Crystal Prawn Dumpling @ Har Gao

My son special request... Har Gao! His only favourite dim sum steamed dish other than deep dried food. So, this is my first attempt for the sake of my kid. And I think it came out looking terrific! The best thing was both my son & my girl loves it.

Ingredients :

300gm prawns

some spring onion and fresh coriander leaves

Seasoning :

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tspn corn starch

1 tspn vegetarian oyster sauce

1/2 tspn sesame oil

1 tbsp shortening (optional)

* marinade shrimps with the seasoning & spring onion, then set aside.

Ingredients for Dumpling Skin :

100gm wheat starch

50gm tapioca starch

150ml hot water

Method :

- combine wheat starch and tapioca starch in a big bowl.

- stir in the hot water slowly and stir untill turned into soft dough.

- knead the dough untill smooth.

- divide dough into 20 dough balls and cover with damp cloth.

- roll each into flat round pastry skin and place in the prawns.

- seal the edges and place them onto the steamer tray.

Then steam for 10 minutes and serve hot.

To make this transparent looking dumplings you need to use good quality or branding wheat starch. Well, hope you all will enjoy making this at home too and have fun!

Golden Honey Pheonix

Hey guy, have you figure out what to cook for this coming 'Chap Goh Meh', this Sunday ? 'Chap Goh Meh' is a Hokkien dialect which means 'Fifteenth Night' and it also means final day of the Chinese New Year celebration. And it also turns into an annual event to celebrate the Chinese Valentine's Day. In older days, 'Chap Goh Meh' was the only night of the year that the unmarried women were allowed to meet up or went on a date with their sweethearts. So, aren't we lucky! One of the most popular event for those unmarried men & women on that day is tossing or throwing mandarin oranges to the river or sea with the wish to find a good spouse. Hey, it's only meant for the unmarried one huh! hahaha....

Ingredients :

1 whole boneless chicken breast, half frozen

300gm homemade fish paste

1 tspn roasted sesame

1/2 cup corn starch

*

Marinade Seasoning :

1/2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

1 tspn light soy sauce

1 tspn sugar

ground pepper to taste

*

Ingredients for golden honey gravy :

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp orange mandarin oil/extract

1 tbsp sugar

* thickening : 1 tspn tapioca starch + 2 tbsp water

*

Method :

- slice the half frozen chicken breast about 1cm thickness.

- slightly flatten the meat by a meat tenderizer.



- marinade each meat with the marinade seasoning mixture.

- then chill for 1/2 hour (so that the meat became dry and easier to handle).

- spread a spoon of fish paste onto each meat slice, then roll them up like a Swiss roll.
- make sure the meat stick in one piece.

- preheat frying pan with enough oil for frying.
- roll the meat over corn starch and place them to the frying pan.
- fry the meat over low heat untill golden brown, leave aside.

*

- remove excess oil from the frying pan.

- simply stir in all the honey seasoning and simmer over medium heat.
- add in all the fried meat into the frying pan, once the gravy became thicken.

- stir to mix well and add in the roasted sesame.
- and serve hot.

*

Ta...da.... here's the classy Phoenix meat! haha.... Eventually, chicken meat would be called as Pheonix because they both under the category of birds. So, remember to chew slowly huh! No blaughing, you really need to chew slowly to feel the differences between the tender chicken meat and the spongy fish meat. Oooo... absolutely yummm..... So... think of Honey Pheonix think of me, right! haha... By the way, I'm a rooster! Nope, I'm a Pheeeeonix! ^_^

Vegetables Achar @ Pickled

These few days the weather is extremely hot over here. I'm trying to look for something cool and nice to get my appetites whetted. All a certain, thought of making this vegetables achar or pickled. This is such a perfect side dish to go with any meals and it's also one of our famous local nyonya food. The aroma, the sourness, the sweetness, the spicyness and the texture sure give your taste bud a good kick!

Ingredients :

1 small size cabbage

2 carrots

2 cucumbers

200gm long beans

4 red chillies

1 canned pineapple

1/2 cup roasted sesame seeds

1/2 cup roasted ground peanut

3 tspn chili powder (add a few more spoons if prefer spicy)

1 tbsp turmeric powder

Blended Ingredients :

4 shallots

1" knob ginger

6 cloves garlic

2 stalks lemon grass, only take 2" of bottom part

2 candlenuts, smashed

1 tbsp belachan/shrimp paste

1-2" knob galanga/lengkuas

Seasoning :

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup lime juice/lemon juice

Method :

- washed and cut all vegetables in small sizes.

- marinade cucumber with 2tspn salt and set aside.

- preheat a pot with 4 cups water, 1 tspn salt and 1 cup vinegar.

- slightly boil all the vegetables for one minute except cucumber & pineapples.

- do not over cook them, making sure they're still nice & crunchy.

- then leave aside for cooling and drain.

*

- preheat frying pan with 2 tbsp cooking oil.

- stir in the blended spices and saute untill fragrant, then add in turmeric powder.

- rinse cucumber with clean water and drain.

- then place all vegetables and chili powder into a big bowl.

- add in the seasoning and the fried mixed spices.

- stir untill well combined and leave to chill over night.

*

The best is to separate them into smaller containers for storage. This can be kept in the fridge for a very long period. So, ENJOY!!!

新年快樂 Happy Chinese New Year

新年快樂 Happy Chinese New Year 2010 to all my foodie friends! Hoping you all have a fabulous time on this wonderful festive season. I just got back two days ago.

Ladies & gentlements, here's my in-laws! And it's Chinese New Year eve. They're all ready for the reunion dinner.

There's all together eleven dishes included the soup! I only prepared the 'Yong Tofu', 'tang yuen', steamed 'fatt kuih' & steamed 'Hee Ban' this year. Other than that were prepared by my hubby's elder siblings and sis-in-law.

Normally, we used to have 5 tables but this year, only 3 tables! Some of my hubby's siblings went to their other side in-laws place, just next door (they are neighbours) ! hehe....

*

What else after dinner! 'Mahjong' & cards game LOL, of coz!

I also have all my goodies bags ready to giveaway!

All nicely packed!

And these are extra treats for my friends... grape & banana cupcakes! Will post the recipe soon.

I left my sweetie at home alone for a couple of days and had asked a friend to feed her.

Again wishing all 新年快樂, 恭喜發財, 身體健康, 萬事如事.....恭喜恭喜!!!!! ^_^

Almond Crispy Crisps

Finally came to this recipe which is adapted to Anncoo's Hobby almond cookies recipe. I really wanted to thank her for this. There were lots of leftover egg whites after making the pineapple biscuits the other day and this recipe just perfect for clearing up all the egg whites for me.

Ingredients :

90gm all purpose flour

100gm sugar

60gm butter, melted

2 egg whites (roughly about 70gm), lightly beaten

1/4 tspn almond essence ( I used vanilla essence)

some almond flakes

Method :

- combine flour, melted butter and beaten egg white together and mix well.

- keep the mixture cover and leave to rest for an hour.

- finally, drop a spoon of batter onto baking tray and spread mixture to a round 5-6cm diameter.

*

- sprinkle each with almond flakes.

- then bake at 170'c for about 10 mins or untill slightly golden brown.

- leave to cool for about 5 mins before lifting.

This is such fabulous goodies. It's crunchy and it's smell terrific too! I just can't stop chewing on them. Actually, this sounds like some kind of the Chinese version meringue! So, what do you think?

Hazelnut Sandies

Chinese New Year is getting near! I think I'm more excited than my children. haha..... Here's another simple and yet easy to make recipe. I do like this cookie! It tastes a little crunchy and pretty light as well.

Ingredients :

*

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup ground hazelnut

1 tspn salt

1/2 tspn baking powder

160gm butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 tspn vanilla extract

*

Method :

*

- combine flour, hazelnut, salt & baking powder together and mix well.

- cream butter and sugar untill creamy & smooth.

- stir in vanilla extract and beat well.

- slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix till just combined.

- then roll dough between 2 plastic sheets to 1/2cm thickness.

- by using a ruler, simply cut dough into equal square shape.

- then place them to baking tray and bake at 170'c for 10-15 mins.

For those are interested, you may try this recipe with other ground nuts. For instance, pecan or almond! I'm sure they both taste wonderful as well.