Lo Mai Kai (glutinous rice)

Again this was my mum's recipe.  I still have the small yellow enamel bowls passed down to me. You can buy the bowls from the chinese shops selling crockery but you can never get the yellow enamel ones anymore.

When you buy lo mai kai, the ingredients are very little but if you make it yourself, you can have chock-a-block of ingredients and it can be a meal by itself.  My dear hubby can devour three bowls at one go.

Ingredients for rice

1 kg glutinous rice soaked overnight

2 or 3 chicken drumsticks deboned and cut into bite size

200 gms thinly sliced pork

chinese mushrooms soaked and sliced thinly

chinese sausages sliced thinly

4 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp black soya sauce

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil

water for sprinkling

Marinade for chicken and pork

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp black soya sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger salt (only add in before cooking)

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp minced garlic (for frying only)

Use half portion of each of the above to season chicken and pork separately

Method for rice

Strain rice and discard water

Use non stick pan and heat oil, fry garlic

Add half portion of rice and fry till even coated with oil

Add half portion of soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt

Keep stirring and sprinkle a little  water. After about 5 mins,

remove from pan and steam till rice is 90% cooked

Do the same for the other half of rice

Method for chicken and pork

Heat oil and fry sausage till fragrant, dish out

Heat oil, fry garlic, add mushrooms and fry

Add the mushroom water from the soaking

Cook till soft. remove from pan

Heat oil, fry minced garlic and fry chicken and pork individually, add a little water for gravy

Remove and get ready to assemble

Place a little of everything in bowl and top up with rice

Gently press down rice, add a little of the gravy from chicken and pork

Steam for 10 mins and its ready

Always remember to do a taste test

 

fried fish with chilli filling

This is my childhood favourite.  Eaten with piping hot rice, it was not necessary to have any other dish. It is not easily found nowadays except if you learn how to make it yourself.

Ingredients

3 pcs ikan kembong, if not available selar fish
rempah chilli (refer to previous post)
dried shrimp soaked in water and pounded
Salt
oil for frying

Method

Rub salt inside and outside of fish
Slit a pocket along side of fish
Fry pounded shrimp then add rempah chilli and fry till  fragrant
fill the pocket with the rempah chilli mixture
Heat oil in frying pan
Fry fish on medium heat till all sides are well browned
Its ready to be served

My Maiden Post

Who am I?

I am a semi retired businesswoman who loves to cook, eat and travel. I am married and have 3 daughters and two grandchildren.

Why the blog?

I want to leave a legacy of my cooking to my family as well as to all the young people in the world who find cooking daunting. This is the reason why most of my recipes are so simple. This blog is dedicated to my lovely daughters, Tina, Jan, Sandy and my darling granddaughter Dawn.Hopefully my lovable grandson Daniel will aso learn to cook for his future wife  I hope that after I am long gone, they will remember me through my recipes.

I notice that nowadays many young working adults eat out and do not cook at all. I want you to know that cooking is not necessarily troublesome. You can prepare fuss free meals in a jiffy. Perhaps many of you do not get help from your mums as even your mums don't cook. So this is my mission. To encourage and help young people discover the joys of cooking delicious home cooked food.

Some of you have families, boyfriends, girlfriends, cooking for them show your love and that you make the effort for them. Trust me when I say that the rewards you get is priceless. I plan to share my secret recipes with you, so keep coming back.

I am going to share some of my simple recipes with you.

Happy cooking!

Auntie Dolly"s Chicken Rice

 Chicken rice is everyone's favourite.  My grandson, Daniel claims that the best is at his nana's place and that's me

AUNTIE DOLLY'S CHICKEN RICE

Ingredients - enough for 4 persons

1 medium sized fresh chicken or 5 pcs thighs

4 slices fresh ginger
Sprig of spring onion
1 tsp salt
1tsp sesame oil
1tsp cooking oil
1 can pineapple slices.

Method

Boiling the chicken

Boil a pot of water just enough to cover chicken.

Add salt, ginger and spring onion
When water boils, add in chicken (make sure chicken is at room temperature}
If using whole chicken, boil for 8 mins. If using chicken thighs boil for 6 mins.
When time is up, turn off fire and leave chicken covered in pot for 20 mins.
Remove chicken from pot and rub the two oils all over the chicken.
Leave it to cool and cut into pieces. If you prefer, debone it. decorate with pineapple slices.

Ingredients for making chicken rice

6 small red onions, finely chopped

6 small garlic, finely chopped.
2 cubes of knorswiss chicken cubes
rice for 4 persons.
salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil
the leftover soup from boiling of chicken

Method

Dissolve the chicken cubes with a little hot water

Wash rice and drain
Heat up oil in frying pan
Add in onions and garlic, fry till fragrant
Add in chicken cubes
Add in drained rice and fry till evenly coated
Transfer to rice cooker
Use the soup from boiling of chicken
Add in enough quantity as you see fit
Cook rice as per normal.

Ingredients for making cabbage soup

Leftover soup from boiling chicken if any

If not, 1 carton of swanson chicken stock
1 round cabbage
2 cubes of knorswiss chicken stock

Method

Pluck cabbage in small pieces

Boil in soup till soft
If not tasty, add chicken cubes (dissolved)
Salt to taste

Ingredients for chicken rice chilli

300gms chilli padi

4 slices fresh ginger
5 pcs garlic peeled
1tbsp sugar
1tsp salt
1tbsp cooking oil
soya sauce to taste
Blend all ingredients except cooking oil and soya sauce
After blending, add oil and soya sauce according to taste.

Voila! It’s done

Vietnamese Vermicelli Salad

When we went to London for my daughter, Sandy's wedding last June, we were invited to my son-in-law's uncle's home for barbeque.
This salad went very well with all the meat and it was very very refreshing.
I asked for the recipe and have tried it a couple of times already.  Very easy to do.

Ingredients

All kinds of salad ingredients that you like
Any kind of meat, could be char siew, roast chicken, beef, etc
Peanuts, fried till fragrant and pounded coarsely.
1 packet vermicelli soaked and blanced till soft. Drain dry.

Ingredients for the sour sauce

10 small limes or 5 lemons, squeezed for its juice
1 small carrot. sliced thinly
1 clove garlic finely minced
3 chillies finely minced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3 bowls water

Method

Put everything (except lime juice) in pot and gently boil
till sugar dissolves.
Let it cool before adding lime jiuce.
Taste and adjust to your taste.
It is suppossed to be sweet and sour.

Place a handful of vermicelli into bowl, top with salad and pour the sauce to mix them up. Top with meat and ground peanuts.

Real nice and healthy

Mengkabo

MENGKABO – AUNTIE DOLLY’S CHILLI PORK DISH

This is dish is an heirloom exclusive to my family as the recipe was left behind by my late mother.  Just like what I am trying to do for my family now.  It is not clear how this dish came about but it is similar to a nonya dish but with a slight difference.  I suppose my mum modified it and called it her own version. It is spicy, savoury and sharp.

Each time my mum cooked this dish, people raved about it and kept asking her for the name of the dish.

Most times people could not remember or pronounce mengkabo. My mum being a very jovial lady, told them to remember NINABO instead. That word is a crude term commonly used in the hokkien community, something derogatory relating to one’s mother.  Just like in the west, when you curse “bloody hell”

I have protected this recipe for the last 50 years and now it is time to share it with you, the younger generation and hope that you will enjoy this dish as much as my whole extended family and my friends.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE REMPAH PASTE FOR BLENDING

200 grams shallots, peeled
50 grams candlenuts
50gms dried chillies (remove seeds before soaking)
50grams big red chillies (remove seeds)
50 grams belachan toasted (shrimp paste)
50 grams sliced galangal (blue ginger)
50 grams sliced turmeric (yellow ginger)
50 grams sliced serai (lemongrass)

Total of 8 items (remember the no. 8 always then you won’t miss out anything)

Blend with a little water till fine

PS. The above paste can be used to cook prawns, fish and squid. So make extra, fry with oil till fragrant ,cool it and store in freezer in portions.

INGREDIENTS

2 Kilograms of pork belly (I always use chilled Indonesian pork)
3 tablespoons mashed salted bean paste (tau cheong)
200 grams assam (tamarind) soaked in 500ml lukewarm water
100 grams green chillies
3 tablespoons sugar and a little salt to taste
2 Tablespoons cooking oil

METHOD

Heat oil and fry the rempah paste till you see oil enveloping the paste

Add pork and stir fry

Squeeze the assam juice (leave out pulp) into pan

When mixture starts to boil, turn fire down to medium and slow cook till pork is soft

You may have to add more assam juice when the liquid dries up

Cooking time is about 1 ½ hours

Lastly, add in green chillies and boil for 2 mins

Hope you all try cooking this dish at least once.

Cooking is also all about practice. The more you cook, the better the improvements.  Do not give up even if you don’t get it right the first time.

In years to come, I hope to be remembered each time people enjoy this dish.

Tau Yew Bak (Soya Sauce Belly Pork)

This is one of the easiest dishes to make.  It is a complete meal by itself as it has meat, egg and beancurd.  Eaten with hot piping rice or porridge accompanied by spicy sambal belachan, its real satisfying.

Ingredients

1 kg belly pork cut into bite sized pieces

2 pieces of tau kwa (firm beancurd)

4 hard boiled eggs

2 cloves of garlic

good quality black soya sauce - 4 tablespoons

sugar and salt to taste

1 teaspoon five spice powder

Dash of pepper

2 tablespoons cooking oil

water

Method

Bring a pot of water to boil

Blanch the pork to remove the dirt

Heat Oil in kwali

Add some minced garlic, fry till fragrant

Add pork and five spice powder

Stirfry for 2 minutes

Add black sauce, sugar, salt, two cloves of unpeeled garlic

Add enough water and simmer till pork is soft

When almost done, add beancurd and eggs

When bean curd is cooked, cut it into 4 squares

The dish is now ready to be served. Just sprinkle some pepper powder on top