Prawn Ball Soup

A bowl of piping hot soup on a raining day would certainly warm anyone's day. The base of these soups is derived from either meats (beef, pork, chicken), seafood or vegetable. These hot soups can be divided into thin or thick soups. One such thin soup is prawn ball soup. It is delicious and can be easily prepared. Most households would definitely have stock of prawns. the vegetable that goes into this soup can be varied; I have used yau mak. Other vegetables that can be used are Napa cabbage, spinach, cai xin and so on.

Ingredients:

For the prawn balls:

• 200 prawn meat
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp wheat flour
• 1 tbsp tapioca flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 chili padi (optional)

For the soup:

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 750 ml water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 6 leaves of yau mak

Method:

• Mince prawn meat with the minced garlic.

• Add wheat flour and tapioca flour to the minced prawn meat. Mix well.

• Add salt, pepper and chili padi. Mix well.

• Roll the batter into balls (6 pieces). Set aside.

• Saute minced garlic in sesame oil in a soup pot.

• Once the garlic is fragrant, add water to the pot.

• Let the water boil.

• Once the water boils, add the prawn balls.

• Add the seasonings once the prawn balls cook, .

• Add the yau mak and let the soup boil for a further 2 minutes.

• Turn off the fire. The soup is ready for serving.

• (Note: You may add noodles, especially glass noodles, to the soup if you like.)

Purple Sweet Potato Koo Kuih with Yam Filling

We can easily find angkoo kuih with mung bean paste fillings and with coconut fillings. But it is more difficult to find those with yam paste fillings, maybe not possible to find at all. I had set out to make some buns with yam paste fillings but after making the yam paste, I changed my mind and made koo kuih with them instead. In all my kuih, I have reduced sugar greatly so that those with diabetic problems can enjoy my kuih with ease.

Ingredients:

For the base:

• banana leaves or non-stick parchment paper (I used parchment paper in this case.)
• some cooking oil (I use corn oil.)

For the fillings:

• 300 g steamed yam
• 100 g steamed purple sweet potato (to give the yam paste some colour)
• 80 g castor sugar
• 15 ml milk
• 10 g butter
• 10 ml shallot oil

For the dough:

• 300 g steamed purple sweet potatoes
• 250 g glutinous rice flour
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 180 - 200 ml hot water

Method:

For the base:

• Wash and cut the banana leaves or non-stick parchment paper according to the size of your mould.
• Grease the leaves or parchment paper.

For the fillings:

• Add the steamed yam and purple sweet potato, sugar, milk, butter and shallot oil to a plate. Mash the yam and purple sweet potato with the sugar, milk, butter and oil till they form a smooth paste which can be rolled into balls. (Taste your paste so that you can decide whether to increase the amount of sugar.)
• Weigh the paste into amount which can fit your mould and roll them into balls. Oil your hands to prevent the paste from sticking to your hands.
• Set them aside.

For the dough:

• Add steamed purple sweet potato, glutinous flour and rice flour to a mixing bowl. 
• Mix the sweet potatoes (mashing them as you go along) and the flours until well combined.
• Add in hot water, bit by bit, until they can be shaped into balls. Weigh your dough according to the amount which can fit into your mould nicely. (Weight of dough to filling is 2:1.)

Assembly:

• Take a piece of dough ball, flatten it and put the filling onto it. Slowly bring the flattened dough to cover the filling and roll it back into a ball.
• Dust the mould with glutinous flour.
• Place the ball into the mould and press it down to cover the mould nicely. If there is any dough higher than the mould, it means that the dough is too big. So, you have to adjust accordingly.
• Knock the wooden block of the mould on a table. The dough will easily drop off if you have dusted the mould well.
• Place the moulded dough on the greased banana leave or parchment paper.
• Repeat this until all the dough balls and filling balls are finished.
• Bring the water in the steamer to boil.
• Once it has boiled, place all the moulded dough onto the steamer rack.
• Steam the moulded dough over high heat for 4 minutes. Open the steamer cover, quickly brush the dough with some cooking oil. Once completed, cover the steamer and continue to steam the dough at high heat for another 4 minutes. This process will help to maintain the design of the kuih. 
• Remove the kuih from steamer and let them cool down completely.
• Remove the kuih from the banana leaves or parchment papers and place them onto fresh or new ones. Cut the banana leaves or parchment papers around the kuih.
• The koo kuih are ready to be served.

Kuih Talam Pandan

Kuih talam pandan is a common traditional Malay kuih which can be easily bought from the morning and night markets as well as cafes and in eateries in the shopping malls. It is made up of 2 layers - white on top and green at the bottom. The top layer is made from rice flour, corn flour, sugar, pandan juice and thick coconut milk while the bottom layer is made from wheat flour, tapioca flour, sugar and thin coconut milk. Some people add mung bean flour to the batter. Mung bean flour acts as a binder, a thickening agent and a flavour carrier. Kuih talam pandan is soft and creamy. However, some people also add alkaline water to make the kuih more elastic. 

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer:

• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 40 g tapioca flour
• 175 g sugar (195 g for a sweeter kuih)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 250 cup of water
• 10 pandan leaves
• 300 ml thin coconut milk

Top Layer:

• 110 g rice flour
• 50 g corn flour
• 20 g sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 750 ml thick coconut milk

Method:

• Prepare a pan 8 inch x 8 inch. Line the pan with a piece of non-stick parchment paper or a piece of food grade plastic for easier removal of the kuih later.

• Prepare a steamer with enough water to last 1 hour.

• Prepare the bottom layer:

• Wash and cut pandan leaves into smaller pieces. Grind/Blend them with 250 ml of water. Sieve to obtain the pandan juice.

• Add all-purpose flour, tapioca flour, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl. Mix.

• Add pandan juice to the dry ingredients. Mix till there are no lumps left in the batter.

• Add thin coconut milk to the batter. Use a whisk to mix them till the batter is smooth.

• Sieve the batter into a pan.

• Heat up the batter on very low fire, stirring the batter all the time so that the batter does not become lumpy.

• When steam rises from the batter, turn off the fire.

• Pour the batter into the pan.

• Steam the batter for 20 minutes.

• Prepare the top layer:

• Add rice flour, corn flour, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl. Mix.

• Add the thick coconut milk to the dry ingredients. Use a whisk to mix them till the batter is smooth.

• Sieve the batter into a pan.

• Heat up the batter on very low fire, stirring the batter all the time so that the batter does not become lumpy.

• When steam rises from the batter, turn off the fire.

• Open the cover of the steamer after 20 minutes. The green layer should have hardened.

• Use a fork to score the top of the green layer. This is to ensure that the white layer will stick to the green layer.

• Pour the batter into the pan.

• Steam the batter for 30 minutes till the kuih is cooked.

• Remove the pan from the steamer and let the kuih cool down.

• Use a plastic knife to slice the kuih.

• Enjoy.