Hainanese Chicken n Rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore. The set comes with chicken, rice, soup and chilli sauce. The chicken is cooked by boiling in water flavoured with ginger, with the resulting stock used in the preparation of the rice and also in the accompanying soup and chilli sauce. This is a simplified easy version adapted from reading all the recipes I could get my hands on.

Hainanese Chicken & Rice......

Hainanese chicken....

Ingredients for Hainanese Chicken
1 chicken (about 1.5kg)
1 inch young ginger
1 tsp mince garlic
enough boiling water to cover the chicken
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce

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Black Vinegar Pork SpareRibs

These spare ribs cooked with a combination of black vinegar and sugar were finger licking good. The vinegar used did not overpower the flavours of the dish.

Ingredients
1 kg pork spare ribs (chop to bite size pieces)
1 Tbsp Oil
1 onion, sliced
1" young ginger, sliced
1 tsp garlic, minced
4 Tbsp chinkiang black vinegar
½ tsp dark soy sauce

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Prawn Crackers ~ 'Har Pang'

This is the first time I have ever tried making har pang or keropok. I have always wondered how they were made. The only contact I have ever had with prawn crackers were the dry ones you buy from the shops. These crackers are light, crunchy and very flavoursome and very 'moreish'. Best prawn crackers I have ever had for a long time. This recipe is from Chips at kc




Ingredients
300 g prawn meat
1/3 Tbsp salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
¼ tsp monosodium glutamate or ½ Tbsp sugar
300 g tapioca flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ cup boiling water
Red food coloring (optional)

Method
1. Pound (or use a food processor)prawns to a fine smooth paste. Season with salt, pepper and monosodium glutamate.

2. Put tapioca flour into a large mixing bowl. Stir in baking powder. Add prawn paste and knead together.

3. Gradually add boiling water, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon as you do so.

4. When cool enough to handle, continue kneading until dough is firm and smooth and the prawn paste is distributed evenly throughout . (If you have a powerful food processor, the dough can be mixed and kneaded in it)

5. Divide the dough into 3 portions and roll each into a long roll about 5 cm in diameter. Make sure that the roll is very smooth and there are no cracks on the surface.

6. Put on a greased tray and steam over high heat for about 1½ hours or until cooked through (there should not be any white specks of flour).

7. Remove from the steamer and brush with red food coloring, if desired.

after steaming.....

8. Leave to cool and chill, uncovered, in the fridge overnight to set and dry out a little.

9. Slice into thin slices, about 1 mm, with a sharp knife or with a manual vegetable slicer. Lay out on trays and dry in the sun until thoroughly dried.

cut and laid out to dry.....

10. Deep fry in hot oil until it expands. Store in airtight containers.

Notes
1) Mixing with boiling water partially "cooks" the dough and helps to reduce the steaming time quite considerably.
2) Depending on how wet your prawn paste is you may need to add more or less water. DO NOT add more taipoca flour.
3) Make sure the prawn paste is absolutely smooth.
4) The dried crackers can be stored in airtight containers for 1 -2 years, in the freezer even longer. Sun them again for a day before deep frying.

Recipe by : Chips @kitchencaper (adapted)

Redneck says ……
We do not use any MSG in our cooking so used the sugar option in this recipe. They were so delicious - I was unable to stop eating!

Woo Tau Kow Yoke ~ sandwiched yam & pork

A very rich and strong flavoured dish. A slice of yam is sandwiched with pork and steamed.

Ingredients
600 gm pork belly (ng far nam)
600 gm yam (taro)
black soy sauce
2 Tbsp oil
1-2 star anise (pat kok)

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Crusty Base Pizza

This dough gives us 4 pizza bases (dinner plate size) as we like our pizza thin and crusty. The beauty of making your own pizza is that you can have whatever topping strikes your fancy.

Spicy salami, capsicum and olives...

Salami, pineapple, capsicum and olives...

pre-made and frozen for later.....

Ingredients
200ml Warm Water
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Olive Oil
375g Bread Flour
2 tsp Yeast

Method
1. Place ingredients into the bread pan according to your breadmaker instructions
2. Setting : Dough
3. Divide and roll dough on a lightly floured surface to the desired thickness.
4. Spread with selected pizza toppings.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 12-15 minutes or until base is cooked and topping heated through.

Tip
This video shows the art of rolling the pizza dough to a perfect round.

Redneck says ……
After eating this I will never eat supermarket frozen pizza (e.g. McCain’s) again. Pizza Hut crispy based pizza is the only commercial variety that comes close to being as good.

Assam Fish n Prawns

This dish is slightly sour and has a very strong aroma. It has a strong flavour of tamarind, lemon grass and belacan and a mix of other spices. I have cooked the assam paste with okra (lady finger), fish fillet and prawns.

The recipe is from Tham Jiak's blog here

Chee Cheong Fun with Thim Cheong ~ steam rice rolls w' sweet sauce

It looked easy when I was watching the hawkers make it but actually cooking it at home is another matter. It is quite difficult and require patience especially for the home cooks as we do not have the special long trays which makes the task of steaming quite a long and tedious one. But it was well worth it especially since I could not just go to the shops and order a plate. I followed a recipe posted by cwl in kc.

This plate of chee cheong fun is actually my second attempt. My first attempt was a complete disaster. I was determined to succeed in making this, so read all the tips I could get my hands on. It paid off......

I would like to attempt this chee cheong fun again before I post the recipe.

This was the improvised cooking utensils I used to cook the chee cheong fun. A thin layer of the batter is poured onto the wet cloth and steamed for 4-5 minutes and then rolled.



Updated on 29-9-06 : Recipe posted here

Spicy Assam Chicken

This recipe is taken from cwl at kc. This dish is quick, easy to cook and full of flavour.


marinate for at least 1 hour (overnight is best) :
1.5 kg chicken , cut into fairly large pieces
1 Tbsp Tumeric Powder
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 teaspoon salt

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Orange Blueberry Cupcakes

I have not been trying out new recipes recently as I have been busy trying to cope with the apple and tomato glut.

This orange blueberry cupcake is made with yoghurt and the texture comes out nice and soft. The recipe is from coxiella at kc and can be seen here