Recipe: Chee Cheong Fun

Malaysia Kitchen has recently launched its cooking series on Seven Two on Saturdays at 3pm (Read more here). To whet your appetities, here is a recipe for the Chee Cheong Fun from Episode 2...

By: Jackie M 

Ingredients: 

125 g rice flour 

2 ½ Tbsp tapioca flour 

500ml water 

1 Tbsp oil 

2 Tbsp oil, extra for mould 

Toppings 

¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted 

1 cup oil 

1 brown onion, peeled and sliced thinly Chilli sauce (Sriracha), optional 

Topping Sauce Option 1 

⅓ cup prawn paste aka Petis Udang 

½ cup water 

*Kicap manis (sweet soya sauce) 

Topping Sauce Option 2 

1 cup hoisin sauce 

1 cup water 

⅓ cup sugar 

Method: 

Combine all the rice flour roll ingredients and mix well, batter will be very thin. 

Brush a square metal cake pan with oil, pour a very thin layer (2 mm) of batter and steam on high heat for 1 - 3 minutes OR use an oiled non-metallic baking dish and microwave on high for about a minute and a half (75 to 90 seconds depending on strength of your microwave). 

Allow to cool slightly then use a spatula or scraper to lift up the edge of the rice flour sheet. Roll up then put aside and repeat process until all the batter is used up. Toast sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, cool. 

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion until light brown. Remove onion from oil and transfer onto paper towel to crisp up. Store the onion crisps for future use, reserve oil for topping the rolls. 

For topping sauce 1, combine prawn paste and water in a saucepan. Simmer on low heat, stirring constantly, until well mixed. 

For topping sauce 2, combine hoisin sauce, water and sugar in a saucepan. Simmer on low heat until sugar is completely dissolved. 

To assemble, cut the rice flour rolls into 3 cm widths. Drizzle with either sauce option. Drizzle with onion oil and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds, serve with chilli sauce if you like it spicy.

Recipe: Chicken and Prawn Wontons with dry-style noodles

Malaysia Kitchen has recently launched its cooking series on Seven Two on Saturdays at 3pm (Read more here). To whet your appetities, here is a recipe for the Chicken and Prawn Wontons with dry-style noodles from Episode 1...

By: Jackie M

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500g fresh, thin wonton noodles

2 bunches Chinese broccoli

Chicken and Prawn Wontons

200g chicken, minced

200g banana prawns, peeled and minced

8 water chestnuts, minced

1 stalk spring onion, sliced

2 Tbsp packaged fried shallots

½ *chicken stock granules, crumbled

1 ½ tsp sesame oil

½ tsp. pepper

1 pack of 50 wonton skins

1 Tbsp. sesame oil, extra

Wonton Mee Sauce

2 Tbsp minced garlic 2

50ml vegetable oil

50ml soya sauce

50ml sesame oil

50ml thick soya sauce (kicap pekat)

200ml oyster sauce

200ml abalone sauce (or fish sauce)

1 ½ tsp white pepper

50ml water

Method:

For the wontons, combine all filling ingredients, in a bowl and mix well. Place 1 heaped tsp filling in the middle of a wonton skin, gather the edges and scrunch up to make money bags or fold into triangles. Pinch well to seal filling inside.

Place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper, keeping wontons separate or they will stick together. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Poach wontons in batches until they float to the top, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, drizzle with sesame oil and serve with Wonton Mee noodles.

Tip: Wonton skins are square, not round, and available in the refrigerated section of Asian grocery stores.

For the noodles, fry garlic in oil until just brown. Strain and discard garlic, reserving oil. In a heavy-based saucepan combine garlic oil with remaining sauce ingredients and simmer until chicken stock granules are dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Blanch Chinese broccoli for about 10 seconds and set aside. In

batches, blanch noodles for about a minute, remove with strainer and run under cold water for 3 seconds.

Quickly dip noodles back into the boiling water for 3 seconds then drain.

Toss noodles with a couple of tablespoons of sauce and place on a plate. Repeat with remaining noodles. Serve with the blanched Choy Sum, Chicken & Prawn Wontons and Chicken Char Siew.

Product review: MasFood Ginger All Purpose Paste

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

We recently got our hands on the MasFood Ginger All Purpose Paste which is perfect for cooking ginger chicken, Hainanese chicken rice or just as a general, all purpose ginger paste. 

Masfood has just been imported by Oriental Merchant (Australia's largest Asian food importer). 

There are about 12 products lines which comprise mostly of ready to cook pastes and we are really excited to try many more of them!

The packet provides easy, step by step instructions on how to prepare the specific recipes. We decided to make ginger chicken and it could not have been easier!

Ingredients

500g chicken thighs
1 sachet of MasFood Ginger All Purpose Paste

Steps - Chicken

1. Stir-fry the MasFood Ginger All Purpose Paste with a small amount of water. 
2. Then add in 500g of chicken thighs and stir-fry until cooked. 

We loved how easy and delicious the ginger chicken was to cook and will definitely be cooking this again for a quick and easy mid week dinner. We were really impressed by the quality of this MasFood product and are looking forward to testing out the other products in the range!

Product review: Chilliz Dry Curry (Rendang Paste) 200g

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

Rendang is a spicy meat dish. Unlike many Malaysian dishes that involve a rempah (spice paste), this one is not caramelised but is used as a marinade and then simmered until the meat is tender and gravy reduced. 

Hearty, delicious and full of flavour, this dish is perfect for sharing and is eaten with steamed rice, ketupat (a compressed rice cake) or lemang (glutinous rice cooked in bamboo tubes), accompanied with vegetable side dishes.

Rendang is rich in spices and can be difficult to make, which is where this handy paste comes in. The rendang paste includes ingredients such as onion, Galangal, Lemon Grass, Chilli, Sugar, Garlic, Salt, Ginger, Tamarind, Turmeric Leaves and Kaffir Lime Leaves so all the hard work is done. Using this recipe paste, your rendang can be ready in 25 minutes and serves 6 person.

What you need:

1kg oyster blade of beef (cubed)

1 packet Chilliz Dry Curry (Rendang Paste) 200g (available from Exotic Groceries) 

400 ml coconut milk

Cooking Instructions:

1. Add the beef to the Paste Mix.
2. Pour in the coconut milk and allow to simmer on medium heat until meat is tender and sauce is thickened for a minimum of 25 minutes.
3. Enjoy!

The paste makes a lovely rendang as the meat absorbs all the spices and becomes beautifully tender. Because of the numerous spices, the rendang is has a complex and absolutely moreish taste.

Product Review: Richmond chicken curry paste

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

We love the smell of a delicious curry wafting through the kitchen. And with Malaysian curry recipe bases available at every Asian grocery store, whipping up a big pot of chicken curry is quick and easy.

Although not traditional, we add chickpeas, eggplant and carrots into our version as we think they make the dish really delicious! But for a more traditional version of the classic Malaysian chicken curry simply leave these ingredients out.

Ingredients

Richmond Chicken Curry Paste 250g from Oriental Merchant

125 ml coconut milk from Oriental Merchant

1.25kg chicken thighs

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1 can of chick peas

1 eggplant, cut into pieces, brushed with oil and baked in the oven until soft

2 chopped carrots

3 potatoes sliced into quarters

150 ml water

Cooking instructions

This recipe could not be easier. Simply cut the chicken into pieces and lightly fry with Richmond Chicken Curry Paste for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add all other ingredients into the pot and bring to boil until potatoes are soft. Serve with steamed rice. ENJOY!

Product Review: Ayam Brand Sardines and Hock Lee Prawn-Paste

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

Assam laksa has become quite a regular dish that we serve at home (check out our recipe here). But to make the perfect assam laksa, you need all the right ingredients.

Apart from the condiments and the handy Richmond Penang Assam Laksa paste, we've found that the Ayam Brand sardines and the Hock Lee Prawn paste make the perfect broth!

We love the Ayam brand sardines as the sardines are plump, generous and taste absolutely beautiful.

The Hock Lee prawn paste is a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste that adds a beautiful depth of flavour to any assam laksa broth.

And there you have it, all the essentials for a delicious assam laksa - enjoy! 

Product Review: Claypot Klang Bakuteh

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

After tasting the delicious Bakuteh at SugarBun, we decided to have a go at making some at home using the Claypot Klang Bakuteh recipe base.

It was very (make that incredibly) easy to use and tasted seriously good.

Ingredients

1 x packet Claypot Klang Bakuteh recipe base (which you can buy from most Asian grocery stores. We buy ours from Box Hill Central)

1 kg Pork ribs (we've tried using chicken too and it's still really good but of course, not as authentic) 

Pork belly slices (optional)

1500 ml water

2 bulbs of garlic

Shitake mushrooms 

Fried bean curd 

1 tbsp dark soy sauce (cameralised soy sauce)

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1/4 tsp salt

Cooking instructions

1. Put the 2 spice bags (do not open these bags!), meat, garlic, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and salt into boiling water.  
2. Simmer for at least 1 hour - (We find that 2 hours works best on low heat).
3. Enjoy!

Product Review: Richmond Penang Assam Laksa Paste

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

A spicy and sour fish-based soup from Malaysia, Assam laksa is a fiery treat.

It is difficult to make Assam laksa from scratch so we enjoyed using this recipe base for our favourite laksa, the Penang Assam Laksa using the pre-made Paste.

The recipe traditionally calls for the use of ikan kembung or mackerel but we’ve found that sardines work pretty well as a substitute. The paste is brilliant and the Assam laksa we made tasted completely authentic. Highly recommended!

Ingredients

Richmond Penang Assam Laksa Paste 250g from Oriental Merchant

Cap Nelayan Petis Udang (hae koh) from Oriental Merchant

De-boned ikan kembung/ mackerel/ sardines

Finely sliced cucumber, onions, red chillies. pineapple, lettuce, mint, "

Thick rice noodles 

Hae koh (蝦羔) - thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste.

Cooking instructions

Add 1 litre of water to paste. Boil and add deboned fish (optional). To make the soup more sour, you can add pineapple juice or vinegar. Serve with thick rice noodles, fresh mint, fish meat, diced chilli, freshly sliced onions and prawn paste (hae koh). ENJOY!

Recipe: Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce ("Tao You Buck")

This post was sponsored by MATRADE's Malaysian Kitchen Program.

A popular dish among the Malaysian Chinese population, this dish is called "Tao You Buck" (in Hokkien). The dish goes very well with both rice and noodles.

A family favourite, this dish features melt in your mouth morsels of pork belly in a flavoursome soy sauce broth. It is also versatile in the sense that you can add extra items such as potatoes, carrots and mushrooms into the mix.

Ingredients

500 grams sliced pork belly 

4 cups water

1 pulp of pounded garlic

1 tablespoon of smashed and cracked white pepper corn
1 Dragon Phoenix star anise (available from Oriental Merchant)
1/4 Teaspoon Dragon Phoenix Five Spice Powder (available from Oriental Merchant)

5 hard-boiled eggs (optional)

8 pieces of fried tofu/bean curd

4 tablespoons Habhal’s Kecap Masin (available from IGA and online from www.kedai.com.au)

3 tablespoons Habhal’s Kecap Manis (available from IGA and online from www.kedai.com.au)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a pot. 
2. Add in garlic, pork belly and cracked pepper. 
3. Bring the pork belly to boil.
4. Add hard-boiled eggs, fried tofu, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise and five spice powder. 
5. Lower the heat and braise the pork for 30 minutes or until the pork belly is cooked through and tender. 
6. Add salt to taste. 
7. Continue to simmer on low heat for another 15-20 minutes. 
8. Serve with steamed white rice.