FRIED CABBAGE WITH CHINESE SAUSAGE

Fried Cabbage is such a simple dish . This cabbage are called Cameron Highland cabbage, they are such a natural sweetness veg and  pairs very well with Chinese Sausage, just love it to the  max.

CABBAGE, CHINESE SAUSAGES & SLICED GARLIC

Heat up 1-2 tbsp cooking oil, add in garlic to saute then add in chinese sausage saute til both side lightly brown, fragrant  and dish up in a plate. (Dish up so sausage to prevent sausage from being soggy.)

Continue next adding  cabbage to fry until fragrant and drizzle 3-4 dashes of fish sauce on the rim of the wok and as it start to fragrant aromatically from the fish sauce fragrant drizzle some plain water to prevent cabbage from being burn. add in 1 tsp of sugar continue to fry until as tender as your preference. Taste salty and sweet as per preference. Last dash a few dashes of white pepper and dish to serve.

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The final stage of frying ready to dish up

THAI BASIL MINCED PORK

THAI BASIL MINCED PORK
Ingredients: 300 g of minced pork
5 cloves of smash garlic
3 green bird’s eye chilli- deseeded 1 handful of Thai basil leaves

Seasoning - combine all below
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tsp chicken granules 
1 tsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp of fish sauce
5 tbsp  plain water

4 tbsp cooking oil

Direction 
Heat up a wok and  add in cooking oil and saute garlic and bird's eye chilli until fragrant
Add in minced pork and seasoning and continue to stir fried until cooked and aromatic.
Lastly add in all the basil leaves give it high heat stir and dish up .
Save some fresh basil leaves for garnishing.

MATCHA GREEN TEA HUAT KUIH

MATCHA  GREEN TEA HUAT KUIH 
Ingredient A
250 gm all purpose flour 
125 gm sugar 
150 ml warm water
100 ml concentrate Kara brand coconut cream .
1  teaspoon double action baking powder 
1  1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tsp matcha green tea powder 

1 tsp corn oil ( add this lastly)

• For pink huat kuih -    I used 1  1/2 drop of pink colour (Star Brand)
• For blue pea flowers - Boiled 4 tbsp water + 20 pcs blue pea flowers.

Direction  Preparing batter.
Add all the ingredient A in a mixing bowl using the whisk, whisk until  smooth and lump free.  (Sieve it for smoother batter.)

Set aside for proofing. It took me 50 minutes to proof until batter double the size.

How long the timing to double depends alot on the room temperature too. 

Slowly stir the batter to release trap air and  is ready to pour into moulds for steaming .

Pour the batter 100%  full into the mould and set aside to rest. Steamed for 25-30 minutes. By the way reduce from 8 to 5 mould is the correct way ..too many steaming at one time makes the Huat Kuih unable to laugh in my case. 

This Huat Kuih do not fully laugh I will share with you why it is only smiling fluffy,

A SUCESSFULY LAUGHING FLUFFY HUAT KUIH - I steamed only one Huat Kuih at a time..using same batter with the high heat and looks how she laughed to me. 

Reason and possiblities  why Huat Kuih failed.

• Batter must be proof ensure they double up 
• Ensure steamer water is boiling hot before steaming.
• Do not open the steamer for at least 25 minute, otherwise the batter may sink and it may not be success if you close and continue to re-steamed ..unless as and  and when you open the lid they are already 80% blooming which we cannot see unless the lid is transparent ..do take note on this.
• Do not steamed too many Huat kuih mould at one time. 5 would just be nice.
• This is to ensure balances high steamer heat sustained and are there to boost a sucess laughing instead of just smilling  Huat Kuih.

Making huat kuih seems so easy yet they are not for beginners.

• Every steamer works differently and you got to learn to understand your steamer cos aluminium steamer are thicker ply and some are not .
• Well practice makes perfect --GOOD LUCK

PINK  VANILLA HUAT KUIH 

BLUE PEA VANILLA HUAT KUIH 

PEANUT PANCAKE - THICK APAM BALIK

Peanut pancake -Thick Apam Balik
Apam Balik one of the most traditional and enjoy pancake by Malaysian . It’s an Asian style pancake turnover with varieties of fillings inside.
Today I homemade my own Apam balik using simple most traditional filling like roasted peanuts, sugar and creamy sweet corn. 

It's so easy to prepared in your home using varieties from nutella chocolate, bananas and even cheese and the choice is yours.

Peanut pancake or Thick Apam Balik

Ingredient A-Proofing my yeast

• 1 tbsp castor sugar
• 1 tbsp instant yeast
• 3 tbsp  warm water  ( or sufficient warm water to dissolve yeast and sugar  solution )

Combine Yeast, sugar and warm warm mixed until dissolve
Set aside est 15 minutes to proof or until double)

Ingredient B

• 170 g  plain flour
• 80 g rice flour
• 2 tbsp  caster sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 20 g full cream powder (optional)
• 220 ml plain water
• 1 tsp double action baking  powder

Direction

• Combine all ingredient A & B in a bowl until a smooth batter is form.
• Cover  with a cling wrapped and leave to rest for 30 minutes or double. .

The filling

• 50 g Toasted  chopped Peanut
• 25 g Toasted Sesame seed
• 20 g sugar
• Creamy sweet corn
• 1 tsp unsalted butter

Note 
You could add sliced banana, walnuts, nutella chocolate ,or anything other of your choice
I am using 24 cm  non stick iron cast pan  or you could either use 16 cm the choice is yours.

Ready to pan 

• Spray oil to a non stick pan on low heat and wipe evenly with paper towel.
• When  pan is heated evenly, give batter a stir  before spreading. 
• I scope 2 ladle  into  my pan and cover pan with lid. How many scope depends on the size of your preference and pan.
• Allow 2 minutes and notice pancake should have a nice fluffy  honeycomb structure.
• Add the filling A = sugar follow by peanut , add sweet corn or banana and some unsalted butter  according to own preference.
• Cover and cook for another 2-3 mins , remove lid check to ensure center batter are dried and cooked when sides are lightly brown ..then it's  ready.
• Remove and fold into half using a spatula, cut and serve hot.
• Enjoy.

Tips to take note:

• The surface of the non stick pan must be smooth and not score with lines otherwise.. the surface of the pancake may not  be smooth.

• How thick you would prefer your batter to be depend on your own choice.
• With this the timing during cooking may be different from mine .

• Oil that are grease from the pan should be evenly wipe off lightly to prevent patch surface.

• Best do not keep batter too long then necessary or even  overnight this may cause over proof. 
• Even if you do not cover the pan lid pancakes will still be ok to do without.

• You may skip proofing yeast and just combine everything in but I rather prefer pre-proofing as the way I am sure my yeast are active.  

HUAT KUIH

 

HUAT KUIH
PROOFING THE YEAST
Ingredient 

• 1 1/2 tsp Instant Yeast
• 10 g sugar  
• 3 tbsp warm water 

Mixed yeast, sugar and warm water until dissolve set aside to proof.
(This usually takes 15 minutes you may notice yeast starts to double up)

Ingredient A

• 200 g plain flour
• 10 g milk powder (optional)
• 80 g castor sugar
• 200 ml plain water
• 1  tbsp double baking agent
• 1-2  drop pink colouring  
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Direction 

• Combine all ingredient A mixed well until become batter.
• Add in proof yeast, mixed until evenly and  lump free.
• Set aside for 40 minutes or double the batter.
• Stir batter using a spatula to release air.
• Pour into teacup reaching the brim and steam 20-25 minutes on high heat
• Remove from steamer allow it to cool down on a wire rack before  unmoulding.

Note:

Pre-heat a steamer with water, ensure they are hot boiling 

Fully brush teacup with oil.
Fermentation of batter must be double this is very important . 

If your huat kuih doesn't smile they are mostly due to the steamer :

• water is not boiling hot enough, 
• too shallow steamer , 
• hot air escape from the steamer lid.... so do take note.

Making huat kuih seems so easy yet they are not for beginners.
Every steamer works differently and you got to learn to understand your steamer cos aluminium steamer are thicker ply and some are not .
Well practice makes perfect.

I have tested Huat Kuih using 20 pcs of blue pea flowers too in a paper cup mould but my choice is chinese teacups for a steadier shape. Well the choice is yours.

COCKLE SAMBAL

COCKLES SAMBAL

Ingredient

• 500g Cockles 
• 50 g Kara coconut cream
• 1 tbsp chicken stock granules
• 1 tsp salt
• 200 ml plain water
• 4-5 tbsp cooking oil

Ingredient for Curry powder paste

• 25 g Baba fish curry powder
• 2 tsp chili paste ( Blended from 10 pcs dried chili or ready bought chily boh )
• 1 tsp poppy powder
• (Combine with a water until forming a paste)

Ingredient to minced:

• 8 small shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 cm Fresh ginger

Ingredient for Spices

• 3 Cinnamon stick
• 1 Star anise
• 5 Cardamon
• 5 Cloves

Direction

• In a medium heat wok add in cooking oil.
• Add in minced onion, garlic and fresh ginger saute 1- 2 minutes till lightly fragrant.
• Add in spices, saute till fragrant.
• Add in curry paste mixed until well combine to saute till aromatic.
• Add in coconut cream and water mixed and stir until well combine.
• Add in chicken granules, salt to taste as per preference.
• Simmer until it becomes slightly dryer sambal looks alike.
• Lastly add in cockles stir until well combine this take less then 1 minutes. Dish up to serve.

Tips: To open cockles and prevent cockles from shrink

• Wash cockles to remove tiny mud or sand sediments
• Boil a pot of hot boiling water, place cockles and cover it for 1-2 minutes.
• This way they are still raw yet cockles can be easily open and remove from the shell and yet  avoid cockles from over shrinking.  Once remove lightly rinse thru running water to remove mud, drain and set aside.

What do cockles taste like?

• Their small, heart-shaped shells contain a small, delicate morsel of flesh that can be eaten steamed or boiled. 
• They have a delicious salty flavor that needs to be treated gently.

In a medium heat wok add in cooking oil. Add in mince onion, garlic and fresh ginger saute 1-2 minutes till lightly fragrant. Add in spices ingredient saute till fragrant.

Add in curry paste mixed until well combine to saute till aromatic. 

Add coconut cream, water seasoning as per own desire tasty and combine well.

Simmer until it becomes slightly dryer sambal looks alike.

Dish up....Tara Done