My parents went to Pontian Kechil, Johor last weekend. Pontian Kechil is a well-known fishing village in the southern tip of Malaysia. In fact, drive a further 20 km or so southbound and you would have reached the southern-most tip of Asia!

The sweetness and slight sourness of the pineapples complimented well with the freshness of the prawns as well as the spicyness of the sambal chilli. A definite good companion to steaming hot rice!

This is the recipe:-

Ingredients

• 300 grammes fresh medium-sized prawns (shell and deveined)
• 2 large onions (quartered)
• 150 grammes of pineapple (cubed)
• Sugar to taste
• Salt to taste
  
• 2 tablespoon of cooking oil
  

Sambal :

• 5 dried red chillis (pre-soaked for 30 minutes and remove seeds if want it to be less hot)
• 10 bulbs shallots
  
• 5 bulbs garlic
• 3 slices of galangal

Method

Blend or pound sambal ingredients till fine.

Heat oil in wok and fry sambal ingredients at medium heat till fragrant (about 2 minutes) taking care not to over-burn the ingredients. Add onions and continue stirring for about another minute.

Increase to high heat and add prawns and pineapples. Continue stirring till prawns are cooked. Add sugar and salt to taste. Add a little warm water if you prefer some gravy.

Bon appetit!

Lately, there has been a number of recipes on pork ribs on this site. Pork ribs can be cooked in many different ways and mum cooks pork ribs by steaming it in taucheo sauce once a while.

The trick to this dish is to include sour salted plums as this actually give the pork ribs a good "zing" to taste as well as tenderises the meat. Some add this salted plums to steamed fish ala Teochew style.

This is the recipe:-

Ingredients

• 300 grammes of pork ribs
• 2 tablespoons of taucheo (fermented soya beans sold in bottles)
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 sour salted plums (sold in bottles. Remove excess water)
• 4 bulbs garlic (chopped or minced)
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)

Method

To prepare marinade, heat oil in pan / wok and stir fry garlic with taucheo for 1 1/2 minutes on medium heat. Add sugar. Remove and let cool.

Add the sour salted plums to the marinade and marinate the pork ribs evenly for at least 30 minutes.

Steam the pork ribs for at least 30 minutes and serve.

Super simple, isn't it?

Any visit to Sarawak, Malaysia especially to the major cities and towns like Kuching, Bintulu, Sibu and Miri would not be complete without a sampling or indulging in the very delicious Sarawak Laksa. Many locals swear by their favourite stalls and some stalls are really famous. You will have to be there early to catch a bowl.

I cooked Sarawak Laksa last Saturday. Invited some friends over and had a good time. Some say it tastes good but I felt that it lacked something. Could it be the laksa paste was not spicy enough? Of could it be due to my removal of some of the oil from the soup for health reasons?


If you have cooked it before, I would appreciate your comments.

This is the Recipe for Sarawak Laksa which I cooked. Good enough for 16 bowls.

Ingredients

• 750 grammes of Bee Hoon (rice vermicelli) (pre-soaked)
• 1.2 kilogrammes of medium-sized prawns (with head and shell)
• 1.5 kilogramme chicken (whole bird minus the head and feet)
• 5 eggs
• 500 grammes of bean sprouts
• 16 to 20 pieces of lime
• 900 grammes of Sarawak Laksa paste (I used the "Swallow" brand)
• Coconut milk from 1 1/2 coconuts (about 300 mls)
  
• Salt and sugar to taste
• 20 bowls of water (about 8 litres)
• Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method

Beat eggs and fry them thinly on a frying pan. Cut into strips. Set aside.

Boil 4 litres of water in a stock pot. Upon boiling, add 2 teaspoons of salt followed by prawns. Boil the prawns till they start to float indicating that they are cooked. Remove the prawns and let it cool.

Separately, boil 4 litres of water in another stock pot. Upon boiling, add 2 teaspooons of salt followed by the chicken. Boil till chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken and let it cool.

Remove head and shell from prawn. Put back the head and shell into the first pot, cover lid and continue boiling for at least 2 hours on medium heat. Place prawn aside.

Remove chicken meat from bones and shred the meat using fingers. Put back the chicken bones into the second pot, cover lid and continue boiling for at least 2 hours on medium heat. Place shredded chicken meat aside.

Once both stock are cooked, remove heads and shells of prawns as well as chicken bones. Combine the stock into one pot. Add Sarawak Laksa paste and let it boil at medium to high heat for at least 30 minutes.

Using freshly boiled water, blanch the beansprouts in 3 batches for 1 minute each. Drain beansprouts and set aside.

Next, cook the pre-soaked beehoon in 4 to 5 batches by blanching them in boiling water for at least 1 minute. Drain and set aside.

After the Sarawak Laksa paste has been left boiling for at least 30 minutes, turn off heat and sieve and remove the spice from the stock. Bring the stock (now laksa soup) to boil again. Turn off heat and add coconut milk gradually whilst stirring. Add salt and sugar to taste.

To serve, first place cooked beehoon on a bowl. Add beansprouts, shredded chicken, prawns and egg strips. Then pour the laksa soup over the ingredients.

Garnish with coriander leaves and squeeze a lime over the soup before eating.

It is not recommended that the laksa be kept overnight as coconut milk is used.

Yesterday, we were rummaging through our kitchen to find out what we have which we could cook for lunch. In most Chinese homes, dried chinese mushrooms and dried prawns / shrimps are commonly found. So are bee hoon (rice vermicelli).

This is what I did :-

Ingredients

• 250 grammes bee hoon (pre-soaked till soft and drained)
• 4 pieces chicken frankfurters (cut diagonally - or whichever way you like)
• 5 pieces dried chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked in one bowl (about 250 ml) of water till soft and slivered. Remove stalk)
• 50 grammes dried prawns (pre-soaked in about 150 ml of water)
• 100 grammes chinese mustard (more if you like)
• 2 eggs
• 4 bulbs garlic (minced)
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 3 pieces Lime

Seasoning

• 3 teaspoons light soya sauce or to taste
  
• Dash of white pepper powder to taste
  

Method

Heat oil in wok. Fry the chinese mushrooms for about 30 seconds and remove from oil.

Proceed to fry the dried prawns for 30 seconds. Add garlic followed by the frankfurters and eggs. Stir-fry till eggs are done and add back the chinese mushrooms.

Add bee hoon and stir fry for about 3 minutes, gradually adding water which was used to soak the mushrooms and dried prawns a little at a time to keep the bee hoon moist. Add seasoning followed by chinese mustard.

Continue stir-frying till chinese mustard and bee hoon is cooked.

Serve with a squeeze of lime.

This recipe serves 3 to 4 persons.

When I go to mamak stalls, I sometimes order mee goreng (fried noodles). Most of the time, the noodles are cooked in slightly dark coloured gravy due to the use of dark soya sauce. As for me, I have not been able to replicate the same type of mee goreng probably because I do not use the same type of ingredients.

I do, however, have my own recipe for mee goreng in which I use yellow noodles, tomatoes, fried beancurd, bean sprouts, chinese mustard (sawi), onions, garlic and fried fish cake (see photograph on right for ingredients used). If I have left over fried chicken, I will also put it in for extra flavour.

My mee goreng is basically sweet, sour and hot in taste as I use tomato and chilli ketchup. Do try it as it is not difficult at all.


Ingredients

• 500 grammes of yellow noodles
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 3 bulbs garlic (minced)
• 2 cups of bean sprouts (remove root)
• 200 grammes of chinese mustard (sawi) (cut into bite sizes)
• 2 pieces hard beancurd (cut into strips)
• 1 large tomato (cut into 8 wedges)
• 2 large eggs
  
• 2 pieces fried fish cake (cut into strips) (you can also use any form of pre-cooked meat eg. fried chicken, fried beef, etc)
• 3 pieces lime (halved)
  
• 4 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 cup warm water
  

Sauce

• 3 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
• 2 tablespoons of chilli ketchup
• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce

Method

Fry beancurd strips in wok till golden brown. Remove from oil.

Whilst the oil is still hot, fry the onions, garlic and fish cake strips (or meat) till fragrant. Add eggs and stir fry till eggs are semi-cooked. Add noodles gradually whilst stirring. (Cook at high heat to ensure noodles do not stick on wok)

Having stir fried the noodles for about 1 to 2 minutes, add fried beancurd strips and cut tomatoes. Continue to stir fry, add beansprouts and sauce (adjust amount of ketchup to taste). Add a little bit of water to keep noodles moist.

After 1 to 2 minutes, add chinese mustard and stir for 1 minute (chinese mustard cooks fast and gets limp easily in yellow noodles).

Serve with a squeeze of lime.

This is my recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 Pork ribs cut into 2 inch lengths (approximately 400 gms)
• 1 large onion (quartered and separated)
• 1 green capsicum (slivered)
• 2 large tomatoes (cut into wedges)
• Oil for deep frying
• Corn flour
• 1 teaspoon of Salt and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper powder to marinade pork ribs
  

Sauce

• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• sugar to taste
• 1 cup of warm water

Method

Marinade pork ribs for about 3 hours or more. Adjust amount of salt as marinade according to your preference.

Deep fry the pork ribs till golden brown and cooked. Remove and drain.

Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil into wok at high heat. Fry onions and capsicums for 30 seconds. Add tomato ketchup. Sprinkle sugar to taste (depending how sweet or sour you want the sauce to be). Gradually add a little warm water depending on how thin you want the sauce to be. Finally, add the tomatoes and fried pork ribs.

Stir and coat the pork ribs in the sauce and serve hot. Excellent served with Egg Fried Rice.

You can also add cucumbers (diced) or pineapples (diced) into the dish.

I am quite fond of noodles and pastas. One form of noodles that I like (if it is classified as a type of noodles in the first place) is beehoon (also known as rice vermicelli). Beehoon can be cooked dry or in soup or even in light sauce. It is very commonly cooked in Malaysia and Singapore.

On festive occasions, my mum will cook beehoon with stewed pork ribs. The stewed pork ribs are sold in cans and purchased from supermarkets. Of course, you can just heat up the stewed pork ribs and eat it with rice but this is another method to cook it. Tastes good!


Ingredients

• 300 gms of beehoon (pre-soaked for 1 hour and drained)
• 1 can of stewed pork ribs (do not throw the gravy away)
  
• 150 gms of cabbage (sliced) - you can have more if you like more vegetables
• 1 carrot (optional - sliced into strips)
• 2 eggs
  
• 3 bulbs garlic (minced)
• 5 bulbs shallots (sliced thinly)
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 cup of hot water

Flavouring

• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce (more if you prefer the dish to be saltier)
• Dash of white pepper powder (to taste)
  

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots from oil.

With the same oil in the wok and at high heat, fry the garlic (till light yellow colour). Add eggs and fry till eggs are slightly brown. Then add cabbage and carrot and stir fry for 2 minutes till vegetables are slightly limp. Add in the stewed pork ribs and its gravy.

When the mix above starts to boil, add the beehoon (rice vermicelli) and stir fry for about 5 to 7 minutes. Add flavouring to taste whilst stir frying.

Add the hot water gradually to keep the beehoon moist whilst stir frying. Beehoon is cooked when it is no more translucent and is soft.

Serves 3 to 4 persons.

Sorry I have not updated this blog for sometime. I have not been cooking lately until yesterday.

Anyway, I am fond of vegetables particularly broccoli. It's a highly nutritious vegetable from the cabbage family. There are many ways of cooking it. Here, I will share with you how it is stir-fried with other vegetables chinese style.

Ingredients

• 150 gms broccoli (cut into florets like picture above)
• 150 gms cauliflower (cut into florets like picture above)
• 100 gms button mushrooms or chinese dried mushroom (if latter, please pre-soak and cut into halves. Remove stem)
• 1 medium sized carrot (sliced)
• 1/2 tin of asparagus clams (optional)
• 100 gms baby corn (optional)
• 4 bulbs garlic (minced)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil (palm oil preferred)
• 1 tablespoon corn flour (mix with 50 ml water and stir to make corn starch)
• Half cup hot water
  

Flavouring

• 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• White pepper powder to taste
• 2 teaspoon chinese cooking wine (optional)

Heat oil in wok till oil starts to smoke. Add garlic and mushrooms. Stir fry for 1 minute.

Add cauliflower, carrot, asparagus clams and baby corn. Continue to stir fry for 3 minutes, adding hot water gradually. Cover for 1 minute. Add broccoli and continue to stir fry. Add a little bit more of the hot water if it becomes too dry (you will want a little bit of sauce).

Add flavouring above and continue to cook until broccoli is slightly limp. If the sauce is too watery, add a little bit of the corn starch to thicken the sauce.

Serve hot with preferably with rice.