Blue Glutinous Rice Cakes (Pulut Tai Tai) Recipes

I always wanted to make this Chinese Baba Nyonya wedding specialty cakes. It is called Pulut Tai Tai or Blue Glutinous Rice Cakes. The blue stain comes from a flower name Bunga Telang or Blue Pea Flower. Since I still have some of the dried blue pea flowers given by Sonia I decided to made some when my friend Choy’s and her family came to our house for dinner not too long ago Traditionally, this cakes are served with kaya (coconut egg jam) and you can find the recipe here.

Ingredients:

600g glutinous rice – wash and soak overnight
350 ml coconut milk
150ml warm water
4 pandan leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
12 - 15 blue pea flowers – soak in some warm water,crush it to extract the blue coloring.

1. Wash the rice and divide it into two equal portions. Soak one part in water and another part in the blue pea flowers juice. Leave them overnight. Soaking the rice overnight will help in steaming process.
2. Drain both the rice; put them side by side on into a steaming tray. Warm the coconut milk, sugar and salt into the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and mix well.

3. Drizzle in about half of the coconut milk into the rice. Arrange the pandan leaves on top of the rice and steam the rice over rapid boiling water for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the steaming tray, put the pandan leave aside, fluff up and mix both rice together and drizzle the balance of the coconut milk, put the pandan leaves back on top of the rice again and continue to steam for another 15 minutes or until the rice is done.
5. Remove the steaming tray; discard the pandan leaves, even out the rice with a spoon, and using a banana leaf or aluminum foil press down the rice until well compact.
6. If possible put something heavy (I used can food) to weigh down the rice. Leave it to cool.
7. Slice the rice cakes and serve it with coconut jam.

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysia Monday

For more details please refer here

Spicy Prawns with Sataw Beans/Sambal Udang dengan Petai Recipes

I was clearing up my freezer the other day and found a small packet of petai (stink beans) in it. I can’t even remember when I bought that. The last time I saw petai was when I visited my friend Zue at Harrisburg during last year Hari Raya and I might have bought it there. So you can imagine how long these beans had been sitting in the freezer. I check the petai and they still look ok and in order not to waste it I cook some sambal out of it.

Not everyone like Petai because of its bad smell especially when you visit the bathroom after eating it. For someone who likes it they are good. I guess these beans are very much like Durian the king of fruits. You either love it or hate it. Petai is actually healthy for us. It contains a type of Protein that known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier! It also stimulate the production of hemoglobin in blood, reduce the blood pressure ,stroke, boost brain power, overcome constipation, relief heartburn etc. It also can be used externally. Before reaching for insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of petai to the skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling, irritation and itchiness. As for the after effect smell there is a way to get rid of it. My mother told me that when you eat petai try to eat some eggplant (brinjal) at the same time and it will reduce or get rid of the strong smell. I didn’t try it yet but I will when I cook petai You can get more informations about petai here.

Ingredients:

1 pound of shrimps – peel and deveined
1 large onion – sliced thinly
200 gram of petai beans/Sataw Beans
2 tbsp tamarind paste – mix with 1/2 cup water

Sambal Paste

15 dried chilies – soak in hot water and cut into small pieces
4 fresh red chilies – removed seeds if you want it less spicy
4 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp roasted shrimp paste (belacan)

1. Put all the sambal ingredients in the food processor and blend until it become a paste. If it is too dry add a bit of oil to it and continue to blend.
2. Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil and sauté the sambal paste over medium low heat until fragrant. Then add in slice onion. Stir fry until the onion soften. Add in the shrimp and petai. Add in sugar and salt to taste.
3. Continue to stir-fry until the shrimp is slightly pink in color. Add in the tamarind paste. Continue to stir-fry until shrimps are cooked. Check seasoning as you might need to add a bit more sugar or salt at this stage.
4. Dish out and serve with warm rice.

Note: before you cook the petai make sure you split the beans into two to check if there is any worm in it.

Nate and Annie from House Of Annie will be hosting the September event. They have set up a form for all submissions.

Nyonya Vegetable Curry Recipes

It is the time to clean up the vegetable compartment of my fridge. I do this every two weeks before I buy more of it. As usual there will some leftover of vegetable in there. A little bit of carrot, long beans, red peppers, zucchini etc. I will normally make a quick stir-fry out of it but when I saw this delicious looking Nyonya Vegetable Curry at Kiersten blog I decided to give it a try. The curry turns out really good. There is nothing more comforting than indulging a big bowl of this homemade curry.

Ingredients:
Recipe adpated from here

1 zucchini
1/2 head of cabbage, cut
A bunch of long beans, cut into 2” lengths
1 carrot – cut into 1” lengths
2 red pepper, cut into wedges
½ packet bean curd pockets (tau foo pok), cut into halves
2 potatoes – peel and quarter
2 - 2 1/2 cups of coconut milk
2 tbsp curry power, mixed with 3 tbsp water
1 chicken stock cube or vegetable cube
Salt and sugar to taste

Blend into paste:

3 stalks of lemongrass
2 cm galangal
1" fresh turmeric
8 shallots
6 garlic
3 pieces candlenuts
3 tbsp chili paste ( I used sambal oelek)

1. Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil in the pan. Stir-fried the blended ingredients until fragrant.
2. Add in the curry powder. Continue to stir-fry so that it won’t burn. Add in a little bit of coconut milk. Continue to stir-fry until you see oil starts to appear.
3. Add in the rest of the coconut milk and chicken cube. Bring it up to boil. Add in the carrots and potatoes. Cover and let it cook for 5 minute. Add in the rest of the vegetables and continue to cook over medium low heat until vegetable are about done.
4. Add in the bean curd pockets. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and sugar to taste. Serve warm.

Note: I replaced one cup of the coconut milk with evaporate milk.

Kapitan Chicken Curry Recipes

The Peranakan cuisine is found in south-eastern Asia. Also known as Nyonya Food, they are an amalgamation of Chinese and Malay dishes, with the extensive use of herbs and spices, especially belachan, turmeric, galangal and pandan leaves.

One of the dishes is Curry Chicken Kapitan. It has a milder taste compare the usual Malay or Indian curry. This curry has a distinctly Nyonya flavored of lemon juice, candlenut, kaffir lime leaves, fresh turmeric roots and leaves. Besides the usual steamed white rice, this dish is excellent served with turmeric glutinous rice and Roti Jala.

Ingredients:
1 chicken – cut into medium bite size pieces
4 kaffir lime leaves
3 turmeric leaves – tear into small pieces
2 - 3 cups coconut milk
Juice of a lemon
Salt and sugar to taste

To blend into paste:

8 shallots
1 bulb garlic - peeled
3 stalk lemongrass – remove the hard outer layers and cut small
10 dried red chili
5 fresh red chili
3 " fresh turmeric or 2 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp curry powder
8 candlenuts/buah keras (you can replace it with almond or macadamia nuts

1. Put the paste ingredients in a blender and blend into paste and set it aside.
2. Heat up about 4 tbsp of oil in a wok or a pot and fry the blended ingredients until fragrant. While stirring add about ½ cup of coconut milk to make a paste and to prevent the spices from burning.
3. Add in the chicken, fry for a few minutes. Keep on stirring and coating the chicken pieces with the paste. . Pour in the rest of coconut milk (amount depend on how much gravy you like) and bring it up to a boil. Add in kaffir lime and turmeric leaves. Lower down the heat and cover. Cook over low heat (stir occasionally) for about 30 mins or until chicken is tender and gravy thickens. If it gets too dry you can a bit more coconut milk or water.
4. Add in the lemon juice, salt and sugar to taste. Serve with rice or roti jala or even crusty bread.

Note: If you like this dish to be less spicy you can always reduce the amount of chilies.

Nyonya Acar/Spicy Pickle Vegetables Recipes

I love Acar, but I never attempt to make it until a couple of weeks ago. Acar is a type of vegetable pickle/salad popular in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Made from different vegetables like cucumbers, long beans, carrots, cabbage and is pickled with spicy paste and vinegar. Ground peanuts and sesame seeds are also added to this dish. Acar is commonly served as a condiment to be eaten with a main course. This is a great vegetarian dish too.

I adapted the recipe from Star Kuali and simplified the ingredients and method to suit my taste and ingredients I have in hand.

Ingredients :

1 cucumber - (removed the seeds) and cut into 4cm strips
150g cabbage leaves, cut into 2.5cm squares
2 carrots cut into 4cm strips
150g long beans, cut into 4cm strips

To make into paste:

6 fresh chillies
5 dried chillies –soak in hot water until soft
6 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 cm fresh turmeric root/1 tbsp ground turmeric
1” galangal (lengkuas)
3 candlenuts/almond or macadamia nuts
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced finely
1” of shrimp paste (belachan) - optional

Vinegar mixture:

1 cup of white vinegar
1 cup water
6 tbsp of brown sugar (more if you like it sweeter)
1 tsp salt
200g roasted peanuts, skinned and pounded
5 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

For blanching the vegetables:

600ml water
400ml vinegar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar

1. Rub cucumber slices with 1 tbsp salt. Leave aside for one hour. Wrap in clean towel or muslin cloth and squeeze out excess liquid. Put all the ground ingredients in a food processor and ground into paste and set it aside.
2. Bring water, vinegar, salt and sugar for blanching vegetables to a rapid boil. Blanch the vegetables (except cucumber) one type at a time for 15 second. Remove and using a clean kitchen towel, squeezed the water out of the vegetable and set it aside.
3. Heat up about 3-4 tbsp of oil in frying pan and stir-fry the ground ingredients until fragrant and the oil begins to separate. Stir in water and vinegar. Add sugar and salt and bring to a boil, then leave to cool completely. Check seasoning as you might need to add more sugar to it.
4. Stir in all the prepared vegetables, peanuts and sesame seeds. Store in a clean jar and refrigerate.

Nonya Chicken Delicious Recipes

I made this dish a few weeks ago and completely forgotten about it until I found some of the pictures in my file. I saw this wonderful recipe from Jun's blog and I just have to try it out and I was not disappointed. This dish turns out really delicious.

Ingredients :

500gm chicken
1 medium size onions - quartered
some curry leaves
1 red chili - slice thinly
1 green chili - slice thinly
1 tomato - quartered
1 egg
1 tbsp of cornstarch

To be blended

1 lemon grass
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1 clove of garlic
1 shallot
1" of galangal or ginger

For the sauce - combined

1 tbsp of plum sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of tomato ketchup
2 tbsp of water
salt and pepper to taste

1) Cut chicken into bite size pieces and marinate with the blended ingredients, egg and cornstarch and set aside for 15 minutes.
2) Heat up some oil and fry the chicken until golden brown and drain off excess oil on paper towel. Remove oil from pan and leave about 1 tablespoon.
3) Add in onions, chilies and curry leaves and stir fry until fragrant. Add in chicken, tomato and the sauce. Continue to stir fry until sauce thicken.
4) Serve with warm rice.