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

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

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

Siew Pak Choy (in Cantonese) is one of my favourite vegetables as it is simple to cook and has the crispy texture I look for in vegetables. It can simply be blanched and flavoured with oyster sauce but I’ve decided to do something extra. In this recipe, I braise some shiitake mushrooms and pour the gravy over the siew pak choy to give it a more “classy” feel to this simple dish. A little bit of effort goes a long way to make a dish look and taste better.

This is my recipe for Siew Pak Choy with Braised Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 200 grammes of siew pak choy (rinsed clean and cut between stem and leaves. Separate stems from leaves)
• 5 shiitake mushrooms or chinese dried mushrooms (if latter, soak overnight till soft)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons palm oil

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon abalone sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• Salt to taste
• A dash or two of white pepper powder
• 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute garlic on medium high heat till light brown. Remove fried garlic.

With remaining oil in wok, stir fry mushrooms for 1 minute. Add chicken stock and 1/2 cup water. Add seasoning (except chinese cooking wine) and allow to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer till gravy reduced to 1/2 cup. (This should take about 5 to 10 minutes)

Meanwhile, bring to boil a large pot of water. Add 1 tablespoon palm oil and 2 teaspoons salt. Then add siew pak choy stems followed by leaves 15 seconds later. Once leaves turn colour to dark green, remove siew pak choy from pot and arrange them on a plate.

Once gravy reduced to a thick sauce, add chinese cooking wine (if you want to, add 1 tablespoon of potato starch to thicken sauce to your liking) and stir well.

Pour gravy and mushroom over the siew pak choy and garnish with fried garlic.

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Siew Pak Choy with Braised Mushrooms

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

Kolok Mee refers to a dry version of noodles originating from Sarawak (I stand corrected). It is sometimes known as Sarawak Kolo Mee or simply Kolok Mee. It takes a few platefuls of this noodles before it grows on you. Perhaps it has to be due to the fact that it is rather plain looking compared to other more colourful noodle dishes. However, once you grow to like it, it can be addictive.

What I have cooked here is my home-made version of the Kolok Mee. Not the making of the noodles but rather, the mixture of sauces which came up with the Kolok Mee taste. It can be a tad saltish to some, so you might want to go easy on the amount of seasoning used here. As for the noodles, I am using dried instant noodles bought from Sitiawan, made by the Foo Chow community. The texture (which is a bit like pasta, but stiffer) is quite suitable for this seasoning…almost like Kampua Noodles. Wantan noodles are also suitable, especially the curly stringy type. Yellow noodles are not suitable. As I don’t have char siew available, I have decided to just have minced pork only for the topping. Try this recipe if you can and adjust the measurements according to your preference.

This is my recipe for Kolok Mee (serves 3 portions)

Ingredients

• 3 pieces of instant noodles
• 100 grammes of minced pork
• 1/2 bulb of garlic (finely chopped)
• spring onions for garnishing (chopped finely)
• 6 tablespoons of palm oil

Seasoning (for 3 servings)

• 3 teaspoons of fish sauce
• 1/3 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• 1/3 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder

Marinade (for minced pork)

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

Method

Marinade minced pork for at least 1 hour.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add instant noodles and cook till almost done. Remove noodles from pot using a net or colander and run it through cold or tap water. Return noodles to boiling water to heat it up again and thereafter, drain the noodles after 30 seconds. Set aside.

Heat oil in wok using medium high heat. Fry garlic till golden brown. Remove fried garlic and set aside.

Scoop up oil into a bowl leaving about 2 tablespoons of oil remaining in the wok. Increase heat to high and stir fry minced pork till completely cooked (about 2 minutes). Sprinkle some water whilst stir frying to prevent burning. The minced pork should be just moist after cooking and not soaking in gravy. Remove cooked minced pork and set aside.

In a large bowl, add all the seasoning and stir well. Add cooked instant noodles and stir till evenly coated by the seasoning. Separate the noodles onto three serving plates. Add some cooked minced pork and garnish with fried garlic and spring onions.

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Kolok Mee

My mother-in-law made some chinese roast pork when we were in Kuching for the Chinese New Year. Chinese roast pork here refers to siew yuk (in cantonese) or sio bak (in hokkien). With a crispy crackling roasted skin and semi-tender meat, you can be assured of spoonfuls after spoonfuls of rice to go with it. No wonder I put on weight over Chinese New Year!

In Malaysia, there are many roast pork rice stalls around. It is very popular. A plate of white / fragrant rice with a few cuts of these roast pork and a couple of pieces of sliced cucumbers can cost about USD1.00 on the average depending where you go to. Very cheap, right? Absolutely.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Chinese Roast Pork and the measurements are approximate only because she cooks it more by feel than using a strict recipe to follow.

Ingredients

• 1 piece of pork belly weighing approximately 1 kg
• 3 tablespoons of coarse / rock salt
• 2 tablespoons of fine salt
• 1 tablespoon of five-spice powder

Method

Clean pork belly and pat dry with kitchen towel. Rub fine salt and five-spice powder on meat. Rub coarse salt on skin.

Heat up oven at gas mark 4 (about 180 degrees celcius). Place pork belly on a rack with a tray underneath to catch dripping oil. Roast the pork belly for at least 30 minutes and until the coarse salt crystalises just like in the picture above.

Remove the salt crystals and continue to roast till the skin is crispy. (Alternatively, what my mother-in-law did was to remove the pork belly and fry the pork belly in a wok with skin-downwards and without oil on medium heat till the skin turned crispy)

I have heard of some of the chinese roast pork recipe which called for the pork belly skin to be poked with a sharp knife so as to enable the fat to ooze out faster during roasting. You can try this additional step as well prior to rubbing the coarse salt.

Cut into small bite sizes prior to serving.

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Chinese Roast Pork