Bak Kwa @ Yoke Gon @ Chinese Pork Jerky 猪肉干

I have been making these since I was a teen. For each Chinese New Year, my mom will order 4kg of minced pork from the butcher, get it sent to our home and I will be doing the marinating and sun drying. When mom comes back from work, she would start the charcoal grill and it's grilling time.

I haven't been making these for many many years, until a blogger's gathering 7 years ago. I tried to recall the ratio and the outcome was a bit too salty, maybe I got it wrong. Then, two years back, I tried to make it again. The taste was just right, but the colour was too dark due to the addition of just 1/2 Tbsp of dark caramel sauce. This time, I made it again and it was just nice. Sweet, sticky, not too salty and the colour was what I wanted.

Murukku Rosettes

Murukku in Malaysia is widely known as the mosquito-coil-looking savoury spiced fried treat during Deepavali. It is loved by all races here. It is not uncommon to see Murukku served during Chinese New Year and Eid in Malaysia, we are after all a multiracial country and food enhances this bond that we have.

In India, there are many types of murukku, but here in Malaysia, once Murukku is mentioned, the coil shaped one comes to mind.

Kuih Kapit @ Coconut Love Letters

Duck motif

When I was a kid, I didn't know how to pronounce this properly... Koi Kapek, Koi Kapiat or even Gugapek, hahahahaha!

Each year, I will look forward to the precious two cans my maternal aunts will pass to us when we visit them on Chinese New Year day 1. And when I was 9 (I think), my siblings and I pestered my mom to make our own. Two cans each year just wasn't enough!

Guangxi Taro Kourou 广西芋头扣肉

Kourou is a dish that consist of thrice cooked pork belly that has been boiled, fried, and steamed.
There are many versions of kourou, and famous two is the MeiCai Kourou 梅菜扣肉 and Yutou Kourou 芋头扣肉.

Now, it seems that everyone seems to associate kourou with Hakka cuisine. Not really.
According to Chinese Wikipedia or you can just do a google search about kourou on Mainland China's websites, you will find that

"客家梅菜扣肉。
广西芋头扣肉。
广东中山沙溪粉葛扣肉。"

Translation:
Hakka Preserved Vegetable Kourou
Guangxi Taro Kourou
Cantonese Arrowroot Kourou

So you see, kourou is a dish that is cooked by the other dialects and other provinces as well.

Teochew Ngoh Hiang ~ Five Spice Meat Rolls

There are many versions of Chinese 5 Spice Meat Rolls.
Some call it Lor Bak, some call it Chun Juan, Some call it Wu Xiang.

Basically, it's a meat roll, filled with pork that is minced or cut into thin strips, marinated with seasoning and spices, wrapped in beancurd sheets and cooked. If I am not wrong, the differences will be; Penang Style Lor Bak is made with pork strips, Hokkien Chun Juan/Lor Bak is minced pork and Teochew Wu Xiang/Ngoh Hiang is minced pork with the addition of taro. They are all seasoned with the essential 5 spice powder.

Kuih Bangkit ~ Gluten Free Coconut Cream Cookies 薯粉饼

Kuih Bangkit.... It is a local traditional cookie, one of the staples for Chinese New Year and Eid.
Some people will make this with tapioca starch, some swear by arrowroot flour for best melt in the mouth effect and some will use sago flour to replace that elusive arrowroot flour.

In the olden days, this cookie was baked over charcoal. And I have only seen that being done once in my life, at my kindergarten teacher's home. I'm glad that in recent years, I had the chance to eat charcoal baked kuih bangkit again, made by distant relatives, and they are soooo much better than oven baked. The base of the charcoal baked ones were brown and the cookie was so flavorful and fragrant.

Pineapple Tart Cookies (Open Faced)

I sold these 19 years ago for Chinese New Year... when I just completed my SPM (something like high school exam) while waiting for my exam results. My clients were just friends. They asked for more the next Chinese New Year. But I was doing my Form 6 (Pre-U), so, I can't sell anymore. That was the only time I sold Chinese New Year cookies.

I found this recipe from The Star Newspaper somewhere from 1993-1995, I'm not sure as I had a habit of collecting recipe cuttings. In those days, I can't afford to buy recipe books and we subscribed The Star, and I only need some effort to cut and collect the free recipes.

Braised Mushrooms with Waterchestnuts 马蹄卤香菇

I made this for CNY 2013 because some on my husband’s side prefers vegetarian dishes. They are not vegetarian for religious purposes, but just for health.

Few years back, I made another braised mushroom dish with dried scallops and oysters for Reunion dinner. Sadly, it wasn’t well received by the younger ones, except for those above 40. It was barely touched during dinner! Quite sad actually.
Luckily, the next day, they were reheated and eaten by the older generation.

Garlic Roasted Peanuts - Nutty Treats #3

I love eating garlic peanuts, normally they are fried.
Perfect beer food, and for me it's perfect Shandy food, LOL.

A lot of people like having peanuts for Chinese New Year because of the name that sounds like 'grow'. It's a lot cheaper to make these yourself than buying. Here, where raw materials aren't very cheap, I got mine at RM8.50/kg. And I chose to bake them instead of frying

If you love snacking on peanuts, give this a try, you might get addicted.
I have already hidden these from my husband.... LOL

To-Full Blooms 花开富（腐）贵 - Vege Blooms # 3

Tofu (to-full) cakes with cherry tomatoes... that's what this is. I made this 2 days ago to fill up my themed week. I only had 2 posts in hand initially, and trying to submit to AB, I had to start this week's theme w/o a Full-House (3of a kind).

Wish-filled Jade Chrysanthemum 有余碧菊 - Vege Blooms # 2

Another auspicious veggie dish for the Lunar New Year. Actually I made this 2 days before the reunion dinner for an ordinary dinner. I didn't have time to do my post and by now.. the dateline to submit to Aspiring Bakers have ended.

Did I fill these with wishes? Hahaha, no. It's fish paste filled, fish-wish, see?
And in Chinese, the word 余(abundance) is always related with 鱼 (fish) because it sounds similiar.

Pearl White Peony 珍珠白牡丹 - Vege Blooms # 1

Actually.. this is just a fancy name for Yuan Xiao Cabbage with Pacific Clams, LOL. It's Chinese New Year, fancy auspicious names jacks up the "feel". Gosh, today's the last day? Happy Chap Goh Mei to all, time flies and the new year is over by midnight.

Pacific clams are nicknamed  "Pearl abalone" and the arrangement seems to resemble the peony， 牡丹花(mao tan far), a beautiful flower that is the unofficial national flower of China. It's a flower that is always seen in Chinese paintings and ancient pretty women are usually related to this flower.

Sesame Beancurd Crisps 芝麻巧果 - CNY Crispies # 3

This is another traditional Chinese snack. There are 2 types, one is called DanSan 蛋散 and another QiaoGuo 巧果. You probably might have heard about the word DanSan from Southpark, Cantonese version. Cartman(fat boy) is known as Dansan in the translated version. Dansan is also used to describe someone who is useless. "Lei jek dansan la, zhan mou yoong!" 你只蛋散啦，真没用

What's the difference between these 2?

Woo Ha (Crispy Taro Shreds, Hong Kong Style) 港式芋虾 - CNY Crispies # 2

Woo Ha .... It literally translates as Taro Prawns. A Cantonese Chinese New Year Treat.

Is it almost extinct here? Is it so?

I'm not sure. But I think it's not very well known because it was super tedious to make. Very!!! And expensive too. Taros are not cheap.

Sesame Honeycomb Cookies - CNY Crispies # 1

Last year, I did a cookie week for CNY, this year and Fried-Up week. Hopefully next year when CNY lands on end of February, I'll be doing a Dried Up week for CNY, because the sky is blue and air is dry when January begins.. right up until end of February.

Orange Cheesecake with Kumquat Compote

When I saw this cheesecake on Zurin's blog long ago, I fell in love with the kumquat crown. It looked so pretty. When I saw kumquats in Ipoh's Jusco, I had to get my hands on some. It's not expensive, at less than RM4 per punnet.

I didn't want to do a rich rich cheesecake that'll take up few blocks of cream cheese. I always prefer light creamy cheesecakes. No, this is not as light as featherlight cheesecake or Japanese Cotton Cheesecake. This is still creamy but not that, that rich. I want to eat cake, not lick on cream cheese. And I also have little bit of cream left from my pineapple tarts and Minnie Cakes (not sure when I'll be posting them, as I'm going themed now), and a opened can of condensed milk. Might as well utilize them.

Well, yeah, this is another dump in cake. Hey, I don't simply dump in things. I do calculations in my brain before I dump them in. How much aeration I want, how sweet and milky I want the cake to be, how firm I want it. I never just throw things in before giving it a second thought. Never. Ingredients are too expensive to be wasted.

Kumquats are a nice fruit to be incorporated into CNY.
So, if you ask me, Is this fruit common?

Well, when I was a kid, my neighbour bought two kumquat trees for CNY, and I asked him , why is the lime so funny, it's oblong rather than round. He said, oh, it's a new variety. Darn, he doesn't know it's a Kumquat 金橘. So, I bet most of you have seen this somewhere in someone's home, or even your own home, but have no idea, this is the kumquat that I'm talking about. It's a longish oblong lime lookalike that has no flesh. The fruit can be eaten whole. Just pop it into your mouth and chew away.

So, who were the eaters of this cake. Don't ask Mike. He didn't even catch a glimpse of this cake. I made this for my friends, that I met up on Day 4 of CNY. They cleaned up the pan very quickly. I never knew kumquat compote tasted so good. I used less sugar than found in online recipes because I found my kumquats to be on the sweet side, rather than being tart. I'm not going to keep the compote at room temperature for ages, so, why use so much sugar? Now with this ratio that I formulated for sweet kumquats, it's just nice for me. Like a light marmalade. The cake may be sweet on first bite due to the compote, but as you go on, it'll be fine. No one complained, but asked for seconds

Orange Cheesecake with Kumquat Compote
Recipe source: Wendyywy

250gm cream cheese, softened
125gm sweetened condensed milk
60gm whipping cream
1 egg
20gm corn starch
40gm cake flour (All purpose should work fine here too)
1 Tbsp (packed) orange zest
60ml fresh orange juice
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
30gm sugar

1. Prepare and line a springform pan. Wrap pan with aluminium foil to prevent water from seeping into the baking pan. Refer here if not sure how. Prepare a pot of boiling water. Place pan into a slightly larger pan. Preheat oven to 130C(fan)/150C
2. Sift cornstarch and flour and set aside.
3. Mix orange juice and egg yolks, lightly beat for a while and set aside.
4. With a whisk or large spoon, beat cream cheese until smooth and put in condensed milk and mix until smooth. Put in whipping cream and beat until smooth. Put in egg and beat until smooth. Put in sifted flour and mix until smooth. Put in orange juice mixture and and zest and mix until smooth.
5. Beat egg whites until frothy. Put n cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks. Put in sugar gradually and beat until stiff, and the peaks are softly hooked when whisk is turned upright.
6. Fold half of the beaten egg whites into the cheese mixture. Repeat with balance of whites.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and put the whole set of prepared pans into the oven. Pour boiling water into the outer pan until it’s at least 1/3 the height of the inner pan.
8. Bake for 1 hour. Cool cake in oven (door ajar) for half an hour. Remove cake from oven and cool down totally. Chill in fridge for 5 hours before serving. With a skewer/toothpick, poke cake to create at least 30 holes absorb the syrup from the compote.

Kumquat Compote
250gm kumquats
125gm sugar (use more if kumquats are tart)
125ml water or more

1. Slice kumquats about 3mm thick. Remove all the seeds
2. Place all the prepared kumquats into a saucepan and put in water and sugar.
3. Cook on medium low heat until all the kumquats turn translucent. If it's too dry, add a bit more water.
4. Arrange warm kumquat slices over cheesecake and brush remaining syrup over kumquat slices.

Pictures of cheesecake taken with my Sony Ericsson TX5, not as good as usual, right?

Nian Gao Taro Rolls - CNY Week #3

 

My father’s 2nd younger sister, my “Sai Ku Cheh 小姑姐” told me last year about how her friend fried her nian gaos. She found it to be very delicious because nian gaos are sweet and when contrasted with a slightly salted coconutty taro filling, it tasted fabulous.

This year, with a nian gao given by my neighbor, I tried out the method she recommended. It was a refreshing change from the usual methods of eating. I gave some to neighbours from both sides and brought them to Mike’s shop. No one knew what I was serving them until they bit into the roll : ). It was fun making people guess. They all thought I was serving them spring roll.

**Charissa, please tell your mom we all loved this version.

Nian Gao Taro Rolls
Recipe source: Wendyywy inspired by Grace Ho
Taro Filling
500gm taro (芋头, keladi )(cleaned weight)
100gm fresh grated coconut
2 Tbsp sugar
1/3- ½ tsp salt (use 1/3 tsp first, taste and add more if needed)
1. Slice taro and steam until cooked(soft).
2. Mash taro while it’s still hot and put in coconut, salt and sugar. Mix until well combined

Assembly
300gm nian gao, cut into 2 inch long strips (mine were anywhere from 8-12gm each)
Spring roll wrappers (125mmX125mm)
Egg white to brush on edges

1. Place wrapper onto a flat surface, eg: a plate.
2. Place 1 tbsp of taro filling onto wrapper (I used 20gm filling since I had about 32 pieces of nian gao), lightly spread it out.
3. Place 1 pc of nian gao onto taro and wrap (see pictures)
4. Brush edge with egg white before rolling up.
5. Fry the prepared rolls in medium- medium low heat until golden.

Frying was a breeze, no splattering and even the wrapping is hot hard to do, because the taro filling is not soggy wet but easy to handle cos it won’t fall apart.
I made about 29 rolls from this recipe.

The sunlight today was bad, my pictures had high noise problems. Somehow I'm beginning to hate taking pictures. It's getting boring, LOL.

Braised Mushrooms with Dried Oysters and Scallops - CNY Week #2

Braised mushrooms is a favourite at my house. But my mom does it with leeks, fried chicken feet and roasted pork, a version I doubt Mike’s family will like.

Since getting married, I never went home for new year eve’s Reunion Dinner. Well, we’re not supposed to, cos once married you have to eat at your husband’s as you now belong to that family. I do know that many practise alternating or eat at both sides nowadays, but that is unless you stay a sea away (for alternate years) or stay within 30 mins drive to eat at both sides, and also provided it’s eating out where no work at home is done. But traditionally, it’s always at the husband’s side. I’ve never seen my mom going home for dinner. Neither do my sister in laws who stay walking distances away. They stay throughout the dinner and may drop by their parent’s house after that for a chat with their siblings, but never for reunion dinner. It’s an understood custom. My mom calls it a "LAW".

So, for 5 years, I’ve never had reunion dinner at home. At Mike’s place, we share the cooking work. His aunts will do some dishes and I’ll do some. And every year I wonder why is there no mushroom dishes. Is it that they do not know how to do it because since Mike’s grandma passed away, a lot of recipes followed in her footsteps too. So, I made this but not the version I had at home, as they don’t consume chicken feet.
I made up the recipe based on 2 persons. My 3rd uncle will always braise his mushrooms in garlic oil broth before he adds in other flavours and meat. My mom told me, dried oysters taste a lot better than oyster sauce and a few pieces in braises totally perks things up. And it so happened that I have some dried oysters and some scallops that has been sitting chilled in my fridge for almost 3 years.

Here, I present to you my maiden attempt in braising mushrooms and I’m very happy with the result. Flavourful and fragrant. I didn’t need to add any sugar as the scallop was sweet enough and I didn’t need any other sauces(besides the basic soy sauce) to season the dish as the oyster gave out so much flavour to the dish. I didn’t even use salt.

But, it was labled as “old people’s dish” when it arrived at the dinner location. The younger generation didn’t appreciate the dish but the older folks loved it. I was told that only Mike’s grandma will cook this, and since young my hubby will call it “old folk’s dish” and he said now he’s getting older already, he loved it. What a nice explanation. Huh! A far cry from my family where braised mushrooms are loved by the young and old.
I don’t think I’ll be cooking this for next year’s reunion dinner. If ever they ask for this dish again, I’ll do a much smaller portion. I think I’ll just fry chicken to feed those kids in their late 20’s next year.

Braised Mushrooms with Dried Scallop and Oysters
Recipe Source: Wendyywy
Serves 12-20 (depends on how much they eat)

200gm dried shitake/Chinese mushrooms, soaked for 1 hour or overnight
50gm dried oysters (10 pcs)
50gm dried scallops/conpoy (5 large pieces about 2cm diameter)
2 tbsp light soy sauce (30ml)
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce (15ml)
1 Tbsp Shao Xing wine (15ml)
1 bulb of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 Tbsp cooking oil (you do need this amount of oil to make the mushrooms look shiny and taste smooth)
1 tsp cornstarch +3 tbsp water (may need more if not thick enough)

1. Clean mushrooms and snip smaller if they are too big. Squeeze mushrooms to remove excess water.
2. Rinse oysters and scallops.
3. Heat a heavy based pot and put in oil.
4. Put in chopped garlic and sauté until it smells fragrant, no need to be golden.
5. Put in cleaned mushrooms and stir until coated with oil.
6. Put in rinsed oysters and scallops, Stir to mix around.
7. Put in water, enough to cover mushrooms.
8. Bring to a boil, cover with lid and turn heat to low.
9. Braise for 2 hours. Check pot once a while to make sure the liquid in pot doesn’t dry up.
10. After 2 hours, season with soy sauces and Shao Xing wine.
11. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
12. Prepare cornstarch mixture and thicken gravy according to preference.
13. Dish up and garnish with blanched veggies.

Happy Chinese New Year 2011 and a break

Happy Chinese New Year to all!!

I'm taking another break and see you all on 10th February 2011.

I'll still be checking comments once a day to answer questions.

Have a wonderful and blessed New Year.

Every cookie is gone, except these 2. So If you are dropping by, don't be shocked by seeing just 2 goodie on my shelf. LOL. I've got cookie monsters in the house, you know.

Dried Agar-Agar Candy II

I made this candy this year again.
But I improvised on the recipe.

The first batch that I did, I used 25gm agar strips with 1L water, and the second time around I used 25gm agar strips with only750ml water. The result was........ one less day of sunning. Great news, isn't it?

With 10 days left to CNY, and with this current super sunny weather, you can make it in time. Usually my wet bathroom takes half a day to dry, but these 2 weeks, it dried up after 2 hours of usage.

If you lined the pan with paper, it takes 4-5 days under direct sunlight, but if you didn't line the pan, it'll take 7 days. Like me this time, stupid, idiot, forgot to line the pan. Last year, mine were done in 4 days. Well, you see, the paper is an evaporation tool. It absorbs extra water and moisture from the jelly pieces and helps disperse it into the hot air when the sun hits it.  When I find, how come this year, it took so long to get it done, then only I remembered that I didn't line the drying pan. Luckily I did it early this year.

Dried Agar-Agar Candy II
Fills 3-4 jars of those medium sized red cap cookie containers

100gm agar-agar strips
3L water (12 cups)
800gm rock sugar
600gm sugar
2 tsp of rose flavouring+few drop of pink colouring
2 tsp lemon flavour+few drops of yellow colouring
2 tsp strawberry flavouring+few drops of red colouring
2 tsp pandan emulco

Do not think of reducing the sugar. It is needed for the candy structure to form. And I've never heard of a candy that is not sweet. And this is the mildest in terms of sweetness for dried agar candy that I've ever eaten. It is not meant for you to chow down, but savour slowly piece by piece.
If you just want to try try, cut the recipe by 75%---  25gm agar, 200gm rock sugar, 150gm sugar and 750ml water.


1. Put water and  agar strips into a heavy based pot.
2. Bring to a boil and cover with lid. With low heat, boil until all agar strips have dissolved.
3. Meanwhile prepare 4 baking pans/or any heat proof container. Put flavourings and colour into each pan/container.
4. Put in rock sugar and sugar, cook until everything dissolves. It feels thick, almost like cooked can soup.
5. Divide agar mixture evenly between the four pans.
6. Cut with serrated knife when it has solidified.
7. Arrange cut pieces, serrated side down on a large tray lined with non stick baking paper.
8. Sun dry until a whitish crunchy crust appears. Turn jelly pieces every other day for proper exposure to the sun. Bring into your air-cond room at night for further drying at night.


* Bugs love the lemon flavoured one, just don't know why.
The rose flavoured one lost its colour, dunno why. I used Wilton's pink colouring.