Merdeka Open House: Kunyit Fried Chicken

August 30th, 2010

I wanted to take part in the Merdeka Open House party organised by babe in the city_kl, but I just couldn’t decide on what dish to post to fit the theme Food From Our Hearts. It’s kind of a strange predicament because cooking and feeding people well are how my family express our love for one another. We don’t do gifts under the Christmas trees, but we sure know how to load a table with food and eat heartily.

Maybe that was why my grandmother was so insistent on us helping in the kitchen, and learning how to prepare meals. She grumbled about how she wouldn’t be able to bear the shame should my disapproving future mother-in-law were to complain about how coarsely we cut the vegetables or not fluff the rice. So, we were trained from young to do all the mundane tasks, and do them properly – tailing bean sprouts, deskinning groundnuts, scaling fish, removing the pith of ginkgo nuts, peeling prawns….

One of my chores is pounding sambal and rempah mix in a mortar and pestle. When I started out, I’d constantly be hounding my grandmother to ask if my mixture was fine enough. I’d even resort to dramatics and wrap my hands in plastic bags because the chillies burn my fingers. But my grandmother was merciless, and she made it my duty to pound the sambal belacan (red chillies and freshly toasted belacan, shrimp paste).

My grandmother taught me how to pound from side to side, and not directly into the middle of the mortar. The old folks could tell from the rhythm of the pounding if we were doing it correctly or not. She even made me stop to listen to our neighbour’s pounding, and focus on the rhythm.

Now that I am mistress of my own kitchen, I sometimes cheat and make my sambal belacan with an electric blender. But when it comes to fresh turmeric, I do the pounding on my pestle and mortar because it’s just too much work scrubbing the vivid yellow off the blades and blender. I also hear that fresh turmeric blunts the blades, so I use my mortar and pestle when it comes to turmeric.

It’s easy work pounding turmeric, compared to chillies or shallots. One of our favourite dishes at home is turmeric fried chicken. It’s a real easy dish because it is just chicken marinated with pounded turmeric and garlic, and seasoned with salt, soya sauce and sugar. You need to marinate it overnight, or for a few hours for the flavours to permeate.

You need to pound the turmeric to extract its flavours. If you use a food processor, it just cuts up the turmeric but it does not crush out the flavours.

When I was in secondary school, I started teaching tuittion to earn extra pocket money. I’d cycle to the kid’s house in the evening, and by the time class ended it’d be dark. In those days, we were not so fearful of crimes but my mom would wait for me at a particular spot. I was only truly frightened when I cycled past my neighbour Intan’s house – see, when their families wouldn’t sanction their realtionship she committed suicide with her boyfriend by lying down on the railway tracks and the train ran over them – they were only 15 or 16. I used to hang out at Intan’s house to read Malay entertainment magazines like URTV, so I cycled really fast every time I passed by her house.

Anyway, there was one year when my cousins started coming to my house for tuittion. That was great because I didn’t have to cycle out. First, there were only the twins and their elder sister. But soon all six siblings came for class. I am pretty sure I earned very little, like RM20/student per month. Soon, those tuittion sessions went from an hour and a half in the evening to a whole day affair on weekends.

The class would only be for an hour or so, and then the entire brood (my siblings and cousins) would troop down to the nearby public swimming pool, and later return to my parents’ home for dinner. I remember all eleven kids sitting around the dining table, and the top request every week would be for kunyit chicken. My mom made it with pork belly too. But with pork, she stir-fries it rather than deep fries it. We like both versions, and the best part is the fried turmeric bits.

When we have turmeric chicken, sometimes I think of how my parents were so welcoming of my cousins, and how the house would be crowded with 11 noisy kids. I think the food bill was much higher than whatever I earned from the tuittion, but my parents didn’t mind. My mom used to buy an extra loaf of bread because we’d all have a supper of toasted bread with butter and kaya after class on weekdays…. I think we had them with cups of hot milo, and there were bread crumbs all over the table.

We don’t see much of those cousins anymore, but I bet they still remember my mom’s kunyit chicken.

RECIPE

Kunyit Chicken (Turmeric Chicken)

200g fresh turmeric
4 cloves garlic
500g chicken, cut into medium pieces
3-4 tablespoons sugar, or according to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 cups cooking oil

Pound the turmeric and garlic. Marinate the chicken with the turmeric, garlic and the rest of the seasoning overnight, or for at least four hours.
Heat the cooking oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, fry the chicken till it’s golden brown. Scoop up the turmeric bits before they burn because these are delicious.

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Posted in Malay Food, Peranakan Food | 6 Comments »

Timun Char Sui (Stir-fried Cucumber In Vinegar)

August 21st, 2010

Ceramic plates like these were used to serve food at the t'ng tok wedding lunches. Round flat plates were for rice, and deep plates for str-fried dishes

I didn’t start out planning to write a nostalgic blog, but so much of my food experiences and knowledge are rooted in what I ate growing up. I didn’t even know I had all those memories stored up, but maybe that’s one of the signs of growing old (and growing sideways).

That’s ample warning of a long-winded grandmother story coming up… so here goes….

A long, long ago, like maybe 30 years ago, Chinese weddings were a little different… at least in Penang where I grew up.

These days, most people just go for a wedding dinner in a Chinese restaurant or hotel. But there was a time when we would wake up early and put on a nice dress, and go to the bride or groom’s house. And the wedding guests would start the day with bak moi, or pork porridge. There will be a big pot in the kitchen, and someone would ladle a bowl for the relatives, neighbours and friends who would slowly trickle in. There is usually minced pork, tong chai, spring onion and whatnot in that bowl of watery rice porridge.

But the feast to look forward to is the t’ng tok (which literally translates to long table) because lunch is served on long rows of tables covered with pink mahjung paper. In those days, the family would have engaged an itinerant cook who goes from wedding to wedding. One of our relatives was a wedding cook, and he and his family would lug with them huge pots, crockery and cutlery, and stay overnight at the wedding party’s house and cook up a feast.

I must have been to countless of these weddings. Children were welcome at these weddings, and someone was always getting married one weekend or another. Then again, people had 12 children, or at least 5 children to marry off in those days, and even the most distant relatives were invited and expected to come for the weddings.

Kiam Cai Ark - a soup made by simmering duck and pork trotters, with salted mustard leaves, mushrooms and sour plums. The richness of the sour-tinged soup is rounded up by the fragrance of nutmeg seeds.

I know the menu by heart. There is curry chicken, lor bak and acar awak. There is jiu hu char (stir-fried yambean with cuttlefish), and the richer families would serve sharksfin stir-fried with yambean and carrots to commemorate the special occasion. Then, there’s two types of soup – kiam chai ark (duck with salted vegetables) and tu tor th’g (pork stomach soup) invigorated by white peppercorns. There is also chor char – yam bean, cabbage and carrots cut into squares and stirfried with pork and prawns.

My favourite is timun char swee – sliced cucumber marinated in vinegar so they remain crunchy, and then stir-fried with liver and gizzard. I love the crunchy cucumbers in the barest sweet and sour gravy, and of course I love liver with anything. But I have no appreciation of gizzard, so I leave them out when I cook this dish.

Not many people serve this t’ng tok wedding lunch anymore. The preparation is tedious, and I don’t know if there are any more itinerant wedding cooks. There is also probably no space in flats and terrace houses for those long tables anymore.

My mother served t’ng tok lunch for all her children’s wedding. But she was only able to do it because she has two sisters to help her, and even then it was exhausting work. The reward of course was that the guests were happy, and some even requested for takeaways of their favourite dishes. At my brother’s wedding, his friends had a second round of lunch after they returned from the bride’s house and cleaned out all the food.

I miss those t’ng tok wedding lunches. We knew most of the guests at those weddings, and even if we don’t we had to find out. I was the eldest, and it was my job to make sure I greeted all the guests and that my sisters and brother followed suit. In Chinese, there is a specific title for relatives on both our mother and father’s side, and we have to address them correctly.

Everyone takes turn to eat, and we’d even help to serve and replenish the dishes. It’s a lot more communal and interactive than sitting put at a ten-course dinner, and sometimes even with strangers in a sea of 50 tables, or 100 tables, in an air-conditioned restaurant.

RECIPE

CHAR SWEE TIMUN (CUCUMBER STIR-FRIED WITH VINEGAR)

INGREDIENTS

1 medium cucumber, about 300g

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 onion, quartered

1 red chilli, sliced

2-3 liver, sliced coarsely

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 tablespoon starch flour

Halve the cucumber lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Then, cut the cucumber coarsely.

Rub the cucumber with salt, and leave for 5 minutes. Remove the water, and add the vinegar.

Leave for about 15 minutes.

Heat the cooking oil, and saute the onions and chilli.

Then, add the liver and stir-fry quickly for about 3 minutes.

Add the cucumber.

Stir to mix evenly, and add sugar.

Add water.

Taste to check the seasoning, and add more vinegar and sugar until you get the sweet sour balance you like.

Dilute the starch flour in about 3 tablespoons of water, and add to the mixture to thicken the sauce.

Serve with rice

Note: Some people like gizzard in this dish, and some use prawns instead of liver and innards

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Posted in Peranakan Food | 5 Comments »

Pork Trotters in Black Vinegar

August 9th, 2010

ONE of these days, I am going to cook a big pot of pork trotters in black vinegar, and I won’t share it with anyone. I’ll just slurp on the black vinegar gravy all day long till I am sick of it, and relish every bit of the pork fat melting in my mouth with absolutely no guilt. When all that richness and sourness and unctuosness get too much, I’ll just chew on the stewed young ginger and I’ll be restored. This will be my go-to reserve therapy for when I am down in the dumps.

Anyway, I exaggerate. It’s not like I am all that restrained when it comes to grabbing my share of this stew. The good thing is that it’s an acquired taste, and not everyone likes it…less man, more share I say.

My mother-in-law sometimes made this stew for Christmas lunch, and I’ll be the last to leave the table. While everyone is drinking wine, I’m content to drink more of this sweet vinegar.

For all my obsession with this dish, I didn’t realise this was confinement food until my mother lugged in bottles of black vinegar when she came to take care of me after I gave birth. She has always cooked this for us whenever we wanted to have it, and there was never any talk about childbirth and whatnot.

But it’s easy to see why it’s good for new mothers in confinement after childbirth. There is lots of ginger for dispelling dampness and wind in the body, and the pork trotters will restore the exhausted mother’s energy. It also tastes really good – if you like this dish – and that always cheers up a woman who does not get much sleep, is not allowed to wash her hair or leave the house for an entire month (that’s why it’s called confinement month).

I don’t know if Chinese confinement rituals really do wonders for new mothers, but it is a month of rest and pampering. In that one month, the new mother concentrates wholly on restoring her health, and getting to know her newborn. I love the wholesome food; there are lots of ginger, sesame oil, Chinese wine, the best fish, free range chicken, and red date tea.

Different cooks have different recipes. The difference between the home-cooked ones and those sold in the stall is the former usually has thicker gravy and more richly flavoured by trotters. The brand of black vinegar also makes a difference. The one we use regularly is ready blended for cooking pork trotters, and we do not have to add any more seasoning. My aunt’s neighbour even goes to the extent of mixing two different blends of black vinegar to attain the depth and sourness her family likes.

The good news is that pork trotters in black vinegar is easy to make. You have to blanch the trotters, and fry the ginger and trotters in sesame oil till fragrant. Then you just put everything in a slow cooker, and pour the black vinegar in.  Leave it to cook slowly for a few hours.

RECIPE

1 pork trotters, cleaned and cut in big chunks

300g young ginger, bruised gently

3 tablespoon sesame oil

750 ml black vinegar

1 cup water

4 hard boiled eggs (optional)

Blanch the pork trotters in boiling water for five minutes. Drain.

Heat sesame oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the ginger, and fry till fragrant.

Then, add the pork trotters, and stir fry for a few minutes.

Put the trotters and ginger in a slow cooker. Add black vinegar and water. Add hard-boiled eggs

Stew over low heat until the pork trotters are tender; it should take about an hour and a half.

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Posted in Chinese Food | 2 Comments »

Pickles

July 26th, 2010

Blame it on my sour tooth, but I can’t resist pickles. I eat at Overseas Restaurant because I love their vegetable pickles, the ones they put on the table as soon as you sit down instead of the usual peanuts. I don’t know if they still serve that because they didn’t have it the last time I went there for lunch. And when I enquired, the waitress said they don’t serve vegetable pickles…ever! But the only reason I was there for lunch was because my friend had dinner there the night before, and had the pickles… and it got me craving for pickles…so don’t tell me they never had it….and then they won’t let us change our tables even though there was a strong smell of turpentine and paint…the waitress said she doesn’t smell it. Already pickle-deprived, and now told I (and the rest of us on the table) were now imagining the strong nauseating paint fumes, it was just too much trouble arguing with waitresses, and so we left. Yeah, so I like my pickles!

New Formosa Restaurant in SS2, Petaling Jaya also has good vegetable pickles. And there is a mixed rice stall in the Asia coffee shop in Senawang, outside Seremban (with the famous curry laksa stall) that also serves delicious vegetable pickles. I asked for a small plate, and ended up leaving the shop with a bottle.

The pickled cucumbers in Daily Grind in Bangsar Village, KL is also yummy. It comes in the burger, and they graciously obliged with a bowl of pickles when I asked for extras. I don’t remember if they put it on the bill, but I am going back there for the pickles… ah, I mean burger…with extra pickles, of course.

When I reviewed David Chang’s book Momofuku, which he wrote with Peter Meeham, I thought there’d be the usual long winded chef’s recipes that’s impossible to replicate. Everything is done from scratch in Momofuku, and there are recipes that require mastery of specialised techniques, but there are recipes that are not so daunting such as the chicken liver terrine and pickles.

I made Chang’s banh mi, Vietnamese sandwiches, with chicken liver terrine, daikon and carrot pickles, coriander and Kewpie mayonnaise. I didn’t make the ham terrine because I am still figuring the pork cuts to use for that recipe – what do you call pork shoulder in Cantonese?.

Anyway, I love the pickles in this sandwich. The carrot and daikon have to be julienned right (3 in X 3/16 inch) – good luck figuring out 3/16 inches. Try using a mandoline’s middle blade instead, as suggested by Chang. And there is also a Grilled Lemongrass Pork Sausage Ssam recipe, also featuring this julienned carrot and daikon pickles with fish sauce vinaigrette.

I also cut some carrots, daikon and cucumber into bigger pieces to pickles using Chang’s pickling brine recipe. Unfortunately I have to wait a week for the pickles to mature before I can taste them. If you don’t have time, do the short cut method – sprinkle a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of sugar for every cup-ful of vegetables, toss and let it sit for as long as you can spare – this recipe is also from Momofuku.

pickles7

MASTER RECIPE FOR VINEGAR PICKLES
(from Momofuku)

1 cup water, piping hot
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
vegetables or fruit, prepared as indicated

Combine the water, vinegar, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Pack the prepared vegetables into a quart container. Pour the brine over the vegetables, cover and refrigerate. You can eat the pickles immediately, but they will taste better after they have had time to sit – 3 to 4 days at a minimum, a week for optimum flavours. Most of these pickles will keep for at least a month.

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Birthday Red Eggs

July 21st, 2010

IMG_2992

My idea of a birthday celebration is blowing some candles on a birthday cake… that’s about all a disorganised and uninspired mother can manage. I just don’t get extravagant children’s birthday party, partly because I am scared of being in the same room with many kids. So yeah, I am not in contention for Mother of The Year award and I’ll learn to live with that. My mother and sisters (who live four hours away) though have other ideas when it comes to my daughter’s birthday party – they just hijack it.

Year after year, they make plans to celebrate my daughter’s birthday – nothing as elaborate as a theme party or a hired clown or cordoning off a section of McDonalds, but they make sure they commemorate the occasion.

This year, my mother, sisters and nieces drove down to KL to spend the weekend with us for her birthday. In the car boot was the makings of a birthday party; done my mother’s way. The menu is similar to that of all our birthday parties growing up – red eggs, fried beehoon, chicken curry, fried chicken, and lorbak (meat rolls). And of course a birthday cake (which I bought).

birthday party

I love the fried chicken, and the fried beehoon with the chilli and garlic sauce, and the curry chicken, and of course the lor bak, but what is always special is the red-dyed eggs. It’s just plain hard-boiled eggs, but the red dye somehow transform them and elevate them – when there are red eggs, it’s a special occasion – birthdays, full moon, weddings.

We get two red eggs on the mornings of our birthdays, even when there is no party, along with a plate of mi sua noodles with a drumstick. And an ang pow for good luck and wishes.

My creation

And the children love the red eggs too… and their red-dyed fingers from peeling the eggs.

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Ikan Terubuk Masin (Salted Terubuk Fish)

July 17th, 2010

IMG_0971

The busiest section at the Satok weekend market in Kuching, Sarawak is at the fish section, and there is only one fish that everyone is interested in – terubuk. It’s known mostly for its bones – loads and loads of fine bones criss-crossing – but those in the know patiently pick through because the reward is firm, tender, fatty, sweet flesh. It’s also found in Peninsular Malaysia, but terubuk is synonymous with Sarawak.

I had my first terubuk fish from a Ramadhan bazaar – grilled till charred, and accompanied with sambal. It’s also really good in asam curry because of its high lemak content. In Kuching, I have had it steamed and deep-fried.

But the most famous way of preparing terubuk in Sarawak is by salting it. At the Kuching airport, you’ll see travellers with boxes fashioned like a bag, complete with raffia handles, and chances are they are carrying ther precious cargo of salted terubuk fish.

satok - terubuk masin

I have heard of the salted terubuk from Satok but was never particularly interested because I assumed it was the typical salted fish. It wasn’t until I went to the Satok market that I realised the fish is salted differently. The usual way of salting fishes in Malaysia is by salting them, and then drying them in the sun for days.

In Sarawak, they gut and clean the terubuk fish, and then liberally rub it with fine salt. The traders’ instructions was to just wash off the salt, and freeze the fish if we do not cook it within a week. Most people just fry the salted terubuk fish, but some also steam it.

The salted terubuk taste like salt baked fish… it’s not intensely salty like the typical dried salted fish, but a lot gentler. Because the terubuk is so rich and lemak, the salt does not overwhelm its sweetness but complements it. The flesh remains moist and tender, and it is quite a treat. Now I understand why the customers at the Satok market buys the salted terubuk so eagerly, and why they place such huge orders. I only bought 3 salted terubuk fishes, even as I was wondering why the others were buying by the dozens.

The salted terubuk comes in various sizes, so prices vary. But we found out that the Sunday prices are a lot steeper than the weekday prices, just so you know. The vendors here also sell terubuk fish roe, and (frozen) unsalted terubuk fish with and without roe. My colleague paid RM25 for an unsalted terubuk fish with roe, but there was no roe to be found when she cut open the fish….again, just so you know.

IMG_2934

Luckily, the vendors were a lot more reliable when it came to recommending their favourite way of eating salted terubuk. I just sliced some shallots, bird’s eye chilli and squeezed lime juice over them. Let this mixture sit fir ten minutes, and pour over the hot fried salted terubuk. I have also found that I prefer lime juice to kalamansi lime juice for this fish. I also had with an accompaniment made of belimbing buluh (carambola), garlic and taucheo, and that was also really good.

Salted or not, the terubuk is still full of bones. They are mostly fine fine bones though, so I just pick out whatever I can, and chew on the rest. With terubuk, it’s all about how willing you are to get through the bones to get to the bounty.

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Chicken With Preserved Lemons and Olive

July 6th, 2010

I was in New York last month for the screening of Sex and The City 2. Hewlett-Packard (HP) hosted journalists from around the world for the screening; they collaborated with Warner Bros on the chick-flick which is in line with their strategy of focusing on their women clientele. Journalists were introduced to HP’s stylish netbooks, which were designed by Vivienne Tam and the latest is their ‘Butterfly Lovers’ series.

Everyone was of course more excited about the movie screening at the Paris Theatre, only a day after its premiere in New York. No, we didn’t meet the SATC cast as they were all in Tokyo, Japan for the Asian premiere.

Still, HP hosted us in style – chauffeuring us to the screening from our hotel in Time Square in a stretch limo. By now, everyone would have seen the movie, so I’ll not go into that – let’s just say that I am more a fan of SATC the tv show than the movies. Still, I am in New York… and two and a half hours of watching beautiful people in beautiful clothes is no hardship.

After the movie screening, there was an after party at the Bergdorf Goodman store. The window dressing all had SATC themes, and they were gorgeous. There were loads of fashionable and beautiful people at the party. Willie Garson (Standford Blatch) and Mario Cantone (Anthony Marantino) were there – they had the best scenes in the movie; the gay wedding scene was the blast. Malaysian supermodel Ling Tan was there. Ivanka Trump was sitting a few rows in front of us, but she didn’t stay for the party.

I was starving by the end of the movie, and was looking forward to the party (for the food….of course). And I was pleasantly surprised to find the Middle Eastern buffet – because of the Abu Dhabi getaway, I guess. There were lamb kebab with yoghurt sauce, couscous, lamb stew with olives, red pepper salad, bread and hummus. I ate my share, but didn’t eat all that much. It was a little hard to eat as there were loads of people milling about.

My New York trip wasn’t an eating trip. I walked a lot, and only stopped to eat whenever I was hungry. And as I was on my own, I didn’t eat in restaurant but only grabbed pizzas and nachos and burritos.

Anyway, I have been craving Middle Eastern food on and off since that party. In New York I was drawn more to the falafel and kebab stalls than I was to the hot dog stands; I just never got around to eating from the stalls because the hawkers were either not ready yet or I was too stuffed from another meal or rushing somewhere.

And at the Whole Foods Market at Columbus Circus, I love the selection of olives – a tub of gorgeous mixed olives and they cost less than they do in Malaysia. I thought of lamb stew with olives, but mostly I just wanted to snack on them.

So, when we were doing the column for StarTwo this month with the theme of preserving food, I immediately thought of making preserved lemons. And when it comes to Middle Eastern food, my most trusted cookbook author is Claudia Roden.

With the preserved lemons, I made Claudia’s Moroccan Tagine of Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives. It’s easy to make, and absolutely delicious – the preserved lemon lends aroma, depth and its distinct flavours. The olives are of course delicious; wash them a few times if you don’t them too salty.


Recipe

3 tablespoons of extra virgin oil
2 onions, grated or chopped finely
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon of crushed saffron threads or powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 chicken, jointed
salt and black pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons of chopped coriander
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
peel of 1 large or 2 small preserved lemons
12-16 olives

In a wide casserole, heat the oil and put in the onions. Saute, stirring over low heat, until they soften and add the garlic, saffron and ginger.
Put in the chicken pieces, season with salt and pepper, and pour in about 300ml of water. Simmer, covered, turning a few times and adding a little water if it becomes dry. Lift out the breasts after 20 minutes, and set aside. Continue to cook the remaining pieces for another 25 minutes, after which time return the breasts to the casserole.
Stir the lemon juice, coriander, parsley, the preserved lemon peel (cut into strips) and the olives into the sauce. Simmer, uncovered for 5-10 minutes, until the reduced sauce is thick and unctuous.

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Roselle Cordial

July 2nd, 2010

roselle

There were lots of roselle for sale at the Satok weekend market in Kuching, Sarawak. I haven’t seen these fruits in years, and certainly never thought I’d have to buy them.

The roselle belongs to the hibiscus family. We used to plant roselle, and so did most of our neighbours – if there is such a thing as trend in gardening, then there was a time when it was fashionable to plant roselle.

The roselle plants grew well, yielding generous harvests….not that I ever tended to the garden then. I only remember that we love roselle because it was like the poor man’s substitute to Ribena (blackcurrant drink). It was sweet, and had a more tangy edge… but it had a pleasant berry-ish taste and it was real refreshing with lots of ice.

We must have made bottles and bottles of cordial from the roselle in our garden. I don’t remember when the roselle bushes disappeared from our garden and the neighbourhood, and I never gave it another thought.

I bought a basket of roselle at Satok because I had a sudden craving for the drink. Besides, a basket only costs RM1.

It’s easy to make roselle cordial. Just peel off the petals and discard the calyx. Wash and rinse well, and then boil in water with loads of sugar. I had started out taking careful measurements, but lost track of how much sugar I used as I added the sugar twice more while making the cordial. The roselle is sour-ish, so you need a bit more sugar. It’s also nice to make the cordial thick.

roselle2

My RM1 of roselle yielded a small bottle of cordial, but it’s as good as I remembered it to be – sweet with a pleasing sourish tinge – exactly the drink for hot afternoons.

roselle3

And the kids like it too, and at least we know that there is no preservatives or artificial colouring in ths cordial ….. just copious amounts of sugar :-P

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Satok Market, Kuching, Sarawak

June 29th, 2010

The narrow lanes in the Satok weekend market in Kuching, Sarawak (a state in East Malaysia in Borneo) are crowded, and it gets really hot under the colourful canopies. But I’d not miss going to the market, which opens every Saturday and Sunday, as it’s the best place to find Sarawak’s food produce, handicrafts and knick knacks.

pineapples
The sweetest pineapples are of course found in Sarawak

Ducklings
At the livestock section, you can buy everything from these cute ducklings to puppies to Siamese cats

The market is divided into different sections – wet market, dry market, plants and pets section, clothes and shoes section etc. It’s not that big, so it’s easy enough to meander from lane to lane.

For locals, the weekend market is where they come for ingredients from other parts of Sarawak. There are jungle produce like ferns, bamboo shoots, yam shoots, roselle, herbal roots and honey. There are also dried and preserved food like shrimp paste, cincaluk and smoked fish.

Smoked fish
Smoked fish is a local specialty, and not many know how to make this

Paku pakis
Fern shoots – delicious simply stir-fried with garlic or with sambal belacan

I love the market because so many of the produce sold are foreign to me. I didn’t buy much because we didn’t have access to a kitchen in Kuching, but I tried what I could there. I bought ikan terubuk asin (which I’ll blog about later), roselle (next blog) and Sarawak laksa paste.

Keranji Madu
Keranji madu, tamarind fruits which are encased in a hard shell. The thin flesh is sweet, and are hardly found outside of Sarawak.


Fresh bamboo shoots at Satok

Gula apong
Sarawak’s version of palm sugar, gula apong

cincaluk
Cincaluk is delicious with a squeeze of lime and chilli padi

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Steamed Squid – Thai-style

June 19th, 2010

I made steamed squid for the first time last week when I tried a recipe from Jo Marion Seow’s Soya & Spice as I was reviewHer recipes are mostly Toechew ones, and the steamed squid with taucheo (preserved and salted yellow beans) and coriander was really good. Best of all, the recipe only calls for three ingredients, and takes all of 5 minutes to make. The star ingredient though was, for me, the coriander. I kept heaping on more coriander as it really perks up the dish.

Eating that entire plate of steamed squid (all on my own) got me hankering for more steamed squid, and more coriander. And it also got me thinking of the steamed squid I had in a Thai restaurant outside Alor Setar, Kedah. There is steamed squid, and coriander, but the dressing is certainly a stark contrast to the salty taucheo. The Thai dressing is sour, sweet and burning hot. I remember wanting more and more of the Thai steamed squid, and drinking loads of iced water to cool my burning lips… what worked best was the jelly in young coconut that we had for dessert.

Anyway, I looked up the recipe and decided to concoct the dressing without the garlic that is called for. I used thinly sliced shallot instead, and kaffir lime leaves because I have the plant in my garden, and I love its fragrance. The important ingredients are the lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and bird’s eye chilli, and getting the balance of flavours that you like best.

And of course I heap on the coriander – lots and lots of it. And after dinner, I made a bowl of tomato salsa and heap on loads and loads of coriander – cos I am obsessive, but just a little obsessive, not crazy stalker obsessive. Tomorrow I’ll move from coriander to something else….

STEAMED SQUID

RECIPE

500g squid, cleaned and deskinned

1 medium lime, juiced

2 shallots, thinly sliced

4-5 bird’e eye chilli, chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2 stalks coriander, coarsely chopped

2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced

Steam squid for 4-5 minutes. Remove the steaming liquid, and cut the squid into thick rings.

Make the dressing by mixing the rest of the ingredients together. Taste to check if you like the sweet-sour-hot balance.

Then, pour over the squid.

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