How to make ikan bilis stock

江鱼仔上汤

Some dishes taste better with ikan bilis (dried anchovies) stock e.g. rickshaw noodles and mee hoon kueh. The stock can be ready in less than 1 hour.

Ingredients (makes approximately 1 litre of stock)

30g ikan bilis

2 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)

1.5 litre water

Method:

1. Soak ikan bilis in water for half hour, drain and set aside.

2. Heat the wok with 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooking oil. When oil is hot, add ikan bilis and stir fry for a few minutes until the ikan bilis turns light brown. Then, add the chopped garlic and stir fry for another few minutes. Add water and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for half an hour.  

2. Sieve the soup and remove the anchovies and garlic. For a 'cleaner' soup, filter the soup through a tea bag. The creamy white colour of the stock comes from the ikan bilis and it is packed with unami. 

Done!

Steamed Chicken

白斩鸡

We cook this steamed chicken dish every fortnight as it is so easy to prepare.

Ingredients

1 kampong chicken

1 tablespoon salt (to clean chicken)

1 tablespoon salt (to marinate chicken)

Thumb sized ginger

Method

1. Clean chicken, rub salt all over the skin and wash away the salt. Dab chicken dry with kitchen towel.

2. Apply salt all over chicken including cavity and air dry chicken for at least 3 hours.

3. Prepare steamer and fill it up with sufficient water for steaming to last 45minutes.

4. Grate ginger.

5. Place chicken on a big plate, and put the plate in the steamer. Steam at low heat for 45minutes. If chicken is small (1kg or less), steam 30minutes.

5. After steaming, let the chicken rest in the steamer 15 minutes. Take some chicken juice from the plate and add to the ginger.

6. Debone the chicken and serve with sliced cucumbers. Keep the chicken bones/carcass in freezer to make chicken stock.

How to make chicken stock

 鸡上汤

This is our sustainable way to make chicken stock - using leftover chicken bones/carcass after having steamed chicken. Don't let good chicken bones go to waste, stockpile them in the freezer and you will have a ready supply of bones/carcass to make clear chicken stock.

You can use roasted chicken bones to make the stock too but the stock colour will be dark/brown.

Here are the steps:

1. Put chicken bones/carcass in a big pot and cover with water. Use less water if you want a more concentrated stock. Cover the pot.

2. Bring the water to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for at least one hour. Simmer longer if you have the time. Skim off fats from the stock.

3. Remove the bones/carcass. Filter the stock using a tea bag or fine mesh sieve.

Done!

Double Boiled Cabbage Soup

炖泡菜汤

You will be surprised how easy it is to prepare this flavourful soup with only 3 ingredients - cabbage, dried scallops and chicken stock.

Ingredients (serves 4 pax)

3/4 cabbage (buy Cameron Highlands or Japanese cabbage which are sweeter. They are round in shape and slightly flattish.)

3 to 4 pieces of dried scallops (rehydrated)

Chicken stock (click here on how to make this stock)

Method

1. Quarter the cabbage and slice off the core. Wash each quarter of cabbage under running tap water. Do not separate or tear the cabbage leaves. Place the cleaned cabbage in a deep ceramic bowl (I use a 8.5" ramekin bowl).

2. Place the scallops including the water used for soaking the scallops into the ceramic bowl.

3. Fill the ceramic bowl with chicken stock until 80% full. No need for the stock to completely cover the cabbage. Cover the ceramic bowl.

4. Put the ceramic bowl in a big pot/wok filled with water. Cover the big pot/wok. Bring the water in the big pot/wok to a boil over high heat. Turn to low heat and double boil for 1 hour. Make sure to check the water level in the big pot/wok throughout the double boiling process. Add water when it runs low. 

5. Add a dash of salt to the soup and serve hot.

Kueh Bingka Ubi Kayu (Baked Tapioca Cake)

烤木薯糕

This is one of my favourite nonya kueh. Store bought ones can be overly sweet. My recipe yields a less sweet tapioca / cassava cake which is enhanced with the addition of gula melaka and butter. Baking it in the pan lined with banana leaves also resulted in a very fragrant kueh. 

The most time-consuming part of making this kueh is peeling, removing the core and grating the tapioca. The amount of grated tapioca will determine the quantity of the rest of the ingredients. I've provided the ratio of the ingredients to the grated tapioca in my recipe below. 

Ingredients:

grated tapioca (T)

thick coconut milk (70% of T)

tapioca starch (2.6% of T)

sugar (16% of T) - I used gula melaka and granulated sugar

salt (1/4 tsp per 500g of T)

egg (lightly beaten - 1 egg per 500g of T)

butter (cold - 15g per 500g of T)

Method:

1. Peel tapioca, remove core and grate them. Weigh the grated tapioca*.

2. Add tapioca starch to grated cassava, mix well with a spatula.

3. Add in salt nd sugar, mix till sugar has dissolved. If you use gula melaka, the kueh colour will be brown.

4. Add in lightly beaten egg, mix till combined. Instead of whole egg, you can use only the yolk.

5. Add in thick coconut milk gradually, mix till combined.

6. Pour into baking pan (lined with banana leaves) and use the spatula to spread the mixture evenly. Bake on the lowest shelf of the oven @180C (top and bottom heat, with fan) for 35 minutes or until the top is light golden brown. Remove from oven and drop bits of cold butter on the top and continue to bake the kueh in the upper shelf of the oven for 15 minutes or until the top are crispy golden brown. Insert a skewer into the kueh to check whether it is ready (skewer is clean with there is no raw batter on it) before removing from oven.

7. Let the kueh cool completely before removing it from the pan. Slice and serve with tea/coffee. Leftovers must be kept in the fridge - just steam or microwave to warm it before serving. 

* came across a recipe where the grated tapioca is squeezed to extract its liquid (starch and water). The liquid is set aside for at least an hour for the starch and water to separate. Then, discard the water and replace with clean tap water. This extra process is due to the belief that white tapioca is bitter. I may try this process when I bake this kueh next time.

Potato & Luncheon Meat

 

Simple comfort food that brings back fond memories. 

Ingredients

1 big potato (I used russet, cut into bite sized cubes)

Half can of luncheon meat (I used Spam Bacon, cut into bite sized cubes)

Half big onion (cut into wedges)

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon sugar (I used unrefined brown sugar)

27g tomato ketchup (I used 3 tomato satchels from fast food restaurant!)

9g chilli sauce (I used 1 satchel from fast food restaurant!)

50ml water

Method

1. Heat wok with some oil (sufficient to deep fry potato and luncheon meat).

2. When oil is hot, deep fry pototo cubes until edges are golden brown. Remove the potato cubes from wok and deep fry the luncheon meat cubes next. Once the edges of luncheon meat cubes are golden brown, remove the oil, leaving only about a tablespoon in the wok. 

3. Stir fry the onion wedges until edges are browned, add in the garlic and stir fry for a minute. 

4. Add the tomato ketchup, chilli sauce, sugar and water into the wok. Stir to mix in completely. 

5. Add the potato and luncheon meat cubes into the wok and stir fry with the sauce for a few minutes.

Done! Serve hot!

Cripiest Fried Chicken

 香脆炸鸡

The crispiest fried chicken I've ever cooked! Stays crispy for more than half hour after frying. Recipe below adapted from masa's cooking abc.

Ingredients:

500g chicken fillet or chicken thigh

Marinade: Half tsp mirin, half tsp sake, half tsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp garlic powder (or 2 cloves minced garlic), 1 tsp minced ginger and 1 small egg

9 tablespoon potato flour

3 tablespoon water

Method:

1. Cut the chicken to bite size and marinate for at least 30 minutes. 

2. Add the water gradually into the potato flour and use chopsticks to mix as you add the water. The flour will clump together and form small lumps. This is what we want.

3. Heat wok with cooking oil, coat each piece of chicken with the flour mixture (step 2) and deep fry until light brown. Once all pieces of fillet has been fried, turn up the heat and deep fry for a few seconds until golden brown. Double frying method will result in crispy chicken.

Enjoy! 

Tomato Fried Egg Omelette

 番茄炒蛋

Comfort dish at its best! My late mother in law cooked this very frequently and this dish reminds me of her!

Ingredients:

3 medium size tomatoes (can add more if you like tomatoes)

4 eggs

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

Corn starch slurry (1 tablespoon corn starch mix with 2 tablespoons water)

Method:

1. Make a few slits on the tomatoes, put in a small pot and bring to a boil. Then off the heat and leave the tomotoes in the pot for 5 minutes or until the tomoto skin peels away. 

2. Drain the tomatoes and keep 2 tablespoons of the water. Cut the tomatoes into thin wedges and remove the seeds.

3. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and beat it vigorously using a fork until well combined.

4. Add two tablespoons of oil into wok and swirl to coat the surface of the wok. Add the eggs and tilt the wok to spread the eggs. Let the eggs cook, over medium heat, undisturbed until the eggs start to set around the edges. Once edges start to set, use the wok spatula to move the cooked egg towards the centre of the wok and the raw egg filled the space. Do this continously until the eggs are just cooked. Remove the egg omelette from the wok.

4. Heat up wok again with a tablespoon of oil. Add the tomatoes and stir fry for a minute. Mix in two tablespoons of water (from step 2), 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir fry for a few minutes, then slowly add just enough corn starch slurry to thicken the tomato sauce. 

5. Return the egg omelette to the wok and stir to mix with the tomato sauce. Add the tomato ketchup and mix in thoroughly. Transfer the egg omelette to serving plate and garnish with spring onions (optional).

Serve hot!