Thai Lemon Sauce Steamed Fish

Thai Lemon Sauce Steamed Fish

Ingredients 4 pax

Fish 600g (I used frozen white fish from Fairprice due to CB)
Lemon 1 piece
Calamansi 2 pieces
Chicken stock 200ml
Garlic half a bulb minced
Birds eye chilli 3 pieces cut into small rings
Chinese parsley 4 stalks cut into 1cm
Spring onion 1 stalk for garnish
Fish sauce 4 tbspn
Sugar 1 tbspn

Method
1. Steam the fish for 10 minutes or until cooked. use a fork to test for flakiness. If it flakes, it's done.

2. Boil the chicken stock. Add the lemon, calamansi, garlic, chilli, chinese parsley, fish sauce and sugar.

3. Pour the sauce over the fish and garnish with spring onion.

So easy and tasty :)

Mee Siam

Mee Siam

Ingredients:
Chilli brand Bee hoon (1 packet soaked in warm water for 10 minutes)
3 hard boil eggs peeled and sliced
3 limes
Taupok 8 pieces (toasted and cut into small cubes)
Koo Chye or chives 200g
Tauge (optional) 200g washed and blanched
Sambal prawns
Assam water or tamarind juice (half a packet dissolved in 500ml of warm water and strained)

Rempah
Blue ginger galangal 12 thumb sized pieces
Tumeric powder 1.5 tspn
candlenuts 6 pcs
shallots 30 pcs
Dry chilli powder 5tspn
Belachan 1tbspn
coriander powder 1tspn
lemon grass 1 stalk
taucheo 2 tbspn
oil 1 cup

Method
1. Boil it eggs and slice it when cooled. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, wash and cut the koo chye into 1cm pieces. Set aside.

3. Blanch the tauge and set aside.

4. Blend all the ingredients and fry it until a layer of oil forms on top of the rempah. Divide it into half. Use low to medium heat.

5. Use half of the rempah and transfer it into a pot. Add the tamarind water and boil it for 45 minutes.

6. With the remaining rempah, scoop half of it out to marinate the prawns. For the 1/4 that's left in the wok, add a little water and fry the bee hoon with it. Use low heat.

7. Remove the bee hoon and plate it like the picture above. Add the lime pieces.

8. Fry the sambal prawns. Add 1tspn of sugar and a sprinkle of salt.

9. Scoop the assam gravy into the dish and serve immediately.

Mummy's Stir Fried Sotong

Mummy's Stir Fried Sotong

I need to start keeping all my family recipes, especially this dish because it was created by my mummy. I don't really eat sotong except for this dish.

Ingredients (3 people)
2 Medium sized sotong (Cleaned and sliced into rings)
1 red chilli (Sliced into rings)
1 green chilli (Sliced into rings)
Yellow onion (half)
Leek (50g or the length of your index finger. Sliced into rings as well)
Garlic (3 cloves)
Hae Bee dried prawns (5 pieces)
Oil (2tbspn)

Sauce
Light sauce (0.5 tspn)
Fish sauce (0.5 tspn)
Oyster sauce (1 tspn)
Rice wine (1tspn)
Pepper (a few dashes)
Water (3 tbspn)

Method
1. Mince the garlic and dried prawns finely.

2. Fry the garlic and dried prawns for 1 minute. Turn up the heat (medium to high) and add the red chilli, green chilli, yellow onion and leek. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes until the onion softens a little.

3. Add the sotong and pour the sauce over it. Stir for 30 seconds and switch off the fire. Put a lid on the wok for 2 minutes until the sotong is cooked (turns white).

Pro Tip 1: Sotong cooks really quickly and it'll turn rubbery if overcooked. Turning off the fire and covering the dish, allows the residual heat to cook the sotong. Remove the sotong and serve it immediately once it is cooked. Do not leave it on the stove as it will turn rubbery.

Babi Ponteh

Babi Ponteh

My dad gave the green light for this dish. It's slightly different from the others as it's not dark in colour and we skip the potato as well as gula melaka. Popo also used button mushrooms instead of dried shitake.



Disclaimer:1) Every family has their own preference and the recipes differ by a little. I share mine because I grew up eating my Popo's cooking and still prefer her version. (Even though I've travelled all the way to Malacca to try the different dishes)
2) If we are related or if you're my makan buddy, please divide the portion by two. For example, my recipe says for 4 pax. But if we are super close, it's only for 2 pax. Come on, you know we are big eaters...
3) There's a cheat version and Popo's authentic method. Both ways yield the same taste and I'll use Popo's traditional method when I have the time.

Cooking time: 1 hour for cheat version and 3 hours for Popo's method
Portion: 4 people

Ingredients
Pork Belly (200g)
Pork Loin (300g)
Baby shoot (1.5 pieces or half a can)
Button mushroom (10 pieces of a small can and slice it into halves)
Garlic (3 cloves)
Shallot (5)
Tau Cheo (2 tbspn)
Sugar (0.5 tspn)
Dark Soya sauce (1 tbspn)
Water (200ml)
Chinese Parsley (garnish)
Oil (3tbspn)

Method
1. Boil the bamboo shoots until it is soft and slice it.

2. Blanch the pork in hot water. Slice it and set aside.

3. Blend the garlic, shallots and tau cheo into a fine paste.

4. Fry the paste in the oil until it turns patchy.

5. Add in the pork belly and stir it for 1-2 minutes.

6. Add the mushroom, bamboo shoots and water.

7. Let it boil and simmer until it reduces to half it's original volume. It will take about 2 hours for the meat to soften. Check every 30 minutes to stir and add more water if it starts drying out.

8. Add dark soya sauce and sugar to your liking. Garnish with chinese parsley.

9. Cheat method: Transfer the Babi Ponteh stew into a pressure cooker after step 6. Use 150ml of water instead, or sufficient to cover the meat in the pressure cooker and set to 'Stew/soup' mode for 30 minutes. 

10. After releasing the pressure, set the pressure cooker to 'Bake/Saute' mode to boil off the excess water until you get the same consistency in the photo below.

Pro Tip 1: Use more oil or else your taucheo will burn. Scoop out the excess oil after the dish is done. Use medium to slow fire so that it doesn't burn and stir frequently.

Pro Tip 2: The dish is best eaten with rice.

Western Chicken Stew (Pressure Cooker Cheat Method)

Ingredients 2 people

Chicken fillet 300g sliced (1 packet from Fairprice)
Potato X1 large ones diced

Carrots X2 medium sized diced

Button mushroom X4 pieces sliced

1 large yellow onion sliced
Flour 2 tbspn
Chicken stock 200ml
Sugar, salt & pepper to taste
Oil 3 tbspn

Instructions

1. Heat oil and onion under bake mode for about 5 minutes. The onions should turn translucent and soft.

2. Add the chicken, potato, carrots and mushrooms.

3. Sprinkle flour into it and stir it for 1 minute.

4. Add chicken stock and let it boil. Add sugar, salt and pepper to your liking.

5. Switch to stew mode for 15 minutes.

Irish Beef Stew (Pressure Cooker Cheat Method)

Ingredients 4 people

Beef chuck 600g diced (1 packet from Fairprice)
Potato X2 large ones diced
Carrots X3 medium sized diced
1 large yellow onion sliced
Flour 2 tbspn
Chicken stock 300ml
Dried parsley flakes 0.5 tspn
Dried basil flakes 0.5 tspn
Tomato paste (half a can of Hunt's 170g paste)
Sugar 2 tbspn
Sat & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Sliced the onion and fry it under bake mode of the pressure cooker until it becomes translucent and soft.

2. Add the beef, potato, carrot, pasley, basil, tomato paste and stir fry for 5 minutes. The ingredients should start sticking to the pot which is a good sign. This is called browning.

3. Sprinkle the flour in and stir it.

4. Add the chicken stock and add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Scrap the bottom of the pot with a spatula (all the goodness are in the brown bits)

5. Switch to steam/stew mode and pressure cook for 30 minutes.

Pro Tip: If the stew is too watery, switch back to bake mode and let it simmer for 10 minutes :)

Pan Fried Sticky Tofu

Ingredients 3 people

2 firm tofu (fortune brand from Fairprice)

Cornstarch 4 tbspn (to coat tofu)

Light soya sauce 2 tbspn

Maggi chilli sauce 2 tbspn

Rice vinegar 1tspn

Water 3 tbspn

Honey 4 tspn

Cornstarch 3tspn for sauce

Oil 3 tbspn

 Instructions

1. Remove tofu and drain. Place 2 power towels on a plate and the tofu on top of it. Place 2 more paper towels on top of the tofu and use a cast iron pot to weigh it down. Leave it for 30 minutes and change the towels at the 15^th minute mark.

2. Prepare the sauce. Add light soya sauce, maggi chilli, vinegar, water honey and cornstarch into a bowl

3. Slice the tofu into cubes and coat it with cornstarch using your fingers

4. Add oil and fry the tofu for 4 minutes. Pour the sauce over it and it should thicken in about 2 minutes.