Sweet and Spicy Pork Ribs

I grew up in a culture where rice is a staple food, and almost every meal (that my mum cooked) would consist of boiled white rice served with a variety of meats, soups and vegetables. Mum's a fantastic cook who takes pride in the food she prepares for us, which is why I always look forward to her cooking whenever I go back to visit. I try to learn as much as I can from her, although in the much earlier years, before my foray into the kitchen, I was merely interested in consuming the end product and not so much how it was prepared.  I have, however, picked up many kitchen tips from her since then, which are truly invaluable and have probably saved me from countless pain and heartaches in the kitchen. Thanks Mum!

Wuhan-inspired Hot and Dry Noodles (Re Gan Mian)

One of my favourite pastimes is grocery shopping, especially at the Asian supermarkets where I can spend a long time just looking through all the different sauces, condiments, snacks and instant noodles imported from every part of Asia one can think of. It pleases me to see that a growing  number of local Australians (or non-Asians) have started becoming more adventurous in their grocery shopping. Just last weekend, we spotted a blonde-haired teenage girl stuffing her trolley with 24 packets of Korean Jjajangmyun! I hope she wasn't planning to cook everything and bring it for a Korean-themed potluck dinner.

Best Ever Korean Fried Chicken (with sweet and sticky spicy sauce)

Best ever Korean Fried Chicken (IMHO). Need I say more? Think of crispy chewy and crunchy batter coated in a candy-like sweet, spicy and sticky glaze. And oh yeah, the chicken. Juicy. Delicious. Yummy. Continue reading to find the recipe.

Malaysian Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)

Sayur lodeh is a vegetable curry commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The version I grew up with contains cabbage, eggplant, long beans, deep-fried tofu (and sometimes tofu puffs) and glass noodles. I made this for lunch today and it turned out perfect (really!) and so I decided to post the recipe here in case I forget how to replicate the dish next time. Cooking is a bit of trial and error sometimes, especially with Asian cooking. I think I've got the recipe down as accurately as I can, and it's super duper delicious with rice (or even on its own).

Malaysian Satay Recipe

 

Mention the word "satay" and I am instantly reminded of my childhood years and years ago, how the Malay Satay Man would peddle his mobile satay stall on his bicycle in my neighbourhood, tooting his horn. Sometimes, I could even smell the aroma from my house, even though he could be grilling his satay down the road. I would get all excited at the prospect of having satay for dinner, and run to the window to see if I could detect any "smoke" signals in the sky. He made one of the best satays in town, and the fact that he peddled his stall around the neighbourhood meant that we could walk up to him with empty plates and bowls waiting to be filled with freshly made satay. Those were the simple things in life back then, though coming from a foodie family, food was and is a big deal, as to most Malaysians of course.

Ayam Bakar (Indonesian Grilled Chicken)

I have a weakness for Indonesian grilled chicken (or Ayam Bakar as you will often find on Indonesian menus) - the char and smokiness from the caramelized chicken skin, the sweet aromatic spices, the distinctive taste of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) combined with the heat from the savoury sambal belacan, all complemented with a mound of steamed white rice. The preparation method involves first simmering the chicken in the pot with the spice mix (bumbu or rempah) so that the chicken absorbs all those wonderful flavours. I then reduced the sauce to a thick syrupy paste which I used to baste the chicken before placing under the grill. This gives it a more concentrated flavour and also helps form a shiny dark coating on the skin.

King brown mushroom with XO sauce

This has been the dish of the month for me. I've made these mushrooms at least five times since the start of August, and I've enjoyed it as a side dish, a light lunch and even added it to my instant noodles for a touch of "gourmet". I made a big batch of it which has lasted up till now (there's still some left in the fridge) and have been spooning it liberally on almost anything I can think of. Last night, I made some sushi for the kids and had leftover rice, which I mixed through with some XO sauce. Tasty! I also used the XO sauce in cooking Mapo tofu (instead of using hot bean paste) along with some diced chinese mushrooms. It's a wonderful condiment which I've also used to spruce up some boring fried rice from the Chinese takeaway.

I never knew how to make XO sauce until I found it in Gary Mehigan's new book "Favourites", and it was the first recipe I bookmarked to try (among many others). I thought it was the perfect recipe to try, as I had some premium dried scallops that was long forgotten in the fridge, and the rest were just pantry ingredients that I had. A pretty simple recipe, though I added some extra dried chillies to "colour" the oil more. I added a drop of Cheong Chan caramel towards the end for a little extra flavour. Homemade XO sauce is definitely worth making, and it's probably best you use good quality dried scallops if you plan to do so. I highly recommend serving it on top of grilled king brown (or king oyster) mushrooms and grilled scallions (also from "Favourites") as it's the simplest and tastiest way to enjoy XO sauce.

Portuguese Chicken with Piri-piri Sauce

Piri-piri is a Swahili word for "pepper pepper", and is also known as African Bird's Eye chilli. It is the predominant ingredient in making piri-piri sauce - a tangy, garlicky, fiery hot chilli sauce that is popular in South Africa cuisine. If you didn't know already, piri-piri chicken (also known as Portuguese chicken) originated in Mozambique (some say Angola), which were former Portuguese colonies. Hence, the influence of spicy Portuguese cooking found its way into South African cuisine.

Roast Chicken with Russian Salad {Best Ever}

 

This is the most amazing and easy roast chicken ever. I'm dreaming of having this chicken again as I write this. I actually ate this three days in a row and never got tired of it. In fact, it tasted even better the following days, with the flavours from the marinade (and the pan juices) having absorbed into the chicken. I was a little sceptical about the Russian salad

Spicy Chicken (Vindaloo)

 

Here's a hot and spicy chicken dish that's quick and easy to prepare, and will have you going back for more! This tastes even better the next day or two, so double the batch if you want to save some leftovers for a busy weeknight dinner.

Malaysian Fish Head Curry

This is a Malaysian-Chinese style fish head curry, as opposed to the Indian-style which uses fish curry powder, curry leaves, fenugreek and mustard seeds. I think most commercial fish curry powders are meant for Indian style curries, and so I made my own from scratch using ground coriander, chilli and turmeric. After three attempts, I was happy with how this final one turned out. Cod fish head was fantastic, although snapper head works perfectly well too. Some of you may cringe at the thought of having a fish head served at the dining table. If that's the case, you can always substitute with fish tail or fish cutlets. I love having lots of okra, eggplant and tofu puffs in my curry, making it pretty much a one pot wonder. Find the recipe after the jump.

Korean Fried Chicken with Hot Dipping Sauce

There's been a lot of deep-fried wings going on in my house lately. I've been experimenting with different recipes to come up with the ultimate crispiest chicken wings and the best Korean chilli dipping sauce, and so far, nobody's been complaining. I finally got it down to using a batter made with self-raising flour, rice flour and glutinous rice flour to achieve a light and crisp layer on the wings. The double-frying simply maximises the crunch factor (and I think it prolongs the crispiness too). One of our favourite places for Korean Fried Chicken is Stra Pocha in Strathfield, where you can ask for their special chilli sauce for dipping the wings in. We love the sauce, and I'm happy that my version of it comes quite close - sweet and spicy with a lot of heat from the red peppers.

 

Let me tempt you with some photos....

Isn't the sauce looking lovely? You can bet those wings are crispy too!

I prefer to serve the chilli sauce on the side, rather than toss the chicken into the sauce as they are sometimes served. That way, the wings stay crisp and crunchy, and it's less messy too if you're eating with your  hands (that's the only way to eat chicken wings!).

Singapore Fried Carrot Cake (Chai Tau Kuih)

 

This is the crispy pancake version of Singapore fried carrot cake, though there's some debate over whether it should be called radish cake instead since it uses radish, and not carrot. But then again, sometimes it does not contain radish, so should it be just called rice cake? The radish (or daikon - I think they are similar) gives it a subtle sweetness and flavour. I do like the radish cake to be soft, so the proportion of water to rice flour I've used is about 2:1. After it's fried, the carrot cake will be crispy on the outside, soft and smooth inside. This is a popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia, and is usually eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper. Look out for it when you're visiting a hawker centre there!

Fried Mee Siam (Vermicelli) with Crispy Shrimp

It was a bright and sunny Sunday morning. I was riding in the car when this song started playing on the radio:

 

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn't mean it,

I just want you back for good,

(Want you back, want you back, want you back for good...)

 

Does that sound familiar? Well, Take That! Listening to the song evoked memories from my 21st birthday which I celebrated with my college friends. I still have photos from that day, when I had my first go at ice-skating and ended up with cuts and grazes from constantly breaking my fall with my bare hands. A couple of my friends had brought a guitar along and made a notable attempt to serenade me with "Back For Good", which is why hearing the song again made me feel quite nostalgic.

Malaysian Deep-fried Curry Puffs

I made these deep-fried curry puffs over the weekend when we had friends over for lunch (I figured just serving chicken rice might not be enough). As usual, I posted photos of these on facebook and a friend commented that it was his favourite. Actually, he thought that these were "gujia", which I later found out through Dr Google that it was a type of sweet Indian (Rajasthani, to be specific) deep-fried pastry filled with nuts, dried fruit or coconut. Mmm...this sounds like something right up my alley (and something for me to experiment with next!). 

Mutter Paneer (Peas and Cottage Cheese)

Mutter paneer is a popular North Indian dish consisting of paneer (cottage cheese) and peas (mutter) cooked in a spiced tomato-based gravy, and it tastes fantastic especially when eaten with boiled basmati rice. I enjoy the paneer for its "bitey" texture that can be described as almost "meaty", and all of this combined together makes a delicious meal that can be quite addictive. I must admit I wasn't really a fan of paneer nor vegetarian food right up till middle of last year when I had some friends visiting from India and we frequented a few Indian restaurants. What an eye-opener it was for me. Indian vegetarian cuisine wasn't just all about peas and lentils, but very much about spices, colours, textures and exotic flavours.

 

Char Kuay Teow, two-ways

 

Char Kuay Teow with sweet soy



If you know and love Malaysian food, then Char Kuay Teow needs no introduction. In terms of popularity, I would think that Laksa ranks number one, followed by Hainanese chicken rice, and then Char Kuay Teow. These three dishes are commonly found in most menus of restaurants serving Malaysian-style food in Sydney, but more often than not, the authenticity of the Char Kuay Teow is questionable. Char Kuay Teow (CKT) literally means fried rice noodles, but a plate of greasy fried rice noodles with black soy sauce does not qualify as CKT. I find that the CKT sold here usually omits the eggs, which is a must in every CKT. It coats the rice noodles and gives it flavour and texture. Cockles are another must-have in CKT, but I have omitted them in my dish as I was unable to find any at the shops here.

Penang Assam Laksa

It took me this long to finally attempt making Assam Laksa, and if mum says it's easy to prepare, she's quite right there. Just steam (or boil) the fish, add the blended ingredients to the stock and simmer before adding the flaked fish. Then serve with noodles and garnishing. Sounds easy doesn't it? In fact, I think I took more time preparing all the ingredients then the actual process of cooking it (man, those shallots sure took forever to peel, and they brought buckets of tears to my eyes).

Grilled Pork Belly with Spicy Sauce

Hello! It's been a while since I last did a proper post on my blog. Life has just been a little busy lately, and just when I thought things were starting to wind down, my calendar for the next two months is fast filling up with dates for parties, school events, concerts and birthdays. And when you have three kids like me, multiply that by three and you'd wish weekends were a little longer, and perhaps with a free day for cooking and baking. Last weekend, I managed to find time to prepare these grilled pork belly skewers which were inspired by my recent dining experience at Sake restaurant in Sydney. What I found interesting was the spicy antichucho sauce that was served with the grilled pork (kushiyaki). Antichucho is apparently Peruvian grilled marinated beef hearts, served with a tangy and spicy sauce, I believe. As there is a considerable Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine (one of Peru's presidents was of Japanese descent), that explains the use of the antichucho sauce in this dish.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Massamun Curry

 

 

 

The first time I had lamb shanks was at Mulligan's, an Irish restaurant in Sydney. I remember how tender the meat was and it just melted in the mouth, together with the luscious red wine gravy and mashed potatoes. Well, that was a really really long time ago, and since then, I had always wanted to cook lamb shanks but never did until now, after I bought a french oven that's large enough to fit those shanks. I decided to make a Thai version by braising the lamb in massamum curry with some potatoes. I had it in the oven long enough that the meat was so tender and just fell off the bone. It was delicious, and with all curries, it tastes even better the next day!