With limited guests, this also means that we can plan for sit-down dinners and lunches. The concession is that there will be a lot cooking and trying out various festive dishes.
What am I planning to do?
As you will know, the plans have to be made weeks ago and the marketing done beforehand. The menu will keep changing, even up to today. Tweaks being made to ensure an efficient (and delicious) laying out of dishes for successive meals. At the same time, I hope to recreate some our family traditions as CNY meals. Chai Buay or Choi Keok is a must by the 2nd day, the famous Hokkien leftover dish which I have blogged about here.
Chai Buay |
I have grown some beautiful and tasty Japanese Tang-oh (see photo below) in my hydroponic set up. I will blog about how one may grow vegetables at home in another article. I plan to use them in a clear soup. Tang-Oh hardly needs any cooking. Add them when you are about to serve the soup.
Tasty Japanes Tang-oh |
I have some large prawns in the freezer. Some of them are gifts. I also bought 2 kg of some large ones in the market where prices seem to be least affected by CNY: the Geylang Serai Market. They went for $18 per kg! Following my Mum's tradition it will be cooked "Har Lok" style. I have blogged the recipe here. As for the chicken dish, the usual steam chicken (45 minutes) is simple to do. Use a "corn-fed free-running" chicken. I have made the chilli sauce and ginger sauce. My Mum's version for the ginger sauce: pound the garlic and gingers coarsely (I use 3 types: blue, normal and young). Heat up some oil and in a small flame cook the ginger paste for about 5 minutes. Add some sugar and oyster sauce. Switch off the fire and add some chopped coriander leaves.
Another chicken dish will be the green curry chicken. Yes, this is Nonya and follows my wife and mother-in-law or the Teos' tradition. I will blog the recipe but it is very similar to Nonya curry chicken. Green chillies will be used along with lengkuas (blue ginger) and daun limau perut (kaffir lime leaves).
And of course, last but not leat, the old favourite, Lo Hon Chai or Chap Chai. Following my mums style, it is cooked in white fermented beancurd (fuyi). Check the recipe here.
I hope to put up an article with photos of the dishes. Stay tuned.
And whether you are buying in or cooking your own CNY dishes, do enjoy those moments with you family and God's richest blessings be with you!
This multilevel steamer is very useful. You can cook the stock below and steam stuff at the same time |
In my opinion, curry mee is easier to cook compared to Assam Laksa or Prawn Mee. Both these recipes are explained in details in some posts here. I have also posted a laksa recipe here.
Curry mee (or laksa for the matter) is simply the combination of a good meat broth and a fragrant sambal chilli.
The broth for my version is based on chicken and pork bones. As for chicken, while you may use carcasses or bones, the sweetness from the meat is important. So I will always at least leave one whole chicken inside to be cooked throughly (i.e. the meat is tasteless after that and unusable) and this will be reflected in my recipe here. In fact, for any good meat stock, the meat is important if you want the depth and sweetness in the broth.
As for the sambal, the onion base is important, which is slowly simmered in oil. To that you add spices (coriander, cumin, cinnamon), herbs (lemon grass, blue ginger, ginger) and red chilli paste. As always for sambal, sufficient oils is important for the mouthfeel and fragrance, as the oil will absorbed the flavours from the spices and herbs.
Once you understand what's behind a good bowl of curry mee, you need not be stuck to my recipe and should have the confidence to variate your spices and herbs. And as always with soup noodle recipes, your palate is important as you tweak the taste of the broth to your liking.
Broth
1 whole chicken
1 kg pork bones
1 kg chicken carcasses and bones
I have been making roast pork Cantonese style from time to time (check the posts here) and I have settled into a method which I have found to be easy and consistent. My aim is to have the meat cook just right and juicy while the skin is crisped. There are various ways of roasting pork belly and of course, a regular oven can be used.
The steps in a nutshell -
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Move the fork into the skin at an angle |
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Grilling Stage |
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After the grilling stage |
This roasted pork should be eaten at room temperature. It keeps well. If eating it one or two days later, just grill it again to warm it up or to crisp u the skin.
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You can use the roast pork to stir fry in garlic and black sauce. |

The supermarket ones are fine too (refrigerated section) but you will pay a bit more.
This simple recipe is fast and easy to do. The basic idea is to add sweet and salty sauces to fried tempeh and mix it up. I find that tempeh taste best if deep fried. Depending on the size of the pieces, a 10 to 15 minute frying in medium fire should suffice. I normally use a small pot to dry up the tempeh. Tempeh don't seem to absorb the oil. Drain it properly after frying. Air-frying is another option though for some reason, deep frying has better results.
So this recipe is indeed simple.
Slice your tempeh.
Deep fry for 10 to 15 minutes.
Drain the tempeh.
In a bowl, mix in some good soy sauce and recap manis (my favourite brand is Bango). Drizzle in some lime if you can. Garnish with some green herbs.
Sweet, Salty, Sour, Fruity.
I am sure you can imagine what else you can add to the tempeh.
It looks beautiful and taste beautiful. Goes well as a snack or as a side plate for dinner.
- Cooking good rendang is not something you can do in a rush. Be prepared to go for even up to three hours or more. The traditional simmering in the wok is still best and I have not been satisfied with versions where I tried cut down the time needed through pressure-cooking. As with all good curries involving an onion paste, long simmering will impart a mellow taste.
- As for beef cuts, I prefer those with stringy meat texture and you will get that with topside or brisket.
- Adding a tinge of sourness is important (Assam keping or tamarind juice).
- While white sugar can be used, Gula Melaka or Indonesian Palm Sugar do a more complex flavour. It is hard to describe but the sauce will have a more caramelised feel and taste.
- Dried chillies should be used as it imparts a smoky taste to the chilli oil.
- In my opinion, blue ginger is essential for rendang but be careful of adding too much less it overpowers the sauce.
- As for lemon grasss, while it can be added whole and removed later, I prefer to blend it into the sauce for the added texture.
- Heat up the oil in a wok.
- Add the blended paste, Assam keeping, palm sugar and simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally.
- Mix in the beef cubes and stir. Add the coconut milk and kerisik. Go on a low simmer till the beef is soft and tears apart easily. The duration depends on the type of beef cuts and the type of wok or pot you are suing. Add some water occasionally if the sauce is drying up too much.
- Towards the end, garnish with some diced kaffir lime leaves.
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Early stage of cooking it in a wok. |