Homemade Collagen Stock (胶原蛋白）

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

One of the most common comments received when you posted your pork trotter pictures is there are lots of collagen and it is very beneficial to the skin.. Well, this is a true fact minus the fats under the pigskin… If you keep the pig trotter broth in the fridge, the next day, your broth may become jelly like and if you re-heated it , it will melt and become the same soup again.. The same for the fish stock that you have prepared..

If you Google “collagen for skin care”, you are likely to see that most major cosmetic companies will have such a product to enhance your skin complexion and reduce wrinkles.. Cosmetic surgery also uses this important ingredients.

The health supplements will also want a share of this natural protein product by introducing collagen supplements..You can easily get it in supplement stores in Singapore and Malaysia.

Of course restaurant owners will not be left out in this trends, they will sell you a pot of collagen pack hotpot at a huge price premium and customers believed that it will transform you into a beauty and hence the name beauty hotpot (美人锅） were used. Whether or not restaurant uses the top collagen ingredients is up to everyone’s guess.. I can also cheat the readers in this illustration by putting some milk and gelatine powder to come out to some collagen look alike ingredients..

Well, I did not cheat in terms of my ingredients but I cheated in terms of my preparation method. Traditionally to get a very concentrated collagen stock like in this illustration, one will need lots of pork big bones, chicken bones, fish bones, fish scales and etc.. In addition, you will need very long hours of stewing until all the collagen were being extracted.. So this recipe is different from most recipes that uses chicken bones and pork big bones. with long hours of slow cooking.. It uses pigskin..and food processor and effectively, it takes less than half an hour to prepare this natural gelatine.

In fact it is a gelatine and if you are unaware, gelatines used in cheesecake or other jelly are actually animal based. Most of them are non halal and prepared using pigskin… Of course there are halal fish gelatine that sell in speciality cake shop and generally, vegetarians are not advised to eat gelatine set cakes..

In my humble opinion, only this method can yields such concentrated collagen and mind you, over usage of this collagen stock will render your soup a sticky soup. That also explains why it is not transparent like what you saw in most pictures and it is solid white that can be cut into squares for usage..

Well, collagen are not fats… There may be minute quantities of fats but in this recipe, it will be discarded and it should be unnoticeable.. Long term consumption of reasonable quantities of these stock is believed to be able to improve skin complexion and inhibit wrinkles formation.

With such a bit pot of collagen stock, how shall we used in our daily cooking.. You will be surprised that there are many usages that can be used in our daily cooking…Usages of collagen in daily cooking includes

Act as a starch substitute to thicken a sauce – Sauce will be easily thicken without adding any starches.. The dish will be glossy and smooth
Act as a soup base for most soups such as ramen, hotpot, fish head beehoon and etc.. You can always add one portion to the soup at anytime you like it..
Provide liquid inside the dry fillings for an enveloped dough such as the minced pork steamed buns, xiao long bao, soup dumplings (灌汤水饺）
Preparation of traditional meat Jelly such as pork trotter jelly (猪脚冻） but it need to be diluted first

I do not know how much one pays for a collagen hotpot in Singapore, but I used S$3.50 to prepare this big tub of collagen and it can definitely be used for months. Adding about 100 grams inside my soup already make the soup look thick like the broth of the hot pot..

As per Wikipedia:

Collagen /ˈkɒlədʒɨn/ is the main structural protein in the extracellular space in the various connective tissues in animals. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content. Collagen, in the form of elongated fibrils, is mostly found in fibrous tissues such as tendons, ligaments and skin. It is also abundant in corneas, cartilage,bones, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs and the dentin in teeth. In muscle tissue, it serves as a major component of the endomysium. Collagen constitutes one to two percent of muscle tissue, and accounts for 6% of the weight of strong, tendinous muscles. The fibroblast is the most common cell that creates collagen. Gelatin, which is used in food and industry, is collagen that has been irreversibly hydrolyzed. Collagen also has many medical uses in treating complications of the bones and skin. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagen)

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 2 –3 litres of thick concentrated stocks that can be further diluted

1 kg of pigskin
About 3-4 times the volume of water

STEPS OF PREPARATION

In a big pot put the pigskin, add the water. The water volume shall be at least 2-3 times the volume of the pigskin. You can add water at any stage of your preparation. Bring the water to boil and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Drain the pigskin and keep the hot water.

Trim away all the fats under the pigskin if any. Cut into small pieces.

Transfer the cut pigskin to a food processor or blender. If using a blender, add some hot water from the pot and blend it until as fine as possible. You will witness the solution will turn whitish and that is essentially collagen. Transfer the blended solution back into the pot, let it boil for another 15 minutes.

Put a sift on top of a desired container, pour the hot whitish solution into the container. Collect the pigskin that are not fine enough. If dsired, you can re-blend these pigskin and boil again for the second time to maximize the recovery rate. Effectively, I have only threw away about 100 grams of the pigskin as i have blended a few time to collect more stock.

Cool completely and when set, cut it into small pieces for future usage. The firmness of your collagen stock will depend on the amount of water added. The more water it is, the softer it will be ..

To use it, add your pre-cut collagen slices into soup or meat dishes. The soup will looked very concentrated and for meat dishes, it will be very glossy without the need to add starches.

Note:

If you do not like it to be too thick, you can dilute with water before setting.

To wash all the cooking utensils, flush all the utensils with hot boiling water.

CONCLSUION

As you can see, I have prepared two dishes using a small quantities of homemade collagen.. It is so satisfactory especially the shredded ginger chicken. It smoothen the meat without the need to add starches. In view of such thick concentration of collagen, it is likely that I will use it for noodle dishes. My own perception is a small quantity of additional collagen per day will replenish the natural lost of collagen in the body and in the long run, I hope, I hope, I hope I will have less wrinkles.. Lol

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 13 March 2015) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts. Also follow me at INSTAGRAM or TSU, a new social network for some more personal sharing other than recipes.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP and FOOD PARADISE 美食天堂 to see more recipes. I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

Pumpkin Coconut Jam aka Pumpkin Kaya (金瓜加椰）

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

This is the long overdue recipe that I have never blog.. It was very trendy 2 years ago. I still remembered then I just started my blog and I can remember that a few bloggers started sharing recipe and it become so common that Facebook are flooded with this pumpkin kaya recipe.

Since I have a lot of pumpkin at home, I have therefore decided to prepare some. After digesting for 3-4 recipes, I have designed my own, making it creamier and easier.

I am happy that the adventure works, and family members like it too. Actually, the taste did not differ much from the traditional egg kaya or coconut jam. It is silky smooth and good as spreads for bread.. It is addictive too possibly because of the creaminess from the addition of condensed milk.

Well, if you are someone who have condensed milk phobia, I have another recipe to use castor sugar. You can choose either one but the one with condensed milk is definitely a better recipe. The illustration will show the use of condensed milk.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepare a small bottle of pumpkin coconut jam

400 grams of pumpkin
8 Pandan Leaves
80 grams of condensed milk or 60 grams of brown sugar
200 ml or grams of thick coconut milk

Note: Both the sugar and condensed milk quantities stated here are rather conservative. Feel free to add more if you found that it is not sweet enough to your liking.

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Steam the pumpkin until soft. Put all the ingredients (except pandan leaves) into a blender and blend until as fine as possible. Transfer to to a non stick pan and add pandan leaves. Cook under low heat until it thickens. Constant stirring is required and it took me about 30 minutes of stirring. If the jam thicken until a stage whereby when you stir, the line appeared on the jam, it is considered as done. Cool completely before storing in sterilized glass container.

CONCLUSION

Trust me, if you have never try pumpkin kaya before, you should give it a try. If you have tried it before, do give this recipe a try and let me know if there is any differences.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 13 March 2015) here and you can follow me at

PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts. Also follow me at INSTAGRAM or TSU, a new social network for some more personal sharing other than recipes.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP and FOOD PARADISE 美食天堂 to see more recipes. I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

Pomelo Honey Jam (柚子蜂蜜酱）

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

First of all, I have to apologize that I got confused with term Yuzu and pomelo.. I was confused because of the Japanese Kanji 柚子 is different from the Chinese character 柚子. Though both characters are the same but Yuzu in Chinese is 香橙 and 柚子 for Chinese character means pomelo.. Are you as confused as me? Well, I hope not, I do not intend to change my picture wordings as the recipe is equally applicable to the preparation of yuzu jam if you are able to get hold of it.

This post is concerning pomelo or 柚子 or 文旦, another type of fruit in the citrus family. As per Wikipedia,

“Citrus maxima (or Citrus grandis), (Common names: shaddock, pomelo, pummelo, pommelo, pamplemousse, or shaddok) is a natural (non-hybrid) citrus fruit, with the appearance of a big grapefruit, native to South and Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white (or, more rarely, pink or red) flesh and very thick albedo (rind pith). It is a large citrus fruit, 15–25 centimetres (5.9–9.8 in) in diameter, usually weighing 1–2 kilograms (2.2–4.4 lb). Leaf petioles are distinctly winged. The fruit tastes like a sweet, mild grapefruit (which is itself believed to be a hybrid of Citrus maxima and the orange^[6]), though the typical shaddock is much larger than the grapefruit. It has none, or very little, of the common grapefruit’s bitterness, but the enveloping membranous material around the segments is bitter, considered inedible, and thus is usually discarded. The peel is sometimes used to make marmalade, can be candied, and is sometimes dipped in chocolate. In Brazil, the thick skin is often used for making a sweet conserve, while the middle is discarded. Citrus maxima is usually grafted onto other citrus rootstocks but can be grown from seed, provided the seeds are not allowed to dry out before planting.”Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomelo)

The benefits of pomelo are many and as per http://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/health-benefits-of-pomelos/, the 13 major benefits of pomelo includes the following. However, it is advised that you do some read up on the above link before you place reliance on such information,

Prevent urinary tract infection
Promote fast healing of wounds
Promotes healthy teeth and gums
Prevent anaemia
Prevent colds and flu
Regulate blood pressure levels
Prevent osteoporosis
Prevent leg cramps
Cure Constipation
Aids in weight loss
Fights against Cancers
Treats atherosclerosis:
Anti-aging

This fruit is very common during Chinese New Year and big festivals like moon cake festival. As to why moon cake festival was associated with pomelo, according to some website, it was written that the homophone of 柚子 is the same of having son (有子）. Some others believed that eating 柚子 or pomelo will lead to moon goddess’s 嫦娥 blessing 保佑平安。Some said that during the period of moon cake festivals, it is the harvesting time of pomelo in northern hemisphere. Some even believed that putting the pith of the pomelo at the head of a kid will give additional blessings during this period.

I am also rather new to this belief as it was not common during my childhood in my small town. What I know now is that this is common in PRC when I was staying there, Hong Kong and Taiwan Facebook Groups. Singapore supermarkets was loaded with pomelo and prices can be steep before the festival. Gift sending always include moon cake and pomelo..

I believed many families are loaded with pomelo.. Most will eat the juicy flesh in throw away the skin. What most may not know is that the skin can be churned into dishes and jam and etc. What I am sharing today is how to skin the pomelo beautifully and how to make jam from the fruits. You can use the jam for as bread spread, baking cakes or dilute with water and become a refreshing drink. . In fact, you can also use for stir frying pork ribs, chicken and etc. as a flavouring agent.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepare a small jar of pomelo jam

One medium to big size pomelo
500 grams of pomelo flesh
120 grams of white sugar
200 grams of honey or golden syrup or maltose
50 grams of water

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Wash and scrub the skin of the pomelo as clean as you can. Use a sharp knife to cut shallowly a circle at the middle of the pomelo. Do not cut too deep as it will cut into the flesh. Use a spoon to push inside the pith and push around the fruit. When the cavity is big enough that your finger can go in, use your finger to push around the segments. Take out the rind and the pith. Perform the same for the bottom.

Use a knife to cut lightly following the segment patterns. Use hand to lightly pull apart the segments. Use a knife to cut away the core connecting part. Use your hand to pull away the white membrane. During this process, you have to hold the pomelo segment tight to facilitate pulling. Otherwise, you are likely to break the fruits.

Use a peeler to peel the rind (do not go into the white pith). If you are weary that it is bitter, you can blanch in hot water for 2-3 minutes but the fragrance will be reduce in the next step.

In a pot, put the pomelo flesh, sugar, pomelo rind and water. Bring to boil. Though the water seems to be very little, however, when you boil, the pomelo juices will be excreted.

Once the flesh and rind has slightly softened (after boiling for 5 minutes), transfer to a blender and blend until fine. This steps is optional but it will save you at least 30 minutes of high heat boiling. You can omit this step but you will need to boil until the flesh and rind is soft which took about one hour.

Transfer the blended flesh back to the pan, add the honey, continue boiling under high heat until the jam thicken. Give it an occasional stirring to avoid sticking to the sides. Cool completely before store in a sterilized glass container.

The jam can be used to prepare drinks , as a bread spread , baking cupcakes or chiffon cakes or as a flavour enhances in the cooking of savoury dishes.

CONCLUSION

I hope this post will help those who are looking for a way to fully utilize the pomelo. If you are overloaded with pomelo, you can consider this recipe.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 13 March 2015) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts. Also follow me at INSTAGRAM or TSU, a new social network for some more personal sharing other than recipes.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP and FOOD PARADISE 美食天堂 to see more recipes. I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs….. Join Me To Cook Eggs….

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

I doubt if any one from my generation have never try eggs and if they try, never like eggs. Of course they are some unfortunate people in this world that have egg allergy and can only have cakes or other cuisines that are eggless. Bearing this in mind, I would think that majority of the people (at least in my circles of friends) would not reject the offer of a simple fried egg dish to go with their meal.

This is an updated post that I have issued a year ago. Due to some technical reasons, I can’t retrieve my old files and have to treat this an a new post. Hope this will benefit new house chefs who are looking for advise on cooking eggs.

WAYS OF COOKING EGGS

There are many ways of cooking eggs and this post will by pass all the descriptive flowery languages and go straight to the following ways of cooking eggs. You may have known this better than me but just took some time to read if there are any thing that you can add to my post and constructively criticise about my ways of preparing eggs. The methods that will be covered here are:

Soft Boiled Eggs (水煮蛋）
Hard Boiled Eggs (水煮蛋）
Coloured Eggs (上色蛋）
Poached Eggs （水波蛋）
Scrambled Eggs (炒蛋）
Eggs Omelette （蛋饼）
Braised Eggs (卤蛋）
Steamed Eggs （蒸蛋）
Adding eggs to Chinese Soups （蛋花）
Fried Eggs （煎蛋）
Lava Eggs (溏心蛋）- Ni-tamago

1。2。SOFT BOILED EGGS AND HARD BOILED EGGS (水煮蛋）

To have perfect soft boiled eggs and hard boiled eggs, there are some timings that need to be followed An over boiled egg will have solid egg yolks slightly bluish in colour. If it is fresh farm eggs, additional 5 minutes is needed. It is easier to boil eggs keep in the refrigerator than those keep at room temperature.

In a big pot filled with water, add in two big tablespoon of vinegar (to prevent egg whites flow out in the event the eggs crack), one teaspoon of salt and bring the water to boil under high heat. Once boiled, turn to medium heat to let the water simmer. Place the eggs using a spoon and gently lower down to the pot. The range of timing to get the desired textures of eggs are as follows (source: :adapted from http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Soft-Boiled-Egg)

2 minutes – very soft yolk and egg whites
3 minutes – the white is set and the yolk is just starting to thicken
4 minutes – the white and yolk are set, with the centre of the yolk still creamy.
5 minutes – the white and yolk are set with centre starting to set
10 minutes – the white and yolk are all set
Any further timing than this will result the eggs yolks to start turning to a bluish colour.

Please note the colour changes of the egg yolks.

3。COLOURED EGGS (上色蛋）

At birthday or other important occasions, Chinese like to colour their eggs red. If you do not colour the eggs properly, the eggs will stain your hand or when you touch it. Therefore, it is important that your eggs do not lose its colour when you hold it.

In a bowl, put some colour gel or permitted food colouring. Add few drops of vinegar. Stir well.

When ready, transfer your hard boiled eggs directly from the pot that it was cooked and use a spoon to roll the eggs. The hotter the egg, the easier it is. Continue rolling until you get your desired colour tone. It will dry very fast because of the heat inside the eggs. Look for any areas not covered with the colouring and make sure the colour is as even as possible.

4。POACHED EGGS （水波蛋）

As per Wikipedia:

A poached egg is an egg that has been cooked by poaching, that is, in simmering liquid. This method of preparation is favoured because a very consistent and predictable result can be attained with precise timing, as the boiling point of water removes the temperature variable from the cooking process. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poached_egg)

A poached egg is consider as perfect if all the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny. It is good to be served in soups or with breads.

In a hot pot of water, add one teaspoon of vinegar. Let it boil under high heat and once boiled, turn down to low heat and let it simmer.

Crack your eggs in a bowl or some kitchen utensils, slowly place it in the water. Don’t stir the water. If you want to stir the water, it must be done in a circular motion quickly such that the egg whites would not dispersed the the near by areas. Let it simmer until all the egg whites solidify.

5。SCRAMBLED EGGS (炒蛋）

Per Wikipedia:

Scrambled eggs is a dish made from whites and yolks of eggs (usually chicken eggs). Eggs are poured into a hot greased pan and coagulate almost immediately. The heat is turned down to low and the eggs are constantly stirred as they cook. The pan and the stirring implement, if kept in constant motion, create small and soft curds of egg. (Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambled_eggs)

In a big mixing bowl, put some eggs. Put in some milk and beat until the eggs are well “mixed”, The purpose of this step is just to ensure the egg yolks and the egg whites are well beaten, You can also used a hand whisk to whisk it.

In a frying pan, put in some butters (or other cooking oils of your choice) and melt the butter.

Pour in the beaten eggs and constantly stir it. Once the eggs have solidify into smaller curds, off the heat, add in seasonings such as salt and pepper and scoop up to a plate for servings.

6. EGGS OMELETE （蛋饼）

Per Wikipedia:

In cuisine, an omelette or omelette is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat(often ham), or some combination of the above. To obtain a fluffy texture, whole eggs or sometimes only egg whites are beaten with a small amount of milk or cream, or even water, the idea being to have “bubbles” of water vapour trapped within the rapidly cooked eggs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omelette)

In this illustration, I have prepared seaweed omelette with tomatoes. An omelette is deemed perfect if both sides have solidified whereas the insides are still moist but not runny. Milk is usually used to achieve that effect. Please refer the scrambled eggs above.

Follow the steps as mentioned in scrambled eggs above. Add in the seaweeds to the eggs. Add seasonings or your choice.

In a big shallow frying pans, add in the seaweed beaten eggs. Let it fried the bottom layer start to solidify.

Add in cut tomatoes strips and when all the eggs are not runny in the centre, fold into half.

7. BRAISED EGGS (卤蛋）

Chinese like to braise eggs and usually the eggs were braised together with meat broth such as from braising of ducks, pork belly etc. It appeared in Chinese cuisines such as Kuey Chap, a Teochew type of flat broad rice sheets and served with dark braised meat broth.

To prepare Chinese styled braised eggs:

In a sauce pan, stir fry big pieces of galangal, garlics and gingers until aromatic. Add cups of dark soya sauce diluted with adequate to cover the meat or eggs that are to be braised. Bring to boil under high heat.

Once boiled, turn to medium heat, add in five spice powder, some rock sugars and items to be braised including eggs.

Depending on the items to be braised, if without meat, eggs will need about 15 minutes before the colour sets in the eggs.

Off the heat and let the eggs sits in the broth for another 15 minutes for the flavour to penetrate the eggs.

There is a detail pictorial instruction of preparing braised eggs and bean curd. Please refer to Guaishushu’s page recipe D10 – Braised Eggs and Taukwa (卤蛋和豆干）.

8. STEAMED EGGS （蒸蛋）

Steamed eggs is another common household dish for Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese. It is also common in Korean and Japanese cuisines. The challenges of steamed eggs is to ensure that the eggs are flat, soft and without any bubbles or holes appearing on the eggs. In order to achieve that, one important point to note is the usage of boiled water when making the egg solution. If tap were used, the water is full of air or oxygen and this will cause the steamed eggs to have lots of holes. Cooked water are free of air and therefore when steamed, the eggs will be silky and soft.

In a big bowl, crack one egg and add in about half a cup of cooked or boiled water (meat broth can also be used). If you want it softer, you can add in more water., Add in all your preferred seasonings, beat until well combined. Sieved and put in a bowl to steam at medium heat.

It is considered as done when the eggs are set. Drizzle with additional seasoning such as sesame oils, light soya sauce if necessary.

There is a detail pictorial instruction of preparing steamed eggs. Please refer to Guaishushu’s page recipe D8-Steamed Tofu With Eggs (豆腐蒸蛋）

The following is another simple recipe you can try: Crack one egg, add 1/2 teaspoon of corn flour, add one cup of warm to hot water, stir until well combined. Sift the egg mixture to a steaming bowl and steamed under medium to high heat for 15 minutes. You should have a bowl of nice smooth steamed egg.

9. ADDING EGGS TO CHINESE SOUP （蛋花）- Egg Flower or Egg Drop Soup

Certain Chinese cuisines required soups to be thickened with egg solution. In the illustration, I have used some old images that I have photographed for the preparation of Lor Mee. A type of noodle dish where braised meat broth were first diluted and further thickened by using eggs and starches. A perfect addition of eggs should see small pieces of eggs floating in the soup or broth and there should be no lumps of eggs in the soup.

Slightly beat your eggs until well mixed.

Use high heat to bring to boil. Once the soup is boiling, slowly add in the beaten eggs and use a ladle to stir the soup in a circular motion as quickly as possible. In that case, you will be able to break the egg solutions even before it solidifies.

There is a detail pictorial instruction of using the same method to prepare another Chinese starchy soup. Please refer to Guaishushu’s page recipe S6 – Vegetarian Shark Fin Melon Soup (素鱼翅瓜羹）

10. FRIED EGGS （煎蛋）

Everybody how to fry an egg and there is nothing much to say about egg frying techniques except one point. In order to have a “sunny top” type of eggs, you can consider the procedures below. If you follow the procedure, your egg yolks will not be easily broken.

Heat up your frying pan and put a teaspoon of oil (optional).

Crack your eggs and put a few drops of water around the frying pan. Cover the frying pan to capture the water vapour.

Open the cover as soon as the egg is set and egg white is cooked. Off the heat and transfer to a serving plate.

Note that this way of frying eggs is possible without any oils (if using a non stick pan). You can heat your frying pan under high heat, crack your eggs and off the heat immediately. Put a few drops of water around the frying pan and cover the frying pan immediately and let the water vapour cook the top part of the egg yolk. Once the egg white is cooked, the top part of the egg yolk should also have cooked while inside, the egg yolk remains runny. You may want to refer to my Nasi Goreng Aruk post on how to fry eggs without oil.

11. Lava Eggs (溏心蛋）- Ni-tamago

Ni-tamago or lava egg is an Japanese style of cooking eggs usually served with ramen. It is supposed to be with a well cooked firm egg whites but with a semi cooked runny gooey yolks. To prepare this is not really difficult。

WHAT IS REQUIRED

4 eggs
4 tablespoons of mirin (Japanese rice wine)
4 tablespoons of Japanese light soya sauce
2 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 cups of water

STEPS OF PREPARATION

In a pot, heat up the water, sugar, mirin and light soya sauce until sugar dissolved. Set aside for later use.
In another pot, put adequate water to cover the eggs. Place the eggs in the cold water. Bring the water to boil under medium heat.Once it boil, let it boil for 30 seconds.

When it reaches 30 seconds, cover the pot with the lid and 10 seconds later off the heat. Let it rest in the hot boiling water (with heat off and lid covered) for another 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, transfer the eggs to another pot of icy cold water. Let it rest in the icy water until when the egg is not hot to touch. Peel the shell in the egg in a pool of cold water. Transferred the peeled eggs to the about marinate. Marinate the eggs for at least 4-8 hours before serving. For serving, use a dental floss to cut across the eggs carefully.

On more other egg related dishes, you can refer here:

Devilled Egg

Hong Kong Short Crust Pastry Egg Tarts (港式蛋挞）

Portuguese Egg Tarts–Pastel De Nata (葡式蛋挞）

Steamed Egg and Milk Custard Dessert (蒸奶蛋甜品）

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 28 July 2014) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.
If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

Homemade Chinese Rice Noodles–Hor Fun or He Fen or Guo Tiao (沙河粉，河粉或粿条）

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

I will be shocked if any of the Malaysian or Singaporean Chinese readers who do not know about this type of noodles.. Further explanation of this noodle may insult the readers.. ha ha

But as usual, for the sake of my international readers, let’s see what Wikipedia have written about this common type of Chinese rice noodles..

“Shahe fen or he fen is a type of wide Chinese noodle made from rice. Shahe fen noodles are white in colour, broad, and somewhat slippery. Their texture is elastic and a bit chewy. They do not freeze or dry well and are thus generally (where available) purchased fresh, in strips or sheets that may be cut to the desired width. Where fresh noodles are not available, they may also be purchased packaged in dried form, in various widths.

While shahe fen and he fen are transliterations based on Mandarin, there are numerous other transliterations based on Cantonese, which include ho fen, hofen, ho-fen, ho fun, ho-fun, hofoen (a Dutch transliteration in Suriname), hor fun, hor fen, sar hor fun, etc. In addition, shahe fen is often synonymously called kway teow (粿條), literally “rice cake strips”, transliteration based on Min Nan Chinese, POJ: kóe-tiâu) or guotiao (pinyin: guǒtiáo; the corresponding transliteration of Mandarin), as in the name of a dish called char kway teow. However, shahe fen and kway teow are strictly and technically not the same (the latter being essentially rice cakes sliced into strips) and the Min Nans in general still consciously make a distinction between shahe fen and kway teow in their speech. Original rice cakes or its strips are very stiff in texture (even after cooking), making them unpopular with modern consumers. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahe_fen)

Though it can be easily bought in the market and not many readers may be willing to take the hassle to prepare the noodles, however, this post will benefit my overseas’ reader who have difficulty to get freshly prepared noodles…In addition, homemade version is not as oily as commercially sold.. As far as house chefs is concerned, they are likely willing to forgo the perfection of the noodles for the sake of healthiness. Oil is required to separate the noodles such that it will not become lumpy when they are sold in the market..

I am exploring the recipe of hor fun because I found that it is rather interesting to find out homemade versions of certain food that we took for granted… Out of my surprise, the preparation is extremely easy…and only 3 main ingredients were needed, all are common household items…Texture of course will not be as smooth and fine as the counter bought but I can definitely accept these imperfections. In fact, I found that I prefer the slightly thicker and coarser texture of this home made hor fun especially if it is used for stir frying.

WHAT IS REQURIED

Servings : About half a kilo of rice noodles

200 grams of rice flour
400 grams of water
20 grams of potato starch or corn starch
Pinches of salt
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
Additional cooking oil for brushing the cooked hor fun

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Get ready a steamer and lightly grease a baking tin for steaming.

In a big mixing bowl, place all the dry ingredients together, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and water, use a hand whisk to stir the rice solution until well mixed.

Put some rice solution in the baking tin (in this illustration, I used 1/2 cup of rice solution for a 9” round baking tin and it yielded hor fun of about 1 mm thickness). Swirl around such that it is as even as possible. Steam in a steamer at high heat for about 5-6 minutes or when the rice sheet is not sticky. Take out the baking tin, brush some cooking oil on top of the hor fun, use something sharp object such as fork to take out the big piece of hor fun. Perform the same until all the rice solutions are steamed. When cooled, cut into your desired width before stir frying.

CONCLUSION

There is a sense of achievement to homemade these noodles that can easily be bought in the market.. Family members never complain about the texture of the hor fun and kids have finished all without knowing that this is homemade. I seriously hope that this post will benefit overseas member who have difficulty to get the commercially sold hor fun..For local members, why not trying to prepare some when time permits..

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 28 July 2014) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.
If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

Soy, Soy, Soy, Join Me to Cook Soy Related Products

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

I doubt if any Chinese , Japanese and Koreans do not know any thing about soya beans. Some soya bean products such as bean curds are so common that the Chinese name (“Tofu” or “ 豆腐“） have been accepted as an English word. I was once told that Japanese women had one of the lowest breast cancer risk because of their long term consumption of soya beans based products. However, for this post, I did not do a detail research on this.

Soya beans have isoflavones that may inhibit the risk of breast cancers and there is an inverse relationship between the intake of isoflavones and miso soup with the risk of breast cancer. (source: Soy, Isoflavones, and Breast Cancer Risk in Japan) . I have to be fair that there are also subsequent, contradictive research studies that rebutted its properties of inhibition and proved that “it may not necessary be able to inhibit the risk of breast cancer…”. Well, just from these two simple conclusions without going into details, in my humble opinion, soya based products are general good and nutritious to your body. If it’s able to inhibit breast cancer, it will definitely a plus point. However, without this property, tofu are packed with vitamins and proteins which are essential for our body growth.

Miso Soup with Egg Tofu and Tofu Puff Meat Balls

There are really many types of soya based products which are used as Chinese cooking ingredients. This post will roughly highlight to you the various common types of soya bean related products in Chinese household cooking. Due the worldwide globalization and improve in communication systems, some of the soya bean related products originated from Japan and Korea are also being accepted by Malaysian and Singapore Chinese households. One good example will be the Miso soya bean paste.

Meat stuffed taukwa and tofu puffs with fermented black bean sauce.

The post will have two recipes – Tofu Puff Meat Balls In Miso Soup and Meat Stuffed Taukwa with Sweet Black Fermented Beans Sauce. In addition, I will refer you to another few recipes that I have written on soya bean products. These recipes will use the following common type of soya beans products.

Tofu puffs – This is a type of tofu that were deep fried with a golden yellowish skin. It is fluffy and light and can withstand long hours of cooking;

Taukwa – This is also called hard bean curd, a type of tofu that has less moisture content than the normal silky bean curd or tofu. It is firmer and with a meaty texture. It is good for stir frying and deep frying.

Chinese black fermented beans – This is a type of fermented soya beans made by fermenting and salting. Usually, it is used in Chinese cuisines for flavouring and used in making the black bean sauce (as in the recipe below) for dipping or as toppings. The normal type of Chinese black fermented beans can be slightly spicy and very salty. However, today, the brand I used had a totally different taste. It is a product from Taiwan ROC, sweet and no other condiments are deemed necessary when cooking using these black beans.

Japanese Miso pastes – Most will know that Miso is another type of fermented soya bean paste. It is brownish and in a paste form. It is tasty in its unique way and most commonly used in the cooking of Japanese seaweed soup.

Egg Tofu – Egg tofu is rather common in recent years. It is just like the normal tofu except with the addition of eggs in a certain prescribed ratio. It is soft, full of egg fragrance and one of the well received dishes by kids. Egg tofu are usually used in soups or some light stir frying dishes due to its silky texture.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

These ingredients are for both recipes (servings: 3-4)

Minced meats to be used for both dishes

500 grams of minced meat
200 grams of fish paste (optional)
2 tablespoons of corn flour
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of white pepper
Some chopped spring onions (optional)
Some winter vegetables (optional)

Tofu puff meatballs in Miso Soup*

5-6 square small tofu puffs
5 big tablespoons of Miso Paste
1 tube of egg tofu
Some lettuces

Meat Stuffed Taukwa with Fermented Black Bean Sauce*

1 big piece of taukwa (drier bean curd)
2 big tablespoons of black fermented black beans (sweet)
1 shallot minced
1 cm ginger minced
1 tablespoon of corn starch

* Ingredients in these two categories were not in the picture above.

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Marinating The Meat (both for recipes)

In a big bowl, put all the ingredients together (fish meat, corn flour, spring onion, minced meat, sesame oil, white pepper, winter vegetables). Use a pair of chopsticks or a tablespoon to stir it until well mix. Marinate for 15 minutes.

Meat Stuffing The Tofu Puffs

Take a piece of tofu puff. Cut it diagonally into two halves. Use a teaspoon to “poke” the centre and make a tofu puff boat. Put 1-2 teaspoons of the marinating meat inside the cavity. Try to stuff as many as possible until it resemble the shape of a volcano (as my kids called it). Set aside and put it in the fridge.

My kids “insisted” they want to help before they take the bath

Uncooked Meat Stuff Tofu Puffs

Meat Stuffing The Taukwa (Firm Tofu)

Cut the taukwa into 4 smaller pieces. Use a knife to cut the centre a bit, use a tablespoon to dig out a cavity. Stuff as much minced meat as possible inside the taukwa. Set aside and put it in the fridge.

Making the Meat Balls

Put some minced meat in your hand. Squeeze until a small ball appeared. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the balls. Set aside for later use. Store in the fridge. If it is too sticky, put some water in your hand and continue.

Cooked Tofu Puff Meatballs

TOFU PUFF MEAT BALLS IN MISO SOUP

To summarize, for the dish, you should have the tofu puff meat balls, half of the meat balls, some lettuces, 2 tablespoons of miso paste, 1 egg tofu.

Bring a pot (about 5 cups) of water to boil under high heat. Add in tofu puff meat balls and meat balls. Let it boiled for about 3-4 minutes. The meat balls will considered to be cooked when it starts to float in the Miso soup.

For the egg tofu, cut into small pieces and put in the boiling Miso soup. Add in lettuces and off the heat. No seasoning or condiment is required as the Miso soup is already very tasty.

Cooked Miso Soup with Tofu Puff Meat Balls and Egg Tofu

Best served hot as a soup item to go with a full set Chinese meal.

MEAT STUFFED TAUKWA WITH BLACK FERMENTED BLACK BEAN SAUCE

To summarize, for the dish, you should have some minced ginger, minced garlics, corn starch solution (1 tablespoon of corn starch in 3 tablespoons of water), 2 tablespoons of sweet black fermented beans, half of the meat balls and the meat stuffed taukwa.

In a frying pan, put some oils, heat the oils under high heat. Deep fry the meat stuff taukwa and meat balls until the outer layer is golden in colour. The taukwa may take about 5 minutes but the meat balls will be cooked within 2-3 minutes. Drain and transfer to a serving plate. If you prefer, you can put these in an oil absorbing paper.

In the pan, use some oil from deep frying the meat stuffed taukwa, put in minced gingers and garlics, stir fry until aromatic. Add in Chinese fermented black beans, stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in half cup of plain water and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add in the corn starch solution. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes or when the sauce is transparent (meaning not milky). Off the heat.

Place the fermented black soya sauce on the serving plate. Arrange the meat stuff taukwa and meat ball in the desired pattern. Drizzle some fermented black bean sauce on the top of the meat stuffed taukwa and meatballs. Garnished with some spring onions or coriander leaves before serving.

Best served hot as a side dish in a full Chinese meals.

Note: If there are no black fermented beans, you can just serve the fried meat stuff taukwa with mayonnaise or Thai sweet chilli sauce, or just oyster sauce alone.

OTHER SOYA BEAN RELATED POST

For other soya bean cuisines, you may want to refer the following post:

STEAMED EGGS WITH TOFU (Please click the link or the picture below)

HOT AND SPICY TEMPEH (Please click the link or the picture below)

SEAFOOD TOFU (Please click the link or the picture below)

GADO GADO (Indonesia Salad) (Please click the link or the picture below)

CHINESE MEAT ROLLS (Wrapped with dry bean curd sheets) (Please click the link or the picture below)

Others:

CONCLUSION

This is a rather long post. As can be seen the various recipes here, soya bean play a very important role in most Malaysian and Singapore Chinese diets and cuisines. We can easily put up a meal that are full of “tofu relatives”. What I have covered in this post may only accounted for 20-30% of the soya bean products used in our cuisines. There are many other ingredients such as the silken tofu, tofu jelly, dried bean curd stick, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, bean curd sheets etc…

Hopefully for my international readers, you will have a better understanding about tofu and its related products. Do try to have some simple tofu dishes at home and I am sure it wouldn’t disappoint you. Hope you like the post today.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE.

For Four Seasons Blog Hop where I am the Co-host, please join us for the party where you can get a lot of the family related posts. Please click the above logo to enter your post.

Prawns, Prawns, Prawns… Join Me To Cook Assam Prawns

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

This is a long awaited post on prawns and some of the picture were a few months ago. This is a special post on Chinese ways of preparing prawns for cooking purposes and including one tamarind prawn recipe.

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Prawns are one of the major ingredients in Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese cooking. Due to the countries’ proximity to the sea, seafood is plentiful abundant and prawns are used in many cuisines. We used prawns in vegetable dishes, noodle dish, salad or a dish on its own. It can be pan fried, deep fried and baked, stir fried, steamed, blanch, poached or boiled.

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DE SHELLING THE PRAWNS

Use a kitchen scissor to cut off the head or use your hand by snapping the head and pulling the head downward. Use the hand that had pulled away the head earlier, starting from the bottom near the leg area, use your finger to pluck upwards and detach the shell from the body of the prawns.

If you want to keep the tail, you can leave the last segment of the shell unpluck. If you do not want to keep the tail, use your hand to squeeze the prawns near the tail area and pull it out.

Keep both the tails and heads of the prawn if you want to prepare prawn broth for other noodle cuisines.

Fully de-shelled prawns is good for cuisines such as prawn fritters or cooking noodles dish such as Sarawak Laksa, Hokkien Prawn Noodles.

Sarawak Laksa using both shelled prawns and prawn broth

COOKING PRAWNS WITH SHELL

As the head and tail of a prawn is rather sharp, if I am cooking the cuisine with shelled prawns, I will use the following method.

Use a kitchen scissor to cut the sharp part of the head and its tentacles. Use the scissor to cut away the legs and follow by the sharp part of the tail. This is good for cuisine that requires shelled prawns so as to prevent the prawns from overcook. Example of cuisines are tamarind prawns or steamed prawns.

Tamarind prawns with shell and heads

DEVEINING THE PRAWNS

It is unsightly if the delicious cooked prawns have black intestines in its white flesh. Therefore, deveining the prawns is deemed necessary for bigger prawns. At times, the prawns are rather clean and no deveining is necessary.

Use a small knife to cut along the top part following the shape of the prawns, Use your hand to pull away the intestines. This is also a step to shape the prawns when cooked. If you cut it further inside, the “flower” shape of the cooked prawns will be more obvious.

For the lower intestine, use a toothpick to pierce through the intestine near the end of the tail. Use the same toothpick to pierce under the intestine in the middle of the prawn. Take the toothpick out by cutting open the prawn fresh above the intestine. When you take the toothpick out, the intestine near the tail will follow the toothpick and comes out. Use your hand to pull away the intestine. Note that you have to be slightly careful when performing the steps so as to avoid breaking the intestines.

Blanched vegetables with blanched prawns

WASHING AND FREEZING THE PRAWNS

This is how I usually freeze my prawns to avoid damaging to the meats of the prawns in the event I do not have the time to properly defrost the prawns.

Wash your de-shelled prawns with clean water. Divide the prawns for individual serving and put it in the plastic bag. Add a small amount of water to the plastic bags and and keep it in the freezer. To defrost, just take out the prawns and let it defrost at room temperature. If you do not have adequate time, cut open the plastic bag, put it under running water and the prawns can be separated easily when the ice melts.

MAKING OF PRAWN BROTH

Prawn shells and prawn heads can be “recycled” to make prawn broths which can then be used for the making of many noodles dishes. it is also a good source of iron and calcium.

Wash the prawn shells and prawn heads and set aside. In a big pot of water, add some spring onion and ginger slices (optional), prawn shells, prawn heads and bring to boil under high heat.

Once boiled, drain and transfer to a food processor. Keep the broth. Blend until fine, transfer it back to the broth and let it simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Drain again, cool and keep the broth in the fridge for uses such as Hokkien Prawn Noodles, Penang Prawn Noodles, Sarawak Laksa broth and etc. You can keep in the fridge for quite a number of few weeks. Color of the broth will very much depends on the types of prawns that you bought. If it is female prawns with lots of eggs, it will be orangey in colour.

Hokkien Fried Prawns Noodles prepared using prawn broth

ASSAM PRAWNS (TAMARIND PRAWNS)

This is a Peranakan dish (Nonya dish). I am not Peranakan, however, my mum used to cook this when we are young. I have not eaten this prawn dish for quite a while and I am happy that I managed to replicate the dish without much difference in the flavour. The cooked prawns should be coated with slightly burnt and/or caramelized tamarind. It should looked dark and taste should be sour with tinges of sweetness. Tamarind is also called Assam in the Malay Language.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

500 grams of prawns with shells (refer above)

1-2 sticks of fresh lemon grass

5 cloves of garlics cut into slices

3 small bird eye chilli or 1-2 big chilli (optional)

2 tablespoons of tamarind (or Assam paste)

2 tablespoons of castor sugar (not in picture)

2 tablespoons of cooking oil (not in picture)

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Put all ingredients together, stir well, ensure that all the prawns are coated with herbs and pastes. Marinate the prawns for 2-3 hours in the fridge.

In a big frying pan, heat the oil using high heat. Add the marinated prawns together with the sauces and the herbs. Stir fry for one minute. Add half cup of water and bring to boil. Once boil, turn to medium heat and continue to cook until the water dries up. You will witness the colour for your prawns start to get darker and glossier as the water evaporates. It is okay if there is a slight burnt in the shells of the prawns.

Scoop out the cooked prawns and all the remaining sauces. Garnish with some greens such as coriander leaves if prefer. Best serve hot with white rice.

CONCLUSION

The first part of the post is to share with readers how I prepare my prawns for cooking and the second part of the post is a recipe of tamarind prawns.

For the tamarind prawns, don’t worry about the dark colour of the dish. The dark coloured sauce is the most tasty part of the entire dish. It is a blend of tamarind paste, herbs and caramelized sugar. It is both sweet and sour. I don’t mean to be gross, we suck the juices from the prawn head too. Once you try it, I am sure you will like it. But remember, don’t stain your cloth…… use hand to eat….and wash you hand with lemon or some cold tea to get rid of the “aroma” of the prawns. To sum up, if you eat with your hands, it should be finger licking good…

Hope you like the post together. Cheers and have a nice day.

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GUAI SHU SHU | Guai Shu Shu is a “shu shu” that is “guai“….

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 8 June 2014) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.
If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

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Eggs, Eggs, Eggs….. Join Me To Cook Eggs….

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

I do not wish to elaborate more about eggs but this special egg write up is with the intention for the submission of “Little Thumbs Up: Eggs (August 2013)” and Ms. Yen Simpson have a quite a detail write up of all sorts of eggs in her blog here.

WAYS OF COOKING EGGS

There are many ways of cooking eggs and this post will by pass all the descriptive flowery languages and go straight to the following ways of cooking eggs. You may have known this better than me but just took some time to read if there are any thing that you can add to my post and constructively criticise about my ways of making eggs. The methods that will be covered here are:

Soft Boiled Eggs (水煮蛋）
Hard Boiled Eggs (水煮蛋）
Coloured Eggs (上色蛋）
Poached Eggs （水波蛋）
Scrambled Eggs (炒蛋）
Eggs Omelette （蛋饼）
Braised Eggs (卤蛋）
Steamed Eggs （蒸蛋）
Adding eggs to Chinese Soups （蛋花）
Fried Eggs （煎蛋）

1。2。SOFT BOILED EGGS AND HARD BOILED EGGS (水煮蛋）

2 minutes – very soft yolk and egg whites
3 minutes – the white is set and the yolk is just starting to thicken
4 minutes – the white and yolk are set, with the centre of the yolk still creamy.
5 minutes – the white and yolk are set with centre starting to set
10 minutes – the white and yolk are all set
Any further timing than this will result the eggs yolks to start turning to a bluish colour.

Please note the colour changes of the egg yolks.

3。COLOURED EGGS (上色蛋）

In a bowl, put some colour gel or permitted food colouring. Add few drops of vinegar. Stir well.

When ready, transfer your hard boiled eggs directly from the pot that it was cooked and use a spoon to roll the eggs. The hotter the egg, the easier it is. Continue rolling until you get your desired colour tone. It will dry very fast because of the heat inside the eggs. Look for any areas not covered with the colouring and make sure the colour is as even as possible.

4。POACHED EGGS （水波蛋）

As per Wikipedia:

A poached egg is an egg that has been cooked by poaching, that is, in simmering liquid. This method of preparation is favoured because a very consistent and predictable result can be attained with precise timing, as the boiling point of water removes the temperature variable from the cooking process. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poached_egg)

A poached egg is consider as perfect if all the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny. It is good to be served in soups or with breads.

In a hot pot of water, add one teaspoon of vinegar. Let it boil under high heat and once boiled, turn down to low heat and let it simmer.

Crack your eggs in a bowl or some kitchen utensils, slowly place it in the water. Don’t stir the water. If you want to stir the water, it must be done in a circular motion quickly such that the egg whites would not dispersed the the near by areas. Let it simmer until all the egg whites solidify.

5。SCRAMBLED EGGS (炒蛋）

Per Wikipedia:

Scrambled eggs is a dish made from whites and yolks of eggs (usually chicken eggs). Eggs are poured into a hot greased pan and coagulate almost immediately. The heat is turned down to low and the eggs are constantly stirred as they cook. The pan and the stirring implement, if kept in constant motion, create small and soft curds of egg. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambled_eggs)

In a big mixing bowl, put some eggs. Put in some milk and beat until the eggs are well “mixed”, The purpose of this step is just to ensure the egg yolks and the egg whites are well beaten, You can also used a hand whisk to whisk it.

In a frying pan, put in some butters (or other cooking oils of your choice) and melt the butter.

Pour in the beaten eggs and constantly stir it. Once the eggs have solidify into smaller curds, off the heat, add in seasonings such as salt and pepper and scoop up to a plate for servings.

6. EGGS OMELETE （蛋饼）

Per Wikipedia:

In cuisine, an omelette or omelette is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat (often ham), or some combination of the above. To obtain a fluffy texture, whole eggs or sometimes only egg whites are beaten with a small amount of milk or cream, or even water, the idea being to have “bubbles” of water vapour trapped within the rapidly cooked eggs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omelette)

Follow the steps as mentioned in scrambled eggs above. Add in the seaweeds to the eggs. Add seasonings or your choice.

In a big shallow frying pans, add in the seaweed beaten eggs. Let it fried the bottom layer start to solidify.

Add in cut tomatoes strips and when all the eggs are not runny in the centre, fold into half.

7. BRAISED EGGS (卤蛋）

To prepare Chinese styled braised eggs:

In a sauce pan, stir fry big pieces of galangal, garlics and gingers until aromatic. Add cups of dark soya sauce diluted with adequate to cover the meat or eggs that are to be braised. Bring to boil under high heat.

Once boiled, turn to medium heat, add in five spice powder, some rock sugars and items to be braised including eggs.

Depending on the items to be braised, if without meat, eggs will need about 15 minutes before the colour sets in the eggs.

Off the heat and let the eggs sits in the broth for another 15 minutes for the flavour to penetrate the eggs.

There is a detail pictorial instruction of preparing braised eggs and bean curd. Please refer to Guaishushu’s page recipe D10 – Braised Eggs and Taukwa (卤蛋和豆干）.

8. STEAMED EGGS （蒸蛋）

In a big bowl, crack one egg and add in about half a cup of cooked or boiled water (meat broth can also be used). If you want it softer, you can add in more water., Add in all your preferred seasonings, beat until well combined. Sieved and put in a bowl to steam at medium heat.

It is considered as done when the eggs are set. Drizzle with additional seasoning such as sesame oils, light soya sauce if necessary.

There is a detail pictorial instruction of preparing steamed eggs. Please refer to Guaishushu’s page recipe D8-Steamed Tofu With Eggs (豆腐蒸蛋）

9. ADDING EGGS TO CHINESE SOUP （蛋花）

Slightly beat your eggs until well mixed.

Use high heat to bring to boil. Once the soup is boiling, slowly add in the beaten eggs and use a ladle to stir the soup in a circular motion as quickly as possible. In that case, you will be able to break the egg solutions even before it solidifies.

There is a detail pictorial instruction of using the same method to prepare another Chinese starchy soup. Please refer to Guaishushu’s page recipe S6 – Vegetarian Shark Fin Melon Soup (素鱼翅瓜羹）

10. FRIED EGGS （煎蛋）

Heat up your frying pan and put a teaspoon of oil (optional).

Crack your eggs and put a few drops of water around the frying pan. Cover the frying pan to capture the water vapour.

Open the cover as soon as the egg is set and egg white is cooked. Off the heat and transfer to a serving plate.

Note that this way of frying eggs is possible without any oils (if using a non stick pans). You can heat your frying pan under high heat, crack your eggs and off the heat immediately. Put a few drops of water around the frying pan and cover the frying pan immediately and let the water vapour cook the top part of the egg yolk. Once the egg white is cooked, the top part of the egg yolk should also have cooked while inside, the egg yolk remains runny. You may want to refer to my Nasi Goreng Aruk post on how to fry eggs without oil.

On more other egg related dishes, you can refer here:

Tofu and Egg Dishes
Minced Taukwa Omelette	D2 – Minced Taukwa Omelette （豆干蛋饼）
Braised Egg & Tofu	D3 – Braised Eggs and Bean Curd (豆干卤蛋）
Bean Curd Omelette	D5-Bean curd Omelette (豆干蛋饼）
Celery Omelette	D6- Celery Omelette (西芹蛋饼）
Steamed Tofu	D8-Steamed Tofu With Eggs (豆腐蒸蛋）
Salted Turnip Omelette	D9 – Salted Turnip Omelette (菜脯蛋饼）素
Devilled Eggs	Devilled Egg- Sim

CONLCUSION

Everybody knows how to cook eggs. This post is just a summary of various ways of cooking eggs and of course there are still many other ways to cook eggs. This post will be classified as “special cooking ingredients” series. In the series, there are two other special cooking ingredients which are chillies and belachan.

This is a post that have been compiled over a period of almost a week. Hope you like the post and share with me additional methods of cooking eggs. Cheers and have a nice day ahead.

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up “Eggs” event organized by organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by (Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out). You can link your egg recipes here.

Burnt, Hot, Spicy– I am running away!!!– Understanding Chilli Pepper and Making Of Chilli Sauce

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Kenneth Goh

I am not running away, in fact, I like chilli peppers. The spicier the merrier.

I like to make my own chilli sauce, I will find the spiciest chilli I can for the making of my chilli sauce. I have to make my chilli sauce at least 3-4 times a year making and average out using about 1 kg of chilli each time. I usually prepare my chilli sauce in its base form. Thereafter, I used it for a dip or for cooking. When I do not have appetite to take my meals or when the meals is not tastier, yucky, one scope of my chilli sauce will help me to finish the entire meals.

This post will have 3 sections.

Section 1 – types of chilli that you can get in Singapore and Malaysia, and its spiciness.
Section 2 – my simple way of making the chilli sauce
Section 3 – what will happen if you have a chilli burn!

SECTION 1 – CHOOSING THE CHILLI

It is rather common to hear that people (particularly man) comparing how well they can take the spiciness of a food. They will use the ability to take spiciness of a food as a measurement of “manliness”. However, pardon me, with no adequate knowledge on the objective measurement of the spiciness of chilli that they are eating, such argument usually ended up with boosting oneself without letting go individual own stands.

Chilli’s or pepper’s spiciness, in fact can be measured by Scoville Heat Unit (“SHU”) that in turn measured by the capsaicin in a given species of the chilli. Lets learn some fundamentals of chillies as extracted from www.artofmanliness.com.

“Peppers, often known for their heat, or spiciness, are ranked according to the Scoville Scale. The Scoville Scale, created by Wilbur Scoville in the early 20^th century, measures the amount of capsaicin in a given species of pepper. Capsaicin is the chemical within peppers that makes them spicy. The Scoville Heat Units (or SHU) of a pepper represent the number of times the capsaicin within the pepper would have to be diluted before it would be undetectable. For example, you would have to dilute the capsaicin found in your average jalapeno 2500 times before it would seemingly have no spiciness at all, giving it a SHU rating of 2500” Http://www.artofmanliness.com/

The picture below will show you various types of chilli and its spiciness.

Source : http://chilibloggen.se/category/chili.html

So, from the above picture, the common chilli that was commonly consumed in Malaysia and Singapore were summarized below:

Bell Pepper/Capsicum/Red Pepper	SHU = 0
Cayenne Pepper/Red Chilli	SHU = 60,000
Thai Chilli/Bird Eye Chilli /Chilli Padi	SHU = 150,000
Habanero/Red Savina	SHU = 350,000

The spiciest chilli is called the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend, endemic to the district of Moruga in Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the world’s hottest chilli pepper cultivated. According to the New Mexico State University, the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend ranks as high as 2,009,231 SHU on the Scoville scale, making it the hottest chilli pepper in the world to date. Paul Bosland, a chilli pepper expert and director of the Institute, said that, “You take a bite. It doesn’t seem so bad, and then it builds and it builds and it builds. So it is quite nasty.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Moruga_Scorpion

SECTION 2 – MAKING THE CHILLI SAUCE

I usually prepare this chilli sauce in its base forms with minimal condiments or seasonings. Vinegar and some salt is used to preserve the chilli and prevent it from turning bad.

I have added different condiments with the base chilli sauce so that it can be used for dips for different dishes or for frying dishes. For example:

Chicken Rice Chilli	Base chilli sauce + ginger + calamansi skin + garlic + seasonings
Popiah Chilli	Nothing added
Sambal Belachan for frying Chinese water cress etc.	Shrimp Paste (Belachan) or small prawns or anchovies + lemon grass + shallots
Dips for fish	Kalamansi + sliced garlic + dark/light soya sauce
Fried rice	Nothing added
Roast pork	Base chilli sauce + sugar + garlic, ginger + fermented bean curd
Braised duck (Teochew)	Chopped garlic + white vinegar

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Some chilli of your liking and tolerance : I have brought these 3 types of chilli from Kuching, Sarawak when I walked by the wet market in Kuching. I was extremely happy to find some Habanero chilli (SHU: 350,000 units) and I have bought all the stock that the stall owner had. These Habanero chilli are rather difficult to buy and it is more costly than the other types of chilli. The other two types of chilli are Thai Chilli or Bird Eye Chilli (Chilli Padi in Malay Language) (SHU:150,000 units) and some rather common Cayenne pepper (SHU:60,000 units).

White Vinegar – adequate to cover the volume of blended chilli. White vinegar serves as a preservative in this recipe. As the blended chilli is not cooked, in order to avoid the chilli paste from turning bad, white vinegar is used.
Salt – to taste and its role is also act as a preservative agent.

PREPARATION STEPS

The steps are rather simple and basic. But one important point to note is that ALL INGREDIENTS, PREPARATION EQUIPMENT AND CONTAINERS MUST BE CLEAN. If possible, sterile your container with hot water but make sure that it is dry before you place the chilli sauce in it. This is to prevent the growing of bacteria in your uncooked chilli sauce.

Wash all chilli and if possible, dry it under the sun. Otherwise, pat dry using a dry cloth.

Place all dry chilli into a food processor and processed it until the smallest chunks possible.

Note: If your blender is able to cut the chilli until the size that you want, you can by pass the use of food processor. Food processor is used here because Habanero chilli is quite big and it take quite it a while to cut it small, therefore, I opt to use a food processor and transfer into the cut chilli into the blender.

Transfer the chilli chunks into a clean blender. Add some salt and white vinegar. The amount of white vinegar shall be at least adequate to cover the chilli chunks.

Blend at high speed until fine.

Carefully scope out the chilli sauce and place in a clean sterilized container . Add more vinegar if desired. Wait for the chilli to cool until room temperature, close the lid and keep in the fridge. (Note: when you grind the chilli, the temperature will increase, therefore, in order to avoid any unwanted water vapour in your chilli sauce, it is best that you let them cool until room temperature before you store them.)

If you do not want the chilli to be that spicy, you can tone down the spiciness by de-seeding the chilli. You will need to cut open the chilli and take away all the seeds before you proceed to the grinding. However, do be careful not to touch the chilli seeds as it can be rather difficult to get rid of the chilli heat. So, it is advisable to use a glove before you proceed with the cutting.

This chilli sauce can be stored for at least half a year. But you have to make sure that every time you scoop out the chilli sauce, a clean dry spoon is used. Otherwise, the dirty spoon will introduce bacteria to the container and it will spoilt the chilli sauce.

Preparing Base chilli from dry chillies

At times, you may not be able to get hold of lots of fresh chillies or when chillies are not in the season and become costly, I have used the dried chillies to prepare the sauce. The preparation is slightly different but the taste is not the same as fresh chilli sauce. But the colour of the chilli sauce will be more attractive. For this version, I usually cooked with the chilli sauce so that it can be kept longer.

Soak the chilli until soft (about 30 minutes). Use a food processor to blend the chilli until as fine as you can. For food processor, it is impossible to blend the chilli seeds, therefore, you will need to transfer the blended chilli to a blender. Add water just adequate to cover the chilli.

Blend the chilli until the seeds are well blended. In a pot with a few tablespoon of cooking oil, stir fry the chilli sauce under medium heat.

Stir fry until oil starts to sip out of the chilli paste, it become dry and aroma of cooked chilli starts to permeates the house. Add sugar and salt to taste. Off heat, transfer to sterilized container for cooling. Cool completely at room temperature before store in fridge.

Notes:

Variations of this chilli sauce are many. However, I like my chilli sauce to be as basic as possible. In the process of stir frying, you can add in the following ingredients to make it become chilli sauce for nasi lemak or etc. : shallots, garlics, lemon grass, shrimp paste (belachan), buah keras. All this should be blend well and stir fry together with the base chilli sauce. If you want it to be even spicier, you can add some chilli padi .

Uses of this chilli sauce: Can be used for stir frying kangkong or even petai as follow, cooking curry, as a dip (put belachan and calamansi), diluted with vinegar to go with Kuih Chap or oyster omelette etc.. Curry cooked with this chilli sauce will be beautifully coloured.

For dipping purposes: Just have a tablespoon of vinegar or lime juice, add additional salt or light soya sauce, shallot oil and it will be good as a dip for fried fish and etc.

I have used the base chilli to stir fry with some petai. Put some cooking oil, sauté onions, belachan and baby shrimps until fragrance, add petai and followed by 2-3 tablespoons of this homemade chilli sauce, add additional seasonings and the sambal petai is ready.

SECTION 3 – TAKING CARE OF YOUR HANDS

It may be unfair for me to share with you how to make chilli sauce without sharing with you how to take care of you hand.

In my previous attempt to make chilli sauce, I have a very bad experience whereby my hand was “burn” for one whole night by the chilli residue while I was washing the blender and food processor. That day, as I was out of time, I have forgot to wear a glove or “plastic bag” when I washed the food processor. To make the matter worse, I use the same sponge to clean the other dishes for dinner. Almost immediately, my whole palm was feeling extremely hot and when I accidentally scratched my face, my face got the hot feeling too. I have used many methods but none was able to stop the heat immediately. It really make me panic as I never have such an encounter before. As I am extremely tired that night, I just cut a stem of aloe vera and applied to the “injured part”, and that make my hand felt slightly better. I fell asleep when I was waiting for the heat to subside and when I woke up, the hand is getting normal again.

So, be careful with your hands. In the internet, there are many ways of reducing the heat arising from touching the chilli (or more specifically, capsaicin) and I have selected 5 ways for your consideration. Some methods can be applied if you accidentally ate some extremely hot chilli and the heat remained in your mouth:

Wash your hand using cold milk – Milk have a protein called casein which is a natural “enemy” to capsaicin. The colder the milk, the better it is. This however, can be a wastage as you will constantly need to wash with new milks when the effect is less. Therefore, quite a lot of milks will be required. However, if you accidentally eat something spicy, this is a good way to reduce the chilli burn in your mouth. My kids can testify this, haha!!

Wash your hand with hard liquor or any other types of alcohol. Capsaicin do not dissolve in water but dissolve in alcohol. Drink some alcohol may help with the burning sensation in your mouth.

Rub your hand with salt and slightly some water. The salt will scrap away the capsaicin that is in your hand. Alternatively, sugar can also be used. Finish off with a rinse of milk and soap.

Wash your hand with oil. Capsaicin also dissolve in vegetable oil beside alcohol and casein.

Wash your hand with vinegar (or some form of acidic solutions) and soaps.

CONCLUSIONS

Bird eye chilli is not the spiciest chilli as what most Malaysian and Singaporean thought. The spiciest chilli now on Guinness World of Records is in Trinidad called Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend. It is about 13 times spicier than the Chilli padi and 33 times spicier than the normal cayenne chilli that we used for our normal cooking.

Making chilli sauce is not difficult. It is advisable to make chilli sauce in its very basic form. Add relevant seasonings and condiments for different type of dishes. This will save your time in preparing different chilli for different dish.

There is no one fixed way of getting rids of chilli burn in your skin or your mouth. The above 5 methods are common solvents (milk, vinegar, alcohol, sugar, oil) for the active ingredients in chilli, capsaicin. Dealing with chilli have to be careful, wear gloves if possible. Washing of utensils used in the preparation of chilli sauce have to be extra careful. Capsaicin vapour will rush out when water was flush to the equipment. You may start to cough or your tears may flow when capsaicin reach your eyes and throats. Therefore, washing have be careful using slow water avoid touching the capsaicin.

To reduce the spiciness of the chilli, de-seeding will help.

Lastly, thanks for reading this interesting cooking ingredient commonly found in Malaysia and Singapore.

Hope you LIKE the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Can You Stand The Smell of Belachan (Shrimp Paste)?

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Kenneth Goh

Re-blog from : asean2015 in Tumblr.com

ASEAN Community – Shrimp Paste

Shrimp paste or shrimp sauce, is a common ingredient used in ASEAN cuisine. It is known as terasi (also spelled trassi, terasie) in Indonesian, ngapi (ငါးပိ) in Burmese,kapi (กะปิ) in Thai, Khmer (កាពិ) and Lao language (ນໍາກຸ້ງ), belacan (also spelled belachan,blachang) in Malay, mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm in Vietnamese (the name depends on the shrimp used), and bagoong or alamang in Filipino.

It is made from fermented ground shrimp mixed with salt. Some versions are in its wet form such as those in Vietnam and other versions are sun dried and either cut into fist-sized rectangular blocks or sold in bulk. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Shrimp paste can be found in most meals in Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Viet Nam and the Philippines. It is often an ingredient in dip for fish or vegetables.

Shrimp pastes vary in appearance from pale liquid sauces to solid chocolate-colored blocks. Shrimp paste produced in Viet Nam is typically a light pinkish gray while the type used for Burmese, Lao, Cambodian and Thai cooking is darker brown. While all shrimp paste has a pungent aroma, that of higher grades is generally milder. Markets near villages producing shrimp paste are the best places to obtain the highest quality product. Shrimp paste varies between different Asian cultures and can vary in smell, texture and saltiness.

Belacan, Malaysia

Belacan, a Malay variety of shrimp paste, is prepared from krill, also known as geragau in Kristang (Portuguese creole spoken in Malaysia) or rebon in Sundanese and Javanese. In Malaysia, normally the krill would be steamed first and after that are mashed into a paste and stored for several months. The fermented shrimp are then prepared, fried and hard-pressed into cakes. William Marsden, an English writer included the word in his “A Dictionary of the Malayan Language” published in 1812.

Belacan is used as an ingredient in many dishes. A common preparation is sambal belacan, made by mixing toasted belacan with chilli peppers, minced garlic, shallot paste and sugar and then fried. Sometime it is toasted to bring out the flavour, but that creates a strong odor.

Terasi, Indonesia

Terasi (trassi in Dutch), an Indonesian variant of dried shrimp paste, is usually purchased in dark blocks, but is also sometimes sold ground. The color and aroma of terasi varies depending on which village produced it. The color ranges from soft purple-reddish hue to darkish brown. In Cirebon, a coastal city in West Java, terasi is made from tiny shrimp (krill) called “rebon”, the very origin of the city’s name. In Sidoarjo, East Java, terasi is made from the mixture of ingredients such as fish, small shrimp (udang), and vegetables. Terasi is an important ingredient in Sambal Terasi, also many other Indonesian cuisine, such as sayur asam (fresh sour vegetable soup), lotek (also called gado-gado, Indonesian style salad in peanut sauce), karedok (similar to lotek, but the vegetables are served raw), and rujak(Indonesian style hot and spicy fruit salad).

On the island of Lombok, Indonesia, a more savory and sweet shrimp paste called lengkareis made.

Bagoong, Philippines

Bagoong, or alamang, or “Ginamos” (in Western Visayas) is Filipino for shrimp paste, made from minute shrimp or krill (alamang) and is commonly eaten as a topping on green mangoes or used as a major cooking ingredient. Bagoong paste varies in appearance, flavor, and spiciness depending on the type. Pink and salty bagoong alamang is marketed as “fresh”, and is essentially the shrimp-salt mixture left to marinate for a few days. This bagoong is rarely used in this form, save as a topping for unripe mangoes. The paste is customarily sauteed with various condiments, and its flavour can range from salty to spicy-sweet. The colour of the sauce will also vary with the cooking time and the ingredients used in the sauteeing. Cincalok is the Malaysian version of ‘fresh’ bagoong alamang.

Unlike in other parts of ASEAN Region and in Western Visayas, where the shrimp isfermented beyond recognition or ground to a smooth consistency, the shrimp in bagoong alamang (in many parts of the Philippines) is readily identifiable, and the sauce itself has a chunky consistency. A small amount of cooked or sauteed bagoong is served on the side of a popular dish called “kare-kare”, an oxtail stew made with peanuts. It is also used as the key flavouring ingredient of a sauteed pork dish, known as binagoongan (lit. “that to which bagoong is applied”). The word bagoong, however, is also connoted with the bonnet mouth and anchovy fish version, bagoong terong.

Ngapi yay, Myanmar

A watery dip or condiment that is very popular in Myanmar, especially the Burmese and Karen ethnic groups. The ngapi (either fish or shrimp, but mostly whole fish ngapi is used) is boiled with onions, tomato, garlic, pepper and other spices. The result is a greenish-grey broth-like sauce, which makes its way to every Burmese dining table. Fresh, raw or blanched vegetables and fruits (such as mint, cabbage, tomatoes, green mangoes, green apples, olives, chilli, onions and garlic) are dipped into the ngapi yay and eaten. Sometimes, in less affluent families, ngapi yay forms the main dish, and also the main source of protein.

Kapi, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand

In Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, shrimp paste (kapi) is an essential ingredient in many types of nam phrik, spicy dips or sauces, and in all Thai curry pastes, such as the paste used inkaeng som. Very popular in Thailand is nam phrik kapi, a spicy condiment made with fresh shrimp paste and most often eaten together with fried pla thu (Short mackerel) and fried, steamed or raw vegetables. In Southern Thailand there are three types of shrimp paste: one made only from shrimp, one containing a mixture of shrimp and fish ingredients, and another paste that is sweet.

Mam ruoc, Viet Nam

Mắm ruốc is a sauce made from shrimp paste form (a small species of shrimp belonging to the genus Acetes Sergestidae, the Decapoda). However, the color and the taste is not the same with shrimp sauce. No fishy shrimp sauce with shrimp paste, add water as possible for sauce and can be used as spices in cooking vegetable in ASEAN Region.

MY THOUGHTS

Belachan or balachan is nothing new to me but for my two kids aged 7 and 9, it is really something that they hates if it uncooked!! Even my mother-in-law refused to cook dishes uses belachan as she complained it is very smelly. In fact, it is if uncooked! But once it is cooked (after frying in oil), I will say it emits a nice aroma that make a lot of people likes it including me.

A lot of people likes the sambal balachan when they frequent Malay food stores that is made from shrimp paste plus chilli plus lime. My mother used to prepare this and we even just dip raw cucumber with this simple sambal belachan sauce.

I tend to believe what make a good sambal balachan and a smelly one is a critical process ofensuring that the balachan is cooked before you add to your chilii. Last time, we used to put it over small fire (under charcoal) until the fragrants comes out (like barbeque of chicken wings), only then we mixed it with chilli, pound it and add some sugar and lime before we serve it as a source. I really missed this. If you don’t cooked it, it will be very smelly!!

As most families in Singapore and Malaysia do not have charcoal stove, one way you can use is to pan fry Belachan over the gas stove over very very small fire until the fragrants comes out.

Belachan though is considered as a Malay cooking ingredient, however, it had been well accepted by the Chinese communities in Singapore and Malaysia. Common belachan dishes in Malaysia and Singapore Chinese community are kangkong or water spinach (甕菜) fried with balachan and belachan chicken (虾酱鸡). Besides kangkong, we fried with lady fingers, long beans, paku or midin, durian flowers, etc etc etc… If you like more creamy, you can add coconut milk (or lemak as in Malay).

Ya, a friend of mine remind me of a specialty in my home town, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The Chinese hawkers in Kuching do/used to sell something called balachan beehoon. It is actually quite smelly but if you get used to it, you will like it. It is just balachan (without frying), meshed it, mixed with pounded shallots and cooked in a pot of water. Shall i call it “Belachan Soup”? LOL. It was served with rice noodles, sliced cucumber, eggs and “preserved” squid (don’t know how to call it).. Just like durian, it is an acquired taste, either you like or dislike it. I used the terms “used to sell” is because nowadays, it does not appear to be a popular roadside hawker stall item. I wonder if I could still find it when I am back to Kuching.

Lastly, on one trip to Hong Kong, i was surprised to find it in the Lantau Island (if I am not wrong). Cheers to balachan for the role of “uniting” the Asean nations.

GUAI SHU SHU

Guai Shu Shu is a "shu shu" that is "guai"….

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Can You Stand The Smell of Belachan (Shrimp Paste)?

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