RECIPE: FIVE COLOURED OMELETTE

A simple, pretty and quick dish that can be enjoyed at any time of the year.

Ingredients – serves 6
3 to 4 slices cooked ham – sliced into thin strips
4 spring onions – cut into 4 cm lengths
1 small can bamboo shoots – sliced thinly like the ham
5 dried mushrooms – soaked until soft, drained and sliced thinly
8 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
4 to 5 tbsp oil for frying

Method
Beat the eggs in a bowl with the salt and sugar, briefly but energetically to incorporate as much air into the eggs – this make the omelette fluffier. Add in the ham, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and spring onion. Mix well.

Heat oil in a wok and add the egg mixture into the hot oil. Ensure that the ingredients are evenly distributed in the egg.

When the omelette has set on the bottom, divide it into 2 to 3 portions and turn it over. Form the portions into one omelette again.

When nearly set, you may cut it into pieces again or leave it as one big omelette. Lift and serve hot.

RECIPE: PRAWN SAMBAL I

What a better way to heat up one’s body on a cold night. We have not had Nasi Lemak for some time, so decided to make it today. Thank you Mr G for getting all the ingredients prepared for me. That made life so much easier. I felt just like the Iron Chefs – having my own personal helper!

This is one way I make Sambal Prawn.

Ingredients – serves 4 to 6
30 large Green Prawns
2 large handfuls of long dried chillies* – de-seeded and soaked in hot water
8 large shallots*
Half a head of garlic*
½ thumb size galangal*
Small piece of belacan*
1 tbsp tamarind pulp – mixed with ½ cup water and juice extracted
Salt
2 tbsp veg oil

Method
Grind together * ingredients, using the minimum of water. Heat oil in a wok and fry ingredients until oil seeps through and water has evaporated.

Add in prawns, coat well with the sambal and add in the tamarind juice. Cook until prawns are done. Add salt, lift and serve with NASI LEMAK and KANG KONG BELACAN.

RECIPE: KANG KONG BELACAN

Kang Kong (or its scientific name Ipomoea aquatica) is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. Its precise natural distribution is unknown due to extensive cultivation, with the species found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Common names include water spinach, swamp cabbage, water convolvulus, water morning-glory, eng chai or ong choy.

The vegetable is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian dishes. In Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, the leaves are usually stir fried with chillies, garlic and dried shrimp paste (belacan). In the Penang and Ipoh cities in Malaysia, it is cooked with cuttlefish and a sweet and spicy sauce known as Ju Hu Eng Chai. During the JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF SINGAPORE in WORLD WAR II, the vegetable grew remarkably well and easily in many areas, and become a popular wartime crop. (Source: WIKIPEDIA)

This is how I make kang kong belacan.

1 bunch kang kong – washed and leaves separated from the stalks and keep separately. Discard any woody sections of the stalk and slice any large stalks lengthways. Cut into 4 cm lengths.
4 cloves garlic*
2 to 3 shallots*
1 small slice belacan* – toasted over open flame until roasted or in foil in the oven
2 to 3 tsp minced chilli or 3 to 4 fresh red chillies*
1 to 2 tbsp dried prawns*
Salt
1 to 2 tbsp veg oil

Method
In a mortar and pestle or food processor, grind * ingredients. Add salt.

In a wok, heat oil and fry ground ingredients for 1 to 2 mins, stirring constantly. Add in the stalks and fry for 30 secs. Next add in the leaves, mix well, check salt and lift when leaves have wilted. Serve with NASI LEMAK.

RECIPE: NASI LEMAK OR COCONUT RICE

Ingredients (Serves 4 to 6)
4 cups long grain rice
1 red or brown onion – sliced
Thumb size ginger – sliced
2 pandanus leaves – torn into two and knotted
1 tsp salt
1 tin coconut milk
Water

Method
Wash rice until water runs clear. Put in all sliced ingredients, pandanus leaves and salt.

Using the rule of one and a half cups of liquid for every cup of rice, measure out the coconut milk first, then top off with water [eg 4 cups of rice equates to 6 cups of liquid (4 x 1.5 = 6); and if only 1.5 cups of milk is available from the coconut tin, top up the rest with 4.5 cups of water].

Put into rice cooker and cook. Halfway through the cooking process, using a fork, carefully stir the sliced ingredients through. Serve with curries or sambal such as SAMBAL PRAWN accompanied by KANG KONG BELACAN and boiled eggs.