Sambal Prawns

 My mum used to cook Sambal Prawns and remember eating it with fond memories. This is similar to her recipe but because of availability of certain ingredients, I have substituted or omitted some of the ingredients. In Malaysia, this dish is called Sambal Udang. Traditionally, the paste is pounded in a pestle and mortar, which can be therapeutic but time consuming. But if you have a blender, the preparation time is reduced.

Ingredients
500g raw prawns(peeled and devein)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp tamaind paste
4 tbsp oil
4 tomatoes, quartered

Paste Ingredients
10 red chillies (deseed and cut into pieces) - check how spicy the chilli that you are using is and reduce the number if very spicy
12 red shallots (I used 1 red onion - cut into small wedges)
1 stalk lemon grass (cut into small pieces)
3 candelnuts (I used 8 blanched raw almonds)
1.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 cm piece of shrimp paste/belacan (I omitted this)

Steps

1. Season peeled and deveined prawns with sugar and salt.
2. Blend the paste ingredients in a blender or if you prefer in a pestle and mortar.
3. Prepare 1 cup tamarind juice by pouring  a little more than 1 cup of hot water to the tamarind paste in a cup or bowl. Strain it.
4. Heat oil in a wok or pan and fry the blended ingredients till well cooked (about 4-5 minutes).
5. Add prawns and stir until prawns are lightly cooked.
6. Add tomatoes and tamarind juice. Stir and simmer until the prawns are cooked.
7. Season with salt and sugar according to taste.
8. Serve with some cooked rice. 

Note: You can add some curry leaves when frying the paste. This would make it very fragrant. Sometimes, I would crack an egg at the end of the cooking process and lightly stir it until partially cooked. This idea is similar to Chilli Crabs.
 
Blend the paste ingredients in a blender.

 

Frying the blended paste in a wok under medium heat.

Prawns are lightly cooked. Add tomatoes and tamarind juice. Stir and simmer until prawns are cooked.

Season with salt and sugar. Ready to be served with some cooked rice.

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Chinese Roast Pork (Siu Yuk)

Siu Yuk is a Cantonese cuisine traditionally prepared by roasting an entire pig with seasoning in a charcoal furnace at high temperature. Roasted pigs of high quality have crisp skin and juicy and tender meat.

Siu Yuk is comfort food for me that I indulge once in a blue moon, due to its high fat content which is an integral part of this dish. When I saw a unique recipe shared by Grace Howie in a Facebook group, I knew that I have to cook this. Grace's sister, Jennifer Choong experimented and tweaked different recipes and the result of her effort is definitely worth it. This recipe is exceptional because it produces the crispest and fluffiest crackling with moist meat.

The secret is in roasting the pork at 60C for one hour. This keeps the meat moist. Best of all, this recipe is easier than most others and I am sure you can do it too. All you need is patience, as you need to dry the pork skin in the fridge for at least 2 days.

Ingredients
1 kg pork belly
1/2 - 1 tbsp salt (I used 1/2 tbsp salt as I do not like it too salty)
4 tbsp white vinegar

 Marinade
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp oyster sauce(optional)
1 tbsp red fermented bean curd sauce (I used miso paste)
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp shaoxing wine (I used sherry)

Steps

1. Wash pork and pat dry. The piece of pork I bought has already have slits on the skin. Otherwise, cut slits about 1 cm width. When ready, cut the Siew Yoke along the slits.
2. Cut a few slits on the meat side so that the marinade can penetrate through the meat.
3. Mix the marinade together and rub marinade on the meat side.
4. Rub salt on the skin and place pork on a tray with skin side up. Chill in the fridge uncovered.
5. Brush the skin with vinegar twice daily for 2 days and leave to dry in the fridge.
6. On the third day, preheat the oven to 60 Celsius. 
7. Place pork on a wire rack on top of a tray(with some water in the tray) and roast for 1 hour.
8. After 1 hour, turn the oven up to 250 Celsius and bake Siew Yoke for another 30 minutes. I had to turn my Siew Yoke 180 degrees because the heat in my oven is not even.
9. Cut into small pieces and serve with rice.

Note: Each oven is different. If the skin has not finished crackling, leave it on for few minutes longer. I ended up putting under the grill to finish the crackling.

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Last Minute Again - Pizza

Since I've started working, I've left all the Daring Bakers' Challenges till last minute. I only started mine challenge a day before it was suppose to be posted and the dough needs to be rested one day in the fridge. So this is a real challenge for me. This month's challenge is hosted by Rosa's Yummy Yums and the challenge is pizza. This is the brief version of the recipe. For more detail, visit Rosa's site. The topping was up to our imagination. These are the pizza I came up with for dinner. I think that if you have a pizza stone the dough would come out nice and crisp.

This pizza has tomato paste, roasted capsicum, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and feta cheese. I sprinkled some basil before eating.

This pizza has tomato paste, salami and cheese.

This is a sweet pizza with mascarpone cheese and yohurt mixed with some icing sugar and apples and some brown sugar on the top.

~ BASIC PIZZA DOUGH ~
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar - FOR GF use agave syrup
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

Day 1

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.
3. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
4. NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
6. NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.
7. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
8. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to three days.

Day 2

1. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. 
2. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. 
3. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. 
4. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. 
5. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
6. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).
7. 
8. NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.
9. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Flatten and toss it.
10. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.
11. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.
12. 
13. Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.
14. 
15. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

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Inside Out Sushi

Sushi is one of our favourite food. My kids can go through lots of it which I am happy about since it is healthy and full of Omega 3(salmon). My son's homework this week was to cook a healthy meal with the family and document the process and he suggested sushi. I have made sushi a few times and I've always made the normal ones with the nori sheet on the outside. Have you ever wondered how they make the inside out sushi? I have and this is my first time making the inside out sushi. I learned this from the Nintendo DS game, Cooking Guide. Far out, eh?


The way to do this is putting a cling wrap on the bamboo roller and then spread the rice on it. Roll the ingredient with the nori sheet and place this on top of the rice and roll like normal sushi. Remove the cling wrap after the sushi is cut. Ta da! I use the packet sushi powder to flavour the rice instead of making my own vinegar and sugar mixture.

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My Favourite Red Meat - Lamb Chops

If I have to choose between steak and lamb, I would choose lamb. I like the flavour and I find it more tender than steak. I saw this recipe for lamb chops on Better Homes and Garden show on TV and thought it was worth trying. My son prefers this to my normal lamb chops (which is simple squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle of salt).

12 lamb chops
a clove of garlic
1 level tsp cummin powder
1 level tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
a handful coriander
a handful parsley
juice from 1/3 of lemon
a pinch of salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Blend all the ingredients together until herbs are fine, except lamb chops of course(I used the hand stab). Season the lamb chops with this mixture for at least 2 hours. Then pan fry in some oil. Depending on the thickness of the chops. Mine took about 3 minutes on each side and it came out medium. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

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