Some say Sweet & Sour Prawns are delicious but some say it does a disservice to the prawns. Fresh prawns (especially those caught from the sea compared to prawns reared in freshwater) is delicious cooked by steaming them with julienned ginger and a dash of chinese cooking wine so that you can taste the natural sweetness of the prawns. As for those less fresh prawns, one might want to consider “masking” it by cooking it in sweet and sour sauce. It is not to say that it does not taste great. This dish tastes good in itself and some kids love them. But it is a matter of choice as tastebuds vary from one person to another.

Try this Sweet & Sour Prawns

Ingredients

• 300 grammes of medium or large prawns (either shelled or intact at your preference)
• 1cm of ginger(sliced)
• 1 large onion (quartered)
• 1 stalk spring onion (cut into 2 inch lengths)
• 30 ml warm water
• 5 tablespoons palm oil

Seasoning

• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• a pinch of salt

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry the prawns for 30 seconds till shell completely turned to red or cooked. Dish out and set aside. Remove oil from wok leaving approximately 2 teaspoons of oil in the wok.

Saute the onions and ginger till fragrant. Return prawns to wok, add seasoning and water. Stir well to coat the prawns. Sprinkle spring onions onto the prawns before dishing out.

For variety, you might want to add cubed cucumbers, pineapples and / or capsicum when you saute the onions.

technorati tags: sweet sour, prawns, recipe, chinese, stir-fry
keotag tags: sweet sour, prawns, recipe, chinese, stir-fry

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.

Technorati Tags: recipe, chinese, malaysian, sarawak, kuching, noodles, mee, food

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

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