Malaysian Monday #13 - Har Mee (Prawn Mee)

One of my favourite Malaysian hawker food is Har Mee or Penang Prawn Mee. As mentioned, this soup noodle dish is from Penang island, located in the north of Peninsular Malaysia.

To make this dish, it takes some time to save up the prawn heads. When I have saved a reasonable quantity, I will make the prawn stock. The critical element in this dish is the prawn stock, made by frying prawn heads in some oil, garlic, onions, ginger, dried chillies and chilli paste. Then add some water and let the stock simmer for an hour or two on low heat. Season with rock sugar, salt and pepper. The smell is mouthwatering. When stock is ready, strain to remove prawn heads etc into the pork stock.

Prawn heads simmering for stock

In a separate stockpot, I add in water; when it is boiling, I add in the pork ribs and pork loin. Leave the pork stock to simmer for 1-2 hours. After an hour, check that the pork loin is cooked, remove and set aside to cool for later. When you've added the prawn stock to the pork stock, taste and season according.

Other ingredients needed:
Yellow noodles
Mee hoon - soaked in water to soften
Kangkung or Water Convulvus
Bean sprouts
Hard boiled eggs
Prawns - shelled
Fishcake - sliced
Pork Loin - sliced
Sambal - I use Tean's Gourmet Prawn Mee Paste
Fried shallots to garnish

This is my way of cooking Har Mee as my Mum taught me. There are different methods out there. Singapore has its own version of Prawn Mee as well which is very different to the Malaysian style.

I am submitting this post as part of October 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer,3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #12 - Seri Muka

I have wanted to make this Nyonya kueh for some time, but have always been worried about failure.
I decided to bite the bullet on the weekend and give it a go. As usual, before I start, I will look through my recipe books and online recipes to read and choose which is the best.

The recipe and method I used is a combo from Agnes Chang and Lily's blog post. It was not that difficult to make after all. Taste wise, all in the family gave it a thumbs up. My only disappointments were the firmness of the top layer and the uneven surface which I was trying to avoid by keeping a low heat whilst steaming the top layer.

I will have to give this another go to try for a smooth surface.

I am submitting this post as part of July 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer, 3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #11 - Steamed Yam Cake (Wu Tao Ko)

When someone gives you yam from their garden, you make....

Chris' uncle grows yams in his garden. This practice hails back to when the family was living in PNG many many years ago. Yam or taro is a staple in his family's diet, especially during the war. Uncle Claude's yams are the best I have tasted in Sydney. Winter is usually harvest season so Uncle Claude will be sharing his yield with all of us. While Chris loves braised yam with pork (kao yoke), I prefer to turn the yam into steamed yam cake or wu tao ko. 

Batter
300gm rice flour
1 handful corn flour
6 cups water

Mix the above together.

Yam
500gm yam - cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
5 spice powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt and pepper to season

Garnish
300gm minced pork - marinate with light soy, pepper and sesame oil for 1 hour
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
dried prawns - rehydrated and minced finely (optional)
preserved vegetable, chopped finely
Thick/dark soy sauce
Ground white pepper for seasoning
spring onions/shallots, sliced finely to garnish
red chilli, sliced finely to garnish

1. Oil a 25cm steaming tray with oil.
2. Heat the wok. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of oil, then add the chopped garlic and fry till golden. Add in the cubed yams and five spice powder.  Fry till fragrant.
3. Add in the batter mix and stir to mix well with the yam. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Lower the heat and cook until batter starts to thicken. 
5. Transfer the yam mix to the oiled tray. 
6. Steam the mix for 40-45 minutes.
7. When ready, set aside to cool.
8. To make the garnish, heat the wok, add about 1 tablespoon of oil, followed by the chopped garlic. Fry till golden brown.
9. Add in the minced pork, dried prawns (if using) and chopped preserved vegetables.Add the dark/thick soy sauce and pepper. Fry the mix till fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
10. To garnish, spread the cooked minced pork mix, sliced spring onions and red chilli.
11. Ensure the yam cake is properly cooled before serving with chilli sauce or sweet sauce.
    
    To make the sweet sauce, add some hot water to hoi sin sauce to thin the sauce.

I am submitting this post as part of July 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer, 3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #10 - Nyonya Laksa

At our last visit to Eveleigh Markets, I bought this jar of Nyonya Laksa paste from Ding Gourmet Paste stall (same place where I bought the White Curry paste). To cook the laksa, slowly heat a medium size stock pot, add a tablespoon of oil and 4 tablespoons of the Nyonya Laksa paste. Wash and remove curry leaves from stalk and throw into the pot. Lower the heat and fry the spice paste till fragrant. You can add some chicken stock (a few tablespoons) so the paste does not burn. Once fragrant, add the chicken stock and simmer till boil. Follow with a packet of Kara coconut milk. Keeping the heat low, add the fish balls, tofu fish and fried tofu.




Serve with hokkien noodles, bee hoon (rice vermicelli) and bean sprouts.
For additional heat, I served with Ding Sambal Belacan. 

I am submitting this post as part of July 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer, 3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #9 - Pulut Tai Tai

I organised a BBQ/Potluck picnic with fellow Malaysians whom I met through Facebook. I made this Nyonya kueh for dessert. I didn't have time to make the kaya or coconut jam, so I just bought a jar of Glory's kaya from the Asian grocery store.

This is one of my Dad's favourite Nyonya kueh. I remember he would always buy a piece or two from this Nyonya kueh stall in PJ New Town many many years ago.

I am submitting this post as part of June 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer, 3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #8 - Ding Gourmet Paste White Curry

I bought a jar of the new White curry paste from Ding Gourmet Paste stall at Eveleigh Farmers Market. The guy who was manning the stall was a friendly fellow Malaysian from Malacca. He claims his wife is the brains behind the pastes, and he is just the salesperson. He was kind enough to pose for a photo. His wife looks after the stall at Castle Hill Markets on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month.

He had cooked some of the White curry paste with chicken for tasting. Ash liked it, so I bought a jar to try. It's a mild curry, similar to a Malaysian kurma, perfect for children. I made it with a bit more curry sauce to go with basmati rice and roti canai.

It's easy to cook with the ready made paste. Just saute some ecshallots, followed with chicken breast pieces, when chicken is cooked add the paste and mix well. Add some water and close the lid then simmer for a 5-10 minutes. Finally add some coconut milk and garnish with chopped coriander and fried ecshallots. You can add potatoes as well (which the family have requested for the next round).

White Curry served with roti canai

I am submitting this post as part of June 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer, 3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #7 - Spiral Curry Puffs

It has been many years since I have eaten these spiral curry puffs. Usually when I make curry puffs, I use the shortcrust pastry which is easier. I found this recipe on Sonia's blog.

I learnt the method using water dough and butter/margarine dough many years ago when my sis and I used to help my Mum and aunties to make 'kok chai' during CNY. The 'kok chai' is filled with ground peanuts and sugar or sambal har bee (dried prawns). As I rolled the dough today, I was thinking back to those fun times where we all will gather at someone's home and spend the weekend making the 'kok chai'. There will be plenty of laughter, chatter and scolding from my Mum and aunties if we were too slow. It was part of our CNY tradition which sad to say is something that is no longer practised.

My family likes them. Ash said they looked different, well yeah..more effort required too. The pastry was flaky and light. Well worth the effort especially on a cold and wet winter's day in Sydney.

The curry puffs will go well with a cup of Malaysian coffee (kopi O).

I am submitting this post as part of June 2012's Muhibbah Monday - organised by Test for Skewer, 3 Hungry Tummies and Just As Delish.

Malaysian Monday #6 - Ang Koo

My Mum made ang koo for Caitlin's birthday party. Ang Koo, translated from Chinese means 'red tortoise', it is shaped like a tortoise. It is a traditional Nyonya kueh that is eaten on special feast days and baby's Full Moon offering.

The skin is made from glutinous rice flour and the filling is made from mung beans. 

I am sending this to Suresh for this month's Muhibbah Malaysian Monday round-up.

Malaysian Monday #5 - Chicken Rice Congee

In the last two weeks, the weather has turned extremely cold for Sydney in May. Night temperatures have fallen below 10C which is unusual. Last week, Sydney had the coldest morning start in 50 years. When the temperatures drop, I tend to crave for warm comfort food like a simple bowl of soup or chicken rice congee.

5 handfuls of broken jasmine rice (you can also normal long grain rice)
4 cups of water
1 piece of chicken breast fillet
4 pieces of ginger
salt

Garnish
spring onions (shallots)
coriander
ginger, julienne
fried wantan skin (crunchy bits on the top)

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium size pot, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and cook until the congee has a creamy consistency, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; keep warm.
2. Discard ginger pieces. Remove chicken meat from congee; place on a plate to cool for 20 minutes. Shred the chicken meat and return shredded chicken meat to the congee, stirring well. 
3. Serve the hot congee in bowls garnish with spring onions, coriander, julienne-cut ginger, ground white pepper and soy sauce, if desired.

Malaysian Monday #2 - Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies (Fah Sang Peng)

I decided that it is time for me to teach my two girls the ritual of baking cookies for Chinese New Year cookies. We started out with something quite simple (well, simple to make except for the preparation of the peanuts).

I bought the peanuts with skin on and roasted them in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 140C. Then, I had the messy and onerous task of removing the skin. Once that's done, I used the food processor to grind the peanuts.

Ashleigh and Caitlin had fun rolling the dough into little balls and making the imprint on the top. Caitlin had the all important task of painting the egg wash on the top of the cookies.

The first patch that we made were slightly burnt as the oven temperature was set too high.

These photos are from the second batch. Packed and ready as gifts. 

300gm groundnuts, fried/roasted and grinded till fine (taste a few of the nuts before grinding to see that they taste nice and fragrant. Don’t under cook or over burnt)

200gm castor sugar (avoid using granulated sugar because it will cause the cookies to have very rough and hard texture)

250gm flour

About 200-250 ml of oil (use sparingly and use only enough to bind the mixture. I would pour out 200ml 1^st and go from there)

1 teaspoon table salt

Mix the dry ingredients like sugar, salt, nuts and flour in a big mixing bowl with fingertips until they are mixed well and crumbly. Add oil bit by bit and knead the mixture. Once you can roll up the mixture into a small ball without the surface crumbling, then stop adding more oil.

Knead the mixture for a while to ensure that the sugar melts. You can tell by looking at the dough. It shouldn’t have speckles of shiny sugar grains but a smooth texture.

Roll the dough into small balls and place them on a parchment paper and baking tray. Use a circular tube (like a straw or base of a Chinese paint brush) and press gently on the top of the balls to make round indents.

Glaze with egg before baking. To glaze, just beat one egg yolk and brush on the cookie.

Temperature: 120-140C. (my oven is quite hot so I set mine to 90-110C).

Time: About 20 minutes

Makes about 102 pieces

My Little Assistant

 I am sending this to Shaz of Test with Skewer as my 2nd entry for Malaysian Monday.

 

Malaysian Monday #1 - Sang Har Meen (Crispy Fried Noodles with Prawns)

I love reading Gert's My Kitchen Snippets blog. She is a talented cook who enjoys baking and cooking great meals for her family and friends. I showed hubby a photo of her Sang Har Meen the other night, and he recalled the best Sang Har Meen he ate when he visited Malaysia over 10 years ago. When he saw the king-size prawns at the fish shop today, he asked if I wanted to cook Sang Har Meen for dinner.

Here's my version.

5 large size prawns, halved

Dry egg noodles (I bought noodles that were already par-boiled)

a knob of ginger, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

35stalks of kailan 

1.5 cups of chicken stock

1 egg, lightly beaten

corn flour mixed with water

Seasoning

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbs of light soy sauce

1 tsp of Shao Shing Wine (chinese cooking wine)

1 tsp of sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the freshwater prawns into halves. Sprinkle lightly with a little salt and pepper. Heat a pan with a little oil, place the prawns in when pan is hot and cook until they turn red. Dish out and set aside. 
2. Loosen the noodles and fry the noodles in small batches till golden and crispy. Drain and set aside in serving dish. Place the prawns on top of the noodles.
3. Heat a little vegetable oil in the wok and add the chopped garlic, sliced ginger and sesame oil.
4. When fragrant, add in the kai lan. Fry for about a minute or two on medium high heat and then add the seasoning, followed by the chicken stock . Lower the heat and let the mixture simmer until boiling.
5. Then add in the corn flour mixture to thicken the gravy. Stir in the beaten egg.
6. Ladle the gravy over the prawns and noodles. Serve immediately. 

P. S. I am submitting this to Shaz's blog as my 1st entry for Muhibbah Malaysian Monday.