Mama's Blue Kueh (Kueh Salat)

Ingredients:

1 KG glutinous rice, rinsed well in a sieve

5 cups water (or more)

1.25 cups of dried blue pea flower

1 assam peel (dried tamarind)

2 pandan leaves, knotted

Fresh milk from 1.5 coconuts (3/4 cup coconut milk)

2 teaspoons salt

1 large banana leaf

Boil the water and pour it over the blue flowers. Let it soak for a few minutes until the water turns dark blue. When the water has cooled down, strain out the flowers. 

Pour the blue water over the glutinous rice in a medium pot and add an assam peel in it. Cover and leave overnight for 8 to 10 hours.

Strain the rice in a sieve and remove the assam peel. Place the rice on a muslin cloth that’s already in a steamer. Add the pandan leaves with the rice and steam for about 45-60 minutes until the rice is soft.

Take out the entire muslin cloth with the rice and place in a huge mixing bowl. Add the salt in the coconut milk and stir. Then carefully stir the milk into the rice and mix well. Put the muslin cloth with the rice back into the steamer and steam for another 5 minutes.

After the rice is ready, place in a 9-inch cake tin lined with banana leaf at the bottom and sides. Evenly press the rice down. Then lay saren wrap on top of the rice and place another slightly smaller tin on top with something heavy (dumbbells or a heavy book) pressing it down. The goal is to get the rice pressed down tightly and evenly. Leave it to rest for a few hours.

When cutting it to serve, use a sharp clean knife. Serve with a kaya spread on top.

Mama’s Rendang Chicken

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces

8 chicken drumsticks

3 large potatoes

8 Tablespoons curry powder (Baba’s meat curry powder)

Rempah (spice paste)

2 inch galangal, peeled and cut into small pieces

3 stalks lemongrass, slice bottom stalk finely

10-12 bauh keras (candlenut), smashed with large knife

2 inch yellow ginger (turmeric), peeled and cut into small pieces

3 big cloves garlic, peeled

5-10 dried chilies or to taste

300g (over 20) small purple shallots, peeled and cut into half

1 sq inch belachan

Additional items

Oil

Salt

2 pandan leaves, washed and knotted separately

1 to 2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 Tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 cup lime juice (12-15 small limes)

2.5 cups hot water

Method 

Massage the chicken pieces with salt, wash thoroughly and set aside.

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces, wash with salt and set aside to dry.

Blend the spices together until they become a thick paste. Stir in 6 tablespoons of curry powder. Set aside.

Use a fork to poke the chicken pieces then marinade them with 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of curry powder and 2 tablespoons of rempah.  Marinade 30 min to overnight. The longer you marinade, the more flavourful the chicken will be.

Heat up a few cups of oil in a large wok. Add a pinch of salt and one of the knotted pandan leaves. When the oil is hot and ready, remove the pandan leaf and add the potatoes. Fry until golden brown and remove onto plate with paper towels to drain the oil.

Add more oil and a pinch of salt. When it is hot, deep fry the chicken pieces until golden brown and remove.

In another large wok, add a few tablespoons of oil. Add the pandan leaf and a pinch of salt, and remove when the oil is hot and ready. Fry the rempah with 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce and 1 tablespoon light sauce. Fry until fragrant and add the chicken pieces and potato to rempah. Stir everything together. Add 2.5 cups of hot water and 0.5 cup of lime juice. Taste and if needed, add another ½ or 1 tablespoon sugar. Simmer until the sauce evaporates a little more and becomes thick.

Enjoy with rice or French loaf.

Kiam Chye Buay

There are 3 steps to making Kiam Chye Buay.

Step 1: make jiew he char. You can also eat that with lettuce.

Step 2:  make chicken soup with fish maw.

Step 3: fry everything together with more vegetables and roast pork.

Jiew He Char

Time taken: 3-4 hours (if you are cooking by yourself)

Ingredients

Broth:
2 pieces pork belly
1 medium pot of water
6 cloves garlic
Salt to taste

Stir fry:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 bulb garlic, chopped finely
1/2 cup shallots, chopped finely
Cooked pork belly from broth, chopped into small pieces
1 teaspoon sugar
1.5 cups red onion, sliced finely
1.5 cups leek, sliced finely
1.5 cups Beijing cabbage, sliced
1 cup dry Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water and sliced
1 Tablespoon tao jio (fermented bean paste), chopped finely
1 cup dried squid, soaked in water with a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and cut into very thin slices
2 bang kuan (jicama), peeled & cut into thin matchsticks
2.5 cups carrots, peeled and shredded
Soy sauce to taste
Salt to taste

Method:

Boil pork belly in a medium pot of water with garlic and salt to make broth. Take out the pork bellies and when they are cooled down, chop them into small pieces.

Heat up 1/2 cup oil over medium heat in large wok. Fry garlic and shallots until golden brown. Remove garlic and shallots and most of the oil. Put in a bowl.

Fry pork belly pieces with 1 teaspoon sugar in same wok.  Remove.

Fry leek and red onions for a few minutes until cooked. Remove.

Add more oil with garlic and shallots into wok.

Fry cabbage until cooked. Remove.

Fry mushrooms with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Remove.

Fry tao jio with dried squid. Remove when squid is curly and browned.

Add more shallot/garlic oil to wok.

Fry bang kuan and carrots for a few minutes. Add salt to taste and broth until soft.

Mix cooked leeks and onions with bang kuan and carrots. Then add everything together into 2 big woks. Add salt and soy sauce to taste.

Kiam Chye Buay

Makes 2 large pots

Ingredients:

Chicken soup:
1 big pot of water
1 whole chicken cut into smaller pieces
2 carrots, chopped roughly
1 teaspoon peppercorn
2-3 large pieces dried fish maw, break into small pieces, boiled in water first, then washed in cold water

Method:

Chicken soup:
Boil chicken in large pot of water with carrots and peppercorn. Don't cover the pot. When boiling, remove grime that floats on top.

After simmering stock for 20-30 minutes, add fish maw and boil until ready. Set aside.

Ingredients:

Guah Chye

Mustard Greens

Note: Guah Chye is actually mustard greens too. They are both similar vegetables so it's best to bring along a photo to the market if you're unfamiliar with them.









Main dish:

Pot of already prepared Jiew he char
Pot of already prepared chicken & fish maw soup

3.5 cups guah chye, stems and leaves, chopped
4 cups mustard greens, chopped
3 cups napa cabbage, chopped
2 stems leek, chopped
2 cups kiam chye (one packet preserved mustard greens)
1/2 piglet of roast pig meat, chopped into small pieces
3 cups roast pork, already prepared and cut into small pieces
3 tomatoes, cut into fours
2 teaspoon assam peel, sliced thinly and soaked in water to soften
1 cup assam water (fresh tamarind soaked in water and filtered out)
6-8 dried chili, whole
8 lemongrass stalks, bruised
1 can abalone, sliced thinly

Method:

Separately blanch the guah chye, mustard greens, napa cabbage, and leek. Set aside in separate bowls.

Put 2 teaspoons of salt onto the kiam chye and squeeze the leaves and steams together. Wash it and cut into smaller pieces. Soak it in water to make it less salty.

Reheat the chicken soup if it's not hot.

(Make sure you have two big pots, eventually will separate out ingredients into each pot.) You can cook over charcoal or gas.

Stir fry jiew he char separately in wok to heat up.

Separate the soup into 2 large pots.

Add guah chye into pots then layer with mustard greens, cabbage, leeks, kiam chye, jiew he char, tomatoes, roast pork, assam peel and assam water, dried chili and lemongrass.

Cover pots and boil over medium high heat until boiling.

Then uncover pots and stir everything together.

Taste to see if it's sour enough, add more assam water if not sour enough. Add more dried chili if not spicy enough.

Add abalone when it is almost ready. Then simmer longer for 15-20 minutes more.

Best if eaten the next day.

Curry Powder

(for any kind of meat curry)

Mild Curry

Ingredients:

1 kati ketumbar (coriander seed)

¾ kati jintan puteh (cumin)

½ kati jintan manis (sweet cumin)

¼ kati dry chillies (seeded)

¼ kati dry saffron (or a little less)

1 ½ inch piece cinnamon

8 cloves

2 dessertspoons peppercorns

2 toh cascas

8-10 nutmeg seed

Hot Curry

Ingredients:

1 kati ketumbar (coriander seed)

¾ kati jintan puteh (cumin)

½ kati jintan manis (sweet cumin)

¾ kati dry chillies (1/4 kati seeded)

1 ½ inch piece cinnamon

¼ kati dry saffron

8 cloves

2 dessertspoons peppercorns

Popiah

Popiah

Serves 16-18 people

Filling

Ingredients:

• 8 katis bamboo shoot (boiled for 3-4 hours the day before popiah is made) – Optional
• 8 KG yam beams (bangkwang)
• 5 carrots – peeled and shredded (SK edit)
• 2 packets French beans sliced at an angle, 1 inch long (SK edit)
• 2 ½ katis prawns – cleaned and chopped. ½ kati prawns to be set aside for decorations.
• 1    kati pork (belly) boiled and shredded. ¼ kati to be set aside for decorations
• 10 pieces yellow taukwa shredded fine and fried till golden brown – 1 teacup to be set aside for decorations
• 4-5 teacups prawn stock and pork stock (boil prawn heads and pork belly for stock)

  

Ingredients to be pounded:

20 cloves garlic (some for frying, some for assembling popiah)

2 dessertspoons tauchew (optional)

1 teacup oil

Method:

Shred bangkwang and carrots.

Put oil in pan and when hot fry pounded garlic till golden brown. Add chopped prowns and when cooked add shredded pork. (Mama will add a bit of sugar when frying pork). Cook for about 10 minutes. Stir well, adding salt and some prawn and pork stock. Put lid on pan and allow to simmer for an hour.

Separately fry the carrots and French beans till cooked (SK edit).

Add shredded bangkwang, carrots and French beans and more stock. Simmer for another hour. Add the fried shredded taukwa. Allow to simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

(Mama’s method is to fry everything separately in a wok, then combine in a large wok and keep adding stock and stir frying until cooked).

Decorations:

A little of each to be arranged into two plates:

• ½ kati chopped prawns (set aside from filling)
• ¼ kati shredded boiled pork (set aside from filling)
• 1 teacupful fried shredded taukwa (set aside from filling)
• 2 eggs made into omelet and shredded
• One teacup crab meat – fried a little with salt & pepper
• ½ cup pounded garlic – fried golden brown (to prevent garlic sticking together during frying, wash and drain pounded garlic before frying

Vegetables:

• ¼ kati lettuce (center stems to be removed)
• Shredded cucumber (after removing skin from 2 cucumbers, slice off the part outside center pulp and shred)
• ½ kati bean sprouts, cleaned and scalded
• Four bundles of coriander leaves (small) and leaves from a few sprigs of the larger type
• Other ingredients:
• 1 ½ kati (1 KG) large popiah skin (from shop)
• 1 ¼ kati (bee chio) sweet soya sauce from shop
• 30-40 fresh red chillies freshly ground

Egg Skin (to make 12 skins)

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 ¼ cups water
• A little salt

Method:

Put flour in basin, beat in eggs, one by one. Then add water, a little at a time. Add salt. Beat till smooth.

Heat frying pan, brush with oil and pour enough batter to cover pan. When cooked, edges will curl and begin to leave pan. Turn skins on to the pack of a bread plate which has been placed on a meat plate, face to face. 

Mama’s Ayam Buah Keluak

Ingredients:

• 30 Indonesian black nuts
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1.4 KG chicken, cut into pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 340 g (12 oz) garam assam paste thawed
• 570 g (20 oz) pork ribs, cut into pieces
• 85 g (3 oz) tamarind soaked in 170 ml water, squeezed and strained
• 1-1   ½ level teaspoons salt
• 950 ml (32 fl oz) water

Method

Soak nuts in cold water for ½ hour. Brush nuts to remove sandy particles. Crack where nut is smooth and remove meat. Add a pinch of salt and sugar (half teaspoon) and pound together to form a firm smooth paste, then refill shells.

Season chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and leave for ½ hour.

Place the thawed garam assam paste in an enamel pan with tamarind juice, 1 teaspoon salt and 905 ml water. Bring to boil over high heat. Add pork ribs and boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to moderate and cook for ½ hour. Add the nuts and then the chicken and continue to cook for another ½ hour or till chicken is tender. Stirring occasionally.

Serve with white rice. 

Penang Pickle (Achar)

Ingredients to be ground:

40 dried chillies (some seeded)

15 slices langkwas

1 ½ teacups small red onions

2 slices blanchan 1” x 1” x  ½ “

Vegetables to be scalded in boiling vinegar & salt:

½ kati Long Beans (cut into 1 ¼ lengths)

¼ kati French beans

¼ kati ladies fingers

2 small carrots

6 large onions

3 radishes

1 large bitter gourd (if desired)

¼ kati cabbage

¼ kati cauliflower

8 cucumbers ** (Mama said after slicing, soak in water with salt, then sun it to dry)

Cut all the above into small pieces and scald in boiling vinegar to which a little salt has been added, one vegetable at a time.

Drain in colander and put aside.

Other ingredients:

1 teacup Bijan – sesame (clean, wash, drain and fry in dry pan till golden brown. Pound a little and put aside)

1 ½ teacups oil

1 large piece fresh saffrom, sliced very thin

Salt & sugar to taste

Method:

Put oil in pan when hot, fry sliced saffron until brown. Remove saffron and throw away.

Fry ground ingredients in hot oil till well cooked. Add salt & sugar.

Add vegetables which have been scalded in vinegar. Stir well all the time for about 10 minutes.

Add fried and pounded sesame, stir well. Remove to porcelain bowl to cool.