Meme: Childhood Food Memories

Carrying on the baton from Lily's Wai Sek Hong

1. The giant shrimp cracker that I used to buy for 10 cent in my primary school. And then I dipped it in a special chilli sauce and enjoy it by hand. I bet a lot of people who came from that school will remember this giant chilli dipped shrimp crackers! :)

2. Everytime when the roti man rang his motorcycle horn to signal the arrival of him. And my mom would go out and buy the roti for tomorrow. Me and my siblings would go out with my mom and of course asked for little packets of snacks that were hanging on the containers at the back of the motorcycle. If my mom was in a good mood, she would buy those treat for us. Not sure whether they still sell roti this way?

3. My late grandma (dad's side) was a very good kuih maker. She used to make kuih-muih and sell when she was young. However, by the time we knew her, she was no longer in the selling business. But we got to enjoy her kuih everytime she came down to see us or when we visit her during CNY. She would make a variety of steamed kuih for CNY and it were always very good. Now, I really miss her yellow steamed radish kuih. She usually made it in big block and cut it into smaller pieces to pan-fry and serve it in the morning of CNY. YUM! I think all her knowledge and recipes of the kuih she made died with her as I don't think she copied her recipes down and passed it on to her daughters.

4. My mom's lettuce wrap that she made for CNY reunion dinner. I always enjoyed this dish, bite into a fresh crispy lettuce with stir-fried jicama, slices of soy sauce chicken and top with homemade chilli sauce, where juices dripped down on my fingers and I got to lick it off, such a fond memory. Not sure whether this is the authentic way to make the lettuce wrap, but it was how my mom made her.

5. Help to make CNY cookies at my grandma (mom's side) house. I was pretty young and anxious to help and they were making the kuih kapit (love letters) and kuih bunga (honeycomb cookies). You learned while you help and glad to say that I did. What was best was we got to take home big tins of cookies home with us. Hehehe... always a plus.

Now I would have to pass the baton on to,

Rantings from a Solitary Reverie

Glutinous Rice

Made this last week using Amy Beh's recipe. I made this using the rice cooker and added too much water and thus the rice was too soft. I usually steamed the rice and the texture was just perfect. I have no idea where I boxed my steamer and thus the used of the rice cooker.

Lynda's Lor Bak

Thanks Lynda! The recipe is from her sister in-law Ah Soh. Thanks Ah Soh! :D

Abalone with Chicken Soup

Look at the Abalone slices! They are not stingy about it.



This is the packet that I used. Strongly recommended. :)

I tried to cook chinese herbal soup once a week. I will alternate different type of herbal soup to cook each week so that it's a new flavour every week. I just dump two chicken drumsticks and the packet above and slow simmer it for few hours. What a yummy and nutricious soup to drink. The abalone was so soft and got such a nice bite to it. My mother in-law sent me those from M'sia.

It's Snowing!!

Her cheeky face!

It's a snow day today and very cold. This kind of day just make you want to curl up in bed and keep warm. Hmmm...a warm soupy noodle, beef stew sound very good now. Since it's the first snow of the season, we dressed her up and took her outside to snap some pictures. She sure love cold weather, not sure whether it got anything to do with she was born in cold weather??

Chinese Red Bean Paste Cake

Finally I made my long awaited Chinese Red Bean Paste Cake! :D I got motivated after I saw it at SeaDragon blog. Since I have some red bean paste in the freezer and all the ingredients in the boxes, what the heck, let's do it. I adapted the recipe from Revised Chinese Snacks by Huang Su-Huei, published by Wei-Chuan's Cookbook.


Red Bean Paste Cake (Yield about 5~6 cakes)

Note: I modified this recipe to yield more thin pancakes. (updated Nov. 8, 2005)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup water

Red bean paste
Oil for frying
Plastic wrap for handling red bean paste

Step:

1. In a bowl, mix egg + water well. Add sifted flour and mix into a thin batter.

2. Grease a non-stick frying pan in medium heat. Add a scoop of the batter and rotate the pan to form a thin sheet. When cooked, remove and set aside. Do the same with the remaining batter.

3. Use a plastic wrap to press the red bean paste into square and transfer it to the center of the cooked sheet, remove the plastic wrap. Fold the sides of the sheet to the center to form a square shape. Seal the edges with some tapioca flour + water mixture ( 1 tsp. tapioca flour + 2 tsp. water). Do the same with the remaining sheet(s).

4. Heat the frying pan with 3 Tbp. oil and pan fry the square cake until both sides are golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain on paper towel. Repeat for the remaining cake(s). Cut the cakes into pieces and serve hot.

Note:

1. When making the thin sheet, make sure you wait until the sheet is set before attempting to remove it. If not, it will break apart. Since it's so thin, you don't even have to flip it over. When set, just remove it.

2. Make sure the red bean paste you use is sweet enough.