RECIPE: SQUID SAMBAL II

Usually, with Malay or Nyonya style sambals, the use of prawn/shrimp paste or belachan is always prevalent. However, this Nyonya recipe does not make use of belachan and yet, it tastes really nice. I adapted this from Mrs Leong Yee Soo’s book, ‘The best of Singapore’s Recipes: Nyonya Specialities’. The original recipe called for prawns but I substituted it with squid.


Ingredients

1 kg squid (or prawns) - cleaned
½ tin (200 ml) coconut milk
Cooking oil
1 heaped tbsp tamarind mixed with ½ cup water and juice extracted
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar

Grind the following to a fine paste

115g shallots or red onions
15 dried chillies – de-seeded and cooked in hot water to soften before grinding
10 fresh red chillies – de-seeded
3 cloves garlic
4 to 6 candlenuts
1 large stalk lemon grass – sliced fine (white bits only)


Method

Heat oil (about 5 to 6 tbsp) in a deep pot or wok. Fry the ground ingredients, stirring regularly, for 10 mins. Add a few tbsp of coconut milk and/or water to keep the paste moistened.

Add the squid/prawns and mix well with the paste. Add in the sugar, salt and tamarind extract. Mix well and cook for 2 mins.

Lastly, add the remaining coconut milk, bring to a boil and cook for a further 2 mins. Adjust seasoning if required, turn off heat and serve.

VG's Rating: 3.5 Stars - Only because I like my sambals hotter. This version is quite mild.

RECIPE: FRAGRANT COCONUT CHICKEN (OPOR AYAM)

My version of the OPOR AYAM, adapted from the “SHIOK!” cookbook. Hope you like it. I know my household did!


Ingredients

4 tbsp veg oil
1 tin thick coconut milk
2 small free range chicken or 12 assorted chicken pieces
4 large dried chillies - soaked
2 stalks lemon grass – bruised
4 whole lime leaves
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar

Spice paste – ground into thick fine paste

3 slices galangal
Thumb size ginger
6 candlenuts
12 small shallots or 2 large red onions
Thumb size fresh turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground fine black pepper (see my GLOSSARY post on BLACK PEPPER)
*8 large dried chillies – soaked (this is optional)

Method

Heat oil in a pot and fry spices for 6 to 8 mins until thick and fragrant. Add 2 tbsp of the coconut milk and cook for a further 2 mins.

Add in the chicken pieces, whole chillies, lemon grass, lime leaves, coconut milk and ½ cup water. Simmer for 20 to 25 mins, stirring occasionally.

Add salt and sugar and cook for a further 10 mins until gravy is very thick. Serve hot.

Note: If you want a pale curry, you may omit the turmeric. You may also omit the chillies in the ground spices if you want a very mild curry.

RECIPE: NYONYA SPICED PORK (SAMBAL BABI NYONYA)

This recipe is from the book “Shiok!” written by Terry Tan and Christopher Tan (I believe they are not related – not that it matters!). Next to my “Singapore Food” book by Wendy Hutton, this is my Malaysian/Singaporean food bible. Every recipe that I have made from this book has turned out perfect. Mind you, I do tend to ‘adjust’ some of the seasonings and spices…..especially when it comes to chillies.


To today’s dish now. The Tans qualify in their book that the dish is very moreish and tastes so much better the next day. I could not agree more. It has to be one of the nicest meat sambals I have tasted.

For those who have religious taboo with pork, I’d suggest you try substituting the meat with either beef or venison.

I have also made this dish using wild boar and I think it is the best meat for this recipe. You can find wild boar, if you are lucky, at the Fyshwick Market in Canberra.


Ingredients

1 ½ kg belly pork – trimmed and cut into big chunks
4 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
4 whole lime leaves – shredded (see my GLOSSARY post on KAFFIR LIME)

Spice paste – ground very fine
6 cloves garlic
200g red onions or shallots
8 to 10 candlenuts (see my GLOSSARY post on CANDLENUTS)
2 stalks lemon grass
4 slices galangal
Handful of large dried chillies – deseeded and soaked in hot water until soft
Shrimp paste/belachan – around 1 cm thick and 4 cm square.

Method

Boil about 2 to 3 litres of water in a pot and blanch the meat for 8 mins. Drain well and cut into bite sized cubes. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a pot and fry the ground spices until thickened and aromatic (7 to 8 mins).

Add in the pork, sugar, salt (add only a little here, you can add more later) and soy sauce. Mix well and cook on low heat, stirring constantly for 15 mins. Add in a little water if necessary to prevent scorching.

When done, the meat should be tender and coated with a very thick sauce. Check seasoning, mix in the shredded lime leaves and serve with rice.

PS: Goes really well as a filling/spread for sandwiches too. Top with a few slices of cucumber and some fresh red onion rings.

RECIPE: RAINBOW LAYERED STEAMED CAKE (KUIH LAPIS PELANGI)

To be honest, I have never made KUIH LAPIS before as I thought it would be too hard and time consuming. Imagine my amazement when I found that it is actually quite easy to make providing you follow some really easy steps. It took me 5 mins for every layer (there were eight layers in total) with an extra 15 mins for the last layer. With preparation and cooking time, the cake was ready in 1.25 hours. Not bad, considering it was my first effort.


I have to thank Sis Ummi for this achievement as I saw this layer cake on her blog and it gave me the motivation to make it. Without much ado, here’s my RAINBOW LAYERED STEAMED CAKE.

Ingredients

2 cups thick coconut milk (I used tinned coconut milk) (see my GLOSSARY post on COCONUT MILK)
1 cup plain flour
½ to 2/3 cups sugar
2 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp custard flour
½ tsp salt
Green, yellow, red and blue food colourings
7 inch (or smaller) cake tin


Method

Sift the plain flour and rice flour separately. Set aside.

Get your steamer and cake tin ready. Do not oil your cake tin.

In a large bowl, and using a whisk, whisk together the sugar and coconut milk. Heat it in the microwave for 20 secs….don’t even try to cook it for longer as it will curdle the milk. We just want the milk to be tepid. Add in the salt.

Now, using 1 tbsp additions at a time (and still using the whisk), start blending the flours into the coconut milk, starting with the rice flour, custard flour and ending with the plain flour. You have to make small additions of flour at a time as you don’t want your batter to be lumpy. FYI, I did not use the last two tbsp of plain flour as the batter looked quite thick. The consistency of the batter should be similar to that of a thick pancake mix.

Now divide the batter into four bowls and and add ½ to 1 tsp of colouring. Now put a layer of the colour into your tin. I found that with this measurement, you can get 8 layers so use half of your colouring per layer. Steam for 5 mins and repeat the process using different colours for each layer until all the batter is used.

For the last layer, steam an extra 15 to 20 mins. Remove from the steamer and place the cake tin on a wire rack. Leave in the tin to cool completely (around an hour). Cut into desired shapes and serve with a cuppa for afternoon tea or as a sweet snack for the morning munchy attack!!!

RECIPE: SAMBAL BELACHAN WITH KAFFIR LIME LEAVES

This is the essential Peranakan (Nyonya) and Malay sambal, without which a Nyonya or Malay dining table is totally naked. I used to love the sound of my neighbours’ mortar and pestle permeating through the walls of my house when I used to live in the army flats throughout Malaysia – it was a sign that lunch or dinner time was not too far away!!!!


In my opinion, the use of a food processor in making this dish is utterly sacrilegious!!! So invest your money, time and effort in a mortar and pestle, preferably in granite/stone.


Ingredients

1 tbsp shrimp paste (belachan) – toast on an open flame until crispy or wrap in foil and toast in a low oven for 5 mins (see my GLOSSARY post on SHRIMP PASTE)
5 red chillies and 5 red bird’s eye chillies – chopped (I used 10 red cayenne chillies – it was hot!!)
3 kaffir lime leaves – central vein discarded and finely sliced
1 tbsp hot boiled water
3 tbsp or to taste freshly squeezed lime juice – in this instance, do not use commercial lime juice….it spoils the taste of the sambal!
Pinch of salt

Method

In a mortar and pestle, pound the chillies until very fine.

Add in the belachan and pound again until completely incorporated into the chilli paste and next, add in the lime leaves and pound again to blend. Mix in the hot water, lime juice and salt.

Serve immediately as an accompaniment to Nyonya or Malay dishes such as my FRIED RICE WITH THREE SOY SAUCES.

RECIPE: GLORY™ NYONYA SAMBAL CHILLI WITH PETAI

Have you tried the Glory™ sambal range? It is a collection of ready to eat sambal sauces, which comes in different flavours such as ‘Nyonya Sambal Chilli ’, ‘Anchovy Sambal Chilli' and ‘Sambal Chilli with Prawns’. This is a really great substitute if you are pressed for time or are on holidays and don’t have the necessary gadgets to make your sambal from scratch. If you are anything like me and need to get your 'fix' of sambal, this is a product for you. In my opinion however, stay away from the ‘Sambal Chilli with Prawns'. I am not partial to it at all. But I have to admit that I have not tried this in a few years, so if the manufacturers have changed the recipe, I am unaware of it. So if you do try it, let me know what you think.


As you can see, I made the prawn sambal using the ‘Nyonya Sambal Chilli ’ mix. To make it even tastier, I added some extra ingredients to the sauce. This is what I did.


Ingredients

½ kg green prawns. As I was on holidays, I used the ready shelled prawns (available from the deli section at your local Coles or Woolies supermarket). I find the green prawns in their shell to be much nicer in taste
3 cloves garlic – minced
1 large onion – sliced
1 tomato – cut into 8 wedges (optional)
Petai (See my post on PETAI) – thaw if frozen and drain if using Petai in brine. Rinse in cold water.
1 jar Glory™ Nyonya Sambal Chilli or Anchovy Sambal Chilli – available at most Oriental Asian grocers in Canberra.
3 to 4 tbsp tomato sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce

Method

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok (there is already oil in the pre made sauce, hence the reason I put minimal oil – just enough to sauté the garlic). Sauté the garlic and add in the Glory™ sauce, tomato sauce and soy sauce. Cook until the oil seeps through and add in the petai. Cook for 1 min. If not using petai, just cook this oil seeps through and proceed to the next step

Next, add in the prawns. Cook for 2 to 3 mins or until the prawns are done. Just before lifting, add in the onions and tomato wedges. Stir well, lift and serve hot with rice.

PS: I did not add salt as the pre made sauce already has salt in it. In addition, the soy sauce is a substitute for salt too.

RECIPE: NYONYA CHICKEN CURRY WITH KAFFIR LIME LEAVES (AYAM LIMAU PURUT)

I have always loved the nyonya style of cooking and this dish is one of my favourites - the piquancy of the tamarind, kaffir leaves and lime just adds to the flavour of this dish. We normally eat this with rice or crusty bread and served with stir fried vegetables and accompaniments such as ASIAN STYLE CUCUMBER AND PINEAPPLE SALAD (AJAD).

Ingredients

Veg oil
1 chicken – cut into pieces (I used a 1.5 kg chook)
2 to 3 slices dried tamarind pieces (asam gelugur) – optional (see picture below)
½ to 1 cup water
1 cup thick coconut milk or ½ tin large coconut cream mixed with ½ tin water
6 to 8 Kaffir lime leaves
Salt to taste
2 tbsp fresh lime juice

Spice Paste – chopped and ground to a fine paste (if using blender or processor, with minimal water or oil)
4 cm galangal (lengkuas) root
1 stalk lemon grass – thick bottom third only
10 red chillies
3 medium red onions
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp turmeric

Method

Heat oil in a wok and stir fry the ground spices over medium heat for 8 to 10 mins until fragrant.

Add in the chicken, tamarind pieces and water and simmer for 10 mins until the chicken is half cooked.

Add in the coconut and lime leaves and simmer uncovered, on medium heat until the chicken is cooked (another 10 mins or so). The gravy in this dish is fairly thick so don’t add too much water. Season with salt, add in the lime juice, lift and serve immediately.

RECIPE: SPECIAL NYONYA STYLE FRIED RICE

Different from your traditional Chinese fried rice – the flavour from the anchovies (Asian variety) really comes through in this dish. Do try go get the small variety if you can. You should be able to find this in most oriental grocers.

Ingredients – serves 6 to 8
3 tbsp oil (approx)
Large handful of dried tiny Asian anchovies or Ikan Bilis – washed and drained
4 cloves garlic – minced
1 large chicken breast – diced
200 g medium fresh or cooked prawns
4 eggs – beaten
6 to 8 cooked cups of rice – preferably cook the rice the night before and laid out in a large dish (I use a large roasting tray)
2 to 3 tbsp light soy sauce – you may want to add more
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper powder
½ tsp sesame oil
2 handfuls bean sprouts – tailed
3 spring onions – sliced at an angle

Method
Heat oil in a large wok and stir fry the fish until brown and crispy. Drain on paper towel.

In the same wok, and on medium heat, gently fry the garlic for 10 secs, then add in the chicken. When the chicken is half cooked, add in the prawns and fry until the chicken is done. If using cooked prawns, only add the prawns when the chicken is nearly cooked.

Increase the heat and add in the eggs, stirring until the eggs are cooked. Add in the rice and fry over high heat to heat the rice through. Add in all other ingredients and stir fry for another 1 to 2 mins. Add in the fish, mix well and serve immediately. A serving of sambal belachan goes well with this meal.

TIP: I normally add the salt and pepper to the rice just before starting to cook this meal. This ensures that the salt and pepper is well incorporated in the cooked rice and it gives you a larger surface to mix the ingredients through. You can then adjust the seasoning during the cooking process should you require.

RECIPE: NYONYA STYLE PORK IN COCONUT MILK (BABI LEMAK)

Apologies to my Muslim friends and readers, today’s meal is taboo for you. But you can substitute the pork with beef. This dish is really nice and even though there are lots of chillies in it, the sweetness of the coconut milk compensates for the heat and it is actually quite mild.

You have to use large red dried chillies when making these dishes. You can get these at any Asian grocer but make sure that you ask for the large variety. Happy trying.

PS: I am away (for work in Melbourne) so I won’t be blogging until the weekend.

Ingredients
10 to 15 small shallots or 3 large red/brown onions*
20 dried large red chillies* – deseeded and soaked in boiling water for at least 15 mins
4 candle nuts (Buah Keras)* – available at Oriental grocers*
½ head of garlic* – pealed
1 cm thick dried shrimp paste* (belacan)
2 tbsp veg oil
500 g lean diced pork
1 cup water
Salt to taste
½ to ¾ can coconut milk
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp fresh lime juice or Berri lime squeeze

Method
Grind together * with some water until fine.

Heat a pot with the oil and gently fry the ground ingredients, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 mins. Add the meat, cover well with the spices and continue frying until the meat changes colour (may take between 5 and 10 mins).

Add the water and salt, cover the pot and simmer gently until the meat is cooked. Make sure that you stir the meat occasionally.

Remove lid and add coconut milk. Simmer uncovered, for 10 mins. Just before lifting, add in sugar and lime. Check and adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with rice or crusty bread.

RECIPE: NYONYA STYLE CHICKEN IN RICH COCONUT GRAVY (AYAM LEMAK) WITH BEAN SPROUTS AND CHINESE CHIVES

The first time I truly sampled Nyonya food is when my family used to live in Kluang, Johore in Malaysia. My father was in the army, so we travelled a lot and that I think has contributed to my very diverse palate. Our neighbours were ‘peranakans’ (see link below) and Auntie Lek used to cook the most divine dishes. Her jam tarts in particular were to die for. Pity I was young then or I would have asked her for the recipe.

I can feel my arteries hardening after this meal but you gotta have some nice rich food once in a while or life ain’t worth living, I reckon. However to compensate, we had fried bean sprouts and Chinese chives (aka taugeh and kucai in malay) as our veg today to accompany the dish. Below is how I made the chicken.

FYI: Nyonya or Peranakan food is a fusion between Chinese and Malay food. You can find out more about the Peranakans at this site and Malaysian Food, incorporating an article on Nyonya Food, here.

Ingredients
1 chicken (around 2 kg)
1 tin coconut milk
1 cm fresh or 1 tsp powdered turmeric (I used fresh as I have it growing in the garden)
5 cm fresh ginger*
8 large shallots (not spring onions) or 2 large red onions*
6 cloves garlic*
3 stalks lemon grass*
10 fresh red chillies* (de-seeded if you can’t take hot food)
2 thick slices galangal* (lengkuas in Malay)
3 tbsp oil
1 pandan leaf (can be found fresh or frozen at Asian grocery stores) – cut into four
Salt to taste…..start at 1 tsp and add more if needed

Method
Cut chicken into pieces. Pound turmeric to make a paste or mix turmeric powder with a few tbsp of water to make a paste. Rub all over the chicken pieces and set aside. Hint: Wear gloves when working with the turmeric as it will stain your fingers and hands. Not a nice sight!

Grind * ingredients with sufficient water until fine. Heat a large pot and gently fry the * ingredients for 10 mins or more. You need to evaporate the water and let the spice form into a blob (I don’t know how else to describe it). Add chicken and fry for 5 mins, stirring frequently so the chicken is coated with the spices.

Add coconut milk, pandan leaf and salt. Stir constantly until the coconut milk comes to the boil, then simmered uncovered, until the chicken is tender and the gravy has thickened.

Note: Initially the colour will be yellowish (because of the turmeric) but as you render the gravy, the colour will turn to a rich golden brown.

RECIPE: VG'S CHEAT SAMBAL NYONYA

I am sick and tired of eating 'soft food' cos I have been crook for the past few days. Well, I could not take it anymore and if it plays havoc with my tummy, so be it! I need some heat in my food. But as I am still not 100% well, I was not going to make sambal from scratch today. So, it's time to raid the pantry and pounce on the ever faithful jar of sambal chilli nyonya. Below is how I use it. Do you use it any other way????

VG’S CHEAT SAMBAL NYONYA

Ingredients
1 jar ‘Glory’ brand ‘Anchovy Sambal Chilli Nyonya’ or plain ‘Sambal Chilli Nyonya’. [Don’t get the prawn version….in our opinion, it does not taste nice….unless someone can tell us how to spice it up]

2 to 3 tbsp (or more if you can’t take hot food) tomato sauce but don’t add too much as it will be too sweet and defeats the purpose of having sambal in the first place!

3 tbsp Chinese light soy sauce

Seafood of your choice such as prawns, squid or dried ikan bilis (Asian dried anchovies). I used 500g fresh green prawns, tail and head left intact.

1 red onion – sliced neither too thin nor thick

1 small tomato – cut into wedges (optional)

4 to 5 cloves garlic – minced.

Petai (a type of Malaysian bean that looks similar to broad beans but with very different after effects and taste, wink! wink!) – Optional, of course. I used frozen petai this time. You can buy it in brine (‘Ayam’ brand) from Asian supermarkets. The ‘Hub Asian Supermarket’ in Canberra (Gungahlin and Tuggeranong) sells frozen petai.

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method
Heat oil in a wok. Add in garlic and fry for 30 secs.

Add in sambal paste, tomato sauce and soy sauce. Mix well and stir fry over medium heat for 1 minute.

Add seafood and petai. Cook for 3 to 5 mins, depending on what medium you are using. You don’t want to cook seafood for too long as it will get rubbery and tough.

Before lifting, add in onions and tomato. Turn off heat.

Serve with plain rice or coconut rice (we were being health conscious today, so only plain rice with the sambal) hard boil egg, peanuts (or cashews) and sliced cucumber with onion. Could not be bothered going to the Asian grocer to get kangkong, so I made pak choy belacan instead as an accompaniment to the sambal.