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.

Viennese Mocha-Vanilla Bi-Whirls Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

Vanilla Batter:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour

Mocha Batter:

30 g bittersweet dark chocolate, melted
1/4 cup butter
1/8 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp espresso coffee
1/2 cup flour
1/8 cup cornstarch

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

Vanilla Dough:

In a bowl, cream butter with sugar and vanilla till pale, thick and creamy.

Add-in egg, whisk to fully incorporate.

Gradually, add-in flour, mix well to smooth batter.

Spoon into cake decorating bag; set aside.

Mocha Dough:

Over a double boiler, melt chocolate, set aside.

In a bowl, cream butter with sugar till pale, thick and creamy.

Pour-in melted chocolate and coffee, whisk to incorporate.

Add-in flour and starch, whisk further till smooth batter.

Spoon into cake decorating bag, set aside.

Assembly:

Pipe the vanilla batter onto the prepared tray to snail shape by sparing some internal space for mocha batter (about 1 cm).

Pipe-in the mocha batter to fill the spared space.

With spatula or spoon, push-in terminals, close and smooth to seal.

Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven, set aside to stand on tray for 10 minutes.

Transfer cookies onto wire rack to cool completely before storing.

Yields 22 cookies.

Golden Mantou/Baozi/Pau/Buns with Curry Mussel Filling

Ingredients:

Filling:

Dry Curry Mussels

Pastry:

5 tbsp warm water
2/3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dry instant yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp wheat starch
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp water
1/2 tsp baking powder

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water, set aside for 10 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix flour, starch and salt.

Pour-in yeast solution, knead to mix.

Add-in oil and coconut milk, knead to mix again.

Gradually, pour-in water and knead till smooth, soft and elastic dough form.

Transfer dough into a lightly greased container, turn dough to evenly coated with oil, set aside covered to rise till double volume (about 2 hours).

Dissolves baking powder in 1/4 tsp water; set aside.

Punch down the dough, add-in baking powder solution, knead till well-blended.

Roll-up dough into cylinder shape, cut into 8 pieces and shape to balls.

Flatten each piece roundly into 1/2 cm thick, fill-in the prepared filling in the center, twist to seal the top and roll up nicely into balls again.

Place the filled buns on individual parchment papers, cover with kitchen towel or in a covered container and leave to rise for another 20 minutes (not to over rise).

Steam buns covered over high heat for about 15 minutes.

Remove from steamer (best serve warm immediately if prefer soft skin buns).

Heat oil in a pot over medium high heat, deep fry buns till golden brown (turn buns continuously for even browning).

Drain buns on paper towels and set aside to room temperature.

Dry Besan Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 chicken, cut preferentially
125 g plain yogurt
6 tbsp meat curry powder

6 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 slices ginger, minced
1/2 large onion or 1 shallot, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1 ¼ tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp besan/chickpeas/gram flour

Method:

In a bowl, marinade chicken with yogurt and curry powder for at least 30 minutes (ease to mix with hand).

Heat oil in a wok or non-stick deep pan over medium high heat.

Stir-fry garlic, ginger and onion until fragrant and starting to be golden brown (about 5 minutes).

Add-in marinated chicken, stir-fry for about 3 minutes to shrunk the chicken slightly.

Pour-in water and let simmer covered for 15 minutes or till chicken is tender and cooked thoroughly.

Remove the cover and stir chicken for short while.

Remove chicken from gravy, add-in flour and stir continuously to cook and smooth the gravy.

Once the gravy reach the smooth consistency, return chicken into the wok, add-in sugar and salt accordingly, stir to evenly coat and to further thicken the gravy.

Dish-up and best serve hot immediately with rice.

Fast and Simple Jam-Yogurt Marble Cake

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups cake flour (tipo oo)
1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 ¼ cups sugar
125 g yogurt (plain or flavored)
2 eggs

2 tbsp jam of choice (I use cherry jam)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (18 cm in diameter) or 11 x 25 cm loaf tin, dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs (or flour) and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk all the cake ingredients together till yield homogeneous batter and divide batter into two portions.

Add jam into one portion, stir well to incorporate.

With ladles or big spoons, drop plain and jam batters alternatively into the prepared pan (do like a chess board for two layer).

Run a fork from one side of batters to the other side once in zig-zag motion (not to over mix the batters).

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for at least 10 minutes (allow cake to shrink from cake pan).

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate.

Decorate accordingly (optional) and serve chill or at room temperature.

Chinese Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice, cooled
3 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (1 ½ inch)
1 onion/shallot, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Chinese chives, cut into 1 ½ inch length

Seasoning:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Shao Hsing wine or any others rice wine
1/3 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste or to taste
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp white pepper powder or to taste
1 tsp salt or to taste

Sprinkle:

1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp crisp fried shallot

Method:

One day before, cook rice and keep in refrigerator covered to prevent sogginess fried rice.

In a bowl, mix together all the seasoning ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or non-stick deep pan, saute garlic and ginger till fragrant and start to golden brown (about 3 minutes)

Add-in onion and continue stir-fry until aroma (another 2 minutes).

Add-in cooled cooked rice and stir fry for about 1 minute to spread out rice grains.

Pour-in seasoning mixture, stir-fry till all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Scrape rice to side, pour egg into middle and stir quickly to scramble the egg.

Cover scrambled egg with side rice, sprinkle-on chives, continue stir-fry to spread the egg and till chives just right cooked thoroughly (adjust the taste accordingly).

Dish-up, stir-in sesame oil, sprinkle-on crisp fried shallot and best serve hot immediately.