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.

Soon Kueh/Steamed Vegetable Dumplings Recipes

Soon Kueh or bangkwan kueh is my childhood favorite. Making this kueh brought back lots memories of my childhood. I remember helping my grandmother and mom made these during the weekend. Years ago all of us lived together in one big old house and there are many mouths to feed. We don’t have to luxury to go out and eat at the coffee shops so my family will make kuehs like this every weekend for breakfast.


For the dough:

200 grm rice flour
100 grm glutinous rice flour
30 grm of tapioca flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
360 ml boiling water (more or less)

For The filling:

1 medium size jicama/bangkuang – peel and julienned
1 carrot – peel and julienned
¼ cup dried shrimps – soak and roughly chopped
4 shallots – thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up some oil in a frying pan, fry shallots until lightly brown. Remove some of it for garnish. Add in garlic and dried shrimps, stir fry for a minute and add in carrot and jicama.
2. Stir-fry for a minute and add in all the seasonings. Stir-fry until well combined. Add in a cup of water and bring it up to a boil. Turn down the heat and covered.
3. Cook until the jicama is soft and water evaporate. Check seasonings and stir in the spring onions. Dish out and set it aside to cool.
4. In the meantime make the dough. In a medium bowl, mix all the 3 flour together. Add in the salt and stir well. Slowly pour in the boiling (do not pour in all at once) Using a wooden spoon and give it a quick stir until the dough come together.
5. Dust the work table with tapioca flour and transfer the dough onto the floured surface. Add in oil and knead well until smooth, adding more tapioca flour if needed. Rest dough for 10 minutes.
6. Divide dough equally in the size of a golf balls. Cover them to prevent drying. Roll out each balls thinly. Place in 1 1/2 tbsp of filling, fold in half and seal edges by pinching the sides together.
7. Place kueh on greased steaming trays, steam over high heat for 10 minutes. When kueh puffs up, it is ready. Remove and brush with oil generously to prevent sticking together.
8. Place kueh on greased steaming trays, sprinkle with some water and steam over high heat for 10 minutes. When kueh puffs up, it is ready. Remove and brush with oil generously to prevent sticking together. Garnish with some fried shallots before serving.

Note: For the leftover soon kueh you can just pan fry them with a bit of oil in a non-stick pan until the skin is golden and crispy.

Stir-Fry Szechuan Preserved Vegetable with Meat Recipes

This is my sister Elizabeth favorite dish so my mom cooked this pretty often in our home. Zha Chai or Szechuan preserved vegetable is easily available at the Asian store here in the US. It either comes whole in a can or ready shredded in a vacuum packed. In Malaysia it’s sold whole and coated with chili paste. Zha chai is very salty so I will usually cut and soak in the water for a several hours before cooking it. This dish is spicy, salty and sweet and it goes well with rice or rice porridge.

Ingredients:
1 packet (8 oz) preserved vegetables
1 chicken breast/4 oz of pork – Slice thinly
3 cloves garlic – chopped
1 shallot – sliced thinly
1” ginger – julienned
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

1. In a frying pan, heat up about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the garlic, shallot and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant and lightly brown.
2. Add in the meat; stir fry until the meat changes color. Add in the shredded Szechuan vegetables, soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Add in about ¼ cup of water and bring it up to boil.
3. Continue to stir-fry for a minute or two or until all liquid evaporate. Check seasoning. At this stage you can adjust the sweetness and saltiness to your liking.
4. Serve with either rice or rice porridge.

Note: If you use the whole preserved vegetable, julienned it thinly and soak it in water for a couple of hours. If you use the pre-shredded kind with chili, it is up to you if you want to rinse or soak it or not.