Sweet and Sour Crab Recipes

Let skip a CNY cookie posting today and post this dish that I cooked some time ago. Diana and I love our seafood. Be it fish, shrimps, squid, clams and crabs. When she comes home I will usually try to cook her favorite dish. We don’t eat crab often as it is not easily available at our small Asian grocery store here and also I don’t really like to deal with live crabs. So happen I saw them selling it not too long ago and I grab half a dozen of it. There is not much meat on this type of blue crab but they do have a lot of roe on it which we like. I like cooking it this way with plenty of spicy, sweet and sour sauce so we can mop it all up with some mantau (Chinese Steamed Bread) Eating crab is a messy affairs but we were completely satisfied with it.

Ingredients:

6 blue crabs
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 large red chili – finely chopped
2 spring onions – cut into 1” length
1 egg - beaten

Sauce:

3 tbsp of tomato ketchup
3 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp of vinegar
1 tbsp of sugar
½ tsp of corn starch
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup of chicken stock

1. Wash and scrub the shell of the crabs well. Remove the shell, rinse well under cold running water, and remove the gills and inner parts. Remove the claws. Using a large cleaver, cut the crabs into half and crack the claws. Set it aside.
2. Mix all the sauce ingredients and set it aside. Heat up the wok, add in about 2 tbsp of olive oil, and add in garlic, chili and ginger and stir fry until lightly brown and fragrant.
3. Add in the crabs, continue to toss and turn until the crab shells turn into pinkish color. Add in the sauce, stir well and bring it up to a boil. Cover and turn down the heat to medium and let it simmer for 5 - 6 minutes. Continue to stir until the crab is cooked and sauce thickens.
4. Add in a bit of more stock if necessary. Drizzle in the egg, give it a quick stir and turn off the heat. Add in the spring onions, dish out and serve immediately.

I am entering this post in the Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup, created and hosted by Sharon of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies.

Mini Tuna Tarts Recipes

We were hit by two snowy days last week. When it snow I like stay at home, curl up near the fireplace with a cup of hot Milo and watch TV. I’ve been watching so much TV especially the Food Channel, TLC and Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) until my head nearly go bonkers. So I decided to take a break from TV and bake something. I made these little mini tarts so we can have it for our afternoon tea.

These quick and flavorful tarts are easy to make. If you don’t feel like making the dough from scratch you can always use store bought short crust pastry or puff pastry. As for the filling, no cooking required. Just used canned tuna and a few other ingredients and you have fresh tarts with you tea. These tarts are great for entertaining too.

Ingredients:

Short crust pastry – refer to the recipe here

Filling:

2 cans of 6 oz tuna in water – drain well
1 tomato – roughly chopped
1 red chili – chopped (optional)
2 spring onions – cut small
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp low fat mayo
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp ketchup
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the filling ingredients together and set it aside.
2. Roll out the dough thinly and cut out into circle using 2” or 2 ½” diameters round cookie cutter. Brush the edge with some egg, fill the center with a tsp of filling and cover the top with another piece of pastry. Seal edge with a fork.

3. Place it in a lined baking pan. With a sharp knife, cut 3 slit on top of the pie. Brush it with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated 375 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Serve warm or at room temperatures.

Note: We are expecting another round of snow this evening until Wednesday. I will take some pictures and post it here.

Sang Har Mee/Freshwater Prawns Noodles Recipes

Sang Har Mee or freshwater prawns noodles are one of the most expensive noodles dish back in Malaysia. A plate will cost your around RM40-RM75.00 depend on the serving size and also the cost of the prawns. Actually cooking this dish yourself is much cheaper. All you need is a few ingredients like fresh big prawns, ginger, green onions and some vegetables to cook the thick gravy. The prawns should not be over-cooked and the choice of noodles can be sang mee or wanton noodles. But for this dish I used yee mee since Diana bought some from New York. Diana and I enjoyed this dish a lot and we plan to cook it again the next time she comes home.

Ingredients:

2 pcs of yee mee
6 big fresh water prawns – clean and cut into halves. Season with a bit of salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic - chopped
5 slices of ginger
2 spring onions – cut into 1” length
A handful of cabbage or any type of green vegetables
2 ½ cups chicken stock
1 egg – beaten
1 tsp cornstarch – 2 tbsp water

Seasonings

2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
a few dash of sesame oil
4 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put the yee mee in a baking sheet and lightly toast in a pre-heated 325 degree F oven for 5-6 minutes and set it aside.
2. In a wok heat up about 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the garlic and ginger until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the chicken stock. Add in all the seasonings except the cooking wine. Bring it up to a boil
3. Add in the cabbage and let it cook for 2 minutes. Then add prawns. Let the prawns cook for a minute or two and add in the cooking wine and cornstarch mix. Let it the gravy thickens.
4. Lastly stir in the egg, give it a few stir and turn off the heat. Add in the spring onions.
5. Arrange the yee mee on a plate and pour the gravy on top of it. Serve warm.

Note : The amount of chicken stock depends on how much gravy you like.

I am entering this post in the Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup, created and hosted by Sharon of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies.

Korean Pancakes/Pajeon Recipes

Diana gave me a big bag of Korean pancake mix and it had been sitting in my pantry for a while now. I finally decided to try my hand in making Korean pancakes/Pa jeon. This pancake is very simple to make. All you have to do is mix the flour with some water; add in your favorite veggies like carrots, green onions, cabbage, mushrooms and any kind of seafood of your choice. You can omit the seafood for a vegetarian version.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Korean pancake mix
1 cup water
12 shrimps - peeled, deveined, and roughly chopped
1 small carrot, grated
1 cup grated cabbage
3 green onions, thinly sliced
5 button mushrooms – thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Dipping sauce:

3 tbsp Sriracha chili sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar

1. In a large bowl add the pancake mix, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Add the water and whisk until smooth. If the batter is looking too thick, add a little more water. The consistency should be like heavy cream, not too watery. Add in the chopped seafood (if using), all the vegetables and mix well.
2. Heat a tbsp of vegetable oil in a nonstick pan over medium high heat. Ladle about 1/3 of the batter into the pan and spread it evenly in the pan. Cook until the bottom is crisp and golden brown. Flip and cook on the other side until golden brown. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
3. Cut the pancakes into wedges and serve with dipping sauce.
4. For the spicy dipping sauce, mix all the sauce ingredients together.

Note: Adjust the spiciness of the dipping sauce according to your own taste.

Lobster Rolls Recipes

Our neighbor Nancy gave us some lobsters last week. I decided to make some lobster rolls out of it. This classic New England lobster rolls, a basic hot dog bun filled with lobster salad. There are no fancy seasonings here; the lobster is showcased of this rolls. It is just a simple mayonnaise dressing with a bit of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked lobster meat – cut into bite size pieces (3 lobsters)
¼ cup low fat mayonnaise
¼ cup finely diced celery
1 spring onion – finely diced
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
A few dash of hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
2 hot dog buns
A few leaves of lettuce

1. Combined all the ingredients except for the buns and lettuce leaves. Mix well.
2. Lightly toast the hot dog buns on a non stick frying pan.
3. Lay some lettuce on the buns and fill it up with the lobster mix. Serve immediately.

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.

Cereal Prawns/Shrimp Recipes

This is a popular dish in Malaysia and Singapore as many restaurants will have this dish in their menu. I remember cooking this dish once a year for our family reunion dinner. We just love the crunchy texture of the cereal and egg yolk. Cooking this is easy nowadays as we are able to get ready packed cereal prawns mix but sometime I like cooking it from scratch. One of my blog readers requested the recipe for this dish. So here it goes. I hope this is what you are looking for.

Ingredients:

1 pound of large shrimps/prawns
3 tbsp of cornstarch
4 cloves garlic – finely chopped
2 sprigs of curry leaves
4 bird eye chilies – cut small
3 tbsp butter
½ cup oatmeal
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp of milk
1 1/2 tsp of chicken granules
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Use a pair of scissors to cut off all the legs of shrimps. Cut alone the back and remove the black vein. Leave the head and shell intact. Pat dries the shrimps and seasons it with a bit of salt and pepper.
2. Lightly dredged the shrimp with cornstarch. Heat up some oil to deep fried it (I actually pan fried it) Remove them once they turn pink on both side.
3. Remove all the oil in the pan. Wipe clean. Beat the egg yolk and add in the milk. Stir and mix well.
4. Add in the 3 tbsp of butter to the frying pan. Swirl in the egg yolk and stir constantly. At this stage you will see lots of bubbles appearing in the pan. Add in the garlic, chilies and curry leaves. Continue to stir fry until fragrant.
5. Add in the oatmeal. Continue to stir and toss. Add in the chicken granules, sugar, pepper and salt.
6. Toss in the shrimps; continue to stir fry until the shrimps are well coated with the oatmeal. Dish out and serve.

Note: I actually wanted to use nestum for this dish but only found out that the nestum in my pantry is chocolate flavor so I just used oats. You can replace the oatmeal with nestum.

Curry Noodles/ Curry Laksa Recipes

There are times Diana and I will crave for a bowl of piping hot curry laksa. Making the laksa broth from scratch takes a lot of works so we opted using the ready mix laksa paste. There are so may type of premix paste out there but our favorite is still Tean’s Gourmet brand. We are lucky that we are able to get this laksa paste here so I will always keep a few packets handy my pantry. Preparing this noodles dish is easy and you can have dinner on your table in less than half an hour. All you have to do is add some water, coconut milk and the Laksa broth is done. As for the condiments it is all up to you. You can add noodles, tofu puffs, long beans, eggs, bean sprouts and etc to it. Nothing is more comforting to me than a good bowl of curry noodles.

Ingredients:

1 packet of Curry Laksa Paste
1 can of coconut milk
2 cups of bean sprouts – remove the roots
20 pcs of shrimps – peel and deveined
12 pieces of tofu puffs – wash and squeeze out the oil
Some fish balls/shrimp balls or fish cakes
A small bunch of long beans – cut into 1” length
4 hard boiled eggs
A packet of yellow noodles
Salt and sugar to taste.

1. Boil some water in a medium size saucepan and blanch the bean sprout for 20 seconds. Remove and blanch the noodles for 1 minute. Remove and drain.
2. in a big pot, bring 1000 ml water to boil. Add in the paste, long beans and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. By this time you can see some oil floating on the top of the broth. Remove some of it.
3 Add in the fish/shrimp balls, prawns, tofu puffs. Let the soup simmer for another 2 minutes until the shrimps is cook and the balls are heated through. Add in the coconut milk. Stir and bring it up to a slow boil and turn off the heat. Check seasoning as you might need to add some salt to it.
4. To serve, put a handful of noodles at the bottom of the bowl, tops it with bean sprouts and eggs. Put in the laksa broth together with shrimps, long beans, fish cakes, fish balls and tofu puffs. Serve warm.

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday blog event. Find out more on this here

Kale in Coconut Gravy/Kale Masak Lemak Recipes

Kale is a leafy vegetable that is usually grouped into the “Cooking Greens” category with collards, mustard and Swiss chard. The leaves can be curly and quite ornamental, but become too tough to eat fresh, as they mature. Kale is a member of the cabbage family and is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties; kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory. The beautiful leaves of the kale plant provide an earthy flavor and more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. Although it can be found in markets throughout the year, it is in season from the middle of winter through the beginning of spring when it has a sweeter taste and is more widely available.

My friend Zue introduced me to cooked kale this way. Back in Malaysia they usually cook masak lemak with cassava leaves or pucuk paku (fiddleheads/fern shoot) but we can’t get this type of vegetables here so we replace it with kale which tasted pretty similar to pucuk paku.


Ingredients:

One big bunch of kale
10 shrimps – peel and deveined
1 sweet potato – peels and cut into chunks
2 cloves of garlic
3 bird eyes chili
1 tbsp of turmeric powder
1 stalk lemon grass
1” ginger - sliced
1 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of water
Salt and sugar to taste

1. Wash the kale and remove the hard steams.
2. Bring the water and coconut milk to boil. Add in  sweet potato, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass and ginger. Stir until combined and add in the kale. Continue to cook until the kale and potato are soft.
3. Add in the shrimps, salt and sugar to taste. Cook for another 2 minutes. Dish out serve warm with rice.

Baked/Grilled Whole Tilapia Recipes

As you can see I left the head and tail of this fish intact. That means Diana and I will be eating this fish. As usual Carlos will never eat fish with the eyes starring back at him. He thinks the whole fish with its face was really creepy. Oh well, you know we Asians we like to eat every part of our food. Nothing goes to waste and moreover I think it tastes much better this way. I guess what is norm to us might seems strange to some other culture. Anyway, back to the fish. I don’t usually fry it at home as the smell will lingers around for too long. I will usually bake it in the oven. This is how I like to prepare my fish. It tasted just as good if not better than the fried ones.


Ingredients:
1 fresh Tilapia fish (about 1 ½ pound)
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp chili powder
Salt and peppr to taste

Toppings:
2” of fresh ginger – finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
3 shallots – thinly sliced
3 spring onions – cut small
2 red chili or 4 bird eye chili – cut small
½ tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Clean the fish inside and out. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Cut a few score on the fish on both side. Season the fish with salt, pepper, turmeric powder and chili powder. Set it aside to marinate for an hour
2. Heat up the oven to 400 degree F. Line the baking pan with some aluminium foil. Drizzle the base with a bit of olive oil. Place the fish on the center of the baking pan, drizzle some oil on the fish and bake the fish for 35-40 min (depend on the size of the fish).
3. In the meantime, cook the topping. heat up about 3 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan. Add in shallots, garlic and ginger and stir-fry until lightly brown and fragrant. Add in the cili and spring onions. Continue to stir fry until fragrant. Add in seasonings. Dish out and set it aside.
4. Once the fish is almost done, switch the oven to broil. Grill the fish until the skin is golden brown, turn the fish over and grill the other side until brown.
5. Remove the fish to the serving plate and top it with the toppings. Serve immediately.

Sambal Nasi Lemak/Dried Anchovies Sambal Recipes

Sambal Ikan Bilis is the main condiment for Nasi Lemak. To me a good Nasi Lemak is all about the sambal.. It can either make or break this popular national dish of Malaysia. I usually prepare a huge batch of sambal and keep them in the fridge and I can use it whenever I want it. I am sure most of you already have your favorite version of sambal but I just wanted to post it here for my own record and also one of my blog reader JS asked for it too. I am not a big fan of having the whole ikan bilis in my sambal as I find them rather chewy after cooking it in the sambal paste. So when I came across the recipe from Ju of The Little Teochew I just have to try it out. She got this recipe from The Sunday Times. The different about this sambal is it has ground ikan bilis in it which I like a lot. I added some tamarind pulp to the dish and double up the quantity.


Ingredients:Here is the recipe adapted from The Little Teochew

140 grm of fresh red chili
2 large onions
12 cloves of garlic
½ cup of cooking oil
160 grm of ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
3 tbsp of tamarind pulp + 3/4 cup of water
Salt and sugar to taste

 

1. Blend chili, onions and garlic into fine paste and set it aside. Soak the tamarind pulp in the water for 15 minutes to soften it up. Then squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice
2. Heat up the frying pan, add in the oil and fry the ikan bilis (anchovies) until brown and crispy. Remove and drain the oil. Ground it into fine powder and set it aside.
3. In the same frying pan and oil add in the blended chili paste and stir-fry until fragrant or until you see oil floating to the top. It will take about 10-13 min.
4. Add in the tamarind juice and the ikan bilis powder. Continue to stir-fry until the liquid evaporated. Add in sugar and salt to taste.

Yong Tau Foo/Stuffed Vegetables Recipes

Yong tau foo (酿豆腐) is one of my favorite foods from back home. It is a popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia and literally translates as 'stuffed tofu’ with fish paste. Soy products like tofu, deep fried tofu puffs and bean curd sheets are often used and vegetables like okra, bitter melon, chilies, sweet peppers and eggplant are common choices too. These stuffed tofu and vegetable pieces are pan fried and usually serves in clear broth or simmers in bean paste sauce.

I don’t make this dish often because it is labor intensive. Whenever I make this, I will make a bit more so I can freezer some of it. . During our Malaysian ladies monthly gathering we decided to make some since there are a few of us to help out. We are able to buy ready made fish paste here so it makes life so much easier for us. All we have to do is add some ground meat, spring onions and some seasonings into it and the paste is done. Here are some of the pictures I took to share it with you.

Ingredients for fish paste:

1 pound fish paste
½ pound ground pork or chicken
3 spring onions – cut small
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp white pepper
Salt to taste

For Stuffing:

4 pieces of tofu
1 big piece of beancurd skin
1 packet of tofu puffs
10 ladies fingers
1 eggplant
1 bitter melon
10 sweet peppers
6 red or green chilies

Sauce:

2 tbsp of fermented bean paste
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 cloves garlic – chopped
2 ½ - 3 cups of water or chicken stock
1 tsp of cornstarch + 3 tbsp of water
sugar to taste

1. In a mixing bowl, mix all the fish paste ingredients together and mix well and set it aside.
2. Prepare ingredients for stuffing. Wash all the vegetables. Trimmed okras and make a slit in the center. Slice eggplant, sliced the bitter melon into rings and discard the seeds. Stuff it with the paste.

3. For the chilies and sweet peppers, trimmed the steams, make a slit and try to discard as much seeds as possible. Stuff it with the paste.



4. Cut the tofu into triangles, make a slit in the center, wash and squeeze out all the water from the tofu puffs and cut into two, cut the bean curd skin into 4” x 5” pieces. Stuff it with the paste.



5. Heat up some oil in a frying pan, pan fried and sears all the stuff vegetables and tofu’s until lightly browned. Remove and set it aside. (at this stage you can freeze some of it for further use)
6. In the same frying pan, remove most of the oil and leave about 2 tbsp in it. Stir fry the chopped garlic until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the black bean paste. Stir fry until fragrant and add in the chicken stock.
7. Add in the oyster sauce and bring it up to boil. Add in all the seared ingredients. Bring up to boil and simmer for a few minutes. Add in some sugar to taste. Taste it first as you might need to add some salt to it. Add in the cornstarch and cook until sauce thickens. Remove and serve warm.

Note: I didn't add any salt to this dish since the bead paste and oyster sauce give this dish enough of saltiness.

Wasabi Mayo Shrimps Recipes

I just love this dish. It is quick and simple to prepare. The shrimps were fresh, succulent, crunchy and smothered with wasabi mayonnaise dressing. The wasabi gave a spicy kick to this dish.

Ingredients:

½ pound shrimps – peel and deveined
3 tbsp of corn flour
1 egg white
1 red chili – chopped
1 cup of cubes mango
Some chives – cut small

Dressing:

3 tbsp of mayo
1 tsp wasabi (more if you like it spicier)
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tsp of condensed milk

1. Marinate the shrimp with a bit of salt and pepper. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour and egg white together. If it is too thick add a couple tbsp of water. Add in the shrimps, mix well and fry it on high heat until lightly brown. Remove and drain the oil on paper towel.
2. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and toss it into the shrimps with chili, mango cubes and chives. Serve.

Salt and Pepper Fish Fillet Recipes

I’ve tried this incredible fish dish at a Chinese restaurant in New York. The fillets are cut into bite size pieces and dip into a light batter and fried and then toss lightly in some chopped garlic and ginger. Here I am trying to replica it at home and the result is not bad at all. You can always replace the fish fillets with shrimps or calamari.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of white fish fillet (I used tilapia)
3 cloves garlic
4 bird eyes chills
1 tsp chopped ginger
Some chives or spring onions – cut small
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dash of Chinese cooking wine

Marinate for fish:

1 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 egg white
2 tbsp corn flour

1. Cut fish into bite size pieces. In a big bowl, mixes marinates together and add in the fish and set it aside for 15 minutes. Put some oil in a frying pan and pan fried the fish on high heat until golden brown. Remove and drain the oil on paper towel.
2. Remove all the remaining oil from pan and leave about 2 tbsp of it. Sauté the garlic, ginger, chili until fragrant. Add in the salt, pepper and sugar.
3. Add in the fried fish, add in a few dash of Chinese cooking wine and give it a few quick toss. Add in the chives or spring onions. Remove and serve warm.