I bought a small bottle of fish sauce recently though I have never used fish sauce in my cooking before. In fact, I don’t even know what it tastes like. Having bought and tasted it straight from the bottle, it was kinda slight saltish in taste.

Anyway, this dish was yet, another experiment for me. We had a small bunch of four-angled beans in the fridge and I thought I would just give this a try. I was blown away by the result and beaming from ear to ear as I happily crunched this during dinner. I don’t know if anyone else has cooked this before or something similar…but I think if you can get your hands on these ingredients, you should give it a go.

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Crunchy Four-Angled Beans with Fish Sauce

Ingredients

• 200 grammes of four-angled beans (sliced thinly)
• 5 to 10 bulbs shallots (sliced thinly)
• approximately 30 grammes dried prawns (about 15 to 20 pieces, soak for 5 minutes)
• 2 tablespoons of palm oil

Seasoning

• 1 to 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of sugar

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Push fried shallots to the side of the wok. Add dried prawns and stir fry for 30 seconds till fragrant. Return the fried shallots to the dried prawns and add four-angled beans.

Stir well and add seasoning. Sprinkle one or two tablespoons of water if you want the four-angled beans a little moist. As the four-angled beans can be eaten raw, the cooking time is up to you. I like mine crunchy, so I only give it a couple of stir to ensure the seasoning is mixed well. The next time I cook this, I will try to add a squeeze of lime for a little tang to it.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Vegetable, Chinese, Fish Sauce

Sambal Ikan Bilis is commonly found in many hawkers in Malaysia and Singapore, especially Nasi Lemak vendors. It is the main condiment to Nasi Lemak and can actually make or break the popularity of Nasi Lemak vendors. What is less common would be Sambal Ikan Bilis with Tang Hoon (glass vermicelli) as seen above. This dish is more often cooked at home rather than being sold outside.

At home, we usually prepare the sambal (chilli paste) beforehand and keep them in the refridgerator for use as and when needed. Recipes differ from one cook to another and mine is actually a very simple no-frills version.

This is my recipe for Sambal Ikan Bilis with Tang Hoon

Ingredients

• 3/4 bowls of ikan bilis (rinsed)
• 20 grammes / 1 small bundle of Tang Hoon (it is in dried form and it should be soaked to soften it beforehand)
• 1 large onion (cut into rings)
• Cooking oil (palm oil)
• 40 ml hot water

Sambal ingredients (pound together)

• 4 to 8 red chillis (ensure seeds are completely crushed during pounding)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 4 cloves shallots

Seasoning

• Salt and sugar to taste

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and fry ikan bilis till crisp. Remove ikan bilis and discard oil.

Heat oil 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and saute sambal ingredients on medium heat till aromatic and semi-brown. Set aside.

Next, heat up 2 teaspoons of cooking oil in wok and saute onions till beginning to limp. Add sambal and continue to stir briskly for 15 to 30 seconds. Add tang hoon and water and bring water to boil. Let the tang hoon cook for not more than 1 minute whilst you add seasoning. The water should be reduced by now.

Return fried ikan bilis into the wok and mix well with the ingredients prior to serving. The fried ikan bilis is only added in prior to serving to preserve its crunchiness as against the softness of the tang hoon.

Serve with white rice.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Sambal, Ikan Bilis, Malaysia

My wife cooked this after having it at a local “mixed rice” stall and it’s quite nice, I must say. It is simple and nutritious especially with the wolfberries (aka kei chee / goji) around. Moreover, cooking took us less than 2 minutes. The preparation time, which is essentially, washing and rinsing of the vegetables took longer. Do ensure that you rinse the vegetable well as it is known to have lots of sand around the stems and leaves.

This is my wife’s recipe for Stir-Fried Spinach with Wolfberries

Ingredients

• 400 grammes of spinach (washed and rinsed thoroughly, plucked at the stems and leaves)
• 10 grammes of wolfberries (approximately 20 to 30 pieces)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon palm oil

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons of light soya sauce
• salt to taste

Method

Heat wok till smoky. Add oil and garlic and stir-fry garlic till beginning to brown.

Add spinach, wolfberries and seasoning. If you feel like it, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water. Stir-fry till spinach is limp.

Dish out and serve.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Vegetable, Chinese, Lunch, Dinner

Bovril Chicken

Marmite Chicken is probably more famous than Bovril Chicken. But since I only have Bovril at home, Bovril Chicken it shall be then. It is also my very first try and I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

There are two steps in this recipe. The first step is to fry the chicken and the second is to cook the bovril sauce before coating the chicken with it prior to serving. You will need to have fast hands with cooking the sauce because the sauce can dry out pretty fast. However, if you add too much water (to prevent drying out), it would be too runny and not as nice. Anyway, don’t let that fear you into trying this dish. It’s actually an experiment on my part and it works!

This is my recipe for Bovril Chicken

Ingredients

• 6 chicken supremes (the tender piece of the chicken breast, cut into cubes)
• 1 large onion (quartered)
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• about 30 to 50 ml warm water
• Oil for deep frying

Marinade for chicken

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon corn flour

Seasoning

• 2 heaped teaspoons of bovril
• salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar or to taste

Method

Marinade chicken for 30 minutes or longer and deep fry till golden brown. Set aside.

Leave approximately 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in wok and saute garlic and onions till fragrant. Add seasoning and water and bring to boil. Return fried chicken pieces to wok and stir well to coat the sauce over the chicken.

Remove and serve hot with rice.