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

Wild Rice Turkey Soup Recipes

Each year we have problem finishing up our 12 pound Thanksgiving turkey. Actually that was the smallest bird I could find from the supermarket. The 3 of us only managed to finish one side of the breast and I have to think of ways to finish them up. I already made some rice porridge with one of the turkey leg and wing, turkey pot pie with the meat, sandwiches with the breast meat and turkey stock from the carcass. This is one of the soups I made from the stock and the leftover meat.

Ingredients:

2 cups of diced cooked turkey meat
2 stalk celery – finely diced
3 carrots – finely diced
1 big onion – finely diced
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp flour
½ cup wild rice
6 cups turkey or chicken stock
1 cup full cream milk or half and half
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up some olive oil in an 8 quart or large stockpot. Sauté the onion, garlic, celery and carrots for 10 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Sprinkle in the flour and continue to stir for 3 minutes.
2. Add in stock, wild rice and bay leaves. Cover the pot and cook for 45 minutes over medium low heat. Cook until the wild rice hulls split open.
3. When rice is tender add in the turkey meat. Continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Stir in milk or half and half. Season to taste and allow the soup to simmer for another 10 minute.
4. Serve immediately.

Note: You can replace the turkey meat with chicken and this soup can be freeze up to 3 months.

Seri Muka II/Glutinous Rice Layer Cake Recipes

I’ve posted this before but it is a different recipe. I did some changes to the recipe and also tinted the glutinous with some bunga telang(butterfly pea or clitorea ternated) given to me by Sonia when I went back to Malaysia early this year. This flower which was used to blue the rice in nasi kerabu (rice salad) or nyonya kueh but now many of them just used the blue coloring. To obtain the color from the bunga telang, the blooms are dried in the sun before storing. When required, they are soaked in water to allow the color to seep out and subsequently, obtain the rich blue color. My friend Sue given me some seeds and I planted it during summer. I think I planted it a bit too late and by the time it started to flower it was already late summer so I didn’t get much flowers out of it. I kept quite a bit of seeds for my next season planting.

No sure why but the plants have more leaves than flowers.

Ingredients:

600 gram glutinous rice - wash and soaks the rice overnight
300 ml thick coconut milk
1 tsp salt
10 dried bunga telang/blue clitorea flower (soak in a bit of hot water, mash and squeeze it to extract a deep dark blue hue)

Custard topping:

3 eggs
130 gram sugar
3 tbsp custard powder
2 tbsp flour
300 ml thick coconut milk

1. To make the rice layer – drain the rice well. Combined the rice, coconut milk and rice and mix well. Pour it into a well greased 8” x 8” pan and steam over high heat for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked.
2. Remove from heat, fluff up the rice with a fork and drizzle the blue flower juice all over the rice. Press the rice with a banana leaf or aluminum foil to compact and level the surface. Set it aside.
3. To make the custard layer, combined all the ingredients and mix well. Strain into a saucepan to remove any lumps. Cook over low heat, keep stirring until mixture slightly thickens. Remove from heat and pour the mixture over the glutinous rice. Cover the top of the pan with a piece of foil and steam it over medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool complete before cutting into it.

Note: To get a smooth and even top layer you have to steam it over medium heat and if not you will get bumpy and wrinkle layer. I do have some extra seeds for this flower and if anyone interested and you can email me your name and address and I will mail it to you.

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysia Monday

For more details please refer here

Herbs Fried Rice Recipes

I think everyone knows how to make good plate of fried rice. I’ve fried tons of it my life using different type of ingredients and by far I think this is my favorite. My friend Richard told me one day he uses herbs like kaffir lime leaves and curry leaves from his garden to make his fried rice and it turn out really good. What a great idea for a change from our regular fried rice. Inspired by his fried rice this is something I came up with. I hope you try this out as I am sure you are going to like it too.

Ingredients:

3 cups of cooked rice – overnight rice prefer
1 piece of chicken breast – cut into small cubes
10 pieces of shrimps – peel and deveined
2 eggs - beaten
2 shallots – sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 lemon grass – removed the hard outer layers and slice thinly
3 bird eye chilies – cut small
1 sprig of curry leaves – remove rib, roll it up and sliced thinly
3 kaffir lime leaves – remove the rib, roll it up and sliced thinly
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up wok on high heat and add in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Put in shallots, ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant. Add in chilies, lemongrass, curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves. Continue to stir fry until you can smell all the spices.
2. Add in the chicken and continue to stir fry until the chicken changes color. Add in shrimp; stir fry until the shrimp is slightly pink.
3. Push all the meat to the side of the wok, add in another tbsp of oil, and pour in the eggs. Scramble the eggs for a few second or until half cook, add in the rice and all the seasoning.
4. Continue to stir fry for another 3 minutes. Check seasoning, dish out and serve warm.

Pomegranate Wild And Brown Rice Salad Recipes

We are slowly switching from white rice to brown rice. Carlos is actually not a huge fan of brown rice so for now I will mix the white and brown rice and he is slowly getting use to it. Beside brown rice I like wild rice too. I love the hearty and nutty flavor of the wild rice. For this particular salad I used Goose Valley Brown and Wild Rice Fusion. It is a combination for Brown rice, wild rice, heirloom red rice and sweet brown rice. If you like to make this salad you can use any type rice combination to suit your taste.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked Brown and Wild Rice Fusion
1 roasted chicken breast – slice thinly
2 spring onions – slice thinly
½ cup of pomegranate
1 cup of tomatoes – halve

Dressing:

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a small mixing bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients and set it aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combined the cooked rice, spring onions, tomatoes, pomegranate and chicken breast.
3. Pour in the dressing and toss in lightly until combined. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Savory Glutinous Rice/Chu Bee P'ng Recipes

Is the time of the year again. Malaysia will be celebrating her 53rd birthday end of this month. As usual Babe In City - KL is hosting a Virtual Merdeka Open House 2010 and team for this year is Food From Our Hearts . We were to cook a dish close to our hearts.

Being so far away from home makes me appreciates home cooked food even more. I used to take it for granted that I can easily eat the food at home or buy it outside. But since living here in the US I don’t have the luxury to do so. If I want something from home I have to cook it myself. In a way it is a good thing as I learned how to cook them myself.

Today I wanted to share with you my mom’s simple Savory Glutinous Rice. I remember on every festive season she will cook a big pot of her savory glutinous rice. She will wakes up as early as 5.00am to cook this dish besides other dishes. She likes doing that as this way nobody gets in her way in the kitchen and she can cook in peace. We used to get upset with her as we will smell the fried garlic and shallots all the way to our upstairs rooms where else we still wanted to continue our beauty sleep. But now I wish I can have that smell to wakes me up in the morning here. This dish has both a sentimental and comfort  to it that will always reminds me of home and my mom.

Ingredients:

500 grm glutinous rice
6 shallots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 piece chicken breast – sliced thinly
10 dried mushroom, soaked till soft, drained and thinly sliced
6 dried scallops, soaked till soft then drained and shredded
1 Chinese sausage - remove casing and diced small (optional)
3 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 cup water

For garnish

Some fried shallots
some roasted peanuts
some small diced green onions

1. Soak the glutinous rice in water for at least 2 hours. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat up the wok, add in some olive oil and fry the shallots until golden brown. Remove for garnish later. Add in the chopped garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.
3. Add in the meat, chinese sausage,mushroom and scallops and stir-fry for five minutes.Add light soya sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add glutinous rice and stir-fry for few minutes.
5. Add in the water, mix well and cook the rice for two minutes.
6. Transfer the rice into a steaming pan and steam the rice for 40 minutes. Stir rice every 20mins, sprinkle some water if necessary. Steam until the rice is cooked.
7. Remove the rice from the steamer and top with fried shallots, roasted peanuts and some spring onions.

Note: For best results, steaming is recommended so that the rice doesn't get mushy.

Homemade Steamed Rice Rolls/ Chee Cheong Fun Recipes

Chee Cheong Fun is a type of rice noodles roll or steamed rice roll. Commonly roll in round shape but some comes in square thin pieces. There are two types of chee cheong fun; one is the local (Malaysia/Singapore) kind which served with tim cheong (sweet bean sauce) and another one which is the Hong Kong style served at dim sum places with fillings like shrimps, roast pork or minced meat in it. Since I have some shrimps in the freezer I decided to try out the Hong Kong Style CCF.

Making CCF at home isn’t as difficult as I thought it might be. It turn out pretty well except I need to improved on my rolling skills. I should have let the CCF cools down a bit more before rolling it as you can see there are some cracks on the CCF. Nevertheless they were delicious.This recipe is adapted from here .

Ingredients:

150g rice flour
1½ tbsp wheat starch
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp Oil
450ml water
½ tsp salt

1. Mix the rice flour, wheat starch and corn flour together. Add water slowly and stir continuously. Add the oil and salt and mix thoroughly and set batter aside for at least an hour.
2. Prepare your steamer. Oiled 2 or 3 steaming tray (for rotation to speed up the steaming process). Heat up the pan in the steamer for a minute.

3. Ladle and spread a thin layer of batter onto the tray. Sprinkle it with some spring onions and steam for 1 minute. Put 3 shrimps on top and continue to steam of 3 minutes.
4. Remove the tray from steamer and leave it to cool before using a scrapper and fold the CCF. While waiting for the CCF to cool put in the next tray to the steamer.
5. Arrange on serving plate and serve with some sauce and fried shallots.

Filling:

18 pieces of shrimps – peeled and deveined and marinate it with some pepper and soy sauce.

Sauce:

5 tbsp light soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil

Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring it up to a boil. Serve the CCF with sauce.

Note:

1. Oil it steaming tray once at the start. If you find the CCF is getting difficult to remove, oil again before the next batter is poured in.
2. The thickness of the CCF depends on each individual preference.
3. Having 3 trays on rotation will help speed up the steaming process.

Chinese Dumpling Festival/Dragon Boat Festival Recipes

On the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of the Chinese calendar the Chinese all over the world celebrate the Duan Wu Festival 端午节, also known as the Dumpling Festival or Dragon boat Festival. This festival is celebrated by wrapping the glutinous rice with bamboo leaves. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan 屈原, a patriotic poet from the Kingdom of Chu 楚国 during the Warring States period 战国时代 who committed suicide upon hearing the fall of Chu’s capital city to the Qin. He was believed to have drowned himself in the Miluo River 汨罗江 on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in 278 BCE. Civilians around the area row their boats out to try to save him or to recover his body. They beat on drums and gongs to frighten away fishes and sea creature to prevent them from eating his body. When these efforts proved futile, they threw rice dumplings into the river to prevent the sea creatures from attacking his body.

Qu Yuan came to symbolize patriotism and on his death anniversary date, it became a custom to organize Dragon boat races 赛龙舟 and to consume dumplings 粽子. For more details about the festival you can read it here .

Each year we brothers and sisters look forward to this festival as we love eating our mom’s homemade traditional dumplings which filled with chestnuts, mushrooms, black eye peas, pork and salted egg yolk. I know we can buy these dumplings but mom's one is the best. The last time I had my mom’s dumplings were many years ago as I am never home during this time of the year. She taught me the techniques of wrapping the dumplings many times but I can’t seem to get it right. I tried making it once but gave up half way through the process and end up steaming the rice in bowls rather than wrapping it in bamboo leaves


I am very lucky this year as a few of us Malaysian ladies gather together to made this. As usual the ladies tried to teach me but I fail miserably. I guess I still need a lot of practice. End up Michelle and Roselind made all the dumplings ;). I took some pictures of our dumplings making session to share it with you.

Getting all the ingredients ready for the dumplings.

The wrapping begins.

Fold the bamboo leaves into cone shape.

Filled the bottom part with a bit of rice.

Follow by the fillings of meat, mushroom, chestnut, black eye peas.

Top it up with the rice again.

Wrap it up.
Tie it with a string.

Viola!! all ready to be boil.

The ladies busy at work. As for me I am busy taking photos ;)

We made a lot. All ready to be boil.

After 2 hours of boiling.

This is how it look like after unwrapping the leaves.

This is how it look like on the inside.
Thanks Choy, Roselind and Michelle. I had a great time learning from you ladies.

Beef Briyani Rice/Nasi Briyani Daging Recipes

Carlos and I love Indian food but I hardly cook any at home. I always wanted to learn how to cook it but when I see the long list of ingredients that needed just to prepare this dish I decided not to. When I saw Aunty Lily posted this dish using Shah Brand ready mix I was so happy. Finally I found an easy way to make briyani rice. I went to the Indian Grocery store the very next day and bought a few boxes of it. I always trust Aunty Lily taste and when she said it is good, that means must be really good. I follow her recipe but instead of using chicken I used beef and I did drizzle a bit of saffron water on top of the rice just to give it a bit of color. And I also cook the rice on top of the stove as my rice cooker always switch to keep-warm mode half through cooking and burn at the bottom if I cook any savory rice in it.

Here is the recipe adapted from Aunty Lily’s with some minor changes

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs beef – I used tenderloins for quick cooking
1 1/3 lb basmati rice - soaked for 30 minutes and drained
1 tbsp tamarind pulp - soaked in 1 cup water for 30 minutes, Then press and sieve the juice. (I omit this and used water instead)
2 medium onion - sliced(about 1/2 lb)
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp chopped garlic
4 tbsp oil
1 packet 'Shan' Chicken Biryani
A few strain of saffron – soak in a bit of warm water


For Garnish:

Some raisins
Fried shallots
Toasted cashew nuts (I replace it with pine nuts)
Cilantro

1. Marinate beef pieces with ginger, garlic and 2 tbsp of Shan Chicken Biryani mix for 1 hour. In the meantime mix the rest of the briyani mix with a bit of water to make into a paste.
2. Heat oil and brown the marinated beef pieces. Remove and set aside. Sweat the chopped onions, and then add in browned chicken pieces. Add in the paste and continue to stir-fry until the meat is well coated with the paste. Add in the tamarind juice (I just add 2 cups of water) bring it up to boil, turn down the heat and continue to cook and stir until the meat is tender and sauce thickened. Set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil, add in 3/4 tsp of salt and add in the rice. Boil until the rice is three-quarter tender. Remove and drain the liquid.
4. To assemble the briyani, spread half of the cook meat at the bottom of a pot or your rice cooker and spread half of the rice on top of the meat.
5. Spread another layer of meat on top of the rice and follows by the rest of the rice. Drizzle the saffron water on top of the rice and top it with some raisins. Cover the pot and cook the rice on top of the stove on low flame for another 15 minutes. If you are using the rice cooking, press the cook function and cook until the cook function pop up.
6. Mix and fluff up the rice slightly before serving. Garnish with some raisins, fried shallots and cashew nuts.


Note: You might need more water if you are using a tough cut of meat