermented soya beans and to your taste tamarind juice. Wow! it is very appetizing and goes well with hot steamed rice.

Simple and Delicious....

All you need :

• 3 fresh chilly - pounded
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 thumbsize young ginger
• 1 Tbs fermented soya bean
• 2 Tbs tamarind juice
• a little sugar to taste

Simple Process :
1. Saute the the pounded chilly, chopped onion, ginger, fermented soya beans till fragrant
2. Add in the tamarind juice, a little sugar and bring to boil
3. Pour it over the lightly fried beancurd roll
4. Serve hot with steamed rice

Have a Healthy and Happy Meal!

Steamed Fish Cutlet

This is a piece of very fresh fish cutlet (ikan kurau) which cost me less than $15. it is meaty and sweet and I had it steamed with lots of chopped garlic and ginger and chinese cooking wine.... Emmmm, it is yummy! Cooking it at home means able to control the amount of oil used thus eat healthy. To keep the meat tender, just put in a ready steamer and steam for 15 mins and serve hot... Garnished with chopped spring onion.

Simple and healthy way of cooking....

Enjoy a happy and healthy meal at home..

Penang Law Mee (Noodle)

Wow...I am so happy to taste my own home made Penang Law Mee. A truly Penang delicacy which I missed very much. With a little exploration based on taste and remembering the beautiful aroma of the thick gravy and the braised meat and eggs, I can proudly say "I am almost there"... :)) Yummy and delicious!

All you need :

• 400gms lean meat
• 2 eggs - whisked
  
• 4 hard boiled eggs
  
• 1 kg prawn shells (keep the prawns and use the shells)
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 Tbs dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp 5-spice powder
• 5 Tbs tapioca flour

Simple Process:

• Marinate the lean meat with dark soy sauce, salt and pepper for 2 hours before cooking

• Braised the marinated meat over low fire with garlic and 5 spice powder added in together with 1 litre water over low heat for 1.5 hours or till meat is tender. Also, add in the hard boiled eggs to braised together.

• Stir fry the prawn shell till shell turns red and boil it with 500 ml water for 20 minutes to extract the prawn stock. Separate the shells and the stock by sieve.
  

• Set aside the cooked braised meat and eggs, use the meat stock to mix with the prawn stock

• Bring the two stocks to a boil, stir in the tapioca flour to thicken the gravy for the noodles

• Lastly, drip in the whisked egg into the thicken gravy and off the heat

• Blanched the Noodle, beansprout and garnished it with the pieces of braised dark soy meat and eggs

• Pour the thick gravy over the garnished noodle and serve with fried shallots
  

Enjoy a good home made Penang Law Mee...

Savoury Pulut - Sticky Rice

A yummy savoury glutinous or sticky rice aka pulut in our language. A beautiful contribution from my wonderful niece CKE - an authentic recipe from her mum. See, how well she has cooked this delicious dish for all of us, it is not too sticky and we just love the texture of the pulut. Bravo to her for sharing this recipe :))


The rice is soaked overnight before cooking. Drain the water and add some light and dark soy sauce to the rice. Steam the rice for 40 mins, sprinkle some water in between the steaming process to ensure pulut is soft and cooked.
For the ingredients to add to the steamed pulut - prepare thin slices of meat, thin slices chinese sausage, sliced black mushroom.
1. Saute the chopped onion and garlic till aromatic
2. Add in all the ingredients and stir fry
3. Add 1 Tbs oyster sauce, some dark soy sauce, pepper to the ingredients
4. Next, add in the steamed rice and stir fry till it is well mixed with the ingredients
5. Garnish with chopped spring onion and serve.

Enjoy a Delicious Savoury Pulut

Nasi Ulam Nyonya

This is a healthy plate of rice called Nasi Ulam *Nasi is Rice - Ulam is Raw vegetable* It is one of the Nyonya cuisine. The variety of leaves are grown in my little garden and I was so happy when it is time to harvest them to make into a good healthy meal for the family, they love it very much :)) All the leaves used has good nutritional values.

It taste so wonderful as the leaves used has a beautiful fresh aroma. The finely cut leaves are made up of turmeric leave, wild betel leave aka daun kaduk, peppermint leave, kaffir leaves, lemon grass and together with the fresh turmeric. I have not yet master the skill of fine cutting of the leaves as compared to my wonderful mum and grandma.

Extract of photos below are taken from the google image for reference.

With the all the finely cut leaves, it is then mixed with pounded fried salted fish and pounded fried grated coconut (kerisik), fine slices of shallots and dash of pepper. This is then mixed with the hot rice.

This plate shows the ingredients already well mixed with the rice, just before eating

Enjoy a good and healthy meal!

Coke Chicken

This dish surprisingly turns up to be yummy. A friend of mine tasted this menu for CocaCola Chicken in a restaurant and she was describing it to me, so I thought why not, let me re-create it and see how it taste like...well, we enjoyed it very much... yeah! It is simple and easy to prepare, just marinate it for few hours and just cook it...that's it :))

It is a blend of sweet-savoury and lemon taste....yum-yum taste great!


All you need :

• 1/2 chicken
• 1 bottle coke
• 1 lemon - extract juice
  
• some chopped ginger and garlic
• 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
  

Simple Process :

1. Marinate the chicken with 3/4 bottle coke and lemon juice for 3 - 4 hours
2. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped ginger and garlic till fragrant
3. Pick up pieces of chicken and put it into the wok, stir fry till chicken turns white, keep the liquid aside
4. Add the dark soy sauce and mix well, put in the left over liquid and allow the chicken to simmer over med heat till the gravy thickens.
5. Serve hot

Have a Happy Meal

Broccoli with Pumpkin Sauce

Look at this yummy nutritious pumpkin sauce which I have made to spread on the beancurd and broccoli...nice color combination yeah! I have this dish created out of left over small amount of vegetables found in my refrigerator, so I thought, why waste it, do something then... Here comes the great rich taste pumpkin sauce... Pumpkin has a rich source of vitamins and definitely it gives us lots of benefit if consumed well.


All you need :

• some broccoli
• 1/4 pc pumpkin
• 1 pkt of seaweed beancurd
• 30 ml milk
• salt to taste
  

Simple Process :

1. Steam the pumpkin for 10 mins and blend it, set aside
2. Blanched lightly the broccoli and set aside
3. Steam the seaweed beancurd for 5 mins
4. Lay the broccoli and seaweed beancurd on a plate
5. Heat the blended pumpkin, add the milk, salt to taste and bring to a boil
6. Pour the pumpkin sauce over the broccoli and seaweed beancurd
7. Serve well with steamed rice

Enjoy a Nutritious Meal!

Baked Aromatic Chicken

Look at this very "sexy" delicious aromatic baked chicken for the family. A friend of mine shared this beautiful recipe with me not long ago and she is absolutely right, the baked chicken taste so-ooo good, words just cannot describe how good it taste, you got to try baking it. The meat is so tender and moist and yum yum... :)) And of course it is healthy to eat!

I used to baked the chicken with salt rubbed all over its body together with screwpine leaves (pandan leaves) but without the lemon grass (serai), and I just realised by adding the lemon grass together makes a lot of difference! (ie. provided you like the smell of the fresh lemon grass)


Simple Process :

• Clean and drain dry the whole chicken which has been slit at the centre
• Rub salt all over including inside the walls of the chicken
• Put about 10 screw pine leaves and 10 lemon grass on the aluminium foil papper
• Let the chicken sit on top of the herbs
• Wrap it up nicely with the aluminium foil paper and put in the baking tray
  
• Bake at 200 degrees C for 60mins

Have Fun and Enjoy!