Sang Har Mee

 

Sang Har Mee is a delicious noodle dish usually enjoyed by those who love the huge succulent prawns with their delectable flavour of natural sweetness. Due to this I have not added any oyster sauce nor fish sauce like some chefs do. In addition to the sweetness of the prawns, the yee mee also adds its own flavour to the thickened egg broth. While it is relatively easy to cook this noodle dish, it may be a bit difficult to find the prawns in the market as most would have been snapped up especially by the restaurants offering this dish. And eating in these restaurants may set you back by a couple of hundreds.

 Ingredients:

• 4 pcs Yee Mee
• 2 large prawns
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 pc ginger, 2 inch x 0.5 inch, sliced thinly
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small bunch of green onion, 4 inches long
• 1.5-2 litres of water
• 6 big leaves of Chinese cabbage, cut to 1-inch length 
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp corn flour + 4 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

Instructions:

• Wash and slice the huge prawns into 2 each. (Start by placing the prawn on its side. Using a sharp knife/chopper, slice through the shell along the side to cut the body into 2 with the head still intact. Next, turn the prawn onto its back with the 2 sides apart. Place the knife/chopper on the middle of the head and use your hand to hit the knife/chopper to cut the head into 2.). Remove the entrails.

• Heat up the wok with cooking and sesame oils.

• Add the ginger, garlic and green onion to the oil.

• When these are fragrant, add the water to the oil and let it boil.

• Add the prawns to the boiling water. If your prawns are very big, boil them for about 4-5 minutes till they are cooked. Smaller prawns require about 2-3 minutes. Remove the prawns and set them aside.

• Add the Chinese cabbage to the broth.

• Add the seasonings of salt, light soy sauce, pepper and brown sugar.

• Break the eggs into a bowl and then add them to the broth.

• Add Chinese cooking wine.

• Add the corn flour slurry to thicken the sauce.

• Add the yee mee to the wok for a couple of minutes (if you like to braise the yee mee). Otherwise, place the yee mee onto your serving plates and pour the broth over it. Top it with the cooked prawns.

• Serve it immediately.

Sambal Hae Bee / Sambal Dried Prawns

 

Sambal Hae Bee or Sambal Udang Kering is one of the most delicious condiment as it is made from tasty dried prawns and the aromatic spices. It is sweet, salty, mildly sour and very fragrant. It is best eaten with white rice. However, I like to eat it with bread - sandwich it with cucumber. Sambal Hae Bee can also be used as fillings for bread and pulut panggang.

 Ingredients:

• 125 g dried prawns
• 10 g dried chilies
• 100 g fresh red chilies
• 125 g shallots
• 40 g garlic
• 5 g fresh turmeric
• 50 g lemongrass
• 5 pieces of kaffir lime leaves
• 5 g belacan
• 30 g tamarind juice
• 100 g cooking oil
• 35 g brown sugar
• 4 g salt

Method:

• Wash, soak and pound the dried prawns. (It is not advisable to use the blender as the dried prawns would be too fine. It is best to use the mortar and pestle to pound the dried prawns so that they are slightly coarse.)

• Wash and soak the dried chilies. Cut them into small pieces when they have softened.

• Wash and cut the fresh red chilies into small pieces

• Peel and wash the shallots. Cut them up coarsely.

• Peel and wash the garlic. Cut them up coarsely.

• Remove the skin of the turmeric.

• Wash and slice the white part of the lemongrass finely.

• Wash the kaffir lime leaves. Remove the midrib and petiole. Slice the leaves finely.

• Take a knob of tamarind, add water and extract 30 g of tamarind juice.

• Toast the belacan.

• Weigh out the brown sugar and salt (may add or reduce them - to taste).

• Add dried chilies, fresh red chilies, shallots, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass and belacan into the container of the blend. Blend till they are fine.

• Heat up the wok with cooking oil.

• Once the oil is hot, add the blended ingredients to the oil.

• Saute till they are aromatic.

• Add the pounded dried prawns and continue to fry them for another 7-8 minutes.

• Add the finely cut kaffir lime leaves.

• Add the tamarind juice, sugar and salt. Taste test and add more tamarind juice, sugar or salt according to your taste.

• Stir for another 5 minutes or so and your sambal hae bee is ready.

Chocolate Rolls

Chocolate rolls are rolled bread filled with chocolate sauce. Like cinnamon rolls, they are great for breakfast or tea breaks. It is a good alternative for those who do not like the taste and smell of cinnamon. The method of making them is similar.

Ingredients:

• 515 g bread flour
• 50 g brown sugar
• 20 g milk powder
• 6 g yeast
• 6 g salt
• 200 g whipping cream or heavy cream
• 110 g warm milk
• 2 eggs

Method:

• Put the flour, sugar, milk, yeast and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Add the whipping or heavy cream, warm milk and eggs to the bowl. It is good practice to break the egg first into a smaller bowl before adding it to the mixing bowl to avoid adding eggs which are not fresh or rotten to it.

• Knead the ingredients into a smooth dough and until window pane is achieved. (This is important for a soft and fluffy roll.)

• Grease a bowl with oil.

• Remove the dough from the bowl and put it into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.

• Leave the dough to proof until it doubles in size.

• Once it has doubled in size, remove the dough from the bowl onto a slightly floured table-top.

• Punch down the dough to release the gas in it.

• Knead it manually for about 5 minutes.

• Roll it into a big round dough.

• Roll out the dough into 15 inch x 11 inch rectangle.

• Pre-heat oven to 170 degree Celsius.

• Spread the chocolate sauce onto the rectangular dough. (Please find the chocolate sauce recipe in this blog.)

• Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into long strips.

• Roll up each strip and place it into a cupcake liner or muffin tin (roll up tightly if you prefer a pointed top) or you may place the rolled dough side by side in a 15 inch x 11 inch baking pan. (I managed to obtain 22 pieces of rolled dough.)

• Cover the rolls and let them proof to double in size.

• Once the dough balls have doubled in size, bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

• Remove the pan from the oven.

• Remove the buns immediately onto a cooling metal rack.

• Enjoy. 

Homemade Chocolate Sauce

Chocolate sauce is a sweet delicious condiment which has a lot of uses. It can be used as a topping for your ice cream, muffins and cakes or as a spread for your bread. It can also be used in making your chocolate milk shake and ice cream. It is very easy to make and costs very much less when made at home. And most of the time, the ingredients to make it are available at home. Although the recipe for making it is provided here, you can vary the quantity of each ingredient to suit your taste - either less bitter or sweeter. You can also vary the consistency of your chocolate sauce; if it is too runny, you may heat it a bit longer to thicken it. I usually make it when I have a lot of whipping or heavy cream remaining after my baking.

Ingredients:

• 80 g butter
• 100 g whipping cream
• 65 g brown sugar
• 15 g cocoa powder
• 5 g instant coffee

Method:

• Weigh all ingredients into a heat proof bowl.

• Put the bowl over a pot of boiling water (Bain-marie) without the bottom touching the boiling water.

• Stir the ingredients using a spatula.

• When the sugar, cocoa powder and coffee have dissolved and the sauce is shiny, remove it from the heat.

• The sauce will thicken as it cools down.

• After it has completely cooled down, transfer it to a glass bottle and keep it in the fridge if you are using it as a spread for your bread.

• However, if you are using it as a ganache, it is better to use it when it is still warm and runny.

Cheesey Potato Buns

 

Potatoes can be found abundantly in our country throughout the year. Due to their availability they are very useful in our daily cooking and baking. They can be stir-fried, deep-fried, braised, stewed, boiled and baked. I have used potatoes in making bread loaves and buns. They made these loaves and buns very soft for many days on the counter-top.

Ingredients:

• 200 g mash potato
• 650 g bread flour
• 7 g yeast
• 45 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 1 Grade A egg
• 260 g warm milk
• 70 g butter
• 60 g grated Mozzarella cheese

Method:

• Peel the potatoes, cut them into thick slices and boil them till they are soft.

• Once they are soft, remove them from the pot and mash them. Set them aside.

• Add the flour, yeast, sugar and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Next, add the egg and warm milk.

• Knead the dough till a ball has been formed.

• Add the butter and continue kneading till window pane is achieved.

• Grease a bowl.

• Transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let the dough proof till it is doubled in size.

• Punch down the dough.

• Slightly flour the counter-top.

• Transfer the dough onto the counter-top.

• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Form a big dough ball.

• Cut the dough ball into 16 pieces.

• Roll each piece into a ball and place it onto a cake liner.

• Repeat till all the dough has been rolled up.

• Let the dough balls proof a second time.

• Once they have risen and are ready for baking, spread the grated cheese on top.

• Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 175 degrees C for about 18 minutes.

• Remove the buns from the oven once they are baked.

Chocolate Bread

 

On most mornings we have bread for breakfast as it is convenient. The type of bread depends on what I decide to bake in the morning or the night before. Usually sourdough, no knead ciabatta and focaccia breads take a longer time to prepare and bake so I have to do it a day earlier before we can enjoy them. Others require only 1 or 2 proofing and can be made on the day that we want to eat. 

Ingredients:

• 640 g bread flour
• 60 g cocoa powder
• 120 g castor sugar
• 2 tsp yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 290 ml warm milk
• 2 grade A eggs
• 75 g butter
• 100 g chocolate shavings
• Topping - chocolate chips or any nuts

Method:

• Put the bread flour, cocoa power, sugar, yeast and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Turn on low speed to mix all the ingredients.

• Add milk into the bowl.

• Add in the eggs.

• Knead the ingredients until the dough forms into a ball.

• Add butter to the dough and continue to knead.

• Knead the dough till window pane is achieved.

• Grease a clean bowl.

• Transfer the dough to the greased bowl.

• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let the dough proof till it doubles in size.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a slightly floured surface.

• Punch down the dough and knead it by hand for another 5-10 minutes.

• Shape the dough back into a dough.

• Roll out the dough into a rectangle.

• Spread the chocolate shavings onto the rectangle.

• Roll up the dough according to the length of the bread pan. (I use a 9 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch bread pan.)

• Cover the bread pan with a moist towel and let it proof a second time.

• Pre-heat the oven at 175 deg C.

• When the dough is ready to be baked, brush the top with some milk. Spread some chocolate chips or nuts on top.

• Bake at 175 degrees Centigrade for 25 minutes.

• When done, remove the pan from the oven immediately and the bread from the pan.

• Wait for the bread to be cooled down before slicing it up.

Spinach Egg Roll

Spinach Egg Roll is a very delicious dish. Stir-fried spinach by itself tastes very good and if enclosed in eggs will taste even better. It is simple to be cooked up especially when most of us would definitely have this vegetable and eggs in our refrigerator. Most of the time when I stir-fry spinach, I would remove some to be made into spinach egg roll.

Ingredients:

• 150 g spinach
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Some cooking oil

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• Some cooking oil

Method:

• Heat up some cooking oil in a wok.
• Sauce the garlic till fragrant.
• Add the spinach.
• Season it with salt, light soy sauce and pepper.
• Dish up when cooked.
• Let the spinach cool down.
• Drain it so that it is dry.
• Use a pair of kitchen scissors or knife to cut it into small pieces.
• Set aside.

• Separate egg white from the yolk.
• Add seasonings of salt, pepper and light soy sauce to the yolk.
• Brush some cooking oil onto a non-stick pan.
• Lightly beat the egg white and pour it into the non-stick pan.
• Swirl the pan so that the egg white covers the pan evenly.
• Wait for the egg white to cook slightly.
• Spread the cooked spinach onto one side of the egg white.
• Using a spatula, roll up the egg white to cover the spinach, pulling the egg white to the edge of the pan as you roll it up and leaving a space for the egg yolk.
• Pour the egg yolk into that space to join up with the egg white.
• Wait for the egg yolk to cook and then continue to roll it up from where we stopped.
• Remove the roll from the pan.
• Slice it up and serve.