Cooking

Dessert - Tang Yuen

Pronounced "tongue you-wen", tang yuen is a Chinese tradition celebrating the winter solstice in China sometime in late Nov / early Dec. The Chinese word "tang" (meaning 'soup') sounds like "tuan" which means reunion, while "yuen" means round, signifying "yuan man" (complete /圆满 ). The entire phrase "tang yuen" therefore symbolises "tuan yuen" (family reunion /团圆 ), and eating tang yuen on Dong Zhi represents family reunion and harmony, and also signifies family unity and family prosperity. Although it was not Winter Solstice, this was a sweet ending to another yummy meal .

(Optional serving suggestion : Serve tang yuen dry (i.e. not in syrup) in a mix of ground peanut and sugar (with a dash of salt)).

Ingredients:
1 cup glutinous rice flour
Water


Syrup:
A piece of fresh ginger, about 2 inches
Water (2 parts)
Sugar (1 part)


Method:
1. In a bowl, pour in the glutinous rice flour. Then add in water, tablespoon by tablespoon and stir with a spoon, till a soft dough-like consistency is reached. Roll into a log.

2. Bring a pot of water to boil.

3. Pinch a piece of dough off and shape into a small ball. Drop into boiling water to cook. Repeat till dough all used up.

4. Once the balls float to the top, scoop them out and place them in a bowl.

5. In another saucepan, add ingredients for syrup. Once sugar dissolved, do a taste test. Add sugar / water to bring it to the sweetness you want. Turn off flame and set aside.

6. When slightly cooled, ladle over tang yuen. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Entree - Vegetarian Kurma

This was a delicious first attempt (even for me!). Even though we did not have the kurma powder, the garam marsala worked well cause it tasted authentic =) Mortar and pestle optional!

Indian Vegetarian Kurma

Ingredients

2 potatoes, cubed

75g okra (halved)

70g carrot, cubed

1 tomato, cubed

400ml water

150ml thick coconut milk / evaporated milk / half-and-half

Vegetable oil

Spices (A)

6 whole cardamoms, lightly smashed

3cm cinnamon stick

1 onion, sliced

2 sprigs curry leaves

Ground ingredients (B)

2 ½ cm ginger

8–9 almonds, blanched

2 red chillies

4 green chillies

6 cloves garlic

3 shallots

(C)

3 tbsp kurma powder / garam Marsala

1 ½ tbsp fennel powder

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Salt and sugar to taste

Method
Heat oil in a saucepan and fry ingredients (A) until fragrant and onion is soft and golden brown. Add in ground ingredients (B) and (C).

Add potatoes and carrot and fry for 1–2 minutes. Pour in water and cook until potatoes turn soft. Add the okra, and tomato.

Cook for another 3–4 minutes or until okras are just soft. Pour in coconut milk, lower the heat and simmer for 2–3 minutes.

Season to taste.

Entree - "Red" chicken

I am glad this was not too spicy for you. It did take some time preparing the ingredients (thanks Barbara for the elbow grease in pounding the coriander seeds with the mortar & pestle!). You absolutely can put ground spices (A) below into a food processor.

Ayam Masak Merah (“Red” chicken)

Ingredients

1 kg chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 onions, cubed

3 potatoes, cubed

2 tomatoes, cubed

1 small can tomato paste

150ml water (+ more if needed)

4cm piece cinnamon stick

4 whole cloves

1 star anise

Vegetable oil

Ground spices (A):

10 shallots

4 cloves garlic

12 red chillies, seeded

3cm ginger

2 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

Method

Heat some oil in pan till hot and stir fry chicken till half cooked. Dish up and keep aside.

Using same pan, heat some more oil until hot, sauté ground spices (A) until fragrant. Add in cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise. Fry for 1–2 minutes.

Add onions, tomato paste and potatoes. Stir-fry well. Mix in water and tomatoes. Cook until mixture starts to boil. Reduce heat and mix in the chicken that was set aside. Simmer until chicken is tender and gravy turns thick.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve this mildly spiced curry dish with bread slices or with plain rice or fried rice.

Chinese Fried Rice

This is probably the easiest dish to make and definitely a go to for my family (especially when we have leftover white rice)! For best results, you should only fry 1 portion at a time, else the rice will clump together. I usually eyeball all the ingredients that I use - looking for a good mix of color and adequate bits of shrimp and sausage. You can definitely substitute shrimp and sausage with chopped chicken / pork.


Ingredients (1 portion) :
1 1/2 - 2 cups cooked white rice
Vegetable oil
1/2 small onion chopped
1 sprint onion chopped
1 egg beaten (seasoned with soy and pepper)
Handful of shrimp - shelled, deveined, halved
1/2 chinese sausage (sliced thinly)
Handful of frozen mixed peas and carrots (defrosted)
Thin Soy Sauce to taste
Pepper to taste


Method :
Heat pan with oil till smoking hot.
Stir fry onion and sausage till fragrant.
Toss in shrimp and stir fry till slightly opaque.
Push the onions, sausage and shrimp to side of pan, and pour in 1/2 beaten egg. Scramble till cooked.
(Note : Reduce heat of pan when needed!)
Stir in white rice, breaking up any clumps. Mix well with the rest of the ingredients in the pan.
Pour in the rest of the beaten egg, over the rice, cooking it through.
Toss in the mixed vegetables. Continue frying till everything cooked and heated through.
Season with soy sauce and pepper to taste.
Dish and serve immediately.

Appetizer

This turned out to be quite a crispy success even without the corn flour. We had substituted the chives with chopped spring onions (green and white parts inclusive).

Chinese Spring Onion Pancake

Ingredients
Batter:

70g plain flour

20g tapioca flour

2 tbsp rice flour

2 tsp corn flour

130ml water (approximately)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chicken stock granules

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

(B)

50g chopped chives

75g shelled-prawns, chopped

1 tbsp chopped red chillies

Method
Combine batter ingredients in a mixing bowl. Strain, then add in seasoning and ingredients (B), and mix.

Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan. Put in one ladle-ful of batter and shallow-fry it over low heat until it is golden brown on one side. Flip the pancake over and cook until golden on the other. Remove and serve pancakes immediately.

Malaysian/Indian Chinese Dishes

Starter was a delicious seafood cake (similar to a Japanese "pizza" - but better!). Also, we started off with the first batch of fried rice, in which we used shrimp rather than Chinese sausage. Thanks to our hostess for thinking about the lone vegetarian in the group :)