My sister loves asam (also spelt as assam) -based dishes, be it Asam Ikan Kembung (Tamarind Indian Mackerel) or Asam Laksa. In fact, mum said that my sister would most likely be drooling if she were to see this dish up on this site. My sister is currently residing in Singapore and on her trips back to Kuala Lumpur, she would usually cook this or ask mum to cook this.

There are two parts to cooking this dish. One is to prepare the chilli-based paste and the other, to cook the fish. For the chilli-based paste, you can actually prepare in advance and keep them in the fridge for future uses (which is what we usually do at home). Asam Ikan Kembung is sour, sweet and spicy in taste and is an excellent dish to whet the appetite. It goes well with plain steamed white rice. You can actually use other types of fish but Ikan Kembung tastes good here. A word of caution though. Take care when eating the fish as the bones might get to you.

This is mum’s recipe for Asam Ikan Kembung

Ingredients

• 4 pieces ikan kembung (cleaned and gutted)
• 1 large onion (sliced)
• 4 to 8 pieces ladies finger (whole or halved)
• 2 large tomatoes (quartered)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup asam juice (soak 1 tablespoon of asam / tamarind paste in 1 1/2 cup water for 15 minutes, squeeze and then strain juice)
• Corn starch (mix 1 teaspoon corn flour with 100 ml water)
• Cooking oil (palm oil)

Chilli paste (pound / blend)

• 2 slices of tumeric (kunyit)
• 5 pieces of dried chilli (pre-soaked in hot water and remove seeds)
• 4 garlic
• 8 shallots

Seasoning

• Salt and sugar to taste

Method

Pat dry the ikan kembung and shallow fry it till semi brown. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons palm oil in wok and saute chilli paste on medium heat till aromatic and beginning to brown. Add onions and continue frying for 30 seconds. Pour asam juice and warm water and bring to boil.

Once asam juice starts to boil, add ladies finger and tomatoes and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Add pre-fried fish and seasoning to taste. Allow fish to cook under boiling asam juice for at least 1 minute.

Before dishing out, stir in preferred amount of corn starch to thicken and smoothen the gravy to your liking. This dish is excellent if you garnish or top it with chopped chinese parsley.

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Asam Ikan Kembung

One of my favourite dishes at Chinese restaurants is the Sizzling Tofu. Tofu is first pre-fried before being laid on a hot plate. As the minced pork gravy is poured over it, the hot plate sizzles and hence, its name. Over at home, we don’t have a hot plate. So, sizzling tofu is out of the picture. But we can always do something similar in taste, can’t we?

I use Japanese Tofu in this recipe. They come in tubes and I have chosen the tofu which has eggs as part of its ingredient as it is more flavourful and has a nice yellow colour to it (though I wonder whether it is colouring or natural colour from the egg yolk). Anyway, you can always buy them from the supermarkets and are readily available. The other ingredient is minced pork. Extras include chinese dried mushrooms / shiitake mushrooms and carrots – both to boost up the flavours and colour. I have omitted eggs in this dish (usually sizzling tofu would have an egg broken over the tofu as it sizzles on the hot plate).

This is my recipe for Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 tubes of Japanese Tofu (see cooking method below)
• 50 – 100 grammes minced pork
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• Sliced carrots (amount up to you)
• 3 to 5 pieces of chinese dried mushrooms (pre-soaked and cut into small pieces)
• Corn starch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 5 tablespoons water)
• 2 tablespoons of Corn flour
• 100 ml warm water
• Sufficient oil for deep frying (palm oil preferred)

Marinade (for minced pork)

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• a few dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon or more of dark soya sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon of oyster sauce
• Salt and white pepper powder to taste

Method

To prepare tofu, cut across the tofu tube. Gently push the tofu out of the tube from the closed end. Cut tofu across at not more than 2 cm thick. Dust the tofu lightly with corn flour.

Heat oil in wok. Deep fry the tofu till golden brown, remove and set aside on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Place fried tofu on a serving plate.

Remove oil from wok leaving about 2 tablespoons in it. Add mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute or longer till aromatic. Add minced pork and stir well. When minced pork is half-cooked, add carrots. Continue to stir fry till minced pork cooked / seared on the outside. Add seasoning followed by warm water and allow to boil for 1 minute.

Thicken gravy to your liking using a teaspoon of corn starch at a time. Pour gravy over the tofu and serve hot with steamed white rice.

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Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork

Capsicum, also known as Bell Pepper, is a good companion for beef in stir-fries. So far, I’ve seen and tried three colours available – green, red and yellow, the latter being the sweetest. With capsicum, you can’t really leave out its other good friend, the onion. A stir-fry with these two ingredients give a good fusion of smell (you’ll either like it or don’t) and taste (sweet in nature).

When I eat beef, I usually like them just or slightly undercooked. Over cooking beef with generally make it tough and chewy unless you stew them for long hours, which is another thing altogether. Hence, when I stir-fried this dish, I left the beef for last. Total stir-frying time is about 3 minutes as I prefer the capsicum to remain crunchy. Cook longer if you prefer softer capsicum. Most of all, experiment with this dish to your liking.

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Tender Beef with Capsicum

Ingredients

• 100 grammes of beef fillet (or any tender part, sliced thinly across grain)
• 1 small capsicum (julienned)
• 1 medium sized onion (cut into half and sliced)
• 1/4 piece of carrot (sliced)
• 50 ml or more warm water
• Corn starch (mix 2 teaspoons corn flour with about 100 ml water)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Marinade (for beef)

• 2 1/2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of black pepper powder
• 2 teaspoons of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• a pinch of salt (optional)

Method

Marinade beef for 2 hours or more.

Heat oil in wok. Add onions and carrots. Stir fry till onions begin to turn translucent. Add capsicum and stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add beef and continue stir frying till beef is about 50% cooked (half red half dark in colour). Add seasoning to taste and sprinkle some water to keep moist. Pour in some corn starch to thicken gravy or omit it if it is dry to your liking.

Dish out and serve hot with plain white rice.

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Stir-Fried Tender Beef with Capsicum

Homemade tofu is pretty simple to make if you have soyabean milk (unsweetened), egg white, salt and full cream evaporated milk (Ideal Milk). Just mix the ingredients together (according to the recipe, of course) and you will get silken tofu after steaming the same. In fact, the silken tofu can be as smooth and silky as those sold commercially.

Once you have made the tofu, the topping is pretty much up to your creativity. My wife stirred up four ingredients together and I decided to name them Mini Treasures just to add a little glamour to an otherwise simple home cooked meal.

This is my wife’s recipe for Homemade Tofu with Mini Treasures

Ingredients (Tofu)

• 400 ml soyabean milk (preferably unsweetened)
• 6 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 150 ml full cream evaporated milk (we used Ideal Milk)

Ingredients (Mini Treasures)

• 10 pieces prawns (shelled and cut into small pieces)
• 2 pieces shiitake mushrooms (cut into small pieces)
• 1 piece black fungus (pre-soaked and cut into thin strips)
• 3 pieces of crabstick (cut into small pieces)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 1 tablespoon palm oil

Seasoning (Mini Treasures)

• ½ tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• white pepper powder to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine
• warm water
• Potato starch (to thicken)

Method

Mix tofu ingredients together and whisk slowly and gently and try not to create too much froth. Strain the mixture with a fine strainer to remove bubbles. Pour mixture onto a suitable plate / bowl for steaming.

Meanwhile, heat oil in wok and sauté the garlic till aromatic. Add mushrooms, prawns and black fungus and stir well for at least 1 minute. Add oyster sauce, light soya sauce, white pepper powder and salt and a little water to keep the mixture moist. Cook for another 2 minutes or so, add chinese cooking wine whilst stirring and finally add potato starch to thicken the gravy. Remove and set aside.

Steam tofu mixture for 2 minutes on moderate heat. Open lid and spread crabstick pieces over the tofu (the upper part should begin to harden by now). Close lid and continue steaming for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove tofu from steamer and spread Mini Treasures over the top. Serve hot.

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Homemade Tofu with Mini Treasures

Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce) is a variant of Duck Sioh (Itik Sioh). This dish is essentially a sour and sweet based stew with a strong hint of tamarind juice (asam jawa) and ketumbar (coriander) spice. I have a feeling that this dish is a Baba-Nyonya Peranakan dish but I stand corrected. Anyway, I was introduced to this dish by my mother-in-law a couple of years back and took a liking to it due to its appetizing taste.

Thankfully, my lovely wife has inherited her mother’s recipe and over the weekend, decided to cook up this dish for Father’s Day lunch. We could not finish the dish as we used 1 whole chicken but we are not complaining because the longer this dish keeps, the tastier it gets. For better results, duck is preferred as the meat is “tougher” to withstand the marinate using tamarind juice. If you can’t find duck, try using “village / kampong” chicken or free-range chicken.

This is my mother-in-law / wife’s recipe for Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce)

Ingredients
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5 to 2kgs, chopped into large pieces)

Marinade (blend together)

• 200 grammes shallots
• 3 tablespoons ketumbar (coriander) powder
• 225 grammes tamarind (asam jawa) mixed with 350 ml water (squeeze the juice and remove tamarind seeds)
• 10 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon white pepper powder

Method

Wash chicken pieces thoroughly. Marinade chicken overnight or for at least 10 hours.

Transfer chicken and marinate to heavy bottomed aluminium saucepan and boil for 20 minutes over a moderate heat.

Turn the chicken pieces, reduce heat to low and boil for another 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken is very tender.

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Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce)

Once in a while when I eat out at “mixed-rice” stalls (stalls which sell white rice with a mind-boggling choice of side dishes which you can choose and be priced accordingly), I will eat this dish – Ginger Sauced Chicken. Well, I confess that I don’t actually know the real name of this dish but since it is a ginger sauce based dish with chicken, I reckoned it should be called Ginger Sauced Chicken.

After a few tries outside, I attempted this dish and it turned out quite okay. Only thing is I haven’t actually perfected the art of having the chicken nicely fried without having too thick a batter. Whilst the picture above was as a result of what I cooked, I am modifying the recipe a bit into what I think would be better. You can actually fry the chicken pieces beforehand or don’t. It is up to you really. But the highlight is the ginger sauce. Give it a try.

This is my recipe for Ginger Sauced Chicken

Ingredients

• 150 grammes or chicken supreme (the long tender piece next to chicken breast. cut into big bite sizes)
• 5 cm or more ginger (set aside a few slices for frying whilst the rest are juiced)
• 5 cloves garlic (finely chopped. Mash them into paste if you can)
• Spring onions (cut to 6cm lengths – more for aesthetic purposes)
• Corn starch / Potato starch (make 1/2 cup – this is to thicken the sauce before serving)
• Oil for frying

Seasoning

• Salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• 1 to 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine

Method

Marinade chicken pieces with 2 – 4 teaspoons of ginger juice for 3 hours.

Heat oil in wok. Dust chicken pieces with some corn flour and deep fry the chicken pieces till golden brown. Remove fried chicken and set aside.

Remove excess oil from wok leaving about 2 teaspoons of oil behind. Add ginger slices and saute till aromatic. Add garlic and continue to saute till garlic starts to brown. Add about 3 tablespoons of ginger juice and seasoning. Bring sauce to boil.

Add a little bit of corn starch or potato starch to thicken the sauce (if it is runny), return the fried chicken pieces and add spring onions to coat them all.

Dish up and serve hot with white rice.

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Ginger Sauced Chicken

The one and only time I’ve tasted this Pork Leg Hoi Sin Stew (name given by myself) was during Chinese New Year when my mother-in-law cooked this. I was totally blown away by this dish as it is so delicious that even my 3 year old daughter was asking for seconds and third helpings. So, why is this dish so delicious? I mean, it is only pork leg stew!

Okay…the gravy is an interesting blend of sweet hoi sin sauce with salted plums. Add some dried chillies for spiciness and a touch of chinese cooking wine for the aroma. Stew it for at least an hour and you’ll get absolute melt-in-the-mouth layer of fat, smooth skin as well as soft and tender flavour infused meat. My! What a mouthful! Okay, it might sound that I was exaggerating but you’re missing out something really really tasty if you don’t try out this recipe!

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Pork Leg Hoi Sin Stew

Ingredients

• 1 whole pork leg (preferably hind leg. Ask your butcher to cut into chunky pieces with skin intact)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 5 pieces dried chilli (soaked to soften, say for 2 hours)
• Large pot of water to boil
• Warm water
• 1 tablespoon palm oil

Seasoning (combine into a bowl)

• 2 tablespoon sweet hoi sin sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 4 pieces salted plum
• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

Bring water in large pot / wok to boil. Add pork leg and allow the pork leg to cook in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pork leg from water and drain.

Heat up oil in wok on medium heat. Saute garlic till aromatic. Before the garlic turns dark brown, add pork leg and dried chilli and turn up heat to high. Add combined seasoning and stir well to coat the pork leg.

Then, either transfer pork leg into a smart cooker / rice cooker or suitable pot, fill up water to just cover the pork leg and allow it to stew on medium low heat for at least 1 hour. If you have charcoal stove, the better. Allow gravy to reduce to your prefered thickness.

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Pork Leg Hoi Sin Stew

Another simple dish to try out here : Stir Fried Ladies Fingers with Anchovies. Ladies Fingers is also known as Okra whilst locally, anchovies are also known as Ikan Bilis. The anchovies come in many sizes and for this dish, the medium sized ones are chosed wherein the head and bones are removed prior to cooking. The cooking time for this dish depends on your liking really because some like their ladies finger cooked till soft and limp. For me, I prefer it slightly crunchy. Feels healthier as well

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Ladies Fingers with Anchovies

Ingredients

• Approximately 10 – 15 pieces of ladies fingers (sliced across not more than 5mm thick)
• About 2 tablespoons of anchovies (rinsed quickly in water)
• 4 cloves shallots (sliced thinly)
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 4 tablespoons palm oil

Seasoning

• Salt and sugar to taste

Method

Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots aside. Remove oil into a suitable container.

Wash wok and heat it up again with the other 2 tablespoons of oil. Fry anchovies till golden brown. Remove fried anchovies and set aside. Discard oil and wash wok.

Heat wok and return the 1st batch of oil used to fry the shallots into the wok. Add garlic and saute for 10 seconds. Add ladies fingers and seasoning and stir fry till desired softness. Sprinkle some warm water to keep it moist (you don’t have to use all the water above). Sprinkle anchovies and stir well prior to serving.

Garnish with fried shallots.

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Stir Fried Ladies Fingers with Anchovies