Gingery Trout with Caramelized Sugar and Vinegar (糖醋鱼)

Ingredients:

1 large trout or 2-3 fillets, cut to three sections each

Marinate: 

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp Chinese black rice vinegar

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour

2 tbsp oil

Gravy Seasoning:

6 tbsp sugar

9 slices ginger

9 tbsp Chinese black rice vinegar

6 tbsp light soy sauce

1 cup water

1 stalk spring onion, segmented

Method:

To prepare the fish:

Marinate fish with all the marinating ingredients for at least 30 min; set aside.

In a sauce pan, heat oil over medium high heat and brown both side of fish until fragrant and cook.

Transfer to serving plate and sprinkle-on spring onion, set aside.

To prepare the gravy:

In the same sauce pan or wok, discard excess oil and melt sugar over low heat till golden and caramelized.

Add-in ginger and stir until fragrant and golden.

Pour-in vinegar, soy sauce and water.

Leave simmer over medium high heat and stir occasionally until gravy is thicken and bubbly.

Remove from heat and pour immediately onto the prepared fish.

Best serve warm with steamed rice.

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.

Chinese Meat Balls (貢丸)

Ingredients:

500 g pork + 5 tbsp water

100 g Chinese mushroom

Seasoning A

2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

2 tbsp fish sauce

1½ tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp oil

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp cornflour (last)

Seasoning B

1/2 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp ginger powder

1 whisked stiff egg white

Method:

With food processor/blender, process pork and mushroom with water to form paste.

Add-in all the seasoning A and stir well until sticky texture.

Leave in refrigerator for 30 min.

Add-in seasoning B and stir-generously.

Bring a pot of water to boil then remove from heat.

Pick desired amount of paste and form into ball with wet hands.

Drop them into the warm water.

Reheat the water that contain a layer of meat balls over low heat to just enough to simmer without boiling.

Once meat balls are floated, allow to simmer for another few more seconds before transfer them into ice-cold water.

Drain-well and store in fridge with air-tight container till next use.

Custard Cream

Ingredients:

1 tsp plain flour
1 tbsp corn flour

4 tbsp sugar

1 egg

200 mL milk

1 tbsp butter, soften

Chocolate Sponge (scaled up)

Method:

In a small pot, mix together flours, sugar and 2 tbsp milk till smooth.

Whisk-in egg till homogeneous.

Pour-in milk and stir over low-heat to thicken.

Once reach a spreadable consistency, remove from heat.

Stir-in butter to a smooth cream.

Keep in refrigerator till use.

Chocolate Paste I (Vanilla Swiss Roll)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Paste

2⅓ tbsp plain flour

40 mL sugar

1 egg white

80 mL milk, warmed

1½ tbsp cocoa power

10 g butter soften

2 tbsp Nutella/grounded nut (optional)

Vanilla Sponge

3 eggs, room temperature

65 g caster sugar

80 g flour

20 g butter, melted

3 drops vanilla extract

Method:

To Prepare the Chocolate Paste

In a small pot, mix together flour, sugar and egg white till smooth.

Mix-in milk and cocoa powder.

Over low-heat, stir the mixture to thicken.

Once reach a spreadable consistency, remove from heat.

Stir-in butter and Nutella to yield a smooth paste.

Keep in refrigerator till use.

To Prepare the Vanilla Sponge

Line a 23 x 30 cm baking tray with parchment paper, set aside.

Sift flour, set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar on high speed till thick, pale and glossy then whisk at low speed for another 1 min.

Fold-in butter and vanilla.

Gradually, fold-in flour to yield homogeneous batter.

Spread batter onto the prepared tray.

Bake for 15 min or until the surface is golden brown and skewer inserted into the sponge and come out clean.

Remove tray from oven and cool sponge/paper on wire rack covered.

Dust a bigger sheet of parchment paper with icing sugar, inverse-on the sponge with brown side down and remove the attached former parchment paper.

Spread-on the prepared chocolate paste and roll-up sponge by lifting up the large parchment paper pressurized outward.

Transfer the Swiss roll with seam side down into fridge and chill for 30 min or more before serving.

Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)

 

Ingredients:

500 g soft tofu, cubed

250 g ground meat (pork or beef or mix)

3 tbsp chili bean paste

1½ tbsp fermented black bean - garlic sauce (or pure fermented black bean sauce)

1½ tsp sichuan peppercorn

3 slices fresh ginger

2 glove garlic

1½ tbsp light soy sauce

1½ tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp white pepper powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup water/stock

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp cornstarch in 2 tbsp water

Chopped spring onion for sprinkling 

Method:

In a wok or deep pan, heat oil over medium high heat.

Saute peppercorn till fragrant, remove the peppercorn and reserve the oil.

Add-in garlic and ginger, saute till fragrant and golden brown.

Add-in meat, chili paste and black bean sauce, stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or still meat is seared.

Add-in tofu and gently mix for short while or until the tofu is charred.

Pour-in water, bring to boil and seasoning with soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, sugar and salt.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the tofu is cooked thoroughly with occasional stirring.  

Add-in starch solution and gently stir to thicken the gravy (adjust taste accordingly)

Sprinkle-on green onion before dish-up.

Best serve hot immediately with steamed rice.

Fish Sauce Gavy Chicken

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken, cut to bite sizes
2/3 cup cornstarch/rice flour
enough oil for deep-frying

Marinate

4 glove garlic, mashed
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper powder

Seasoning

1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp chopped scallion
1 tbsp black soy sauce
3 tbsp water

Method:

In a container, mix all the marinate ingredient until the sugars are dissolved.

Add-in chicken and marinade overnight in fridge covered.

Spoon flour onto a plate; set aside.

In a wok, deep pan or pot, heat enough oil over medium high heat.

Pick up chicken from the marinate (reserve the marinate), coat with flour on plate, shake-off excess and deep fry chicken for 15 minutes or till crispy and brown.

Remove from oil and set aside on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

In a clean deep pan, heat the reserved marinate over medium high heat with all the seasoning ingredient.

Bring to boil (add some water if appear dried out) and adjust taste if more spicy is desired.

Return the chicken into the pan, stir to mix and thicken.

Dish-out and best serve hot with steamed rice.

Thai 3 Flavours Fish (Plalat)

 

Ingredients:

1 Fish (about 450g)
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

oil for deep frying

Sprinkles

1 shallot, sliced

Some coriander/spring onion, chopped 

2 tbsp lime juice

Gravy

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tbsp Thai chili pepper, sliced (I replaced with dried red chili)

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp stock (fish/chicken)

2 tbsp oil

Method:

Clean fish, score both sides of the fish deeply (each about 3 cm apart), pat dry on kitchen towel; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together salt, sugar and pepper powder; set this seasoning mixture aside.

Rub fish well with the prepared seasoning mixture (externally, internally and inside the scores too), set aside to marinade for at about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in wok or deep frying pan over medium high heat, deep-fry fish until both sides skin are crispy and golden brown.

Drained fish on paper towel.

Transfer fish onto a serving plate, sprinkle-on shallot and coriander leaves; set aside.

To prepare the gravy, heat oil in a pan over medium high heat, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to be golden brown.

Add-in chili, stir-fry till aroma.

Add-in the remaining ingredients, reduce heat to low and let simmer to thicken the gravy.

Remove from heat and pour the gravy onto the fish.

Sprinkle-on lime juice and adjust the taste accordingly.

Serve hot with rice.

Lemon Gateau

Ingredients:

Crust

1 ½ cup biscuit crumbs
1/4 cup cornflakes crumbs
1/2 cup peanut crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
90 g butter

Sponge

3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
80 ml sugar
2 tbsp zest of 1 lemon
7 tbsp sugar
30 ml ground almond
45 ml fine semolina flour
45ml cake flour
25 ml lemon juice

Lemon Custard

Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
110 g sugar
60 g butter
1 tsp cornstarch

Method:

To prepare the crust:

Base a 18 cm springform cake pan with parchment paper, set aside.

In a bowl, mix together all dry crust ingredients.

Gradually, add-in butter and mix until the mixture begin to clump together.

Pat crumbs into the bottom of the prepared cake pan.

Keep covered in refrigerator while preparing cake filling.

To prepare the sponge:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites till stiff peaks form; set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk egg yolk with sugar and lemon zest till pale and glossy.

Stir-in lemon juice till batter is fully incorporated.

Fold-in all the remaining dry ingredients, stir to form homogeneous batter.

Gradually and gently, fold the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks batter.

Pour batter onto the prepared crust base and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean and golden.

Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

To prepare the lemon custard:

Mix all the custard ingredients into a small pot and heat over medium heat with stirring for 10 minutes or till sugar dissolved.

Reduce heat and let simmer to thicken the custard into a spreadable consistency.

Pour the custard all over the surface of the prepared cake and chill to set or till serve.

To serve:

With a flexible thin knife or spatula, loose gateau from side pan and release springform side.

Carefully transfer it onto a serving plate.

Lamb/Beef Rendang (Dry Malaysian Meat Curry)

Ingredients:

1 kg lamb/beef, cut into inch cubes
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Blend Ingredients

2 lemongrass, sliced (white part only)
10 fresh red chili (add-in some dried chili for better spicy)
1 bulb garlic, chopped
1 knob (1 inch) ginger, sliced
1 knob galangal, sliced
1 knob fresh kunyit/turmeric or 1 tbsp turmeric powder
15 shallots or 4 large red onion, sliced
80 mL water

1/2 cup cooking oil
some turmeric leaf
2 tbsp cumin powder
2 tbsp fennel powder or coriander powder
500 mL thick coconut milk
1 cup water (add more if gravy dried up)
1 cup dry-tossed dessicated coconut
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, marinate lamb with salt and pepper for at least 30 minutes; set aside.

Blend together all the blend ingredients with some water to form paste; set aside.

In a wok or pot, dry fry the blended paste over medium heat for about 5 - 10 minute till almost dry with bubble holes.

Pour-in oil and sauce the paste till aroma and separate from oil.

Add-in turmeric leaves, cumin powder and fennel powder, stir to toss for short while.

Pour-in coconut milk and water, bring to boil over high heat.

Add-in meat and bring to boil again (stir-occasionally to avoid burn at the bottom).

Let it stew over low heat for about 30 minutes to reduce the gravy to half.

Stir-in dessicated coconut and continue simmering (stir-occasionally) till gravy is thicken.

Seasoning curry with salt and pepper.

Best serve hot with steamed rice or bread (taste better to cook a night in advance and reheat right before serving).

Sambal Chili Gravy Prawns

Ingredients:

800 g prawns

4 onion
1 lemongrass
10 dried chili, soaked and drained or to taste
3 cloves garlic

5 tbsp oil
1 tbsp tamarind bulb with 1/2 cup water
1 tsp belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
2 ½ tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp sugar or to taste

Method:

Blend together onion, lemongrass, chili and garlic to fine paste.

In a wok or deep saute pan, heat oil over medium high heat and saute blended mixture for 5 minutes or till fragrant.

Add-in prawns and stir-fry for 2 minutes or till turn into pink color.

Pour-in tamarind water and bring to simmer.

Seasoning with the remaining ingredients and let simmer for another short while till cooked thoroughly.

Dish up and ready to serve with steamed rice, bread or cooked noodles.

Homemade Fish Balls and Soup

Ingredients:

Fish Balls Ingredients

600 g white fish
1 tbsp water
1 tsp salt

100 ml water
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper
3 tbsp cornflour

bowl of water
1 tsp salt

Soup Ingredients

reserved bone & skin of fish
1000 ml water
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
1 tbsp tong choi (Chinese preserved radish)
1 tsp salt or to taste
2 tsp light soy sauce

Method:

To prepare the fish balls:

Fillet fish with sharp knife by removing fresh meat from bone and skin.

Further scrape out the remaining fish meat from skin and bone with metal spoon, reserve the bone and skin.

Blend fish meat with 1 tbsp water and half tsp salt till very fine or alternatively pound it with the back of chopper and gradually add-in the salt solution.

Transfer fish paste into big bowl and stir rigorously till sticky.

Gradually, stir-in the 100 ml water, 1 tsp salt, pepper and corn flour.

Lift up handful of fish paste and throw against bowl till springy on whole.

Grease hands with oil and form fish paste portion by portion into balls via gently squeezing the paste out between thumb and index fingers.

Drop fish balls into a bowl of water added with 1 tsp salt and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare the soup:

Pan-fry the reserved bone and skin till fragrant and golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.

Bring water to boil in a pot or wok.

Return the fragrant bone and skin into the boiling water and let simmer over low heat for about 1 hour.

Drain the stock into another pot and bring to boil.

Drop-in fish balls and simmer over low heat till fish balls floated.

seasoning with salt, soy sauce and tong choi.

Sprinkle-on chopped spring onion on hot soup right before serving.

Chicken Soup with Glass Noodles (Fins Soup Style)

Ingredients:

1 handful of dry 冬粉/bean threads/Glass/Cellophane Noodles, soaked 30 minutes to soften, drained and cut into 2 inch length
4 dried big Chinese mushroom, soaked to soften, drained and sliced
1 cup of leftover cooked chicken (from any kind of cooking method or boil raw chicken till cook), shredded
3 crab-sticks, shredded
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3 cup bone broth or water

Seasoning:

1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp sesame seed oil

2 tsp cornstarch or as prefer (thickener)
pepper and black vinegar for serving

Method:

In a pot or wok, bring broth to boil.

Add-in mushrooms and seasonings, let to simmer for short while.

Add-in chicken, crab-sticks and glass noodles.

Gradually, stir-in cornstarch while the soup is boiling.

Once soup reach the preference consistency, slowly whisk-in egg whites.

Remove from heat once egg whites obviously appear.

Best serve with pepper and vinegar.

Braised Red Pork Trotters (红烧猪蹄)

Ingredients:

1 (600 g) Pork trotter, quartered
3 cup water
3 tbsp black vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil or vegetable oil
1 tbsp (2 clove) chopped garlic
1 tbsp dried shrimp, soaked and drained

4 cup water
2 stalk spring onion, chopped
2 dried chili, soaked and drained
2 dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
6 slices (1 knob) fresh ginger
2 star anises
1/2 tsp pepper corn
4 tbsp light soy sauce
10 chunks rock sugar
2 tbsp Shen Yuan Hua Diao wine or any rice wine
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 ½ tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Method:

Clean pork trotter by plucking-off hair and scraping the surface of rind to remove dirt; set-aside.

In a pot, boil 3 cups of water with 3 tbsp vinegar, blanch pork trotter thoroughly for few minutes, drain and set aside.

In a small pan, heat oil over medium high heat.

Add-in garlic, saute till fragrant and start to golden.

Add-in shrimp, saute for another 2 minutes or till aroma; dish out and set aside.

In a pot, bring 4 cup of water to boil.

Add-in the blanched trotter and the remaining ingredients, reduce heat and let simmer covered for at least 2 hours or till trotter is tender (stir occasionally for even cooking).

Stir-in the fragrant garlic-shrimp mixture and continue to simmer till the sauce is thicken (adjust taste accordingly with salt).

Dish out and sprinkle with some chopped spring onion.

Best serve hot with rice or noodles.

Sizzling Tofu

Ingredients:

12 slices of homemade tofu
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 dried chinese mushroom, soaked, drained and chopped/slices
handful of bay scallop, (optional)
handful of minced meat (pork/chicken/beef), (optional)
2 cups shrimps/pork/chicken stock/water

1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper powder or to taste
cornstarch solution (2 tbsp cornflour in 1/4 cup water)
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sesame oil

enough chopped green onion for sprinkling

Method:

Heat oil in pan/wok over medium high heat, fry both sides of tofu till golden brown.

Remove tofu from oil and drain-well on absorbent paper towel.

Transfer tofu onto a serving plate; set aside.

Add garlic to hot pan and saute till fragrant.

Add-in mushroom and meat, stir-fry till meat is tender and just right cooked through.

Pour-in stock and bring to boil.

Seasoning with oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and pepper.

Pour-in cornstarch solution, bring to boil for 1-2 minutes.

Whisk-in egg to form fine streaks.

Drizzle-on sesame oil.

Remove gravy from heat and pour over tofu.

Sprinkle-on chopped green onion and serve immediately with rice.

Viscous Tamarind Coconut Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

500 g chicken, cut to bite sizes

10 shallots/ 3 onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 stalk lemongrass, chopped (white part only)
1 knob (2 inches) ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chili paste

1/4 tbsp toast belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1 ½ cup thick tamarind squeeze (2 tbsp tamarind paste in 1 ½ cup water)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 ½ tbsp sugar or to taste
2 tsp salt or to taste

4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

Blend together onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chili paste to smooth paste; set aside.

Heat oil in wok or pot over medium high heat, saute the blended paste till fragrant (about 3 minutes).

Add-in belacan, and stir for another 1 minute.

Pour-in tamarind juice and bring to boil.

Add-in chicken, sugars and salt, cook covered till chicken is half cooked

Pour-in coconut milk, continue simmering till the gravy is half thicken and chicken cooked thoroughly.

Remove chicken from gravy, stir to further thicken the remaining gravy.

Bath chicken with thick gravy and bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C for short while or till chicken just roasted slightly with gravy.

Remove from oven and serve hot with steamed rice.

Crispy Spareribs with Thai Hot/Spicy Sauce

Ingredients:

400 g spareribs, cut into bite sizes
1 bowl cornstarch for coating
oil for deep-frying

Marinade:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch

Sauce:

2 tbsp Thai chili sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp red curry powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp water
1 bird's eye chili, chopped

Method:

In a container, combine all the marinade ingredients, add-in spareribs, mix well and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight covered in fridge.

Coat marinated spareribs well with cornstarch, deep-fry into hot oil till crispy and golden brown.

Remove from oil and drain well on paper towels; set aside.

In a saucepan or wok, bring all sauce ingredients to simmer.

Add-in spareribs and stir to coat well.

Dish-out and best serve hot with rice.

Chicken Rendang (Chicken in Thick Coconut Milk Curry)

Ingredients:

500 g - 1 kg chicken, cut to bite sizes

10 shallots/ 3 onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 stalk lemongrass, chopped (white part only)
1 knob ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chili paste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder
few curry leaves
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1 tsp white pepper or taste
4 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 cup toasted dessicated coconut/fresh shredded coconut

Method:

With blender, blend together onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chili paste to smooth paste; set aside.

Heat oil in wok or pot over medium high heat, saute the blended paste till fragrant (about 5 minutes).

Add-in chicken and stir fry for another 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium. add-in turmeric powder, curry leaves and coconut milk, leave to simmer for about 35 minutes or till chicken is almost tender (add more coconut milk if necessary to remain the juicy of gravy).

Seasons with salt, sugar and pepper.

Stir-in dessicated coconut and continue simmer for another 10 minutes or till chicken is tender.

Dish-up and serve hot with steamed rice.

Peanut Filled Tang Yuan (Kuih Ee) in Pengat (Penang Style Bubur Cha Cha)

Ingredients:

Tang Yuan Filling:

1/2 cup skinless peanut, toasted and coarsely grounded
1 ½ tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp icing sugar

Tang Yuan Dough:

1 ½ cup glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 tbsp wheat starch
small dust of pink food coloring
3/4 cup hot boiling water

Pengat Dessert Soup:

1 small yam/taro (prefer purple color yam), cut to bite size
1 small sweet potato (prefer orange color sweet potato), cut to bite size
1 (400 mL) canned thick coconut milk diluted in 1 cup water or dilute coconut milk, freshly pressed from fresh coconut for the second time
1/2 cup thick coconut milk/cream (canned or freshly pressed from fresh coconut for the first time)
2 ripe banana, cut to 2 cm lengthwise
1 ½ tbsp sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Note: Pre-cooked black eye beans and tapioca starch jelly can be added.

Method:

To prepare the filled tang yuan:

In a bowl, mix together all the filling ingredients till clump together, divide into 13 portions and shape into small balls; set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together 1 cup of glutinous flour, rice flour, wheat starch and food coloring.

Gradually, stir-in hot boiling water till sticky dough form.

Slowly, knead-in the remaining glutinous flour till smooth and elastic dough, divide into 13 portions and roll up to dough balls; set aside covered with wet kitchen towel.

Well flour hands with glutinous flour, flatten dough balls, place-in a portion of peanut filling, wrap up nicely and roll back to round shape, set filled rice balls aside covered.

Bring a pot of water to boil over high heat, drop in filled rice balls and cook till float (within a minute).

Drain well and immerse into ice cold water for about 3 minutes.

Drain well and set aside covered still serve.

Note: Traditionally tang yuan is serve in ginger syrup.

To prepare pengat:

Bring dilute coconut milk to boil over medium heat.

Add-in yam and sweet potato, and cook till just begin to soft (about 10 minutes).

Reduce heat to low, add-in thick coconut milk, banana, sugar and salt, cook till banana just begin to soft (about 5 minutes or less).

Remove from heat set aside to cool to room temperature.

Drop-in the prepared tang yuan and serve warm or cold.

Crispy Skin Fish in Spicy Soy Bean Paste Gravy

Ingredients:

1 fish, (I used trout with the weight of about 200 g)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
oil for deep-frying

Gravy:

3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp chili powder
5 tbsp preserved soy bean paste (tau cheo) or to taste
1 cup water dissolves with 1 tsp cornstarch

Sprinkles:

1 stalk spring onion, cut into slivers
1 fresh red chili, seeded and cut into slivers
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Clean fish, score both sides of the fish deeply (each about 3 cm apart), pat dry on kitchen towel; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together salt, pepper powder and garlic powder; set this seasoning mixture aside.

Rub fish well with the prepared seasoning mixture (externally, internally and inside the scores too), set aside to marinade for at least 30 minutes.

In a large plate, spread-on cornstarch, smear-on fish gently to coat both sides with flour.

Heat oil in wok or pan over medium high heat, deep-fry or shallow fry fish (about 3 minutes for each sides) till golden brown and crispy on outer skin.

Drained fish on paper towel.

Transfer fish onto a serving plate; set aside.

To prepare the gravy, heat oil in a pan over medium high heat, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to be golden brown.

Add-in chili powder and preserved soy bean paste, stir-fry for another 1 minutes or till aroma.

Pour-in water and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low and let simmer to thicken the gravy.

Remove from heat and pour the gravy onto the fish.

Sprinkle-on spring onion, red chili and sesame oil.

Serve hot with rice.