CRIZ BON APPETITE

Nowadays, it’s rather hard to get great tasting spring rolls (choon pheah/春卷) as how your grandma would make them. Somehow, most cooks detested the tedious amount of time in cutting those ingredients into smaller cubes, marinating them well and stir fry all the cut ingredients individually before mixing them together as the filling. Since I had my nieces back from Australia for a short visit, I had decided to make them some delicious HAINANESE STYLE CRAB MEAT SPRING ROLLS. Of course, those rolls were stuffed with juicy crab meat. Here are some of the tips and recipe in coming up with these delicious spring rolls which would be ideal for family reunions or as party snacks.

INGREDIENTS:
500g minced meat (chicken, beef, pork as your preference)
300g peeled prawns (cut in dices with kitchen scissors)
2 fat Australian carrots (finely diced)
10 water chestnuts (finely diced)
1 jicama/sengkuang (6” diameter – finely diced – can be replaceable with more water chestnuts)
1 cabbage (6-7” diameter – finely diced)
8 Chinese mushrooms (soaked in luke warm water and finely diced – retain the juice)
3 big onions (finely diced)
6 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
1.5” young ginger (grated finely)
3 Tbsp 5-spice powder (add more if you want it stronger in taste)
600g-800g peeled steamed crab meat
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Sesame Oil
Cooking Oil
1 pkt pre-packed spring roll skin (8.5” x 8.5”/215mm x 215mm)

OPTIONAL:
Some coarsely crushed deep fried sole fish (phee hoo) bits

MARINATES: 30 minutes
MEAT – 2 Tbsp sesame oil, 2 Tbsp oyster sauce, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp 5-spice powder, pinch of salt and some pepper. Mix well.
PRAWNS – 1 Tbsp Sesame oil, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar and some pepper. Mix well.
MUSHROOM – 1 Tbsp Sesame oil, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, ginger juice and some pepper. Mix well.

PREPARATIONS:
You would need a large steel basin to put in all the cooked items as we will be cooking individually prior to mixing all together.
1. Saute some chopped garlic in some oil. When brown, put in the diced mushrooms and stir fry until dry. Scoop up and place in basin.
2. Saute some chopped garlic in some oil. When brown, put in the diced prawns and stir fry until they turned orange. Scoop up and place in basin.
3. Saute some chopped garlic in some oil. When brown, put in the minced meat. Flatten it evenly and allow one side to be slightly brown. Flip part by part over and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes on medium fire. Scramble the meat in the wok into little chunks. Add in the diced onions and 2 Tbsp 5-spice powder. Stir fry until the onions look translucent. Scoop up and place in basin.
4. Heat up some oil in the wok and put in the diced carrots. Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add in the diced jicama and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Finally add in the diced water chestnuts and stir fry for another 2 minutes. DO NOT OVERCOOK the vegetables as we would want to maintain a bit of crunch in the bite. Scoop up and place in basin.
5. Next saute some chopped garlic in some oil. When brown, put in the diced cabbages, 2 Tbsp oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, some sprinkles of pepper, a pinch of salt and stir fry until ALMOST cook. Again, we would want to maintain that bit of crunch. (You can sprinkle in some mushroom juice if it’s too dry)
6. Put in the rest of the cooked items in the basin and stir evenly.
7. Place a deep plate at the base of the basin and scoop the evenly stirred filling onto it. Note: This is to ensure that whatever oil and moist within the filling will be captured under the plate to enable a dryer filing for wrapping.
8. Leave to cool down prior to wrapping.

WRAPPING:
As for wrapping the spring rolls, there are a few steps to be taken care of to avoid any leakage. Just follow the steps in the diagram below and you won’t go wrong. You can mix some flour with water as the glue (or to patch up any broken holes) but I just used water since I had the experiences in wrapping the rolls well.

Scoop 2 porcelain spoons of the filling and place slightly below the centre of the spring roll skin. Place some crab meat and start wrapping. Laced an empty tray with a layer of kitchen towel and place the wrapped spring roll on it. DO NOT PLACE wrapped spring rolls on top of each other as they will get stuck to each other.

FRYING:
Heat up some cooking oil on HIGH. When you see some bubbles in the oil, lower to MEDIUM. Fry INDIVIDUALLY, starting from the thicker base while showering the top part with the hot oil. Turn over after about 15s and fry for another 10-15s or until golden brown. Make sure you have lots of kitchen towels laced in any deep container to drain off the excess oil. The trick is to let the spring roll stand vertically upwards. Serve while hot with the sauce of your choice.

SAUCES:
Option 1: Worchester Sauce (Lea & Perrins) with cut red chilies (RECOMMENDED)
Option 2: Worchester Sauce (Lea & Perrins) plus a bit of chili sauce with cut red chilies
Option 3: Simply pour some Thai chili sauce
Option 4: Put in 6 red chilies (removed seeds), 2 green chilies (removed seeds), 4 cloves of garlic, 2-3 Tbsp sugar, pinch of salt, and juices from 8-10 Kasturi lime into a blender. Top the amount with some boiled water. Blend until fine. Taste the blended sauce and adjust the sweetness and sourness to your liking.

STORAGE:
Any excess filling or skin can be kept in the freezer until further use for up to 2 weeks.

(Serves: 12-15 pax with approximately 40-50pcs)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 2% [?]

With the dampness within such a humid weather, more and more people are falling sick due to their ignorance to monitor their consumption of greasy and spicy food. Symptoms would include fever, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite and more. To build up our immune system, resulting from our almost unavoidable outdoor food intake, let’s have some herbal desserts. Let me share with you this simple SIX FLAVORS HERBS DESSERT WITH AMERICAN GINSENG recipe to lighten your body and to eliminate whatever dampness and heatiness within the body. According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practices, this combination of herbs has calming qualities and would help in eliminating body heaviness, chest tightness, sleeping disorder, strengthening the digestive system, lung in the case of relieving cough and retard aging processes.

INGREDIENTS:
15g Radix Dioscoreae oppositae (淮山)
15g Polygonatum odoratum root slices (玉竹)
15g Euryale ferox seeds (芡實- fox nut)
20g lily bulbs (百合)
20g lotus seeds (蓮子)
20g dried longan (龍眼肉)
30g American ginseng slices (西洋參)
6 bowls water (about 2L)
120g rock sugar (add more to your preference)

PREPARATIONS:
Mildly wash all the herbs to get rid of any existing dust.

Slow Cooker:
Add in 6 bowls of water and set to HIGH. When water boils, add in all the ingredients and simmer for 4 hours on MEDIUM-LOW heat. Stir in the rock sugar to taste. Serve hot as a dessert or a beverage.

Pressure Cooker:
Bring the 6 bowls of water to boil on HIGH fire. Add in all the ingredients and close lid. When you hear the hissing sound from the pressure, bring fire to down to MEDIUM-LOW and cook for about 30 minutes. When the pressure is released about 5 minutes later, open lid, switch on your gas cooker and stir in the rock sugar to taste. Serve hot as a dessert or a beverage.

Note: Instead of taking it as a sweet dessert or as a beverage, you can OMIT the rock sugar and add in 300gms pork ribs as a savory soup. Add in salt to taste. (Cooking time – Slow cooker: 3 hours, Pressure cooker: 15 minutes)

(Serves: 3-4)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Nowadays, when you visit some of the Chinese restaurants, you would be served with braised peanuts prior to your meal. The trend of serving roasted or deep fried peanuts has changed as many diners are more health conscious now and refrained from consuming too much oily tidbits. Moreover, the peanuts might be too hard for some elderly diners. To order more plates of these delicious peanuts would also cost you more, especially in posh restaurants. You could get some of those canned ones from China easily available at your grocery stores but I’m a bit skeptical on the quality. I think you get what I mean right? The best way to get as much as you want without hurting your pocket more, is to cook your own at home. These braised peanuts would be best as an appetizer before a meal, snacks, side dish for your porridge or can even be added into your meat and poultry dishes. Let me share with you this simple BRAISED PEANUTS APPETIZER recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
600g raw big sized peanuts with red skins (wash, soak for about 6 hours & rinse)
4 pieces dried orange peels (1/2 an orange) or peels from one whole fresh orange
3 star anise (whole)
10 slices licorice bark
3 pcs cinnamon bark (about 2” length)
4 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)
50-60gms rock sugar
3 Tbsp oyster sauce (premium/vegetarian)
5 Tbsp soy sauce (premium)
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 tsp 5-spice powder
1/2 tsp pepper
6 cups water

PREPARATIONS:
Slow Cooker:
Add in 6 cups of boiling water and all the ingredients EXCEPT the peanuts on HIGH. Stir evenly. When water boils, add in the peanuts and simmer for 4 hours or until the peanuts are to your preferred softness. Drain and leave it to cool down before serving.
Pressure Cooker:
Bring the 6 cups of water to boil on HIGH fire. Add in all the ingredients while stirring evenly. When boil, close lid and wait until you hear the hissing sound from the pressure. Bring fire to down to MEDIUM-LOW and cook for about 20-30 minutes, based on your preferred softness. When the pressure is released about 5 minutes later, drain and leave it to cool down before serving.

Note:
1. Pour back all the ingredients into the pot and keep the broth for your next batch of peanuts.
2. The softness of the peanuts would sometimes depend on the different species of peanuts available at your local market. If the softness is not acquired, let it cook for another few minutes.
3. Some PREMIUM sauce can be quite SWEET. So adjust the sweetness to your liking.

(Serves: 4-6)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 7% [?]

On and off, I would love to cook a big pot of NYONYA STYLE PORK BELLY IN SOY SAUCE (TAU EWE BAK) to go with my meal, whether it’s on hot steaming rice, on some plain instant noodles or just as a dip with some fresh bread or buns. It’s so simple to cook and yet fulfilling for a whole family of adults and children. Let me share with you the delicious recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1kg pork (1/2kg of pork belly and 1/2kg of loin meat – cut in huge chunks)
7 porcelain spoon premium soy sauce
2 porcelain spoon premium dark soy sauce
2 porcelain spoon premium oyster sauce
2pcs cinnamon bark (3”)
2 whole star anise
1 porcelain spoon sugar/brown sugar
1 porcelain spoon pepper corn (slightly crush)
1 porcelain spoon five spice powder
1 whole garlic bulb (removes roots only and slightly crush individual bulb)
5-7 porcelain spoon water (depending on the amount of gravy required)

OPTIONAL:
10 hard boiled eggs
5-10pcs deep fried bean curds (halved in triangles)

PREPARATION:
1. Wash the chunks of meat with salt and drain well.
2. Pour the washed meat into a pressure cooker and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Close lid and cook at HIGH fire.
4. Upon hearing a strong hissing sound from the built-up pressure, lower the fire to MEDIUM-LOW and cook for 15 minutes.
5. Wait for the pressure to be released about 10 minutes later and add in the optional items. Let them soak for about 30 minutes before serving with steamed rice, noodles, bread or buns.

Note:
1. I used a mixture of pork belly and loin meat as I do not want too much of fatty meat for my dish.
2. This version of cooking is very different compared to the Hokkien style as it has thicker but less gravy.
3. DO NOT add in bean curds if you intend to keep the dish for a few days as the bean curd will get spoiled easily under humid weather.
4. For freshness, it’s best in chiller for 3 days. Otherwise, store in freezer up to a week. For reheating, it’s best to steam the dish to maintain the meat’s tenderness. Microwaving the dish would dry up the meat and cause a lot of splatters due to the fat from the meat.

(Serves: 8-10)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 8% [?]

After weeks of feasting during the recent festive season, it’s time to have some detoxification to rejuvenate the body. Here’s something beneficial to the body and yet easy to cook – SEA BIRD NEST WITH AMERICAN GINSENG.

Scientifically known as Eucheuma cottonii, the Sea Bird Nest is more commonly known as Coral Grass or Organic Seaweed. These seaweeds which I obtained from the coastal areas of Sabah, East Malaysia, are naturally harvested with no artificial fertilizers. They taste quite similar to bird nest but less expensive and are enriched in vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, K and 56 mineral supplements which would be ideal for a perfectly balanced natural diet.

For generations, seaweeds have been used as one of the natural ingredients for health, vegetarian diet and beauty. They can be eaten raw as in salads or blended in fruit juice to obtain its natural enzymes. As for desserts, you can make jelly with them or even boil them as cooling desserts for health care. There have been many proven cases where seaweeds have been used as a natural alternative to promote good health. Some of the usages include regulating the blood circulation and high/low pressures, improving the vitality, resisting fatigue, weight-loss diet, beautifying complexion, osteoporosis, stabilizing proper thyroid function, cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, constipation, etc. The seaweed’s high active substances and polar soluble fiber will also help in adjusting the insulin to maintain the blood sugar balance to prevent hyperglycemia as in the case of diabetes. They also eliminate free radical efficiently for detoxify body organs and activate cell tissues for metabolism and anti-aging.

INGREDIENTS:
150gms Sabah seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii seaweed/San Hu Cao/珊瑚藻/海底燕窝)
10gms American ginseng slices
250gms rock sugar
25 seedless red dates
3 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves – bundle up)
4L water

OPTIONAL:
Dried longan
Wolfberries/Goji berries
Quail’s eggs (minimize usage as they are super high in cholesterol level)

The Raw and Soaked outlooks of the seaweeds are shown below:

PREPARATION:
1. Wash the seaweed to rid the salt and soak in purified room temperature water for 5-6 hours, changing the water at least twice. You would get soft cartilage colored like seaweeds.
2. Get a 5L pot and fill up 4/5 of the pot with water.
3. Add in the red dates and bring to boil. When boil, lower to medium fire and boil for about 45 minutes. You would get about 3L left.
4. Add in the ginseng slices and rock sugar and boil for another 10 minutes.
5. Add in the soaked seaweed and the pandan leaves. Boil for 5 minutes.
6. Close the lid and leave for about 15 minutes.
7. Scoop to serve either hot or chilled.

Note: The soup would be more gelatin-like due to the thickened seaweed at the base when chilled for longer hours. Just stir it well and serve.

(Serves: 8-10)

Where to Buy: For those in Penang, you can purchase the Sabah Seaweed from I Mum Mum Pan Mee for slightly over RM12 for 200gms of good quality seaweeds. I had found theirs to be of better quality than those from certain Chinese medical shops.

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Cooking something sweet for dessert is surely more economical than buying from those available outside… unless you are too lazy to cook. LOL! As for me, I would almost always love to cook mine at home as it would give me the freedom to add in more ingredients to pep up the richness in the dessert.

Today, I’m going to share one of my HOMEMADE RED BEAN SOUP WITH LOTUS SEED recipes, which is beneficial to the general health. The red beans or commonly known as the azuki bean, are a good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc copper, manganese and B vitamins. These beans act as a natural diuretic and help in reducing blood pressure.

When combined with some grains, the concoction would supply high quality protein and this would be a great alternative to meat protein. The rich soluble fiber which can also be found in any other beans would help in stool management and also in the elimination of toxins and cholesterol in the body. That’s the reason they are widely used by the Asians to treat problems such as urinary dysfunction, bladder infections and as a diet for post cancer patients (with some other beans such as green beans minus the sugar of course).

INGREDIENTS:
300gms red bean (azuki bean/紅豆)
50gms lotus seed (蓮子 – peel into halves)
50gms Chinese lily bulb (pak hup/baihe/百合)
25gms rice grain/glutinous rice
Sun dried Mandarin orange peel (one orange)
200gms sugar (add more to adjust to your own sweetness level)
5 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves – bundle up)
Water

OPTIONAL:
Alkaline dumpling (kee zhang – diced to bite size)
Glutinous rice ball
Chinese New Year cake (thnee koay/nian gao)
White fungus
Dried longan
Sago

PREPARATION:
1. Get a 5L pot and fill up 3/5 of the pot with water.
2. Wash the beans and rice grains thoroughly to clear any unwanted substance. Pour both the ingredients plus the mildly washed orange peel into the pot.
3. Set the water to boil at high. When boil, turn the fire to medium and cook for 45 minutes (or until you see a small tear on the skin). Add in more boiling water if required. Note: Some beans, especially those older or frozen ones might need a little more cooking time. Just watch out for the tear on the skin if so.
4. Pour in the washed lotus seed and boil for another 15 minutes. Add in more boiling water if required.
5. Pour in the lily bulbs and boil for another 30 minutes.
6. Fill up the pot with more boiling water (4/5 pot) and add in the bundled pandan leaves. 7. Slowly stir in the sugar and let it boil for another 10-15 minutes.
8. Scoop to serve either hot or chilled.

(Serves: 8-10)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 17% [?]

I did mention earlier in my Chinese New Year reunion dinner post that my family has a special dipping sauce for our steamboat instead of the usual hoisin sauce, chopped garlic with bird’s eyes chilies in soy sauce or bottled chili sauce that most family would have as condiments. Let me share with you this simple and appetizing SWEET & CRUNCHY DIPPING SAUCE recipe for almost any meat or seafood dishes.

INGREDIENTS:
250gms red sweet sauce (紅甜醬/tim zheong)
1 thumb size young ginger (slice thinly and cut into strips)
100gms chicken fat/skin/lard (cut into 2” strips)
oil

PREPARATION:
1. Heat up 4 tablespoon of oil in a wok in high fire.
2. Lower the fire to medium and put the chicken fat. Slowly sauté the fat until crispy brown. Scoop up and place on a kitchen towel to seep the excess oil. When cool, cut into smaller chunks.
3. Heat up the remaining oil and sauté the ginger strips until golden brown.
4. Put in the sweet sauce and sauté for about 3 minutes under low fire.
5. Put in the chunks of fat and stir evenly.
6. Scoop and serve.

Note: You can scoop up some of the oil if there is too much. It’s advisable to prepare this sauce 2-3 hours before serving as the oil would harden (due to the fat/lard) and turn white under cold environment. If this happen, just microwave the sauce in high mode for 30 seconds. Best consume within 2-3 days without needing to refrigerate.

(Serves: 10 and above)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Instead of the usual stock for hot pot (steamboat) during this Chinese New Year reunion dinner, I had decided to opt for herbal stock. The ginseng enriched stock was a refreshing experience for my family. Are you aware that ginseng could help in stimulating the physical and mental activity of a tired or weak body? On top of that, it’s ideal for defending the body system from the effects of prolonged physical strain as well as a stimulant for the endocrine glands which would include the sex glands. Did I just say that? Haha! Anyway, it’s good for the general health of everyone.

The amazing part of brewing this stock would be that it’s concentrated. You could easily store in small containers and deep freeze it for your future cooking. The stock would be almost gelatin like with no preservative or seasoning. All you need to do is to add half a container of water to a container of stock and put in some pepper and salt to taste. It’s just as simple as that. Let me show you how you could create this HERBAL STOCK for your favorite hot pot. It’s mild anyway for the consumption of all ages.

INGREDIENTS:

Stock:
2kg pork bones (big bones/tua kut)
3 whole chicken bones
50gms ginseng roots (人參鬚/Panax schinseng roots)
20 sweetened dates
10 liter water

Serving:
Dried Chinese wolfberry (枸杞/kay chee/gouci/goji berry)
Pepper
Salt

PREPARATION:
1. Bring to boil 12 liters of water in a 20L pot.
2. Wash all the bones clean with salt and slowly put all of them into the big pot of boiling water. Add in the ginseng roots and dates. Lower the fire, close the pot partly with a lid and let it simmer for about 6-8 hours. Filter out all the bones and you would get about 6-7 liters of stock left.
3. Scoop the required amount of stock for your hot pot into a new pot. Add in half that amount of hot water (2:1). Add in some dried Chinese wolfberry (about less than 1 tablespoon will do as too much will make the soup turn sour). Bring to boil and sprinkle some pepper and salt to taste. NOTE: Try to be lighter in salt usage as some of the hot pot ingredients such as the meatballs and fish balls have salt in them. Thus the longer the hot pot boils, the saltier it will get. Anyway, I will be sharing the dipping sauce recipe next to allow you to adjust to your taste bud.

Recommended Vegetables for Hot Pot:
Crown daisy chrysanthemum leaves (tang oh/茼蒿) and other vegetables such as Chinese Cabbage (菜心/choy sum), cabbage, spring onions (tied up), young corn, mushrooms, etc. Please take note that the usage of too much Enoki mushrooms might cause the soup base to be sour.

Recommended Add-in for Hot Pot:
All types of meat and fish balls which would be available at your location, either fresh or frozen, chicken fillet slices and seafood of any kind such as crab, clam, mussel, squid, cuttlefish, prawn or fish.

Simple Alternative Soup with the stock:
- Chicken fillet slices, white fungus and ginkgo nuts.
- Chicken fillet slices, lotus seed and lily bulb (百合/bai he/ pak hup).
- Chicken with chopped water chestnut balls, cabbage and rice vermicelli.
- Pork dumpling (sui kow/水餃), Chinese cabbage (菜心/choy sum) and wonton noodles.

(Serves: 10 and above)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 33% [?]