Category: Recipe

Fomenting Fermented Red Bean Curd


Fermented red bean curd.

Savouring dishes cooked with the fermented red bean curd is an acquired taste. Either you love it or you do not. Some are put off by its pungent smell and taste. I love it. This must have been cultivated in me since childhood. Mum was a Hakka. Red fermented bean curd is used extensively in Hakka cuisines. I do not eat dishes cooked with this as often as I would like to. This salt preserved soy-based product is not good for my kidneys.


Deep fried fermented red bean curd pork.

One of my favourite Hakka dishes is the Deep Fried Fermented Red Bean Curd Pork. Belly pork is usually used. I find that too greasy to my liking. I do not know if this has been done before but I substituted belly pork with chicken breast. It tasted just as nice sans the greasiness. It is the batter that is important. I believe its taste is not as authentic as it should be. I am still trying to tweak the batter ingredients ratio each time this is cooked. Hopefully one day I will get it right.


Bean curd chicken nuggets.

Hakka Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients:
1 piece chicken breast (approximately 300g)

Batter:
2 cubes fermented red bean curd
Half cup wheat flour
Half tsp sugar
Quarter tsp five spice powder
150ml water

1 cup cooking oil

Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Mix the batter ingredients and stir well. Marinate the chicken in the batter for 2 hours. When ready, heat cooking oil in wok and deep dry the chicken until nicely browned. Serve with cucumber and chilli sauce. The chilli sauce can also be made by pounding 4 red chillies and 2 cloves of garlic. Add juice from one calamansi (lime) and half a teaspoon of sugar to the paste.

Nasi Lemak

Today is the first time I cooked nasi lemak. It was eaten with sambal ikan bilis, asam prawns, hard boiled eggs and cucumber. Not bad for a first attempt but not good enough as compared to those sold at the stalls. I am stuffed. I have not felt so full for a long time. The nasi lemak can also be eaten with sambal prawns, fried sardines, sambal belacan and pineapple wedges.

Nasi Lemak

Ingredients:
2 cups rice

1 cup santan
1 1/2 cup water

3 slices ginger, finely shredded
3 pandan leaves, knotted
1 tsp salt

Wash the rice several times until the water is clear. Drain. Put the rice into an automatic rice cooker together with santan, water, ginger, pandan leaves and salt, and cook. When rice is cooked, fluff it with a pair of chopsticks. Keep warm in the cooker until ready to serve.

Asam Prawns

Ingredients:
6 medium sized prawns

Marinate:
60g tamarind
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp thick soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

3 tbsp cooking oil

Devein prawns without removing the shell. Mix all the marinate ingredients. Add prawns and mix well. Leave to marinate for 1 hour. When ready, heat oil and fry prawns till cooked. Remove from oil and serve.

Sambal Ikan Bilis

Ingredients:
80g ikan bilis, washed
3 tbsp cooking oil

12 dried red chillies, seeds removed and soaked in water
10 shallots
5 cloves garlic
2 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced

3 tbsp cooking oil

30g tamarind pulp
5 tbsp water

1 tsp sugar

2 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced

Heat oil and fry the ikan bilis until fragrant, drain and set aside. Soak tamarind pulp in water for half an hour. Grind dried red chillies, shallots, garlic and lemon grass into a paste. Heat oil and fry paste together with sugar, kaffir lime leaves and 2 tablespoons of tamarind juice until fragrant. Add ikan bilis and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Remove and serve.

Sambal Prawns


Having had too much food cooked in coconut milk the past few days, I had to abandon the idea of cooking nasi lemak this weekend. The prawns that had been sitting in the freezer have to be cooked anyhow lest they lose their freshness. Prawns are no less in cholesterol than coconut milk but it is a change from the creaminess and sweetness of bubur cha-cha. Asam prawns was the first choice but I thought sambal prawns would be more appetising. And indeed they were. Too much water was added but that has been adjusted in the recipe which should taste just right. I seldom eat prawns nowadays because I have developed a slight allergy to them. I hope this will not set off another scratching frenzy.

Sambal Prawns

Ingredients:
300g prawns, shelled and deveined

Paste
10 shallots
6 red chillies, remove seeds
4 cloves garlic
2 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced
1cm section turmeric

6 tbsp cooking oil

tamarind pulp
1 cup (250ml) hot water

2 tbsp sugar, or to taste
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Steep tamarind pulp in hot water for 20 minutes and then strain to get the water only. Pound paste ingredients until fine. Heat oil in wok and fry paste ingredients until fragrant. Add strained tamarind water and bring to boil. Add sugar and salt. Add prawns and bring to boil again. Serve hot with rice.