Baked Beans with Minced Pork and Potatoes

Baked Beans is not Asian. I don’t think it is. But I’ve seen some of the rice shops here in Kuala Lumpur which serve baked beans cooked with other ingredients. This is just one of the many variants and it adds a bit of difference to the usual baked beans.

You can eat this with white rice or even fried rice. I suppose you can actually eat it on its own but you may have to adjust the taste (especially the tomato) so that the taste is not too overpowering

This is my recipe for Baked Beans with Minced Pork and Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 tin of baked beans
• 50 grammes pork mince
• 1 medium sized potato (diced)
• 1 medium sized onion (chopped)
• 1/2 tin of water (use baked beans tin to measure)
• 2 tablespoons Cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons tomato ketchup
• a pinch of salt

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry potatoes till golden brown. Remove fried potatoes and set aside. Remove oil and leave just about 1 teaspoon of oil in the wok.

Fry the onions till aromatic. Add minced pork and stir fry till cooked. Add baked beans and return the fried potatoes into the wok. Stir well.

Add water and seasoning and bring to boil prior to serving.

Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce)

Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce) is a variant of Duck Sioh (Itik Sioh). This dish is essentially a sour and sweet based stew with a strong hint of tamarind juice (asam jawa) and ketumbar (coriander) spice. I have a feeling that this dish is a Baba-Nyonya Peranakan dish but I stand corrected. Anyway, I was introduced to this dish by my mother-in-law a couple of years back and took a liking to it due to its appetizing taste.

Thankfully, my lovely wife has inherited her mother’s recipe and over the weekend, decided to cook up this dish for Father’s Day lunch. We could not finish the dish as we used 1 whole chicken but we are not complaining because the longer this dish keeps, the tastier it gets. For better results, duck is preferred as the meat is “tougher” to withstand the marinate using tamarind juice. If you can’t find duck, try using “village / kampong” chicken or free-range chicken.

This is my mother-in-law / wife’s recipe for Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce)

Ingredients
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5 to 2kgs, chopped into large pieces)

Marinade (blend together)

• 200 grammes shallots
• 3 tablespoons ketumbar (coriander) powder
• 225 grammes tamarind (asam jawa) mixed with 350 ml water (squeeze the juice and remove tamarind seeds)
• 10 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon white pepper powder

Method

Wash chicken pieces thoroughly. Marinade chicken overnight or for at least 10 hours.

Transfer chicken and marinate to heavy bottomed aluminium saucepan and boil for 20 minutes over a moderate heat.

Turn the chicken pieces, reduce heat to low and boil for another 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken is very tender.

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

Asam Ikan Kembung

My sister loves asam (also spelt as assam) -based dishes, be it Asam Ikan Kembung (Tamarind Indian Mackerel) or Asam Laksa. In fact, mum said that my sister would most likely be drooling if she were to see this dish up on this site. My sister is currently residing in Singapore and on her trips back to Kuala Lumpur, she would usually cook this or ask mum to cook this.

There are two parts to cooking this dish. One is to prepare the chilli-based paste and the other, to cook the fish. For the chilli-based paste, you can actually prepare in advance and keep them in the fridge for future uses (which is what we usually do at home). Asam Ikan Kembung is sour, sweet and spicy in taste and is an excellent dish to whet the appetite. It goes well with plain steamed white rice. You can actually use other types of fish but Ikan Kembung tastes good here. A word of caution though. Take care when eating the fish as the bones might get to you.

This is mum’s recipe for Asam Ikan Kembung

Ingredients

4 pieces ikan kembung (cleaned and gutted)
1 large onion (sliced)
4 to 8 pieces ladies finger (whole or halved)
2 large tomatoes (quartered)
1 cup warm water
1 cup asam juice (soak 1 tablespoon of asam / tamarind paste in 1 1/2 cup water for 15 minutes, squeeze and then strain juice)
Corn starch (mix 1 teaspoon corn flour with 100 ml water)
Cooking oil (palm oil)

Chilli paste (pound / blend)

2 slices of tumeric (kunyit)
5 pieces of dried chilli (pre-soaked in hot water and remove seeds)
4 garlic
8 shallots

Seasoning

Salt and sugar to taste

Method

Pat dry the ikan kembung and shallow fry it till semi brown. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons palm oil in wok and saute chilli paste on medium heat till aromatic and beginning to brown. Add onions and continue frying for 30 seconds. Pour asam juice and warm water and bring to boil.

Once asam juice starts to boil, add ladies finger and tomatoes and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Add pre-fried fish and seasoning to taste. Allow fish to cook under boiling asam juice for at least 1 minute.

Before dishing out, stir in preferred amount of corn starch to thicken and smoothen the gravy to your liking. This dish is excellent if you garnish or top it with chopped chinese parsley.

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

Abalone Appetiser with Chilli and Garlic

Abalone is a sought after food item for the Chinese community and it is prized for its claimed nutritional value. Scientists are still figuring out whether abalones are indeed high in nutrition but for me, unless you eat it everyday, eating it once a year won’t make a difference to your health. Abalones are probably one of the most expensive sea-produce and it is no wonder that some countries are actively cultivating them for the commercial market – Australia and Chile, to name a few.

There are many ways to cook abalone but the usual ways are in soup and braised with mushrooms. Some restaurants offer abalone yee-sang as well. Be prepared to pay a premium for those. For those at home, one of the most popular way of eating abalone is to make an appetiser out of it. Get a can of abalone, slice it thinly and garnish it with chilli and garlic.

This is my recipe for Abalone Appetiser with Chilli and Garlic

Ingredients

1 can of whole abalone (slice abalone thinly. Use the water in the can to boost up your chicken soup)

3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
3 pieces calamansi / limau kastur

Method

Slice abalone thinly and arrange on a serving plate. Wrap with cling film and chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Before serving, sprinkle garlic and chilli over the abalone and squeeze the juice of calamansi over the abalone.