Yin and Yang foods

This is an interesting link which classifies yin and yang foods.

From the link
Examples of cooling and heaty foods:
Cool (yin) Foods:
Bamboo shoot, banana, bitter gourd, clam, crab, grapefruit, lettuce, persimmon, salt, seaweed, star fruit, sugar cane, water chestnut, watermelon, lotus root, cucumber, barley, bean curd, chicken egg white, marjoram, oyster, pear, peppermint, radish, strawberry, tangerine, and yogurt, broccoli, cauliflower, zuccini, corn, tomatoes, pineapple, turmeric.
Neutral (balanced yin and yang) Foods:
Honey, corn, abalone, apricot, beef, beetroot, black fungus, carp, carrot, celery, chicken egg yolk, cuttlefish, duck, fig, kidney bean, lotus fruit and seed, milk, olive, oyster, papaya, pork, potato, pumpkin, radish leaf, red bean, plum, sunflower seed, sweet rice, sweet potato, white fungus, yellow soybean, brussels sprouts, snow peas, sweet potato, taro, dates, figs, raspberries, raisins, sage, rosemary, thyme, brown rice, apple.
Heaty (yang) Foods:
Pepper, cinnamon bark, ginger, soybean oil, red and green pepper, chicken, apricot seed, brown sugar, cherry, chestnut, chive, cinnamon twig, clove, coconut, coffee, coriander (Chinese parsley), date, dillseed, eel, garlic, grapefruit peel, green onion, guava, ham, leaf mustard, leek, longan, mutton, nutmeg, peach, raspberry, rosemary, shrimp, spearmint, sweet basil, tobacco, vinegar, walnut, jackfruit, durian, leek, shallots, spring onion, , apricots, blackberries, black currant, mangoes, peaches, cherry, mandarin orange, grape.
eaty/yang foods:
• grow under the hot sun;
• are sweet;
• have lots of fats;
• rich in sodium;
• are hard, dry or spicy.


Cold/yin foods:
• grow in little sunshine;
• are salty;
• are lean;
• rich in potassium;
• soft and wet;

Roast chicken with a tomato based pasta

Its been quite some time since I've had to cook, with the heat and all. Thankfully the weather has turned cooler so this is the most complicated (yes, it's kinda sad - this is considered complicated) dish that I've done in a long long time. Been inspired by all my pseudo cooking in Cafe World and I must say it has inspired me.

Ingredients
1 cup pasta (I used shells because they can retain the sauce better)

tomato sauce
1 tin canned stewed tomato - I have been told to use whole tomatoes and break them up, its tastier than pre-chopped ones
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp parsley

roast chicken
10 chicken wings (mid portion, not drumlet)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp worchester sauce
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tsp dill
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method
1) Marinade the chicken, preferably overnight. Preheat the oven to 220 deg C.
2) In a pot, lightly saute the garlic, be careful not to burn it. Pour in the tinned tomato, herbs and spices
3) Prepare the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
4) Roast the chicken at 220 deg C for 5 minutes, turning down to 200 deg C for another 13 to 15 minutes or until cooked.
5) Assemble by plating up the pasta, then pouring on the sauce and finally topping off with roast chicken. If there are any drippings from the roast chicken, you can pour it on top.

Shui gao 水餃

I just had a hankering for dumplings, haven't had them in ages and somehow felt like doing all the wrapping. Saw the yellow skins which I bought, but saw a new product, white skins which they call 'shanghai 水餃 skins'. Might try that next time.

Ingredients (makes about 32 or serves 3 - 4 pax)
400 - 500g mince pork
50g prawns, devined and chopped into tiny bits (the bigger, the more prawn to bite into)
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
2 tbsp corn flour
1 packet 水餃 skins
A little dish of water
3 - 4 bowls prepared broth (chicken or pork is fine)

1) Marinate the pork and prawn with the soya sauce, wine and corn flour. Set aside for 10 - 30 minutes for the taste to develop.
2) Carefully peeling off 1 skin, place it in the centre of your palm. Place about 1 ping pong ball sized pork ball in the centre (it depends on the size of your dumpling skin, but should be no more than 1/3 filled. Don't over pack it otherwise it may burst during cooking.
3) Dot the edges of the skin and carefully fold into a semi circle. By this time, you would see the magically, the dumpling becomes 2/3 full.
4) Dot the semi-circular edge with more water and gather the edges.

5) Carefully slide into a pot of water on a rolling boil. Once it floats up (about 1 - 2 minutes), its done! But I was a bit 'kiasu' and let it cook for a further 30 seconds to make sure it was fully cooked.
6) Carefully place in a bowl and pour over the broth. Serve with egg noodles if desired.

Optional: If I wanted to make Shanghainese dumplings, I would replace prawns with chopped chives.

5-spice Tea Braised Ribs

My uni friend once told me that instead of cooking normal bak ku teh, you can substitute with tea for a change. That got me thinking - together with 5-spice like what they do with tea eggs, this is a tasty yet simple recipe. I actually used green tea (高山茶) but only because I didn't have any black or red tea at home but the tea taste wasn't strong enough. On the other hand, it had a nice 'gum gum' (sweetish tea) flavour. Black or red tea would also give it a slightly smokey flavour.

Ingredients (for 2)
750 ml freshly brewed red or black tea e.g. tie guan ying, oolong or pu er
500 g spare ribs
1 stick cinammon
1 star anise
1 tsp 5 spice power
2 tbsp black soya sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 handful gei zi (boxthorn) (optional)
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 small onion, chopped
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced

Method
1) Marinate the spare ribs with dark and light soya sauce.
2) Brew the tea and set aside. The tea leaves should not be added to the pot and boiled otherwise they become bitter.
3) With a little oil, fry the aromatics (garlic, ginger and onions) until fragrant. Add the spare ribs and brown them.
4) Add the tea, and all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil before turning down the flame to a simmer and simmer down for 20 mins.
5) Serve with freshly boiled white rice.

Stewed beancurd in a King Oyster Mushroom Chicken Broth

I saw giant oyster mushrooms from Korea, considered a delicacy here. I was trying to recreate the toufu soup that I had in Korea and this is what I came up with.

The original stewed beancurd soup was vegetarian but my household are meat eaters, and would feel weird without meat, so I threw in chicken and chicken soup. In addition, being so huge, the mushroom slices had an almost abalone texture to them, very meaty and smooth. In addition, just because I'm too lazy too cook the rice separately, I put in brown rice to make it into a porridge. The result - a velvety creamy stock which reminds me of risotto texture.

In addition, I put in the beancurd whole at the beginning, and expected it to break up. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was still whole, and in fact, the taste of the stock had permeated into the beancurd, effectively 'marinating' it!

Ingredients
1 packet of king oyster mushrooms, sliced on the diagonal
1 tin of Swenson chicken stock
1 packet of silken toufu (suitable for soup)
1 cup brown rice
8 chicken wings
1 tbsp wine
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 thumb sized ginger, thinly sliced
1 large red onion, diced
1 litre of water

Method
1) Marinate the wings with wine and soya sauce and set side to marinate for at least 1/2 hour.
2) Heat up a pot and fry the diced red onion and ginger.
3) Add the wings and briefly fry until the wings are lightly browned.
4) Briefly fry the mushroom slices.
5) Add the stock and water, and garlic.
6) Pour in the washed brown rice and stir.
7) Carefully place the toufu into the pot, making sure not to break it. Ensure its immersed in the stock.
8) Bring to a boil before turning it down to gently simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
9) Serve immediately.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Taken from http://magdalenestc.multiply.com/journal/item/68

Did some adaptation of my own - I doubled the proportions (makes 55 cookies) so I neatly used up a 28 oz jar (medium sized) of peanut butter, and used 1 cup of choc chips. As such, I used 3 eggs instead of 2, and also because my eggs are quite small.

Very fudgey rather than crispy.

Katherine Hepburn's Brownies

Source: http://www.survivingoz.com

Ingredients
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
250g unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp ground instant coffee
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
18 squares milk chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C

2. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom and sides with wax paper

3. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon and salt together

4. In a heavy bottom saucepan placed over very low heat, put the butter in. When butter starts to melt, sift cocoa over it and add the instant coffee. Stir until mixture is well blended. Remove from heat and cool for about 3 minutes

5. Using a whisk, beat the eggs into the saucepan. Next, stir in the sugar and vanilla (don't beat anything too vigorously - you don't want to add air to the batter), followed by the dry ingredients, nuts and chopped chocolate. Scrap the batter into the baking pan

6. Bake for 35 minutes, at which point the brownies will still be gooey but the top will have a dry papery crust. Transfer pan to cooling rack and let it cool for 30 minutes. Turn the brownies out onto a rack, peel away the paper and transfer onto a cutting board. Cool completely before cutting into 16 squares.

Ondeh Ondeh

Had a hankering for this nonya dessert, which also happens to my dad's favourite, just nice for Father's Day today. Given the exorbitant rates you pay for this commercially and how easy it is to make (edit: easy to make doesn't mean its not tedious, esp when you're doing the 20th ball or so! ) and how well shops don't make it, I thought if I'm going to eat this standard and pay for it, I might as well make it at home! The difference however is that I'm eating it hot and we all know what a huge difference that makes to any food. Anything tastes better hot.

I did a lot of research beforehand, and here are my sources which I've adapted the final recipe from: Basic recipe which I mostly followed and reproduced below: http://www.mytasteheaven.com/2009/04/ondeh-ondeh-nyonya-kuih.html
Basic recipe which I like the 'method' of making the balls: http://fatboyrecipes.blogspot.com/2005/12/my-green-ondeh-ondeh-balls.html
Another simple recipe: http://www.mycookinghut.com/2008/04/06/onde-onde-malaysian-dessert/
Version with sweet potato: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=313655

Ingredients (makes 48 to 50 ping pong sized balls, only because I wanted to use up all the flour and grated coconut!

Skin

500g of glutinous rice flour
240ml of water (in the end I used a lot more than this, can't say the exact amount because i keep adding teaspoons of hot water in to get it moist enough)
2 tsps of pandan leave essence (which is why my balls are white in colour. The original receipe called for 2 tbsp of pandan leaves juice, which I was too lazy to follow, but I will next time! Taste of essence is just not the same!)

2 tablespoons of castor sugar

Filling:-

2 pieces of gula melaka (cut into small pieces)

Coating:-

200g grated coconut (I bought the steamed version from the fridge section of the supermarket, keeps longer)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method1) Pour the hot water into the glutinous rice and mix.

2) Add in the other ingredients for its skin until it forms a dough.

3) Form small balls into size and fill them with a little piece of gula melaka and seal them up.

4) Boil some water in a pot.

5) Put the sealed balls into the boiling water.

6) When the balls float on the water, take them out put into a freezer bag which has the grated coconut inside. Toss around until the balls are well coated.

7) The ondeh-ondehs are ready to be served. Some recipes recommend serving them cold (not chilled, but cold)

End note: I made enough to feed an army! Not an experience I think I'd want to repeat any time soon, my kitchen was like the aftermath of a typhoon afterwards, and no matter how much I cleaned, I still never seemed to get rid of all the grated coconut from everywhere! Next time, I'm going to bring a friend!

Almond Longan Jelly

Requested by my col because of today's BBQ and another (pregnant) colleague loves almond jelly and has a craving for it. This is my mom's receipe which uses fresh milk rather than the synthetic stuff you get in hawker centres.

Ingredients
1 to 1.5 tsp almond essence (depending on how much you like the almond taste)
2 cans of longan
1 packet of agar agar powder
(following instructions on agar agar packet)
250g of sugar (can cut down to 200g if you find it too sweet)
1 litre of liquid made up of 500ml of water, 500ml of fresh milk

Method
1) Bring out a jelly mould. Rinse it with water so that the agar agar will easily slide out. Do not to dry out the water.
2) Prepare the ingredients according to the agar agar packet:
a) Add the agar agar powder to the milk and water. Stir until partially dissolved.
b) Put on the stove and add the sugar. Bring to a boil.
c) Stir to ensure that the gelatine doesn't get caught on the bottom. Once it is boiling, turn off the flame.
d) Let it cool a minute or so and pour into the jelly mould.
e) Let cool 10 minutes before putting the mould in the fridge.
3) Let set and chill overnight. Next day, pour over the 2 cans of longan, longan water and all. Put in ice cubes. If its still too sweet, add a bit of cold water to taste.

Prawn mee

This is my mom's recipe which I've altered slightly but the basics are still the same. It really brings me back to my childhood!

Ingredients (feeds 2)
1 packet of medium sized prawns (approx 300-400g, I counted about 10 prawns in the packet)
1.5 litres pork bone stock (I used leftover bak ku teh soup from last night )
5 - 6 dried chilli
2 tbsp dried shrimp
1 large onions, or 3 shallots, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bunch cai xin
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 packet of fishballs
2 fishcake, sliced (optional)
200g lean pork, sliced thinly (optional)
2 portions of cooked noodles (yellow mee, kway teow, whatever u prefer)

Method
1) Peel the prawns and set aside the heads and shells. Devein the prawns and set aside.
2) Heat up a pot and oil, and fry the onions or shallots until slightly brown. Add the prawn heads and shells and stir fry until fragrant and the shells and heads are pink. Add the garlic and briefly stir fry.
3) Add the dried chilli and shrimp and briefly fry.
4) Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Skim off the scum. Turn down the head to medium. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour.
5) Prepare the noodles according to the packet's instructions and place the drained noodles into 2 bowls.
6) Strain the stock. Add the fishballs, followed by prawns and cai xin and cook for up to 5 minutes or until everything is cooked. Also cook the fishcake and lean pork if using.
7) Serve with soup poured on top of the of noodles.

Zhong zhi - Hokkien style

Getting in the mood for this Thu. The thought did cross my mind to do it, but was reading the ingredients and how to made my eyes pop out. However, I did get to enjoy the fruit of other people's labour - thanks to Aunt-in-law and a good colleague!

(recipe taken from Cozycot, user Swissroll)

Rice
Ingredients A
Bamboo leaves : 250g (soaked overnight, washed)
Nylon strings : per required according to individual

Ingredients B
Glutinous rice : 2 kg (washed, Soak for 4 hrs and drained)

Ingredients C
Chopped shallot & Garlic : 1 tbsp

Ingredients D
Salt : 5 tsp
Ground pepper : 1 tsp
Five spice powder : 1 tsp
Dark soya sauce : 1 tbsp
Sesame Oil : 1 tbsp

Method:
1) Heat up 4 tbsp oil, sauté chopped shallot and garlic till fragrant
2) Pour in glutinuous rice and fry till aromatic
3) Mix in Ingredients D to season, dish up for use later

.................................................. ................................

Fillings

Ingredients A
Chopped shallot and garlic : 1 tbsp
Dried shrimp : 200g (washed, soak to soften, drain)

Ingredients B
Chopped shallot and garlic : 2 tbsp
Chinese mushroom : 40 pcs (washed, soak to soften, drain)
* Huiji Waist Tonic : 1 – 2 cup (Huiji measuring cup)

Ingredients C
Pork belly : 2 kg (washed, cut into 40 pcs, marinate for 1 hr with seasonings)
Oyster Sauce : 2 tbsp
Dark soya sauce : 1 tbsp
Sesame Oil : 1 tbsp
Hua tiao wine : 2 tbsp
Ground pepper : ½ tsp.
Five spice powder : ½ tsp
Salt : ½ tsp
Sugar : ½ tbsp
Corn flour : 1 tbsp

Ingredients D
Dried Chestnut : 250g (washed, soak overnight)

Method:

1) Heat up 3 tbsp oil over medium flame, stir fry Ingredients A till aromatic, dish up, reserve for use later
2) Heat up 3 tbsp oil over medium flame, sauté chopped shallot and garlic from Ingredients B, add mushroom to fry till aromatic
3) Add marinated pork belly and fry till fragrant
4) Mix fry chestnut till fragrant
5) Add suitable amount of water, simmer till water is soak up, dish up
6) Take 2 pieces of bamboo leaves, fold to form a pyramid shape
7) Put 2 tbsp of glutinuous rice into it, dig a hole in the centre, add in fillings, cover with another 2 tbsp of glutinuous rice, wrap up, tighten with nylon string
8) Boil a large pot of water. Add in dumplings, cover and cook with low heat for 2 hours till cooked and soft.

[Nigella Lawson] Sweet & sticky ribs

Tried this with chicken wings, only because I love wings so much. I changed the cooking times to 180 deg C at 20 minutes covered, then 10 minutes at 200 deg C uncovered.

Ingredients

• 4 fluid ounces (125 ml) Thai or Chinese sweet chili sauce
• 2 fluid ounces (60 ml) cranberry sauce (from a jar)
• 2 fluid ounces (60 ml) dark sweet soy sauce
• 1 clementine, juice and sliced rind
• 1 lime, juice and sliced rind
• 15 to 20 pork spare ribs

Directions

Place all the ingredients into a large freezer bag and mix well. Seal the bag and place it on a dish so that it can lie flat. Transfer the bag to the fridge and leave overnight to marinate.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Remove the ribs from the fridge and transfer them from the freezer bag to a roasting tin and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Transfer the roasting tin to the oven. Cook the ribs in the oven for 1 hour, turning them over after 30 minutes.
Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and remove the foil from the roasting tin. Cook for a further 15 to 30 minutes, or until the ribs are sticky and cooked through.
To serve, place the ribs onto a large serving plate.

Simple Brownies

Source: Country Fair Cookbook
Makes 15.
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter (170g) (I used half-fat butter and it worked perfectly)
1 1/2 cup sugar (340g) (granulated is fine)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp chocolate extract (optional)
3/4 cup sifted flour (90g)
1/2 cup cocoa (55g)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 9″ square tin.
Method
1) Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
2) Sift together flour, cocoa and salt. Add to creamed mixture, blending well. Stir in walnuts if using. Spread evenly in tin.
3) Bake for 35 minutes or until done–a wooden toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle should come out almost clean, with just a couple of crumbs clinging to it. Cool in tin on rack. Cut 2 3/4 x 1 3/4 inch bars when cold.

Kai Tung Gho (鸡蛋糕 )

Got this from quizzine. Not bad for the 1st attempt, altho I was a bit impatient at the end because I needed to leave the house, so the bottom middle of the cake wasn't totally cooked through. Next time will need the full 1 hr.

This is her recipe.

Ingredients/ Method:

300g plain flour
300g sugar (I used 270g but will try 250g next round)
6 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder, and set aside. Prepare wok for steaming.
2. Beat the eggs till pale white and slowly add in sugar. Continue to beat the egg mixture till ribbon-stage.
3. Fold in the flour to the egg mixture gently.
4. Pour batter into cake tin or basket lined with 'glass paper' 玻璃紙. Steam for 45 mins to 1 hour. Check for doneness when skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

I just saw her new altered recipe. It uses a lot less eggs but replaces the air with old fashioned carbonated water. Will try that next time to make the cake 'smile' at me as it is supposed to.

Old-style 鸡蛋糕

Ingredients/ Method
3 large eggs
300gm plain flour
300gm sugar (will reduce to 200gm the next time)
170ml F&N orange juice

1. Sift plain flour and set aside.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until mixture turns pale and thick, about 20-25 mins using the mixer.
3. Fold in flour into egg mixture gently, until well mixed.
4. Pour in orange juice into the mixture and stir in one direction gently, and until well mixed.
5. Pour mixture into prepared cane basket with plastic suitable for steaming. Steam on high heat for 1 hour.

*To have your cake smile at you, sprinkle sugar across the mixture before putting into the steamer.

Found another recipe here. Can't wait to try it!

Updated: Updated with new recipes here

Blueberry Muffins

Finally, my first successful muffin, with the right dome! Actually I've done the more English muffin recipe before which is more bread like but it was never as nice as the American cake-like version. I got this recipe trawling through one of my favourite local food blogs, Noob Cook, and she in turn got it from Jordan Marsh.

Just for info, according to my Internet research, there are basically 2 ways of making muffins - the traditional muffin method, or the creaming method. The former is more British and yields a more bread-like texture. The latter is more American and yields a more cake-like texture.

Anyhow here's the Jordan Marsh recipe from Noob Cook, reproduced with my alterations (in red) based on some secret muffin tips I found off the Internet.
Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Credits: Recipe from ‘True Blueberry’ by Linda Dannenberg
This muffin recipe is that of the famous Jordan Marsh’s Framingham Store (which closed down in 1983).
Ingredients
(Makes 12 standard-size muffins) My recipe makes only 10 if you use the tall paper cups I did
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
110g lightly salted butter (or 1 stick), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). I preheated at 220 C as you;ll later see why 2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl & set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar and cream at low speed until the mixture is smoothly blended. At low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and blend.
4. Add the flour mixture and the milk a little at a time, alternating one with the other, and beat until blended, then remove the bowl from the mixer.
5. Add 1/2 cup of blueberries and gently fold them in with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add the rest of the berries and gently fold them in. I used half a jar or Dalfour blueberry jam as I didn't have any fresh blueberries. I like Dalfour because there is no added sugar and the fruit are almost whole.
6. Place paper muffin cups into the muffin tin, and fill each cup with slightly more than 3/4 of batter. (Note: if not using paper cups, grease the muffin tin).
7. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup sugar over the muffin tops, then bake in the center of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and puffy. I didn't sprinkle the sugar as I tasted the batter and it was sweet enough, probably because I used jam. If I did use the real fruit however, I probably would need this sugar. In addition, I found to my dismay that omitting the sprinkling of sugar meant no crispy top! I baked at 220 C for 6 minutes, before turning down to 180 C for 19 minutes. This is based on my oven and the number of muffins I had so may vary for a different or different muffin paper cups. I tested with a skewer to be sure.
8. Remove to a wire rack and cool in the tins for 1 hour before serving.

Sushi

I state categorically upfront - this is not an authentic sushi-making recipe. It is just a easy DIY at home simply because I'm nostalgic - I first made this in the UK and this is the first time in 9 years that I've done the recipe again. At that time, it was just something that reminded me of home. And at that time, I didn't have access to a lot of really Japanese ingredients, like I didn't even have the　のり (seaweed) and the bamboo mat, so I improvised by using a sheet of paper in place of the mat. And it worked remarkably well too! I also use smoked salmon which to the non-discerning palate isn't very obviously different from fresh sashimi. Altho we are able to get freshly sliced sashimi at the supermarkets nowdays, I do wonder at the freshness of it.

I did find however that the mat really makes making the square shape of the sushi roll very much easier. I also improvise by using brown rice since that's all I use at home and I must say it makes it very much harder to clump the grains together. It started to spill out.

Ingredients
のり(1 packet of seaweed)
1 packet of smoked salmon
わさべ (wasabe) paste
sashimi soya sauce (apparently there are many kinds of soya!)
1 cup of rice, boiled and allowed to cool

Method
1) Lay the mat out on a flat surface and place 1 sheet of のり on top.
2) Fluff up the rice. Spread the rice along the bottom of the seaweed. Pat down to clump the rice grains together. Place 2 strips of salmon along the centre of the rice.
3) Lift up the lower edge of the mat and slowly flip it over, ensuring that the edge of the seaweed is tucked in. Roll and flatten to ensure the rice is well packed. Continuing rolling until the seaweed is all rolled up.
4) Cut into squares and present but turning upwards. A little trick - wet the knife blade and you'll find it much easier to slice through and the blade won't get stuck to the rice.

5 spice 三杯鳮

This is a Taiwanese dish with my twist - adding the 5 spices. Traditional 三杯鳮 actually involves 3 things, chinese wine, soya sauce and sesame seed oil. You're not really expected to use 1 cup of each, but it does mean that you're supposed to include equal portions of each. In addition, it involves adding copious amounts of ginger and garlic. Since I wasn't in the mood to thaw and skin my ginger (yes, I freeze my garlic for easy storage) I substituted this with dried chilli. I learnt this tip from this stall we usually buy our zhu jiao chu - possibly because ginger is expensive, this uncle uses dried chilli. The taste is slightly different - it makes it slightly smokey taste. While this doesn't really work with zhu jiao chu, it may possibly work with 三杯鳮.

Again in the traditional method, the chicken is cooked in a claypot. For me, being the lazy person who wants minimal mess, I used my favourite casserole method.

Ingredients
9 chicken wings (including drumlets)
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp chinese rice wine
2 tbsp sesame seed oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp garlic, minced (or you can use 10 cloves of garlic, smashed)
2 tbsp ginger (3 thumb sized ginger, sliced)
2 cinnamon sticks
5 dried chilli
2 star anise
3 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds

Method
1) Marinate the chicken with everything.
2) Pop it into a casserole dish and into the oven and cover. I used 220 deg C for 10 minutes, and turned down to 200 deg C for 20 mins, giving the slightly scorched skin. You can also uncover for the last 10 mins to crisp the skin silghtly.
3) Serve with freshly steamed rice.

Honey mustard sausages

Thanks to the honey chicken recipe from Auntie Helen, I decided to improvise, simply because I wasn't about to fry chicken and oily up my kitchen!

Just for the record, her recipe involves marinating chicken in light soya sauce, then deep frying the chicken till cooked, then taking it out and putting it in another pan, pouring over honey and stir frying till the honey has melted but just before it burns.

My recipe is similar - except I grill my sausages, and just as they're almost cooked, I pour on 1 tbsp of mustard, and stir fry to incorporate. Next, I pour on the honey (about 2 tbsp for 1 packet of 10 sausages) and quickly stir fry to incorporate. Just as the honey melts (sizzles and turns a nice brown), I remove them from the heat and serve them up. Simple and delicious!

Foochow Ang Chow Chicken

Thanks to the 'goods' from my Aunt (kao mo), I finally got to make this beloved dish that my Gran used to make. Altho I can't remember exactly how it tasted when they made it (since she's left for almost 10 years now and wasn't able to make it for the last 8 years of her life), the smell of the frying chicken in ang chow was enough to invoke old memories and bring tears to my eyes (literally!) This recipe is taken off the Internet and I've added mushrooms and bamboo, because that's what Gran added, and further adapted to suit personal taste..one day I shall get the original recipe from my kao mo!

Ingredients
1 kg chicken or chicken parts (I prefer using wings and drumlets as I hate chopping chicken)
1 generous knob of ginger, sliced thinly in shreds
2 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 ltr chicken broth (this makes a very soupy dish, if you want the 'dry' gravy version, halve the liquid)
5 tbsp red rice residue (ang chow)
1/2 cup Foochow red rice wine (no other cooking wine will do, this makes all the difference!)
12 dried mushrooms (soaked in water until soft, and reserve the water), sliced into halves
1 can of bamboo shoot (I used the fresh packet type)

Method
1) With a bit of cooking oil, fry the ginger strips until fragrant.
2) Add the sesame seed oil and fry the chicken until browned.
3) Add the mushrooms and bamboo and incorporate.
4) Add the red rice residue and stir well.

5) Add the chicken broth (I also pour in the water used to soak the mushrooms, just ensuring that total liquid makes up to 1 litre)
6) Leave to simmer on gentle fire until cooked (about 20 minutes).
7) Add in the red rice wine, and bring back to a boil. Turn off the flame once you get a rolling boil. (I like a less 'wine-y' taste so I add the wine earlier on, around the 15 minute mark so that some of the alcohol will burn off)
The soup will have a slightly sourish taste, that's normal and it comes from the ang chow so don't be alarmed. I added about 1 tsp of sugar to offset the taste a bit and also 1 tsp of oyster sauce (which I read on some websites) but its also fine without these 2 additions. I didn't add salt but a bit of pepper, but you can always add salt and pepper to taste.

Red rice wine chicken (红槽鸡)

SIL just gave birth and somehow DIL got the idea to make red rice wine. This brings back so many memories of granny so I did some surfing and got these 2 links. Will try them out some time!

My gran's version includes fresh bamboo but this comes close.
红槽鸡
Here's how to make the wine:
红槽酒

In the western world, it is called red yeast rice and is being used as a TCM cure for cholesterol. Amazing what our forefathers knew!

I've never actually ever eaten this in my life before, and I think its actually Hakka:
红槽鸡面线

Wish me luck!

Andrea's Chicken Rice

Got this chicken recipe from Andrea.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cleaned
2 slices of ginger (1 slice whole and 1 slice shredded)
2 cloves garlic
2 chopped shallots
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 cup rice
Pinch of salt

Method
1) Pop a cleaned chicken into boiling water which has a slice of ginger.
2) Remove scum and turn down flame to a simmer.
3) Simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes. Check for doneness by piercing a chicken leg in the thickest part to see if blood still oozes out. Reserve the water for later.
4) Dunk into a ice bath for about 5 minutes.
5) Once cooled, pat dry with kitchen towels. Use a mix of light soya sauce and sesame seed oil and rub into the skin.
6) To make a serving sauce, take a bit of the leftover sesame seed oil and soya sauce (dripping from rubbing the skin), add a bit of the water used to make the chicken.
7) Fry the ginger shreds, shallots and garlic until fragrant. Add the garlic last because it tends to burn fastest. Add the washed rice and stir fry until the rice grains turn a bit translucent.
8) Pour the rice into a rice cooker and add enough of the reserved water (used to poach the chicken) to cook the rice. Add a pinch of salt.
9) Any leftover reserved water can be used as soup e.g. add veggies like cabbage and tomato, and a bit of salt.

Kuih Bangkit

I used to make this with my Grandma on CNY eves after coming home from school. Till now, my deepest memories are of her frying flour in the wok, and then me cutting out shapes with the kueh bangkit cutters and crumping them. But what type of flour always escaped me...until now. (I always knew it was this particular small roll of flour and if you bring me to the supermarket I would be able to pick it out (if it is still in production that is) but I never knew what flour it was.

Thanks to my new ladies' forum, I finally got my answer - the humble tapioca flour!

Kuih Bangkit

Pineapple Tarts

This recipe came from today's Sunday Plus. Looks dead easy to make esp if u get the ready made pineapple jam from places like Phoon Huat. A work auntie once told me that the jam from Phoon Huat tends to be very sweet, so she'll dilute with her own unsweetened pineapple jam.
The words are probably too small to read so I've reproduced it here, but the pictures are useful.

FILLINGIngredients2 medium sized pineapples, skin removed and cut into quarters
150g sugar

Method1) Grate the pineapple finely.
2) Place the grated pineapple in a cheese cloth and squeeze to remove any excess juice.
3) Cook the grated pineapple in a saucepan over low heat, stirring continously to prevent the pineapple from burning.
4) After 5 minutes, add sugar to the pineapple gradually, stirring to ensure that it is well incorporated. Taste the mixture to determine if more sugar is required.
5) Continue stirring the mixture over low heat for about 1 hour until all the moisture has evaporated.
6) Cool the pineapple filling on a table top for about 30 minutes before placing it in the refridgerator for another 30 minutes.
7) Remove the pineapple jam from the refridgerator, scoop a teaspoon of it and roll between your palms to form a ball with a 2 cm diameter. Set the pineapple ball aside and repeat for the rest of the filling.

TART (Makes about 40 tarts)
Ingredients250g butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg yolk
440g plain flour
1 tbs milk powder
pineapple filling (above)
1 egg, beaten

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 165 deg C.
2) Cream the butter and vanilla essence with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 10 minutes.
3) Add the egg yolk and continue mixing for about 2 minutes until well incorproate.
4) Sift the flour and then the milk powder into the mixture. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes before increasing it to medium speed for 3 minutes, until a coarse, crumbly texture forms. (photo A)
5) Place the mixture in a large bowl and knead it for about 5 minutes until a smooth ball of dough forms. (photo B)
6) Leave the dough in the bowl, seal it with clear plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
7) Remove the dough from the refrigerator, pinch a small amount of it and roll between your palms to form a ball with a 2.5cm diameter.
8) Flatten the dough into a circle and wrap it around a ball of pineapple filling. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the rest of the dough. (photo C)
9) Brush egg wash over the pineapple tarts and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until the tarts turn golden.

Herbal Chicken

Found 2 recipes here...looks v easy. Will try it soon!

Foil wrapped herbal chicken
Foil wrapped ginseng chicken

Bak Zhum Kai (White cut chicken)

Suddenly had a craving for bak chum kai. Did some research and found that its a Cantonese dish and in the old days, just like nonya women were judged for their cooking skills by how well they could turn out nonya dishes, similarly, Cantonese wives were tested on their cooking skills based on how well they could turn out a succulent and tender bak zhum kai where the breast is still moist but the thighs are cooked thru. There are apparently hundreds of methods for doing so, and every cook has their version. I found 3 that were most Singaporean/Malaysian and also easy enough to do without having to wait hours.

Here's my variation culled from these 2 sources: 1) Kitschow 2) Eating China

Method
1) Put a 1.5 to 2 kg chicken in a big pot, breast down first. Add a big piece of ginger.
2) Cover it with water. The water should cover the chicken by about an inch.
3) Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
4) Turn off the flame and skim off any scum. Cover and let chicken steep for 30 - 40 mins (depending on size). To tell if the chicken is cooked, stick a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, it should read 170 deg C, or usually I just prick it with a fork in the thickest part of the thigh and press down. The juices running out should run clear. If its bloody, return chicken to steep some more.
5) Pour chicken in a colander and drain off the poaching water. Reserve the water for later use (e.g. to cook rice and voila, chicken rice! Or make soup by adding veg). Place chicken in an ice bath for a few minutes to seal in the juices.
6) Once the meat is cool, pat dry with kitchen towels. Rub the skin with sesame seed oil. Set the chicken aside until ready to chop up.

There are various sauces that can be served with this - ginger and scallion sauce (equal parts ginger and scallion finely minced, pour boil oil over it), ginger sauce (minced ginger and sesame seed oil) or chicken rice chilli sauce. Check out the links for the recipes.

There's also a far more complicated recipe by Grace Young, younger sister of Amy Tan of Joy Luck Club fame.