2 Easy Ways to Love Your Chinese Greens

If you've ever walked into an Asian supermarket, marveled at the variety of beautiful greens available and wondered what on earth to do with them - keep reading. 
Growing up in Malaysia,  we were blessed to have the bounty of the Chinese vegetables available to us all year round.  We enjoyed gai lan, various mustard greens, choy sum, bok choy, snow pea shoots, Chinese cabbage, snake beans,  winged beans or dragon beans,  water spinach, mustard spinach, radishes, turnips, lotus root, jicama, taro and I could go on for days.  My mum's style of home cooking was a wonderful combination of all the various cultural influences that existed around us but when it came to vegetables she almost always cooked them Chinese style.  Her reasons?  a.  Ease and quickness of prep,  b. The Chinese way of lightly cooking vegetables maintains the freshness and nutritional value of them,  and  c. Mum always enjoyed the crunch of quick-sautéed greens and taught us to love the same.  In most Indian and Malay cooking (the other two main cultural influences in Malaysian cuisine),  vegetables are often cooked to within an inch of their lives.  The vegetables are murdered, massacred and mutilated beyond recognition and I'm pretty sure that all nutrition-related intentions for eating healthy can be forgotten.  You may as well be eating potato chips. This is not to say that I don't enjoy the incredible vegetarian feasts that are served on banana leaves at Indian restaurants all over Malaysia - trust me,  a banana leaf vegetarian lunch is high on my list of favorite meals and a life-changing experience for those of you who have yet to experience it.  However,  on a daily basis and on weekdays when time is a commodity nothing beats cooking veggies the Chinese way. I can whip up a delicious veggie side dish in 15 minutes or less, while something else is cooking and so can you!  My husband tells me that he never loved vegetables until he met me,  and my four-year old LOVES her greens.  He's my husband and has to say such things - she, however has no filter and is brutally honest.  Tonight,  as we were eating a dinner of soy sauce chicken,  jasmine rice and blanched baby bok choy with garlic oil,  she said "The bok choy is the best part!"
There's no reason to serve boring, bland, blah veggies - trust me,  anyone can make these dishes.  There are definitely more complicated, time-consuming ways to cook vegetables Chinese-style, but these two preparations are designed to be quick and easy, and get you into cooking Chinese greens regularly.  Take a look at these simple instructions,  go to your favorite Asian supermarket, get some greens and try your hand at cooking them.  Give yourself a few tries - in no time at all,  you'll be a superfood,  veggie-cooking machine.  We won't go into the health benefits etc. We all know greens are good for us.

Easy Chinese Greens,  Style 1 (serves 3 - 4 as a side dish)

1lb Chinese greens  (Gai Lan or Chinese Broccoli shown in these pics)
3 tablespoons peanut oil
5 garlic cloves - minced or sliced thinly into garlic chips
Vietnamese fish sauce, oyster sauce or soy sauce (optional)
Salt to taste

 1.  Mince garlic or slice into garlic chips.  Depending on how I feel,  I use both methods pretty interchangeably.  If I'm tired, lazy or crunched for time - chips.  If I'm enjoying a glass of wine while cooking and pretending to be a famous chef on my own tv show,  I mince my heart out. 

 2. Separate leaves from stems,  particularly if the greens you are using have tough stems.  Cut leaves and stems into bite size pieces.  Try to keep the pieces the same size, however there's need to be a stickler for perfection.


3. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat.  Add garlic and salt. Sauté for about a minute until fragrant.  Be careful of the temperature of your wok at this point - with so little stuff in the wok,  the risk of it getting too hot too quickly is high.  Turn it down to medium if you feel it's too hot.  This just takes a couple of tries and experience to get the hang of it.  We want to make sure the garlic cooks and releases that great flavor into the oil,  but we don't want it to burn.  If by any chance the garlic burns,  please start over.  The bitterness of the burnt garlic will make the dish inedible.  Once the garlic is fragrant and your kitchen smells divine,  add only the stems.  Give them a few stirs,  then add a couple of tablespoons of water - the steam will help them cook.  Cook for about three minutes,  adding small amounts of water to generate some steam.
4. Add the leaves.   At this point,  add whatever other seasonings you like - oyster sauce,  soy sauce,  fish sauce.  Just a teaspoon or so of any one of these is enough.  Two quick stirs to mix the seasonings through and you're done.  The leaves literally cook in about 15 seconds.  You'll know they're done when they turn a bright, beautiful green and are slightly wilted. 

Easy Chinese Greens,  Style 2 (serves 3 - 4 as a side dish)

1lb Chinese greens  (Baby bok choy shown in these pics)
3 tablespoons peanut oil
8 garlic cloves - minced or sliced thinly into garlic chips
Vietnamese fish sauce, oyster sauce or soy sauce (optional)
Salt to taste

1.  Peel and mince garlic.  No garlic chips for this recipe - only minced garlic will do.  

2.  Slice each baby bok choy in half lengthwise,  from bottom of stem to tip of the leaves.  Doesn't this look beautiful?  At this part of the prep,  I am singing with gratitude at the bounty of the earth's goodness.  Ok,  I'll stop before I go too far with this singing in the kitchen business!

3.  Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil.  Add baby bok choy and cook until bright green - about one minute depending on size.  Work in batches if you need to,  to avoid over-crowding. 
As you're removing them from the pot,  arrange them in a dish in a nice pattern.  Sometimes I use a large round dish.  Here they are in a square pyrex dish.




4.  In a wok or sauté pan,  heat the oil over high heat.  Add minced garlic and about a half teaspoon of fine salt,  and turn down to medium.  Stir the garlic,  keeping a watchful eye for when it begins to brown.  As it begins to brown,  you have to really baby it - the key is medium heat and moving it around in the pan a lot.  Once it turns a gorgeous nutty, brown color,  add whatever seasonings you would like and remove from heat.  I generally don't add any seasonings, and prefer it with just the oil, garlic and salt.  It's deceptively simple,  but incredibly delicious. 

 5. Pour the garlic, oil and seasoning mixture slowly over the baby bok choy,  being careful to get some on every piece.  If you're looking at this,  and you're not compelled to eat it - geez,  you must be from another planet! :o)

 

And here's the same dish made with mini bok choy,  which seem to be popping up at Asian markets everywhere these days.   I've only cooked with these twice now,  but they're always a big hit.  In this version of bok choy,  the stems are very tender and thin.  

Once you've mastered these two preparations,  you can play with adding things such as Chinese rice wine,  carrots and red & green peppers for color,  slivered ginger, mushrooms etc.  Once you've gained an understanding of how simple it is to cook this way,  you will have as many different variations as you can think up with whatever ingredients are available.  The sky's the limit. 

Happy cooking and happy, healthy eating!

The 5 Best Things I Ate On My Last Trip Back Home

We were home in Malaysia for three and a half weeks over the Christmas holidays.  There was a lot of good eating.  That's putting it mildly - let's just say every meal was a dazzling example of how completely brilliant Malaysian cuisine is.  Does that sound slightly over the top?  I think not.  Believe me when I say that writing this post is going to be very, very painful.  Painful because none of these dishes are available in NYC.  There are many approximations and some even come close - but nothing seriously good.  I'm going to try and describe these so you'll understand:

1.  First and foremost, and always on my mind:  Seremban Beef Noodles (aka Gubak)
No trip back to my hometown is complete without a visit to my favorite Seremban Beef Noodle stall.  The legacy began with very humble beginnings as a tiny stall on the 2nd floor of the Seremban Wet Market.  They only offer one dish - Beef Noodles.  What culinary genius sold his soul to the devil for this creation?!   Pastry-wrapped langoustine at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon would not distract me from a heavenly bowl of Beef Noodles!   
The home-made rice noodles are plump, toothsome and the perfect vehicle for the gravy.   The thick, sticky, flavorful gravy is beef-broth based - meaty bones and knuckles are boiled for hours with star anise and peppercorns to extract every ounce of beefy,  marrow-y flavor, then reduced to the perfect consistency to coat the humble noodles.  Brisket and tripe are cooked in the same soupy mix until melt-in-the-mouth tender.  Crunchy peanuts, pickled mustard and sliced scallions top everything.  Excuse me while I dry my eyes.  
If you've never experienced beef (or any) tripe before,  trust me when I say one taste of this and you will understand what's so great about it.  I don't think I've ever experienced beef tripe any other way,  and I'm not one of those people who love innards because of the very weirdness of them.  But I LOVE these.  Pure heaven in a bowl.  
I wish I had a better picture of this to share - but I was too eager to dig in so this is what I have.  The piece of beef on top is the tripe and the brisket is what is below.   
If you're ever in Seremban,  head to the Pasar Besar Seremban (Seremban Central Market),  go upstairs and look for stall #748.  Alternatively,  if you prefer a cleaner, air-conditioned environment,  go to Quinn Seremban Beef Noodles 108, Jalan Toman 6, Kemayan Square, 70200 Seremban.  It's a branch of the famous market stall, built by the original owner for one of his daughters.  Equally good,  but you miss the flair and personality of the dirty, old market. 

   

2.  Fried Char Kuey Teow at Taiping Market
We visited a beautiful, small town at the foothills of Peninsula Malaysia's main mountain range called Taiping.  My mother was born and raised in Taiping, and went to the Convent there.  Yeah,  you read that right.  But that's another story.
On our first morning there,  we went to the Taiping Market for breakfast.  The Taiping Market consists of two buildings built in the late 1800s.  One of these buildings houses a food court - the old, original Malaysian concept of a food court.  Not Sbarro and Panda Express here.  Instead you find Hainanese chicken rice,  Nasi lemak, Wan tan mee,  Pau, Dumplings,  Laksa,  Rojak.  You could eat for days and days, and never eat the same thing twice. The char kuey teow is what stood out for me here.  Originally from Penang,  I believe this Taiping version has surpassed the Penang offerings. Rice noodles,  crunchy beansprouts,  Chinese chives, eggs, shrimp, chili paste and blood cockles are stir-fried and given the traditional "wok hei" treatment which imparts a glorious smoky flavor to the entire dish.  "Wok hei" is a technique of cooking in a wok at very high temperatures, and occasionally catching some flames in the wok while stirring the ingredients vigorously.  Please folks,  don't try this at home.  I doubt the Malaysian eateries here in NYC have mastered the "wok hei",  which is why Char Kuey Teow is never replicated to the standard that it is back home.
If you're ever in Taiping,  head to the Taiping Market at the corner of Jalan Maharajalela and Jalan Tupai - magic awaits you there!

3.  Fried Taro Dumplings or Wu Kok in Bidor,  Perak
I have my dear brother to thank for a visit to a famous little eatery in a town I've never been to in my life.  We drove through Bidor in the state of Perak on our way south from Penang back home to Seremban.  Bidor is a sleepy little town with not much going on.  On some town roads,  you'd be lucky to see two cars go by.  When you get to the center of town,  all of a sudden there is a flurry of activity.  Cars parked everywhere,  horns honking,  people milling about,  waiting for tables,  picking up to-go bags - so THIS is where everybody is!  It's almost as if this restaurant is the raison d'etre for this town.  The restaurant is called Pun Chun Chicken Biscuits & Restaurant - they are famous throughout Malaysia for their duck drumstick noodles and these gorgeous little things - fried taro dumplings stuffed with roast pork.  I'm not a fan of duck or drumsticks,  but the petite Wu Kok stole my heart. Originally from Hong Kong,  and available at most Dim Sum spots,  the ones here are to die for.  Purple taro root is boiled and mashed,  then filled with sweet, savory Chinese roast pork and deep fried to absolute perfection.  Crunchy on the outside,  soft and fluffy on the inside and filled with deliciousness,  these are absolutely criminal!  In my dreams,  I am a size 2 and I have the little old lady from the back kitchen at Pun Chun cooking these up in my kitchen here in Brooklyn.  Yes,  I know Wu Kok are available at the big banquet-style Dim Sum places here in NY,  but not. like. this. 
If you ever find yourself on the North-South Highway from Kuala Lumpur to Penang or back - please take a break and stop at Bidor for a meal.   Pun Chun Chicken Biscuits & Restaurant is at 38 - 40 Jalan Besar, Bidor, Perak.  It's on the main road in town - you can't miss it. 

4.  Appam Balik aka Terang Bulan at Taiping Market
A sweet treat that is found at hawker stalls everywhere in Malaysia,  Appam Balik is a great example of how something really simple can be so delicious.  It's basically a pancake filled with crushed peanuts, sugar and creamed corn.  Doesn't sound like much,  right?  I know it sounds kinda plain,  possible even a little "meh!"  This is the one thing I wish I had had more of while back home.  There are two types - the thick ones and the thin crispy ones.  Just like we have deep dish and thin crust pizza here,  the difference is essentially the same.  Some folks like the doughiness of the thick pancakes,  and some people love the crunch of the thin ones.  I prefer the thick ones myself.  Unlike regular pancake batter,  this batter has baking soda and baking powder added,  which results in a lovely,  airy pancake which is the perfect vehicle for the filling.  The combination of crushed peanuts and creamed corn is pure genius.  Once again,  slightly crunchy on the outside and soft, melty and sweet on the inside, Appam Balik are usually bought to take home in a plastic bag to enjoy once you're not so full from whatever meal you just had at the hawker center.  This is a complete shame,  since one is not enjoying it while it's still hot and just out of the pan.  The gravity of this is only just occurring to me as I write this.  Note to self:  When next home in Malaysia,  plan an outing for just Appam Balik alone,  separate from any official mealtime.  It deserves it's very own time and it's very own spotlight.  These are easily made at home - I have made them before and they come out very nicely.  I will share the recipe next on the blog,  for those of you who would like to try it. 

5.  Baby Oyster Omelette at End of the World Seafood in Penang

Last, but most definitely not least - my favorite dish in the whole of Penang island - the baby oyster omelette.  I've been a fan of this dish ever since I can remember.  When we were kids, we spent a few weeks in Penang every year.  There were countless trips to Gurney Drive,  a popular seafront promenade that was famous for the many hawker stalls lining the street.  In my mind's eye,  I can still see where we used to park the car,  the walk up to the tables,  the layout of the stalls and I even remember exactly what the guy making the baby oyster omelettes looked like.  I know,  I sound like a hawker stalker,  don't I?  The hawkers are no longer on Gurney Drive,  but I'm happy to report that they've all re-located to a space close by and the baby oyster omelette is as good as ever.  We also had this dish at a famous seafood place called End of the World Seafood and it was pretty much the same thing.  If there was one slight difference,  I would say that it lacked the "wok hei" element which the Gurney Drive version has.  Baby oysters are enrobed in a crunchy, smoky egg omelette with a goopy, glutinous, thick center.  The goopiness is a result of cornstarch which is cooked in the pan before the eggs are added in.  The oysters are delicate and bursting with flavor.  The dish is served with a sweet, clear hot sauce to dip each bite into.  It's midnight,  I'm hungry - in Malaysia we would just hop in the car and head to the nearest hawker stall for a feast of whateveritisyou'recraving.  Here in Brooklyn,  I take a sip of water and I bid you goodnight.  

Who's coming on a food tour of Malaysia with me?  Drop me a note at auriasmalaysiankitchen@gmail.com and let's plan a trip.

Salted Egg Shrimp

Each year in May,  soft-shell crab season hits and these delightful little crustaceans show up at seafood purveyors all over the city,  lined up neatly in little boxes.  Inevitably,  my father-in-law shows up in Brooklyn with a hankering for them.  Emails fly back and forth between us for weeks beforehand - we discuss ways to cook them,  we discuss ingredients.  He makes trips to the many Chinese,  Vietnamese and Indian groceries that have popped up all over his town and the neighboring townships in Massachusetts.  I list ingredients he's never heard of or had the need for before. I've never personally seen him at one of these stores but I believe he is like a kid in a candy store simply because it's such an adventure to him.  Tamarind!  Galangal!  Fresh turmeric,  please!!  Curry leaves!  He sets out for these as if he were on his own personal quest for the Holy Grail,  then dutifully reports back to me by email - Galangal: yes  Curry leaves: no.

Last year,  we made Soft-Shell Chili Crab - you know that dish that is claimed equally by Singaporeans and Malaysians as their very own invention?!  I'm not in the mood for an argument,  so we'll call it Singapore Chili Crabs for the sake of world peace.  Usually made with giant mud crabs,  we decided we would adapt it to suit the season and chili up those soft-shells.  I'll have to rescue that blog post from my previous blog so I can share it with you here.  They were spectaculicious!  I wish I had enough for the whole block!  This year we decided on a salted egg yolk sauce - butter,  the yolks of salted duck eggs,  spicy bird eye chilies, curry leaves and milk.  A brilliant creation of some unsung Malaysian-Chinese chef and available at most fine seafood establishments back home. 

Last Saturday,  Dad-in-law arrived with bags of groceries for me (he never arrives at our door without a giant bottle of Sriracha!)  On Saturday night,  we went out to dinner as we always do at Michael's Restaurant in Brooklyn.  We spotted soft-shell crabs on the menu and nodded with satisfaction that they were indeed available.   On Sunday,  after brunch we went to my favorite seafood place.  No soft-shells.  We were incredulous!!  What?  We tried a second place.  No soft-shells.  On our way to our third stop,  we did something we've never had reason to do together before - we had our fingers crossed.  Two people from completely different backgrounds, religions, ages, genders, and from absolute opposite corners of the globe were united with one mission. Sadly however, no amount of togetherness and kumbayah-ing was going to help us.  NO SOFT-SHELLS! Our hearts fell ever-so-slightly in unison.  We then discussed our next steps.

We could have had crab,  but that was much too close to our original thwarted plan.  Instead,  we opted for jumbo shrimp.  They would be deep fried just as the soft-shells would have been,  then coated with a spicy butter and salted duck egg yolk sauce.  Not soft-shell crabs,  but it would do!

Father-in-law: How many lbs?

Me: One

FIL: One?  I want leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Me:  Okay then... two?

FIL:  You're not eating leftovers for lunch tomorrow?

Me: Okay, three!

Here's the recipe.  Of course,  if you find soft-shell crabs at your local seafood place,  you should make this recipe with them.  Just don't break my heart and tell me about it.  Oh okay,  DO tell me about it.  Take pictures.  Blog about it. 

Salted Egg Shrimp (serves 4 - 6)

3lbs jumbo shrimp

1 cup cornflour

1/2 teaspoon powdered turmeric

1 teaspoon chili powder

Peanut oil for deep frying

4 tablespoons butter

4 large cloves of garlic - chopped

5 - 8 green bird eye chilies - chopped

Small handful of curry leaves

4 salted duck egg yolks - beaten

1/2 a cup of evaporated milk

Salt and pepper to taste

In a Ziploc bag,  combine cornflour,  powdered turmeric,  and chili powder.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Wash and dry shrimp and add to the flour mixture.  Zip it closed and give everything a good shake to coat the shrimp evenly with the flour mixture.  You may have to do it in batches unless you have a huge Ziploc bag.  I did it in a large bowl,  but the bag method is less messy.  

In a large work,  heat enough oil to deep fry the shrimp.  Depending on the size of your wok,  add 8 - 10 shrimp at a time and fry until golden brown and slightly curled up.  The curl tells you when the shrimp is cooked.  Don't let your shrimp come to a tight curl as you don't want to overcook them - nothing worse than rubbery shrimp,  right?  Once cooked,  remove from the pan onto paper towels to drain some of the oil.  Repeat with the rest of the shrimp,  adding oil and letting it come up to frying temperature as needed.  Once all the shrimp is fried,  dump out all the oil from your wok and clean the wok with a couple of paper towels.  Please be careful with hot oil - don't get any water near it or you run the risk of it spattering everywhere.  

Over medium heat,  add the butter, garlic,  bird eye chillies and curry leaves.  This is heaven in a wok!  Seriously.  Let this cook until fragrant,  about 3 minutes.  Add the beaten salted egg yolk,  stirring constantly for about two minutes until the yolk is cooked which happens very quickly.  Add the evaporated milk,  and salt and pepper to taste.  I like a lot of freshly ground pepper - it adds another layer of "heat" to the bird eye chillies and chili powder.  Give this a good stir to combine,  then add the fried shrimp back into the wok.  A couple of good turns to coat the shrimp with the gorgeous, creamy, salty, spicy sauce and it's time to eat.  Don't make the mistake of letting the shrimp cook in the sauce for too long ie: 3 minutes is too long.  You risk losing that deep-fried crunch.

Serve immediately with white rice and simple blanched or stir-fried greens.  If I knew who created the incredible combination of ingredients that make this dish I would kiss them!  

A note on shrimp:  This dish requires whole shrimp - this means heads,  tails, shells, everything.  I do take the time to chop off the eyes and beards with a very sharp cleaver,  however in Malaysia shrimp are always served whole and either eaten that way or peeled by each individual.  Because the shrimp in this recipe are deep-fried,  I eat them whole - nothing like a yummy shrimp head that's soaked up all that delicious sauce.  The only part I do not eat is the tail shell as it remains too tough.  Here's a picture I took on our travels back home last December.  This dish was part of our dinner at a Chinese banquet-style restaurant called East Ocean Restaurant in Ipoh,  a VERY famous food and foodie town.  People in Ipoh really know how to eat well!  As for this picture - see what I mean?  The shrimp in the foreground on the right is looking directly at you! If this turns you off or gives you the heebie-jeebies,  I'm sorry to say that this dish is not for you.  Shrimp cocktail, anyone? 

Tapioca Pearls with Cantaloupe & Coconut Milk






Even though it's only May,  we enjoyed a little taste of summer last weekend here in Brooklyn.  80 degrees and sunny both Saturday and Sunday - who could ask for a more perfect weekend?  The warmer weather inspired me to make this light dessert that I've been thinking about and craving all week.
In Malaysia,  this dessert is made with sago pearls.  Since it's near-impossible to get sago pearls here in the US,  I decided to give it a go with tapioca pearls.  Sago and tapioca are interchangeable in most recipes,  however I did find one major difference.  With sago,  as the little pearls cook and lose their opacity,  one finds a lot of extra starch in the pot.  When my mum cooks sago,  as soon as all the pearls become clear,  she transfers it into fine-mesh sieve and runs it under a cold tap while mixing it with a wooden spoon to wash away all that extra starch.  If this step is omitted,  what you end up with is a dessert that is much too....... starchy, for lack of a better word.  Ok,  I'll try a little harder - gluey,  sticky,  and lumpy!  I can't imagine anyone wanting a mouthful of glue with their dessert,  can you?  Tapioca pearls, on the other hand,  cook without releasing much, if any, additional starch,  and all one is left with are the dainty little tapioca pearls.  I still rinsed the cooked tapioca with cold water,  but this was primarily to stop them from cooking further and turning into mush.
Back home,  this dessert is usually made with honeydew melon.  You can imagine my dismay when,  after going to every fruit vendor in Chinatown and in my own neighborhood in Brooklyn,  I realized there was not a single honeydew melon to be found anywhere!  Time for Plan B - I noticed lots of beautiful ripe cantaloupes everywhere I went.  I wondered if it was possible to make this dish with cantaloupe instead of honeydew?  After all,  a melon is a melon,  right?  Right,  but somehow I just couldn't imagine this recipe working with watermelon - much too high water content and just not enough flavor.  I decided to give it a try with the cantaloupe.  If it didn't work out,  at the very least I would know not to be so reckless with my melons in the future!
It turned out perfectly and left me thinking about what other fruit I could use in this recipe.
I hope you'll make the trip to an Asian supermarket near you to get the tapioca pearls and try this dessert.  It's a perfect sweet for the coming hot summer days, and a lovely,  light, refreshing end to a spicy meal.  Try it with honeydew and mango as well.  And here's a bonus - it's gluten-free!

Tapioca Pearls with Cantaloupe & Coconut (serves 10 - 12)

2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 pandan leaves,  knotted (optional)
One can coconut milk (or 2 cups if you have fresh coconut milk)
A pinch of salt
1 cup small tapioca pearls
1 ripe cantaloupe

Combine the water, sugar and pandan leaves in a medium pot.  Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is melted,  about 2 minutes.  Here's a picture.  The ingredients list above calls for the pandan leaves to be tied in a knot - see how decidedly unknotted my pandan leaves are?  Somewhere in Malaysia,  my mum is shaking her head at me!  I believe the reason for tying them in a knot is merely to make it easy to remove them once they have served their purpose.  What is their purpose,  you ask?  Pandan imparts a distinct, sweet, unlike-anything-else aroma to Malaysian favorites such as coconut rice,  desserts and egg jam.  Egg JAM?  What's THAT?  That's yummy material for another blogpost!
Turn the heat down to low, add the coconut milk and a pinch of salt.  Cook on low for another five minutes,  then set aside to cool.
In a large pot,  bring a quart and a half of water to a rolling boil.  Add the tapioca pearls,  and stir gently to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.  Continue to cook,  stirring constantly for about five minutes.  Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for an additional fifteen minutes,  stirring frequently.  The goal is to get the pearls to turn clear.  Here's a picture of my tapioca pearls half-cooked - see all the ones that are still opaque?  That tells me that I need to keep this cooking.

Once most of the pearls are no longer opaque,  transfer the tapioca into a fine-mesh sieve,  and run cold water over it so that it cools down and stops cooking.
You want cooked tapioca pearls that still have a pleasant bite to them and that are not just falling apart in your dessert.  It's just like having al dente pasta instead of overcooked pasta!

Slice cantaloupe in half - using a melon baller,  make as many little melon balls as you can (or if you prefer,  cut half the melon into little chunks).  It doesn't matter if you end up with one cup of these or two.  I ended up with about three times as many as you see in this picture.  Scoop the remaining cantaloupe out of the rind,  and purée in a blender until liquefied. 
Once the syrup and coconut mixture is fully cooled,  remove the (hopefully knotted) pandan leaves and combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Serve in small cups - your guests will come back for more!  Happy cooking!  

Cooked and rinsed tapioca pearls - no bothersome opaque ones!

* Here in NYC,  frozen banana leaves and pandan leaves can be bought at Bangkok Center Grocery,  104 Mosco Street in Chinatown or online here.

** Small tapioca pearls can be found at pretty much any Asian supermarket and even from most health food stores manufactured and packaged by Bob's Red Mill.

Mum's Chicken Curry

A few weeks ago,  I wrote this post about roti jala and promised to share my mum's chicken curry recipe.  I looked back at that post and saw that it was from about six weeks ago -  WHAT?!  How time flies.  Every week I said to myself "time to post that curry recipe" and every week it just got away from me.  I made roti jala with chicken curry two nights ago for a visiting food journalist who was here to write a little profile piece on me and as I sat down to dine with her, it weighed heavily on me that I still hadn't posted this recipe.  In fairness to myself,  what you must all realize is that none of these dishes have "recipes".  My mum never cooks from a recipe - unless she's trying something new and foreign to her,  like macaroni and cheese!!  Rich curries,  divine rendangs,  flavorsome spiced rices,  fish cakes (we call them cutlets), and enticing vegetable dishes are cooked by feel,  sight and smell drawing from years of experience in the kitchen.  Mum still lives in Malaysia,  so here's a typical phone call between us:
Me:  Ma,  how do you make that Indian green veggie,  you know - the one with the coconut?
Mum: Oh,  ok - first you put oil,  then garlic, ginger and onions.  Also put some mustard and venthium (fenugreek seed) and if you want also put dried chilly. Then you fry fry for a little while.
Me: (Writing furiously) Ok....... ok and then?
Mum:  Then you put the veggie in - must cut small small, ok?
Me: Ok.
Mum: Then...... fry a bit,  then add some water.  Put some kunyit (turmeric) and some coconut.  Mix and close.  So easy!!
And that's pretty much how she passes "recipes" on to me.  The crucial part is the "so easy!' at the very end - mum has always been wonderfully nurturing and supportive of young cooks - perhaps that's why my two brothers and I all have a great time in the kitchen and love to cook!  Thanks to all those years I spent in her kitchen watching,  learning and doing,  it is easy.  For the purposes of a recipe though - haha,  can you imagine what this dish could look like if one had no idea what it was supposed to look like? Is it a stew?  Is it dry?  Is it mushy?  Should the greens be crunchy?  There is great potential for kitchen disasters,  tummy aches and budding chefs' disappointment and despair. 
Back to the topic at hand.  I wrote this curry recipe out sometime last year for one of my cooking classes.  Here's my mum's chicken curry - the one that goes so well with roti jala, or over some plain white rice with a yummy vegetable dish on the side.  Hopefully not the veggie dish described above!!

Mum's Chicken Curry  (serves 4 - 6)
1 whole chicken cut into small pieces (or 2 whole boneless breasts cut into pieces,  if you prefer)
3 tablespoons coconut oil
6 large garlic cloves - chopped
2-inch piece of ginger - julienned
1 large onion - sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cardamom pods
Small handful of curry leaves (optional)
1 can of coconut milk (or 2 cups if you have fresh-squeezed coconut milk)
4 large potatoes - peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons curry powder*
1 tablespoon chilli powder (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

 In a deep saucepan or dutch oven,  heat the coconut oil (or oil of your choice) over medium high heat.  Add the garlic, ginger, onions,  cinnamon, cardamom, curry leaves and half a teaspoon of salt.  Stir until fragrant and the onions are translucent. 
Add the cut up chicken and stir well to combine.  Keep stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot - if you let the bottom get sticky now,  you'll have all sorts of problems later and end up with a curry that has that not-so-lovely burnt flavor!!  Cook for 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl,  combine the curry powder,  chilly powder and enough water to form a thick paste.   (Please read my notes at the end on curry and chilly powders.)  Add this paste to the pot and stir well working to coat all the chicken with the paste.  Keep stirring for 10 minutes - the curry paste will release its rich, savory, pungent aroma and bring your neighbors to your door.  Don't answer your doorbell now - you need to baby this curry so it doesn't stick to the bottom.  In my mum's words "scrape the bottom of the pot so it doesn't stick".  This is especially true now - all these dry ingredients could burn and stick really easily at this point.
Add the coconut milk and half a cup to a cup of water, depending on how thick you like your curry gravy.  Stir to combine, and now you can answer the door,  make yourself a drink and stop for a breather.  Let it cook for about ten minutes or until it comes to a slow boil.  You never want a curry to come to a rolling boil ever - especially if you're cooking with coconut milk.  Boiling at too high a temperature will make your coconut milk separate and curdle - not a good look!

Add the potatoes,  turn the heat down to medium low, cover the pot and let it simmer.  Check the pot occasionally to make sure the bottom is not sticking.  
In about 20 minutes check the potatoes for doneness.  When you can cut through a piece easily with a knife,  your curry is done. Taste the curry, add salt and pepper to taste. 


A note on curry powders:  There isn't one standardized curry powder - rather,  every region of India has it's own variation of this wonderful combination of ground spices.  Before large spice mills came into being,  most households had their own unique recipe for curry powder - this is what makes eating curries in different homes such a lovely adventure.  No two curries are alike and even among my mum and her sisters,  the curries are different.  The main ingredients are cinnamon, cardamom,  cumin, cloves, nutmeg, fennel and turmeric.  West Indian curries tend to be more yellow and include allspice - a spice I never encountered as a child in my mother's kitchen except for the little red and white can of McCormick Allspice which she used for her annual Christmas fruit cake.  Kalustyan's has a wonderful array of curry powders to choose from,  as does Whole Foods.  Regardless of what curry powder you have on hand or where it comes from,  this recipe delivers a beautifully flavorful and delicious curry.

3 tablespoons of curry powder is a good place to start for one whole chicken - as you gain experience with cooking this curry,  you can adjust the amount to suit your taste.  More curry powder will result in a thicker,  gravy-like curry.  As for the chilli powder,  start with one tablespoon and adjust for your needs - if you like it hotter add more.  If you like spicy but not hot,  use less.  Personally,  I love a gorgeous red curry,  the sight of which tells me I'm in for a good hot dish!

Laksa!

I threw a laksa party last Friday night. Here are a couple of pics - we have house-guests, so no recipe today. I will add to this post during the week, but couldn't resist sharing these pics ASAP. A great big thanks to my dear friend, Lila Yomtoob for these pictures.
Laksa is a popular Malaysian hawker dish.  It's traditionally made with two kinds of noodles,  beansprouts,  shredded (or curried chicken), fish balls,  fried tofu puffs,  , quail eggs, shrimp and blood cockles.  Blood cockles are not available here in NY,  so I used mussels instead.  A fragrant coconut curry broth is ladled over everything and the dish is served with a spicy sambal condiment.  This is my version from last Friday night:

This is a shot of the kitchen counter with everything laid out on it and ready to be assembled into individual servings.  From bottom to top - yellow noodles,  rice vermicelli noodles,  shrimp, fish tofu, fish balls and fish cakes,  quail eggs, beansprouts,  mussels, flowering chives and shredded chicken.

Here's a short video of a famous laksa shop in my hometown of Seremban called  Laksa Asia - the woman who runs the stall is my laksa inspiration if only for the fact that she has been serving consistently delicious, mouth-watering laksa at the same location for over thirty years.  A true laksa goddess - I wish I had the guts to go up to her and give her a hug!
In the second video,  you get a better look at what's inside her steaming cauldron - tofu puffs floating in the broth soak up all the yummy goodness of the curry broth.

And finally,  here's a picture of the laksa served at this famous local spot.  On the right,  there is a whole hard-boiled egg.  In the middle,  near the top,  is a slice of fish cake.  To the left of that are a couple of those mind-blowing fried tofu puffs - my absolute favorite!  In the foreground,  to the left are a few blood cockles - a shellfish found primarily in Asia.  In Malaysia,  these are called kerang.  I find that folks either love them or hate them - I LOVE them.  While the name "blood cockle" is off-putting,  it's just a description of the beautiful deep red color of these clams - there's nothing actually "bloody" about them.  I think we need to work on the branding of these delicious clams - perhaps if we called them "yummy cockles" instead,  more people would be inclined to taste them.  If you love clams, mussels and oysters,  my bet is that you will love these.  We can't get these here in Brooklyn so I sadly substitute with mussels instead. Back to the picture - see how the sambal is served? In a tiny little side dish perched on top of the soup spoon - brilliant!  Rice vermicelli and beansprouts are in the foreground to the right,  and yellow noodles can be seen peeking out of the broth at the very top of the picture next to the soup spoon.  Aaaahhhhhh,  all this describing of this bowl of laksa is making me crave a bowl right now - I need a reason to cook up a giant pot of laksa for another feast - who's hungry?                                                                                                                                                                                   

AMK's first cooking class at Skillshare & a recipe for Lepat Pisang

I'm so excited - I taught my first cooking class at Skillshare HQ in Soho yesterday.  It was actually my second class with the Skillshare team,  but my first at their gorgeous, spacious headquarters on Broome Street in Soho.
I arrived there at 1pm yesterday and met my lovely and talented assistant Angie as I stepped out of the elevator and she came bounding up the stairs.  No wonder she's so fit - you know when you read those articles about how to squeeze exercise into your daily routine and one of the tips is to take the stairs instead of using the elevator?  Seriously now - how many of us have actually done that?  Not me.  Ever.  And it shows.  But there was Angie,  Ms High Energy herself singing "hi!" as she literally came running up the stairs to the 5th floor!  Maybe I'll do that someday.  Maybe.  Okay - probably never. 
We set up all the ingredients I had brought and moved things around in Skillshare's kitchen to suit our needs.  At minutes to two,  two lovely ladies showed up - our first students.  Pretty soon,  every one else had arrived and we began.
We started out making the mixture for the Lepat Pisang.  What is lepat pisang?  It's the gorgeously silky,  indescribably delicious Malaysian lovechild of banana bread and pudding, as described by Joshua M. Bernstein in his blog post about my cooking.  Wrapped in banana leaves and steamed for 30 minutes, the result is what you see in the picture above.  The Malay words "lepat pisang" translate to "wrapped bananas" - perfectly simple and so on point. We mixed up a batch (which took all of ten minutes),  covered the bowl and popped it in the refrigerator to let the flavors mingle and get to know each other.
Then we moved on to my mum's famous spiced ghee rice.  The smell of the the spices and ghee sautéeing in the pan had everyone ooh-ing and aah-ing.  Everyone took turns at the stove - stirring the ingredients in the pan.  Someone volunteered to wash the rice.  He did an amazing job!  We put everything in Skillshare's rice cooker and turned our attention to the centerpiece of our class - a Singhalese-style chicken curry.  I know,  I know - I need to post that recipe ASAP.  It goes so well with the roti jala recipe here.
Next,  I shared a super easy recipe for greens - we used mini (not baby!  there is a difference) bok choy.  The greens are blanched,  then a simple sauce of oil, garlic and Vietnamese seasoning sauce is poured over them.  So easy,  so tasty and so versatile - you can substitute any tender greens with this method.
The most fun part of the class was wrapping the lepat pisang mixture in the banana leaves.  I showed them how to prepare the banana leaves - then each person was set up with a banana leaf,  a piece of pandan leaf and a heaping tablespoonful of the mixture.  I did one quick demonstration of the folding technique and they each wrapped the most perfect little parcels ever.  Such a bunch of pros!  Everyone got one more turn at wrapping a parcel and the pretty little envelopes were placed in the steamer.
While waiting for the lepat pisang to cook,  we sat down to a delicious lunch.  I was so happy with this class - a great bunch of adventurous souls,  eager to experience something new and such a lovely, diverse group of people.  I enjoyed getting to know a little bit about each one of them - their backgrounds,  how they learned to cook and what brought them to NYC.  Now I'm seriously looking forward to teaching my next class - would anyone like to suggest a menu?
Here's my recipe for lepat pisang.  You can Google it and find lots of different recipes for it. Some recipes call for cornstarch.  Others only use all-purpose flour.  Some omit the shredded coconut and substitute water for the coconut milk.  This is my recipe for lepat pisang - the result of various trials with some of the substitutions mentioned above.  I find this to be the absolute best combination of ingredients for a silky smooth,  melt-in-your-mouth,  bursting-with-flavor lepat pisang.

Lepat Pisang (serves 6 - 8)
3 cups mashed overripe bananas *
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rice flour
4 tablespoons palm sugar (jaggery)
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
A pinch of salt
18 pieces of banana leaves,  about 8" x 8" (run each piece under a hot tap,  to soften) **
2 pandan leaves,  cut into 1" pieces **

Combine the mashed bananas,  flours and sugar.  Add the coconut milk bit by bit,  to moisten the mixture enough to achieve the consistency of runny oatmeal.  Add the shredded coconut and salt,  and mix well to combine.   Don't worry if the mixture seems lumpy - this adds wonderful texture to the finished product.
Bring a large pot of water to boil for steaming.
 Lay a piece of banana leaf down on your counter and put a piece of pandan leaf in the middle.  Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the mixture right on top of the pandan leaf.  Fold the top and bottom closed,  being careful to keep the mixture in the middle of the leaf - then fold the left and right sides down to create a little envelope of the mixture.  Repeat with the rest of the mixture.  You should end up with about 14 - 18 packets,  depending on how generous you were with the mixture in each leaf. 
Arrange the envelopes in a steamer,  making sure not to crowd them.  It's ok to have them on top of each other,  just remember to leave space in between them so the steam has room to move.
Steam for 30 minutes.  Serve warm.

* I like to use the mini bananas (aka finger bananas or bananitos is Hispanic markets),  which can be found at most Asian produce markets.  In some Caribbean neighborhoods,  you can find these at bodegas as well.  Remember to buy them ahead of time and use them when very, very, very ripe.  Yes,  that's three "verys"! If you use regular bananas,  again, just make sure they are overripe. 

** Here in NY,  frozen banana leaves and pandan leaves can be bought at Bangkok Center Grocery,  104 Mosco Street in Chinatown or online here.  To prepare the banana leaves for wrapping,  first cut the hard middle spine of the leaf off.  Cut into the appropriate size.  Then wash each piece really well under hot running water - the hot water softens the leaf so it is easy to fold.  If you omit this step,  you'll find the leaves crack as you try to fold them up.