Suan Pan Zi (Abacus Seeds)

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I love eating Abacus Seeds any time of the year, but somehow they are so much more special and festive during Chinese New Year.  It's a good dish (or shall I say, a 'good luck' dish) to prepare to please the old folks during the Chinese New Year, as it signifies that you will have an abundance of wealth to count up on your abacus for the year. I am not in the least bit superstitious, but I do enjoy keeping with the prosperity 'theme', so to speak, if only because I find the whole thing mildly amusing. 

Abacus seeds are a Hakka dish, which is to be expected as the Khek  people are such lovers of yam.  I was taught how to make these by my mother (who is Hakka).  This is one of those dishes that is really worth making at home, as it is hard to find a good version of it outside.  

However, it also has a reputation for being a 'difficult' dish.  The multiple steps of having to steam the yam, mould the dough seeds, boil and then fry them can be very time-consuming.  It definitely entails a lot more work than you would normally invest in your average home-cooked dinner.  Nowadays, people make the abacus seeds in advance and freeze them for later use, which substantially cuts down on the time required, since you can divide your work over 2 days.  Back in the good old days however, they didn't have this option. 

The other difficulty with this dish is in getting the dough to form properly to the right consistency. A good abacus seed should taste solidly of yam, but yet be 'QQ' or have a slight 'spring' or chewiness in texture.  A well-formed abacus seed should be no bigger than the size of an abacus bead,  smooth and shiny (when cooked) with no cracks, and should NOT 'fur' up or disintegrate when fried. 

Lastly, forming the dough requires some good estimation on the cook's part. There are only 2 main components to the dough - yam and tapioca flour.  However, different yams will absorb different amounts of tapioca flour, a function both of the size of the yam and how 'dry' it is. I add only sufficient tapioca flour such that the dough is pliable and does not stick to the fingers when you fashion an abacus seed.  If you add too much tapioca flour, the dough will become too dry and crack around the rim when you are forming the seeds.

Choosing a good yam is of course essential.  Apart from the obvious (i.e. no external blemishes to the yam, firm to the feel, not bruised etc), I'm told that a good yam should have nice purple veining on the inside. You can find cut yams for sale at NTUC, and some vegetable grocers at the wet market.  Of course this tip is not a lot of help when you can only find whole, uncut yams for sale. (If you have any other tips for helping to choose a good yam, do post them here.

The recipe below is for a whole yam, and yields about 70-100 seeds. (depending on how small/big you make them!).  In a meal with other accompanying meat and vegetable dishes, I can only eat about 8-10 seeds at most, because it is very 'jer lak'.  Based on that I would say this recipe can serve about 6 - 8 people as a side dish. 

Recipe for Hakka Abacus Seeds

Ingredients
Dough
1 yam (or about 450grams), skinned
Approximately 100g tapioca flour (may use less or more, see above)
1/4 tsp salt

 2 tbsp shallot oil (can substitute with cooking oil)
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp shallots, minced
2 pieces black wood-ear fungus (mu er), cut into strips
2 tbsp dried prawns/hae bee (soaked and minced)
300 grams belly pork/bacon (cut into strips)

3 - 4 pieces shitake mushroom (soaked and softened, sliced thin)
fish sauce (to taste)
1 tbsp Chinese wine

Garnish

1 big red chilli (sliced)
spring onions
Chinese parsley
1 tbsp fried shallots

Method
1. Forming the dough: Cut yam into thick sticks, discarding any parts of the yam which are discoloured or soft. Steam yam until it is soft enough to be mashed.  When the yam is still steaming hot, quickly add in the salt, and 1/2 the amount of tapioca flour and knead it into the yam as you are mashing it. Continue to add in tapioca flour and knead until the desired texture is reached. Stop adding tapioca flour once the dough allows you to form an abacus seed nicely without sticking to your finger. 
2. Shaping abacus seeds: Roll your dough into a thick roll and cover with a clean dry cloth to keep warm. break off a piece of the dough and roll into a ball, flatten into a disc and then press your finger/thumb/knuckle into the centre of the disc to form an 'abacus seed'. Set aside. Continue until all the dough is used up. You can freeze these seeds in an airtight bag/container for later use.  If freezing, arrange all the abacus seeds , without touching, on a tray.  When frozen, transfer to a plastic bag or other container. This is to prevent the seeds from sticking together during the process of freezing.
3. Boiling seeds:  Bring a pot of water, with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp oil added, to the boil. Add abacus seeds (if adding frozen seeds, there is no need to thaw them) to the boiling water. Once they float up to the surface, they are cooked. Remove them to drain.  Do not overcook. Toss the abacus seeds with a little oil to prevent them from sticking.
4. Cooking the seeds: In a heated wok, fry the belly pork strips in a little oil until browned. Remove and drain. Add the shallot oil and fry the garlic, shallots and dried prawns until fragrant. Add mushrooms and black fungus and stir-fry for a while. Toss in the fried belly strips, and then the abacus seeds. Add in the sesame oil and fish sauce to taste. Allow the heat and steam to 'loosen' the seeds, and then gently fry the mixture until the abacus seeds are shiny and evenly tossed with the rest of the ingredients.

Garnish and serve immediately.

Ice Cream with Loti

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If you grew up in Singapore, you will understand when I say that an Ice Cream Loti sandwich is one of the best ways to eat ice cream.  When I was young, one of the very feeewwwww sweet treats that my dad permitted me to have was ice cream with loti, only because he himself was crazy about it.  (In case you didn't know, 'loti' is the Singaporean Hokkien way of saying 'roti', which means 'bread' in Malay.  Which goes to show that we Singaporeans are good at not just mangling the English language but also Malay).

Ice cream with loti was usually sold by ice cream vendors from their push carts as they made their rounds around housing estates and near schools.  Like sharks, once the ice cream man's bell started ringing, children from around my HDB estate would make their way down in double quick time to congregate around his cart. My favourite flavour was Raspberry Swirl, and I had the choice of either having it sandwiched between 2 wafers, or in a slice of rainbow coloured bread, or occasionally, sweet white bread.  Like my dad, I would choose to eat mine with bread 90% of the time. I love the feeling of the cottony soft bread against the ice cold ice cream. Soft and sweet and cold - those ice creams bread sandwiches were some of my best childhood gastronomic memories.

Being able to find the right bread is essential to enjoying this snack. This became harder after those commercially produced square loaves from Sunshine and Gardenia started invading our homes (that was also around the time that I started throwing bread out of my window).  Breads which you get from western bakeries are also not suitable, as the western palate is more accustomed to breads with a firmer, coarser texture.  Whereas we like our bread soft and super fluffy.

Fortuitously, as we were having tea along Upper Paya Lebar Road yesterday, my sharp-eyed friend P spotted this Hainanese bakery that made traditional bread. I have been duped by many a so-called 'traditional' bread bakery in HDB heartlands before. Often, the bread just looks traditional but turns out to be dry, tasteless and coarse textured.  Thankfully the bread from Jie Bakery & Confectionery is the real deal - fluffy, tender and cottony soft. They sold small brown crusted loaves which you could ask to be smothered in homemade kaya or peanut butter and margarine. And the best part was, they also sell rainbow coloured loti! My friends and I have happy memories of demolishing 2 tubs of ice cream and a whole loaf of rainbow bread over our Ice Cream Loti supper that night.

My only problem now is, we would really like to have more of this traditional bread rather than the characterless and tasteless Gardenia bread that is our breakfast staple.  But I can't make the trip to Jie Bakery every other day, since I live on the Western part of the island. Besides, their bread doesn't keep for more than 2 to 3 days. If you know of a good bakery in the west, tell me!!

And if you live near Upper Paya Lebar, do yourself a favour and buey loti (buy loti) from them:

Jie Bakery & Confectionery 
123 Upper Paya Lebar Road

Tel: +65 6281 1377

Opening Hours

24 hours
(Closed on Fri mornings)

Braised Chicken with Lotus Seeds and Gingko Nuts

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My Auntie gave me a cook book, Food For Thought, by Vivian Quahe-Seah some years ago. There are many cookbooks on my shelf but this is one of my most treasured. Not just because of the variety recipes there, but also because it is an inspiring labour of love from a lawyer, wife, mother of two and cook, who led her life with faith and courage right down to the day she finally succumbed to cancer in 2002. 

Being a wife and mother myself (and also an ex-lawyer with a passion for cooking), there are many things she shared in her lengthy and yet gripping and honest testimony at the beginning of her cookbook that resonate with me. Death comes to us all, eventually, as I am reminded this week as I paid an emotional visit to a friend who is also suffering from cancer. But people like Vivien and my friend, who press on to face suffering and death with courage, faith and hope, always inspire me and remind me that there is an eternal reality that is greater than anything that we will ever face on earth. The reality of God, and His love, that sustains us now and will continue to sustain us when our bodies fail. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" 2 Corinthians 4:18

Thank you Vivien, for your cookbook and the sharing of your life story that has nourished not just our bodies but also our hearts. And thank you for this excellent recipe, that has made its way onto my dinner table as a regular feature.

Braised chicken is a common dish in many Chinese families. Typically, chicken is braised with chinese mushrooms, and potatoes or carrots, in a savoury soya sauce gravy.  It's a dish that we cook often, as it is easy and the children love it. This version features lotus seeds and gingko nuts, and is a refreshing change from
the usual braised chicken recipe. The more-ish gravy, savoury and yet also sweet with the fragrance of lotus seeds and gingko nuts, is so delicious that we always ladle it over our rice until it is drowning in it.  And there are many times I have ended up drinking up every last drop as if it were soup (after all my rice is finished!).

I hope you will enjoy this recipe too!

Recipe for Braised Chicken with Lotus Seeds and Gingko Nuts
by Vivien Quahe-Seah
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients
1 medium chicken
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp gingko nuts (peeled version, in vacuum packs or tins)
2 tbsp lotus seeds
2 tbsp wolfberries (kei chee)

Seasoning
1 tbsp rose wine (Mei Kuei Lu Chiew)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp sugar
4 cups water

Method

1. Clean chicken and marinate with dark soya sauce and salt for at least 1/2 hour.
2. Deep fry chicken in oil. Brown chicken but do not fry until crispy.
3. Heat pot with a little oil and fry wolfberries, gingko nuts and lotus seeds for about 1-2 minutes.
Add seasoning and water and bring to a boil.
Add in chicken. When boiling lower heat and cover pot with lid. Simmer for about 1/2 to 3/4 hour until chicken and nuts are tender.

Vivien's Tips: 
 - Take care not to overboil the chicken. Meat must be firm yet tender. Whilst cooking chicken do not turn the chicken over more than once.
- Vivien credits her aunty Ailin for teaching her this recipe.

Xiaoli Feidao's notes:
a) Vivien's recipe calls for the chicken to be deep fried and cooked as a whole. This no doubt makes for a more beautiful presentation especially if serving to guests. However, for convenience, I use chicken parts instead - either a whole chicken chopped into parts, or a mixture of drumsticks and wings. If using chicken parts, please note that the chicken will cook faster, so do not overboil or all the meat will fall apart.
b) I usually add a little more water as I like the gravy. If you do so, adjust the seasoning accordingly.
c) If you cannot find rose wine, you can use Chinese Shao Hsing wine as a substitute.

Ridiculous about Ramen

If there is one Japanese dish I am absolutely nuts about, it is Ramen. I am glad I had the opportunity to try out some ramen places in Tokyo during our December trip, although we did not 'hit' as many places as I would have liked.  I was pretty sad about missing out on Chabuton Ramen when I was at Akihabara-Yodabashi. My kids wanted to eat tonkatsu that day and, being the good mummy that I was, I deferred to their choice and that being near the end of the trip, I didn't have a chance to visit Chabuton thereafter.

So, after eating much ramen in Singapore, and some in Tokyo, what do I think constitutes a good bowl of ramen?

You will get many differing views on this question. Even my husband and I have different opinions and favourites when it comes to ramen.

Firstly, in any ramen comparison, I believe it is important to compare like with like. There are many styles of ramen and types of broth, and it is important to know what we are comparing. For example, there are 4 main soup bases - Shio, Shoyu, Miso and Tonkotsu. My favourite is the Miso Ramen.  Because Miso soup base tends to be richer and more flavourful, it would not be fair to compare it against the others (which when tasted side by side will seem less tasty).  In terms of noodles, there is the usual thick curly noodles (even then there are variations as to thickness and curliness, too much detail for me to go into here) which is more common, and the less common  (although increasingly popular) one that I prefer- the thin, straight Hakata-style noodles.

Ramen afficianados will usually judge ramen by 4 main components: soup base, ramen, egg and chashu.

I have yet to find a ramen place that can wow me with all 4 components. For example, in terms of soup base, Ippudo's is really hard to beat. It is complex in flavour and absolutely umami. The addition of its black garlic oil, coupled with the MANY tiny bits of white pork fat floating in the broth, contributes to its incomparable flavour, and though I don't love the price, I have to admit they make a pretty unbeatable miso soup base. Unfortunately, the noodles are not nice, the egg is ALWAYS overcooked, and the chashu varies in quality, sometimes tough and sometimes soft.

Recently I tried Seiya Ramen in Shinkoiwa, Tokyo, which serves only Tonkotsu Ramen.  Its broth was the absolute best tonkotsu broth I have had (WAY better than Tampopo in Singapore, which is so thin I wonder why it is still so popular).  But what really sold me too was that the Chashu was melt in the mouth, and the egg, well let me just say that it was PERFECT, with its white cooked but its yolk completely thick and oozy without a speck of undoneness. Apart from the fact that the egg wasn't sufficiently flavoured with shoyu (looked a little pale on the outside), that was one happy bowl of ramen. And they served it with thin noodles too. I don't remember being so happy with a non-miso ramen for a long time.

Seiya Ramen-Round One. LURVE!!

It was so good I had to go back a second time. Which brings me to the next point - what makes a good ramen is consistency.  Which is really hard to come by. I have not yet eaten at one ramen place that is consistent from visit to visit, branch to branch. The second time I visited Seiya, it was as if I was eating a different bowl of ramen. The soup was more dilute, the egg was overcooked, and the chashu was tougher. You can see from the picture below that it different from the one above.

Seiya Ramen - Round Two. Blah.

On another night, we tried Kuro Taiko Ramen in Shinjuku, which is one of my husband's favourites. The miso broth was very good, not as good as Ippudo, but a close second. The noodles were fantastic in terms of texture and springiness. Egg was again overcooked and chashu average, and I would have been very pleased with the experience if not for the fact that, out of 3 bowls of miso ramen, 1 bowl was significantly more dilute than the other 2. What gives?? In the same meal? Prepared by the same chef? Perhaps it was near closing time and he wanted to stretch his last bit of broth into an extra few bowls. Still, the inconsistency is disappointing. I thought it was a problem only in Singapore, where many ramen places start off well (especially when the Japanese master chef is still around) only to drop in standards subsequently. But apparently inconsistency is a problem that plagues not only ramen places in Singapore, but also in a competitive ramen environment like Tokyo.

Kuro Taiko Ramen

Of course, for a person who thinks too much about ramen, I had to share my thoughts with my husband.  Who, even though he is a ramen freak who has eaten way more ramen than me on his countless business trips to Tokyo, finally concludes that I am too fussy and that I obsess too much about egg doneness and chashu, and other details.  "It's a good, above average ramen" he would say, and that's that.

Which is enough to remind me not to be such a ninny about ramen (among other foods), and just enjoy it for what it is - superb comfort food.

Steamed Yam Cake (Wu Tow Kou)

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There are some foods which, to my mind, are very 'Ah Pek' (i.e. old man) and steamed yam cake is one of them. Other types of foods which fall under this Ah Pek category include Soon Kueh, Peng Kueh, Orh Nee (yam paste), Bak Zhang (rice dumpling), Ang Dao Teng (red bean soup) and Sweet Potato in Ginger Tong Sui (ginger-flavoured sweet soup). I can't really explain the rationale behind my categorisation. Perhaps it refers to all those foods which I would not be persuaded to eat as a child. I mean, foods like Chwee Kueh, Chee Cheong Fun, You Tiao etc may seem traditional enough but were still very tasty and palatable to me when I was little.  But that taste for yam, sweet potato, tapioca and ginger, unfortunately, appears to be something that people only acquire with the passing years. Make that very many passing years.

I could tell many stories of how I was very disappointed with my father's 'Ah Pek' taste buds when I was little. I remember how, standing at the ice cream counter at Yaohan, my father would always, without fail, choose one of two flavours: red bean or sweetcorn. Ah Pek flavours. When all I wanted was the Chocolate, Strawberry or that bright orange one which I imagined was mango-flavoured. When faced with my request for something different, he would always refuse, saying it was "bu hao chi" (not nice to eat).

Growing up, it seemed to me that my parents were also nuts about yam. Yam rice, yam cake, yam paste, yam abacus seeds... not that I found any of them yammy, I mean, yummy.

Much as I used to detest such 'Ah Pek' foods, I noticed a change in my tastebuds in the last few years. I started making my own yam dishes. Either because I miss that taste of home, or this is a sign that I am slowly but surely becoming more Ah Soh (the distaff version of an Ah Pek).

Last week I was seized with a tremendous craving for Yam Cake. I have never had a craving for yam cake before. Thank goodness I am pregnant and have a convenient excuse on which to attribute this aberrant behaviour.  I called up my mother for some tips, and (because she can never tell me precise amounts of anything) also researched some recipes.  In the end, the one I made was based on Amy Beh's and Auntie Lily's recipes, with some adjustments after consulting with mother.

I may not be a fan of yam cake (although that might be changing) but I have been forcibly fed enough in my traditional family to be able to appreciate a good one. And this recipe makes a pretty decent one, if I may say so myself. At least that's what my similarly-aged friends thought as we demolished it over supper last week. My contributions to the recipe are:

1) Fried bacon. Traditionally you are supposed to add fried pork belly strips, but I have been using fried bacon strips for yam rice to good results and I like its taste here as well.  A "cheating" way to improve the flavour ;)

2) Fried udang gerago. This is a type of very tiny shrimp that is used commonly in Malay cooking. Smaller than Hae Bee (i.e. the dried shrimp used for Chinese cooking) and possessed of a greater propertion of shell than meat, udang gerago is one of my favourite ingredients and adds a lot of flavour to the dish.

3) Boiled Chilli Sauce.  This is the result of my experimentation after the chilli sauces used in other recipes (which tended to be uncooked versions) proved disappointing. 

There are many versions of yam cake, with some only using dried prawns as a main topping ingredient. My family likes it with lap cheong and shitake mushrooms, so that has also been included here.

Recipe for Steamed Yam Cake (adapted from Amy Beh and Lily Wai Sek Hong)

Ingredients:

250g yam, cubed and coated with 1 tsp 5 spice powder
1 cup water

(B) Mix together and sieve:

125g rice flour
20g tapioca flour
1 cup water
1/4 tsp alkali water (optional)
150 g yam, sliced thin, steam then mashed

Seasoning:

1 tbsp chicken stock granules*
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash of pepper
1 tsp sugar


(if you want to avoid using chicken stock granules, you have to adjust the other seasoning ingredients accordingly ie increase to taste)

For garnishing:

60g dried prawns, soaked and chopped coarsely
8 shallots, sliced and mix with enough oil to cover, microwave on high at 2 minute intervals until crispy
1 Chinese sausage, diced
1 handful udang gerago
200g bacon, cut into thin strips
3 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked to soften, and chopped coarsely
2 stalks spring onions, sliced thinly
2 red chillies, sliced thinly
A handful of coriander leaves, chopped




Method:

Heat shallot oil (from frying the shallots) and fry bacon strips until crispy, remove and drain. In same oil, saute udang gerago dried prawns till fragrant and crispy.  Remove and set aside. 

Next, fry dried prawns until fragrant, and set aside. 

Fry Chinese sausage and mushrooms until cooked, then add dried prawns back into wok and fry for short while to mix, then set aside this dried shrimp-mushroom-sausage mixture (Mixture C). 

Add 2 tbsp oil to the remaining oil in the wok, add cubed yam and stir fry well. Mix in water and bring to a boil. Do not boil for too long if you prefer the yam cake to have a pieces of yam and a bit of 'bite' in it.

Add in (B), Seasoning and 1/4 of Mixture C, and cook till batter is fairly thick. The consistency should feel like trying to stir a pot of peanut butter. That is, stirrable but with a fair amount of resistance. If the mixture gets too thick too fast (which can happen if you boiled for too long in the step above, or if your wok is too hot), don't fret, just add hot water slowly until consistency is right.

Pour thick batter into a well-greased 25cm round tray, or a 8" by 8" pyrex dish. I like to use the pyrex baking dish because I can serve directly from it, and cut in it without fear of scratching the pan.

Steam till kuih is set and cooked through. This may take 40-45 minutes. 

Test for 'doneness' with a chopstick - the kuih should not adhere to your chopstick, although your chopstick may come out a little moist and gummy.  The kuih when hot should feel a little softer than what you want the end result to be. It will firm up upon cooling. The end result you want is a kuih that is soft and smooth but firm, and moist (not dry and hard).

Spread remaining Mixture C, bacon bits, udang gerago, fried shallots, chillies and spring onions, on top of yam cake and press down lightly. 

Leave aside to cool. When cooled garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve yam cake with chilli sauce (see below) and sweet dark sauce.

Chilli Sauce for Yam Cake:

6 big red chillies + 4 chilli padis (use only big chillies if you can't take spicy)
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp lemon/lime juice (can be substitue with vinegar)
1 garlic clove
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon dark soya sauce
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 5 tablespoons water

Method: Blend/pound all ingredients till fine, and boil with a cornstarch water until mixture turns dark red and has thickened slightly (should not be too thick).  Adjust with salt/sugar/vinegar for taste if necessary.

Penang Prawn Noodle Soup (Penang Hae Mee)

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The best Hae Mee I have ever tasted is undoubtedly from Penang. Its rich, smoky flavour is really hard to beat.  Ever since then I have been very disappointed with the local Singaporean version.

I had a tremendous craving for Penang Hae Mee this pregnancy.  Unfortunately, this type of craving cannot be easily satisfied by sending the hubby to the nearest hawker centre.  I did torture myself with fantasies of taking a short weekend trip to Penang, but with 2 young kids, the days of impulse travelling are far behind me.  I had no choice but to cook my own Hae Mee.

I have cooked normal Singaporean version prawn noodle soup before, but never tried the Penang style. The difference between the 2 versions?

1) Singapore prawn mee is served with cut chillies in a dish of soy sauce. Penang prawn mee is served with chilli paste which is stirred into the soup
2) The Penang version is served with a hard-boiled egg.
3) Singapore prawn mee stock is often just dark brown (from the good stalls) but Penang prawn mee stock is so rich that you can see a distinct layer of orange oil on it even before you add the chilli paste.
4) The Penang version is smoky flavoured, as I mentioned before. I can't really describe it any better than this, but to me this is the main difference in the stock. Later on I will let you in on my secret for achieving this smokiness to the stock.

The skill behind a good bowl of Hae Mee is first and foremost, the stock. I am glad that after some research (which includes pestering a certain Penang grandmother known for her culinary skill), my first attempt at Penang Hae Mee was a success.

And because I believe that if the joy of good Hae Mee should be shared with everyone, here are my Six Secrets of a Kick-Ass Hae Mee Stock:

1) Lots of shells and prawn heads. If you can get those big prawns with oversized heads and lots of creamy "har gou" (roe) inside the heads, all the better.  I know it is extremely unhealthy and high in cholesterol, but if you are watching your cholesterol level, you shouldn't be having this dish anyway ;)

2) Fry, fry and fry! All I can say is, fry those prawn shells and heads well. Don't stop until they are crisp, orange-hued, and you can see orange oil forming in your wok.


3) Hae Bee. The additon of Hae Bee, or dried shrimps, help to improve the flavour of the stock. It's not just about having more 'prawniness' in the taste, dried shrimp has its own distinct umami flavour.

4) The right kind of sugar. I tested my stock with 4 types of sugar: white, brown, rock sugar, and gula melaka (palm sugar) and I have to say the rock sugar version is the best, followed by the palm sugar. Palm sugar adds some complexity to the broth but unfortunately (this confirmed by various taste-testers), for some reason it also muted the 'sharpness'of the stock, especially when chilli is added. I am sure there is some chemistry behind this, but for now, just know that rock sugar is the best.  White sugar is so disappointing that you should not even try it.
 
5) Blend the shells!! And here is a 'secret' I stumbled on. After frying the shells/heads and boiling them in the pork rib stock, I noticed that I still wasn't getting that nice hue that I remembered from the Penang version I tried. I wasn't going to be happy until I saw a layer of bright orange oil. So I scooped out all the shells and heads, and ran them through my blender until they became almost like a paste of minced up prawn shells.  And then I put this in a 'soup bag' and reboiled the stock.  It didn't take long before the stock turned a rich, opaque dark brown, and the layer of much-awaited bright orange oil developed on top. There are recipes that call for you to pound the shells well to extract their flavour, which I have always done, but let me tell you there is no substitute for blending them.  Hand-pounding (unless you are possessed of Arnie-type arm muscles) can't really break down the shells to such a degree.  These are, after all, shells, not onions or garlic that you are pounding.

6) Belacan. Penang arguably makes the best belacan in the world, and my theory is that much of Penang fare owes its unbeatable quality and flavour to their local belacan.  In every Penang dish I have tasted which consisted of chilli or prawn, I have found that beautiful elusive smoky flavour which is characteristic of good belacan.  This should come as no surprise. Often the general excellence of cuisine from a particular region is the product not so much of 'secret recipes' or techniques, but local produce or naturally occurring environmental conditions.  For example, Ipoh hor fun owes its silky quality to the many limestone caves in the region and its resultant hard water. Knowing this, I had to add some well-toasted belacan to the stock. The result? Mmmmm  ...  really smokin'!

Look at the stock. Nice or not? Sorry I ate so fast, didn't think to take a photo until I was almost done. See how the orange oil sticks to the sides of my bowl? 

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Enough talk, I bet you want to try making your own now. Here's the recipe!

Recipe for Penang Hae Mee
(Serves 6 to 8)

Ingredients

Step 1: Toppings
20 shallots, sliced thinly
500g bean sprouts
500g kang kong
200g pork fat, cubed
6 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and halved


Method: Fry shallots in oil until crispy. Alternatively, you can use the microwave: Spread the shallots in a pyrex dish, cover with oil and microwave on high at 1-2 minute intervals, stirring each time to ensure even cooking, until brown and crisp. Drain on paper and reserve shallot oil.

Dry fry the pork fat in wok until brown and crispy, remove and drain. Reserve for topping.

Blanch bean sprouts and kang kong and set aside.


Step 2: Stock
600 grams pork ribs, blanched
1 kg large prawns
3 litres water
6 dried red chillies
300 grams dried shrimp (hae bee)
2 teaspoons Penang belacan (dry fried in a wok under low heat until fragrant and powdery)
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 cloves
1/2 a cinnamon stick
3 star anise sections
2 tbsp light sauce
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Rock sugar (to taste)
Salt (to taste)

Method: Remove shells and heads from prawns. Devein the prawns and halve them.  Season lightly with some salt, and then boil in some of the water (to be used for the stock) until just cooked (do not overcook). Set aside for topping. Reserve the water for boiling together with stock.

Using reserved shallot oil and pork fat oil, fry hae bee until fragrant, set aside. Heat up wok again and fry dried chillies and pork ribs until browned, remove and place into pot. Reheat oil and fry prawn heads and shells until fragrant, crispy and caramelised.  Place blended prawn shells/heads in a large 'soup bag', and place in pot, together with pork ribs, spices, dried chillies, dried shrimps, belacan and water, simmer for 30 minutes. (BTW I like to 'deglaze' the wok with the water to be used for boiling stock, to make sure I remove all the caramelised prawn essence, and return this water to the pot for boiling stock.) Remove prawn shells/heads and run it through a blender or food processor until shells/heads are finely ground. Replace soup bag with blended prawn shells/heads, and simmer with stock until all the taste is extracted from the ingredients. In the meantime, when pork ribs are cooked, remove and cut meat into slices to reserve as topping.  Throw bones back into pot to continue boiling. The stock should, after sieving, be dark brown, cloudy and with a layer of orange oil. The stock needs to be simmered at least 2 hours. Once correct colour is achieved, sieve it and add light and dark soya sauce, and rock sugar and salt to taste.


Step 3: Chilli paste

2 big chillies (or 4 chilli padis if you prefer more spicy, like me)
30 dried chillies
10 shallots
4 garlic cloves
6 tablespoons of chilli oil

Method: Pound or blend chillies, shallots and garlic into a paste.  Heat up the wok and add some chilli oil. (You can make chilli oil by frying some dried chillies in oil, until oil turns red, and then removing the chillies). Alternatively, just use cooking oil. Fry chilli paste in oil until fragrant.   

Step 4: Serve

1kg Hokkien Mee (scalded)
600g bee hoon (scalded)

Place a little hokkien mee and bee hoon into each individual serving bowl. Ladle hot stock over noodles, then top with kang kong, bean sprouts, prawns, egg and fried shallots. Serve with chilli paste on the side.

Korean Bibimbap

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Have you tried Bibimbap before?  If you haven't you really should. It's easy to do and very yummy.  A great dish to do for a dinner party of 4 to 6 also, because (1) you can prepare the components beforehand, (2) I find that guests (usually those who can't cook) are usually impressed by getting to 'participate' in the cooking themselves - even the simple experience of cooking their runny egg in a sizzling claypot will give them a lotta joy. No kidding. 

I will share my recipe for Bibimbap here. Actually it is a non-recipe because I have not listed quantities! Lazy lah, you just have to agak-agak. Not difficult one lah. This is a quick and easy version.  Dulsot bibimbap (which is what I like, not the cold kind served in stainless steel bowl, but one cooked in stone bowl) is what this is called. Except I don't have a stone bowl, so I 'cook' it in a claypot.

Recipe for Bibimbap

Ingredients

Cooked rice
Soya beansprouts (not normal taugeh ok?)
Spinach (i.e. Po Chai, not round or sharp spinach)
Carrots (cut into strips)
Cucumber(cut into strips) (optional)
Beef slices (from fillet or striploin)
Deep-fried Anchovies
Toasted Sesame seeds
Enoki Mushrooms
Kimchi
Egg

Jap Soy Sauce
Sesame oil
Korean Hot Pepper Sauce
Korean Bulgogi Marinade

Method
1) Marinate beef in bulgogi marinade, overnight if possible. See, simple right? thank God for ready made sauces.
2) Blanch soya beansprouts, carrots, enoki mushrooms and spinach.  Drain WELL and marinate in mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar. Some people also blanch the cucumber but I don't like to do that. I prefer it to be raw and crunchy. Also, some people saute the carrots and mushrooms instead but I prefer to be lazy and fast, just blanch everything ;)
3) Stir fry sliced beef in a little oil and set aside. Don't overcook!!!!
4) Fry a sunny side egg. (Yolk must be less cooked than in my picture. I pregnant mah.  If less cooked, then the yolk will be orangey yellow and perky and shiny, much nicer :)
5) Deep fried anchovies - these you can get ready made from a Korean supermart, they are bigger than the local ikan bilis.  If you are stingy like me and don't want to pay $5 for a half-full packet of anchovies, then you can try to fry ikan bilis with oil, stir in sugar and sesame seeds at the last stage (being careful not to burn the sugar), then switch off flame. If you haven't tried frying ikan bilis before, better practise :)
6) This is the FUN part. Using a bowl, shape a rounded mound of rice in the middle of your single person claypot. Place egg on top of rice and then arrange the beansprouts, mushrooms, cucumber, spinach and carrots in a cricle around the yolk.  Leaving space for the kimchi and anchovies (which you don't add first).
7) Just before serving, drizzle a tablespoonful each of sesame oil and soya sauce over everything, and then heat up the claypot over the stove until it is really hot (the rice at the bottom may burn a little but that's the good part.) (I start heating up without cover at first and then with the cover for the second half of heating time). Then, quickly arrange anchovies and kimchi in the reserved space, add a dollop of hot pepper sauce on the side, and serve to guests with the cover on the claypot (to keep the heat it).
8) Your happy guest/family member is supposed to gleefully poke the runny yolk with his/her chopsticks and swirl everything in the bowl around.  He/she might start salivating into the claypot at this point on hearing the happy sssssizzzzzzzzle of the egg getting cooked.  BIBIMBAP!!