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.

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.

Purple Spiral Taro Mooncake ~ Natural Colour

I just made these out of curiosity.

They didn't really turn out well, as I find the crust to be not well baked. And there's no flaky effect.
So, there's no need to share the recipe.

But I'd like to share with you, how I got my purple streaks, without the use of any artificial food colouring.

Traditional Mooncake

My first attempt at making mooncakes. So bear with me, the mooncakes don't look perfect.
I don't bake everything perfectly each time and I'm not shy to admit it.

It's ok, it's a been there, done that. And for those of you who have been asking me whether I have mooncake recipes, here you go.
I don't know if I'll make more mooncakes, as in baked mooncakes, real mooncakes as I seriously don't enjoy eating a lump of filling. It's just a personal thing.

Guangxi Rice Dumplings (zongzi) 广西粽子 - Wrapped # 3

As you all may know, my mom is a KwongSai (Guangxi).

My first endeavour making rice dumplings was when I was about 15. I was very excited and this was my first time doing so. No one in the house made rice dumplings ever since grandaunt last did it. No one knew how to do it actually, or would bother to do it because it is considered something very troublesome.

Kwong Sai (GuangXi) Stuffed Tofu 广西酿豆腐 - Heritage Week # 2

My mother's parents came from GuangXi, China. If you've heard of the beautiful mountains of GuiLin, that is located in GuangXi. But my maternal grandparents are not from GuiLin, but from Rongxian 容县, which is located in the South of Guangxi. So that makes me half Cantonese half Guangxi. Can I speak the Guangxi dialect? My mom refused to teach us, saying that this dialect is of no use here. No one speaks it, so there's no need to learn. My mom speaks Guangxi, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien. But her kids can only speak Cantonese. Pathetic.... I may not know how to speak the dialect, but once I hear someone saying "Ngo Eew Lei " (I'm calling you) I know that person is of Kwong Sai origin as they speak "call" as "Eew", unlike Cantonese it's  "gew", or Hokkien is "giu", or Hakka it's "gew" as well. KwongSais will 'Eew" you.

When the KwongSai Chinese came to the then Federation of Malay States, they settled in areas where there are mines and rubber estates, doing 'dirty jobs' that is not done by the other dialects (Hokkien-businesses like  grocery shops, Hainanese-food, Hakka and Cantonese -Mining, Teochew-rice and liquor) Most of those in Perak settled along Perak river, mostly from mid Perak up to the north. Towns like Lenggong, Manong, and Kuala Kangsar and all small villages nearby these towns is where you find the most KwongSai Chinese. Other places with lots of Kwong Sais are in Pahang-- Bentong and Mentakab. If anyone that knows the whereabout of other Kwong Sais, please tell me. I'd love to know.There is one facial trait among the KwongSai, and that is the forehead 广西额头 which is typically wide and flat, with a high hairline. My friends who are KwongSais especially the men, they do possess this typical forehead (I won't say all, but just those that I happen to know). Even my mom has it, so does my brother.

Puppy Duck 狗仔鸭 - Heritage Week # 1

Puppy Duck isn’t cooked with dog meat. Relieved?
It’s duck cooked like how one will cook dog meat.
Why cook duck like one would cook dog? Frankly, they do taste similar
So that when one craves for dog meat, just cook duck to ease the craving.
You may want to ask, “Wendy, how do you know they taste similar?”
Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.

Chinese Roasted Pork 脆皮烧肉

I did this baby 3 times before posting. These whitish pics are from my 3rd attempt. Took the whole piece of pork to Kampar to chop and feed my roast pork hungry brothers and everybody else who was anticipating this golden crackling pork to arrive. I brought along my camera but I left the memory card behind. I screamed when I found out about my dumbness. This was my nicest layered piece of pork!!!!!! So, in the end, the phone took the pleasure of capturing this prettily layered belly, rind-fat-meat-fat-meat-fat-meat. A special piece from my butcher.

Pork is not cheap. So is electricity. And when I want to do this, I want to make sure nothing is missing.
There are a few roast pork stalls and shops in Kampar, and at the old wet market area, there are 3 shops. One is quiet, one is popular and the other was so so, cos the pork comes out later in the day and they sell rice with dishes too.

Sometimes I buy from the quiet shop, only when I want to do stir fries with that roast pork, cos it's not really that important when the roast pork becomes the supporting actor. But when I want to make the roast pork the main actor for dinner, it's always those from the popular shop. Why such a difference? It's in the taste. The quiet one seems to have something missing. And the popular one seems to have something extra.

But actually my all time favourite is the one from USJ Taipan, Nam King restaurant's Chicken Rice stall. It's got even more flavour than the popular shop in Kampar.

Which is why when I made this, I made sure nothing is missing. And I sought the recipe with the most ingredients used, cos I don't want mine to be missing something somewhere. Indeed, this is my perfect recipe. I won so much approval from everybody who ate it and they raved and raved about it. I did tweak from the source of recipe by adding in garlic and this is the magic ingredient (and by halving the marinade for 2kg of meat, too salty already!!), cos I think it'll add a nice touch to it, overall, it's still pretty similiar.

The 1st time, I was elated to see it becoming pretty roast pork, but my chopping skills made them look less pretty. Maybe I was impatient and the pork was a bit too warm when I laid my cleaver onto it. Made the amount of marinade, but used only 2kg of pork, too salty!!!! And I didn’t clean my tray after the 1st baking, the 2nd baking with elevated temperature boiled the oil of the pork and made my kitchen into heaven when I opened the door, it was “misty” all over!!!! My house smelt like “urrgghhh” roast pork. My oven was splattered with lard!!! Everybody complained the meat part was too too salty.

2nd time, was Chinese New Year 2010 and I was in rush to bring the big piece of pork back to Kampar, cos there’re hoards of Siu Yoke fans there and that is after chopping off a small part of it for Mike’s relatives in KK, which are more of Cha Siew fans. This time used the same amount of marinade, and doubled the pork to 4kg, and it was just nice. And because I couldn’t use the same rack I used before,this huge amount cannot turn around on the turntable in my Microwave Convection Oven. I used the grilling rack. I roasted the pork meat side up first for 30 minutes. Turned skin side up for another 30 minutes. (my oven don’t have bottom heat function, it’s either convection or grill, and with the grilling pan, there’s no way the air can circulate, so I had to turn the meat to face the heat.)Then another 40 mins for the skin to char on high temp. My house and oven was clean this time… due to the use grilling rack. Hah.. see, things were there for a reason. The grilling rack was designed that the oil drippings won’t be exposed, but the meat will remain dry. Hence clean oven, clean house.

3rd time, now… the butcher purposely prepared a nicely layered piece for me when I told him I want to make pretty Siu Yoke. So nice of him, well, I go to his wife’s shop almost daily for lunch for almost 2 years.. Halved the marinade recipe and made 2kg of pork :). Small enough to go on the turntable, and I used the same method of roasting like my 1st attempt, on an elevated rack, but I cleaned the tray after the 1st baking. Did my kitchen turned into heaven again.. hahaha… I was in a little bit of heaven, but not as bad. It’s the juices (when mixed with oil at high temp) from the 1st baking that will send up the smoke, and the 2nd baking will release oil, lots of it and with no juice, the smoking effect is not that bad. So, if you cleaned or changed the dripping tray, it will be fine. So, will I use grilling pan or DIY elevated pan next time??? Dunno… see how big portion I’m doing the next time :)

So, here’s the recipe for 2kg of pork, tried and tested 3 times ;)
The skin remained crispy for hours, yes you heard me. Hours. I roasted the pork late morning and by dinner time, the skin is still crunchy, meat juicy. (and it was kept in a plastic bag) But please be patient and not chop it until it's totally cooled. Cos when it's warm, when you chop it, the hot juices will definately moisten the crispy skin and make it soggy. You definately won't want your effort to go wasted. Soggy crackling is just urghh!!!!

The instruction pics here were from my 1st time

Chinese Roasted Pork recipe

Ingredients
2kg pork belly, skin on with no bones.
2 Tbsp salt

Bottom marinade
1/2 Tbsp seasoned pepper (Ajishio)
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp 5 spice powder
1 large clove of garlic (smashed to a paste with some salt from the above allocated 1/2Tbsp)
1.5 cubes of Chinese Red Fermented Beancurd (Nam Yue), come to about 1/2 Tbsp
1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine or Shao Xing wine

To brush on pork (later during roasting)
2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

Method:

1. Mix bottom marinade together. Rub the underbelly with marinate, massage into every nook and cranny.



2. Overturn pork and put on salt. Rub and rub, only on the skin.


3. Place pork into the fridge, skin side up, uncovered. Yes, uncovered so that the skin will dry up.


4. The next day, preheat oven at 200C/220C. (Top and bottom heat or with convection on)
5. Prepare an elevated roasting rack, with a pan underneath. Or just use whatever grilling pan that comes with your oven.



6. Roast pork for 40 minutes (if doing 4kg, you may need longer)
7. Remove pork from oven, and turn up the temperature to 250C (grill or top heat only).
8. Prick holes all over pork skin with a sharp knife or a bunch of needles (see pic),as much as you can

9. Brush vinegar over pork skin. Change the tray underneath or clean the tray.
10. Return pork(on elevated rack) to oven and bake for another 40 minutes or until the skin is slightly charred.

11. Scrape off the charred bits and leave it to cool down totally before chopping.

And if you're thinking of using this (fish scaler) to prick the skin,

Forget about it. The pic on the right is how it became after one whack on the skin. The nails were pushed out and the pork skin went unharmed!!!!! That's now how I want it. I want to prick that skin, skin deep!!!!


Recipe adapted from: Happy Homemaker88

Hakka Thunder Tea Rice

Healthy!!!! This is healthy food. Loaded with loads of greens and drenched in green soup too. How much greener can you get?

Hakka Thunder Tea rice or Hakka Lui Cha, is a traditional fare among the Hor Poh clan which is part of the Hakkas. But it’s no longer confined to those of that clan, but anyone, everyone who loves to eat lots of green and adores aromatic herbs like mint and basil.

I’ve never planned to make or even try this, but suddenly I just felt like making it with basil and mint already on hand, what was I waiting for? I only needed the wait for the next day to make this for lunch for everybody at Mike’s shop. It was past dinner time when I thought of it.

Currently one bowl of this can be anywhere between RM3-RM8, depending on where you eat this.
Making this yourself is a lot cheaper and you can have as much tea soup as you like : )

You may think that preparing this is tedious. But actually after trying this, it’s not too hard. One hour was all I took. But you must really go according to sequence to save work on washing and waiting.
One pot
One pan
One blender
Was all that I used, with no washing in between. So, it’s not that tedious, but you have to prepare quite a few bowls or plates to separate the condiments.

Hakka Thunder Tea Rice /Hakka Lui Cha recipe
Recipe Source : Wendyywy
Serves 5-6

Condiments
120gm preserved chopped salted radish (choy poh), soaked in water for 30 minutes, squeeze dry
30gm dried shrimps, soaked in water for 15 mins, drained and coarsely chop
250-300gm choysum/bak choy
250-300gm cabbage/spinach/kalian
10 pcs of long beans
2 pieces (3 inch square) pressed tofu, cut into 1 cm cubes
2 onions or leeks, sliced
5 Tbsp toasted peanuts
2 tbsp sesame seeds (half for paste, half for sprinkling on rice)

Tea soup paste
1 handful of Thai basil 九程塔, leaves only (before trimming from stalks was 45gm)
1 handful of mint (applemint, 香花菜, leaves only (amount about the same as basil)
3 Tbsp roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds (amount taken from above)
1 green tea bag (snipped open for the tea dust/leaves)
½ tsp salt, more if you like it saltier
1 anchovy soup cube (replace with vegetarian seasoning if vegetarian)
½ cup drinkable plain water (or the water squeezed from the blanched, cut, veggies)

Method
1. First, cook your rice, prepare only 70% of what you would normally eat.
2. Soak the preserved radish and dried shrimp in water, separately.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil, it should be enough for blanching the vegetables.
4. Meanwhile, cube the tofu, slice the onions/leeks. Rinse the vege, leave them whole.
5. When the water has come to a boil, blanch the vege separately. Long beans for 30 seconds, choysum/bakchoy/kalian for 30 seconds, Spinach until just wilted, cabbage for 1-2 minutes. Drain all vege and leave to cool down.
6. Now, squeeze dry the preserved radish and the soaked shrimps. Coarsely chop the shrimps.
7. Prepare a pan. Put sesame seeds in and put on medium low heat. Gently toast them until slightly golden, or sometimes they may start jumping (some don’t jump, but will just turn golden). Remove and set aside.
8. Put in 2 tbsp of oil and pan fry half the tofu cubes until golden. Drain and dish up. Repeat with the other half of tofu.
9. With oil remaining in pan, turn heat to high, let pan heat up and put in sliced onions/leeks and cook for 30 seconds and turn to medium heat and cook until soft and translucent. (The initial high heat is needed to give the onions a nice aroma). Lightly season with some salt. Remove onions/leeks and put in a bowl/plate
10. With the same pan, if there is still some oil (1tsp), if there is none , then add some oil in, then fry the dried shrimps until golden. Dish up.
11. Put in preserved radish and cook for 1 minute until it turns hot. Dish up.
12. Now, slice all the vegetables thinly and keep them aside. Squeeze excess water out fom leafy vege. (You can retain the squeezed out juice for blending the paste)Do not mix them together.

To prepare tea soup paste
1. Put everything in to a blender and whizz until fine.
2. Put into a bowl.

Assembly
1. Place rice in center or bowl (I only fill 70% of my normal portion)
2. Divide all condiments into 5 portions and arrange condiments onto rice.
3. Put 2 Tbsp of tea soup paste into another rice bowl. Pour 1 cup boiling water onto paste and let it infuse for 1 minute.
4. You can either consume the rice and soup separately or pour the soup onto the rice.

I wonder if you realised that the bowls of rice actually looked different. I actually made this rice twice before posting, with different veggie each time. I super love this and the man super hates this, ahahhaha!!!  I had to cook him fried rice with all the leftovers of condiments after placing out all the portions.

Pics from my 2nd attempt:

GDL Tofufah 果酸豆腐花

Tofufah or Taufufar is soft beancurd in syrup. A traditional Chinese dessert. Some like it hot, some like it cold. Some like the syrup spiced with ginger, and being typical Malaysians, we like it flavoured with pandan (screwpine) or with gula melaka (palm sugar) instead of regular white sugar. It used to be the cheapest dessert ever at ony 20sen per bowl when I was a kid, and in just 20 years, the price has gone 5 fold, at least, depending on where you buy it.

The traditional way is to make it using gypsum, a natural mineral from the earth. But due to so many people saying it's bad for health, well, so, I tried making this with GDL.

I finally made tofufah with GDL and they all ended up in the drain…. Why? Cos they all were all curdled. Like vomit. Disgusting? Yes. Well, before I embarked on this brave experiment, I searched on the internet for % of GDL for making soft tofu,and I found that it should be 0.3%, well, 3L of it with 2tsp, it’s about that gua..but no…. it failed.

For those of you who have no idea of what GDL is, GDL is short for Glucono Delta Lactone. Glucono delta-lactone (GDL) is a naturally-occurring food additive used as a sequestrant, an acidifier, or a curing, pickling, or leavening agent. It is a lactone (cyclic ester) of D-gluconic acid. Pure GDL is a white odorless crystalline powder. GDL is commonly found in honey, fruit juices, and wine. GDL is neutral, but hydrolyses in water to gluconic acid which is acidic, adding a tangy taste to foods, though it has roughly a third of the sourness of citric acid. It is now commonly used in commercial tofus found in supermarkets with brands like Cheong Fatt. You can try to see that the next time you go shopping. It is considered safer than gypsum (sek koh)

There isn’t a site in English that I can refer when it comes to making tofufah with GDL… not even one. Even in Chinese, there is only one. This one. I only found her after I failed. Well, she also failed like I did, all like vomit,. Later I found another post on her blog….. SHE SUCCEEDED!!!! Oh gosh!! Now this is good news. Then she found out the reason, her soy milk is too diluted. Cos she did her soy milk with her soy machine. Well, I did mine rather diluted too, 200gm beans with 3L water. That’s why I failed, and had vomit curds like hers. Now, with her successful recipe, I’m going to embark on this grey area on the internet, where not many have trod… tofufah with GDL again.



And was I successful? Yes I am!! Not once but twice. The pictures on this post are from my 2nd successful attempt.
And below is my translation of her recipe.

GDL Tofufah
Recipe Source : DD's Wishes

250gm soy beans
1.8L water
Few blades of pandan, shredded and tied into a knot
¾ tsp GDL (1/2 tsp + 1/4tsp)
½ Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water

1. Soak beans overnight or at least 8 hours
2. Blend beans in a blender with 1.8L water (maybe done in 3 times)
3. Press out soy milk with a cheesecloth
4. Measure 2L of soy milk and bring a boil with pandan knot.
5. In another pot, mix GDL with cornstarch and water.
6. When milk has come to a boil, leave it to cool down, lid off for 5 minutes or until 90C.
7. Pour soy milk in a gushing motion(2-3 feet above) into pot with GDL mixture.
8. Do not move pot, wrap lid with a towel and leave tofufah to set for 1 hour.
9. With a tofufah spatula or a wok spatula, gently skim layers of tofufah onto serving bowl. Top with syrup of choice just before eating. Serve warm or chilled.

Now, before you go, I need some help.
I am currently wanting to buy a built in oven for my new kitchen.
I am torn between a Bosch (I have 2 models in mind, with a difference of RM1.3k between the 2 models) and Teka,
with both being German. Both grade A for power consumption.

Here's the major difference between the 2 models that I've set my eyes on

Controls:
Bosch: Temperature-dial, timing-digital
Teka: Fully digital

Price:
Bosch: 3.5k (53L and double glazed doors) and 4.8k(slightly bigger capacity -58L, triple galzed doors)
Teka: 3.8k (double glazed doors 56L)

Service Team:
Bosch: None in Ipoh. But so far, response from their customer service has been good. They always call me promptly whenever I send them an email.
Teka: Service team available in Ipoh that gives tutorial upon delivery and for repairs

Cleaning:
Bosch: Self Cleaning
Teka: None

Functions:
Bosch: 7 or 9
Teka: 9



I can find loads of info online on Bosch ovens , but none for Teka, except for their own sites.

Can anyone tell me their experience with using Teka ovens, especially on the heating part. Even? Does it need turning the pan around, esp for cookies?  And does the double glazed doors feel hot to touch? Sometimes I just don't want to fully believe those salesman.

I find it weird to have a German brand (Teka) with not much information and reviews from the internet. Not that the model numbers differ (Bosch's models differs). The model that I aimed is featured in their main website (not Malaysian) and I can't seem to find information on the model, which made me really wary of their brand.

Hakka Beetroot XiBan 甜菜根客家喜粄

When I saw a kuih called ki ka ku on Sonia's blog, I was totally intrigued. Then later I found that it was actually a traditional hakka steamed chewy bun called 喜粄, "Xi Ban", translated as "Dough of Joy"

I tried making this with some adaptations from Sonia's recipe

Hakka Beetroot XiBan
Recipe adapted from Sonia

250g Glutinous rice flour
300g All purpose flour
150g Caster sugar  (you may increase, if you want sweeter)
50g Shortening
1 ½ tsp Yeast
300g Beetroot infused Water (boil some peeled beetroot chunks in 350ml water for 15 mins, just use the water), use more if needed
Banana leaves (soften in hot water, cut into round shape)

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, knead until soft and smooth.
2. Divide dough to equal portion (about 40g), shape into small round ball. Grease your hand with some cooking oil, place small round ball on the banana leaf, and flatten the dough by pressing your palm on the dough ball.
3. Cover with cling film and rest for 1hour
4. Steam over hot boiling water for 15mins or until cooked

Verdict:
Frankly speaking, this bun looks like a regular bun when torn, but it's chewy like a mochi. My husband didn't quite like it as it was too chewy for him, but it was fine for me. Colour wise, I was rather dissapointed when it turned into a peachy hue instead of remaining pink. And I steamed the buns in 3 batches, as my wok can only accomodate 9 at a time. And all 3 batches came out with different colours. You can see 3 out my 4 buns in the pics comes in different hues. The next day, the bun was crumbly without steaming, something like a scone. So, I'd say this bun is best eaten on the day it is made.

I did another recipe, with a much longer fermentation period, watch out for the post :)

Dong Po Pork 东坡肉

Mike loves pork belly.. any pork belly. So does my mother in law. I only like it if the fat layer melts in the mouth with no fatty smell.

There are many recipes online, some requiring pre deep frying and usually this is restaurant’s method to speed up the cooking. The supposedly actual way is to slowly cook it in wine and soy sauce… no extra oil involved. I searched and searched, and found this recipe . Does this look good? Sure it does. But I think she skimped on the spring onions. The recipe called for trimming the sides to make it really squarish or at least, have straight sides, but to me, that seemed wasteful. So, I didn’t do that, just let it stay the in original shape. Initially one should use a clay pot to do this, but I don’t have one. So, I just used a heavy based pot that won’t burn as easily as a single layer stainless steel pot. 5 ply pots will be even better.

The belly turned out so good. The flavour was good, very good. I didn’t add any salt or additional seasoning to it and it taste absolutely good. Even when it was slowly cooking, my mother in law exclaimed about the fragrance. Oh please try this, but please have patience for almost 3 hours of work :)

1kg (+/-200gm) pork belly, skin on (original recipe called for 1kg, but I only have 800gm, it worked well, and I think the seasoning will even be enough for 1.2kg)
100gm spring onions
50 gm ginger (weighed skin on)
500gm Shao Xing Wine (the one I used was fermented for 5 years, and is more expensive than the regular 2 year old wines)
100gm light soy sauce
20gm dark soy sauce
80gm brown candy sugar(1pc) or rock sugar

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook pork belly for 5 minutes. Drain.
2. Cut spring onions into long lengths to fit base of pot. Slice ginger and sprinkle over.
3. Put boiled pork belly onto spring onions, skin side down.
4. Put in both soy sauces and sugar. Lastly wine. Add some water if the liquid level is too low. Make sure the pork is at least almost covered with liquid.
5. Bring pot to a boil on high heat, reduce to low and simmer for 2 hours (flipping the pork halfway), or until it is tender enough to be easily poked thru with a chopstick.
6. Remove pork belly (no gravy) from pot and put into a steaming dish, skin side up.
7. Steam on high heat for 30 minutes.(This is a crucial step, do not skip this)
8. Pour gravy (in pot) over pork when it has finished steaming.

It tasted as good as it looked.

The skin was soft and melted in my mouth

No fatty smell at all.

The story of Two Dumplings

So, what happens when two dumplings meet each other????

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They get ready to be eaten!!!!!

Hahaha, that's my lame joke.
Anyway, do they look the same? From the outside yeah..but from the inside, no.

I think if you have been reading my blog for quite a while you will know that my husband is a Hokkien and I'm a Cantonese. I can't speak a word of Hokkien before I knew him, well, but I can understand the "universal Chinese dialect words" that most understands. Neh, those that you will use to ask about people's parents. Hahahaha, I do no speak them, but that doesn't mean I do not know if someone is scolding me or cursing me behind my back or maybe right in my face.

Mike told me he never spoke much Cantonese, not until he met me, and the first few months of our relationship, we will always argue because he uses the wrong words to express himself, making me misunderstand him. But now, his Cantonese is definately much much better after all the commando training I've given him. :)
His Cantonese has improved, definately, but what about my Hokkien. Hahahahah!!!! Well, he's got TVB to be his guru, but me? I've got nobody,
 **** nobody nobody but you.... nobody nobody like you, nobody nobody, nobody nobody, nobduy nobody ** with fingers twidling upright****

Bloggers who've met me, have heard me saying those few words over and over again only.
"Pai See" (naughty), "Ai Boh" (you want?), "Beh Sai" (Cannot), "Lai Ji Beng" (come here), "Kee Lau Ting" (Go upstairs) and maybe some other simple words. Yeah, these are the only ones that I can utter from my mouth. Trying to teach my girls the very few words that is in my personal collection of Hokkien Vocab.
Oh and the other day, Judy (Busy Gran) taught me how to call Gan Sui Joong in Hokkien, "Kngee Chang". Another new word... kekekeke.

Yeah, about those two dumplings, I just made these yesterday, yes, yesterday 15th June. This is the 2nd batch of rice dumplings I made this year. 1st batch wasn't enough to go around because my neighbours suddenly popped over asking for a few (in exchange with $$$), and a few became half the batch because each take 10, then 10 then 5 and another 5+2. So, after I came back from my dumpling making trip in Kampar last weekend, I made another 36 pieces yesterday.

So, my dumpling feat for this year

Hakka Dough Dumplings : 16 pieces
Plain Gan Sui Joong : 50 pieces
Hokkien Bak Chang: 1st batch: 44pcs, 2nd batch : 15 pcs
Cantonese Rice Dumpling : 1st batch : 23 pieces, 2nd batch: 24 pieces

Altogether: 174 pieces.

Well, I had some help with the 1st batch from my mom and 2nd sis in law. I didn't do this all by myself ok.

Anyway, glad this is only once a year. I'll be looking forward to next year, Nyonya Chang, wait for me ya.

Then in 2012, maybe hakka pillow dumplings... one year one new recipe to learn.

 Happy Dragon Boat Festival, or Dumpling Festival

or Duan Wu Festival,

whatever you may call it, and most of all,

Enjoy the dumplings!!!!

I think I'm getting sick of them already..... hahaha!!