Chung/Rice Dumpling Special

This year the chung/rice dumpling festival falls on June 12th and this recipe has to be shared before it is too late.  I am noted to be late as the chinese saying goes 'Kor How Chui Peng'.  If this recipe is not shared now, we will be chasing the solders after the war(Rice Dumpling Festival).  So, as i promised to continue with the Square Ball Soup recipe  i guess i would have to put that on hold until the next posting.

This chung/rice dumpling is special as this is how my mother in law made them and we have not tasted this kind since she passed away in 1991.  This kind of filling is not available for sale and the family has been dying to taste it again.  Asking around the older relatives for recipe is no good, most of them are gone and those who are alive do not have a clue as to what i am looking for.  So, have to close my eyes and try to imagine how this filling tasted and when i opened my eyes, went into action and came up with this recipe.   My daughter, Sandra commented that it is not the Mccoy but she liked it and it tasted good.

Loh See Fun From Scratch

This has been my quest, to make loh see fun from scratch.  Many hours have been spent trying to get the right texture - one that is chewy, slippery and firm to the tooth without using any chemicals.  Getting the texture  to what i wanted it to be was not that difficult as i know that with a ratio of 3 : 1,  - 3 of rice flour and 1 of tapioca starch should be correct.  How much of liquid is the difficult part of the whole process as the dough has to be of the correct consistency to be able to press out of the cendol press or a potato riser with ease.  Looking for  the utensil with the correct size holes has been a long search, until today, am not able to find any..  I have tried using a large perforated ladle and even found a perforated flat plate which i thought would be it.  No, they were  not, the holes were too big and a good practice of how to push the dough through these holes was needed.  What a mess i made??????

The final play was the return of the cendol maker and it did make loh see fun with pointed tails.  What actually happened was, i have learned to recognized the consistency of the dough - water should be added in, a little at a time so the the dough turned into whipped cream/ or buttercream like, then it will be pushed out of the cendal maker with ease.

I have tried with 2 types of rice flour,  one is the Erawan 3 elephant rice flour from Thailand and the other is a rough textured rice flour from Vietnam.  Both of them make pretty good textured loh see fun, only the rice flour from thailand needed to be dry steamed for an hour before using while the rice flour from Vietnam, i used it straight from the packet.

Nasi Lemak with Apricot Sambal Ikan Bilis

The weather is much cooler nowadays especially in the mornings, I don't have to go out for my walks at 6.00 am , could do it at 7.30 am and still feel comfortable.  Then you know that summer is over and autumn is upon us soon.  This summer has been a busy and fruitful -'fruit full' it was, my neighbor's apricot tree was groaning with lush and the lush was on my side of the fence.  As i scamper back to my kitchen with my apricot loot, i was a-brimmed with plans.  There will be apricot jam, There will be pastries - made so many pastries and still have many more apricots sitting on the counter-top.  What i would like to share with you all, was so delicious and it amazed me too that it turned out so well.  I added the pitted apricots to the sambal and  The Sambal Ikan Bilis made with this apricot sambal was the most delicious tasting sambal ever, it tasted fruity.  

How to tie' 'chung/chang/zong zi'

Before we can start our attempt to make  'chung/chang/zong zi', we must learn how to tie it tightly.  There are many ways to do it,  as long as the chung/chang/zong zi' is tied properly and does not get unwrapped while boiling, then you have achieved success in tying.  Whatever shape you desire is preference and i prefer the triangle shape and i would like to show you how to tie with a strand of string.  What?  Isn't it is tied with a strand of string  as usual!!!! yes, but my single strand does not need any preparation.  With the normal /usual way, the strings are plaited together and hung onto something, like the chair-back or put through a pole which is put on top of 2 chairs, etc. The purpose of hanging the plaited strings this way is, so that the string would be taut enough to allow you to tie the chung/chang/zong zi' as tight as possible.  Forget about this prep, and begin to learn how to tie it my way.........

Breakfast Chee Cheong Fun

 

 

I love this type and style of chee cheong fun for breakfast and have been trying to get the texture right but have not been able to get it right until now. Now, my quest is over, i can have this type of chee cheong fun for breakfast with no fuss no muss. A piece of chee cheong fun can be made in the microwave for only 2 minutes without having to heat up a pot of water for steaming or using a crepe pan to fry which is not too bad but the underside sometimes tend to be overcooked and so will be slightly rough.

Nasi Lemak

Without a doubt Nasi Lemak is possibly the greatest dish ever created by Malaysians.  It needs no introduction, nasi lemak is one of the most versatile meals that can be found everywhere in Malaysia,  be it in the heart of any Malaysian cities or in the remotest areas of the country. As Malaysians are becoming more affuent by the day, Nasi Lemak has evoled too, from the humble banana leaf packet which contained coconut rice, a spoonful of spicy sauce(sambal), 2 - 3 pieces of fried anchovies, 1 slice of cucumber and a tiny piece of egg omelette, to a plateful of coconut rice piled high with spicy sauce, fried chicken, rendang, peanuts, fried anchovies, eggs in all forms, cucumber, kangkung etc.  Instead of grabing a few ready packed banana leaf to go, one would have to choose and point to all delicious accompaniments and build your own Nasi Lemak. Not only have you build up a delicious plateful of goodness, you might have build up a helfty bill.  Nasi Lemak is so asoociated to Malaysians that it will be served during Potluck Parties when Malaysian are present.

So Happy Together

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Tyson Grilled And Ready Chicken and Uncle Ben’s(R) Whole Grain White Rice and they arrived so timely TOGETHER which made me SO HAPPY cos i had to feed 2 hungry grandkids who looked like they were going to be knocked out if food was not ready in a JIFFY.  These 2 products helped me to keep up with my repertoire of cooking IN A JIFFY.  Looking at the whole grain white rice, i know my picky grandkids will not eat it, but ????  they love Hainanese Chicken Rice, so i cooked this rice the Hainanese way  - thank you 'Paydey Ben' (Paydey is Uncle in Hainanese, i hope i got it right). Tyson Grilled and Ready saved the day too.  When the rice was ready, the Tyson Chicken slices were already ready as stated.  The grandkids were ready to eat and everyone, Rice, Chicken and grandkids were all SO HAPPY TOGETHER

Chicken In A Jiffy For Hainanese Chicken Rice

Although this chicken might be cooked In A Jiffy, it is just as 'wat' and tender and is not second to the mccoy way of cooking the 'Chicken' for Hainanese Chicken Rice.  To get the 'wat' texture for the chicken, I used the microwave to cook the chicken and to acquire this task, you would have to use 1/2 the power of your microwave oven's wattage.  You would have to know your microwave oven's wattage and most microwave ovens come in various wattage, as high as 1500 to as low as 600.  I am having a 900 watts microwave oven and there is a selection of power levels from 1 - 10.  I used 1/2 the power which is power level 5, therefore it would be 450 wattage.  If your microwave have no selection of power level, i would suppose that there are only 2 levels, high and defrost.  So, in this case, use defrost but you might have to cook the chicken longer to get it totally cooked.  Do not attempt to use HIGH. 

As microwave will be attracted to liquid, the liquid that has oozed out has to be removed so that the microwave will cook the meat and not be attracted to the liquid, thus cooking the chicken faster.

A saucer is used to raise the chicken so that the chicken will not be cooking in the liquid that has been oozed out.

How to Cook Rice for High Roast Turkey

Rice was accepted with glee - we asians go on a syndrome if we don't have RICE - i don't know about others but me, yes.

Hakka Pestle Cereal Rice/Ham Cha Farn/Looi Cha Farn

This is my shortcut version to this dish, no pounding involved. I was discussing this dish with amy friend, Matilda, who is in Sydney, Australia and she told me about this Hakka Pestle Cereal and she send me a huge packet to try. Thank you, dear Matilda and Nancy, who took this packet back to Malaysia when she viisting Sydney. Through their generous and kind gesture, i am able to try the cereal and i should say they make a good, delicious and easy meal.