Jan 28th, 2010
by Lilian.
My son came into my room, asking me if I have any good recipes for cookies. Well, I told him, go Google it. Your ma’s recipes are all online. Just google malaysiabest cookies recipes and you will find them.
So, here are some of the recipes which I have tried and tested.
Melting moments – This is a very crispy and buttery cookies. However, piping the dough is quite a chore because your hands get all oily and handling the thing is rather messy.
The compulsory Chinese New Year peanut cookies. Nowadays, I prefer the green peas or almond cookies rather than the peanut ones.
Recipe for green pea cookies.
Almond cookies
And another recipe that I like is the sugee or suji cookies.
All the above are guaranteed to work. Try it!
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Posted in: Chinese New Year & festivals.
Jan 25th, 2010
by Lilian.
I love steamboat. But my whole family don’t. So, they hate going to steamboat restaurants. One will say the steamboat smell cling to the shirt. One will question why they need to cook their own foods. And the husband will asked, “Why don’t they just cook noodle soup with all the ingredients in one bowl?”
Doh…*throws hand in exasperation*
Anyway, it is not that difficult to have our own steamboat at home. It is much cheaper, nicer and relaxing. (steamboat soup recipe here)
I am preparing steamboat dinner tonight.
The above photos are from previous year. However, I have most ingredients like large, white prawns, homemade fishball, homemade tofu flavoured with egg and fish (cos the fish I bought was rather big), squids, various types of mushrooms, fish maw, various type of meats and vegetables. (how to make homemade fishball)
To satisfy the husband need for carbs (not crabs), I bought some yellow noodles as well. I love the taste of the soup towards the end of the steamboat. That’s when I like to knock an egg to the boiling soup and noodle. But as usual, the hubby will cook the noodle with the egg and ingredients and have his ‘bowl of noodle’ before we even start enjoying the steamboat. *roll eyes*
Give me Chinese style steamboat with very plain soup anytime. I prefer the plain soup over those fancy herbal, Japanese, Korean or tomyam soup. Then, only you can enjoy the freshness of the seafoods.
Posted in: Chinese New Year & festivals.
Jan 22nd, 2010
by Lilian.
I had made this bee hive cake before but it was too tedious. So, after one attempt, the brass mould is getting mouldy. In fact, I cannot even remember where I stuffed it.
Many years later, I have one kid who likes this bee hive cake. Otherwise, this is never a feature in our home during Chinese New Year. In Hokkien we call it phang-siew koay. I think the Malay name is kueh ros?
It is actually quite easy to do. If you get your batter right, it is a breeze. Just dip the very hot mould (you heat it up by dipping it in hot oil) into the batter. Immediately put the batter covered mould into the hot oil. The batter will detached from the mould.
You need to use a chopstick to gently shape the batter and make sure it has even brown tone by turning it in the oil without making it out of shape. Usually, if there are two person doing it, then, it is much easier and faster.
No one is so patient at home to do these tasks. I am also one of those impatient one who cannot concentrate for long on tedious tasks like these. So, all I need is to fork out some money and buy a container.
I bought one from Him Heang. It costs RM12.50 but it is sooooo crispy and nice. My youngest boy loves this. Now, I am considering making it myself.
But that means:
1) Dig out the mould
2) Find a reliable recipe
3) Find someone willing to stand by the hot, boiling oil to fry it
4) Find willing guinea pigs to finish them if I can’t get it tasty and crispy.
On second thought, I think I will just waste another RM12.50 should my kids want more. Life is too short to be bothered with hot boiling oil.
Posted in: Chinese New Year & festivals, Chocolates & desserts.
Jan 11th, 2010
by Lilian.
Nowadays, I take photos with my N97. Though not the best photo quality, it is easy to snap everything the moment I see it.
The other day I wanted some Chinese herbal mix for chicken soup. So, we dropped by the Perak Road wet market as it was on the way. I found an old man sitting down dreamily watching the world goes by. He is selling bunches of bamboo leaves.
I was like oh wow….spring cleaning time again? So fast? That was before the malls slammed us with red lanterns, red cloths and Chinese New Year songs.
Long time ago, my mother-in-law advised me that I must sweep my house’s ceiling, nook and corner with these bamboo leaves because only bamboo leaves can drive away evil, naughty spirits. Hahaha, I never do any spring cleaning ‘cos I leave it to my housekeeper to do that.
Those of you who are familiar with Perak Road or Tor lork au will recognise this man who used to make peanut candy (kong thng, thor tau tng) with his barehands. It is an interesting process where the maltose is mixed with fried groundnuts and cut into rectangles. The other version is the kacang tumbuk where he used to pound the mixture into grounded peanuts. He supplies poh piah skin for you to eat with the kong thng so that the skin takes away the sweetness of the peanut candy plus it is less messy too.
I went to this tiny old, Chinese medicine hall and asked for two packets of bak kut teh mix and two packets of chicken herbal soup mix. I thought they will give me, all wrapped up in plastic bags. But oh no…the lady slowly weighed all the ingredients in taels with her old weighing scales. It was a long process as there are so many ingredients in bak kut teh. I think I spent almost 20-30 minutes just waiting for her to slowly take those Chinese herbs from each drawer. It is a beautiful gesture, so traditional and heart warming.
All these traditional businesses like selling bamboo leaves for spring cleaning, handmade peanut candy and Chinese herbs, personally mixed and tailored to your taste are only available from traditional wet markets.
Posted in: Food & drinks.
This post is for the Penangites. If you know the Mt. Erskine hawker place, then, you will be able to find this house selling cream puffs, curry puffs and other homemade cookies and Chinese New Year kueh.
The Mt. Erskine hawker is by the roadside just before the turning into Fettes Park. These hawkers have some pretty nice foods but I haven’t got around to take proper photos yet.
However, the pineapple tarts are awfully nice and I just have to blog about them. I bought a small container the other day when the tarts were just out of the oven and still warm.
It is delicious. So, go buy some! I am not sure of the name of the road or the house number but you can see a sign saying ‘Curry puffs for sale’. The curry puff is good too but a bit oily though.
You can find the recipe for pineapple tarts and the step-by-step of making pineapple tarts in my old blog post.
Posted in: Food & drinks.
