Monday, May 23, 2011

Lady's Fingers in Dried Shrimps Sambal Chilli

I have to admit that I used to hate lady's fingers and ponder why would anyone consume such a vegetable that is named after 'my' fingers with slimy secretion from the core...
But as I grown 'wiser' and start to dine out more often, I have been put into situations that it was not nice to waste food. So I ate lady's fingers. Tempura style, fish curry style and sambal style... And actually it is quite a nice vegetable. It doesn't has any pungent taste and it is has a good texture. So at about the age of 30, I accepted lady's fingers.

During my annual school trips to Malacca, I am served with this wonderful sambal lady's fingers at a Peranakan restaurant. It is out of this world and I think I could finish a bowl of plain rice with it. Recently, I craved for it. I googled and did not managed to find a decent recipe. Hence, I recalled the taste and created my own recipe.

I am very pleased with the outcome and I am happy to share it with my family. Hopefully my sister can add some comments here to convince you that it is really good. :)


Recipe (Good for 5 servings)
Ingredients
  • 6 Lady's fingers, washed and cut away top and ends
  • 2 tbsp Dried shrimps, soaked in hot water for 30 min
  • 6 Big Red chilli
  • 2 shallots
  • 2 garlic
  • 1 inch Balacan
  • 2 Limes
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Soya sauce
  • Oil for frying
Steps:
  1. Using a food processor, mince the soaked dried shrimps to medium fine. Remove.
  2. Blend chili, garlic and shallots into a fine paste. Remove.
  3. In a heated wok, add balacan and fry lightly till fragrant. Takes about 2 minutes. Remove.
  4. In the same wok, add 2 tbsp of oil. Fry the chili paste and balacan till well-cooked and fragrant. Remove.
  5. In the same wok, add 2 tbsp of oil. Fry the minced dried shrimps till fragrant and oil bubbles.
  6. Add in chili paste and seasoning. Mix well. Remove the dried shrimp sambal chilli from heat.
  7. In a pot of boiling water, add 1/4 tsp salt and oil each. Boil the lady's fingers till turn vibrant green. Takes about 3 minutes.
  8. Cut the lady's fingers into 3 parts. Plate it and top it with fried dried shrimp sambal chilli. Squeeze lime over the dish. Serve hot.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Pipa Tofu (Fried tofu with shrimp paste)

I love the soya bean series from tau hwei, tau kwa, tau kee to tau pok. They are generally healthy and easy on the palate and stomach. It has high amount of protein so often it is a good replacement for meat and fish.

My family loves this dish as it is tasty, light and refreshing. The dish has several ingredients such as water chestnuts, carrots, shrimps, mushrooms and coriander which elevate the eating experience in terms of texture and taste.

This dist requires two main cooking steps: steaming and frying. But it is worthwhile the effort, I guarantee you.




Recipe (For approximately 12 pieces)
Ingredients
  • 1 white silken tofu (tube)
  • 7 medium sized prawns
  • 1 medium dried chinese mushroom, diced 3-4 mm
  • 2 fresh water chestnut, diced 3-4 mm
  • 1 tbsp carrots, diced 3-4 mm
  • 5 Coriander stems, diced 3-4 mm
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • A dash of White pepper
  • A dash of Sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp Corn flour and some for coating during frying
Steps:
  1. Mash tofu and shrimp in paste. You may use a food processor.
  2. Poached carrots and mushrooms in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain.
  3. Mix tofu and shrimps with mushrooms, carrot, water chestnut coriander stem.
  4. Add in seasoning.
  5. Add egg yolk. Stir.
  6. Add corn flour. Mix well.
  7. Using porcelain chinese soup spoons (greased with cooking oil), fill them with the tofu mixture. Smoothen the surface with wet fingers.
  8. Steam the filled spoons for 5 minutes.
  9. After steaming, remove tofu from spoons.
  10. Lightly coat the tofu with corn flour.
  11. Fry them in clean hot oil till golden brown.
  12. Serve on a bed of butter lettuce. Mayonnaise is optional.


Watermelon Granita for a hot hot day

Dun you hate the hot weather? Is there a remote control that can control the hot and humid weather that we have here? Or probably flush some watermelon granita to cool the temperature down.

I think every Singaporean will hook to this recipe as it is easy to make and so nice to eat. Good thing is that it is easy to make and all you need is watermelon, sugar and your freezer.


Recipe
Ingredients
  • 750 g fresh watermelon, diced
  • 30- 60 g white sugar, depending on your watermelon sweetness
Steps:
  1. Mix diced watermelon and sugar in a bowl. Allow to stand for about 45 minutes.
  2. Process the mixture in a food processor and then strain.
  3. Transfer to a metal tray and freeze.
  4. Using a fork, scrape the mixture occasionally during the freezing process until the granita is frozen. Takes about 3-4 hours. You will get finer ice grains if you scrap more frequently. (I did only twice)
  5. Serve with watermelon bits in cooled cups/ glasses.

Aww! SO wonderful!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Homemade Yummy Rum and Raisin Ice cream

Some of you may know I bought a ice-cream maker some time back. I made Mango ice-cream with it and it wasn't popular with my hubby. Why? The mangoes which I used were not fragrant and sweet. After that I tried making Watermelon Sorbet. It was good but sorbet is always second class compared to ice-cream.
Soon my hubby challenged me to make his favourite ice-cream : Rum and Raisins Ice-cream. Well.. I am also a lover for the flavour hence I am game for it. So I went on a search for a recipe. I did not get any luck online and hence went to the national library to browse through their shelves. I definitely did not regret my visit to the library.

I made the dessert and it was delectable and extremely addictive. Raisins are plumped in rum which give kicks to every mouthful of creamy ice-cream that slowly melts in your mouth.
My hubby tried and immediately said," Please keep the ice-cream for me. Do not give them away. It is marvellous!". You can imagine the look on my face. Haha!


Recipe for 1 litre for ice-cream
  • 3/4 cup of Raisins
  • 1/4 cup Dark rum
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2/3 cup sugar (you may reduce if you prefer less sweet)
  • 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I prefer vanilla paste for stronger taste)
Steps:
  1. Soak the raisins in rum to steep for 15 minutes to 30 minutes
  2. Using a double-boiler, heat milk over simmering water until steaming.
  3. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until well blended and whisk in sugar.
  4. Whisk in the half of the hot milk and pour the yolk mixture into the pan of the other half of the hot milk.
  5. Continuously stir and cook over simmering water until custard coats the back of a spoon, about ten minutes.
  6. Strain the raisins (keep the rum) and stir them into the custard.
  7. Immediately place the custard pan in a ice bath and stir the custard occasionally until cools to room temperature.
  8. Transfer to a container and stir in heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours.
  9. Freeze in an ice cream maker. When the ice-cream is almost frozen, add in rum and vanilla extract.
  10. Churn until well blended. Transfer to a container, cover and freeze until firm.

For those who are interested to get an inexpensive ice-cream maker, you may want to check out Philips HR2304/70 which is available in Best Denki or Harvey Norman. It is easy to use!