Yong Tau Foo

Hello everyone. I am back! I know I am known for being here and then gone for no reason whatsoever. This time, besides being lazy, I was without computer. My notebook decided to go kaput on me and I decided to just wait for Black Friday to get a new one. Cheap, no fancy schmancy notebook. So here I am.

For today, I decided to post this Yong Tau Foo, a favourite Malaysian Chinese dish. B of Rasa Malaysia used to make these for me so I decided to make them myself. It is very simple and satisfyingly yummy.

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Our Thanksgiving Feast

The main star - Roasted Turkey

Fragrant Stargazer Lilies Certified Stargazer Lilies, sustainably grown, toxic pesticide free, a beautiful bouquet. Guaranteed to last 1 week from date of delivery - Shipped direct from the farm!

Stuffing

Steamed Vegetables

Coleslaw

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May Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 - Summer Party Malaysian-Style

Grilling Satay - Chicken and Beef

Summer is approaching and although we always have bbq at our place, it was never a 'full-blown' Malaysian-style bbq party. So what better way to start the summer than having a Summer Party - Malaysian Style to introduce Malaysian food to our American friends/neighbours? None of those watered-down version of 'Malaysian' food that is normally served at the restaurants here. I am so honoured that my Summer Party proposal was chosen by Foodbuzz for their May 24, 24, 24 event.

The first thing on the menu was of course Satay. Grilled on a charcoal grill (that I specifically asked my husband to get when we moved to this apartment last year!). Both chicken and beef, together with peanut sauce, rice cake and cucumber. The meat was marinated overnight so the taste infused inside the meat and also makes them tender.

Next is Grilled Jumbo Prawns with sambal dipping sauce. I just realised that I don't have pictured of my sambal but the prawn was so yummylicious. Only minimum seasoning needed to retain the taste. They are seasoned with salt, turmeric and a dash of lime juice and off they go on the grill!

Then we have Beef with Potato Murtabak and Pickled Onion on the side. I usually used spring roll skins but this time I used lumpia wrapper. They are equally good although for pictures, I would have to say that I prefer spring roll wrapper since they give that nice edges while with lumpia wrapper you would not get it since they are softer and thinner.

G and J made these droolicious Fried Chicken Wonton that are to die for! I was too busy (and too tired!) to really eat anything yesterday but I am glad I managed to eat some of these. They are crunchy and their bite-size made it easier to eat while one was going back and forth, in and out of the kitchen and patio.

For something heavier, S made these Mamak Mee Goreng with seafood. They are spicy and very flavourful. 1 of my neighbours is of American/Korean parentage and as expected, Mamak Mee Goreng is her favourite and she could not stopped for talking about how good they are.

Honey Barbeque Chicken

Among all the things that I made for the Summer Party, I would have to say that making Fried Popiah is the trickiest one. They are yummy to eat but rolling them and making sure that they are wrapped properly is a skill that I discovered I have yet to master. Thank god for K who used to worked in a chinese restaurant who helped me with wrapping them.

For dessert, I made this Malay kuih called Kuih Bakar. This pandan and coconut milk based kuih/cake is as easy to make as it easy to eat. They are usually made with a flower design mould that I could not find here until I found this disposable mould with curves that gives a little bit of that flower effect.

I would like to thank all my friends (especially S and K for helping and taking most of the pictures) and neighbours who came (and help!) to the party and also Foodbuzz for choosing my Summer Party-Malaysian Style as part of their May Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 event. My SUmmer Party that started at 4pm ended till past midnight after a game of poker. Everybody leaves happily and with a full stomach.

I hope I have managed to introduce you a little bit of how we Malaysian do our party which basically involves lots and lots of food. I will be posting the recipes in my next post.

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Chinese Fried Rice

Fried rice is an easy all-in-one meal that everybody can make. Especially Chinese Fried Rice. When I make it, I would use minimum ingredients with no meat or seafood. Just rice, mixed veggies and egg. Well, maybe some oil for frying, garlic and salt and pepper to taste too. Now, how can you not say that it is the easiest meal to make?

Yet as simple and easy as it is, I hardly ever made them. I am not sure why but maybe because when I cook white rice, I just do not cook extra and since I am the only one eating it, there is hardly ever any rice left that is enough to make fried rice. Until recently of course. I reminded myself to cook extra rice since it has been a while that I have homemade fried rice.

Chinese Fried Rice
serves 1-2

2 cups 1-day old cooked white rice
2 garlic, sliced
1 cup frozen mixed veggie
Half medium size onion, sliced
2 eggs
Salt, sugar and white pepper to taste
2 tbs veggie oil

1. In a frying pan, heat the oil and saute the garlic.

2. Add the mixed veggie and cook until they are soft. Add in the rice together with sliced onion, salt, sugar and white pepper. Stir well.

3. In a small bowl, break the eggs and whisk a little and add into the pan. Stir until the egg mixed well with the rice. Serve immediately.

Please also check out my Belacan and Salted Fried Rice.

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Nasi Bukhari / Arab

I'm really not sure if this is Nasi Arab or Nasi Bukhari (nasi = rice) or a completely different rice altogether but this is the reason why I wanted to make sweet and sour chicken that ended up being Soy Sauce Chicken in my previous post. The first time I had this kind of rice was maybe 8-9 years ago when my friend made it for me. That time I of course did not even bother asking for the recipe. So when I suddenly felt like having similar rice, google it I did and I found a few recipes. I also found that Nasi Bukhari and Nasi Arab use somewhat the same ingredients. But I am no expert so I could be wrong. I cook what I feel like cooking and using ingredients that I feel like using or what I have at home so this is the result and I hope you will like it too.


Nasi Bukhari / Arab

1 cup basmathi rice, rinsed
1 3/4 cups water
2 tbs ghee oil (you can use veggie or olive oil)
1.5-2 cups thinly sliced beef
1 tbs Shan beef briyani mix
1 tbs coriander powder
1 tbs cumin powder
4-spices; (2in cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 4 cloves and 4 cardamom seed)
6-8 shallots, thinly sliced
2 in ginger, julienne
1 tomato, thinly sliced
1 green chili or 3-4 thai chili, sliced
salt and sugar to taste
Fried shallot/onion for garnishing (optional

1. Marinade the beef with briyani mix, coriander and cumin powder for at least 2-3hrs prior to cooking.

2. In a pot, heat the ghee oil and add the 4-spices until fragrant. Add in the shallots and ginger, stir and followed by the beef. Continue stirring until brown.

3. Add rice and water, stir. Add salt and sugar to taste followed by tomato and chili. Stir one last time and let it boil. Once boiled, cover and simmer for 25min.

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Guest Blogging at Rasa Malaysia - Soto Ayam / Chicken Soto

Rasa Malaysia has been inviting me to guest blog at her blog for a while but I just did not know what to make. So for New Year's eve, we were invited to their place and she requested me to make some Soto Ayam. I figured since I will be making my Soto Ayam again, I might as well use it as my guest blogger entry.

Check out my Soto Ayam at Rasa Malaysia

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Chicken Porridge

Here we are in 2009! I hope it is not too late to wish everybody a very Happy New Year. We had a wonderful new year's eve, hanging out with friends, eating good food and playing poker. The next thing I know it was like past 2am and time to go home. I hate driving at night especially in an unfamiliar road/freeway. To make matter worst, it was really really foggy that night and that made driving even more difficult. Thank god for gps though!

Anyways, back to cooking. Last week I craved for some good chicken porridge. I have some salted egg and pickled leek at home and the thought of chicken porridge with them was just too much to resist. I remember my favourite porridge joint back in Kuala Lumpur. It was at this place called Kampung Baru (literally translated to New Village) right smack in the city centre. They have a huge display of dishes to go with the rice porridge. All you have to do is pick and put them in provided plates, give it to them and find a table to sit. They will cook your chosen dishes and serve with porridge of your choice, be it plain white porridge or chicken porridge. Since there would always be at least 5 different dishes, I always choose plain white instead of chicken porridge which I think is best enjoyed on its own.

Chicken Porridge

1/2 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
5 cups water
1 chicken leg
1in ginger, julienne
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
Salt
White pepper (optional)
1 star anise (optional)
2-3 cardamom seeds (optional)
1 tbs veggie oil

1. In a pot, heat the oil on medium high. Add star anise and cardamom seeds, stir until fragrant.

2. Add ginger and chicken, continue stirring and flip the chicken once.

3. Add rice and water and let it boil. Turn the heat down to medium and continue boiling.

4. Add salt and white pepper, stir and taste. 30 min.

5. Add in the celery and carrot. Stir occasionally. Continue boiling for another 30 min.

6. Serve hot with pickled leek and salted egg.

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Chicken Rice Set ala Ende Li's

Among all my aunties, I go to Ende Li's house a lot since they live the closest to my parent's house. Ende Li is my dad's younger sister and she has 7 kids and she LOVES to COOK and FEED us. Just by going for lunch or dinner at their place is like a party itself with lots of people and of course, lots of food. When my cousins (from another family) were still studying in Kuala Lumpur (KL), the usual hang out places would either be at my parents's house or Ende Li's house because we are the only family from my dad's side living in KL. When any of the cousins say they're going to be at either my parent's place or Ende Li's place, the words would travel, calls would be made and the next thing you know everybody would be there. So this entry is dedicated to Ende Li (and of course my uncle Ayah Rashid) who always welcome us to their home with open arms and table. :)

Chicken Rice Set
serves 3 -4

Chicken and Soup

6 pcs chicken
2in ginger, pounded
4 garlic, pounded
4-spices (1 star anise seed,3 cloves,3 cardamon & 1in cinnamon stick), rinsed (optional)
2-3 cups water
2 tbs cooking oil
Salt and sugar
3-4 tbs sweet soy sauce
1 tbs white pepper
Veggie oil for deep frying


1. In a pot, heat the oil and add the 4-spices. Once it's fragrant, add the pounded ginger and garlic. Stir.

2. Add in the chicken, water, salt and sugar to taste. (Be generous with water because you will need the stock to make the rice and chili sauce for your chicken rice). Stir occasionally until the chicken is cooked. About 30min.

3. Once the chicken is cooked, take about 1/4 cup of the stock and put it into a big bowl. Mix in the sweet soy sauce and white pepper. Mix well. Add in the chicken to marinade. Let it sit for at least 30min and deep fry.

Rice

Rinsed 1 1/2cup basmathi rice, put it in the pot and instead of water, add in 2 3/4 cup of the chicken stock/soup and let it boil. Once boiled, cover and simmer for 20min.

Chili Sauce

In a bowl, mix 4 tbs sambal oelek with 1 tbs ketchup, 3-4 tbs chicken soup and salt and sugar to taste.

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Eid Open House Menu 4 - Chicken Soto / Soto Ayam

It is already the month of November. Today is my Big-Day. And the whole world is waiting for it. Of course for a totally different reason but it is nevertheless, still exciting. For this special day, I thought I would post my chicken soto recipe. I think it is rather appropriate since it is raining today and having some soupy dish when it rains is just so good. Of course, Soto is just good regardless of the weather condition.

Chicken Soto or Soto Ayam is what this is normally called. It comes in a set of rice cake and soup, garnishes with shredded chicken, sweet chili soy sauce, bean sprout and bergedil. However, I did not make any bergedil since I already had so much food. Back home, you can find a ready-made chicken soto paste which is called 'sop bonjot' but I never used it. I find the result to be too watery and not to my liking. So if there is 1 thing that I make from scratch, soto ayam is it.

I learned to make soto ayam from my aunt in Johor. That was 1 of the many dishes served during Eid. Once I have mastered (*wink*) the know-how to make soto ayam, it became my duty to make them for our yearly Eid openhouse. I have even had to make them for my friend's openhouse and my cousin's openhouse. Of course then when I made soto ayam, it would be for like 100 people and no measurements required. Everything is by-ear measurement. Now that I am married and living away from home, I learned to make it in smaller portion and with measurement so I can share them with other people.

Chicken Soto / Soto Ayam
serves 2-3

A.
1 piece chicken thigh,bone-in (u can also use 2 pieces for this recipe)
4 cardamon seed
4 cloves
2 star anise
2in cinnamon stick
4-5 tablespoon oil1/2 cup santan (coconut milk)

B. (Blended)
4 shallots
1 onion
4 garlic
2in ginger

C.
Rice cake / Ketupat
Beansprout
Fried tung hoon - fried and crushes (optional)
Fried shallot

1. In a pot, heat the oil and add the cardamon, cloves, star anise and cinnamon. Stir for about 1-2 min.

2. Add in B and stir for another 4-5min.

3. Add in the chicken and water enough to cover the chicken, (about 1.5-3 cups). 2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar. Keep flipping the chicken and continue boiling for abt 15-20min. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out and let it cool down.

4. Add another cup of water and the coconut milk. (The blended ingredients and coconut milk will make the soup thicker and that is wht we want. So make sure you dont add too much water.

5. Let it boil and then only you add more salt and sugar to taste.

6. Shred the chicken and put the bones back in the soup. You can also put the shredded chicken meat back into the soup if you like.

Chili Soy Sauce

4-5 thai chili (more if you like it spicier)
Sweet soy sauce (I use habhal brand)
Salt
Lime juice

Pound thai chili using mortar and pestle. If you are making a lot, you can use the blender. Add in the rest of the ingredients








Soto Ayam - Guest Blogging

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Eid Open House Menu 3 - Briyani Rice with Beef Rendang and Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce

It has been awhile since I last made briyani rice. So for my openhouse, I decided to make some. Just a plain briyani rice with a few side dishes to go with it. The first side dish is of course the Spicy Honey Chicken. For the briyani rice itself, I use Shan's Malay Chicken Briyani mix that you can find at the Indian stores. I have posted the Malay Chicken Briyani recipe before with chicken in it. The only difference is I dont use any Adabi briyani mix nor chicken for the rice itself since I was making rice and dishes instead of just rice. So for just the rice, this is how you make it.

Briyani Rice

serves 2

1 cup basmati rice (rinsed)

1 3/4 cup water
Salt and sugar to taste

2 tbsp ghee oil (or vegetable oil)
Half onion (finely sliced)

2" ginger (finely sliced)
4 spices - 3 cardamom seed, 1" cinnamon stick, 2 star anise seed, 3-4 cloves (rinsed)
2 tbsp Shan's Malay Chicken Briyani mix

1. Heat up the ghee oil in a pot and add the 4-spices until aromatic.

2. Add in the chopped onion & garlic. Keep stirring for about 3-4min.

3. Add the rice and water and salt and sugar. Stir, taste and let it boil. Cover and simmer for 25min.

For Beef Rendang, I just use the ready made paste that my mom gave me. You can just use any rendang paste that you could find at asian stores. I added a little bit of curry powder and chili powder to the mix to get a spicier Beef Rendang. I also added a few kaffir lime leaves half way through cooking to get that aromatic smell.

Another dish that I cooked to pair with my Briyani Rice is Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce. Yes, besides Chicken Gizzards, I also eat liver. Beef liver. I think I get kind of hooked to it when my mom made them for my sis-in-laws after they gave birth. They are just so good and of course not available at your regular supermarket. I got mine at the halal store in Garden Grove. Here is the recipe;

Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce

1/2lb beef liver
3-4 tbsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion
2in ginger
3-4 garlic
5-6 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Salt

1. In a mortar and pestle, pound onion and ginger.

2. Mix everything in a bowl and let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour.

3. In a pan, heat up some oil and sauteed the marinated stuff until half cook.

4. Add sweet soy sauce and salt. Taste and continue stirring.

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Eid Open House Menu 2 - Peanut Sauce with Rice Cake

What is Hari Raya / Eid-ul Fitri for us Malaysian without ketupat? Ketupat is rice cooked in an individual baskets of woven coconut leaves. I still remember when I was a kid and went back to my father's hometown in Johor for Hari Raya, my late grandmother and aunties would get all the kids to sit down and learn the art of weaving coconut leaves into ketupat wrapper. Unfortunately, none of us did quite get it. Not then and definitely not now. It is rather sad but thank god for instant rice cake which may not be ketupat but it serves the same purpose.

I was pretty nervous when I could not find any at the asian supermarket near our place. I asked around and check the internet and finally someone told me to check out 99 Ranch Market. I have only been to the one in Anaheim a long time before and did not like the place so I decided to check out their outlet in Irvine. It was a Saturday and the parking was full that we had to park at the 30min parking area. Yup, 30 min for me to find my instant ketupat. But luck was on my side and I found it in the 3rd aisle that I went to. Phew!

For my openhouse, I made the instant ketupat for my soto and also to go with the peanut sauce. Peanut sauce is my mom's specialty. Every Raya, she will make peanut sauce. My aunts tried to make it but somehow their's did not turn out quite like my mom's peanut sauce so they just appointed my mom as THE person responsible for peanut sauce. I never did bother to find out how she make her peanut sauce that has became somewhat a legendary until I came here. After a few times of not-quite-like-mom's peanut sauce, this year, luck was on my side and my peanut sauce turned out really well. Just as good as my mom's famous peanut sauce. There are a lot of ways and ingredients to make peanut sauce out there but my mom's peanut sauce only have 5 ingredients and peanut butter is NOT 1 of them. Do try these simple and easy peanut sauce recipe and share with me the result.

Peanut Sauce

24oz (680gm) dry-roasted peanuts, (I use store bought)

3 cups water

1/4 cup sambal oelek (less if you dont like it too spicy)

4oz palm sugar

salt

1. Grind the peanuts in a food processor. Longer if you want a finer peanuts.

2. In a large pot boil the water, sambal oelek, palm sugar and ground peanut. Stir continuosly.

3. Once its boiled, turn down heat and let it simmer. Add in salt and taste. Give a good stir every 15-20min.. This will take a very long time. It took me between 2-2.5hrs to get the right consistency. The peanut and water should combined nicely.

The recipe will give you a lot of peanut sauce. Just freeze the amount that you are not using for later use. Besides ketupat, you can also enjoy peanut sauce with satay or bread or even crackers.

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