Ngor Hiang is also known as 5 spices in Hokkien. Ground into powder, you get the 5-spice powder. However, the funny thing is that Ngor Hiang also refers to this dish – which is essentially prawn and pork rolled in a soya skin. In Penang, they call it Lor Bak or Lobak whilst for us from Johor, we call it Heh Chor. There are many variants for the ingredients used but the main ingredients are prawns, pork and of course, the 5-spice powder. The 5 spice powder is popularly used for dishes like Chinese Stewed Duck and Kong Bak.

This Ngor Hiang recipe makes about 13 rolls using 1 piece of soya skin (fuchok). The soft soya skin is used rather than the usual hard-type which is commonly used for other dishes like Ginkgo Barley Dessert. It is not an easy dish to prepare as it can be a bit labourious preparing the ingredients, rolling them up and finally, frying them. However, this tasty Ngor Hiang is bound to make you eat non-stop. It is delicious on its own or a great accompaniment to steamed white rice. For added taste, give it a dip into chilli or tomato sauce.

This is my wife’s recipe for Ngor Hiang / Prawn and Pork Roll

Ingredients

• 1 kg medium prawns (shelled and deveined. Cut into small cubes)
• 600 grammes pork (choose pork with a bit of fat and mince it)
• 15 pieces water chestnut (diced finely – leave to drain on colander)
• 170 grammes of dried winter melon (diced finely)
• 1/2 piece carrot (diced finely)
• 1 large onion (diced finely)
• 4 teaspoons potato starch
• 1 egg (separate egg yolk from egg white)
• 1 piece soya skin (cut into 6 x 6 inches – about 12 to 13 pieces for rolling)
• Oil for deep frying

Seasoning

• 3 teaspoons 5 spice powder
• 1 teaspoon white pepper powder
• 4 to 6 teaspoons salt

Method

Mix prawns, pork, water chestnut, winter melon, carrots, onion, egg yolk and seasoning together in a large bowl. Using hands, combine the ingredients by mixing them in one direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise) whilst sprinkling potato starch. Allow mixture to stand for 30 minutes covered.

Lay a piece of soya skin on the table. Take about 2 tablespoons of mixture and place them like a log on one end of the skin, leaving about 2 cm from the edge of soya skin. Dab a little egg white on fingers and run the egg white along the soya skin edges.

While holding the edge of the soya skin, roll over the mixture and fold in the side edges. Repeat with other soya skin till all complete.

Heat oil in wok at medium heat. Gently place one or two pieces of Ngor Hiang roll at a time and allow to deep fry slowly till soya skin is golden brown. It takes approximately 5 to 8 minutes per roll to cook.

Dish up and drain on kitchen napkin to absorb excess oil.

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Ngor Hiang

Well, this is another version of the medley recipe that I posted earlier, which many readers are more accustomed to. This recipe uses long beans, toasted peanuts, chai poh (preserved turnips) and sliced fishcakes (there were no prawns at home on that day). The peanuts that were used are loose peanuts sold in supermarkets or wet markets and it has to be toasted in a wok / pan (without oil) on low heat till it is slightly browned. Other than that, this is a pretty simple dish to cook and can be eaten as a snack, appetiser or accompaniment to plain porridge (which many Malaysian chinese used to have many many years ago) or steamed white rice.

This is my mother’s recipe for Long Bean and Peanuts Medley (which is also a named coined by me)

Ingredients

• 1/3 bowl of long beans (cut just like in the picture above)
• 1/4 bowl of preserved turnips / chai poh (use the sweet type and chopped)
• 1/3 bowl of sliced fishcake or shelled prawns (cut into small pieces)
• A handful of toasted peanuts
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• Warm water
• 1 tablespoon of palm oil

Seasoning

• A sprinkle of salt
• A dash of white pepper powder

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute garlic together with fishcakes / prawns till they begin to turn colour / brownish. Add chai poh and continue to stir fry very quickly for about 15 seconds.

Add long beans and seasoning and continue to stir fry till long beans are cooked to your desired softness (minimum cooking time 1 minute). Sprinkle warm water during cooking to prevent burning.

Dish out and sprinkle peanuts over the dish prior to serving.

Technorati Tags: recipe, chinese, vegetable, long, beans, peanuts, nuts, turnip

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Long Beans and Peanuts Medley

Wo Tieh is also known as Shallow Fried Dumplings. Some call them Pot Stickers because they are fried on shallow pans. These are not the same as wantons because they use thicker skin and is a flatter, more oblate, double-saucer like shape (similar in shape to ravioli), and is usually eaten with a ginger-soy-vinegar dipping sauce (and/or hot chilli sauce); while a wonton has a thinner skin, is sphere-shaped, and is usually served in broth. In the picture above, the wo tiehs are arranged in the middle (simply arranged with no artistic intention) with sliced century eggs and cucumbers. They go well together.

My sister cooked this dish for Chinese New Year Eve’s Dinner and it was a great appetiser as well as accompaniment to the steamboat fare we had.

This is my sister’s recipe for Wo Tieh (Shallow Fried Dumplings)

Ingredients

• 200 grammes round cabbage (chopped finely)
• 400 grammes semi-lean pork (mince it)
• 50 grammes of chinese chives (chopped finely)
• 200 grammes of prawns (chopped)
• 3 cm ginger (chopped finely)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 50 pieces of dumpling skin (choose the thicker ones, approximately 6 to 8 cm diameter and round shaped)
• 400 ml warm water or chicken stock
• Corn starch (mix 5 tablespoons water to 2 tablespoons corn flour to seal dumpling skin)
• Oil for frying (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 2 tablespoons chinese cooking wine
• 3 tablespoons light soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Dip

• Thinly julienned ginger
• Black vinegar
• a sprinkle of sugar

Method

In a large bowl, mix cabbage, pork, chives, prawns, ginger, garlic and seasoning. Stir and mix well forming one lump. Cover the mixture with cling film and set it aside for at least 1 hour.

To prepare dumplings, place one piece of dumpling skin on plate or table or hold spread out on one hand. Take one tablespoon of mixture and place it in center of skin. Using your finger, spread corn starch on edge of skin. Fold wrapper in half over the mixture and pinch centre of one edge. At the other end, make pleats to gather the mixture in the middle of the dumpling skin. Ensure that pleats at edges are tightly sealed and set the dumpling on a plate with sealed side up. Cover with moistened towel and work on the other dumpling skins till all mixture used up.

Heat a non-stick pan on high and lightly brush with oil. Fry the dumplings with the sealed side up by arranging as many dumplings together without touching each other. Fry till the bottoms start to brown and add a little water / chicken stock up to about 1 cm high. Cover with lid and allow water or stock to dry out. Continue to add same amount of water / stock and repeat process to cook till dumplings are firm (about 10 minutes). Finally, remove lid and brown the dumplings a little bit more (by now, you can brown the sides because the dumplings are firm enough and will not open up) for 1 minute.

Dish out and serve hot with dip.

Technorati Tags: recipe, chinese, dumpling, prawns, pork, chicken, potstickers, appetiser

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Wo Tieh (Shallow Fried Dumplings)

Actually, to be honest, I’ve no name for this recipe. The recent Chinese New Year was the first time I’ve tasted this dish when my mother-in-law cooked it and I fell in love with it. It is a stir fry involving the use of long beans, chai poh (preserved turnip), prawns and cashew nuts. When I came back to Kuala Lumpur and told my mum about it, she recalled eating this (albeit, with slight change in the ingredients) when she was young. Mum thought that we would not like to eat this and therefore, has never cooked this for us to eat. She used to eat this with plain porridge but it tastes good with rice as well. It can also be a snack on its own. So, suddenly, a long forgotten home-cooked recipe has resurfaced. And mum cooked her version within a week! But I will share mum’s version later.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Stir Fried Long Bean Medley (which is a named coined by me)

Ingredients

• 1/3 bowl of long beans (cut just like in the picture above)
• 1/4 bowl of preserved turnips / chai poh (use the sweet type and chopped)
• 1/3 bowl of prawns (shelled and cut into small pieces)
• A handful of toasted cashewnuts
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• Warm water
• 1 tablespoon of palm oil

Seasoning

• A sprinkle of salt
• A dash of white pepper powder

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute garlic together with prawns till prawns begin to turn colour. Add chai poh and continue to stir fry very quickly for about 15 seconds.

Add long beans and seasoning and continue to stir fry till long beans are cooked to your desired softness (minimum cooking time 1 minute). Sprinkle warm water during cooking to prevent burning.

Dish out and sprinkle cashew nuts over the dish prior to serving. (I took the picture above before cashew nuts were sprinkled. By the time my mother-in-law realised she had forgotten to sprinkle the cashew nuts, I’d walloped half the plate and rendered it not as nice for photography. LOL!)

Technorati Tags: recipe, chinese, vegetable, long, beans, cashew, nuts, turnip

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Stir Fried Long Bean Medley

Abalone is a sought after food item for the Chinese community and it is prized for its claimed nutritional value. Scientists are still figuring out whether abalones are indeed high in nutrition but for me, unless you eat it everyday, eating it once a year won’t make a difference to your health. Abalones are probably one of the most expensive sea-produce and it is no wonder that some countries are actively cultivating them for the commercial market – Australia and Chile, to name a few.

There are many ways to cook abalone but the usual ways are in soup and braised with mushrooms. Some restaurants offer abalone yee-sang as well. Be prepared to pay a premium for those. For those at home, one of the most popular way of eating abalone is to make an appetiser out of it. Get a can of abalone, slice it thinly and garnish it with chilli and garlic.

This is my recipe for Abalone Appetiser with Chilli and Garlic

Ingredients

• 1 can of whole abalone (slice abalone thinly. Use the water in the can to boost up your chicken soup)
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
• 3 pieces calamansi / limau kastur

Method

Slice abalone thinly and arrange on a serving plate. Wrap with cling film and chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Before serving, sprinkle garlic and chilli over the abalone and squeeze the juice of calamansi over the abalone.

Technorati Tags: recipe, abalone, seafood, calamansi, garlic, chilli

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Abalone Appetiser with Chilli and Garlic