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.

Fry Fresh Scallops

This morning as usual go to the fishmonger,I was so surprised to see fresh scallops with the shells intact.  this is the first time I ever see this in the wet market since I started doing marketing as young as 12 years old.  I was so excited, me and my whole family like scallops. Its  very cheap too.  It cost me only RM 8 for a kg.  The fishmonger helps me to choose the bigger the  possible for me. 

These are the fresh scallops that I got from the market.  I peel off the shells.  Remove the intestines and drain well.  After peeling and removing all the unwanted parts, it remained about 400 grams in weight.

Anyway, the scallops look so beautiful and fresh.  I decided to stir fry just like the way I used to stir fry la la, another type of shells seafood from the sea.
I gather all the ingredients as bellow,

1 tbs taucu(fermented bean paste),
2 shallots,
 3 pips of garlic,
1 red chili,
1 inch ginger
1 tsp sugar,
1 tbs sesame oil,
1 tbs oyster sauce,
2 tbs cooking wine.
2 tbs cooking oil,
Chopped basil/spring onion(garnish)

Chop the garlic, slice the shallots, cut the ginger and chop into fine pieces, cut the chili into small slices and set aside.

 In a small bowl, put in sugar, sesame oil,oyster sauce and wine and mix well , set aside.

Heat up the oil in a wok, put in shallots, garlic, ginger and chili.  Stir fry until aromatic.

Add in taucu and continue frying for a while.  Add in the seasoning and it has a quick boil.
Lastly stir in the scallops, stir fry until the scallops are cooked, about 2 minutes. Off the fire and add in the basil and have a quick stir. Scoop out and serve hot with rice.

Oh  the scallops are so fresh and so sweet, taste yummy.