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.

Sweet Chilli Crisps~Popiah Gunting Bersira Pedas

It so happened that Chinese New Year (2014) was over and I didn't make my peanut rolls as planned. I just wanted to get rid of the pack of spring roll wrappers. Not wanting to do anything I have done, I remembered there was this popiah bersira recipe that I had been seeing on a few blogs

I have eaten this quite a number of times and it's very addictive. Once I pop, I can't quite stop. But after I have tried making this, I can totally control myself, as I know how siiiiiiinnnfuuuuuul this is. Seriously I kid you not.

Taiwanese Mugwort Dumpling 草仔粿 - Sticky #1

Chinese Mugwort 艾草 (pronounced "ngai chou” in Cantonese) is a household herb that is usually used in omelettes and soups. It can also be used to add colour and flavour to dumplings. This herb is said to be good for women and to dispel wind from the body

This dumpling is also found in China and Malaysia as well. In China, it can go with many names like 清明粑，清明糍，艾草粑粑 and quite a few more that I can't remember. There are some differences between the Taiwanese version and the rest.

Ribbon Pakoda - AFF Indian Snacks #2

Now.... my college of Indian ethnicity got a shock when I showed her my ribbon pakodas. To her pakodas don't look like this, hehehe. And even my omapodi that I posted on Monday, she told me omapodi here is usually made much thicker. After some discussion with her... even murukkus are different. We love adding coconut milk to the dough. Hahaha. But it's not common in India.

Seepu Murukku - AFF Indian Snacks #2

Seepu Murukku or Seepu Seedai is a ring shaped snack. The word seepu means comb and the traditional method of forming the lines is by using a comb. See here.

But newer methods nowadays uses a dough press, that is similar to the ones we use for pineapple rolls or nastar. It definitely makes life easier.

Omapodi - AFF Indian Snacks #1

Mamee Monster noodle snack is a popular junk food in Malaysia. Most kids like it and not forgetting ex-kids like my hubby and I too. 

This will be a better choice than factory made snacks. Made with protein rich chickpea flour and spices that aid digestion, it's a snack that you can consider making. Despite it being fried, my omapodi didn't feel oily.

Mieng Kham - Thai AFF #1

Mieng Kham is a traditional snack from Laos and Thailand.

Miang originated in northern Thailand near the border with Myanmar. The original miang consisted of fermented and or pickled wild tea leaves.Over time, other ingredients were included in the snack. The name can be interpreted as meaning "eating many things in one bite" - from miang (เมี่ยง), meaning "food wrapped in leaves", and kham (คำ), "a bite".

In Laos, this is also made with leaves of spinach, cabbage or lettuce. But in Thailand, it is usually with the leaves of Piper sarmentosum, or wild betel/pepper leaves, locally known as daun kaduk.

Kampar Jau Yun @ Fried Fish Dough Balls 金宝炸丸 - Perak MFF #4

Fishball Noodles, Kampar style, has spread it wings out of town to Klang Valley  in recent years due to the 'migration' of Mdm Sau Ying. I've seen her in person at her stall at Ming Tien, Taman Megah. My family knew her  because our family business was very near to hers back in Kampar. She didn't recognise me, but only my brothers. Yikes, haha! Back when Mdm Sau Ying was still in Kampar, her noodle stall was infront of the Kampar town basketball court, one of the popular breakfast choices in town.

Those of you who ate it before will find the soup and the "liu" a bit different from others. Liu is the stuff that comes with the noodles. Kampar fishball noodles comes with delicious fishballs, Foo Pei (Stuffed beancurd skin with fish paste), Pork Balls (with some bits of cuttlefish) and the weird fried dough called "Jau Yun". But one is always free to dictate which one you want more or less or just that one thing.

Hainanese Spring Rolls - MFF Penang #5

Alan asked me to make this, haha!

Hock Chai, the talented chef cum owner of ZiZai restaurant posted a droolicious picture of Hainanese Spring Rolls that he once ate. Alan saw it and interrogated him on this dish, LOL, and in the end, asked me to do it.

Personally I have never eaten this before, but I think by the looks of it, it looks rather similar with the one that Hock Chai posted.

Fish Satar, Kelantan Style- MFF Kelantan #8

I had Satar many times before.
Flaky fish parcels that bursts with sweetness from the coconut and onions.
It's origins are from Terengganu. But they are sold almost everywhere nowadays.

When I went to Pantai Bachok in Kota Bahru, I saw this satar stall and as usual, I will buy some. To my surprise, there was a crunch factor in it, and it was green! I asked the lady what was the green crunch and was told it was water convolvulus or locally known as kangkung. Being the inquisitive me, I asked whether this was Kelantan's style and she happily said YES.

I find it hard to forget... crunchy, juicy and fragrant. I love it

I tried to replicate it and I'm glad mine tasted alright, but sadly without the smoky fragrance as mine were oven grilled. The texture was soft and flaky, unlike fishballs were we expect them to be  bouncy and very smooth. And they were juicy. Not spicy. But I think I should use more shallots.
I also chose to use aquatic kangkung as these grow on water and are known to have crunchier stems.

Kelantan Fish Satar
by WendyinKK

100gm fish flesh (from 250gm fresh sardines)
2 shallots
1 small piece of ginger (7gm)
1/2 red chilli
60gm freshly grated coconut
1 tsp asam pulp mixed with 50gm water, rubbed to dissolve.
1/2 tsp salt and some black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
4 sprigs of aquatic kangkung

6 pcs of banana leaf (6X6inches)

1. Pound shallots and ginger until pasty, then add in chilli and coarsely pound it. Remove all these and set aside
2. Put in coconut together with fish. Add in salt, sugar, pepper and asam water and mix until combined.
3. Thinly slice kangkung and mix it in. It's is now ready for wrapping.
4. Wilt banana leaf over open flame or blanch it in boiling water.
5. Fold banana leaf into quarters and open up a pocket. Fill in one heaped Tbsp of fish mixture. Press the mixture to fill the corner on the bottom. Fold the top to close up.
6. Grill at 220(fan forced) or 240C for 15 minutes until the parcels release juices and the leaves start to  char.

*Traditional recipes call for pounding, but I used my chopper to do all the pounding work, with the same sequence.

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

Arrowhead Fishcakes 煎慈菇鱼饼 - Arrowhead #3

I love this fishcake, my hubby was so so. It has a slight crunch to it due to the arrowheads. It’s not the usual springy springy type. Reuben loved it and took 3 himself. This is also suitable for bentos.

I happen to have yellowtail fusilier(ikan tauhu) in my freezer, you can use mackerel if you want, but I think you might need lesser if you are using mackerel. The fish is there to for flavour only, the arrowhead provides texture. I might have been greedy to double the fish that what I should be using. LOL. You might want to try the original ratio that is 1 part fish to 4 parts arrowheads, so that you will taste more arrowhead.

Homemade Chinese Croutons - Random Sunday

One of my favs condiments for congee/rice porridge is crispy youtiao bits.
Hawkers usually will deep fry them but I choose to bake them.

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.

How to Make Croutons - No Bake Version

I do get asked this question every now and then.
Actually it's pretty easy. You won't even need an oven for this.

Arrowhead Chips or Fried Ngaku 炸芽菇饼

Some call it Chiku 慈菇, some call it NgaKu 芽菇... As to why some call male offsprings Chikuting...haha, solve it urself. These are only available around Chinese New Year, so it's a goodie. If u don't eat them now, it's hard to get them later on in the year.

Arrowhead used to cost a lot years back then.. before Tesco came to our shores. Back when I first learnt to make this, it could cost RM10/kg at wet markets. Then many years went on (I no longer frequent wet markets), supermarts or other hypermarts will go for RM6 something. Then Tesco came and played it bad, they sold it for RM3 something. Oh well, that year Giant, Carrefour and Jusco quickly reduced their price too, and I could remember how people grabbed the ngakus at Tesco. The following year, Tesco became even badder, going to RM2 something/kg. Me and my sis in law will be waiting for the Tesco workers to replenish the basket, with plastic bags in our hands, ever ready. And when they do refill, we couldn't even see our own hands or what we took, we could just take and put whatever into the bags cos there will be so many hands. I saw a man among the women,, he wasn't shy, and he shoved his arms thru the women's armpits and grabbed the arowheads by the handsful. If u felt groped, I'm so sorry that u won't know who did it cos there were so many arms. FYI, the wet markets at that time are still selling them at around RM6/kg, which explains the rush to grab.

These few years, there are no more arrowhead rushes.. as every hypermart is going for less than RM3/kg. So, u can take ur own sweet time to select and select and select. No need to grab under armpits or over shoulders.

I first tasted this fabulous oh so tasty, tastier than any Lays or Pringles chips way back in 1988. My friend, Siew Ping gave me some chips, fried by her Taiwanese mom. They tasted so different. They were ngaku chips, she told me. Well, I knew her mom, Mrs Loh as well, I always go to her house for some dough shaping sessions with her mom, especially during Siew Ping's birthdays, her mom always make us shape our own guotie. Mrs Loh taught me to peel, slice and pat the arrowhead slices on kitchen towels before frying. To me, pat all the slices????? That's super tedious!!! And super wasteful. I ignored that part of the instruction and just fried them right after slicing. And they turned out alright. Now I know why Mrs Loh only makes a small canister of it.

I know that most people know how to make this, but I'm not surprised that there are some who do not know. When I went to Jusco lately to get my arrowheads, a lady asked me, "What are these?"

"Ngaku lor" I answered.

"Oh.. so they look like this. How to select them?"

"Just get those with nice smooth butts, no cracks, then they'll be good"

"What else to do with them besides frying?"

"Lots..... bla bla bla bla bla.............."

**I'll try to post what we can do with arrowheads besides frying them into chips some other time.

Ok, so let me show you why buy those with no cracks...
In the cracks are dirt, and I'm sure u don't want to eat dirt. The deeper the crack the more dirt it'll have. Even if there's no dirt, the crevace will not give u a round flat chip, u'll still need to cut right up until u get a nice smooth surface. Wastage.

In this picture, u need to slice off 4 pieces to get a smooth clean surface. If for every ngaku u need to slice off few pieces, u'll lose a lot of chips. 4 pieces here is almost 30% of this bulb.

Now, how to fry the ngakus?

First, peel the ngakus, don't break off the stem. Use the stem as a handle when u slice it. Wash them clean of dirt and drain them. Slice them thinly. Do not wash after this. Water is the last thing the arrowhead slices ever need

U can use a food processor fitted with a slicing blade, but make sure u buy those that are smaller so that the bulbs can fit through the mouth of the feeder tube. If u use a food processor, u can cut off the stem.

  

Then heat a big wok of oil on medium heat. Throw in some salt (I prefer it this way, or u can salt them when fried). Add in sliced ngakus, piece by piece, vertically into the deepest part of the wok. Don't put too much. Make sure they don't overlap. If they do overlap, u must separate them fast.

Fry until there are no visible bubbles coming from the ngaku slice. (U can click on the pic to see an enlarged version)

Remove that piece to drain on paper. The ngakus won't be ready simultaneously..so after putting in the ngakus slice by slice, get ready ur chopstick and strainer ladle to pick up whichever piece that no longer has bubbles.

**Prepare ur draining trays with newspaper on the bottom, and top with disposable kitchen towels.

U can salt them at this point when they are still hot, or if u're like me (put salt in oil), u need not salt them.

Let them cool down totally, then u can pack them into canisters or air tight tupperwares.

Troubleshoot:

Chips not crunchy: U didn't fry until all the bubble are gone. No bubble means no more water in chips
Oily chips: Heat too low

Outer chip is brown but inside still fair and soft: Too high heat

Brown ends or brown spots on chips(as shown on right): Skin not peeled properly or bulb was bruised or not in good condition.

Pic: See the brown ends?? This slice was near the tip where I couldn't peel properly w/o breaking the stem, so there were bits of skin left.

U know what, I only bought 2kgs of ngakus at a RM2.90/kg. And I made enough to be sold for more RM60. Market price for fried chips are RM12/red cap plastic canister. This amount that I made can be put into more than 5 canisters. So.... u want to buy or make them urself????

I'm saving them for CNY, so Mike u can only eat whatever balance that I can't fit into these 2 large Enfagrow cans. Neh.. those at the back of the cans... see???? I fed those to him. :)

Homemade Fish Cakes 自造鱼饼

Who says making fish cakes is tedious….
Who says u need some cleaver work???
Who says u need biceps to do it??


I learnt to make this from my friend's mom when I was 15, not exactly learnt... but she just told me how to do it, roughly.
I used to do this agak-agak method, with lots of errors until these few years, I could finally do it better. I've even taught my Selancar students how to make this back when I was teaching there.


This fish cake is good for kids, at least u know what goes into them.
The paste is done in less than 5 mins… with a food processor, plus some manual work.. stirring.
That’s all. You can fry it, or even make yong taufu with it.

Mackerel is nice when making fried fish cakes, very sweet and nice texture, easy to work with and easy to remove flesh. But if u want to make boiled fishballs, skip mackerel.
To make boiled fish balls, use these fishes:
i) Yellowtail fusilier (ikan taufu)
ii) or ikan parang (freshwater, and pricey, hard to come by)
iii) or even malong (eel like, very sweet flesh, but full of long fork bones)

250gm mackerel flesh (no skin, no bones), or other suitable fishes
150ml water (u can put more water if u like, if u find this too hard for ur liking)
1 ½ Tbsp tapioca starch/corn starch
1 tsp sugar
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp MSG (optional, but it makes the fish cakes more bouncy)
Dash of White pepper

1. Combine water, starch, sugar, salt, MSG and pepper.
2. Place fish into a food processor or blender. Pour in (1). Blend until fish turns into a fine paste.
3. Scrape fish paste from food processor into a deep bowl.
4. Stir fish paste vigorously for 2 minutes (or u may want to do it longer).
5. Shape fish paste with wet hands or spoon (if u want, if not, it’s fine. If making yong taufu, stuff ur taufu at this stage) and chill fish paste to set it.
6. Pan fry fish cakes until golden.


*You can do it in a blender, just that cleaning is more tedious and it might smell for some time. You can try removing the smell with pulsing the blender with vinegar or lemon juice mixed with some very warm water, and put it out to dry properly.

The fish paste




The more irregular ones, I was lazy to shape all, so I just placed on tablespoon of the paste onto the hot oil, and pressed it flat with my oily hot spatula, and fry.

Caramelized Anchovies & Peanuts 焦糖江鱼仔花生

When I was a kid, I love this dish made by grandaunt. It goes very well with plain rice porridge.

½ cup cleaned split dried anchovies (don’t wash them!)
½ cup raw peanuts
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
3 Tbsp cooking oil

1. In a dry wok, low heat, fry peanuts for 2 minutes or until skin is dry and can be removed easily. Remove skins by rubbing them with fingers and blow the skins away.
2. Medium low heat, heat oil and fry anchovies until golden. Dish up.
3. With remaining oil in wok, return peeled peanuts into oil and fry until light golden. Put fried anchovies back in and put in sugar and soy sauce. Stir until lightly caramelized.
4. Turn off fire and continue to toss until nicely caramelized. Try to toss until warm and not hot, so that the anchovies won’t stick to each other later.