Thai Basil Pork

Ingredients

Minced garlic 1 tbspn
2 shallots thinly sliced
Minced pork 200g or 1 packet from Fairprice
Thai basil leaves 1 handfull
Fish sauce 2tbspn
Sugar 1 tspn
Chili Padi 2 pieces chopped
White pepper 2 dashes
Oyster sauce 1tbspn
light soya sauce 1tbspn
dark soya 1tbspn
Oil 3 tbspn

Instructions

1. Marinade the pork in oyster sauce, pepper, light and dark soya sauce for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, mince the garlic, shallots and prepare the basil leaves.

3. Add the oil, garlic, shallots, chili padi and stir fry for 1 minute.

4. Add the pork, fish sauce, sugar and fry for 5 minutes.

5. Lastly, add the basil leaves and stir for about 1 minutes.

Pro Tip: Serve with white rice and a sunny side up :)

Hainanese Beef Stew

Ingredients 4 people

Beef chuck 300g
Beef flank 300g (Usually get my beef from Fairprice Xtra)
Fermented bean Tau Cheo 1.5 tbspn
Fermented bean curd Fu Ru 1 tbpn
Minced Garlic 1tbspn
White radish 1 piece cut into round disc 1cm thick
Carrots 2 big ones diced into slightly larger cubes
Oil 3tbspn
Water 400ml

Instructions

1. Cut the beef into bite sized pieces (across the grain)

2. Heat the oil and fry the garlic, tau cheo and fu ru for 1 minutes.

3. Add the beef and stir fry until the beef is slightly brown on the outside. (about 4 minutes)

4. Add water, carrot and white raddish. Let it boil for 10 minutes then simmer until the volume is reduced to half its original amount. It takes about 1 hour for the beef to soften.

5. Cheat method: Transfer the stew to a pressure cooker and switch to 'Stew/Soup' mode for 30 minutes. After releasing the vent, change to 'Bake/Saute' mode to boil off the excess soup.

6. Serve with rice, chilli padi and Chinese parsley :)

Pro tip: White raddish does not require a long time to cook. Add it 15 minutes after you have added the carrots or pause your pressure cooker to add it in when there's 15 minutes left on the timer.

Bee Hoon or Fried Rice

Ingredients 3 people

Minced garlic 1 tbspn
Eggs 2 pieces
Round fish cake 1 piece diced
Carrots diced
Half a Beijing cabbage diced (medium sized)
1 packet of chilli Bee Hoon
Salt 0.5 tspn
Pepper a few dashes
Fish sauce 2tbspn
Oyster sauce 2 tbspn
Oil 3 tbspn
Water a few sprinkle

Instructions

1. Soak the bee hoon in warm water for 2-3 minutes until it is soft. Drain and set aside

2. Beat and fry the egg (omelette style). Break it up and set aside.

3. Add garlic and fry the cabbage and carrot. Add a few sprinkle of water and the oyster sauce to it Cover the wok with a lid for about 2 minutes to soften the vegetable. Side aside once it is cooked.

4. Fry the fish cake for about 1 minute. Add the previously cooked egg, cabbage and bee hoon to the wok. Add the salt, pepper, fish sauce to taste.

Pro tip 1: Use 2 spatula to stir the bee hoon.

Pro tip 2: Switch up the fish cake with other kinds of meat (marinade it first though) and substitute bee hoon with rice for fried rice.

Fried spinach with Ikan Bilis

Ingredients 3 people

Minced garlic 1 tbspn
Pasar Round Spinach from Fairprice
Ikan Billis 100g
Dried small shrimp (Haebee) 1tbspn
Chili 1 piece cut into slices
2tbspn of oil
Salt 0.5 tspn
Pepper a dash
Chicken stock powder 1 tspn

Instructions

1. Wash the spinach and separate the stems from the leaves

2. Mince the garlic, shrimp and cut the chili

3. Add oil and fry the ikan billis. Once it turns light brown, set aside.

4 . Add and fry the garlic, shrimp and chilli for about 1 minute

5. Add the spinach stems and stir for 1 minute before adding the leaves. Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock powder to taste.

Pro tip 1: Try not to stir it around too much or else the vegetable will turn soggy

Pro tip 2: You can use the same recipe for stir-fried cabbage. Just remove the spinach and ikan billis from the list and substitute it with julienned carrots.

Minced Pork & Potato 

Ingredients 3 People

Minced pork 1 packet from Fairprice

Potatoe medium sized 3 pieces

Canola Oil 5 tbspn

Garlic minced 0.5 tbspn

Garlic 2 cloves

Light soya sauce X2 tbspn

Dark soya sauce X2 tbspn

Oyster sauce X1 tbspn

Dash of white pepper

Water 300ml

Chicken powder 0.5 tbsp (optional)

Instructions

1. Marinate the pork in light & dark soya sauce; oyster sauce and a dash of pepper

2. Peel and dice potato. Peel and mince garlic. (Peel but leave 3 cloves not minced)

3. Heat oil and fry garlic for 30 seconds and add pork, potato. Stir for about 5 minutes

4. Add water, garlic cloves and chicken powder and let it boil for 5 minutes. After which, simmer on slow fire for 15 minutes

Sesame Chicken Stew

Ingredients 3 people

Chicken midwings X8 (1 packet from Fairprice)

Potato X2 medium size

Sesame Oil 5 tbspn

Canola Oil 5 tbspn

Ginger X3 thin slices of about 2X5cm

Garlic 3 cloves

Light soya sauce X2 tbspn

Dark soya sauce X2 tbspn

Oyster sauce X1 tbspn

Water 300ml

Chicken powder 0.5 tbsp (optional)

Instructions

1. Marinate the mid-wings for 30 minutes. (light and dark soya sauce, oyster sauce)

2. Peel and dice the potato. Peel the 3 cloves of garlic (Don't need to mince it)

3. Heat up both types of oil and fry the ginger for 1 minute.

4. Fry the chicken wings and potato for 5-10 minutes.

5. Add garlic and  water, let it boil for 5 minutes. After which, use slow fire to simmer it for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Ayam Buah Keluak Recipe

Me: What are the most important dishes from the Peranakan culture Popo?
Popo: You don't know? It's Ayam Buah Keluak and Babi Ponteh.
A. Diana: Someone said if you can master these two dishes, you are ready to get married.

I think third time's a charm as I finally managed to recreate this dish which tasted similar to Popo's  version. I have eaten so many Ayam Buah Keluak dishes and Popo's one is different because the her dish is reddish in colour. The other versions are usually black in colour as they add the buah keluak filling into the rempah.

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: Half a day for cheat version and 4 days for Popo's method
Portion: 4 people

Ingredients
Half a chicken chopped (600g)

Asam water 4 tbsp
Sugar 1tbsp
Salt 1tbsp

Buah Keluak

Minced pork 4 tbspn

Prawns 2 pieces to be minced

Sesame oil 1 tsp

Light soya sauce 1 tbsp

Sugar 1 tsp

* Cheat 8 Buah Keluak nuts already broken and separated. (Bought it from Tekka Market for $12-12 nuts and paste included)

Popo soaks the nut for 3 days and scrubs it daily. Discard and change water daily. After the third day, use a small screwdriver and hammer to break a hole and dig the fillings out. Good luck and byebye manicure because this is a physically-intensive process. You will also definitely find a few rotten pieces which are greenish in colour and should be discarded.

Rempah
Candlenuts 6 pieces
Blue Ginger 6 thumb size slices
Red Chilli 8 medium size
Shallots 15 medium size
Lemon grass x1 white portion only
Belachan x1 tbsp
* Cheat Tumeric powder (Popo uses 1 thumb-sized turmeric chopped into small slices)
* Cheat Dry Chilli Powder (Popo uses 4 dry chilli, rehydrated and de-seeded)
Coriander Powder x1 tspn
Oil 1 cup

Method
1. Chop the chicken and marinate it with half a tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder for 30 minutes.

2. After 30 minutes, boil the chicken to remove excess salt and turmeric powder.

3. While waiting, mix the minced pork, minced prawns, sesame oil, light soya sauce, sugar and buah keluak fillings in a bowl and stuff them back into the nuts.

3. Simmer the nuts in 200ml of water for an hour. Skip this step if you want to preserve the reddish colour in your dish just like how Popo does it. I like this step because I love the taste of the buah keluak.

4. Bland the ingredients for the rempah and fry it until the reddish oil floats on top of the it. It should take about 10-15 minutes.

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

5. Add the chicken to the rempah and stir fry for 5 minutes. 

6. Add the buah keluak and water and stir for 5 minutes.

7. Add the asam water, salt and sugar a little at a time to suit your liking. Simmer for about 20 minutes and the dish should be done!

PS: I'll only make this for family or if I really sayang you because it is so time-consuming and a lot of physical work is involved in the process. Not many pictures taken too as my toddler hid my phone under the couch and I only managed to find it at the end of the day.