Senangin fish fillet Otak-Otak on popular demand

I have posted this recipe using Salmon before and my friend Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover have also just posted this with some slight changes to my recipe.  After making it again on popular demand, but this time using Senangin fillets and prepared it in a slightly different way.  I am very happy with the result because it tasted even better.  I omitted the galangal and Maggie chicken stock used in the salmon otak-otak. Instead of chunks of fillets, I combined bite size fillet and fillet flakes. This made the texture very different and it gives a more pleasing feel to the palate.  If you are an otak-otak lover like me, try this and you will not regret it. Trust me, once you can make your own, you will not spend another “sen” (dime) buying what is sold in the market. This dish is also a crowd pleaser and when served in a party, you will definitely get lots of oooos and aaahs! Don't be surprise when you what you made will never be enough. 

The Ingredients

The Mixture of fish and paste

Otak-Otak ready for the steamer

The final product

Ingredients:

(A)

500gm senangin fish fillets, (flaked 250 gms, cut into small cubes for balance of 250gm)

225ml thick coconut milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

8 pcs kaffir lime leaves, removed the spines and finely sliced

½ tsp ground white pepper

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

Ingredients for the paste:

(B)

10 pieces red chillies, seeds removed and sliced

(do not remove seeds if want it to be more spicy)

2 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced

4 petals of bunga kanta, finely sliced

10 pcs candlenuts, roasted (pound)

1 pc shrimp paste approx. 1.5 in x 1.5 in x 3/4 in thick

4 cloves garlic sliced

5 shallots, finely sliced

1.5 inch fresh tumeric, (cut into smaller pieces)


(C)

20 pcs medium size daun kaduk (betel leaves) or more if it is small pieces (to lay on banana leaves before putting the fish and paste mixture)

20 pcs 6 inches x 8 inches banana leaves, cleaned (see video on how to soften the leaves)

Method:

Clean fish, remove skin and, flaked and cut them accordingly. Blend all paste ingredients (B) in a blender. If you want it to taste even better, pound the spices using mortar and pestle instead.  In a large mixing bowl, add in (A) and (B) and mix them thoroughly.

Method of making banana leaf parcels for steaming:


First, soften the banana leaves. See video on how to:

Bring water in the steamer to boil to be ready for the parcel.  In each banana leaf, place 1 or 2 betel leaves. Place 3 table spoon of fish and paste mixture onto the betel leaves and make the parcel. Use staples to secure the folds and place the parcels on the rack of a steamer for approximately 12 mins or until fished is cooked and paste is set. Serve hot. 


Note: I suggest you steam 1 parcel to garge the time. From the above ingredients, I managed to make 15 parcels. It is okay to have 20 betel leaves and banana leaves each just in case some are torn and cannot be used.

See video on how to make banana parcel

Note: The time for steaming may varies according to the size of the parcel. If a bigger parcel, allow more time but do not over cook.

 I have submitted this entry to  Malaysian Monday.  Do check out 3 hungry tummies or test with a skewer for more information.

Women can talk all night long!

These were the gifts from my cheerful blogger friends.  Many thanks for the thoughtful gifts and an enjoyable day! 

Last Saturday I invited my blogger friends to my house for lunch and I started cooking and baking on Friday afternoon. Those who came were Swee San of The Sweet Spot,  Reese of Reese Kitchen and she brought with her a basket of fruits, Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lovers, she gave me the dried blue flowers which can be used to make a kind of nyonya kueh.  Not forgetting Pei-Lin of Dodol Mochi came with two big bags of her HUGE American Chocolate Chips cookies.   Do check their blogs out for they have lots of yummy recipes and eye candy food photos! 

Sonia and her kids were the first to arrive. As her kids need to go for tuition, they got to have lunch first without the others. However, I am glad to meet her kids and we had a nice visit. Her eldest son seemed to love my garlic butter mushrooms.  Next came Reese and her cutie daughter Cheryl. While Reese and I visited, Cheryl entertained herself playing games on my iPAD. She is a great kid. Oh, Reese and Cheryl love my lemon curd mousse. Finally, we had Swee San and Pei-Lin and they managed to catch up with Reese for a short while before she had to leave to send Cheryl to her swimming class. These are what mothers do when their kids are young. They always put their kids' interest before their own.

So left the three of us, Swee San, Pei-Lin and me.  Swee San said she likes the grilled vegetables and Pei-Lin, what did you say you like?  LOL! We ate and chat the whole afternoon till late night. Yes, it is not a typo, "till late night". You must be wondering what is there to talk about when we just met not long ago and hardly know each right? I was surprised too because our age different is huge. Both these lovely ladies can be my daughters but we seem to have the same wave length. Well, we touched on many subjects and one is about "FEAR" particularly, "Fear of gossip".  I remembered I read a book about human's eight basic fears and how they ruin our life.  If we can overcome those fears, we will be a much happier person.  I can proudly say that "Fear of gossip" is one that I have overcame long time ago.  To me, the best way to deal with it is to ignore it and let it die a naturally death.  There are many other subjects we touch on and time flies when our mouths are moving. LOL! We did not realised that it was 11pm until Swee San said “Oh, we better go.”  Can you believe that? No wonder men say women can talk all night long. I agree with them.  We can share almost everything with our girlfriends. We get comfort out of talking and usually female are better listening than male, do you agree with me?   I have many girlfriends who are dear friends to me. I have those who share my passion of dancing and eating. Another group are my classmates from kindergarden to high school. We meet and catch up always and now I made a new group of friends from the food blogging community who I can learn a lot from about cooking, baking and food photography. Best of all, I get to meet the local bloggers in person.  Isn't blogging amazing? If possible, I would love to meet in person with all of you someday. Are you now curious what we had for lunch? There you go!

The Menu for the lunch:

Garlic Butter Mushroom (click to get the recipe)

Cold Frittata (click to get the recipe and just put in the fridge for 24 hours before serving). You can be creative with the ingredients.

Grilled vegetables (click to get the recipe)

Roasted pumpkin with rosemary & thyme 

Mango Shrimp cocktail 

Herb pork sausage in spicy tomato sauce 

Lemon Curb mousse 

Unfortunately I have no time to take photos or write out the recipes for above but I promise it will be up soon.

Carrot Cake (Click to get the recipe)

Nori Soup takes only 15 mins to make

It is strange for me to like Nori because I am very sensitive to fishy taste.  Many people find Nori very fishy. I am glad  I don’t because if I do, I will miss out on Japanese food like sushi.  In Japanese cuisine, they use lots of Nori.  I have not taken any Nori soup in a Japanese restaurant but my mum made Nori Soup at home often. I can just put in a bowl of cooked white rice and make it a meal.  I know, you may make a face but one man’s meat is another’s poison but even if this is poison, I will drink it! LOL! 


I asked mum to give me the recipe just before she left for her trip to Ipoh with a good friend. She went there to help her grandson to negotiate dowry for his future wife with his future in-laws. For those who are not familiar with a Chinese Wedding tradition, dowry are money and goods that would make up the gift to the girl’s family. The dowry list is prepared by the bride's family to the groom's family.  In this modern day and age, dowry will be just the "Ang Pau" and/or number of tables at the wedding dinner paid for, given to the bride's family.  According to my mum, the negotiation went well.  I am happy to hear that because there were many cases I knew of, where both the bridegrooms and brides' families had a big fall out after the negotiation.  Mostly because parents could not come to an agreement.  It is very sad when that happened.  It sounded absurd but believe me, it still happens. Sometimes I wonder what those parents were thinking during the negotiation.  My mum has never asked for a dowry from both my husbands. She told my late husband Michael to give her "ang pau" (red packet with money inside)  of RM9.99 and that is good omen for our marriage to last forever. To Stitch, she did not even ask for an "ang pau" because he is a quaylo.  As for me, if I have a daughter, I will tell her there is no need for dowry. What I want from the bridegroom is his assurance to love her and take good care of her for the rest of his life and be happy couple. The day will come for me to go through this dowry negotiation process. Let's hope my future in-laws will be like my mum who understands that marriage is about couple's happiness an not about the parents' wants.  What is your view on this? Oops, how did I go off topic? I am suppose to give you the recipe for nori soup right?  

Ingredients:

1 tbs ginger, julliened

1 C parsley , roughly chopped

2 pcs Nori

100g thinly sliced pork

½ tsp vegetable oil

1 tsp chopped garlic

600ml water

1 cube bullion chicken stock

Method:

Heal oil in wok and sauté garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add pork and sauté till meat looks whitish. Add water and bullion chicken stock and bring to boil for 3 mins. Add Nori  and boil for 1 min. Serve hot.

Chwee Kueh and one of my favorite childhood games

In Cantonese, we call this “Voon chye go” and this is something that reminds me of my Mum’s good friend in Ipoh.  I called her “Ah Tai” (means the eldest).  According to my Mum, she got this nickname because she spoke with a very loud voice and all the neighbors on the street respected her and gave her "face" because she is the oldest and a very generous person.  She used to serve food and drinks to her mahjong “kakis” (mates).  One dish that she served that left a deep impression with me was her chwee kueh (rice cake).  They tasted out of this world delicious.! I remembered “Ah Tai” stayed in this famous street in Ipoh in one of the old shop houses. The street used to be called Theatre Street before our Government change all the streets’ name in Ipoh to Bahasa Malaysia.  Mum went there to play mahjong with her and her other friends. While Mum was playing mahjong, I would be playing with other children who lived there and one of our favorite games was kicking this colorful object which you will see in the photos below.  I have not seen this for 40 years since I moved from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur. The other day when my Quay Lo and I went to have lunch in one of our favorite Chinese coffee shops, we walked pass a shop and many of these were displayed outside on the varendah.  I turned to him and told him I must buy one and share my story about it with my friends.  Don’t ask me what this is called in English because I don’t have a clue.  Any of my Asian friends can tell me?  In Cantonese, it is called “Yin”.  Now you may want to know how did we play the game.  Okay, each of us would have our own“Yin”.  To play the game, we needed to kick this up in the air with one foot and continue kicking as many times as possible without letting it drop on the ground.  Once dropped on the ground, that will be our score. So who got the most score would be the winner. You will be surprised to know that the “Yin” we owned was one that we handmade by ourselves and we would decorate our “Yin” with very colorful tin can sheets and feathers. We would make it look very attractive and took great pride in it. We would compete with each other to own the best looking "Yin".  Sometimes we so admired our friend’s “Yin” that we made our “Yin” as a price to the winner.  It was a lot of fun kicking "Yin". In my opinion, games played during my childhood days were more outdoor, creative and interactive as compared to games played by kids today.  The next question for those who has never seen or heard of this game may be curious to know what this is made of.  They are made of  one very long nail with a rather big flat head and many layers of round rubber sheets and tin can sheets of about 3 to 4 cm in diameter. All the sheets were punched with a hole in the centre just big enough to let the nail go through.  The top and bottom layers had to be rubber.  In between were numerous tin can sheets.  Rubber bands were used to tie the feathers to the tip of nail.  Yes, it is that simple to make a toy for ourselves those days. It practically cost us nothing and yet we could derive hours of pleasure from it.

Now, coming back to chwee kueh, here is the recipe. Mine may not taste as good as At Tai’s but my mum and my friends love it so I presume it is worth sharing this recipe with you. 

Makes 30

Ingredients:

(A)

300g rice flour

½ tsp corn flour

2 C water

¼ tsp salt

(B)
3 C water

3 tbs oil

Toppings:

(C)

3 tbs oil

3 tbs garlic, chopped

150g dried preserved radish pieces (chai poh)

¼ tsp pepper

4 tbs sugar

Method:

Grease chwee kueh moulds of 4 cm diameter and place on steamer to heat. Mix (A) together in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.  Bring 3 C water to boil. Add to A and blend with a whisk to get a slightly gluey consistency.  Pour batter into each chwee kueh mould, filling to just below the brim.  Steam for 20 mins over moderate heat. Ensure water is boiling before covering the steamer.  Cool before scooping out.  Top with (C).

To make topping (C):

Heat the oil and fry garlic till golden. Add preserved sweet radish and fry for 5 mins till fragrant.  Add pepper and sugar.  Add more sugar if a sweeter taste is desired. Fry for another min.

You can serve this with sambal belacan or hoi sin sauce or tauchew sauce. 

Note: Vary the amount of corn flour to adjust texture.  Use moderate heat when steaming to prevent dimples from forming. Also, put vinegar into the boiling water in the steamer so chwee kueh will be white. There are 2 types of chai poh. Use the sweet one and not the salted. It is better to prepare the toppings before hand and keep in the freezer for a week. Steamed chwee kueh, if kept in air tight container in the fridge can last for 2 days.

 I have submitted this entry to  Malaysian Monday.  Do check out  3 hungry tummies or test with a skewer for more information.

Spinach Bacon mini quiche

Do you have days that you just want to eat something simple? Here is a recipe for a quick, simple and delicious meal. You can make a big batch of this and keep in the freezer. They come very handy on days when you just want to drop on your couch and eat your meal in front of the TV watching your favorite show.  Don’t even have dishes or cutlery to wash.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 cups milk

1 1/4 cups shredded Asiago cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 red capsicum, thinly sliced (if want spicy, replace with 1 red chilli)

2 to 3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry wasabi

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 (10 ounce) package spinach, cooked, chopped and drained

1 (9 inch) short crust pastry (divide by 4 make 4 mini pie shell)

Method:

In a large bowl, beat eggs; whisk in milk, 1 cup cheese, capsicum,onion, bacon, salt, mustard and paprika. Add spinach. Pour into pie shell. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted halfway between the center and the edge comes out clean.

Braised Lamb Shank in garlic foam – Big Disappointment!

First I do not eat lamb, and I just cannot stand the gamey taste. There have been many times when everybody told me the lamb at a certain restaurant had no gamey taste, and I've tried, but the musky "gamey" taste is always there. Since both my hubby and son love lamb, I want to learn how to make this dish for them. So I found a recipe for lamb shank in Chef Sam Leong's recipe book. I followed the recipe to the dot and cannot tell what went wrong. I am not happy with the result of this dish. My food critic said the flavor was good but my lamb shank is not tender enough. I did not know that it is so difficult to get it right. No wonder I don't like it. LOL! I would love to hear your opinion on this. Any of you dear friends have a good lamb shank recipe, please point me to it ok? Pretty please?

Adapted from Chef Sam Leong’s recipe

Ingredients:

60g lamb shank,

½ tsp cooking oil

40g Edmame beans

salt to taste

Sauce:

50g diced carrot

50g diced celery

3g rosemary

3g thyme

1 bay leaf

160ml chicken stock

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp tomato paste

2 tsp red wine

Garlic Foam:

20g peeled garlic

50ml chicken stock

30g whipping cream

½ tsp salt

Garnish:

Pink peppercorns

Chives

Method:

Pan sear lamb shank until brown on all sides. Place a pot with sauce ingredients and braise for 1 hr. Reserve shanks but discard other ingredients. Deep fry whole garlic until brown. Steam with chicken stock for 30 mins until garlic is soft. Add cream and process mixture in a blender until foamy. Season with salt. Heat oil and sauté edamame beans. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Place edamame beans on a plate, top with lamb shanks and spoon garlic foam over. Sprinkle with pink peppercorns and chives.

Steam three kinds of eggs

My son and hubby loves eggs. You can cook them in any variation, they will still love it.  To me, my mum makes the best steam eggs. This may look simple to do but to get the right consistency and texture are not so.  Before I started this blog, I never pay any attention to how mum makes this dish. I just know that I love it and have not found any restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that can make it better than her. There are times when I craves for it. Whenever that happens, all I have to do is said to mum, I want to eat steam eggs. "PUOOFF!" the steam eggs will be served at dinner time! I consider myself VERY lucky to have mum staying with me.  She is my BEST friend, someone I can confide in and be myself.  There are times when I go cranky and become nasty and blow my top unreasonably.  Mum puts me back on track by giving me a nice scolding which I deserved! She is my guardian angel. 

As usual, mum does not follow any measurement.  When I asked her how she makes the steam eggs, she said, a pinch of this and a bowl of that and use this aluminium plate to hold the eggs. So, I have to explain to her that I need accurate measurement in order for me to share this recipe with my readers and blogger friends.  They don't have the same size bowl or the aluminium plate we use. I told her I need to measure all her "pinch of this and handful of that" and "a bowl of this and that" to get it right. You know what she said to me?  She said "Aiyoh, why so "Ma fan"(troublesome)?, I don't need so many cups and spoons to cook. All I have is my ten fingers!" LOL! So there you go, here is the recipe carefully measured from my mum's ten fingers.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 century egg

1 salted egg

¾ cup water

1 tsp chopped garlic, deep fried

1 shallot, thinly slice and deep fried

1 tsp diced chives

1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Crack the regular and salted eggs in an aluminium plate. Dice the salted egg yolk. Add water and beat them lightly. Remove shell from century egg and cut into bite size and spread out into the salted egg and regular egg mixture.   Heat steam on high heat till water is boiling. Place plate with eggs mixture into the steamer and gently stir the mixture for 30 sec. Keep heat on high and close lid but just allowing a little gap. You can use a spoon or spatula to create the gap, this is a secret to getting the perfect steam egg custard with silky smooth surface. Steam for about 15 to 20 mins. Drizzle sesame oil on top of steamed eggs and garnish with deep fried garlic, deep fried shallots and chives. Serve hot.