Spicy Sizzling Prawn (香辣铁板虾)

Tom is leaving for China on a business trip again. I am trying to clear out some food from the freezer to cook something nice for him before the trip. After that, I think I will just have all kinds of noodle soup for 3 weeks while he is away.

Here is what I got for his meal the second day before his departure. The spicy sauce is really good to mix in rice. Keep in mind that this dish is served on a heated hot plate, so don't overcook the prawns.



Recipe for Spicy Sizzling Prawn :

1. 300g large prawn - trimmed, de-veined, peeled (optional)

2. Chili mixture - pound or blend the following ingredients:-
i) 3~4 red chillies - unseeded
ii) 1~2 cloves garlic
iii) 4 purple shallot

3. 4~5 ginger slices
4. Some onion slices (approx. 40~50g)
5. 1 tsp oyster sauce
6. 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
7. 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
8. 3~4 tbsp water
9. A dash of sugar (optional)
10. 1~2 tsp Lime Juice (can substitute with tamarind juice)
11. Salt to taste
12. Some green onion for garnishing

Steps :

1. Heat up a hot plate to be used for serving in separate stove.
2. In another heated and greased pan, fragrance the ginger and onion slices
3. Add Chili mixture and cook for 30~60 seconds (watch out the heat)
4. Add in prawn, oyster sauce, sweet chili sauce, dark soy sauce, stir for evenly cooked.
5. Add some water, a little at a time and stir to mix well.
6. Season with a dash of sugar, lime juice and salt to taste.
7. Dish out and serve on a a heated hot plate.

Luo Han Guo & Winter Melon Tea (罗汉果冬瓜茶)

HOT!!! HOT!!! HOT!!!!!45C !!!

Tom was working outdoor to fix the house during the weekend. Even though he drank a lot of water, I still worry about the heat. I made this tea to prevent him from getting heatstroke. I believe Luo Han Guo beverage is not strange to any Malaysian. You can easily get it from any coffee shop, food court or road side stall.

Luo Han Guo (Siraitia grosvenorii) is commonly used for medicinal purposes and as a sweetener. It is normally available in dried form. It's nature is cool and not toxic. The fruit can act as a remedy for heat stroke, wet the lungs, remove phlegm, stop cough and aid defecation. - source from wikipedia.

It is actually very cheap if you make this heat relief beverage by yourself.

Recipe and steps :

1. 1 Luo Han Guo (place in a cheese cloth, tie up, and crushed)
2. 500g winter melon, cut thin to 2" length strips
3. 1500ML water
4. 1tbsp brown sugar
5. 20g~25g rock sugar (can skip or add as desired because Luo Han Guo itself is sweet)
6. 20g dried longan (can skip it or try not to use much as it will bring up " internal heat" of your body)


Steps :
1. Boil the water, add in Luo Han Guo (wrapped in cheese cloth) and winter melon.
2. Bring to boil again then simmer over low heat for 20~30 minutes.
3. Scoop out the winter melon strip to a bowl with a small strainer, immediately add in brown sugar over winter melon, lightly stir to well absorb, let it marinate and set aside.
4. Add in dried longan, and cook for another 10~15minutes.
5. Add in rock sugar, stir until it is melted.
6. Switch off the heat.
7. Scoop a spoonful winter melon in your glass and pour the tea. Can be served warm or cold (fridge it when it is cooled).

Take care and stay cool my friends!!

Vegetarian- Cold Cucumber and Tofu (凉拌小黄瓜豆腐)

It is 45C outside, and it will continue for another 3 days....I think I will be half cooked if letting me standing outside for 10 minutes. Lucky I can work from home today. Tired about meaty meal? Lets try some simple low carb vegetarian dish. It is very simple and refreshing.

1. 1 Persian cucumber (aaprox. 160g) - unseeded, cut to strips, marinate with a dash of salt and few drop of lime juice, chilled.

2. 220g Soft/Silken Tofu - cut to aprox. 1/2" thick slices, cook in a pot of boiled water for 2~3 minutes. Drained and cooled.

3. 1/3" inch of ginger - chopped
4. 1/2 red chili - chopped

5. Seasoning sauce - mix the following ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
i) 1~2 tsp soy sauce
ii) 2 tsp drinking water
iii) 1/2 tsp sesame oil

6. Garnish with some cilantro (optional)


Assembly
1. Arrange Tofu slices and cucumber strips on a plate.
2. Mix ginger and chili into sauce # 5, then pour on top of the cucumber strips!
3. Garnish with some cilantro (optional)

ENJOY!!! and STAY COOL!... :-)

Spicy Roasted Pork Fried Rice

It is very common in Malaysian Taoist worship to offer roasted pork to the God for special occasions. Whenever there is an special occasion, there is always lot of leftover roasted pork, chicken or duck for my family. I love to use the leftover pork to make some fried rice with chili padi, the spiciness of the added chili really gives the taste a "kick".

I bought some roasted pork from Lee Lee yesterday, mainly just want to make this dish that I have been craving for so much!



You don't need to put so much effort for the seasoning, the taste of the roasted pork itself is already good enough to make you drool.


Recipe for 2 servings :

1. 2 eggs mix with a spoon of fresh milk - beaten.
2. 50g purple shallot - chopped or sliced
3. 3~4 chopped chili padi (or as desired)
4. 1.5 bowl cooked rice - cooled completely or overnight rice
5. 130g roasted pork chunks
6. some green bean or long bean cubed (optional)
7. Some green onion for garnishing

Seasoning :-
1. 1~2 tsp soy sauce
2. 1tsp oyster sauce
3. A dash of white pepper powder

Steps :

1. Make scrambled egg and set aside.
2. Fragrance the shallot in a greased heated pan.
3. Add in chili and rice, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Stir to mix well.
4. Add in roasted pork chunks, long bean cubes and scrambled egg. Continue to fry for approx. 3~4 minutes. Sprinkle some water if necessary
4. Shake in a dash of white pepper powder, garnish with some green onion, dish out and serve warm.

Nasi Lemak (Rice with Coconut Milk) and Curry Chicken

OK, back to cooking posts now.

It is July 4th weekend, we have 3 days off. There is no more reason for me to be lazy and find all kind of excuses not to cook.. :-p

It is not fair to Tom too, he has been eating too much of my lazy meals recently, fried rice, noodle soup, koey teow soup, beehoon soup, mee suah soup, fried noodle, pizza...etc. I feel a bit guilty...lol

We have a small pot luck party on this weekend, they ordered curry chicken from me, I decided to cook some additional ingredients for nasi lemak (coconut rice)just for ourselves and some of my friends I recently met here - they are from Singapore and Malaysia.

Recipe for Curry Chicken

Please keep in mind that this recipe is for 5lbs of chicken, adjust the amount of the ingredients if you cook for smaller portion.
It is impossible for me to find the fresh ground spices over here in Arizona. Hence I have invented my own version of curry chicken, I don't really like the typical Chinese curry chicken that with a lot of coconut milk gravy. I like curry Kapitan but it is too dry for me, so, I mix with a pack of curry rendang paste in order to produce more gravy to mix with the rice. Here's my version of curry chicken.


1. 1.5 pack (110g) of Hup Long curry Kapitan powder (see picture at the end of the post), it is available at local oriental supermarket (Lee Lee), I normally buy it from Penang (Carrefour or Tesco).

2. 1 pack (200G) of Mak Nyonya Rendang paste (see picture at the end of the post)
I brought this from Penang too, you can substitute it with any brand that is available at your local oriental supermarket)

3. 5lbs chicken, marinade with 0.5pack(35g) of curry Kapitan powder with 1/2tsp of salt for 1 hour.

4. 500g purple shallot - ground or blended
5. 4 stalks lemon grass - crushed
6. 8~10 curry leaf
7. 1000~1200ml water
8. 3~4 tbsp thick coconut milk
9. 2~3 tsp lime juice
10. 2pcs of lime peel (about 2" size) - optional
11. Salt to taste
12. 2~3 potato, cook until soft, peel and cut to chunks.

Note :
*** If I cook 1 whole chicken - approx. 3.5lbs, I will just reduce the Kapitan curry powder to 1 pack usage, reduce the water and coconut milk, I will keep the same amount of ground shallot.***



Steps :

1. Heat the pot, add in sufficient oil.
2. Quick fry marinated chicken
- Not to well cooked. About 2 minutes for a whole drum stick, less than 1 minute for the rest of cuts. I know this step may not sound healthy, but it prevents the meat from becoming mushy. And it makes the meat coat better with the curry gravy too. Split to few fries if you want to save the oil.

3. After quick frying the chicken, discharge excessive oil. Leave about 3tbsp of oil in the pot.
4. Fragrance ground shallot for about 5 minutes (adjust the heat if necessary), add in lemon grass, curry Kapitan powder (pre-mixed with some water), rendang paste and curry leaf.
5. Stir and fragrance for another 5~8 minutes.
6. Add some water water (I added 800ml first, then followed by small portion until it reached my desired texture, if you like thicker gravy, reduce the amount of water)
7. Bring to boil, add in pre-fried chicken, pre-cooked potato chunks. Simmer about about 10~15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
8. Add in coconut milk, lime juice, salt to taste.
9. Bring to boil again then remove from heat immediately.
10. Add in lime peel - optional (I like it this way as it brings some tangy aroma to my curry chicken, the lime peel shouldn't be cooked, or it will bring bitter flavor to your curry gravy ).
11. Skim excessive oil if necessary.



Sambal chili- I made this 1 day ahead and forgot to record the volume of my ingredients. I believe a lot of Malaysians have their own homemade recipe. I made it simple just a combination of fresh ground chili, roasted prawn paste (belacan) and key lime juice.




Sambal Ikan Bilis (Sambal Anchovies and Peanut)- only mix the sauce with anchovies and peanut when serving to avoid soggy texture.

I make this for small portion only just for ourselves and my friends from Malaysia and Singapore)

1. 100g anchovies - rinsed then dried with paper towel, bake in the oven for 25~30 minutes at 300f. Juggling the baking sheet every 10 minutes to prevent burning. I avoid to deep fry it for health reasons (try to avoid too much frying now..lol)

2. 150 peanuts - saute without oil until golden brown (again, avoid frying it)

Sauce for ikan bilis

1. 1tbsp oil
2. 100g onion slices
3. 2tbsp homemade sambal chili
4. 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
5. 1 tsp oyster sauce
6. 70ml water
7. 1~2 tbsp tamarind juice
8. 1/2~1 tsp dark soy sauce
9. 1/2 tsp sugar
10. Some corn starch liquid for thickening
****no need to season with salt because anchovies are salty enough****



Steps:
1. Fragrance onion slices with oil.
2. Add in sambal chili, stir and switch to medium heat.
3. Add sweet chili sauce, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce.
4. Stir for few second then add in water, tamarind juice and sugar.
5. Bring to boil then thicken the sauce with corn starch liquid.
6. Remove from heat immediately.

Lastly...coconut rice, just grab all the ingredients below into a rice cooker then press start. :-)

1. 3 cup jasmine rice - washed and rinsed.
2. 2.75~3 cup water (depends on which brand of the rice you use)
3. 5~6 tbsp thick coconut milk
4. 1/4 tsp salt
5. 1 inch of fresh ginger chunk
6. 6~8 pandan leaf (screw pine leaf) - I like it more-- :-)

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Curry Kapitan powder - it is also available at oriental supermarket here - Lee Lee Supermarket.











Brought it back from Penang, I found it tastes better. The one sold at Lee Lee is the brand from Singapore.