Soon Kueh

A few weekends ago, Mum finally got down to making Soon Kueh which she's been wanting to try out for a long time. Soon Kueh's basically a vegetable dumpling of Teochew origin. There are two parts to making it, i.e. Prepping the skin wrap and frying the ingredients for the filling. Dad being participative as usual, helped her prepare the filling so that she could start on the dough. I love how they demonstrate such awesome teamwork. :)

Overall I would say it was quite a success for a first attempt! Mum followed the recipe by Victoria Bakes which makes about 30 pieces.

Dough Skin

200g wheat starch
100g tapioca starch
100g soon kueh flour (made up of rice flour, tapioca flour, wheat starch, corn flour)
600ml water
3 to 4 tbsp oil (shallots oil)
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp sugar

Directions

1. Mix the flours, salt and sugar together in a mixing bowl.  Boil 600 ml water. Pour the boiling water into the mixture and stir quickly. Cover and let it cool for 10 minutes.

2. Add a few tbsp of shallot oil into the dough and knead till smooth. Divide the dough into two portions and roll each portion into a long tube, then cut into small pieces. (each weighs about 35g) (Remember to cover the dough you're not working with with a piece of damp cloth.)
3. Roll each piece into a flat layer.  Use a round cutter or a rice bowl to trim the dough skin into a round disc.

Soon Kueh Filling

1 small turnip (shredded)

1 to 2 carrots (shredded)

5 to 6 Chinese mushrooms (soaked & sliced) 

100g dried shrimps (finely chopped) 

600ml water 
Few cloves garlic (minced)

5 to 6 shallots, sliced (deep fried and use the shallot oil for making and brushing the dough skin )Seasoning:  soy sauce/salt & pepper to taste, a little sesame oil

Directions

1. Heat a few tablespoons of cooking oil and stir fry the minced garlic first. Then add in mushrooms and dried shrimps and fry till fragrant.
2. Add in the shredded turnip and carrots, followed by the seasoning and fried shallots. Stir briefly, add water and cover to simmer over low heat for about half an hour.
3. Cool the filling before wrapping.



 Place one tablespoon of filling on the dough skin, fold it over to form a semi-circle and pinch the edges firmly to seal.

Place the soon kueh on a well-greased tray, brush the soon kueh with a little shallot oil and steam for approx. 10 minutes till dough skin turns translucent.

Have it with sweet black sauce and chilli sauce.


Cr: Victoria Bakes

Fantabulous Wings!

 Last Sunday Mum decided to grill some chicken wings since it has been a while since we last enjoyed some. She never fails to impress the family with her wings because she knows how to prep them well before they hit the grill. She likes to play around with different sauces to create her marinade, this time round she made a special spicy herb mixture which flavored and tenderised the wings so well.

 Marinade Recipe (for 20 wings)

Ingredients

1 garlic bulb

1 piece of ginger (thumbsized, to make about 3 tbs ginger juice)

1 onion

mixed herbs (add according to your preference)
chilli powder

a dash of pepper

3.5 tbs miso paste

2 tbs light sauce

2 tbs shiitake mushroom sauce

tabasco sauce (drizzle according to your preference)

Directions

1. Pound garlic, ginger and onion to extract juice.

2. In a bowl, combine juice, mixed herbs and sauce mixture together, season with pepper.

3. Pour marinade over wings, mix well to coat evenly.

4. Transfer into a zip lock bag and chill at least 12 hours or overnight.
5. Grill at 200 degrees C for 50-60 minutes, flipping the wings in between to grill evenly. 

  


Try this out, it was an instant hit with the family!

Going BANANAS

We embarked on a series of experiments to explore easy recipes made from bananas. After playing around with so many banana recipes, we realised that if you wanna bake a 'No Fail' thing, just bake something banana. Really, the goodness of bananas makes about anything taste nice and good. Well, here I'm assuming nobody hates bananas of course.

Speaking of bananas, I learnt from Environmental Biology class that the famous Del Monte bananas we see at supermarkets are of the variety named Cavendish. Being seedless/sterile, Cavendish is cloned by replanting cuttings, meaning the bananas most of us are consuming are genetically identical. The bad news is that this variety is at risk of extinction because of a fungal disease called Black Sigatoka. Before Cavendish was the Gros Michel variety which once dominated the world's commercial banana business, but it was wiped out by the Panama Disease. Right now, the Cavendish is being attacked as well...oh nooo...if scientists fail to discover a viable back-up banana substitute, the eventual collapse of Cavendish means what??? No more bananas?? Now that I think of it, I realised other than the Cavendish and occasionally another smaller banana variety, I don't think I've tasted other banana types.

Well before it gets completely wiped out like its predecessor, lets enjoy our Cavendish while we can ok.

In this midweek entry, we shall start off with a simple banana cake recipe. Very soft and moist, one piece of this delicious banana cake won't be enough.

Lovely cake baked by Mum

Ingredients:150g eggs (approx 2.5-3)
110g Sugar
200g riped banana (approx 2 meshed into small pcs)
150g Plain Flour (or cake flour)
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
100g Corn oil (or sunflower oil)

Steps:Preheat oven to 160 degree C.
Line baking tray with baking paper.
1. Sieve flour, baking powder & soda together. Sieve twice & set aside.
2. Using a mixer, whisk eggs, sugar & banana at max. speed till stiff/ribbon stage.
3. Using a spatula, fold in flour & mix well.
4. Add in oil & mix well till batter is shiny & flowing.
5. Pour into baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.

Recipe adapted and modified from Wen's Delight.

Have fun and look out for our next Banana entry coming soon!

10 minute meal

This dish below probably looks like it takes 45 minutes to prepare but NO, it's real easy and convenient! 10 minutes is all you need, perfect for a lazy Sunday! I have always been a huge Mee Sua fan, I love it so much I can have it at least twice a week, cooked in different ways. But today, we'll share with you a really easy dish, that is- Mee Sua with Sichuan hot and spicy soup. It's almost like cooking instant noodles, but tastes as if alot of effort has been put into making it.

All you will need are the following items:

We've been supporting this brand for a long time now. The strands are chewy and firm, with a very nice smooth texture.

Now for the most important ingredient, TADAA!!

Campbell's Szechuan hot and sour soup has got to be my favourite instant soup. If you love oriental and savoury flavours like me, you'll definitely enjoy this. Both items are easily available in supermarkets.

To begin, empty the can of soup into a small pot, followed by the addition of another full can of water. While waiting for the soup to come to a boil, cook the vermicelli in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Once done, drain the vermicelli strands dry and transfer into a serving bowl. Finally, pour the hot and spicy soup over the vermicelli. That's it!

Depending on how you'd like it, you may cook the mee sua longer if you prefer it soggy. HAHA. Otherwise, under SGD$3, this dish is easily made in 10 minutes and the portion in one can is enough for two. So try this out, whenever you're feeling lazy yet wanna eat something decent. :) 

Weekend Specials #2

Last weekend was such a delightful one. We had so much good food I can't even decide which meal I liked best. They were all chinese food, cooked by my awesome dad. First up is a nice comforting dish for a weekend brunch, we had Century Egg Porridge, or otherwise more popularly known as Pei Tan Chok. I love the pungent aroma of the Pei Tan and its creamy yolk. It works well together with salted eggs, which Dad also included to give the overall a pleasant savoury flavour.

Recipe
(for 5 adults)
-2 cups of rice
-1 litre water
-minced pork
-2 century eggs (sliced)
-2 salted eggs (diced)
-soya sauce
-fish sauce
-white pepper
-sesame oil
-spring onions (chopped into small pieces)
-fried shallots

a. Marinate minced pork with 1tbs soya sauce, 1tbs sesame oil, white pepper.
b. Once porridge comes to a boil, start scooping small batches of marinated minced pork into porridge.
c. Add salted egg pieces, followed by century egg slices into porridge.
d. Once porridge is cooked, add in seasoning ( soya sauce, fish sauce, white pepper, sesame oil) to your own liking.
e. Garnish with spring onions, fried shallots and chilli slices (optional) when ready to serve.

Next, we had Ipoh Hor Fan for dinner. For the stock, Dad used chinese mushrooms, chicken and a special mushroom sauce. For this dish, Dad wasn't able to tell me his proper recipe offhand because as I mentioned in my earlier post, he's an agar chef. :p

Here are some photos of the Ipoh Hor Fan we had.

I will write about the rest of the food we had for the weekend in the another post. Till then, take care!

Fruitcake Special

It's the weekend again so it's time for a new blog entry! Today's post shall be on.........

                                                                                 !!!
I'm actually not a huge fan of fruit cakes because I remember my bad experiences with some wedding fruitcake souvenirs. Those were really sweet and intense, too yucky for my liking. My mum baked a Grand Marnier Orange Fruit Cake some time back. Hers was buttery, firm and moderately sweet, less rich and extremely pleasing to eat.

Preparation for this wasn't as straightforward because Mum had to soak the mix fruit in fresh orange juice and grand marnier for a week before adding to the recipe so that the flavor of the dried fruit could be enhanced. Even after the cake was ready, it was kept wrapped at room temperature for another week before we actually cut and ate it. 

So if you would like to try this out, go ahead and follow the recipe :)  

450g mixed fruit
100ml Grand Marnier
100ml freshly squeezed orange juice

Soak mix fruit in orange juice and grand marnier for a week in the fridge.

250g butter
4 eggs
120g sugar
225g all purpose flour
100ml Grand Marnier

a. Preheat oven to 140C. Line baking pan.
b. Cream butter and sugar until smooth.
c. Add in eggs individually, make sure to beat well after each addition.
d. Sift flour into butter mixture and beat slowly until smooth.
e. Fold fruit mixture into the batter.
f. Pour batter into baking pan and bake for one and a half hours.
g. Remove cake from oven and drizzle Grand Marnier immediately over hot cake.
h. When the cake is completely cooled, wrap cake and keep at room temperature for a week before consuming.

         

Dad's Mee Siam

Introducing one of Dad's signature dishes---M E E S I A M. I really really love his Mee Siam, every time he decides to cook it he'll make sure to prepare a huge pot of gravy because he knows I will eat it for lunch and dinner for several days. HAHA yeah I know. Just like his every other dish, Dad found his recipe through experimenting and trial and error. His version of Mee Siam is unlike the ones we usually find in Malay stalls. How should I put it, its taste is in between Malay and Chinese. He likes to to use alot of Asam, onions, fermented soya beans, shrimp paste and chilli. The ingredients he uses are not any different from other recipes I suppose, but somehow he just knows how to modify it to make it special. In fact, Dad doesn't record his recipes, so every time he cooks it will be based on memory and AGARation. 

Garnished with omelette, spring onions and dried shrimps

YUMMYYYYYY...now proceed to drool drool drool