Crunchy Fermented Soybean Cake aka Tempeh

Tempeh is actually fermented soybean. Comes in a block of 150mm X 100mm with a thickness of 20mm :) Imported from Indonesia . After my father-in-law’s indonesian maid , Utami , taught me how to eat it the fried way , I learned to love it. As a snack, while watching a drama, dipped in Thai Chili Sauce…mmmmm YUMMZ is the word. Crunchy only if it is sliced thinly and fried in hot oil. Once you started munching on it you won’t want to stop till it is all finished ;p

I sliced it as thin as possible so that it will be crunchy and I make sure the oil is hot before dropping them into the wok and fry them till golden brown. Drain on a paper towel before serving . You can eat it with any dippings of spicy nature. I dipped it with Thai Chili Sauce. The tempeh has a slight nutty flavor...I thought it has a stinky fragrant but nope it has a pleasant taste ,infact, the more you eat the more addicted you become!




Crunchy Fermented Soybean Cake aka Tempeh


Ingredients:

1 block of tempeh – sliced thinly
salt
oil for deep frying

Dipping sauce
Thai Chili Sauce

Method:

Slice the tempeh as thin as possible. Sprinkle salt on the tempeh. Heat oil and when ready ,deep fry the tempeh till golden brown. Drain it on paper towel.

Served it with dipping sauce of any spicy nature but best dipped with thai chili sauce. Sweet and hot...yummz ^ *

Happy Thanksgiving , everyone !

Be thankful for what we are and what we have ^^

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Steamed Soft Tofu With Shrimp Paste Toppings

Tofu is one of my favourite food item but not Daddy’s…but , surprisingly, both my Piggies love it ! Whenever we eat out and if it is Chinese food, sizzling tofu will be their first choice :) As long as it is tofu, they don’t mind how it is being prepared.

I have some shrimps in the freezer and I thought I will rustle up something as topping for my tofu using the shrimps. I chopped up the shrimps, added in some chopped scallions and chopped chili . I added sesame oil, white pepper , salt and some cornstarch and stirred all the ingredients together till well mixed. Had the toppings done in a few minutes :))

I love scallions, so I added more of the scallions and I wanted it a bit hot so I also added more of the chopped chili ;))

After steaming the tofu for 15 - 20 minutes in hot boiling steamer, take out the tofu and make a gravy sauce and pour over the hot tofu.

Ingredients:

1 slab of soft tofu

Topping:

10 medium sized shrimps - chopped
some chopped scallions,
some chopped chili
½ tsp corn starch,
½ tsp sesame oil
a dash of white pepper

Mixed the above ingredients together till well incorporated. Lay the topping on the surface of the soft tofu. Steamed for 15 - 20 minutes in hot boiling steamer. Prepare the gravy sauce while waiting for the tofu to be ready.

Gravy sauce for the tofu

1 pip of garlic –chopped finely
1 tbsp oyster sauce
a drop of dark soy sauce
a dash of white pepper
½ cup of water mixed with ½ tsp of cornstarch
½ tbsp of cooking wine

Heat up the kuali with ½ tsp of oil, sauté the garlic for a second,

add in the oyster sauce , dark soy sauce, dash of pepper and stir for a minute .

Then add in the water and cornstarch mixture and the cooking wine.

Pour the liquid from the steamed tofu into the gravy sauce before dishing up the sauce. Pour over the hot steamed tofu and served immediately.

I had the steamed tofu all to myself mmmmm ... it was yummy with the tasty thick gravy infused into the shrimps toppings. It was so easy to prepare and delicious that I will definitely make this again but the next time I will add some minced meat to the shrimp paste . I have a feeling it will taste even better with the added minced meat.

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Banana Shrimp Cake

I have a finger food cookbook by Australian Woman’s Weekly on my book shelf and I have been drooling at the food photos for the umpteenth times and yet I have not tried anything from the book :p, drooling at food photos, people called it the food porn nowadays (“,) can be sinful at times for a food lover like me ! Hee hee I am crapping about finger food and the discovery of how banana can be used to make finger food , besides , cakes and muffins and bread in today's post :)

Ever since I joined foodbuzz, I get to know a lot of foodie friends and visited their excellent blogs. And learning so much from them too . I really have to thank Gertrude for introducing me to Foodbuzz :) * thanks Gertrude . I visited Suanne & Ben's Food and Travel Adventure , whom I have just added as friend , and stumbled upon this Banana Shrimp Cake which they posted up on their blog , boy , can I resist it ?? Nope, I simply can’t RESIST…coz I just have to know how the taste would be like…shrimp on bananas!!!! Common, I am the adventurous type…why wait , thus the appearance of it on my blog today :)))))

I thought its kinda messy but no..it is in fact easy after a few tries. The trick is to coat a few pieces at a time then immediately fry it instead of waiting to coat all the pieces then only fry them , to avoid the bread crumb becoming soggy .

Wow…can I resist these golden brown banana shrimp cake that looks like little gold nuggets ? Of course, have to wait for it to cool down before I can get to take my first bite into this little gold nugget :)

This wonderful little piece cut open for your eyes only.... tempting enough to make you want to try it out yourself ? Crunchy on the outside, sweet taste from the banana then comes the savouriness of the shrimp...mmmmmm needless to say a yummilicious finger food. Good for bringing to potlucks and parties as they have stated in their blog. It goes well with any kind of sauce dips. Haha...my first thought..can shrimp and banana go together??? the end result.. YES ,it can in this case :)

Click here for the recipe

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Daddy's Beef Steak Special ^ *

After tucking in so much of health hazard artery clogging food lately, I really really need to pump into the body gallons of GREEN TEA and lotz lotz of brisk walking…..^ *

I digress here a bit :p I read an article that state the sunflower seeds contain substantial quantity of linoleic acid which is the fat helpful in reducing cholesterol deposit on the walls of arteries. Substituting sunflower seeds for some of the solid fats like butter and cream will, therefore, lead to great improvement in health. So, snacking on sunflower seeds is good ^ *

This is what I am crapping about..the artery clogging beef steaks daddy cooked for us. The birthday steak…:)) that Piggy Boy loves so much and has requested again when he next returns…well , frankly speaking , it was yummz coz it was done with so much love…have you heard this…when the cook is in good mood ,the food comes out good and what more with love some more..sure GOOD ( ^* )” LOL .

"Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how;

it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate

and needs enthusiasm and

a deep love of food to bring it to life."

~ Georges Blanc, from 'Ma Cuisine des Saisons'

Bottled steak sauce, added black pepper and cooking wine
for the marinade

marinade the steak for at least 4 hours
for the sauce to get intimate with the beef ;p

medium rare...simple and but amazingly delicious..

yummz and the flavor was

f a n t a s t i c

salmon steak...anyone???

of course, Piggy Gal requested for this

My next order would be this too...daddy :)))

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us

delicious and exquisite things to eat,

the least we can do is prepare them well

and serve them with ceremony."

~ Fernand Point

*** A special thank you to Daddy for taking the time to prepare this birthday dinner for us, sweating in the hot kitchen, and the smells emanating from the kitchen will be imprinted in our minds and esp Piggy Boy's :)))

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Happy 18th Birthday Piggy Boy (^*)

JOSH 18th BIRTHDAY

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey

around the sun. Enjoy the trip!

Here is Momsie wishin u a day full of fun,
100s of gifts frm every1,
sweet as honey & full of money,

may all ur dreams come tru, happy birthday 2 u!

A simple celebration,with the rest of the piggies,

Momsie wish u great happiness, a joy that never ends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kick off ur shoes, take a break, Crank the tunes, Dance & Shake,

light the candles, cut the cake. Make it a day, that's simply Great!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH

We celebrated Josh 18th birthday last Saturday. We took the opportunity to celebrate with him earlier since he was back last Friday for the weekend. Momsie , as usual ,will take the opportunity to bake a birthday cake for him and try her utmost best to ice the cake for him but alas the icing skill was horrible…heehee that’s why you dun get to see the whole cake (“,) you wait till she attends classes then you will see a better iced cake !!! But the cake was yummz ..moist chocolate cake with banana fillings and top with rich chocolate. He is a chocoholic so she knows he will surely loves it. He loves the cake, there is no doubt about it :))))) he told Momsie the cake was good so does that make her day...YESSSS....

Anyway, we had a wonderful time together and we had home cooked beef steak for the birthday dinner. The beef steak was prepared by none other than the great to-be chef…Daddy. I have to give him credit for those delicious beef steaks…shhh if not we won’t get to eat it next time. Will post up those pixs later. Meanwhile, Piggy boy told me that he had the best beef steak and asked me whether dad can cook it again on his next trip back…well….PUJI ( praise ) him more than you get to eat again (“,) We just discovered he can cook... ^_____*

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Coconut Milk Rice With Anchovies Sambal

I cooked this coconut milk rice aka Nasi Lemak ( a local name ) for dinner. It is white rice cooked with coconut milk and screwpine leaves. Eaten with a spicy anchovies sambal and garnish with cucumber and boiled egg . We, Malaysians ,normally have it for breakfast and it is a savoury and flavorsome breakfast item. But for me and my family we love to have it for either lunch or dinner as it is a too heavy item for breakfast :)

The screwpines leaves (pandan leaves) gave the rice a nice fragrant and the coconut milk gives the rice a more creamy ( lemak ) texture. I added a few shreds of ginger for extra flavor.

I gave the sambal a twist and added stinky beans aka as petai ( local name) to it as my family love this stinky beans…the strong aroma of this beans added oomph to the sambal. Explode with flavor in every bite…hmmm...delicious :))))

We had a wonderful and satisfying dinner ^ * . Needless to say , my Piggies were back for the weekend. The main attraction for this rice dish is the sambal which is made from these ingredients namely, ground dry chillies , lemongrass ( serai ), shrimp paste ( belacan) and red onions , tamarind paste ( asam jawa) , anchovies ( ikan bilis ) and big onions. Simple and yet when you combined them together and sauté them in hot oil , the heady aroma from these ingredients plus the rich spiciness has made this item a signature breakfast item of Malaysia. Every Malaysian loves it.

As I watched my Piggies devouring the rice and the sambal and with the oohs and the aahs , I knew it must be good..the sambal with the stinky beans was a hit and I was the happiest Momsie for that hour (",) I enjoy watching them eat their food heartily....especially when I took the trouble to cook them nice yummy food!

Ingredients for the Coconut Milk Rice
150 ml thick coconut milk - added to 500 ml water or more depends
A few screwpines leaves tie into a knot
A few slices of ginger
A pinch of salt
2 cups of white grain rice – washed and drained dry

Method:
Add all the ingredients above together in a rice cooker and cook like you normally cook the plain rice. Watch out for the amount of liquid to be added to the grains. The above is for 4 persons. Too much liquid will make the rice soft and lumpy.
Ingredients for the Anchovies Sambal

12 shallots
10 dry chillies or more if you want it more spicy & hot
1 thumb sized shrimp paste ( belacan )
1 stalk of lemongrass (serai)

* ground the above ingredients into a paste

1 tbsp of tamarind paste (asam jawa) - mixed with a cup of water
2 tsp of brown sugar

Anchovies ( ikan bilis) – I prefer to deep fry it lightly so as it does not smell so fishy
250 gm stinky beans (petai)
Big onions- cut into rings

Ganishing:
Sliced cucumbers
Hard boiled eggs
Method:

Heat up 3 tbsp of oil and saute the above ground ingredients until fragrant and the oil has surfaced . Add in the stinky beans and big obnions and stir fry till half cooked, add in the fried anchovies and stir fry it a while . Add in the brown sugar and add in the one cup of tamarind juice. I prefer the sambal to be thick. But if you want to have more gravy then add in a bit more water .

Enjoy!

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Crispy Calamari Rings With Millets

Calamari can be prepared in many ways and my family loves it fried crisp and crunchy so I deep fried them coated with millets. Other than using millets in cakes, I discovered that it could be used as coating for deep frying. It came out crispy and crunchy at the same time. A delicious finger food with thai chili sauce as dipping and it goes well with wasabi too..heehee I love anything with wasabi yum yum yumz :) ;)

Crispy Calamari Rings With Millets

Ingredients:

1 kg thick flesh calamari – cleaned and cut into rings
-drained dry
2 egg whites – beat up

(A- spicy flour)½ cup corn flour
1/3 cup plain flour,
1 tbsp of curry powder,
1 tsp salt

millets for coating

Method:

Cleaned and cut the calamari into rings and drained dry. Beat up the egg whites. Meanwhile, mixed ingredients (A) together.

Heat up a wok with oil enough for deep frying , lower the fire when the oil is heated up. Coat the calamari with the spicy flour (A) and dip it in egg whites and coat again with the millets. Drop them into the hot oil and fry till it turned light brown. Take out and serve while still warm , crispy and crunchy. Served with thai chili sauce and wasabi as dippings.

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Pork Belly Sandwiched With Yam Slices

This was my mom’s favourite dish. The Chinese named this dish ‘Gow Yoke ’ . It is a dish whereby slices of pork belly sandwiched between slices of yam marinated with ‘ nam yee ‘ aka fermented red beancurd . Most chinese families love this dish.

I finally managed to cook this dish as close to my mom’s cooking, taste wise it was deliciously yummy. A lot of work though, but the end result was a dish that I will make again this weekend coz it was good and I know for sure Piggy gal will loves it :))

Pork Belly Sandwiched With Yam Slices

Ingredients:

1 whole yam –peeled and cut into 1.5 in square sizes
-fry the cut yam in hot oil for 5 minutes and drained off oil

A strip of ½ kg lean pork belly with the skin on
1 tbsp of thick black sauce
Dash of white pepper

Marinade sauce:

4 pieces of fermented red beancurd aka ‘nam yee’
5 pips of garlic – chopped finely
2 tbsp of chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of fermented soybean aka ‘tow cheong’
1 cup of water

Method:

Mixed the above marinade ingredients together and leave it aside for twenty minutes .

Meanwhile, clean the pork belly and put in hot boiling water till half cook. Take it out and seasoned with thick black sauce and white pepper. Use a fork and poke on the surface of the pork belly to let the sauce infiltered into the meat.

Heat up wok, add a tbsp of oil and lightly fry the strip of meat till cook. Take it out and sliced into 1.5 in square sizes to fit the yam slices. Sandwiched a slice of pork belly with two slices of yam. Do the same to the rest of the meat till all the meat are used up. Arrange them neatly in a bowl. Pour the prepared marinade sauce onto the pork belly yam sandwiches . Cover the bowl with aluminium foil and steamed it for 60 minutes on high flame. Serve it hot with rice.

Enjoy!

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Bear Sure Knows How To Enjoy Life!

Do you read me, even dog knows how to enjoy life :) When we were all asleep, she jumped onto our sofa and slept there the whole night. Bear Bear is our pet dog and she sure is one lucky girlie (“,)

I caught her sleeping so nicely and comfortably on the sofa one morning and I just couldn’t resist taking a shot of her…so contented and blissful…enjoying the softness of the cushion seat and had a nice rest …I guess, since she had that contented look :))))

Hmmm ...Bear ,you sure know how to enjoy life !

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Olive Oil And Fresh Thyme Salad Dressing

I concocted this salad dressing recently and surprisingly the ingredients sort of intergrated well with each other. It has a nice fragrance and goes well the salad.

Olive Oil And Fresh Thyme Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

5 tbsp of olive oil,
some fresh thymes,
¼ red bell pepper ( chopped fine)
3 pips of garlic (chopped fine)
Some lemon juices
Salt to taste

Method:

Mixed the ingredients together in a bowl and leave it to infuse together for an hour before using them on the salad.

Salad : - Curly endives, green coral lettuce, green zucchini, red bell pepper, carrots and cherry tomatoes.

I have been tagged by Happy Homebaking to write this meme ….7 facts about myself :))

1. I love food …from A-Z…thus baking and cooking have become a hobby I will not give up. If I don’t get to cook or bake it will be same as not having the internet , I will suffer from withdrawal syndrome :) I am adventurous when it comes to trying out new recipes. I am addicted to bun baking lately..thus buns have become our daily bread much to the dismay of Daddy coz he has to help finish eating them whether it is good or not :) But ain’t he suppose to support me in everything I do…for better or for worse ? ^___*

2. I took my driving test at the age of 38 but today the driving licence is just for showcase purposes and help in the country’s revenue...heehee I don’t drive coz most drivers here are either color blind or they don’t value their lives….I value mine :))))

I remembered , when I first got my licence , I drove my Piggies and their friends for their tuition ( a need for asian students ) nearby , and I heard this comment from one of the kids“ Jo, your mom drives like a snail ” kids say the darndest things and from then onwards they never get into our car when I am the one driving ! :(

3. I am a very practical woman, to me money are hard earned , so have to be careful on how I spend my money….buy only when there are sales on material items and I told my Piggies that they can stinge on material things but NEVER on FOOD. I taught them from young, so that they know the value of money . Mommy will only buy them clothes or shoes when there are sales ( if there is a need for them ) and I remembered one day, many years back ,when Piggy gal was about four years old, we went shopping and I held her hand and we walked into this shop that sell branded shoes…and she just burst out “ Mommy, this shop got sales meh ” ???? To my embarrassment, the sales girl was nearby…I wished I could hide inside a dark hole then, for kids say the darndest things :))))

4. I day dream most of the time.The most embarrassing thing I have ever experienced in my whole life so far, was to get into the wrong car and caused the car driver and her kids to become hysterical and their screams woke me from my day dreaming. I thought those two kids were mine and I got in and adjusted my marketing bag nicely and sat down without looking at the driver. When they realized a stranger in their car, they screamed thinking I wanted to rob them.

I apologized and got out of the car in the fastest record ever . My Piggies and hubby were having a good time laughing their heads off. I could have knocked their heads off for not calling out to me when they saw me getting into that car…but later we all had a good laugh over it.

5. I can never watch a movie or drama until the ending without dozing off. My Piggy boy will check that I have not dozed off in the midst of a movie. He will say “Mom, the idiot box is watching you instead of you watching the idiot box ” !!!

6. I am happiest when….

…..my Piggies are back for their semester break, doing things together or watching movies with them and

…..when I discovered a new recipe which turned out yummy or I can create a nice dish without using anyone’s recipes

…..when I am at Ikea and MPH cookbook section :)

7. I don't fancy rap ringtones but I grew to love this rap ringtone which my Piggy boy put as his ringtone from me...it goes something like this “ Oh no, it’s your Mama calling, it’s your Mama calling. She is calling not to say anything but to tell you about your dad, about the cat and it goes blah blah blah…..” . He asked me to ring his number and when I heard this…. I burst out laughing . It was the funniest, cutest and coolest ringtone ever.

I hope I have not bored you guys with this sharing (",)

I am tagging the following 7 bloggers, I hope they also have fun with this meme :)

       1. Icook4fun at My Kitchen’s Snippets

2. Pook at Daily Delicious

3. Little Inbox at Makan King & Queen

4. J2kfm at Motormouth of Ipoh

5. Sze-Min at Min’s Blog

6. Shirley Khor at Sweet Like Chocolate

7. CKLam at What2see: Best of Penang Food

Here are the rules for tagging:

Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog.
Give seven facts about yourself.
Tag another seven bloggers by leaving a comment on their blogs and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

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Rich Moist Chocolate Cupcake With Rich Chocolate Toppings

Last Saturday, Piggy Ernest gave me some leftover moist chocolate cake batter after making his own chocolate cake .I decided to scoop them into cupcake cases and steamed them for twenty-five minutes. It turned out moist and since he has some extra chocolate topping which he can’t finish using, being a chocoholic, I used them to give my cuppies a more chocolatey taste ..so sinful :)))

Guess what,I bet you won’t believe it ,I devoured one before I went to church last Sunday morning.It was so mMMm… chocolatey rich and moist that every mouthful was just one word H E A V E N L Y !

For the next few days, my breakfast will be oats , oats , oats and oats O N L Y (“,)

who could resist this decadent, sinfully rich goodness….

the young and old succumbed to it ^___*

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Deep Fry Brown Tofu With Crunchy Vege Fillings

Who could resist tofu prepared this way. It is light and easy to prepare and can be served as an appetizer coz it will definitely whet up your appetite with the Thai Dipping Sauce.

I attended a pot luck party recently, and this lady brought a big plate full of tofu stuffed with cucumber, radish and carrot shreds. It looks so simple and nothing much to fuss about but the moment we took a bite…goodness it was deliciously yummy that it all diminished in minutes :) Of course, I, being the Piggy of the night, savoured it the most and needless to say, cornered her and asked her how come such a simple dish and yet tasted so good and she was happy to share her recipe with me and the ladies there :)))))

So , here I share with you guys this simple and yet delicious tofu stuffed with cucumber/radish/carrot shreds. The fillings were crunchy and the trick is this. Shred the cucumbers with core removed, radish and carrots finely. Soak in ice water and leave in the fridge for ½ hour , take out and drain dry. Leave it in the fridge till required.

Of course, the best part is this…get the best thai dipping chili sauce ( chicken brand) as shown. This sauce is so far the best and she recommended this brand becoz it is not overly sweet and I agreed with her…it can be used as dips for fried wanton and fried chicken too.

shreds of cucumber, radish and carrots,

a colorful and cheerful combination :)

Could anyone resist this appetizing tofu.??? (",)

the famous Thai Dipping Chili Sauce

Deep Fry Brown Tofu With Crunchy Vege Fillings
Ingredient:
6 pieces of brown tofu (cut across diagonally into half)
oil for deep frying

Fillings:
1 small cucumber ( removed core and shredded )
1 small white radish (shredded)
1 small carrot ( shredded)
(Soak the above shredded veg in ice water for ½ hour )

some toasted sesame

Dipping sauce:

Thai Dipping Chilli Sauce ( chicken brand)

Method:

Deep fry the cut tofu in 2” of hot oil till lightly browned – drained off oil in paper napkin.

Cool it before cuting a slit and fill it with the above shredded veg . Dribble the stuffed tofu with the dipping sauce and garnish the tofu with the toasted sesame. * Stuff the tofu with the fillings only when about to serve.

Enjoy!

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Steamed Egg Custard

Silky textured steamed egg custard are hard to achieve and I have been trying for years to get it right but to no avail until I read from mykitchensnippets blog :) Before this, my colleague taught me to go by the ratio of 1 egg to 1 egg shell of water…still can’t get the silky texture. But thanks to Gert for sharing her recipe and tips , I was able to achieve it finally :))

I used century eggs ( I love century eggs ) and crabstick instead and it turned out yummilicious. It must be served hot and the best ever steamed egg custard I had ever came across. Now I can add this silky textured steamed egg custard to my dinner menu :p

Easily digestible and easy to prepare and it is delicious too ^_____*

Click here for the recipe