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 Read the rest of this entry »

It is mind boggling the variety of fried rice dishes out there. With rice as the main actor, it is left to the imagination of the chef to add the supporting acts to create a fried rice dish. One of my favourite fried rice dish is the Prawn Fried Rice. The prawns give the fried rice a nice seafood flavour and comes with a natural sweetness which cannot be substituted with the use of any form of seasoning.

For this fried rice dish, it is important to use the freshest prawns you can get for otherwise, you will get a “fishy” smell and will probably attract flies instead. Get prawns the size of about 2 inches in length (before shelling). Shell the prawns and cut them into smaller cubes. That is my preference anyway. You can leave it whole if you want… especially if you want to impress your guests with bigger looking prawns

This is my recipe for Prawn Fried Rice Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best ways to enrich the taste of leafy greens is to add fresh prawns. Siew pak choy is one the favourite leafy greens consumed in Malaysia and Singapore and it is such an easy vegetable to cook. Whilst this vegetable is usually cooked with oyster sauce, cooking it with prawns actually give it a more natural sweet tasting sauce. I use the smaller sized siew pak choy (Hong Kong variety).

I used medium sized prawns and left the tails intact. Removing the tails during eating remained one of my favourite challenges. In a way, it also enhances the beauty of the dish. I used seawater prawns rather than freshwater prawns as the texture and taste is much better.

This is the recipe for Prawn Siew Pak Choy Read the rest of this entry »

Crabs! Finally they appear on this site. There are many recipes for crabs but this Stir Fried Crabs recipe focuses on simplicity and natural goodness. The usage of garlic, ginger and spring onions help to mask away the slight “fishy” smell of the crabs (I use mangrove / mud crabs here) whilst maintaining the natural sweet taste of the flesh. Unlike other crab recipes like Marmite Crabs, Tomato Crabs, Kam Heong Crabs, Chilli Crabs, Black Pepper Crabs or Cheese Crabs which overpowers the natural sweet taste of the flesh, this recipe ensures that you get to enjoy crabs at its best. By the way, you only kill the crab just before cooking.

How does one kill crabs? Well, in Malaysia, these crabs are sold live and bound with strings or reeds. So, they are pretty safe to handle. You have to place the crab upside down and use either a knife or chopstick to kill it. Prior to this however, is to place the crab in a freezer for 15 minutes or so. This will sort of put the crab into hibernation mode and at the same time (from what I heard), will prevent the claw or other parts of the legs from dropping off immediately upon being killed. Anyway, after you have placed the crab upside down, poke a knife or chopstick through the centre portion of the crab (where there is a triangle looking portion on the underside of the crab). Alternatively, poke a chopstick through the soft part between the legs. See the photo below. Read the rest of this entry »