PENANG LORBAK (PORK ROLL IN BEANCURD SHEETS)

 PENANG LORBAK

(5-spice pork strips wrapped in beancurd skin)

600g shoulder pork OR Boneless Chicken wholelegs, sliced into thin strips of abt 1cm thickness x 15cm length

1 large Bombay onion, cut into thin wedges

1 sheet beancurd skin, cut into 10 pcs

3-4 water chestnuts, chopped

Pork Seasoning: 1 tspn 5-spice powder, 1/2 tspn white pepper powder, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 egg, 1 tspn salt, 2 tspn sugar, 1 tbsp corn flour

1) Marinade pork strips with seasoning overnight in fridge.

Stir in chopped water chestnut just before wrapping with beancurd skin

2) Place a sheet of beancurd skin on a clean n dry cutting board. Wipe beancurd skin with a damp tea towel.

3) Arrange pork strips on one end of d beancurd skin, lengthways. Arrange a few thin onion wedges on top of pork. Roll up tightly and seal with a little cornstarch water on the edges.

4) Repeat Step 3 until finish.

5) Heat up some oil on a frying pan for shallow frying.

6) Fry Lorbak in batches in medium fire, turning once to brown evenly and pork is cooked inside.

7) Slice cooked in a slant Lorbak into 1” length pieces.

8 ) Serve warm with chilli sauce dip.

Sauce Dip:

2 tbsp plum sauce, 50 ml rice vinegar, 1 tbsp chilli-garlic sauce, 2 tbsp sugar, pinch of salt, 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

HOW TO BUTTERFLY FISH FOR STEAMING AND DEEP-FRYING

 

 SZECHUAN STYLE FRENCH BEANS

300g French beans, topped & tailed

3 tbsp minced pork/chicken

1 tbsp dried prawns, chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup water mixed with 1 tspn corn flour

1 stalk spring onions, chopped

Oil for deep frying

Sauce ingredients: 2 tspn malted, black rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbspn light soy sauce, 1 tspn black soy sauce, salt to taste, 1/2 cup water

1) Heat up oil for deep frying until smoking. Very quickly deep-fry french beans until skin blisters, about 1 minute. Remove and drain.

2) Cut fried beans into two. Leave aside.

3) Leave about 2 tbspn oil in the wok. Fry minced garlic and prawns until garlic is lightly brown.m n dried prawns are fragrant.

4) Add in sauce ingredients, cover and let it simmer for about 1-2?minutes or water has reduced by half.

5) Stir in cornflour mixture n let sauce thickens.

6) Add in fried french beans n spring onions.

7) Toss to mix well; remove and place on serving plate.

SWEET & SOUR PORK/CHICKEN

 SWEET & SOUR PORK/CHICKEN

300g pork shoulder or boneless chic whole leg

1 tbspn oyster sauce

1tspn sugar

1 egg white

4 tbspn all-purpose wheat flour

1 tbspn minced garlic

Oil for deep-frying

1/3 length of a medium cucumber, seeded and cubed

1 wedge pineapple (optional), diced

1/2 an onion, cut into wedges

1/2 a tomato, quartered

Sauce ingredients: 2 tbspn plum sauce, 1 tbspn rice vinegar, 1 tbspn tomato sauce,

1 tspn sugar

1 tbspn tapioca flour mixed with 1/2 cup water

1) Cut pork/chicken into 1/2” cubes. Marinate meat with oyster sauce for 4 hrs or overnight in fridge.

2) Add in lightly beaten egg white and mix well. Sprinkle in d wheat flour onto meat n coat.

3) Heat up oil in wok for deepfrying until oil is hot. Fry meat in 2 batches until brown.

4) Remove from oil and drain.

5) Leave about 2 tablespoons of oil in wok and fry minced garlic until just brown.

6)Add in onions and saute lightly. Add in pineapple, tomatoes and sauce ingredients. Bring to boil, stirring in medium heat.

7) Stir in tapioca and water mixture and add in cucumber cubes. Bring to boil and let sauce thickens.

8 ) Add back d fried meat and toss to coat meat with the sauce.

9) Dish out and serve.

Variation: If using fish fillet pieces, use Garoupa fish. Slice fish at a slant about 3mm thick. Toss in flour and deep fry til crispy and use accordingly.

 PORK CURRY WITH YOGURT

1/2 kg Pork Trotter or shin without skin and

1/2 kg pork neck bones, chopped into 1” pieces

1/2 cup yogurt

4 tbsp cooking oil

150g shallots, diced

1 medium Bombay onion, diced

10 cloves garlic, sliced

50g Meat Curry Powder (Baba or Alaggapa brand)

1 tbsp roasted coriander powder

1 tbsp roasted cumin powder

1” cinnamon stick

2 star anise

5 cloves

1.5” old ginger, sliced

4 sprigs Curry Leaves (karipillay)

2 tomatoes, diced

Salt to taste

1. Cut meat into 1” chunks. Marinate meat and bones with yogurt. Leave aside.

2. Heat oil in a pot and fry shallots with whole spices until lightly brown. Add in garlic and fry until shallots are brown in medium heat.

3. Add in Curry leaves, coriander, cumin powder and curry powder. Fry until fragrant.

4. Add in meat and bones and stir fry to seal in juices. Add a little water if curry powder sticks to pot.

5. Add ginger, tomatoes and enough water to cover meat.

6. Bring to boil and simmer, covered until meat is tender, about 40 minutes.

7. Add salt to taste.

8. Serve hot with rice or roti/naan.

STRAWBERRY YOGURT CAKE WITH STREUSEL TOPPING

 

STRAWBERRY-YOGURT CAKE

.1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Use a 7”-square cake pan, oiled and line bottom with parchment

paper. Flour the sides.

2. For the Streusel: 35g All Purpose flour, 55g light brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, 42g butter soften; mix with finger to form coarse crumbs; leave aside.

3. 190g AP flour, 225g frozen stawberries (add a little flour, abt 3 tbsp, from the 225g to coat stawberries and leave aside).

4. Dry ingredients:

Add 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp BC Soda and 1/2 tsp salt to the flour. Mix with whisk and leave aside.

5. Wet ingredients:

2 large eggs (of abt 110g with shell), whisked; 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 cup veg oil, 3/4 cups full fat Greek yogurt. Mix together with whisk until combined. Add 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar and continue mixing with a wire whisk.

6. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in wet ingredients mixture. Fold lightly with a spatula. Add in floured stawberries and mix well.

7. Pour batter into cake pan.

8. Smooth out top of cake with spatula. Sprinkle streusel on top.

9. Bake for 60-65 minutes or test with skewer and skewer comes out clean.

10. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

PENANG NYONYA GULAI TUMIS

PENANG NYONYA GULAI TUMIS

(Penang Nyonya Fish Curry)

This recipe is from my dear mother-in-law, Sucy Lee, who is more of a friend to me than my mother-in-law.  The credit should go to her.  After I was married and had my first child, I moved back to Kuala Lumpur to live with her and my father-in-law for number of years.  She taught me all I need to know about Nyonya cuisine.

 Gulai Tumis Curry Paste:

5 medium purple onions, peeled and cut into chunks

8 cloves garlic, peeled

2 lemon grass, slice thinly*

8 fresh chillies, seeded and sliced

2 tbspn dried chilli paste or sambal olek

3 knobs 1"length fresh turmeric*

2 square slices shrimp paste (belachan) of about 3mm thick each

1 cup cooking oil 

In a mortar and pestle, pound the turmeric and lemon grass until fine.  Alternatively you can use a food processor: with the motor running, put the sliced lemon grass through the feeder tube, followed by the turmeric root.

Add in the other fresh ingredients (onions, garlic and fresh chillies) into the food processor and grind until fine.  Lastly add  in shrimp paste and the dried chilli paste and grind until well combined.

Heat up oil in a wok and fry the paste in medium fire until oil separates.

Pack the cooked paste into clean glass bottles until read to use later. The paste can be kept frozen for up to 6 months.  Makes about 4 cups of paste.

Penang Nyonya Fish Curry

(Serves 2-3)

2 pieces 1/2"thick red snapper cutlets or threadfin cutlets or 1 medium whole white pomfret

4 tbspn Gulai Tumis Curry Paste

2 tbspn tamarind paste mixed with 1 cup water, strained

3-4 tspn sugar or to taste

5 sprigs polygynon leaves (Daun kesom), use leaves only

4-5 okra/ladies fingers, remove stalk but leave  whole

1 small length of brinjal/aubergine, cut into 2"length and quartered

salt to taste

In a pan, heat up the curry paste.  Add in the strained tamarind juice.  Bring to boil and add the vegetables.  When curry boils again, add in the fish and the herb leaves. Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add sugar and salt to taste.  Remover from fire and serve immediately.

*Notes:  Its important to grind the lemon grass finely.  

When frying the paste, use medium fire and stir frequently to avoid burning or the curry will have a bitter taste.

Dried chilli paste or sambal olek can be store bought.  If you make your own, remove the stalks and seeds of the dried chillies using a pair of kitchen scissors. Snip them into short legnths and soak them in cold water overnight in the fridge.  Drain and grind the soaked chillies until fine.  Heat up some oil in a wok and fry the paste until the oil turns a deep red colour. Bottle the cooked paste until ready to use later. Paste can be frozen for up to 6 months.

You can substitute the fresh turmeric for powdered turmeric. Use about 3 heapful teaspoons of turmeric powder.

Shrimp paste or belachan in the Malay language can be store bought. They comes in rectangular blocks or in round flat cakes. Cut it up into slices with a dry knife and cutting board.  Keep them inside a bottle in the fridge.

Polygynon leaves is a herb.  In here they are used to flavour the curry and they are discarded after cooking. Alternatively you can grind the leaves together at the final step when  preparing the paste.  Save you the hassel to buy a batch of leaves every time you need to cook the curry. Use about 10 sprigs of the herbs for the 4 cups of paste.

The okra and the aubergine can be microwaved to cook and added in later just before serving.