Recipe – Page 7 – Peter Tan – The Digital Awakening

Stink Beans

After being unwell for such a long time, I have almost forgotten how it feels like to be in the pink. I am slowly recovering but I feel very worn-out all the time. It must be from the days that I had eaten little, fearing that if I overloaded my digestive system with heavy food, fever would set in again. I think my body is not getting enough nutrition with all the light meals I had taken for it to get well again. The fasting had not done me any good and I am beginning to have an aversion to all the bland food that I have been taking for the past weeks.

Today I decided to cook something tasty and appetising – sambal petai prawns. It was nasty too considering I should not be eating anything spicy so soon. The petai had been sitting in the fridge for a few days and it would be such a waste to throw them away if it was not cooked soon.

The one drawback with petai is that is stinks up the toilet. Its stench is akin to burning rubber and can be overpowering at times. That is why it is called stink beans by the Chinese. It is believed that if one ate petai with brinjal (eggplant, aubergine), it would cancel out the stench. It is also believed to be beneficial to diabetics and those suffering from kidney problems.

The petai tree can grow up to a height of 30 meters. With its height and brittle branches, plucking the petai can be dangerous. I have heard of people falling to their death while harvesting the pods. Considering the dangers it posed, 50 sen per pod is not that expensive a price to pay.

I am sharing the recipe below. I do not have the exact weight for the tamarind and volume of the water used. Some would prefer it more sour and less sweet, in which case, add more tamarind juice and less sugar. Anyway, cooking to me is not an exact science as different people have different perception in taste.

Sambal Petai and Prawns

Ingredients for pounding:
12 shallots
4 cloves garlic
2cm section turmeric
6 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced
3 red chillies

5 tablespoons tamarind
1/2 small bowl of water

150g prawns, shelled and deveined
petai beans from 6 pods

4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small bowl of water

Pound the lemon grass, turmeric, chillies, shallots and garlic until fine. Heat oil and fry the pounded ingredients until fragrant. Mix the tamarind and water, sieve and add together with the bowl of water and let simmer. Add petai beans, sugar and salt. Add prawns when about ready. Remove when the prawns are cooked. Serve with rice.

Devil’s Food Cake

Lilei Chow sent me the following recipe after reading In.Tech. This cake is sinfully delicious despite the fact that it did not turn out the way it should. I did not have an eight-inch cake pan and used the usual six-inch tin that I often baked with instead. Because of its high liquid content, this cake would have fared better baked in the former, with its batter spread out thinner. No matter, it turned out good enough to eat, and was rich, moist and full of chocolatey flavour. Thank you Lilei, for a very wonderful recipe.

1/2 cup natural cocoa powder, such as Hershey’s
2 tsps. instant espresso/instant coffee
1cup boiling water
2 tsps. vanilla extract
12 tbsps. unsalted butter, softened (not melted)
1 1/4 cups castor sugar
2 large eggs @ room temp.
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Method:

Adjust the oven rack to center position and heat ovens to 350 deg Farrenheit. Generously grease two 8 by 1 1/2 inch round cake pans with vegetable shortening and cover bottom of pans with rounds of parchment paper or waxed paper. Grease paper, then dust cake pans with flour, tapping out excess.
Mix cocoa and instant coffee in small bowl; add boiling water and mix until smooth. Cool to room temperature, then stir in vanilla.
Beat butter in bowl at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 full minute after each addition.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. With mixer at lowest speed, add about 1/3 of cocoa mixture; mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into batter. Repeat process twice more. When batter appears blended, stop mixture and scrape bowl sides with spatula. Return mixer to low speed ; beat until batter looks satiny, about 15 seconds longer. (If using hand, fold in flour mixture with big metal spoon)
Divide batter evenly between pans. With rubber spatula, spread batter to pan sides and smooth the tops. Bake cakes until they feel firm in center when lightly pressed and skewer comes out clean or with just a crumb or two clinging to it; 23-30 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; cool for 10 minutes. Run knife around perimeter of each pan, invert cakes onto racks, and peel off paper liners. Reinvert cakes onto additional racks; cool completely before frosting.

Lemongrass Fish Curry

I am not fond of spicy curries. It burned the insides of my mouth and upset my stomach. However, I love the aroma of coconut curries. Mum had just the right recipe for this finicky preference of mine – Lemongrass Fish Curry. It is rich, sans the spiciness; and the lemongrass imparts a distinct piquancy.

What’s more? Apart from being delicious, the lemongrass possess medicinal properties. It is traditionally used to expel wind in the body. There are lemongrass scented candles and lemongrass balms to repel pesky mosquitoes and other insects. Aromatherapists use its essential oil for a number of treatments including sagging skin and stretch marks. I do not know if it works. I do not have stretch marks to apply it on.

Mum would cook this curry as a remedy whenever I complained that my wrists were aching. Sometimes the pain got so bad that I could not flex them. This curry cured the ailment, until the next bout, that is. Now, I swear by it. I do not know the exact ingredients Mum used but this tasted just like how she used to cook it. Here is the recipe:

300g fish fillet, cut into 5cm strips
20 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced
10 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
5cm portion turmeric, chopped
3 red/green chillies, seeded and sliced
3 tbs. Cooking oil
salt, to taste
1 and 1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup water

Heat oil in wok; fry shallots, garlic and turmeric, stir until they become fragrant. Add lemon grass and chillies; stir until fragrant. Add fish, salt and water; simmer until fish is cooked. Add coconut milk; simmer until gravy is slightly thick. Serve with rice.