Braised Pork Spareribs with Sugar and Vinegar (糖醋排骨)

Ingredients:

400 g pork spareribs, cut into bite size

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp Chinese black rice vinegar

1 stalk spring onion, segmented

2 cup water

9 tbsp Chinese black rice vinegar

6 tbsp light soy sauce

9 slices ginger

6 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp oil

Method:

Marinate ribs with salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar for at least 30 min; set aside.

In a sauce pan or wok, melt sugar with oil over low heat till golden brown and caramelized.

Add-in ginger and stir-fry over high heat until fragrant and golden brown.

Add-in ribs and stir-fry for 3-5 min or until shrink and golden.

Add-in soy sauce, vinegar and water (add enough water to cover ribs fully).

Leave simmer covered until gravy reduced to half.

Reduce heat and continue simmer to thicken the gravy and tender the ribs (Stir occasionally for even cooking.Note: to accelerate the cooking time, the marinated ribs can be pre-deep fried until golden brown before use).

Once sticky gravy form with lot of entrapped air bubbles, sprinkle-on spring onion and dish-up.

Best serve warm with steamed rice.

Curry Spring Roll

Ingredients:

100 g meat, coarsely chopped
1/2 big onion, thinly sliced
2 handful glass noodles
1 tbsp cornstarch in 1 tbsp water
1 handful coriander leaves, chopped
1 tbsp oil

Seasoning

2 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp ketcup
1/2 tsp sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper powder

enough medium size spring roll wrappers (thawed)
1/4 whisked egg
oil for deep-frying

Method:

Soak noodle in cold water until soften (about 30 minutes) and drain well; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok, pot or non-stick deep pan, saute onion till fragrant and softened.

Add meat and seasoning, stir-fry until meat shrink and half cooked.

Add noodles and keep stirring until noodles are well distributed.

Adjust taste with sugar and salt, add more curry powder if strong taste is desired.

Pour-in cornstarch solution and stir to thicken.

Dish-up and stir-in coriander leaves; set aside to cool completely.

To assemble spring rolls:

Place a sheet of spring roll wrapper on a clean working surface.

Locate enough filling on one corner of the wrapper.

Spread the filling lengthwise along the wrapper by using chopstick or fork (reserve some spaces at all edges for sealing).

Fold-up left and right sides of wrapper over filling.

Lift-up the filling side egde and roll upward to the other end.

Seal roll end by brushing-on some egg solution on all opening.

Deep fry spring rolls under hot oil till golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oil and drain well on absorbent papers.

Serve spring rolls warm with Thai sweet chili sauce or any favorite homemade dipping sauce (chopped fresh chili in 1/3 cup plum sauce and 3 tbsp light soy sauce).

Pan-Fried Stuffed Buns (水煎包)

Ingredients:

Dough

150 g all purpose flour
80 ml water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tbsp oil

Filling (in excess)

300-400 g minced meat
10 shrimps, shell removed, cleaned & chopped
1 ½ tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp white pepper powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 ½ tbsp cooking wine
1/2 tbsp cornstach
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1 stalk scallion, chopped

Method:

To prepare dough:

In a large bowl, combine all dough ingredients, knead till soft and smooth.

Lightly greased a container, place-in the dough, cover and let proof till doubled in size (about 1.5 hours).

To prepare filling:

In another large mixing bowl, combine all the filling ingredients except cabbage and scallion.

Stir thoroughly to give sticky texture.

Lastly add-in cabbage and scallion, stir to homogeneously incorporate.

Adjust taste accordingly with salt.

To assembly:

Over a lightly floured surface, punch down the dough and knead again for another 3 minutes.

With floured knife, cut dough into small pieces according to preference sizes.

Sprinkle-on some flour, flatten each small dough and roll out thin into rough sheet.

Place a spoonful filling onto the center of pastry, twist to seal the top and flatten lightly.

Place the filled buns on heavy floured plate with seal side down, cover with kitchen towel and leave to rise for about 20-30 minutes.

Lightly grease a non-stick pan, pan-fry buns to brown one side for about 1-2 minutes.

Flip over buns, sprinkles-on about 1 tbsp water around each bun, cover and steam for about 3-4 minutes to brown the another side and cooked thoroughly.

Once water just dried out, flip over buns, and cook the previous side for about 1 minutes covered again.

Remove buns from heat and best serve warm.

Tuna Quiche

Ingredients:

Base

230 g puff pastry (pasta sfoglia)

Filling

6 (80g) canned tuna, drained
1 onion, chopped, boiled and mashed
3 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste (canned tuna is salty)

Method:

Preheat oven to 190-200 °C.

Roll out puff pastry together with the provided parchment paper on a lightly grease pie pan ( 28 cm in diameter); keep in refrigerator till use.

In a large mixing bowl, add-in all the filling ingredients and stir well to incorporate fully.

Spoon the filling mixture into the prepared pie case.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until filling is lightly set or till surface is browned as prefer.

Best serve warm or at room temperature for party.

Chinese Chives Box (韭菜盒)

Ingredients:

Dough

240 ml all purpose flour
80 ml hot boiling water
40 ml cold water

Filling

2 cup diced Chinese chives (about 1 cm length)
1 ½ cup ground pork (not lean)
1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked and drained
handful of segmented glass vermicelli noodles
1 tbsp shao xing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp of garlic or shallot flavored olive oil

Method:

To prepare dough:

In a large bowl, add-in flour.

Pour-in hot water and stir with chopstick or fork to form crumbs.

Pour-in cold water and knead to form dough (dough will remain sticky).

Set aside covered to rest for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare chives filling:

In another large mixing bowl, add-in pork and seasoning with wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper.

Stir thoroughly to give sticky texture.

Add-in shrimp, noodles and chives, stir to homogeneously incorporate.

Adjust taste with salt and stir-in the remaining oil thoroughly.

To assembly:

Over a lightly floured smooth surface, knead dough into smooth long log (about 5 cm in diameter).

With floured knife, cut dough into 15 pieces.

Sprinkle-on some flour, flatten each small dough and roll out thin into rough sheet.

Place a spoonful filling onto the center of pastry, fold one side of pastry to the another, press edges firmly to seal and pleat accordingly to shape.

Over a non-stick pan, dry-fry or pan-fry dumplings with little oil over low heat to brown both sides and cooked through.

Best serve warm.

Mixed Vegetables Quince

Ingredients:

Pastry:

150 g all-purpose flour
75 g butter, cut to small pieces
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
enough water to blind

Filling:

2 cup cooked string bean, green peas and carrot
1 big onion, boiled/sauteed
1 cup(100 g) grated parmigiana cheese
3 eggs, beated
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt or to taste

olive oil, bread crumb and oregano for sprinkling

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, mix together flour, butter and salt till crumbly (not to over-mix).

Add-in egg and slightly knead to smooth dough.

Gradually add-in enough water to blind dough if the dough still appear crumbly after the egg.

Shape dough into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare the filling:

In a large bowl, mix-well all the filling ingredients, set aside.

To assembly the quince:

Preheat oven to 200 °C.

Roll out the chilled dough into thin sheet, transfer it into a small baking tray and press to form firm base.

Spoon-in the prepared filling.

Sprinkle-on enough olive oil, followed by bread crumb and oregano.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or till set.

French Crepes

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 ⅓ tbsp butter, melted

Sweet Filling Options:

Jam/Apple butter/Nutella/Chestnut cream/Butter and sugar/Sliced bananas with chocolate sauce and whipped cream or ice-cream/Fresh berries marinated with sugar and grand marnier/crepes suzette

Savory Filling Options:

Grated cheese/Sliced ham/Egg freshly cooked on crepe/Sauteed spinach/Sauteed mushroom in cream sauce/Mushroom and chicken in cream sauce/Shrimp and shelled mussels in cream sauce/Ratatouille/Cooked sausage/Green salad with vinaigrette

Method:

In a large bowl, beat eggs with salt and sugar till dissolved.

Add-in milk and mix thoroughly.

Gradually, add the batter to flour and beat to eliminate lumps.

Pour-in butter and beat to incorporate.

Place the batter into fridge for at least 40 minutes.

Heat a 18 cm frying pan or crepe pan over medium-high heat and grease it lightly with butter (about 5 g each).

Pour-in 1/3 of the batter to the preheated pan and swirl it quickly to coat on the pan.

Cook for 2-3 minutes or till the crepe light golden brown on the bottom.

Flip it over to brown the other side.

Meanwhile, fill-in with a preference filling and fold accordingly.

Transfer the crepe to a serving plate with the seams on the bottom side.

Repeat for the remaining batter.

Best serve immediately.

Yield 3 crepes.

CuttleFish Salad

Ingredients:

2 large dried cuttlefish
2 L cold water
2 tbsp potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution (kan sui)

300 g young water convolvulus (sayur kangkung can be added)
3 tbsp sesame oil

hot boiling water for blanching
ice cold water for quenching

Sauce Ingredients (mix all together thoroughly):

2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp hae ko (black prawn paste)
2 tbsp chili sauce
1 tsp toasted belacan powder (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp water

Sesame seeds for sprinkling

Method:

In a large bowl, soak cuttlefish with water and kan sui overnight or till solften and double in size.

Changes the 2/3 of soaking water with fresh cold water by every few hours interval for the following hours till reach the maximum size.

Wash cuttlefish and cut into bite sizes; set aside.

Cut-off the lower end of cleaned water concolvulus vegetable and tie into a bunch (if applicable).

In a pot, heat enough water to boil.

Blanch the cuttlefish for a short while (about 2 minutes).

Transfer cuttlefish into ice cold water; set aside.

Blanch the vegetable for half minute, cut into 2 inch length and transfer onto serving plate.

Drizzle-on 2 tbsp of oil, top-on cuttlefish and pour-in the sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Onion Pie (Torta Insalata di Cipolla)

Ingredients:

Base:

230 g puff pastry (pasta sfoglia)

Filling:

25 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 kg onion, sliced
2 eggs
1 cup milk and 90 g butter or 1 cup double cream
2 ½ tsp salt or to taste
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Roll out puff pastry together with the provided parchment paper on a lightly grease pie pan ( 28 cm in diameter); keep in refrigerator till use.

In a large saute pan, heat butter and oil over medium high heat.

Add-in onion and saute covered for about 30 minutes or till onion is softened and cooked (stir occasionally to avoid burning).

With another small pot, melt butter with milk over low heat, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Beat-in egg, follow by cheese and salt.

Stir-in cooked onion and spoon the filling into the prepared pie case.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until filling is lightly set or till surface is browned as prefer.

Best serve warm or at room temperature for party.

Sticky Soy Sauces Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken wings.

Marinade:

6 tbsp light soy sauce
6 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh ginger juice (from 2 inch knob)
3 tbsp rice wine
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper powder

Method:

In a bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients.

Marinate wings for at least 1 hours or overnight covered in refrigerator.

Heat a large non-stick deep pan over medium high heat, pan-fry chicken wings with marinade till golden brown, sticky and cook-thoroughly (about 30 minutes).

Alternatively, grill the wings till golden brown and cook-through (occasionally, bath wings with marinade).

Remove wings from fat gravy in pan and best serve hot/warm as an appetizer or with rice.

Crunchy Shrimp Wantan/Wontan/Wonton/云吞 Rolls

Ingredients:

10 shrimps, peeled by leaving tail-on
10 wantan wrappers
oil for deep-frying

Marinade:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

In a bowl, combine together all the marinade ingredients.

Add-in shrimps and set aside to marinade for 30 minutes.

Place a shrimp horizontally in the middle of wantan wrapper (cover the unused wantan wrapper with damp kitchen towel to prevent dry out and become hard sheet).

Brush a bit water on all edges.

Fold-up side edge over shrimp, follow by the bottom edge, roll-up till end and press to seal.

Heat enough oil in pot/wok/deep pan over medium high heat.

Drop-in shrimp wantan rolls in batches (single layer) and deep fry till golden brown, crispy and crunchy.

Remove shrimp wantan rolls from oil and drain well on absorbent paper towels.

Best serve with Thai chili sauce, sweet and sour sauce, ketchup or mayonnaise.

Cuculli (Chickpeas Flour Fritters of Liguria)

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp dry instant yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups chickpeas/besan/gram flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp oregano or chopped marjoram
2 tsp salt
oil for deep-frying

Method:

Dissolve yeast in water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, dilute flour with water to obtain a thick but smooth batter.

Pour-in yeast solution and set aside to rise for few hours or overnight.

Once the batter has done leavening, add-in oregano and salt.

Heat oil over high heat.

Drop a spoonfuls batter into hot oil and fry till golden yellow.

Remove from hot and drain well on absorbent paper towels.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield 38 pieces of cuculli.

Torta Salata Pasqualina (Liguria Easter Pie)

Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup water

Filling:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
500 g chard, sliced into slim silvers
1 onion, sliced into slim silvers
250 g ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan or Grana cheese
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper powder or to taste
1 tsp oregano flakes
3 eggs

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and oil.

Gradually, pour-in water and mix to homogeneous dough.

Knead dough into smooth and elastic dough (about 10 minutes).

Divide dough into 6 portions and set aside to rest for 30 minutes covered.

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over medium high heat, saute chard and onion for 15 minutes or till wilt.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

Add-in ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, oregano and stir-well to homogeneous mixture.

To assembly:

Line the bottom of 18 cm baking pan with parchment paper; set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Over a smooth working surface, roll out a portion of dough into very thin sheet and almost transparent.

Transfer it into the prepared pan and brush the exposing surface all over with oil.

Roll out second portion of dough to very thin, transfer onto the first pastry and brush-on oil.

Again roll out another portion of dough till very thin, transfer onto the previous pastry as third layer but without oil brushing for this time.

Pour-in the prepared filling and spread out evenly.

Make 3 holes in the firm filling and fill-in a whole raw egg into each holes.

Gently cover the filling with another 3 layers of pastries in the same procedures as of the pie basement assembly.

Close the pie by folding-in the wall-sides pastries.

Poke surfaces with fork or knife.

Brush surface with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until golden.

Best serve hot or at room temperature.

Thai Tom Yam 冬粉/Glass/Cellophane Noodles Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

250 g dry 冬粉/bean threads/Glass/Cellophane Noodles
200 g shrimps, shelled with tails-on (omit it for vegetarian version)
5 large dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
3 handful bean sprout
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp tom yam kung paste dissolved in juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tbsp salt or to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil

enough medium size spring roll wrappers (thawed)
water or beaten egg or 1 tsp cornstarch/1 tbsp water paste to seal

Method:

To stir-fry the cellophane noodles:

Soak noodles in cold water until soften (about 30 minutes) and drain well; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok, pot or non-stick deep pan, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to brown.

Add mushroom and shrimps, stir-fry until shrimps are slightly pink and half cooked.

Add bean sprout and continue stir-fry for short while.

Add noodles and tom yam solution, keep stirring until noodles are well coated with the paste.

Adjust taste with sugar and salt, continue stir-fry till noodles cooked-through.

Dish-up; set aside to cool completely (Best serve hot immediately at this state too :P).

To assemble spring rolls:

Place a sheet of spring roll wrapper on a clean working surface.

Locate enough tom yam noodles on one corner of the wrapper (try to balance among the distribution of noodles, shrimp, mushroom and bean sprout for each spring roll).

Spread the filling lengthwise along the wrapper by using chopstick or fork (reserve some spaces at all edges for sealing).

Fold-up left and right sides of wrapper over filling.

Lift-up the filling side egde and roll upward to the other end.

Seal roll end by brushing-on some water.

Deep fry spring rolls under hot oil till golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oil and drain well on absorbent papers.

Serve spring rolls warm with Thai sweet chili sauce or any favorite homemade dipping sauce (chopped fresh chili in 1/3 cup plum sauce and 3 tbsp light soy sauce).

Deep-Fried Shrimp Wantan/Wontan/Wonton/云吞

Ingredients:

Shrimps Filling:

1 cup (200 g) shrimps, shelled and diced
1 tbsp finely chopped carrot
1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion
1 tbsp chopped beansprout

Seasoning:

1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/4 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper or to taste
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp corn flour

enough wantan wrappers
water to brushing (to seal)
oil for deep-frying/shallow-frying

Method:

In a bowl, combine together all the filling ingredients.

Add-in seasoning ingredient, stir well to incorporate; set aside.

Place about 1 teaspoon of the filling mixture in the middle of wantan wrapper (cover the unused wantan wrapper with damp kitchen towel to prevent dry out and become hard sheet).

Brush a bit water on all edges.

Fold-up edges and pick to seal.

Heat enough oil in pot/wok/deep pan over medium high heat.

Drop-in filled wantan in batches (single layer) and deep fry till golden brown and crispy.

Remove crispy wantan from oil and drain well on paper towels.

Best serve with Thai chili sauce, sweet and sour sauce, ketchup or mayonnaise.

Roti Maryam

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour (I used 1 cup all purpose flour mixed with 1 cup bread flour)
1 tbsp (15 g) butter
1/2 cup lukewarm water
butter for brushing (about 3 g or more for each roti)
vegetable oil for pan-frying

Method:

In a bowl, beat egg and egg yolk together with salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, add-in flour and make a hole in center of the flour pile.

Pour-in eggs mixture, gradually covered with side flour and stir to incorporate.

Add-in butter and knead to mix fully.

Gradually, pour-in water, knead to smooth and non-sticky dough.

Lightly coat dough with oil and set aside covered to rest for about 3 hours.

Divide dough into 8 portions.

Over a lightly oiled flat surface, via rolling pin roll out each portions covered with lightly greased plastic to very thin and transparent oval sheets.

Brush-on butter all over on the exposing surface.

Gently, pick-up two ends, twist ends in co-current(opposite) direction into a thin log and form to spiral shape on greased working surface (overlap a bit while spiraling to prevent holey roti).

Covered with lightly greased plastic again and flatted spiral doughs with rolling pin to about 0.2 cm thick.

Carefully, transfer sheeted doughs onto a preheated flat pan (over medium flame)/griddle, pan-fry/grill till both surfaces are golden brown (flip occasionally for even browning).

Remove from griddle/heat, brush-on some butter and best serve with curries.

Vegetables and Camembert Tart

Ingredients:

Shortcrust Pastry:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, creamed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely grounded black pepper
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Tart Filling:

3 carrot, boiled and sliced
1 cup string beans, boiled
125 g Camembert cheese, sliced (can be substitute with Brie or Parmesan Cheese)
1 large tomato, sliced
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
3 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp black pepper powder
2 ½ tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon (yield about 3 tsp)

Sprinkles:

1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp oregano

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, mix together flour, butter, salt, pepper, water and oil.

Knead into smooth dough (add more oil if necessary till mixture begins to cling together).

Shape dough into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare the tart:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Roll out the chilled dough into rectangular sheet and transfer it into a medium size baking tray.

Spread-in a layer of carrot slices over the base of tart, follows by another layer of string beans.

Arrange-on third layer with Camembert slices and top-on tomato slices as last layer; set aide.

In a large bowl, melt butter in warm milk; set aside to cool.

Add-in eggs, garlic, pepper, salt and lemon zest, whisk well into homogeneous batter.

Pour batter over the filling.

Sprinkle-on chili flakes and oregano.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until just set.

Penang Lor Bak (Crispy Skin Pork Sausages)

Ingredients:

600 g fatty pork, coarsely chopped
1 ½ tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 large onion/2 shallot, finely chopped (yield about 2 ½ tbsp)
1 ½ tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp soy bean paste, minced
2 tsp five spice powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp chestnut flour
1 ½ tsp salt or to taste
2 tsp pepper powder or to taste (I used black pepper)

2 large bean-curd sheets
1 egg, lightly beaten for sealing (I used leftover egg yolks from dark soy dipping sauce)
16 pieces toothpick
oil for deep-frying

Dark Soy Dipping Sauce:

1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/8 tsp five spice powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt or to taste
4 tbsp water
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 egg white, beaten

Sweet-Chili Dipping sauce:

3 tbsp chili paste
2 tbsp pounded roasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp hoisin or plum sauce
3 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Method:

In a bowl, mix pork, garlic, onion, sugar, soy bean paste, five spice powder, egg, chestnut flour, salt and pepper to make the filling; set aside to marinade for 30 minutes (adjust the taste by pan-fry a bit of the filling mixture).

Rub bean-curd with wet kitchen towel to solften, cut each sheet to four pieces; set aside covered and wet kitchen towel (if bean curd tends to harden quickly, just soften it by soaking into cold water for about 3 minutes and pat dry gently with kitchen towel).

Divide filling into 8 portions.

Spread a portion of filling length-wise on bottom of sheet (spare about 1 inch on all sides for folding and sealing).

Brush-on whisked egg on all sides.

Gently, fold up bottom edge and roll upward till end to form sausage roll, seal both sausage terminals with toothpick.

Alternately, fold-in sides bean-curd while rolling to enclosed.

Heat oil in wok or pot on over high heat, deep-fry sausage rolls till golden brown, cooked through and crispy skin (about 9 minutes).

Remove from oil, drain on paper towels and set aside to cool to handle-able temperature.

Right before serving, cut sausages into 1 inch pieces and serve along with dipping sauces as appetizer or with rice (best serve along with fresh cucumbers slices).

To prepare the dark soy dipping sauce:

In a small pot, mix-in dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, five spice powder, sugar, salt, water and cornstarch; simmer over low heat for about 2 minutes or till yields smooth sauce (stir occasionally); whisk-in egg white to form fine white streaks; remove from heat and apply warm or at room temperature.

To prepare the sweet-chili dipping sauce:

In a small pot, bring vinegar to boil, mix-in chili paste, plum sauce, sugar and salt; simmer over low heat for about 1 minutes (stir occasionally); remove from heat; stir-in sesame seeds and apply warm or at room temperature (We use to drop chili dipping sauce into the middle of dark soy dipping sauce and gradually incorporated while dipping-in sausage pieces, like wasabi in soy sauce for sushi eating).

Grilled Spicy Sour Fish/Stingray/Skate Wing

Ingredients:

1 (300 g) fish
1 large piece banana leaf/aluminum foil, greased
1 lime, cut into half
1 tbsp oil for grilling

Paste:

2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 knob fresh ginger, peeled
2 shallot, peeled
1 stalk lemongrass (white part only), sliced
1 or 2 dried red chili, softened in hot water
1/2 tsp belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1 tsp tamarind paste in 2 tbsp water, strained and discarded seed
1 lime juice
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp fish curry powder
1/2 tsp dark brown sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Dipping Sauce:

1 shallot, sliced
1 red chili, sliced (I used 2 tsp sambal omelek chili paste, it contributes to the red color)
1 lime juice
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1 tsp belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1/2 tsp light soy sauce or to taste
1 bird's eye chili, chopped

Method:

Clean fish, make some gashes on both sides; set aside.

With blender, blend together garlic, ginger, shallot, lemongrass, chili and belacan till fine paste; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or non-stick pan over medium high heat, saute paste till fragrant and aroma (about 2 minutes).

Reduce heat, add-in tamarind juice, lime juice, turmeric powder, curry powder, sugar and salt.

Stir to incorporate and cook for another 1 minute or till paste is thickened slightly (adjust taste accordingly).

Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Rub both sides of fish well with half of the paste (including the internal part and inside the gashes).

Spread half of the remaining paste onto the greased aluminum foil, lay-on fish and spread all the remaining paste on fish.

Fold the aluminum foil into a packet and seal completely; set aside to marinade for 30 minutes.

Heat-up grill pan or a heat resistance flat pan with 1 tbsp oil over medium heat, place the wrapped fish on the pan, cook each side for 5-6 minutes or till cooked through.

Remove from heat, squish-on additional lime juice if desire and serve hot along with dipping sauce as appetizer or with rice.

To prepare the dipping sauce, just mix together all the dipping sauce ingredients to form a homogeneous solution and it is ready to apply.

Crystal Skin Chives Dumplings (Koo Cai Kuih/韭菜粿)

Ingredients:

Chives Filling:

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used shallot oil but garlic oil, sesame oil or other cooking oil work fine too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked and drained
3 cups diced Chinese chives (about 1 cm length)

Crystal Skin Pastry:

1 ½ cup wheat starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 salt
300 mL boiling water
3 tsp shallot oil/lard/garlic oil/sesame oil

Method:

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over moderate high heat, stir-fry garlic till fragrant and golden yellow.

Remove from heat and let to cool to room temperature.

Reserve 2 tbsp garlic oil for dumplings surface brushing and mix the remaining garlic oil with the rest of the filling ingredients, stir-well to incorporate; set aside.

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, mix wheat starch, tapioca starch and salt.

Pour-in boiling water and immediately stir to mix by the help of chopstick to form dough, set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Knead dough till smooth and homogeneous texture.

Add-in fragrant oil and knead to incorporate homogeneously.

Divide dough into 18 equal portions and shape to dough balls.

Cover dough balls with moist towel before start to assembly dumplings.

Dumplings assembly:

Lightly grease a surface of large plastic wrapper.

Plate-on a dough ball, flatten with oily hand palm and press outward evenly from center of the pastry to about 3 mm thickness by oily fingers.

Alternatively, cover dough ball with another piece of greased plastic wrapper, rolling out dough ball thin via rolling pin.

Lift up carefully the pastry by the help of greased thin spatula or knife and place-on oily hand palm.

Put-on enough chives filling in the middle of the pastry, fold-up pastry in half, press well all edges to seal and pleat accordingly to shape.

Place the filled dumplings on parchment paper and steam over high heat for about 8 minutes.

Remove from heat and immediately brush-on the reserved garlic oil.

Best serve hot immediately with chili sauce.