Stir-fried Pumpkin Noodles

When we talk about pumpkin, the first thought is on the Halloween celebration. The pumpkin is usually carved into a jack-o'-lantern for this celebration. However, its culinary uses are wide; it can be baked into pies, blended into soups, fried with dried prawns, fried in rice and rice vermicelli and roasted as a side dish. And its seeds can be toasted and eaten as snacks or used in baking especially in bread.

Pumpkin is also eaten widely because it is good for health. It has a high Vitamin A and C content, rich in beta-carotene, low in calories and packed with beneficial dietary fiber.

Stir-fried Pumpkin Noodles is a self-creation. This sweet and savory dish is a favourite among my family members.

Ingredients:

• 150 g bihun (rice vermicelli)
• 100 g chicken breast
• 100 g pumpkin
• 1 piece brown (deep fried) tofu
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion
• 50 g pumpkin + 100 ml water
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 bird's eye chili
• 1 stalk green onion

Instruction:

• Soak the rice vermicelli till it has softened.

• Slice chicken breast into thin strips.

• Shred the 100 g of pumpkin.

• Cut the tofu into 8 pieces.

• Mince the garlic.

• Cut the small onion vertically.

• Blend 50 g of pumpkin with 100 ml of water.

• Add salt, pepper, light and dark soy sauces to the blended pumpkin.

• Slice the chili (for decoration).

• Cut the green onion into short pieces (for decoration).

• Heat up cooking oil in a kuali.

• Saute garlic till fragrant.

• Then add the onion and shredded pumpkin. Fry till they are soft.

• Add blended pumpkin to the kuali. Let it boil.

• Once it has boiled, add tofu and rice vermicelli.

• Fry till the rice vermicelli has soaked up the blended pumpkin sauce and is cooked. Test taste the cooked rice vermicelli. If it is not salty, add more salt. If the rice vermicelli is too dry, add hot water till your desired texture is achieved.

• Scoop it up onto a serving plate.

• Decorate with chili and green onion.

Orh Nee or Yam Pudding

 

 

Steaming the Yam

Grinding the Cooked Yam

Cooking the Ground Yam

When I was very young, I only got to eat Orh Nee during wedding dinners. However, nowadays we can easily find it in Chinese restaurants and dessert shops. I usually make it myself to have a healthier version with less sugar and to reduce cost as there are many members in my family; a bowl in the dessert shop can cost more than, say, a 500 g yam. Besides, the processes are not too difficult - preparation of shallot oil can be done a day earlier and so is the preparation of the gingko nuts. (Peeled gingko nuts can be bought from the supermarkets.) 

Ingredients:

• 500 g yam
• 3 pandan leaves
• 100 g gingko nuts
• 200 ml water
• 60 g sugar (or 75 g for a sweeter pudding)
• 4 tbsp shallot oil
• A pinch of salt

Instructions:

• Deshell the gingko nuts and remove the brown skin and the bitter centre green core.

• Add them to a pot with about 250 ml water.

• Boil the gingko nuts till they are cooked. (They turn from pale colour to yellow when cooked.)

• Keep the water as we will be using it to process the mashed yam later.

• Prepare the shallot oil by peeling and slicing the shallots and then frying the slices in cooking oil. (The amount of shallots and oil is up to us as we can always use the fried shallots and oil in our dishes.)

• Peel the yam, cut them into small cubes and steamed them with pandan leaves.

• When the yam is cooked, mash them with a fork or a ricer. (You may skip this step and transfer the cooked yam directly to a food processor.)

• Transfer the mashed yam to a food processor.

• Add 200 ml of water from boiling the gingko nuts to the food process.

• Grind the mashed yam till they are smooth. (Add more water if the yam puree is too dry.)

• Heat up a pan with 4 tbsp of shallot oil.

• Transfer the yam puree from the food processor to the pan.

• Cook the puree till the desired consistency is achieved.

• Serve it hot or cold with the gingko nuts.

Purple Sweet Potato Bread

I love purple sweet potatoes - to eat them (steamed) as well as to use them in my bakes (breads) and in making sweet soup (bubur cha cha). They are sweet, colourful and has high dietary fiber. Packed with these dietary fiber, vitamins A and C, low glycemic index and powerful antioxidants, they support digestion, promote eye health, regulate blood sugar, boost immunity against germs and inflammation, protect heart health and improves skin and brain health.

However, purple sweet potatoes are rarer as compared to the orange and beige ones. Thus, whenever I see them, I would buy, steam and freeze them for future use.

Ingredients:

• 240 ml warm milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• 500 g bread flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200 g purple sweet potato
• 45 g unsalted butter

Instructions:

• Peel, wash and steam the purple sweet potato till it is soft. Mash the sweet potato till fine (You may add some of the milk to make mashing the sweet potato easier.) Set aside.

• Add the remaining warm milk to the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Add the sugar to the bowl.

• Add yeast to the bowl.

• Stir and wait for 5-10 minutes for bubbles to be formed.

• Add eggs, bread flour, sweet potato and salt to the bowl.

• Knead till a dough ball is formed.

• Add butter to the dough ball.

• Continue to knead till window pane is achieved.

• Grease a clean bowl and transfer the dough to it. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to your counter top.

• Punch down the dough to degas.

• Form the dough into a ball.

• Roll out the dough ball into a rectangle and roll it up place into a cylinder.

• Place it into a greased and lined 9 inch x 5 inch x 5 inch loaf pan.

• Cover the pan with cling wrap and let the dough rise till double in size.

• Meanwhile pre-heat your oven to 175 deg C.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, egg wash the dough.

• Bake it for 30 minutes. (Tent your pan with aluminium foil if your oven is too hot and the top of the bread is turning dark too soon.)

• When baked, remove the bread from the pan. Remove the parchment paper and place the bread onto a metal rack to cool down.

• Slice the bread when the loaf has cooled down.

• Enjoy.

Peanut Sauce

Peanut sauce is rich and savoury. It is a must when we are making satay or grilled meat on skewers. It can also be eaten with compressed rice (nasi impit), deep-fried taukwa or fruit / fruit and vegetable salad.

Ingredients:

• 350 g peanuts
• 50 g tamarind pulp
• 50 g water - to mix with the tamarind pulp
• 30 g dried prawns
• 50 g dried chilies
• 200 g onion, peel and cut into small pieces
• 45 g garlic, peel
• 50 g lemongrass, slice thinly
• 20 g galangal, slice thinly
• 200 ml water - for blending
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 10 g coriander powder
• 200 ml cooking oil
• 100 ml water - for cooking the sauce
• 80 g gula Melaka/ brown sugar or to taste
• 1 tbsp salt or to taste

Instructions:

• Wash and fry the peanuts without oil in the kuali till they are crunchy. Remove the membrane. Pound them coarsely or finely according to your preference. I pounded them coarsely as I like to bite and feel the crunch of the peanuts. Set them aside. (You can do this one day in advance to spread out the work.)

• Add water to the tamarind pulp to yield the required tamarind juice. Set it aside. (Increase the tamarind pulp if you want a more sour sauce.)

• Wash and blend the dried prawns. Set aside.

• Wash the dried chilies and soak them in hot water till soft. Cut them into shorter pieces.

• Blend the dried chilies, onion, garlic, lemongrass and galangal with water till a fine paste is formed.

• Heat up the kuali with cooking oil. You may add more oil for a more shiny sauce.

• Add the blended ingredients, turmeric powder and coriander powder to the kuali. Fry the ingredients till they are fragrant and the oil separates from the ingredients. Add water slowly if the ingredients are too dry. The sauce should not be too watery.

• Add tamarind juice, gula Melaka/brown sugar and salt.

• Scoop up once the sauce has boiled.

Satay Ayam or Grilled Chicken on Bamboo Skewers

Satay is a popular local delicacy that can be easily found especially in the evenings or nights in coffee shops or night markets. It consists of marinated skewered meats that are grilled over an open flame using charcoal and served with a rich, savoury peanut dipping sauce, onion, cucumber and compressed rice (nasi impit). These meats can be chicken, beef or mutton.

Making satay had been in my to-do list for a long time. And I finally decided it was time. My journey in making satay started with buying chicken, all the required spices like cumin, fennel and coriander and herbs like ginger, lemongrass, turmeric and galangal.  I left out candlenuts; the small amount will not affect the taste of the satay. Next, it was marinating the chicken, skewering and grilling the marinated chicken. I marinated the chicken for 3 days so that they are very flavourful when grilled.

Ingredients:

• 1.25 kg chicken breast
• 7.5 g cumin seeds (jintan putih)
• 7.5 g fennel seeds (jintan manis)
• 7.5 g coriander seeds (ketumbar)
• 25 g turmeric powder
• 200 g onions
• 50 g garlic
• 50 g lemongrass
• 50 g ginger
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 25 g sugar
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Ingredients:

• Wash and slice the chicken into 2 cm wide and 6-7 cm length. set aside.

• Toast the cumin, fennel and coriander seeds till they are very fragrant. Grind them till very fine. (You may use store-bought powders.)

• Peel and cut onion and garlic and add to the blender.

• Slice the lemongrass and ginger thinly and add to the blender.

• Blend these ingredients till fine.

• Add the ground spices, turmeric powder, blended ingredients, salt, pepper, sugar and cooking oil to a mixing bowl. Mix them up very well.

• Add the chicken to the blend and mix, making sure the chicken is well coated.

• Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge for 2-3 days.

• Soak about 35 bamboo skewers for a day to ensure they will not burn during grilling.

• On the day of consumption, skewer the marinated chicken.

• Prepare a stalk of lemongrass. Mash the end of the white part gently. This is required to baste the meat with the remaining marinade.

• Grill the skewered chicken using either charcoal grill or electric grill or grill over gas stove.

• Keep on turning the chicken skewers. Baste each side with the remainder marinade using the lemongrass.

• Remove the skewers from the grill once the chicken has cooked.

• Serve with peanut sauce, cucumber and onion.

Tomato-base Spaghetti

Spaghetti as we know is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine. While rice is our staple food, it is a good change to have spaghetti once in a while. We can either have Spaghetti Bolognese (slow-cooked sauce of minced beef, onion and tomatoes), Spaghetti Carbonara (rich creamy sauce of eggs, Pecorinco Romano cheese, black pepper and crispy pancetta) or Spaghetti al Pomodoro (pasta dish of cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil). Of the three, the latter is the lightest and is the one preferred by my family. We make this very often sometimes up to 3 times in a month.

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

• 3 tbsp EVOO
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
•  250 g Holland onion
• 600 g cherry tomatoes
• 1 can (250 g) whole tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water
• 50 g grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 40 g fresh basil, julienne

For the spaghetti:

• 500 g spaghetti
• 1 tsp salt
• A pot of water

Instructions:

• Peel and grate the onion.

• Half the cherry tomatoes.

•  Add EVOO to a pot or kuali.

• Add the minced garlic and saute till fragrant but not brown.

• Add the grated onion and saute it till soft and translucent.

• Next, add the cherry tomatoes and let them cooked till soft.

• Add the can of whole tomatoes.

• Add water and let them simmer for about 10 minutes.

• Use a manual potato ricer to mash the tomatoes till fine.

• Add the basil.

• Season with salt and pepper.

• While the sauce is simmering, boil a pot of water.

• When the water has boiled, add salt to the water.

• Add the spaghetti and cook them till al dente. (Always test taste to ensure that the spaghetti is firm and does not taste raw nor mushy.)

• When the spaghetti is cooked, Scoop them into the sauce.

• Stir so that the spaghetti is well coated with the sauce.

• Add the grated or shredded cheese and stir well.

• Serve. Tomato-based spaghetti is delicious and can be eaten on its own. Or, you can serve it roast chicken, baked salmon and so on.

• If you like, sprinkle the spaghetti with more Parmesan cheese before consuming it.

Ice Cream

Ice cream is a good snack especially on a hot day. I believe not only children love ice cream but also the adults. We are actually spoilt for choice due to the number of flavours or a combination of flavours we can find in the market. And we can make those flavours which cannot be found in the market ourselves. 

I used to use my ice cream machine to make them. However, this is limiting for those who do not possess one. You can make ice cream even if you do not own the machine to make them. I learnt this from The Weekend Plan. It would be great if you have the ice cream moulds. If you do not have them, you can use any containers to store them.

Ingredients: (This recipe makes 6 sticks of ice cream)

• 150 g whipping cream
• 35 g milk powder
•  200 ml milk
• 10 g crushed Oreo cookies
• 30 g sugar
• 10 g corn starch

Instructions:

• Discard the fillings of the Oreo cookies. Crush the cookies and set them aside.

• Add the whipping cream, milk powder, sugar, corn starch and milk to a saucepan.

• Mix them up.

• Turn on the fire at low heat.

• Stir the contents in the saucepan until the mixture boils.

• Let the mixture boils till it thickens.

• Let the thick mixture cools down.

• Add crushed Oreo cookies to the saucepan and stir.

• Scoop the mixture into individual moulds or one big container.

• Put the moulds or container in the freezer for a minimum of 3 hours before serving.

• Note: You may double or triple the ingredients to obtain more ice cream.

• Enjoy.