Sweet and sour Prawns

Nowadays big prawns are not as costly as during Chinese New Year that falls between the end of January and Mid February.  Now we in the month of march, I manage to buy big prawns half of the price of those during Chinese New Year.  They are also very fresh.

I bought 500 grams of the big prawns and I am going to share this simple but delicious recipe which our family used to had during only festive seasons especially during Chinese New Year.

Ingredients,

500 gram big prawns,
4 tbs oil,
1-2 red chili,
2 in piece ginger,
4 cloves garlic,
4-5 onions,
1 tbs vinegar,
1 tbs tomato sauce,
1 tbs chili sauce,
1 tbs sugar,
1 tbs water,
1 tsp corn flour mix with 1 tbs of water,
1 tbs corn flour,
salt to taste.
spring onion for garnish.

Wash and trim the heads of the prawns but keep the shell intact, set aside and let dry.
Slice the onions, red chili and chop the garlic, ginger and spring onion  for later use.
In a small bowl, mix together tomato sauce, chili sauce, vinegar,water and sugar.

Heat up oil in a pan.  Sprinkle the corn flour onto the drained prawns.  Pour into pan and pan fry for a minute or until the shell turn light red color.

Turn to the other side of the prawns and fry for another minute or two.

Dish out all the prawns and set aside.

With the oil in the frying pan, put in the chopped garlic, ginger,sliced onions and chili and stir fry until aromatic.

 Pour in the fried prawns, keep stirring. Add in the well mixed sauces, mix well until the prawns are cooked.  When the prawns all turn red in color.

Lastly to make the sauce thick, add in the mixture corn flour and water , pouring a little at a time. Mix well.  Dish our and garnish with chopped spring onions and serve hot with rice.

This is our (ko cha be)delicious sweet and sour prawns.

Mint Leaves Omelet

I like the smell of the mint leaves.  I planted 2 pots in my back garden.  I can find 2 types of mint leaves from local market.  The one with smaller leaves are more fragrant which grown on low land while the other type with bigger leaves are mostly grown in highlands like Cameron Highlands.  This species is not as fragrant as the smaller leaves.

The  mint leaves is very easy to grow.  I started growing after buying a bunch from the market. Plug    all the leaves and the stems are planted into 2 pots.  Here are my 2 pots of mint leaves.

 I add fertilizer twice a month.  The plants need a lot of sunlight and water as well.  The plants grow very fast.  I can re- harvest between 2 to 3 months after each harvest. 
My son like mint leaves too.  He used to make his own omelet for bread fast with some mint leaves.  He also like to add a few leaves in to his self-made cold drinks.
Today I am going to share a very simple omelet recipe which our family used to have it for lunch with porridge or serve with rice.

This recipe serve 2 to 3 .

Ingredients.

3 eggs,
 a handful of mint leaves,
1 tbsp cooking oil,

Seasoning,
11/2 tsp soy sauce,
1/2 tsp pepper.

wash and drain the mint leaves.  Crack the eggs into a bowl, add in soy sauce and pepper.  Whisk the eggs.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, pour in the egg mixture to fry.

 
 When it's almost cook at the bottom, toss the m int leaves on top of the egg.

  Turn the egg to fry the other side until cook.  fold and dish out, serve hot.

A simple and yet delicious mint omelet is ready to serve.

Nam Yee and Bean Paste Spareribs

Today wanted to try a new recipe for cooking pork spareribs.  This is one of the recipe that I found from one of the blogger.  The recipe called for (nam yee), fermented red bean curd.  I never use this ingredient before in my cooking.   So bought a bottle of the nam yee and gather all the other ingredients as follow,

600 gram soft spareribs, bite pieces.
1 tbs chopped garlic,
1 big onion,
3-4 slices ginger,
1 tbs sesame oil,/cooking oil,
1 cube fermented red bean curd(nam yee),
1 tbs fermented soybean paste,
1 tbs dark soy sauce,
1 tbs light oyster sauce,
2 tbs rock sugar/gula melaka,
1 tbs light soy sauce,
750 ml water,
chopped spring onion for garnish.

Wash and drain the pork ribs.  Par-boil the spare ribs in hot water for 2 minutes.  Drain dry.

 Heat up the oil, fry garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant.

Add in nam yee and soybean paste.  Continue frying until very fragrant and soft and tender.

 Add in pork and other ingredients.  Stir fry to  mix well.  Add in water, bring to boil then lower the heat to simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the pork is soft and tender, and the sauce is thicken.

Dish up and sprinkle the spring onion garnish.  Serve hot with rice.
It really taste good though I do not like the smell of the nam yee at the beginning.  After cooking and with the other ingredients, I begin to like nam yee,  I think it will taste better if I add some dried chili(for those who like pungent taste) would like my suggestion too.

White carrot balls

The white carrots is very cheap today in the wet market, only RM 2.00 a kg.  A few ladies started to choose the carrots.  I saw a lady paying for 4 kg of white carrots.  Out of curiosity I started to ask her.  She told me that she will make these carrots into carrot balls.  With further chatting, she gave me her recipe briefly.  With no further delay, I got all the necessary ingredients that she mentioned at the nearest grocery shop.  Here the ingredients,

1 kg of white carrots,
300 g of minced meat(pork or chicken)
50 g of dried prawns,
20 g of dried shredded cuttlefish,
500 g of tapioca flour,
6 pips of garlic .
1 tsp of pepper,
1 tsp of salt.
2 tbs of cooking oil.

Wash and peel the carrots.  Grate the carrots and let drain the excess water.  Marinate the meat with dash of pepper and 1/4 tsp of salt, set aside.
Soak and wash the dried prawns and cuttlefish.
Chop the garlic, dice the dried prawns and the cuttlefish.

Heat up the oil in a wok, fry the garlic and dried prawns until fragrant.  Add in the cuttle fish and the meat.  Continue frying until aromatic.  Add in the salt and pepper, stir well.

Lastly at in the drained carrots.  Mix well.  Off the heat.  Pour in the tapioca flour and continue mixing until all are well cooperated.

Use a tablespoon to scoop out the mixture onto the hand to roll as a ball.

Place on a steamer plate, and continue until all the mixture is been used .

1 kg of carrot can make about 50 small balls. Steam at boiling water for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with chili sauce. Oh... this is something special.  I can taste the dried prawns, dried cuttlefish, the sweetness from the carrot.  Taste yummy.  My son suggested to add some chopped spring onions or parsley will be more fragrant.  I will add that the next time.

Lor Bak

Its been a long time since we have been eating lor bak, this is a very popular dish in Penang.  Its quite similar to spring rolls, just the ingredients in the rolls are different.

I never cook this dish before but I am going to share with you this recipe from a nyonya baba cuisine ,  this book was printed in 2005.  This book was given free when we had Mother's day dinner in Genting Highlands.

I modified a little of the ingredients.  The meat used is chicken meat( in fact, the original meat is pork) , I used minced pork and instead of water chestnuts ,I replaces with Chinese yam.

The ingredients are,

500 g minced pork,
2 to 3 shallots, diced,
2 tbs chopped spring onions,
4 water chestnuts, chopped,
2 sheets dry beancurd skin, cut into 5 x6 rectangles,
1 egg white, lightly beaten (for sealing the rolls),
oil for deep-frying.
Cucumber (garnishing)

For marinade,
1 tbs oyster sauce,
1 tbs light soy sauce,
salt to taste,
1/2 tsp pepper,
2 tsp sugar,
1 egg, lightly beaten,
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder, 
12 g sweet potato flour.

For the dipping sauce,

4 tbsp plum sauce,
2 tbsp Garlic chili sauce,
2 tbsp tomato sauce,
1/2 tsp salt,
1 tbsp sugar,
toasted sesame seeds.

 Marinate the minced pork for 4 to 6 hours or preferably overnight.  Remove the meat from the freeze, add in the chopped spring onions, water chestnuts and diced shallots, mix well.

 Get the dry beancurd sheets ready and place a piece of a board.

Spread a tablespoon of the mixture onto the prepared beancurd skin sheet. Wrap and roll up neatly.

Seal edges with a little egg white and twist both the ends to conceal the filling.

I will finish all the rolling and place onto a plate and use cling paper to cover up , put into the freeze until its time for frying.
Prick the beancurd skin slightly with a toothpick to prevent air bubbles from forming during frying.

Heat up oil until very hot, then reduce the heat to medium and deep-fry the meat rolls until golden brown.

Drain well on kitchen towels.  Let cool before cutting and serve garnish with cucumber and the sauce.

To make the sauce:  Combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well.

Hm mm  the crispy of the beancurd skin, the fragrant of the spring onions and shallots and the five spice powder, yummy, the crunch and sweetness of the Chinese yam.  I like it.  Good for the first try.

Pickled Green Chillies

Whenever we go for wanton noodles, the waiters or waitress will serve us some pickled green chillies.  It will not taste natural eating wanton noodles without this chillies.  In fact, other noddles like Cantonese fry noodle, wat tan hor fun, fried vermicelli also go well with this pickled green chillies.
Today I wanted to share this very easy homemade pickle for our own convenient use at home.

 200 gram green chillies,
 1 cup rice vinegar,
1/2 cup sugar,
1/2 tsp salt.

Wash and drain the green chillies.

Cut into 2 to 3 mm slices.

Boil some water in a small sauce pan.  Put in the chillies and and have a quick stir.  Drain well.

In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and salt in the vinegar.

Place the well drained chillies into a clean and dry glass jar.

Pour the vinegar mixture into the jar to pickle the chillies.  Cover the jar.

The pickle will be ready in 2 to 3 hours, it will be best after pickle for a night.