The Food Canon

I always think that a blog is a better medium for a cook to share his story.

A cookbook is too final. Not only is the recipe already cast in ink. Somehow, it communicates the idea that this is the only way to cook this dish, that this recipe is "best" for this particular dish.

A blog allows a cook to just tell you what he just did, which is somewhat different from what he did the last time he cooked the same dish.  It is not even a "work in progress," for that carries the idea that there is a finishing point.

There isn't one, for cooking is not about arrival, but a journey. You just keep cooking, move ingredients around, pay attention to some good techniques and you end with yet another good dish.

Blogging allows the cook to share many points of this journey, while a cookbook focuses only on some high points.

I cooked a Nonya-based meal recently and had the opportunity to combined Sambal Prawns and Brinjal. I love both ingredients and when cooked this way, there is contrast in texture, one bring crunchy and the other luscious. I have already blogged these recipes here and here. I did not refer to my previous recipes and so, it was very much just cooking from experience. I will note down what I did and trust it will be helpful for you.

It make sense to combine prawns and brinjal as the techniques use are the same: deep-frying and then mix. And as with many sambal dishes, the sambal pastes are very similar and there is no reason why you cannot try different combinations.

Recipe for Sambal Prawns and Brinjal

1 kg of medium size prawns
3 pieces of long brinjal

For the Sambal Paste
20 shallots
4 stalks of lemon grass
2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of sugar
200 gm of red chilli paste
1 tsp of belachan
1 tsp of assam paste (tamarind)
200 ml oil
200 ml water

For garnishing
4 pieces of Kaffir Lime leaves (daun limau perut), diced
1 fresh cucumber and some mint leaves
Pieces of lime

As for the preparation and methods, I will note down more details.  But I trust that will not make this dish sound more complicated than it actually is.

Preparing the Sambal

1. Grind the shallots and lemon grass finely. 
2. Toast the belachan in a dry wok. 
3. Then add oil and when heated, add in the onion-lemon grass paste and chilli paste.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes, adding the salt, sugar and tasting along the way.  
5. Add some water to ensure a smooth consistency. 

Cooking the prawns and brinjal

1. Shell the prawns. Marinate with a spoonful of sugar, half a tsp of salt and a tablespoon of corn flour. This will help remove fishy odours and ensure the prawn stay crunchy when cooked. Keep in the fridge till you are ready to cook it. Before you do, rinse the prawns with water in a colander to remove the marinade. If you add the prawns coated with the marinate, it will burn in the wok. 
2. Add oil to a deep wok and set flame to high (but not smoking) for deep frying. 
3. Add the prawns and and cook for a minute. It is important to cook the prawns quickly so that the flesh is firm and not mushy. Don't overcrowd you wok. After all the prawns are cooked, set aside.
4. Next, slice the brinjal into pieces. Shape and size is up to you but keep the skin on please.
5. Deep fry the brinjal immediately for about 2 minutes on high heat. I normally slice the brinjal just before I deep fry it so that the brinjal pieces won't develop black spots (due to oxidation). Deep fry till the pieces are browned. Drained and set aside.

Deep-frying the Brinjal pieces

Assembling the dish 
In the heated sambal in a wok, add the cooked prawns and brinjal. Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Towards the end, sprinkle onto it the diced kaffir lime leaves.

This dish is best served warm and goes well with steamed rice or Nasi Ulam.

Assembling and finishing off in the wok.

It has been a while since I posted something. My wok has been hung dry for a while now as the busyness of work and life takes over

I came across this article where Damien D’Silva (executive chief at Folklore) lamented on the lost art of local home-cooking. If you have been following my blog and cookbook, you will know that I share the same concerns as well. That very much motivates me to keep alive in ink or screen, some of our cherish family recipes.

My wife loves dumplings of all kind. Soon Kueh is one of her favourites, and that is the term used in Singapore for vegetarian dumplings. In Malaysia, we often call it Chai Kueh. Chai Kueh simply means vegetarian dumpling, whereas Soon refers to bamboo but most dumplings sold today do not use bamboo in the filling.

Call it whatever you may, the best dumpling I have ever eaten was a homemade version. I can never forget that experience and I can remember vaguely that it was made by my Mum’s close friend, Auntie Har Cheh. As a child, my ration was limited to just one. Imagine, how cruel that is. This reminds me of Robert Capon's Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection (which is a great read by the way), where he said :

"To eat nothing at all is more human than to take a little of what cries out for the appetite of a giant....My vow, therefore, was beautifully simple: If I ate, I would eat without stint; and if I stinted, I would not eat at all."

Har Cheh was my Mum’s closest cooking companion, her sous chef if you like. She was very adept at making kuihs and snacks. I was thrilled to be able to get in touch with her again and she visited and made this for us. Some deft handiwork and practice is needed to get the shape right every time but it is not difficult to get it done right. I have already mentioned her in this post.

I have to say that I have never eaten Chai Kueh as delicious as hers. Now that I am all grown up, I can eat as many as I one. But then again, maybe not, for health reasons!

The filling is very tasty and every ingredient in it is lovingly prepared in the wok. And it looks beautifully translucent too. The turnip should be cut by hand to get an irregular, thick and firm shape. Don’t use a slicer for this.

The skin is light and has a nice al dente bite to it. The trick is to use your hands to gently tap and flatten the dough into a round piece it before you add the filling and wrap. As the dough is sticky, you need a lot of tapioca flour to coat it as you flatten it. This needs a lot of practise if you want to have a consistent shape. But it is well worth the effort. This skin is delicious for other types of filling as well.

I will say that you only need to eat it with chilli sauce. You should avoid adding the sweet black sauce.

(This recipe is also found in page 222 of the Mum's Classics Revived Cookbook)

To prepare the filling
Makes about 40 dumplings

500 g jicama (yam bean or bangkwang)
1 carrots
100 gm skinless belly pork
50 gm dried shrimps
5 dried mushrooms
50 gm minced garlic
1 cup of diced Chinese parsley
1 cup of diced spring onions
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
pepper

Peel the turnip and cut into strips of about 1- 1.2 inch in length. The length does not need to be uniformed. Similarly, cut the carrot into strips. Slice pork into strips as well. Rehydrate the dried shrimps. Chopped up the garlic, Chinese parsley and spring onions.

Heat up oil in the wok. Add dried shrimps and fry till aromatic, then add in garlic and fry till slightly golden then add pork to stir fry for about a minute. Add the turnip and salt, sugar and dark sauce and dash of pepper. Stir-fry and stir from time to time till it is limped. Its will take about 30 minutes. Towards the end, add the Chinese Parsley, stir and mix and switch off the fire.

To prepare the skin

140 g of wheat starch or “tang” flour
1 tbsp of tapioca flour
350 ml  of water

Mix the wheat starch, tapioca flour in a bowl and pour in the water. Mix. Then gently boil and stir the mixture till you get a sticky and slightly translucent dough. Switch off the fire and let the dough cool.

Shaping the Chai Kueh

Coat both your palms with the tapioca flour. Pick up a piece of dough of about 20 gems or ball of about an inch in diameter. Hold the pic of dough on one palm and gently tap with the fingers of your other hand till you get a flatten round piece of dough. You will need to dab it constantly what tapioca flour so that it will not stick to your hands. Heap a generous tablespoonful of the filling. Wrap.

Oil a tray and place the dumplings on it. Steam it for 7 minutes. The skin will turn translucent when it is cooked. Let it cool down. Then coat it lightly with some oil so that it won’t be sticky. It can now be enjoyed.

Chai Kueh keeps very well. It can be refrigerated or frozen and when you steam it briefly, it is as good as new.
Undoubtedly, this type of recipes are best taught through live cooking demos or videos. If you want to wrap a Chai Kueh perfectly each time, this is one of the technique-based recipe where practise makes perfect.