Baked Char Siew

 

In the past I have made Char Siew using an easy way and with just 3 ingredients - pork belly, soy sauce and sugar. The Char Siew always turned out very soft and fragrant. I try to give my family a different taste altogether by making use of the ingredients of my earlier Char Siew and those used in making Crispy Roast Pork and baking the marinated pork belly.  It turned out very delicious with a bit of charred taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 strips of pork belly, about 450 g each
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp five spices
• 2 pieces preserved bean curd
• 2 tbsp preserved bean curd sauce
• 2 tbsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew (Chinese cooking wine)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp honey

Method:

• Wash and pat dry the pork belly.

• Put all the other ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix them up well.

• Marinate the 2 pieces of pork belly; better if they are left overnight in the refrigerator. Otherwise, marinate them for at least 4 hours.

• Bake the pork belly at 180 deg C for 1 hour. (Remember to line the base of your oven or air-fryer for easy cleaning.)

• Fifteen minutes into baking, glaze the pork belly with the marinade.

• Turn the 2 pieces of pork belly after 30 minutes.

• Let them bake for another 15 minutes before glazing them again with the marinade.

• Once done, remove the pork belly from the oven or air-fryer.

• Pour the marinade into a wok.

• Let it boil.

• Put the 2 strips of pork belly into the wok. Keep on turning the meat until the marinade reduces in amount, caramelises and coat the meat.

• The Char Siew is done.

Pajeri Nenas

I had eaten Pajeri Nenas a few times but the most delicious pajeri that I had ever eaten was that sold at the R&R Semanggol on my balik kampung trip a few months ago. Pajeri is a thick, dark, spicy, coconut-rich, sweetish curry often cooked with pineapple or brinjal (Oxford Dictionary). It comes in 2 types, one with santan or coconut milk and the other without. I consulted my Malay friends and browsed through various recipes online before cooking it. This version is without the santan.


Ingredients:

• 1 pineapple (1 kg without the skin and core), quartered lengthwise and then cut into smaller pieces. You may also cut it into thin rings.

• For sauteing:
• 50 g onions, chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 inch ginger, skin removed and thinly sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 star anise

• To blend:
• 5 chili padi (maybe reduced for a less spicy pajeri)
• 250 g onions
• 3 gloves garlic
• 1 1/2 inch ginger
• 25 g dried prawns, washed and soaked

• 2 tbsp curry powder

• 2 tbsp kerisik

• 1 cup of water (to add more slowly if the sauce is too thick)

• 2 tbsp sugar, either white or brown

• 1 tsp salt or according to taste

• cooking oil

Method:

• Heat up the wok with cooking oil. Saute onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick and star anise till they are fragrant.

• Add in the blended ingredients. Fry them till the oil separates from the ingredients (pecah minyak).

• Add the curry powder and kerisik. Stir well.

• Add water and stir.

• Put in the sugar and salt.

• Add the pineapple.

• Keep on stirring to prevent the thick sauce from burning.

• Cook till the pineapple softens. 

• The pajeri is ready to be served.

Brinjal with Mince Pork and Mushrooms

We used to frequent a Chinese restaurant and will usually order a plate of Brinjal with Mince Meat to eat with mantou or rice. That dish was very tasty and has now become one of our favourite dishes at home. However, being home-cooked, I have made the dish in a healthier manner - by reducing the amount of oil used, by steaming the brinjal instead of frying it with a lot of oil and by adding Shiitake mushrooms which are low in calories and offer a good amount of fiber, vitamins, minerals and other health-promoting compounds.


Ingredients:

• 1 piece of Shiitake mushroom
• 1 medium-size brinjal
• 1 stalk of spring onion.
• 2 cloves garlic
• 250 g mince pork
• cooking oil

Method:

• Wash 1 piece of Shiitake mushroom well as we will be using the water in our cooking. Soak the mushroom in hot water till it softens. Slice the mushroom thinly.

• Wash and cut the brinjal into quarters lengthwise. Then cut each quarter into smaller pieces diagonally. (You may cut into any other shapes that you prefer, for example, rectangular shape.)

• Boil water in the steamer. Steam the brinjal till they are soft.

• Wash and cut the spring onion into 1-inch length. Set aside.

• Chop the garlic.

• Heat up the wok with cooking oil.

• Saute garlic until fragrant.

• Add the mushrooms. Stir until they are fragrant.

• Add the mince pork. Fry until they are cooked. Add some water if necessary.

• Add the steamed brinjal. Stir.

• Add the spring onion. Stir.

• Dish out.

Apple Rose Cake

There are thousands of varieties of apples grown throughout the world; some are crunchy and mildly sweet, some are crunchy and super sweet while others are crunchy and acidic to taste. So our choice of the variety depends on whether we just want to snack on it or to bake with it - Apple Cake, Apple Bread, Apple Turnovers, Apple Tart, Apple Pie, etc. or to make Applesauce with it.

Apples are superb in cakes. They make cakes moist, naturally sweet and at times a bit sour making them a great snack for tea.


Ingredients:

• 180 g butter
• 120 g castor sugar
• 180 g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 green apple (Granny Smith)
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
• 1 red apple for decoration

Method:

• Peel the Granny Smith and chop it up into tiny pieces. Soak it lemon juice so that they will not turn brown. Set aside. (You may grate the apple if you like. However, I would like to be able to bite into them and taste the sourness in them.)

• Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

• Add in the eggs, one at a time. Make sure that the egg is well-incorporated before another is added.

• Add the flour gradually till well mixed.

• Add the chopped or grated apple.

• (Optional) Add the ground nutmeg. Nutmeg adds a great flavour to the Apple Cake.

• Grease and line a 6 inch round pan.

• Pour the cake batter into the pan.

• Slice the red apple thinly.

• Arrange the slices on top of the cake batter to form a rose shape.

• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 deg C for 50 minutes. Check to ensure the cake is done by inserting a thin wooden skewer into the cake.

• Let the cake sit in the oven for 5 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar.

• Take the cake out and let it cool down on a metal rack.

• Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the cake.

• Serve. (You may serve with a dollop of ice cream on top of it.)

Creamy Cheesy Butter Chicken

Creamy Butter Chicken is a rich and savoury dish. It can be spicy or non-spicy. And it is easy to make. At most it will take you 30 minutes to cook and serve it. It can be eaten with rice or with bread, potatoes (boiled or roasted) and salad.


Ingredients:

• 400 g chicken, cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cornflour/all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp turmeric powder
• Cooking oil

• Sauce
• 50 g butter
• 4 cloves garlic
• 5 sprigs curry leaves
• 2 chili padi
• 100 ml milk - full cream/fresh/evaporated
• 2 slices of cheddar cheese

Method:

• Marinade the chicken with salt.

• Add in the cornflour/all-purpose flour and turmeric powder. Mix well.

• Heat up some oil in a pan.

• Pan fry the chicken till they are golden brown. (You may deep-fry the chicken.)

• Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

• Put the butter into the pan.

• Add the garlic and curry leaves. Stir-fry until they are fragrant.

• Add the chili padi.

• Then add the milk and cheese.

• Stir until the sauce thickens.

• Pour the fried chicken back into the pan.

• Stir to ensure all pieces are coated with the sauce.

• Dish out the chicken onto a serving plate.

• Pour the remnant sauce onto the chicken.

• The Creamy Butter Chicken is ready to be served.

Chives Omelette

Chives are usually used in garnishing, for example, when we are stir-frying bean sprouts, we add some chives so that there is some greens in the dish. Otherwise, the dish of bean spouts will just be plain white and will not look appetising or appealing. Another dish where they are used as garnishing is fried kueh teow. Besides being used as garnishing, it is said that chives are a "nutrients-dense" food; they are low in calories but high in beneficial nutrients like vitamins, minerals and antioxidents. I do buy chives to stir-fry with prawns for my family. I also frequently buy chives to make omelette for my family. They are sweet and do not have an overly pungent smell or strong taste compared to its close relatives like garlic, shallots, leek, scallion and Chinese onion. Chives omelette is also an easy and fast dish to cook up when we are in a hurry.


Ingredients:

• 150 g chives
• 2 - 3 chili padi (optional)
• 3 eggs, Grade A
• Seasonings - salt, light soy sauce, pepper

Method:

• Pick out all the yellowish and rotten chives and wash them carefully as sometimes there is a lot of mud stuck at their lower parts near to the roots.

• Cut them into 0.5 cm length. It is better to soak them in a deep bowl after cutting so that the soil and mud remnants will sink to the bottom.

• (Optional) Wash and chop up chili padi and put them into a bowl.

• Break the eggs into the bowl, beat them and add the seasonings into the beaten eggs.

• Put the cut chives into the bowl of eggs and mix them up well.

• Heat up the wok with some cooking oil.

• Pour the egg mixture with the chives into the wok slowly to ensure that the mixture forms a round shape.

• When it is brown on the underside, slowly flip over the omelette ensuring that it does not break although it does not really matter if it breaks.

• When the other side has browned, ladle up onto a flat serving dish or you can cut them up into 8 segments or more before dishing them up.

• Serve the chives omelette with hot rice.
  
  
  

Cinnamon Bread

Cinnamon powder is believed to be one of the healthiest spices as it can lower blood sugar levels, reduce heart disease risk factors and has other health benefits. I use Ceylon (versus the Cassia variety) cinnamon powder mainly to add aroma and flavour to my rolls, buns, kringles and breads. I just love the aroma which permeates my house when I am baking. Usually, I will bake cinnamon rolls for my family. But for a change I decided to bake cinnamon bread using the recipe for the rolls.


Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 tsp yeast
• 100 ml warm water
• 50 g castor sugar (I use brown sugar.)
• 100 ml milk
• 75 g butter, melted
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 450 - 500 g all-purpose flour

Spread:

• Mix the following into a paste:

• 75 g butter, softened
• 80 g castor sugar (I use brown sugar.)
• 2 tbsp cinnamon powder

Method:

• Activate the yeast. Put the warm water into a bowl. Add the yeast and stir. Sprinkle some sugar onto the solution and wait for 5-10 minutes for the yeast to be activated.

• Put the remaining sugar, milk, butter, salt and egg into your mixing bowl.

• Add in the activated yeast.

• Add in the flour, a little at a time and knead until the dough is smooth and forms into a ball. At this point, it should be easy to handle. (You may not need to use all of the all-purpose flour.)

• Grease a bowl. Transfer the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and put a wet towel over the cling wrap.

• Let the dough proof for an hour or until it doubles in size.

• Grease and line the bread pan 10 inches x 4 inches x 4 inches.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down.

• Roll it out into a big rectangle.

• Spread the cinnamon paste onto the dough.

• Cut the dough into smaller rectangles measuring about 3 inches x 4 inches.

• Stack them up vertically in the bread pan.

• Cover the pan with cling wrap and put a wet towel over the cling wrap. Let the dough proof till double in size.

• Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees Centigrade.

• Bake your dough for 30 minutes.

• Remove your cinnamon bread from the bread pan and let it cool down completely on the wire rack.

Simple Stir-Fry Brinjal in Bean Paste

You would have heard of eggplant, aubergine and brinjal. They all refer to the same; eggplants is used in North America while aubergine in Europe and the UK and brinjal in South Asia and South Africa. While the eggplant is generally thought of as a vegetable, it is actually a fruit (interesting!). But it is usually eaten as a cooked vegetable.

I usually buy the long brinjal for stir-frying, deep-frying or braising and the round ones for cooking curry. Stir-frying the brinjal in bean paste is one way that I often cook at home.


Ingredients:

• 1 brinjal, about a foot long
• 2-3 chili padi, chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons of minced bean paste
• Cooking oil
• (Optional) 1 sprig of spring onions, chopped

Method:

• Wash and cut the brinjal lengthwise into 4 quarters.
• Then cut each quarter into smaller pieces diagonally.
• Place the brinjal into a metal plate.
• Bring water to boil in a steamer.
• Steam the brinjal tilll they are soft.
• Remove the plate of brinjal from the steamer. Set it aside.
• Heat up some oil in the work.
• Saute the garlic when the oil is hot till fragrant.
• Add in the chili padi. Stir.
• Add in the minced bean paste. Stir till it becomes darker.
• Add in the brinjal. Stir to mix it up well with the bean paste.
• Dish up. (Optional: Sprinkle the chopped spring onions on it.)

Kuih Seri Muka

Kuih Seri Muka (aka Kuih Pulut Kaya) is a popular local kuih. It is made up of a lower glutinous rice layer and a top egg custard layer made from a combination of pandan juice, santan, sugar, wheat flour and corn flour. It can be eaten during breakfast or as tea time snack.

Ingredients:

(a) The Top Layer

• 10-12 pandan leaves
• 300 ml thick coconut milk
• 2 eggs
• 100 g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 40 g corn flour
• A pinch of salt

(b) The Bottom Layer

• 300 g glutinous rice
• 250 ml thin coconut milk
• A pinch of salt

Method:

• Prepare the bottom layer first:

• Soak the glutinous rice for at least 4 hours.
• Drain the water after 4 hours.
• Mix the rice with thin coconut milk.
• Add in a pinch of salt and stir.
• Grease a 7 inch square pan. You may line the base with a banana leave.
• Pour the rice with thin coconut milk into the pan.
• Steam for about 30 minutes in total over low to medium heat. After the first 15 minutes, open the cover of the steamer and press down the rice to compress it. Close back the cover and steam for the remaining 15 minutes.
• While waiting for the rice to cook, prepare the top layer.

• Prepare the top layer:

• Cut the pandan leaves into small pieces.
• Put the pandan leaves into the blender.
• Pour the thick coconut milk into the blender.
• Blend and sieve the mixture to get 300 ml pandan coconut milk. You may add a little water to top it up to 300 ml.
• Put the eggs and sugar into a bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
• Put the flour, corn flour, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir well to combine.
• Add the egg and sugar mixture into the mixing bowl. Stir well to combine.
• Add the pandan coconut milk into the mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to ensure that all are well incorporated and a smooth batter is formed.
• Sieve the batter to get rid of any remaining lumps.
• Optional. You may pour the batter into a saucepan to heat it up slightly (over very low heat) before pouring onto the glutinous rice layer. Stir it continuously to prevent any lumps from forming.
• Open the steamer cover and pour the heated batter on top of the glutinous rice layer.
• Close  the cover and steam over very low heat (to obtain a smooth surface) for 35 minutes.
• Once cooked, remove the kuih from the steamer.
• Let it cool down completely before cutting it up.

Deep-fried Garoupa with Ginger, Garlic, Chili & Soy Sauce

We are blessed with many types of fishes in Malaysia. However, the grouper or kerapu in Malay is our family's favourite. It has a sweet firm texture and a mild flavour. It can be steamed (if they are very fresh), deep fried or cooked in soup or curry. We love eating deep-fried kerapu drizzled with different types of sauces.


Ingredients:

• 1 grouper (about 1/2 kg for 3 people)
• 1 piece ginger, 3 inches
• 1 small bulb garlic
• 2-3 pieces chili padi
• Cooking oil
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce

Method:

• Wash and dry the grouper with kitchen towel. Set aside.

• Julienne the ginger.

• Chop up the garlic.

• Chop up the chili padi.

• Heat up the wok with cooking oil. 

• When the oil is hot, sprinkle some salt into the wok. Then put the fish into the wok.

• Fry the fish till golden brown on one side. Then turn to the other side to be fried. Remove the fish from the wok onto a service plate once this side has browned. Never fry each side twice as this will harden the fish.

• Remove some of the oil from the wok. 

• Put the ginger into the wok and fry them till they are crispy. If you want them to remain crispy, then remove them from the wok. Set aside. Otherwise, you need not remove the ginger.

• Add in the garlic. Fry them till they are fragrant.

• Add in the chili padi. Stir for a while to bring out the spiciness.

• Add in the soy sauce.

• Once the sauce has boiled, turn off the fire and drizzle the sauce onto the fish. If you have removed the ginger earlier, then place them on top of the fish.

• Serve.

Crispy Roast Pork Belly with Salt

It can be quite boring for the family if I keep on making the same dish again and again. I have made the Crispy Roast Pork with Preserved Red Bean Curd many times. For a change, I made the Crispy Roast Pork with Salt. Both are delicious in their own ways. However, making the Crispy Roast Pork with Salt involves less ingredients as compared to the one seasoned with the preserved red bean curd.

Ingredients:

• 400 g pork belly, preferably rectangular shape. Ensure that the piece of pork belly is of the same level throughout. If not, try to slice away part of the thicker side. This is important as the thicker side will burn easily and we want to 
• 3 tsp salt

Instructions:

• Wash the pork belly.

• Score as many lines as possible on the underside (the meat part).

• Score the rind, either lengthwise or breadthwise. I did it lengthwise as I think it will be easier to cut up the roasted pork later and to chop them up into smaller pieces. When scoring the skin, take care not to cut too deep into the meat. Just score till the fat layer. What we want is for the oil from this layer to come out and "deep-fry" the rind making it crispy.

• Turn the pork belly meat side up. Rub the meat with salt. Make sure that you rub the inside of the scored part with salt.

• Turn the pork belly rind side up. 

• Use the kitchen paper towel to wipe the rind dry.

• Rub the rind all over with salt.

• Once done, place the pork belly onto a tray, rind side up and place the tray into the fridge. It is better to keep the meat overnight in the fridge to completely dry up the rind as well as for the meat to be seasoned long enough so that the roasted meat is tastier.

• Take the pork belly out from the fridge about 1 hour before roasting for it to return to room temperature.

• Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees Centigrade.

• Roast the pork for an hour. (Try to place the pork as close as possible to the heating element. It does not matter if there is a burn as this can be scrapped off. The aim is to let the rind crackle as much as possible so that it will be crispy.)

• If the whole rind has crackled, you may turn down the temperature to 190 degrees Centigrade. Let it continue to roast till the time expires.

• Take the pork out from the oven when it is done.

• Let the roasted pork cool down. Then chop it up and serve.

Long Beans Omelette

A simple dish which definitely won't go wrong, the Long Beans Omelette is one of the fastest dishes we can cook up in the kitchen. This recipe is specially for those who are very busy and who reach their homes after work very late and yet have to put food on the table for their family.

It is one of our favourites. And to give it more oomph, I always add chili padi into it.




Ingredients:

• 200 g long beans
• 2 - 3 chili padi (optional)
• 3 eggs, Grade A
• Seasonings - salt, light soy sauce, pepper

Method:

• Wash long beans and cut them into 0.5 cm length.
• Wash and chop up chili padi.
• Break the eggs into a bowl, beat them and add the seasonings into the beaten eggs..
• Heat up the wok with some cooking oil.

Either

• Fry the long beans first.
• When the long beans are soft, scoop them into the bowl containing the beaten eggs.
• Stir to mix them well.
• Pour the egg mixture with the long beans into the wok slowly to ensure that the mixture forms a round shape.
• When it is brown on the underside, slowly flip over the omelette ensuring that it does not break.
• When the other side has browned, ladle up onto a flat serving dish.

Or

• Put all the cut long beans into the bowl of eggs.
• Mix them up.
• Pour the egg mixture with the long beans into the wok slowly to ensure that the mixture forms a round shape.
• When it is brown on the underside, slowly flip over the omelette ensuring that it does not break.
• When the other side has browned, ladle up onto a flat serving dish.

Soft and Fluffy Pandan Buns

I just love the smell of the pandan (aka screwpine) leaves permeating the house when they are used in cooking - for example cooking nasi lemak, cooking normal rice, cooking desserts like grean peas, bubur cha cha, pulut hitam, red beans and others, making kueh, cakes or bread/bun or boiling drinks like lemongrass and pandan leaves, barley, and so on.

The Pandan Bun is a favourite in my family due to its aroma. Besides this, it is also very soft and fluffy; it stays soft for 3 to 4 days.


Ingredients

• 500 g bread flour
• 100 g castor sugar or you may reduce the amount slightly. (You may use brown sugar.)
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 3 tbsp milk powder
• 2 tsp yeast
• 100 ml pandan juice (from juicing 30 pandan leaves with some water)
• 170 - 180 ml lukewarm milk
• 2 eggs at room temperature, 1 for the dough and the other for brushing the dough balls before baking.
• 50 g butter at room temperature

Method

• First of all, you have to activate the yeast and this is done by adding a bit of the sugar to some of the lukewarm milk, stirring the milk to dissolve the sugar and then sprinkling the yeast onto it.

• Once bubbles have formed (after approximately 10 minutes), the yeast mixture is ready for you to start making the buns.

• Pour the rest of the lukewarm milk into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Pour in the pandan juice.

• Transfer the yeast mixture into the mixing bowl.

• Break the egg into the mixing bowl.

• Add in the rest of the sugar.

• Add in the salt.

• Pour in the flour.

• Add in the milk powder.

• Start kneading until a dough ball is formed. Once that is achieved, add in the butter.

• Continue to knead until the butter is incorporated into the dough.

• Continue to knead until the dough passes the window pane test.

• Oil a bowl.

• Transfer the dough into the oiled bowl, cover the bowl with a cling wrap and put a wet towel over the cling wrap. Let the dough proof until it is double in size.

• Slightly flour the table top. (I like to slightly oil the table top.)

• Transfer the dough onto the table top.

• Roll the dough out into a long rectangular shape (horizontally).

• Fold the dough into 3 by bringing the right part onto the centre part followed by the left.

• Then roll the dough out again into a long rectangular shape (vertically) and fold into 3 again.

• Do this process at least 6 times (alternating between vertical and horizontal roll-outs). I usually do 8 roll-outs as I wish to get more of the "peeling" effect in my buns.

• Once this is done, cut the dough into 15 pieces. (My pieces usually weigh between 62 to 63 g each.)

• Roll these pieces into little balls.

• Grease your pan (which should be big enough for the 15 little balls). (I grease and line my pan with parchment paper for easy removal of my baked buns.)

• Place these balls in the pan.

• Cover the pan with a cling wrap and let the balls proof until double in size.

• Break an egg into a bowl and add some water to it. Beat the egg and brush the buns with the egg just before baking.

• Bake the buns in a pre-heated oven at 175 deg C for 20-25 minutes.

• Remove the buns from the pan immediately after baking and let them cool down on a wire rack.