Otak Otak

With the big Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, lots of people probably a little tired of hearing the word T-U-R-K-E-Y! I know I am!! So for all those turkey weary people out there, I've got something to take your mind off that dreaded bird.....



I made Otak Otak with some really fresh snapper that I can't resist buying. It was one huge fish, too big for one sitting and as we all know, with fish that fresh, it's better to consume it asap instead of letting it sit in your freezer forever (which I tend to do!).

I used banana leaves as the wrap but I stuck it into the oven to grill it to give that slightly charred flavor of Otak Otak. It tasted authentic enough but it could had been better...;) I followed the recipe from CyberKauli to the best I could with the availability of ingredients.

Overall, too much prep work to make this treat worthwhile to make on a daily basis...it's nice...NOT THAT nice...:)

Popiah - The Art of Wrapping

On the rare occasions that I make Popiah I try to make a big a bash I could. But no matter how much I make, most is gone by the next day, at the very least! It's just how amazing how fast this easy meal goes. It's fun to eat as you make your own individual popiah and it's also heathly (well...at least I like to delude myself).



Popiah is simply an asian version of a wrap. It's filling is predominately vegetables and the rest of the wraps are mise en place. I've a love-hate relationship with Popiah. I love to eat it but I hate making it and cleaning after it! Just too much work involved and all the food's all gone before you can really enjoy it! LOL

And for the some weird mysterious reason, I can't wrap the popiah to save my life!! Each time I do it, the whole thing just either falls apart or starts to leak!! It's another reason why I hate making this, I can't get a relly nice wrap from it. My husband makes his like a giant burrito when it's supposed to look like a delicate little wrap! He tells me that's the way to prevent the "leakage" and besides you want to get as much you can inside! Totally gross-ness! In any case I try my best to present you the Popiah as close as the ones I usually see at the stores back home...oh well...at least I try... if any one has any tips on getting it "right", plz tell me....:)

Popiah Filling Recipe
Ingredients
-Jicama, 2 mediums
-Carrots, 3 mediums
-Garlic, 3 segments
-Dried shrimps, a handful, rehydrated and drained
-Belly Pork, diced (truly optional)

Method
-Julienne the jicama and carrots, minced garlic and dried shrimps and diced the pork into small pieces.
-Heat some oil in a wok, add garlic and shrimps, fry at medium heat till fragrant.
-Add pork at this point and fry a little bit.
-Finally add carrots and jicama and fry for a while. Add some sugar, salt and pepper to taste. If the mixture seems dry, add some hot water to start steamning all the vegetables. Both the jicama and carrots takes a while to soften. "Steamed" at low heat and covered for at least 15mins. If there's too much liquid at this point, scoop it out, if there's a little liquid, leave it uncovered and heated and the liquid will reduce quite a bit.
-Stirring constantly till the filling's softened but not breaking apart.
-Scoop and leave aside.

Mise En Place
Ingredients
-2 Eggs, Hard Boiled or Scrambled
-1 Chinese Sausage, Boiled, Skinned, and Diced
-2 TBPS minced garlic
-Bean Sprouts, Raw or Blanched lightly
-Letteuce Leaves, Washed and dried
-Popiah Skins, Buy those ready made ones for Spring Rolls (or make your own! :))
-Sweet Dark Soy Sauce or Kecap Manis (I used the ABC Brand)
-Chilli Sauce (I used the bottled Vietnamese Chilli Garlic Sauce)

Method
-Put each ingredient in individual plates or bowls for each person to make their own "speical" wrap.

Popiah (What I do)
-Putting everything together!
-First place 1-2 Popiah/Spring Roll skin on a clean dry plate.
-Add 1 dry letteuce leave on top, add about 1 1/2 Tablespoon of filling on that.
-Then add a little eggs, a little sausage, a little sprouts, one after another.
-Finally I add the sweet sauce, chilli sauce and wrap like you would with a spring roll.
-I omitted fresh minced garlic in MY popiah, coz that's the way I like it! :) It's pretty much do it your own.

Note: It's a great way for the health conscious coz it's pretty much raw or cooked veges. There are a few "meat" items in here but all in all, it's up to the individual to wrap their own. I wish I had taken pics of the steps in wrapping, unfortunately I couldn't do it coz I suck at wrapping and with all my focus on getting the wrap ready for the pic, I didn't have the time or the extra hands to take pics, throughly sorry. But hey...you learn by mistakes....:) Have FUN!

Bak Chang

Wanted to make some Bak Chang (Chinese rice dumplings) but the festive season was over by a week. Know what, it doesn't really matter...afterall it's the cravings that count! hehehe...

Made the Nonya version coz that's the only kind that I really like. Used a recipe from one of my cookbooks. So to San, YES!! I finally put those cookbooks I bought to good use!! *grin* (real pathetic, I know). I also modified the recipe a little to accomodate my time, skill and availibility of ingredients.

I didn't know how to wrap the dumpling and having only seen it done, I tried to duplicate as much of it that I could remember plus whatever I can research from the net. Man....it wasn't easy! I managed to make six ok looking ones. They aren't exactly easy and took too much time. I had to pre-make the filling 2 days ahead, soaked glutinous rice and bamboo leaves a day ahead and finally embarked on the project on the third day (or rather night). By that time, I was tired and irritated coz it seems the more I make, the worse they looked and to make matters worse, I was tearing the leaves as I was making the dumplings!

Of course, as I was at the lowest point of my dumpling making project, my grams called (THANK GOD). I told her what I was doing and she kind of told me off!! hehehe...Saying that I was spending too much time on wrapping, where got all that time, better to do other things with and even her (she's an EXPERT at making this dumpling) wouldn't think of doing it even if she has the time!! So she told me that I could just laid some bamboo leaves on a metal plate (use a round baking pan here) and place the rice, filling and rice on it, top it with some pandan leaves, cover the top with the bamboo leaves and just STEAM IT till cook. GEEZ!! Why didn't I think of that!!!! *Proceeds to kick myself* I mean, I cook Loh Mai Gai the same way and it's also glutionous rice just different filling, why can't I do the same here!! I guess I never thought of that, talk about thinking outside the box! My husband said the flavor was just as good steamed but he missed the pyramid shape, so I told him he has two choices. One, he could buy some pyramid shaped mold to hold the rice and steamed it OR two, he could wrap those darn things himself!!!! Guess he was contented to just eat them as they are...

Char Tau Kway

I think I got the name spelled right(hopefully...). In any case, I'm sure most people who had this would know what it it(even if I can't get the spelling right..) Was a little nostalgic while flipping pages of some Singapore cookbooks and wanted to eat something familiar. Of course, being my greedy self, I HAD to make it immediately. So I dropped everything and started on my quest. I chose this dish coz (I thought it would be easy and quick.......WRONG!)I just wanted a one dish meal. It turned out to be a two step recipe!

First I went to the KC site to get a quick white radish "cake" recipe. Then I had to wait a little for the hot steaming "cake" to cool so that I can cut it to cubes to be fried. Overall result, it was pretty similar to that back home but of course, it's not home.

Note: Oh yah...DON'T feeze leftovers, make whatever you need or cook everything. I freezed mine and thought I could just thaw and make some more Char Tau Kway.....WRONG!!! It turned out soggy, mushy and even though the taste was there...the "cake" was a disaster and had the texture of soggy mushy mash! Not that great! I guess there was too much liquid in the cake when it defrosted and it couldn't hold its shape once it hit the hot wok! My husband didn't mind, but as usual, being the "anal" person that I am, I gave myself -1 out of 10 for the second defrosted batch!! Gross....



Char Tau Kway Recipe (the Dark and Sweet Version)
Servings: 6-8 (depending on how much each wants)

1st Step
Steamed White Radish Cake from KC

Ingredients
1 kg white radish
600 g Chinese Rice flour
6 cups hot water
1 tsp Alkaline Water
1 tsp salt

Method:
1. Shred radish and steam on high heat for 30 mins.
2. Add flour and water, salt and alkaline water to mix.
3. Put it over low heat to boil.
4. Stir continously till dry and sticky.
5. Turn off the stove and pour mix into a large square pan lined with glass paper.
6. Steam on high heat for 45 mins.
7. Wait for it to cool completely before slicing it.

2nd Step
Frying the cake

Ingredients
Salted preserved radish, washed (soaked it for a while if it's a little too salted)
Garlic, minced
Eggs, lightly beaten
Spring Onions, diced
Sambal (optional)

Method
Heat a little oil in the wok, add garlic and radish and fried till fragrant. Scoop them out.
Heat some more oil in the wok again; add the cubed radish cake and let them fry till the edges are a litte crisp and browned. Scoop them out again.
Heat some more oil again and this time, drop the beaten eggs into the wok and when fried it as you would with a scramble. When it's about 80% cooked, put the fried radish and radish cake into the wok and mix it up.
Add your seasonings; salt, sugar, kecap manis (Indonesian sweet dark soy sauce), dash of dark soya sauce and if you want it spicy, add some sambal(optional).
Finally, add the green onions and give a quick stir, dish it out, serve it with a side of sambal.

Note: For the steamed white radish cake, I added the alkaline water which I didn't think it made any difference (yes, I divided the recipe into 2 batches to see the difference). Besides it was a little too stiff to stir in the alkaline water into the mixture.
Also I thought it would have been a little more flavorful if I had added some pre-soaked dried shrimps into the mixture (of course, I didn't...*sigh*)and would have given it an extra "oomph" in the whole dish.
And since my husband was such a "purist", I didn't add any prawns in the final frying which I thought would have been great (I know the ones they sell at hawker centers don't have it).
For the amount of ingredients in the 2nd potion of the recipe; like that of preserved radish, eggs, spring onions and seasoning, they are all dependent on personal taste. Add more or less of each varies with your taste buds. Have Fun!!

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

One of Ethan's favourite food!! I made this from pure inspiration one day and it turned out that he really enjoyed it!! Heheheh...he's one weird kid! I know he loves bananas and he enjoys peanut butter (I hardly give it to him in fear of potential all-in-my-head allergic reaction to peanuts OR nuts in general). But I figure that he's a real hardy kid and so far no allergic reaction to any foods I'd given him that giving him peanut butter would be A-OK.

First I got some freshly grounded smooth peanut butter(some place offers you the option to grind the peanuts so you have just pure peanut butter instead of the other additives like sugar and sugar and more sugar...). So anyway, slap a thin layer of that on a whole wheat bread, top it with some thinly sliced bananas ( I used one whole banana) and closed the sammy with another peanut buttered slice of whole wheat bread. Then use a cookie cutter or simply a knife to cut it up to smaller pieces.

It's a pretty healthy meal (ermm....at least I'd like to convince myself...hehe)and Ethan would INHALE that sammy in a heart beat!! He loves it. I try not to bore him by giving it to him too often...I guess I make it more like a treat for him...so that he would enjoy it more...:)

Soon Kueh

This is the second time I'd made Soon Kueh, the first one we ate everything and didn't take any pics!! LOL!! PIGS that we are! Soon Kueh is more or less like a large savory dumpling steamed with vegetable filling then eaten with Kecap Manis(an Indonesian sweet and thick soy sauce) and chilli sauce(obviously) on the side.



I'd gotten this recipe for the dumpling skin from a friend and as for the dumpling filling, I used my own which is pretty similar to that of a popiah filling.



Skin dough recipe(for 10 servings/dumplings):
Ingredients:
100g Wheat Starch/flour
50g Tapioca flour
1/4 tsp salt
200ml boiling water,
1/2 tsp cooking oil

Method:
Sift wheat starch, tapioca flour and salt together. Add boiling water & cooking oil and knead it to a smooth dough.
Roll the dough into a jelly roll and divide into 10 portions. Then roll the individual portion into a ball and using a rolling pin, roll that ball into a flattened round sheet to be use as the wrap.
Then take about 1 TBS of filling for each sheet and place onto the flattened sheet. Fold it into a semi-circle and pinch the edges together and you get the dumpling. *The wrap is rather delicate, so don't use too much filling or it will tend to tear.*
Then have an oiled plate(safe for heating) and place the dumplings onto it.
Steamed them for about 10 mins.

Filling:
Ingredients:
1 medium Jicama
1 big carrot
garlic
one handful of dried shrimps
salt, sugar and pepper
Oil

Method:
Soak dried shrimps in hot water to soften. Julienne jicama and carrots. Mince garlic. Drain the shrimps and mince that too.
Heat some oil in a wok, add garlic and minced shrimps. Fried till fragrant and add jicama and carrots. Mix the vegetable and let it simmer to cook till vegetables are softened. Add salt, a little sugar and pepper to taste. *Eliminate dried shrimps if you want it to be totally vegetarian*