For hot days when you want something easy to eat, teochew porridge is perfect. It’s easy to make the porridge, and the condiments require little work other than boiling eggs and opening cans. Our spread includes salted eggs, century eggs, pickled mustard leaves, salted fish, fried ikan bilis and fermented bancurd. We also had steamed egg custard with minced meat.
Recipe
Steamed Egg Custard With Minced Meat
200g minced meat
2 eggs
1 salted egg
1/2 tbsp soya sauce
pepper, to taste
1/4 cup water
Pour in about litres of water in a wok, and bring to a boil.
Place the meat in a plate suitable for steaming.
Beat the eggs and salted egg (break up the yolk) with the soya sauce and pepper.
Add the water
Pour onto the minced meat
Steam the dish for between 10-15 minutes.
At a fruit orchard in Sg Klau, Raub - the owner says it’s a supermarket because he plants everything
I bought a whole load of plums from the pasar malam recently. They were sold by the longgok, so it was real cheap. Unfortunately, they were not sweet. In fact, they were quite tasteless. But I couldn’t just throw them away. So, I made these simple pastries, hoping that butter and brown sugar would liven them up. Unfortunately, I don’t think that trick worked.
But I’m posting this recipe anyway because this is an easy recipe, and the tarts taste good if the fruits are delicious and sweet. So, no more buying fruits by the longgok for me.
RECIPE
Ingredients
1 store bought puff pastry sheets
8 plums, deseeded and quartered
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
Preheat oven to 200C.
Scour the sides of the pastry sheet, and arrange the plums on it.
Dab the butter and sprinkle sugar all over the fruits
Bake for half an hour.
Serve with vanilla ice cream
My Penyet Cookies
Sharmila Nair first pointed out this recipe 2 weeks ago, and demanded that it be made properly - she said smtg abt texture and taste.
Such high expectations are bound to be met with disappointment.
Anyway, I attempted Martha Stewart”s soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip cookies last night, and it was disastrous. I made them with my daughter - which means the mixing took doubly long, so the oven was probably too hot when we finally put the trays in. The cookies immediately, and I mean IMMEDIATELy - flattened out. I took one tray out after ten minutes, and left the other tray in there for another five minutes - so I have two versions of penyet cookies.
The cookies are nice enuff - loads of butter and chocolate chips can’t go too wrong - but I found them way too sweet. The next time I attempt this recipe, I’d probably just use half a cup of brown sugar instead of one. And maybe keep the batter in the fridge for half an hour or so before baking them to prevent from flattening out.
Then again, I’d admit to not having good instincts when it comes to baking.
The recipe is below, for anyone interested to try it out… maybe Melody
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Makes about 3 dozen
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 2 large eggs
* 2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
From Holiday Cookies 2005, Special Issue 2005
Everyone else’s tree branches are weighed down with clusters of mangoes in my neighbourhood, but I could only count three fruits on my tree. One was stolen; the other is too high up for me to reach and so there was only one left. Being kiasu, I plucked it last Sunday before someone else got to it.
It was not fully ripe yet, so I left it on the kitchen counter. I think I am supposed to leave it in the rice bin to ripen, but I never got around to doing that.
While cleaning out the fridge, I found calamansi limes and cili padi that were fast turning yellow and black.
So, I decided to make mango kerabu, with my precious mango and wilting limes, chillies and coriander leaves. My mum makes hers with some bunga kantan and dried shrimps too.
The mango turned out to be perfect for the kerabu - it was not too sweet with a nice sourish edge.
I finished the mango kerabu, all on my own!
RECIPE
2 shallots. sliced thinly
2 bird’s eyes chilli, sliced
2 stalks coriander leaf, chopped coarsely
I mango, peeled and sliced in matchsticks
Dressing
Juice from 5 calamansi lime
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
Leave the shallots and birds eye chilli in the dressing for about 10 minutes.
Then, add the mango and coriander leaf.
Toss to mix evenly.
Wash tomatoes
Quarter tomatoes and remove the seeds. Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with some salt, black pepper and dried herbs.
Preheat oven to 150C, and bake for up to 7-8 hours. Check occasionally, and adjust the heat. The lower the heat and the longer you take to dry the tomatoes, the longer they will keep.
Keep in a jar, covered with oil
Easy to make and easy to eat
Recipe
Ingredients
1 tbsp cooking oil
3 shallots, sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 packet of white tofu
3 stalks of spring onion, cut
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
Heat oil over medium heat, and saute shallots and garlic until fragrant. Set aside.
Steam tofu for about 10 minutes, and drain the water
Top with the sauteed shallots and onions, spring onion and oyster sauce
Rock Buns was one of the first recipes I learnt in SRT class that I was so proud of. My grandmother and mother don’t make cookies like that, and at that time it felt like such an accomplishment to be able to bring home rock buns. Plus, they tasted real good
ROCK BUN
Recipe
Rock Buns
Makes 2 dozen
200g flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g butter
75g sugar
75g raisins
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
Preheat oven at 200°C.
Rub the flour, baking powder and butter with your fingertips until they resemble bread crumbs.
Add the sugar and raisins.
Beat the egg with the vanilla essence, and add to the flour mixture.
Mix together with a wooden spoon.
Grease a baking tray, and place spoonfuls of the dough on it.
Bake in the oven for about 30 mins.
