WHITE CHILLI SAMBAL

Yes I'm back ~ It took quite an effort to come back. But here I am again. Again. But honestly.... I have good reasons. Yes I do. 

This was so quick to make, so delicious, so addictive that I had to blog about it. White Chilli sambal is something I learnt to make from my late Mother in law. Yes they are white chilies that she used and I have only seen white chillies in Sabah, East Malaysia. 

White chillies remain white and do not turn red when ripe. Unlike normal bird chillies or othere larger chillies which are green when young and red when ripe. I'm not quite sure why these are white. They were green at first, then they turned white and finally red. H says they are not true white chillies which never ever turn red. They are also not as big as the 'true' white chillies. But cravings make everything possible. So I made some. And they certainly will do. And I found that it really didn't matter if they were white or black. Or red.


This dish is so full of umami you just have to love it. Dried shrimps, belacan and of course the chillies. All sauteed to a fragrant aka smelly pesto. 

H 'banned' me from making this dish years ago because of its fiery spiciness. Bad for the health he says. Anything extreme is bad for the health. This is poison he says! Yes sir. Poison they are. And the more people I don't have to share my poison with so much the better for them. Yes. 

The recipe ~

A handful of white chillies ( you could use green chillies, sliced as well ~ I did once and it was good too)

2 inch square of belacan, dreid shrimp paste

1/4 cup of dried shrimps, soaked to plump and soften it up then drained

6-7 shallots, peeled

2 cloves garlic, peeled

3 T cooking oil

Pound shallots, garlic, belacan and softened dried shrimps until coarsely mushed up. There is no need to pound till fine.

Slice chiiles in half or leave real tiny ones whole.

Heat wok and pour in oil. When hot saute the pounded ingredients until fragrant and the mixture looks cooked through (the onion pieces will be translucent and limp and the whole mixture a slightly darker shade). Throw in the chillies and stir fry until the chillies lok slightly soft and limp. Add salt if necessary. I did not add salt because the belacan and dried shrimps are salty enough.

Serve as an appetizer with steamed white rice and other Malaysian dishes like fried fish, stir fried vegetables, Malay salad or a mild curry. Oh yummm ~

BAKED THEN FRIED SPRING ROLLS

I craned my neck to look at the translucent sheet of rice paper rain that H had pointed out to me. It was pummeling the ground, before us, a few meters away. Within seconds I heard it drench our black Hyundai as we entered its realm. I ducked. It sounded like a Niagara. But I felt the eerie-ness of a clenched fist, at first knocking then spreading its fingers, softly, on top of my head. Have you ever felt that?


Juxtapositions of weather never fail to fascinate me ....nature's abrupt seperateness of downpour and clearness existing within meters of each other...side by side, face to face, meeting up, merging, yet apart, clear on one side, grey on the other, dry over here and wet over there. How cool is that?

That happened a few days ago. And it has nothing to do with these spring rolls. I just had to tell you. Because the past month has been a sort of tropical winter. Wet and gloomy most times yet smouldering in between. And my enthusiasm towards cooking or baking have shifted according to the weather. You can tell, can't you?.... from my blog.


I feel paralysed and unmotivated most times but with short sunny bursts of enthusiasm in between. Today I have three things in the making after a period of relative dormancy. Sometimes I wonder what makes me tick. And then tock  :D

Anyway.....To cut a long story short.....with the excitement of eating healthy I had baked these spring rolls after swiping them with oil. But they looked so pathetic that I finally agreed to fry them in a little oil. That straightened them up, they came to life,looked perky crisp and sunny. What a difference a little frying made. yea...grease..tell me about it. 


I would have left them at baked if I didn't have to take photographs didn't spend 2 hours clicking 10,000 frames until the sky started to sulk and began to cry. 


The Recipe ~


Dip these in Thai Sweet Chillie Sauce. O. Yea.


Yield : About 16 rolls


A packet of spring roll sheets.


8 medium sized prawns, shelled, de-veined and chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced finely
1 small Chinese cabbage, washed and finely shredded
2 small carrots, washed, skinned and julienned
1 sengkuang (turnip?) (tennis ball size, maybe larger), skinned, washed and julienned
A handful of shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stalk removed and sliced finely


2-3 tsp light soy sauce
1 T oyster sauce (optional) I didn't use this
1 tsp sugar
salt
pepper
1 T cornstarch mixed with a little water to a slurry


1 2/2 T vegetable oil


Make a paste from about 2 T plain flour and a little water to use as glue later.


Heat a wok until hot. Pour in the oil and saute the garlic for a few seconds until aromatic but not brown. Throw in the shitake mushrooms, carrots and turnips and stir to mix evenly. Add salt and pepper, sugar, soy sauce and oyster sauce if using. There is no need to add water at all. Just keep stirring and tossing and when the carrots and turnips are a little softened throw in the Chinese cabbage and mix and toss again. Adjust seasoning to taste. Keep stirring until the cabbage just softens. Add the cornstarch slurry and mix again and the cornstarch slurry thickens and the vegetable mixture is just slightly wet.


Note : The vegetable mixture should not be overly wet...just damp. And cool completely before making rolls.


Remove the spring roll sheets from the wrapper and cover with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out. Peel off one sheet and place on a board. Fill with the vegetable mixture (about 2 T) and roll into a firm and reasonably tight roll. Not too tight that it tears though. 'Glue' the end of the roll with the paste of flour and water that you made earlier. Keep aside on a tray while you make the rest.


If baking the oven should be pre-heated 15 minutes before at 375 F. Spray or swipe a baking tray with oil. Place all the spring rolls on top and swipe the rolls with oil on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the rolls turn a light golden brown. Serve immediately otherwise the rolls with get wrinkled and limp.


Alternatively, shallow fry the rolls to a crisp. They'll look better and stay crisp longer. :) 

THAI PAPAYA SALAD

Papaya trees grow from a seed to a fruit-bearing 20 foot tree in about eighteen months. And they fruit the way rabbits breed. In a bunch. They are not one of my favourite fruit because they have a slight bitter undertone. But young green papaya when made into a Thai salad transforms into something quite, quite wonderful. Utterly refreshing. 

My first encounter of a Thai papaya salad was at the Thai ambassador's cocktail party many years ago. In an effort to promote their cuisine they had booths set up to demonstrate the makings of various scrumptious Thai dishes. Surprisingly amoung all other mouth-watering dishes the one dish that I fell in love with was the Thai papaya salad. 

I think it was the combination and perfect balance of fresh fruit, toasted dried shrimps, hot chillies, salty fish sauce, tart lime juice and crunchy peanuts that won me over.

With the Thai papaya salad comes the above, right, which, I  believe, is a Thai invention. The papaya/fruit shredder. It looks like an ordinary fruit or vegetable peeler the only difference being that the blade is grooved intermittently across. 

I saw this device on Luke Nguyen's show and have been scavenging the shops ever since. I had asked the Thai girl at the organic shop which I frequent where to get one. She looked at me incredulously and said ...anywhere. Obviously I had not been anywhere. Well finally it wasn't anywhere that I found this pretty device but at Vivahome along Jalan Loke Yew....a large spanking new mall that has shops selling nothing else but kitchen things and home furnishings. From end to end and top to bottom. Finally mother and I had landed in heaven.

 

The recipe ~


I bought a very firm, dark green, young papaya, the inside a light orange and firm, the shredding of which was bliss.

Thai Papaya Salad ~


2 - 2 1/2 cups of shredded young papaya
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup palm sugar , grated
1 T water
salt
1 red chilli, chopped finely or 2 bird chillies crushed
1 T fish sauce
2 T dried shrimps, toasted or lightly fried in a little oil
a few sprigs of coriander leaves with stems, chopped finely


Put the shredded papaya into a large bowl. throw in the chopped chilli and coriander.

Mix the palm sugar and water in a small pot and heat until sugar dissolves. Keep aside and allow to cool. 


Meanwhile pound dried shrimps in a pestle and mortar and then add peanuts and pound gently to just crush peanuts. Do not pound to a paste.The mixture should be crumbly and the nuts in small chunks.


Mix the cooled syrup with the lime juice and fish sauce in another bowl and pour this dressing over the shredded papaya mixture. Add the pounded shrimps and peanuts and mix with your fingers or two spoons gently to coat the fruit evenly with the dressing. Add fish sauce or extra lime juice to balance the flavours.

Sprinkle more crushed peanuts over the top.


Serve cold or at room temperature as a side dish.

Note : A combination of shredded cucumber and papaya is good too.

VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS

Remember the Thai Sweet Chillie Sauce I made in my previous post? Remember? Remember? Remember when I said things could only get better from then on? Well it did. It did ~

Just like the first spring rolls 'recipe' these hardly needed a recipe 
Which was good because I was feeling kind of slap happy ~

So what you'll need are some ~ 

finicky carrots ~ julienned

see through glass noodles ~ softened in warm water, drained

pinky prawns ~ gently boiled, peeled

imposter crab sticks  ~ from a packet, unsealed

sprightly sprigs of cilantro ~ plucked

pretty basil leaves ~ whole

minty mint leaves ~ itsy bitsy bits

or anything else that strikes your fanciful highnesses ~

But don't you ever forget those slippery glass noodles ~

Because they add such a crunchy feely-ness, people ~

Then I crushed some strands of saffron thread 
And soaked them in warm water ~ 
Until it turned into a liquid sunset 
A minute later

So I slipped in a disc 
Of the fancy rice paper 

And waited. 


While I counted to eight? 
Or nine? or ten? twenty??
Errrrr..... whatever.

But when I lifted it out 
It was not as golden yellow 
As I hoped it would be, 
(Like what I watched on my tv) 
But, what the heck I thought, 
That was okay dokey by me. 

So I let the rice paper lay 

And piled the thingys into a bundle. 
And rolled them up
Into a tight little cuddle. 
Oops...I think I heard them squeak. 
" Too tight, too tight
Loosen up a little. ~

So this is the story of Thai Sweet Chillie Sauce, Vietnamese Spring rolls, my helly belly and slap happy me ~

THAI SWEET CHILLIE SAUCE

 

Thai sweet chillie sauce is syrupy, sweet and hot spicy. It takes under 10 minutes to make from start to finish. It's super quick. But I think the most satisfying part about making sauces, pickles, chutneys, jams or relishes, super quick or not,  is in the bottling.  Because you just know better things are about to come.

I really wanted a square bottle for this. So I went to Daiso. Got it. 

Daiso has everything. They have the littlest sauce bottles in the world too. Each slightly longer than an inch and perhaps skinnier than your little finger.  They are to bring along with you when you travel.  For when you're feeling homesick. Or perhaps to work. So quirky. Even silly me wouldn't buy them. They are just too little. :) 

But I did buy that cute spoon in the photo. I can't stop myself buying things from that store. Help.

And then I made sauce.

The recipe ~

This sauce was so easy. I got the recipe off Closet Cooking who got it off She Simmers. However, I added fish sauce and a couple more chillies for more heat. And for more Thai. Beautiful and delicious. I can't wait to dip some spring rolls in it. So Thai. So pretty. 

4 large red chillies
3 bird eye chillies
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup vinegar, I used apple cider
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 T fish sauce

1 T cornstarch mixed with
2 T water


Cut chillies up, de-seed if you prefer ( I did not). Put both kinds of chillies, garlic, water into a blender and blend until the chillies are medium fine or fine if you prefer. 

Pour the mixture into a pot. Add vinegar and sugar and bring to a gentle boil until the sugar dissolves. Add the fish sauce and taste for salt. Add more if necessary. 

Add the cornstarch-water mixture and stir the sauce until the sauce thickens about a minute. Bring it off the heat and let it cool before bottling.

SMOKED SALMON AND DILL TARTS

Good evening boys and girls !

A tart is shallow, frivolous, fancy, dressed up with an open top. Usually baked in a shallow tin with a removable bottom and served on a pretty serving plate. A pie is down to earth, covered up, substantial and deep. Usually baked in a deep pie dish or bowl and served in it. But both may be sweet or savoury. And both are to be eaten.

And I'm happy to report that in today's unisexual world the word tart is used not only to disparage women but also men who are considered promiscuous and flamboyant ..... "with a fruity lisp and tight clothing" 

Fruithy lispth?  Fruithy listhpth? Gasthp. That soundths adorable.

Clathh dithmithed.

This is a tart recipe I saw a picture of in GoodFood magazine. (I love GoodFood magazine). These tarts could be made ahead, frozen and re-heated when guests arrive. Extremely easy to put together and like all tarts are fancy and playful. And cute. I had a grand time with them.

They are such dear little things I would serve them as part of a casual dinner party as a finger food out on a patio. If only I hadn't burnt them.

The recipe ~ from GoodFood magazine.....

500 bought shortcrust pastry or home made shortcrust pastry


8 oz smoked salmon, cut into strips
2 eggs
2 T fresh chopped dill
284 carton single cream (I used double)
wedges of lime to serve


Heat oven to 180 C. Use 6 4 inch tart pans. I used smaller pans so I got more tarts than I bargained for.


Pastry recipe :


8 oz plain flour
4 oz butter, cold and cubed
2-3 T cold water

Pre-heat oven to 200C. 


Sift flour, put in butter and rub butter into flour with your finger tips until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the cold water and mix first with a spatula and then as it gets lumpy somewhat use your fingers to bring the dough together. 

Do not knead. This is not bread. It is pastry so it needs a light hand otherwise the gluten in the flour will get activated and the pastry will be tough. 

You could use a food processor very successfully but make sure you pulse the butter in the flour until it becomes like fine breadcrumbs and then add the water through the feed tube while the machine is running. Let the machine run until the mixture gathers into a ball. Turn off immediately and take out the dough. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes before rolling out.


Roll out the dough and cut into rounds bigger than your tart pans. Line the pans (there is no need to grease the pans because the pastry is already buttery).

Line the pastry with rounds of greaseproof paper (I used foil) and fill to the top with beans (I used rice). Bake blind for 1o minutes. Remove from oven and remove the beans/rice and then bake another 5 minutes until golden. Reduce oven temp to 180C.

Build Tart :


Divide the salmon strips between the tart shells. Beat eggs and dill. Add cream and whisk, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour custard into tartlets. Bake for 15 minutes until the filling is set and top is pale gold.

Cool then wrap in foil and chill or freeze up to a month and defrost before re-heating. 

To re-heat :


Pre-heat oven to 180 C and bake defrosted tarts for 10 minutes. 

GARLIC GINGER CHILLIE HOT SAUCE

Nothing fancy here. It's just a garlic ginger chillie hot sauce. A chicken rice hot sauce. All you need is a blender and a swoosh and it's done.

Ju made this exact sauce a couple of days ago as well. I'm not surprised if we had made and photographed it on the very same day. We share the same vibes. I believe that this is the third time we've made similar food and posted it within a whisker's post of each other's. It's one of those strange but true occurrences. 

This hot sauce is great with steam boats, chicken rice, stir fried noodles, rice, soups, as a dipping for fritters. Anything and everything I suppose. Whatever makes you happy and whenever your palate needs a bit of a kick.

Its kind of sour and spicy with a very subtle tinge of sweetness to it. Very very very appetizing.

The recipe ~


10 chillies plus some/many bird's eye chillies if you like
6-7 pips garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, peeled
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 T sugar
salt to taste


Wash and ch0p chillies into chunks. De-seed them if you wish. Put chillies and everything else in a  blender and blitz until it becomes a thick sauce. Add salt to taste. Store in a jar and better still in the refrigerator.

I am submitting this to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday hosted by Shaz of Test with skewer and 3hungry tummies

CASHEW NUT CURRY

If only maids were made in heaven I would have been a rested and happy woman in a newly cleaned and sparkling home. But no. I had to have two of the most incompetent and obnoxious maids delivered to my door yesterday. I was bluffed into believing that they were well trained and experienced. Silly me.

At the end of each explicitly explained task they stood and wavered looking extremely disgusted. I don't blame them. That is why I hire maids. Duh.

They grumbled and probably swore their way through the housework for almost three hours while I attempted to curb and guide them into some form of what I thought were logical and common sensed tasks. I think my eyes glowed.


After three hours when the job was 'done' and the house somewhat less than sparkling one of them just flopped like a sack of rice and spread herself on the floor at the front door while waiting to be picked up by the Big Bluffer. Upset as I was I almost burst out laughing. Out of pity I made conversation with her. I think we found common ground. We both hate housework. A job I had landed myself into by choice and she by circumstance.


But I think she might have liked some cashew nut curry. If she had been a whole lot nicer and I had had a pleasant day it might have occurred to me to let her bring some home. Silly girl.

It was a sad and cloudy morning and I, groggy from sleep and exhausted from the previous day's encounter with Two Maids from my Nightmare, had taken photos of the cashew nut curry I had made on that day. 

Obviously, drunk from sleep, I wasn't focused and neither were these photos.  But a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. No?


The recipe ~


This is a lovely dish. Sweet cashews in some curry sauce makes a most appetizing dish. I might also mention that I was inspired to make this after watching Anthony Bourdain's visit to Sri Lanka.


200 gm raw cashews
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 pips garlic
1/2 inch ginger, sliced
1 T coriander powder
1/2 T cumin powder
1/4 T fennel powder
a pinch or two of tumeric powder
7-8 curry leaves


some black pepper, crushed
salt

1/4 cup thick coconut milk
2-3 T cooking oil


Pound the onions, garlic and ginger in a pestle and mortar till quite fine. 


Heat oil in a pan and saute the pounded ingredients until fragrant. Add the powdered spices and a little water, about 2 tablespoons, and saute until the  mixture turns a little darker and the oil seperates from the paste.


Throw in the cashews and stir to mix it into the spices. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer and let it simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes. Add salt in between. While doing so add some water or stock if the mixture seems to dry. There should be some sauce but not gravy. It a dry sort of curry. 


Sprinkle some crushed black pepper if you so desire. Serve with white rice. 


Note ~ You may add some sliced green chillies just at the end of the cooking and sprinkle some fried onions over the top just before serving.

CASSAVA CRISPS IN CHILLIE JAM ~ KEREPEK UBI KAYU PEDAS

I would finish a packet of this so fast and then hunger for more.

But there really is no other way to enjoy this than to make your own because we all know that commercial varieties are deep fried in the same oil over and over again. Ick! I made this and it was oh! so delicious. It was sweet and spicy  clinging to crunchy. I was on high.

The cassava root may appear quite intimidating because it looks very much like the trunk of a small tree with a very rough, dark and thick bark. It looks hard and heavy too. But once you get the skin off (which is actually not difficult to do) you'll find the inside flesh a smooth, silky, pristine white albeit very firm. I'm always amazed at the contrast.  

These are sliced thinly and deep fried...very much like potato crisps ~ but they're not as fragile. Potato crisps almost break and dissolve the moment you put them into your mouth, without any effort at all, but these are more crunchy as opposed to crispy and slightly chewy. Lets just say you need to oil your jaw hinge a little. But they are so worth it. Trust me.

I made a brilliant, scarlet chillie jam which looked so glaze-y and tempting it should be declared illegal. It's sweet, sticky, spicy, thick and jammy. I doubt it can get any better than that. Trust me on that too. I coated the crisps with it. I believe I almost created nirvana then. To me at least.

Here's the recipe ~

The Crisps....

1  medium sized cassava (about 9 inches long and 2 inches across)
Any vegetable oil for deep frying

Skin the root, give it a quick rinse, pat dry and slice very thinly. I used a knife and it wasn't hard to slice at all. 


Deep fry in a wok or pot of oil. Don't over  crowd that wok. Fry until a light golden brown, drain and keep aside.

Chillie Jam ~ 

6 fresh red chillies, split and de-seeded
125 ml water
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T dark brown sugar
1 T bottled chillie sauce (I used Lingham's) optional
1 T cooking oil (I used grape seed)
salt to taste


Crush the chillies in a  small food processor until medium fine. Put all ingredients in a small pot and cook over a medium flame until it comes to a boil and then lower the flame and reduce until it becomes a thick jam. It should look just like jam. It doesn't take very long. Just watch and stir every now and then.


Place the crisps in a large bowl, dollop the jam on top of it and using a salad spoon and fork turn the cassava crisps over itself until they are well coated with the chillie jam. Store in an airtight container. Serve as a starter or snack. OH. MY. YUM!

KIMCHI

Kim Chi ~ Tell me how cute a name is that? Bimbim Bap ~ Tell me how cute a name is that? Soondooboo Jiigae? Kimchi Bokeum Bap? Have I made my point? And aren't those Korean actors and actresses just as cute too? I know my nieces definitely think they are.

And as cute as the name may very well be....kimchi is not a photogenic food, like rendang. It took me all 2 days of sweat, sweat and sweat to come up with some decent photographs. After all it was simply cabbage on a plate and the other just a brown mash of meat.

But like the Malaysian rendang there is nothing plain about the Korean kimchi. The spiciness from the chillie and the flavours from the garlic, grated ginger and a sweet edge from the fruit puree that I had used made it a fantastic appetizer. Plus I've had this craving for some kimchi-jeon (kimchi pancakes) ever since I saw photographs of my nieces enjoying a Korean meal in Korea with the said pancake in full view of my computer screen.

I was told by a lady herbalist that cayenne pepper was the closest that I could get to Korean chiilie flakes or chillie paste. I chose to believe her because I wasn't about to scavenge all over town in the present scorching weather in search of something that I may never find.

 I had also searched blogs for the recipe. Simple they all say and indeed it was. Finally I used a combination of  recipes from Closet Cooking and Dr. Ben Kim's site. Two very interesting and informative sites. 

I'm not sure if it will past the test with a Korean but it was certainly good enough for me and my craving. 

Tomorrow it will be kimchi-jeon for me lunch! YUMMM

The recipe ~ 

1 napa cabbage
1/2 cup salt
1 cup gochugaru (Korean chillie flakes) I used 1/2 cup cayenne pepper instead
3-4 stalks spring onions
4 cloves garlic
1 in grated ginger
2 T fish sauce
puree from 1/2 apple, and 1/2 pear as per Dr. Ben Kim's recipe


Seperate the cabbage leaves and trim away the hard core. Then slice the cabbage leaves to one inch lengths.


Place one layer of the cut cabbage in a stainles steel bowl and sprinkle some salt over it. The proceed likewise with the rest of the cabbage , sprinkling salt over each layer. Cover with a plate and leave for about 4 hours until the cabbage has softened.


The salt acts as a preservative for the pickle. Rinse away the salt from the cabbage and drain and put the cabbage in a  bowl.

Chop the spring onions into 1 inch lengths, grate the ginger, mince the garlic, place in bowl and to all of these add the fish sauce. Mix. Add the pureed fruits and mix again. Add this mixture to the to the cabbage and sprinkle on the gochugaru. Mix well. Bottle the kimchi and leave to stand for 3 days at room temperature and then keep in the refrigerator. Will keep for a month.


I only let it stand for 24 hours at room temperature because it is so humid and hot here. 

PS  ~ Some of you may find 1/2 cup of cayenne a little too much....I find it a little too spicy myself ....so perhaps 1/4 would be moderately spicy.


Do take note ~ An anonymous reader has pointed out in the comment list that...."kimchi is FERMENTED like yoghurt and miso. It is not just 'pickled'". My sincere apologies for overlooking the difference. I must be more careful.