Posted by Patrick.C
Potato chicken is one of the common dishes I love to cook all time. I am so into this dish is because my grandma cooked it most of the times for me and my brother when we were in primary school (elementary school). This is one of the fabulous dishes I could remember that she cooked.
In Malaysia, this dish is named shuzimenji (薯仔燜雞) or helanshumenji (荷蘭薯燜雞). I absolutely have no ideas why it is being called helanshumenji (荷蘭薯燜雞). 荷蘭means Holland. Some said the potato was possibly brought to Malaysia from Holland in the earlier times.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric.N
I love hot and spicy food until I can spread chili sauce on my bread for food. Crazy me, I know, but that happened in my childhood. Now I am always seeking for more varieties and challenges in spicy food, especially when I am craving for spicy food after all the Chinese New Year food in these couple of weeks. I have recently found this “special ingredient” and was very excited to share with you how to cook this easy-to-prepare Nyonya Curry Fish Fillet. This curry fish recipe is a famous Nyonya cuisine, which combines the spicy hot curry flavor with extra sourish taste and spices that make it so appetizing.
If you first heard of Nyonya cuisine, here’s a simple introduction to the Nyonya traditions which are gathered way back over hundred years ago, when the first Chinese settlers married the local Malay brides in Malacca. They gave birth and raise the first generation of Mixed Chinese-Malays known as peranakan. The boy is known as Baba and girl is known as Nyonya. The Nyonya delicacies are the combination of Chinese and Malay dishes that were being brought down over the generations.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Bel.C
When I go to the Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum, I always order the daikon radish cake (蘿蔔糕) or taro / yam cake (芋頭糕). However every time after I taste it, it always disappoints me, there aren’t enough ingredients and flavor in it, plus the texture is either too mushy or too hard. They just never taste the same like home made rice cake. Back home my grandma’s cousin sister (姨婆) always made a big serving of taro cake for us, fully loaded with ingredients and flavor. She truly made the best taro cake. I missed it so much that I decided to try this complicated dish.
Taro or Yam Cake (芋頭糕) is not that kind of sweet cake that you find in dessert, in fact it is a savory cake made with the main ingredients of taro or yam and rice flour. It is also one of the Chinese New Year recipes that you can prepare. Traditionally it is cooked and steamed for long period of time in a big round deep mold. When it is done, they are cut into cute diamond shapes. Now they can be found in dim sum cuisines, usually cut into slices, you can either eat it as original or pan fried for extra crunchiness and fragrant.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Patrick.C
Chicken symbolizes a family reunion when served as a whole. Therefore most of the Chinese families will prepare chicken in a variety of recipes to be served during the Chinese New Year. I remember steamed chicken (白切雞) was one of the favorite traditional dishes served in my family during Chinese New Year. The appearance of the steamed chicken looked so unattractive and tasteless. That was my thought in my childhood but after I tasted it with the ginger-scallion dipping sauce for one time, I was amazed and started liking it.
For the first day of Chinese New Year, having planned to cook the steamed chicken, I’ve prepared the salty water chicken (鹽水雞) instead. It is a recipe from my co-worker, Ray whom is so kind to share with me. I thought the recipe is more alike the steamed chicken but I was wrong. It’s a little bit complicated and time consuming as well as some cooking skills required. The entire process was fun though because I never really poach a whole chicken before.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Bel.C
It had been a fun and busy long weekend filled with luncheons, dinners and friend gatherings for the celebration of Tiger Year. On the other hand, I had a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with my lovely boyfriend. Everything was just great. Here once again, I wish everyone a good start in the Chinese New Year and wish all the couples a happily ever after (有情人總成眷屬).
On the first day of Chinese New Year, I’ve prepared the well known vegetarian dish so called the Buddha’s Delight or lo han jai (羅漢齋). It is traditionally consumed by the Buddhist monks who are vegetarians. However this dish has grown popularity over the years and now can be found in most Chinese restaurants for serving. For Buddhists who are not solely vegetarians will also practice vegetarians on the first and fifteenth day of the month based on the lunar calendar. Therefore this vegetarian dish has become more and more popular and eventually become a traditional dish for the Chinese New Year.
Read the rest of this entry »
