Honey Candied Walnuts

These walnuts are delicious and super easy to make.. Even though they are fried they do not have that greasy or oily taste. Walnut is very rich in Omega-3 fatty acids with a lot of other health benefits which includes reducing blood cholestrol.

Redneck ate these decades ago when we were in Hong Kong. It must have made an impression because he still remembers eating it.

Ingredients
250g walnut halves
3/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp soy sauce

castor sugar for coating

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Easy Prawn Cocktail

There is no hard and fast rule or exact measure of ingredients for this prawn cocktail. The Redneck made the simple Five Island dressing by mixing a little bit of tomato sauce to the salad dressing we had in the fridge. This no fuss prawn cocktail is perfect and refreshing for a hot summer.

Ingredients
cooked prawns
lettuce, shredded
cucumber, sliced
hard boil egg - sliced

salad dressing
tomato sauce
chilli sauce
salt

Method
1. Arrange lettuce, cucumber, eggs and prawns on a plate.

2. To make the simple seafood dressing, add a few tablespoon of salad dressing into a bowl. Add tomato sauce, a dash of chilli sauce and salt to taste. Mix well.

3. Add to salad and toss to mix thoroughly.

Kueh Kapit ~ Love Letters

Kueh Kapit aka love letters are a traditional Chinese New Year biscuit. This recipe is from my aunts who have been making these for decades. The love letters are a fragile, crispy and crunchy biscuit and very addictive. Making kueh kapit is not for the faint hearted. It is hot work and very fiddly.

Makes 4 milk powder tins

Ingredients

220 gm sugar
130 gm rice flour
1 tsp tapioca flour
4 large eggs
250 ml thick coconut milk
60-80 ml water

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Kok Chai with Peanut or Har Mai Fillings

Kok chai (peanut puff) is one of the traditional goodies served during Chinese New Year. They can either have a filling of sweet peanut or savoury har mai (hae bee hiam).

Makes 65

Ingredients for Dough
1 egg yolk
½ egg
70 gm peanut or corn oil
70 gm water
280gm flour

Method
1. Into a food processor add the flour and eggs.
2. Add the oil and water until the mixture begins to look like breadcrumbs.
3. Remove and knead gently into a smooth dough.
4. Rest dough for 2 hours.
5. Divide the dough into several portions.
6. Roll the dough thinly. (I took the easy way out and used the pasta machine to roll)
7. Cut into rounds. Place a round pastry onto the mould, add either peanut or savoury hae bee hiam in the centre. Dip your finger into water, moisten half the edge and shut mould to seal.

8. Deep fry on medium high heat till golden brown.

Note : My kok chai mould measures 2½" in diameter which is the smallest available. If you are good with manual pleating, the kok chai can be made smaller.



Peanut filling

Makes 35 kok chai

150 gm ground roasted peanut
25 gm toasted sesame
85 gm castor sugar

Mix all three ingredients together and used as required.

Recipe : hugbear @ imperial kitchen

Sambal Har Mai ~ Spicy Dry Shrimp

I have fried this hae bee hiam as a filling for my savoury kok chai (puff). Any leftovers are delicious eaten as a side dish with rice or noodles. I sprinkled mine on top of our fried beehoon.

Ingredients

Grind together
2 medium red onions or 4 shallots
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp Baba chilli powder or 2 dried chilli
75 gm dried prawns, soaked to soften

1 tsp sugar
dash of pepper and soy sauce

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