Friday, 28 November 2008

• Let's talk about my roots, sayang..

  When my parents are in the mood to talk, I know it's my cue to ask them whatever they won't be bothered to share with me on a normal day. I don't know if you know this but I'm born in Malacca and when I was 1-year-old, my parents decided to move to Singapore and made her our home. Every month or so, my parents will drive up to Malacca and spend some good quality time with my ah gong and to satisfy their food cravings. Quite honestly, I never had the chance to explore Malacca as much as I would like because my parents are always complaining it is too hot to be out. I think it will be so fun if we can just pretend to be tourists, put on our caps and check out the beautiful architectures, or shop around Jonker Walk and eat some utterly delicious chendol with lots and lots of gula melaka syrup ... So yeah, masak,makan, masak, makan are the stuff we do a lot more. Haikz, gemok lar.

  So I was telling them how I'm going to stay in the kitchen this Lunar New Year and copy down all the heirloom recipes for keeps. I will want to share the recipes with you and more importantly be able to pass down the recipes to my kids someday. My maternal grandparents are both Teochews (teo chew nang, 潮州人) and every Lunar New Year, we MUST have Teochew style braised duck on the dinner table along with the usual dishes which look the same to me year after year. I never understood why until mom told me every dish holds a special symbolization, and the dishes are to cook in Teochew style so that's why they look the same year after year. Teochew braised duck is always sweet and that is that mom said to me. I can't wait to take more pictures and show you how dinner time is like at Ah gong's place during Lunar New Year, but we usually have 5 big round tables, around 50 people and you will see dishes like braised duck, Teochew noodles -mee tiao, steamed kampong chicken, steamed fish, fishball tanghoon soup, stir-fried liver with pineapples and peas, just to name a few.

  

  

  Teochew Braised Duck

  
  

  Ingredients:
  1 whole duck
  minced ginger
  minced garlic
  1 tablespoon chinese 5 spice powder
  2 to 3star anise
  1 cinnamon
  white sugar for taste
  water
  dark soy sauce

  Directions:
  1) Heat the pan up and briefly swirl the duck around on the heated pan to remove duckie body odour. Remember to swirl it around only, not cook the duck! Hahaha

  2) Remove the duckie, add in oil to the heated pan and fry minced garlic and ginger together until fragrant. Then add in 5 spice powder and continue frying for a few seconds before adding dark soy sauce and around 7 tablespoons of sugar.

  3) Put the duckie into the pan and add in water until it covers the body. Swirl the duckie around the gravy and cook it slowly on medium heat. Be sure to check on the duckie every now and then to see if you need to add more water. The gravy will thickens and by then if you need to add more sugar or soy sauce, you can add it later.

  To test if the duck is cooked, use a chopstick and give the duck a poke. If it pokes through eaisly, the duckie is done.

  Anyhow, we got on to talking about my paternal grandparents and found out they were both peranakans. My grandpa passed away when I was only a baby so I knew very little about him or his family, except they used to tell me I took after their dark skin tones. My nana was named Chen San Niang ,陈三娘 and was the eldest in her family. She was an incredibly good cook just like how a nyonya lady should be. She could easily churned out all kinds of very authentic nyonya kuehs and dishes in true Malaccan style and because pulut tai tai is my favourite, nana used to make so much for me so I could bring some back to Singapore. I remembered when I was a kid, I used to try out all her baju kebaya and walked around loudly in her embroidered shoes, then pestered her to give me one sarong which she did and I still have it folded neatly in my closet. At nana's place, the dishes are forever the same as well. At Lunar New Year, Ayam Ponteh is a MUST along with dishes like, itek tim, acar timun, beef rendang, sambal chicken, ikan goreng, just to name a few.

  

  Unfortunately, my nana passed away 2 years ago and I did not have the chance to write down any of her recipes which she used to share happily with me in baba malay whilst she made those yummy kueh kueh like a breeze. She used to tell my parents how she was so happy I love cooking like her. Thankfully, my father and everyone under the roof seem to be excellent cooks too, so we still get the exact yummies on the dinner table. My uncle's wife is very good at making nyonya kuehs too and because she is so good, neighbours always order her kuehs. I have asked her for the recipes and like most asians, she will always tell you it's all in the head. A kilo of this and a kilo of that so it's quite impossible to write down the recipes.

  ** Oh I found a picture of my nana's nyonya chang! Teee Heee

  

  I really missed my nana's nyonya chang which she used Bunga Telang or Blue Pea Flower to create a very pretty blue for the rice. Anyhow, I'm going to pester my uncle and aunty to share with me more recipes this Lunar New Year and just maybe, I can strike a balance and be able to cook Teochew dishes with ease and recreate nana's nyonya dishes at home.

  Nyonya chang in a cup

  

  I remembered when I was studying in Perth, and one night I really wanted a nyonya chang and no one was able to help me, so I kinda put together this recipe and made do with it.

  Ingredients:
  Filling:
  Around 200g roasted chicken meat (diced)
  A handful of candied melons (diced)
  A few shallots (chopped)
  1 tbs chinese 5 spice powder
  1 tbs coriander powder
  a pinch of msg (optional)
  very lil light soy sauce
  a pinch of pepper
  Around 1 tbs sugar(you can add more after you add the candied melons)
  A lil water (add water if it starts to stick to pan)
  Dark soya sauce for a lil colour
  **Fry until water disappear and make sure its sweet.
  
  Rice:
  Around 2 cups of glutinous rice
  salt for taste
  pepper for taste
  a stalk of pandan leaf
  sugar for taste
  **A lil blue colouring if you want it to be more authentic, but use blue pea flower if you can.
  
  Directions:
  Filling:
  On a heated pan, add enough oil and fry onions till fragrant. Add diced chicken. When its 3/4 cooked, add all the seasoning. Then add candied melons. Once its all cooked, add dark soy sauce for colour. Set aside.
  
  Rice:
  Soak rice in warm water for at least one hour. Heat up a pan and use some oil.. then fry rice with the seasoning. Taste it and add more seasoning if needed. Colour a portion of rice blue in another bowl if you want some colour.
  
  Steam rice for 20 mins, then use a cup or a bowl.. add some rice, then add the meat mixture, add some rice again~ ... and steam for 15 mins or until done! Thats all! HeeHeee

  Ayam Ponteh

  

  Ingredients:
  1 whole chicken cut into small pieces
  A few potatoes
  A few shallots(chopped finely)
  Cloves of garlic(chopped finely)
  white sugar for taste
  Dark soya sauce
  1 to 2 tablespoon of soya bean paste(comes in bottled form)
  
  Directions:
  Add enough oil to the heated pan, wait a bit more then stiryfry finely chopped shallots and garlic together. Once its fragrant, add soya bean paste and fry a bit more. Add in chicken pieces and continue stirring using medium heat. Add in dark soy sauce and some water. Add in fried potatoe pieces(dont mash up easily) or steamed potato pieces, then add a bit of sugar for taste. Simmer for 10 mins and you are all done! =)

  Durian Green Bean Soup

  Peranakans love gula melaka and coconut milk, so here is a dessert I can never resist!

  

  Ingredients:
  A cup of green beans
  A stalk of pandan leaves
  Gula melaka for taste
  A whole durian fruit
  Optional: coconut milk and sago
  
  Directions:
  Wash green beans twice and fill the pot up with water. Boil green beans with pandan leaves. When the beans are 3/4 cooked, add in durian with seeds and cook it on a small flame. The seeds will be easy to remove when its all cooked. Add in gula melaka for taste. Serve it with some coconut milk. Note that you dont need to add coconut milk or sago, because the dessert will be creamy enough unless you want a richer taste. Enjoy!

  Chelley's Ondeh Ondeh

  

  

  I made ondeh ondeh quite often when I was in Perth and at Vickey's Cultural Night, I made ondeh ondeh and they were all gone before the party even started. This montage was made when I was in Perth, so it's possible to get the ingredients if you are residing overseas.

  

  Servings: 10 ondeh ondeh
  Ingredients:
  1 cup glutinous rice flour
  1/2 gula melaka(palm sugar) *Please dont use brown sugar.
  1 cup grated coconut *Do get fresh coconut if you can. Half a coconut will do.
  A pinch of salt
  A few stalks of pandan leaves
  water
  Green food colouring-Pandan flavour
  
  Directions:
  1) Chop Gula Melaka
  
  2) Boil a pot of water with pandan leaves gently
  
  3) Pour the flour into a big bowl, and pour a lil water and knead into a soft dough. Less is more, so be careful when you are pouring the water into the flour.
  
  4) Add pandan green colouring to the dough until its all green
  
  5) Add a pinch of salt into grated coconut and mix well.
  
  6) Pull a lil dough and smooth into a round ball, flatten it gently, and work into a mini bowl using your finger tips.
  
  7) Stuff as much gula melaka as you can, and close the mini bowl. Try to do it quick, so it wont break.
  
  8) When the water is bubbling, drop your ball into the water gently. make sure it doesnt stick to the bottom.
  
  9) Once it floats up, it is done, so use a drainer and take up the cooked ondeh ondeh.
  
  10) Roll it around on the grated coconut.

  With sweet potato mixed into the dough.

  To be frank, I don't follow any recipe when I make my ondeh ondeh and maybe just like my nana and aunty, when you keep doing it, estimation comes pretty accurate too. I highly recommend you to incorporate SWEET POTATO MASH into your dough if you don't want to feel  jelak. I make all my ondeh ondeh now withsweet potato mash as one of it's key ingredients. Since I'm back home now and I no longer have to buy expensive frozen pandan leaves, I also blend pandan leaves with some water to get pandan juice, and in this case, you can leave out the pandan paste.

  For the perfect ondeh ondeh dough:
  
  You will prolly need 1 or 2 small sweet potatoes
  Glutinous rice flour
  Water
  Pandan juice/ pandan paste
  
  1) Peel sweet potatoes and cut into big cubes. Boil them until soft. Drain and mash.
  
  2) Add glutinous rice flour to mash, then add water. keep working until you get a soft but firm dough and add pandan paste/juice.
  
  The rest is the same as the recipe above.

  

  With love and respect.

  **Stay tuned for revised recipes!

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