Spicy Mashed Potato Cakes

  

I must thank Andromeda Godit of Cook Bake Snap and Post Facebook Group who posted this yummy snack on 8 September 2020. Even though there is no recipe on his post, I think the ingredients to make these Spicy Mashed Potato Cakes are just mashed potato, flour, egg, pounded/blended chili, salt and some herbs like coriander, parsley or green onions or even some mixed herbs. I thus experimented with these ingredients and was able to come out with these cakes. They are good as snack and can be eaten on their own or with chili or tomato sauce.

Ingredients:

• 300 g potatoes
• 4-5 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sambal (https://al-luckylady.blogspot.com/2018/02/sambal.html?m=1)
• 1 cup green onions
• Oil for frying

Method:

• Wash, peel and boil the potatoes in a pot of boiling water.

• When they have softened, remove them from the pot into a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes and set aside.

• Wash and cut up the green onions into tiny bits.

• Add all-purpose flour, egg, salt, sambal and green onions to the mixing bowl of mashed potatoes.
• You may add more sambal if you want a more spicy potato cake.
• You may add more flour if the batter is too soft.

• Shape the batter into round wide cylinders.

• Heat up cooking oil in the kuali.

• When the oil is hot, place the potato cylinders into the oil.

• Fry them till they are golden brown on one side.

• Flip the potato cylinders to the other side.

• Once this side is browned, remove them onto a kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.

• You may serve this snack on its own or with chili or tomato sauce.                                                   

Chicken Braised with Bitter Gourd in Bean Paste

            

                                    

   

I am sure this is a popular dish among many home chefs - Chicken Braised with Bitter Gourd in Bean Paste. One can have his or her rice with this dish alone. It is slightly sweet, salty, bitter and spicy. I would say most people do not like the bitter gourd at first  as bitter gourd is an acquired taste. But once they have tasted it, they would definitely change their mind about it. And this particular style of cooking the bitter gourd makes it one of the delectable dishes around.

Ingredients:

• 1/4  of a medium-size chicken
• 6 inch bitter gourd
• 2 1/2 tbsp bean paste
• 1 piece bird's eye chili, cut into small pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup water

Method:

• Wash and cut the chicken into bite size.

• Wash and cut the bitter gourd into 1-inch rings. Half them lengthwise and remove the seeds and the inner white part. Then cut them into half-inch width.

• Heat up oil in a kuali.

• Saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add the bean paste and fry them till they are fragrant.

• Add the chicken pieces. Fry them till they are half-cooked.

• Add the bitter gourd and chili.

• Add water and stir to mix. (You may add some light soy sauce if you find that it is not salty enough. However, I did not add any.)

• Cover the kuali and let the chicken and bitter gourd braise slowly till the chicken is cooked and the bitter gourd has softened.

• The dish is ready for serving.

    

Simple Fried Bihun

 

A simple, one-pot meal which is easy and fast to cook is Fried Bihun. It is as delicious as other fried noodles. I usually add lots of vegetables in my fried bihun to make up for the vegetables that we would have if we were having rice for our meal. Usually I would add either bean sprouts with chives, cabbage or cai xin (choy sum or sawi) or a mix of the latter two. In this instance, I am using cabbage and cai xin.


Ingredients: (4 large servings)

• 300 g bihun 
• 6 - 7 large cabbage leaves
• 1 big bunch cai xin (about 250 g)
• (Alternatively, 250 g bean sprout or more with 50 g chives, if preferred, to replace cabbage and cai xin)
• 8 shallots
• 50 g dried prawns
• 4 eggs
• Cooking oil
• 1 cup of water
• 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 pcs chili padi, cut and added with light soy sauce

Method:

• Soak the bihun for ten minutes or until soft. (Check every few minutes to ensure that it is not overly soft.) Scoop out of the water and set aside.

• Wash and cut up the cabbage into small rectangles. You may cut them into long strips if your prefer.

• Wash and cut up the cai xin into 1-inch length.

• Peel, wash and slice the shallots.

• Wash and roughly chop up the dried prawns. Dried prawns can be left out and the Fried Bihun would still taste great.

• Heat up a kuali with cooking oil.

• Fry the eggs and place them on a serving plate.

• Next, fry the shallots till they are brown and crisp. Remove and set aside for later use.

• Fry the dried prawns till fragrant.

• Add the cabbage. When the cabbage is almost soft add the cai xin.

• Add water to the kuali.

• Add in seasonings - light and dark soy sauce, salt and pepper. You may vary the amount of the seasonings according to your taste.

• Let the water with the seasonings boil before adding the bihun.

• Stir until the bihun is totally covered with the sauce. You may add more (boiled) water if your bihun is too hard.

• Add the fried shallots to the bihun. Stir till the fried shallots are evenly mixed with the bihun.

• Dish out and serve with the fried eggs and chili padi in light soy sauce.

Tau Eu Bak or Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce

Tau Eu Bak is so flavourful and fragrant that my family finish the whole pot of it at a meal sitting. Braised over low heat slowly, the meat literally "melt" in the mouth. Sometimes, eggs are boiled and added to the pot. Deep-fried tau kwa can also be added to it. It is usually eaten with white rice. However, in restaurants, one may order mantou (Chinese steamed buns) to eat the Tau Eu Bak with.

Ingredients:

• 300 g pork belly 
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed with skin on
• 1 pc of cinnamon stick (about 3 inches)
• 1 1/2 cup water

Method:

• Wash and cut the pork belly into bite-size pieces.

• Marinade the pork belly with light and dark soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine, salt and pepper powder for at least 30 minutes.

• Heat up kuali with cooking oil.

• Saute chopped garlic till fragrant.

• Add marinated pork belly to the kuali.

• Fry till pork belly is fragrant.

• Transfer belly to a pot.

• Add water to the pot.

• Add the crushed garlic and cinnamon stick to the pot.

• Cover the pot and let the pork belly cook over low heat till they are soft. It takes up to 1-1.5 hours for the pot of meat to be soft and more fragrant. (You may add deep-fried tau kwa to be braised with the pork belly and boiled eggs when the pork belly is cooked.)

• The Tau Eu Bak is ready for serving.