Nyonya Chang

The 5th day of the 5th moon should be around the corner and i am sure everyone will be scrambling for recipes. Every dialect or family have their own version of these dumplings. My mil's of just ground pork is so delicious and memorable and i have not been able to come close. She is Indonesian Chinese and if any readers know of such recipe, kindly share.

This recipe is from The Best of Singapore Cooking by Mrs Leong Yee Soo - Kueh Chang Babi. She used screw pine leaves aka pandan leaves but i made using bamboo leaves instead, limiting a tiny piece of pandan leave wrapped with the rice. I too have added cooked chestnuts to the filling as they give a better feel to it.




Ingredients:

4.5 lbs glutinous rice
3 tbsp salt
18 fl oz water
3 level tsp pepper
15 oz lard
30 - 35 pieces of pandan leaves - 2 inches in length
30 - 35 bamboo leaves
blue coloring

FILLING

2.5 lb lean pork
4 oz pork fat
2 oz dried chinese mushrooms
8 oz preserved sugared winter melon(tong toong kuah)
1 cup or more cooked chestnuts
7 fl oz lard or oil
2 oz garlic, pounded finely
8 oz shallots, pounded finely
1 heaped tsp salt
14 oz sugar
2 tbsp pepper
4 tbsp dark soya sauce
6 tbsp roasted ground coriander seeds.



Method:

To prepare rice:

1. Soak glutinous rice overnight. Drain and divide into three parts. Steam each part over rapidly boiling water for 30 minutes. Make steam holes before steaming.

2. Remove glutinous rice to a saucepan. Dissolve 1 tbsp salt in 6 f l oz water, Add 1 tsp pepper and pour around the steamed glutinous rice. Mix well. Cover for 10 minutes and mix lard evenly with rice. Keep warm in saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Repeat with remaining glutinous rice.Add a drop of blue coloring to one batch of glutinous rice.

To prepare filling:

3. Place the pork and pork fat in a saucepan. Pour in 30 fl oz water and bring to the boil. Boil over moderately high heat for 20 minutes then remove pork and fat. Cool, dice and set aside pork and fat, Continue boiling stock till it is reduced to half.

4. Soak chinese mushrooms and cut into tiny cubes. Dice sugared melon.

5. Heat oil in wok and fry the pounded garlic and shallots, adding pork, salt, sugar, pepper and dark soya sauce. Stir till pork changes color. Add stock, mushrooms, sugared melon and fat. Continue cooking over medium heat for 1/2 hour.

6. Now add the coriander powder and stir well. Reduce heat and simmer till filling is almost dry. Remove to a large bowl to cool. Keep overnight before filling.

To wrap dumplings:

7. Soak bamboo leaves in cold water. Cook bamboo leaves in hot boiling water for 10 minutes. Cool, then wipe dry. Take 1 broad or two leaves and fold from the centre to form a cone. Take a fistful of plain glutinous rice and a dollop of blue rice, line the sides.

8. Put 2 - 3 tbsp of pork filling over rice and cover neatly with more glutinous rice. Top with a piece of pandan leave before folding leaf over. Tie tightly with string or raffia.

9. Tie dumplings in groups of ten and boil in rapidly boiling water for 3 - 3 1/2 hour. Alternatively use the pressure cooker and cook for 1 hr. Add 2 tbsp salt to the water. (unwrap one dumpling to check if glutinous rice is cooked and smooth. Otherwise, continue boiling for another 30 - 45 minutes.)

10. Hang dumplings for 1 - 2 hours after cooking to drip dry, thus preventing sogginess.

Serves
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KUIH BOM KELEDEK/Sweet Potato Bombs

Kuih Bom Keledek translated from Malay to English is Sweet Potato Bombs.  These would one of the items prohibited to be hand-carried on to a plane,cos of it's namesake.  They are so called for it's round shape and no relation to any explosives but they do explode a mouthful of flavors when bitten into.  Any variety of sweet potatoes/yams can be used and i like the orange colored yams as they give a golden look to the balls.

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 cup grated coconut
1/4 cup or more dark brown sugar(adjust sweetness to your liking) - cook it with 1/4 cup water until sugar dissolves.
2 tbsp glutinous rice (for thickening) -dilute with 1 tbsp water
Pandan leaves(optional)

For the dough

2 1/2 - 3 cups of sweet potatoes/yams - mashed(Bake or microwave to cook them, do not boil unless using yellow or purple sweet potatoes)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup water plus a pinch of salt
sesame seeds
Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

To cook the filling:

Mix grated coconut, sugar solution and pandan leaves(if using) and cook over the stovetop or in the microwave until well combined and thickened slightly.

Remove the pandan leaves and add in the glutinous rice solution and mix well.  Cook further until the glutinous rice is totally cooked and thickened.  Taste and adjust sweetness.

Cool before using.


To make the dough:

Mix the all-purpose flour and the glutinous rice flour together with the mashed sweet potatoes.

Add in water a little at a time until a dough forms.  Knead until it is smooth.

Divide dough into 1 inch balls.

Flatten a ball and fill with 1 tsp of coconut filling, bring the edges together and seal well.

Repeat until all the balls are done.

Heat vegetable oil to 350f.

While oil is heating, drop one filled ball at a time in a bowl of water, then roll it with sesame seeds.  Continue this procedure until all filled balls are done.

Deep-fry the balls until golden brown.  Do not crowd otherwise the balls will be soggy.

Serve balls slightly warm or at room temperature.

Serves
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Pearl Balls

These appetizers are so christened from how their coating of glutinous rice turns to pearly grains when cooked. They are favorite mainstays in dimsum restaurants but can easily be made at home with a little bit of rolling. It contains no exotic ingredients and most of the work can be done in advance. What you end up with is a dish of delicately flavored steamed meatballs, each one covered with a pearly coating of glutinous rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice

1 lb ground pork
1 large spring onion minced (at least 3 tablespoons)
2 water chestnuts, minced

4 dried shitake mushrooms

1 tsp sesame oil

1 large egg white
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp hua tiau/shaoxing wine
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp cornstarch

Black pepper, to taste

Method:

Soak glutinous rice in enough water to cover for 5 hours. Drain well and using paper towels, pat grains dry. Set aside.

Reconstitute mushrooms in hot water for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Discard stems and chop the caps finely.

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except the rice. Form around a teaspoonful of meat mixture into 1-inch diameter balls.

Spread rice in a wide dish. Roll meat balls, one at a time, in the bed of rice grains, coating them completely with the grains. Arrange coated balls on a wax-lined sheet. At this stage they can be refrigerated or frozen for later use.

Set up steamer with water. Bring around 1-inch of water into a boil. Arrange balls on a plate that will comfortably fit in steamer, or, alternatively, layer cabbage leaves on steamer rack and arrange pearl balls on top of leaves. Cover and steam until rice and meat are cooked, around 30 minutes.

Serve with soy sauce or sauce of your choice.

.
Soy Sauce Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tbsps rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp chili garlic sauce

1 tsp minced scallions

1/4 tsp sugar

Serves

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Mango Mochi

Mochi is one of my favorite things to eat. There are endless ways to prepare and flavour mochi - only limited by your imagination (and stomach).
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made from glutinous rice. This Japanese glutinous rice delicacy is molded into shape just after pounding the rice. The sticky Mochi are a bit of a challenge to eat. Mochi forms the basis of many Japanese confections such as daifuku, which is mochi stuffed with sweet filling. So, this mochi filled with mangos, should it be daifuku??????? The chinese way to name a dish is simple, just name it from its ingredients - Glutinious Rice Balls With Mangos.

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice flour

1/2 cup rice flour

1 tbsp santan powder

2 tbsp oil

2 cups hot water

1/2 cup Tang Mango Flavor

2 drops of mango essence

2 drops of yellow coloring

2 ripe mangoes (diced )

Dessicated coconut for coating

Method:

Mix glutinous rice flour, rice flour and santan powder into a big mixing bowl.

Dissolve Tang Mango Flavor powder with the hot water and add in the oil, mango essence and yellow coloring.

Pour this into the flour mixture and mix till smooth and well blended.

Microwave on high for one minute. Stir and continue to microwave, one minute at a time until mixture is translucent and cooked. (Cooking time depends on the wattage of your microwave)

Leave aside to cool.

For easy moulding of mochi, use plastic gloves and greased them with some oil.

Take a 30g piece of dough and flatten it into a round disc, wrap in as much mango cubes as desired. Seal the edges tightly and shape it into round balls.

Coat the shaped mochi with dessicated coconut.

Serve chilled.



Serves

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Kuih Koci Pulut Hitam

This was my second attempt making this and still did not manage to get a good enough picture for posting. These are the best pictures and they do not do justice to the kuih. These kuih koci were so rich, nicely coated with thick coconut cream and a succulent moist coconut filling. I did not find any change in taste or texture , only the color is dark purple from the black glutinous rice powder.


Ingredients:

200 g glutinous rice flour

100 g black glutinous rice flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp pandan paste

270 - 300 ml coconut milk

For glazing

3/4 cup thick coconut milk

1 tsp rice flour mix with 1 tbsp water

1/2 tsp salt

16 pieces banana leaves (15 cm x 20 cm) softened in boiling water

oil for greasing the banana leaves

Filling - follow recipe from kuih koci http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2006/03/kuih-koci.html

Method:

Dough

Mix glutinous flour with cornflour in a large bowl.

Bring coconut milk, sugar and oil to the boil, remove from heat and add pandan paste then pour over the flour.

Use a wooden spoon and mix into a dough.

Knead until smooth.

Divide dough into 16 pieces and rest dough covered with a damp cloth.

Cook the 3/4 cup of thick coconut milk and salt in the microwave on high for 1 minute and then mix in the rice flour.

Stir to mix and put back in the microwave and cook 1 more minute until mixture is thickened. (timing depends on your wattage of microwave)

Take a piece of dough, flatten and place a portion of the filling in the middle, wrap up filling.

Make sure to cover filling thoroughly.

Dunk into coconut milk glaze and coat generously.

Put in the middle of greased banana leaves and turn ends in.

Repeat with the rest and then steam in boiling water for only 12 - 15 minutes.

Kuih koci should be served warm but if you are in the tropics it can be served in room temperature.



Serves

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Black Beauty Cake

You will never imagine that this Beauty is made with black glutinous rice flour. I did not know that glutinous rice flour can be used for cakes. i was quite scheptical that the cake will turn out chewy and sticky like Nin Koh but it was quite the contrary, the cake was soft , moist, fragrant and had the most unusual color. It was not black but a purplelish grey which can throw you off at first sight but the taste was fantastic.

Ingredients:

350 gm Black Glutinous Flour

5 large eggs

300 gm fine granulated sugar

150 ml vegetable oil

200 ml coconut cream

1/2 tsp ovalette

Method:

Whisk eggs, sugar and ovalette together until fluffy and white.

Add black glutinous flour, vegetable oil and coconut milk, continue to whisk until ribbon stage.

Pour into a bottom lined 9 inch greased cake pan and put to steam on high heat for 45 minutes or until done.(i used 2 loaf pans)

Remove from steamer and after 5 minutes, remove cake from pan and let it cool before serving.

Serves

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Loh Mai Kai

Eating this brings me back to my childhood where if you want to have the best Loh Mai Kai in Seremban, my dad will remind us the night before, to wake up before 6.00 am so that we can be in the Dim Sum Restaurant Toong Chan as early as possible otherwise all the Loh Mai Kai will be sold out. Now, i have this anytime i wish, they are frozen and can be heated in the microwave in a jiffy.



Ingredients:
250g glutinous rice
2 cups water/chicken stock
100g chicken meat
100g Char Siew(bbq pork) - slice
1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), slice
10g black Chinese mushrooms, soaked and cut into thin slices

Seasoning (A):
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp ginger juice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiau wine
1 tsp oil
1 tsp tapioca flour

Seasoning (B):
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Method:

Wash glutinous rice, then soak it for two to three hours.

Steam it for 30 minutes.

Cut chicken into slices. Marinate with seasoning (A) for about one to two hours.

Heat oil in big glass bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and mushrooms, microwave on high for 2 minutes , stir and cook for another 1 minute more.

Mix cooked glutinous rice and seasoning (B)

Grease six small-size rice bowls.

Arrange mushroom slices, a few slices of Chinese sausages ,chicken and bbq pork slices.

Top up with glutinous rice and press down with a ladle.

Fill the bowls with water/chicken stock, make sure the water level is above the rice.

Steam for 30-40 minutes. Alternatively, wrap the bowls with plastic wrap , poke the wrap and microwave on high , 3 bowls at a time for 20 25 minutes. Repeat with the other 3 bowls.

Turn over the rice bowl onto a plate and serve or leave to cool before wrapping tightly with wrap and then foil, leave in the freezer. When you need to eat them, remove the foil and microwave until heated through.

Loh Mai Kai can be eaten with chilli sauce.

Serves
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Green Tea Ping Pei Mooncake

The main ingredient to make the ping pei (cold skin) is the 'koh fun' which is fried glutinous rice flour. After lengthy discussions and questions among friends as to how the packing of 'koh fun' looks like, it is not found in the biggest asian store here. For curiousity sake, decided to go ahead and make some from plain glutinous rice flour. The filling is tau sar and the recipe is Jo's recipe for carrot ping pei mooncake but i changed it to green tea. The skin is green and has no distinctive tea taste as i do not have green tea essence and this green tea powder that i used is from Korea and meant for drinking.





Ingredients:

Ping Pei Skin:
160g icing sugar, sifted
25g shortening
125g water mix with 1 tsp of green tea powder, strain)
1/2 tsp salt
50g evaporated milk
110g Koh Fun (cooked glutinous flour - method for homemade is at bottom of page), sifted twice
50g cornflour, sifted twice


Paste:
1kg tau sar paste

Method:

To prepare Ping Pei skin:

Rub shortening into icing sugar until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs.

Stir green tea into icing sugar mixture and mix well with a spatula.

Add in evaporated milk, salt, Koh Fun and cornflour. Mix to a soft and smooth dough and stand it for 10 minutes.

Cook in the microwave on high 1 min at a time until dough is cooked and stir after every minute.

Let dough cool before moulding into mooncakes


To prepare mooncake paste:

Using small mooncake moulds, divide ping pei dough to 15g - 25f(depending on your preference of whether a thicker skin is desired).

Lightly flour your hands with koh fun. Knead each portion until it is not sticky

Roll into a ball .

Divide tau sar paste into 45 - 50 gm(the square mould need slightly more) Knead each portion a little and form each into a ball .

Lightly flour (using koh fun) your hands. Flatten a ping pei dough on your palm to be a 2-inch circle. Press to make the edges thinner than the central part . Place a ball of paste. Start pushing the paste against the dough . As you push the paste, the dough will start enlarging . Wrap up the mooncake. Roll into a ball .

Lightly flour the mooncake mould. Place mooncake, seam side up, in mould. Flatten mooncake to conform to shape of mould. Bang upper, lower, left and right sides of mould to dislodge the mooncake .

Repeat to shape remaining mooncakes.

Refrigerate ping pei mooncakes for at least 1 hour before serving.

HOMEMADE 'KOH FUN'

Steam the plain glutinous rice flour for 1/2 hour.

Remove and put in a microwable glass bowl which has been lined with greaseproof paper.

Microwave on high 1 minute at a time until rice is slightly brown(time depends on the amount of rice flour)

Serves
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Home Brewing - Glutinous Rice Wine

I have to confess that i have shyed away from brewing glutinous rice wine at home for the longest ever, all because of all the superstitions pertaining to brewing wine at home.  I finally buck up courage together with inspiration from my friend, Claire and tried making 2 batches, one plain and one with red rice yeast.  Claire came to help and all we had to do was to blend the yeast and start assembling the rice for brewing.  I had prepped the rice earlier by cooking it in the rice cooker, so that it will be cooled enough for assembling when Claire arrived.  I was so excited that i forgot to take pictures of the assembling.  I did not take pictures perhaps i was skeptical that the wine will be a success as i know that i will break all rules and superstitions - I did not have a mouthful of sugar when i started making, i talked alot and made it in broad daylight,  i did not leave the pot under the bed with a rusty knife on top, i let the 2 pots(crockpots) sitting on the dinning table, perhaps if you make the wine in a glass bottle, it will be better to put it away from the light.  According to one of the myths - one should leave the pot alone without peeking, i, of course, have been opening the lids of both the pots and checking for green stuff growing and have been tasting the wine as days go by.  Despite of being so rebelious, the wine turned out so sweet and not too alcohlic.  The one with the red rice yeast tasted better than the plain one and had more wine, perhaps the extra yeast present in the red rice gave the extra kick and for the extra wine, i think i had sprinkled in an extra cup of water. The whole process was worth it and now my younger friends can have Rice Wine Chicken during their confinement, just inform me and i will brew some.

Ingredients:

8 cups/2.2 lbs/1 kg long grain white glutinous rice
1 pc wine yeast (bigger kind brought from Malaysia)
1 pc wine yeast (small kind available in any asian stores here in the States)
1 cup red rice yeast (also available in the asian stores here)
2 cups filtered water for sprinkling.

Method:

Wash the glutinous rice, drain, and place in rice cooker with enough water to cover the surface(it is just like cooking regular jasmine rice). Put to cook, and when rice is cooked, remove from the rice cooker, then spread it onto foil covered baking sheets and leave to cool completely.(make sure new foil is used to cover the baking sheets)  Rice must be completely cold before use.

Using a clean coffee grinder, grind the wine yeast and red rice yeast into powder.

To assemble:

Sprinkle a little wine yeast mixture on to a crockpot and then layer with rice(wet hands with the filtered water and flatten a handful and use it for layering). 

Sprinkle with more rice yeast all over the rice and then sprinkle with the filtered water.

Repeat the layering - rice, rice yeast and water until all the rice is done.

Lastly pour the remainder of the filtered water.

Cover crockpot with a clean cloth and then the lid.

Leave it to ferment for 7 days, then open lid and give mixture a good stir with a clean wooden spoon.

Cover crockpot with the clean cloth and lid and leave to brew for another 14 days(the total brewing time is 21 days - if you prefer a stronger alcoholic wine leave for another 7 days).

Wine can be harvested on the 21st or 30th day.

Prepare a sieve or a colander and line it with a clean cloth.  Put it over a pot to catch the wine.

Put the brewed wine mixture onto the cloth and let the wine dripped.(patience in letting the wine drip slowly will result in very clear wine).

When all the wine has dripped and the residue is quite dry, remove the residue and store it in a jar or air tight container for many more other recipes.

Bring the wine to a quick boil (my wine started to boil at 180f and of course it is cos i am one mile above sea-level)

Let the wine cool before bottling.

Wine is now to be enjoyed in any way you wish.

Serves

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Loh Mei Chook/Black Glutinious Rice Sweet Soup

This sweet rice soup must go hand in hand with crispy Yau Char Kway II and it is top in the list of my comfort food. Make it on a cold wintery day and it will surely warm up not only the body but the soul too, thinking of home. Well done, it should be creamy, sweet, a tinge of saltiness from the thick coconut milk and the crispy yck said it all.



Ingredients:



250 g black glutinous rice
50 g white glutinous rice
5 litres water
150 - 200 g castor sugar
75g dried longans, rinsed
2–3 pandan leaves, knotted

Toppings:

Yau Char Kway II
and
Thick coconut milk mix with 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Wash black and white glutinous rice thoroughly and soak in water for several hours.

Put rice and water into a pot and cook over medium heat until rice is soft and almost creamy.

Alternatively cook in the pressure cooker for 10 - 15 minutes but make sure that the watelevel must not be more than half of the pressure cooker). Remove lid when pressure is released and add in more water to make the soup creamy.

When rice has reached the desired consistency, add dried longans and pandan leaves.Add sugar and simmer for a further 10–15 minutes over gentle heat. ( Sugar should never be added in the beginning of cooking)

Serve with coconut topping and Yau Char Kway II

Serves

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Daifuku

These are so good! Daifuku (which means great luck) is a Japanese sweet treat made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. The outside is a glutinous rice cake called mochi. For daifuku, it generally means it’s filled with anko, which is sweet red-bean paste. The most common mochi are white, pale green or pale pink. A current popular trend for daifuku is a filling of fresh strawberry covered in strawberry jam or anko ; covered, of course, in mochi. Daifuku come in two common sizes, one about the diameter of a half-dollar coin; the other is palm-sized or in my case, i follow the size of the strawberry. Some versions of daifuku contain other types of fruit, mixtures of fruits and anko, and crushed melon paste. Daifuku is usually covered in a fine layer of corn or taro starch to keep them from sticking to each other or to the fingers as you eat them. Some are covered with confectioner's sugar or cocoa.You can make various daifuku--just change the filling.

Ingredients:



1 cup shiratama-ko (glutinous rice flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup water

1 1/4 cup premade anko

12 fresh strawberries - choose all the same size
Katakuri-ko (potato starch) for dusting

Method:

Make 12 small anko balls and wrap strawberries in.

Put water and sugar in a heat-resistant bowl and mix well.

Add shiratama-ko flour in the bowl and mix well.

Put the bowl in microwave and heat the dough for two minutes. Stir the dough.

Heat the dough in microwave until the dough inflates. Stir the mochi quickly.

Dust a flat pan with some katakuri-ko starch. Also, dust hands with some katakuri-ko.

Remove the hot mochi from the bowl to the pan by hands. Dust hands with more katakuri-ko starch and divide the mochi into 12 pieces by hands. The mochi is hot and sticky, so be careful not to burn your hands. Make 12 flat and round mochi.

Fill mochi with prepared strawberry anko balls.

Repeat the process to make daifuku cakes.

Makes 12 daifuku.

Serves

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Mua Chee

There are many ways to dish out this most craved pasar malam delight and cooking it using the microwave will only take you 2 minutes to cook. If you have glutinous rice flour and peanut brittles, this will be done in juffy.



Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice flour
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp thick coconut milk
1 tbsp cooking oil
150 ml water

2 tbsp fragrant oil(oil fried with shallots)

Coating:

1/2 cup of chopped toasted peanuts
1/4 cup of fine granulated sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

or

Chop or pound peanut brittles


Method:

Mix glutinous rice flour, sugar, coconut milk, oil and water in a microwable bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir well and cook on high for another minute. Stir well, it should be cooked but if you are having a lower wattage microwave you might have to cook another minute more.

Add in the 2 tbsp of fragrant oil(cooking oil straight from the bottle will do - only no fragrance)

Let the dough cool.

Add the peanut, sesame seeds and sugar mixture to the dough and using an oiled scissor, snip into smaller pieces and coat well with peanuts. (if not serving the whole portion, remove a small piece enough to eat, and put into the coating, then snip from there. Remove the coated dough for serving and leave the coating for the rest of the dough).

Enjoy!!



Serves
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Serimuka

Serimuka aka Kuih Sarlat has been one of the favorites of the nyonya kuihs. The egg custard layer will be green if pandan flavor is desired, otherwise it can be of a golden egg custard. There is a requisite for nyonya kuih, the height, the color, the sweetness and richness will all determine a good kuih. For Serimuka the rice layer has to be slightly higher and a tinge of saltiness to bring out the coconut flavor. The top layer has to be sweet enough and of a jade color.




Ingredients:

Rice Layer

300g glutinous rice, wash and soak in water for 4 hours, drain
180ml coconut milk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Egg Custard Layer

3 large eggs
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp rice flour
350ml coconut milk
150g castor sugar
1/2 tsp pandan paste
1/4 tsp salt
Green coloring

Method:

1. Drain rice and steam on 22cm tray for 20 minutes.

2. Remove from heat, fluff up the rice and pour in the coconut milk, sugar and salt. Mix well. Steam for another 20-25 minutes or till cooked.

3. Using a spoon or spatula,press cooked glutinous rice firmly and use another tray to level pressed rice.

4. Sieve the 2 flours mixture and add them to lightly beaten eggs. Strain mixture. Add coconut milk, pandan paste, green color,salt and sugar.

5 . Cook on high in the microwave, 1 min at a time until mixture is slightly thicken.

6. Pour 1/2 of this egg custard over the steamed glutinous rice and steam for 10 - 15 minutes until cooked. Use a fork and scatch surface, then pour in the balance of the custard, steam further another 10 - 15 minutes until cooked. (steaming time varies depending on the heat of steamer)

7. Cut kueh into serving slices when cooled.

Serves
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Onde Onde

I have given up hope of eating a good onde onde. it is the grated coconut which has to be grated fresh that gives the onde onde its character. I have tried all sorts of grated coconut and have not found one that is suitable. My search for one has ended. I have found the utensil which grates a fresh coconut to perfection.



Ingredients:

270 g glutinous rice flour
55 g tapioca flour
Pinch of salt
200 ml water
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp pandan paste
A few drops green colouring (if desired)
1/2 grated coconut, mixed with a pinch of salt

Filling (combine):

100g gula Melaka or palm sugar - chopped into /small fine pieces
1 tbsp soft brown sugar

Method

Boil together the tapioca flour, oil and 200 ml water over low heat. Keep stirring till only 3/4 cooked. Allow mixture to turn transparent.

Pour the tapioca mixture immediately into the glutinous rice flour in a large bowl. Stir till well absorbed and gradually add in the pandan paste, salt and green food coloring.

Stir well and knead to form a firm smooth dough. If dough is too soft , add a little glutinous flour.
Divide dough into small pieces and form 1 inch size balls. Flatten each piece, put half a teaspoon of filling in the centre and roll into onde-onde balls.

Drop the onde-onde into boiling water. Reduce heat to medium. When the balls are cooked they will float. Continue to cook for another 2 mins to dissolve the sugar and make it syrupy.

Scoop up the onde-onde with a perforated ladle, dab ladle over dry cloth and then toss onde onde in grated coconut.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Serves Read More......

Chicken And Wood Ear Fungus Wine Soup

This dish is a confinement dish.  The chinese, especially the cantonese would cook this dish as a post-natal diet for the whole month of confinement after childbirth.  During pregnancy, a woman may feel bloated and feel like there is a lot of gas in the tummy. This is due to the softening of our body ligaments and etc to make way for the baby’s growth. To expel those gas from the stomach, one soothing food we can take is ginger but after childbirth, gas is bloating in abundance, ginger and more ginger in every dish will help, as food prepared with ginger develop a tendency to move outward.  The chinese do not encourage fresh fruits and vegetables, so ginger is the only source of fiber.  After delivery, the body is susceptible to 'cold' and must be kept warm, therefore wine is the best as it moves  upwards and pushes up the energy. Wood Ear Fungus helps to prevent various forms of bleeding and prevents blood clotting   All these practices are considered efficacious for curing the body's imbalance but especially as a preventive therapy against ailments in later years.  I, the renegade must remain cognizant and respectful of the indigenous beliefs and practices linking the events of reproduction and the health status of women.



Ingredients and Method

 
Recipe is the same as Chicken With Stone's Ginger Wine except peanuts are omitted, vegetable oil and glutinous rice wine were used instead of sesame oil and Stone's Ginger Wine.  This dish was cooked for my friends to enjoy the Home-brewed Glutinous Rice Wine. 

 

Serves

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