Malaysian Chinese Cookware 101

Anyone with a decent amount of experience in the kitchen understands how the material, size, and shape of the cookware sets used have a strong influence over how your final dish will come out. This is especially important with traditional dishes that rely on specific flavors and textures that are associated with a particular country’s culture. In the case of cooking traditional Malaysian Chinese dishes, there are a number of fundamental cookware items that will give the delicious and satisfying results you’re looking for to serve to your friends and family. Since Malaysian Chinese dishes use a number of different vegetables and meat options, it’s important to take notice of the many ways in which you can prepare a delicious meal for your family.

One of the basic cookware items to have around your kitchen is a bamboo steamer that is perfect for steaming vegetables or making the traditional Yum Cha dish. In addition, a wok set of varying sizes serve as a great tool to use when cooking all of your meal’s ingredients together. The bowl-shaped pan distributes heat evenly throughout the depth of the pan and will allow you to toss both vegetables and meat together to create the stir fry dish you’re looking for. Clay pot cooking for Malaysian dishes is a reliable cookware piece to use for putting together soups and stews or steaming a side of vegetables. They are also versatile in design as they can be used in the oven or on a stovetop surface for slow-cooking meats or creating a delicious casserole.

In addition to the main cookware items used for traditional Malaysian cooking, it’s a great idea to consider adding smaller cooking utensils to your collection in order to make the cooking process easier. Such items include ladles, copper wire strainers, and steam racks that can be used while you’re cooking various meat and vegetable meals. Wok turners and ladles will allow you to handle the ingredients cooking in the wok more easily while wire strainers and skimmers will help separate any components of the meal you need to put more attention on.

The above article was written by a guest writter, Suzanne, an expert at cookware.com.

Steamed Mantau (Chinese steamed bun, 饅頭) using a Breadmaker

My assorted shapes of steamed buns or 饅頭. Can you tell I was playing with the shapes and failed miserably? Haha... I was trying to follow the pictures guidance from a Chinese cookbook that I have and I was totally sucked at it. Later I just simply shaped it however I liked. Do you see some scallions on some of the steamed buns? Those are my variation mantau listed below. I also tried some with black sesame seeds but didn't get much taste out of it.

This is a recipe shared by Gina few years ago. I copied it down because I loved the idea of using a bread maker to make mantau (as you know I am lazy). I think I told her I am going to try her recipe but I never did until now (see, now you know how lazy I am). I wanted to make this to eat with my soy 5-spice powder braised pork (coming up), so that was the motivation I needed. So glad I did, the steamed bun/mantau was indeed very soft and fluffy when warm. My girls couldn't stop popping it into their mouths too. Thanks Gina for sharing her tried and tested recipe! She got the recipe from a Taiwanese cookbook called "Zhong Dian Zhi Zuo".

Ingredients:

250ml water
100g sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
500g Hong Kong flour or all-purpose flour (I used AP flour)
1 1/2 tsp. yeast

Method:

1. Put all into the pan of the bread maker according to list.

2. Press the DOUGH function and START.

3. After it is done, remove from the pan and knead on a little floured surface.

4. Flatten the dough into a rectangle shape, roll up and cut into blocks.

5. Set aside to proof for 10 minutes.

6. Steam over high heat for 8 minutes. Serve warm. Can freeze the leftover individually in the freezer (lay each on a tray 1 inch apart to freeze individually and then put them in a ziplock bag). Re-heat in the microwave (according to your microwave direction) or steam in a steamer (8 minutes) to heat it up.

For Variation:
Brush with sesame oil and add minced scallion before rolling it up. This is very fragrant and can be eaten as it.

Chinese Peanut Soup Dessert (花生糊)

This is one of the desserts serving in the Chinese restaurants. I vaguely remember this dessert until I was served this while dining at a Chinese restaurant in Denver two years ago. Yeah, it was a while back as recently I have no luck in getting this as a free dessert anymore, usually it was either green bean with sago or red bean soup. In case you were wondering, few Chinese restaurants in Denver give free tea and dessert at dinner and free tea, soup and sometimes jelly/oranges for lunch. Not bad yeah?

That one time seem to be embedded deep in my memory as I couldn't forget this delectable dessert. I remembered I used to have this dessert at the wedding banquet in Malaysia ages ago. Not sure whether they still serve this as one of the wedding banquet desserts today or the more fancy kind? Anyway, because I wanted to eat it again so I have to make it. I just made a batch of toasted ground peanuts for my Vietnamese sauces earlier and kept it ready in the freezer. So, I thought I can used that to make my peanut soup. Thus, I made it my short cut way and it was really good, not too sweet, just nice. Of course if you like it sweeter just add more sugar to taste.

One big pot to serve for 3 days!

Ingredients: ~Serves 6-8

(A)
1 1/2 cup toasted ground peanuts (skinless)
1 oz. (about 25 small) dried Chinese red dates (pit less), soak in hot water until soft
2 cups water

(B)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
4 cups water

(C)
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. water
~Mix both together in a small bowl

Method:

1. In a blender, chop, mix, stir or puree (A) until smooth. My blender has chop, mix, stir functions and I had to use those to make a smooth paste.

2. In a cooking pan, add in mixture (A) and (B). Bring to a boil at medium heat. Keep whisking with a whisk. Turn off the fire, add (C) and keep whisking to thicken. Serve warm. Keep the leftover in the refrigerator and heat it up in the microwave to serve.

“Mala Hot Pot” (麻辣火鍋)

I received a packet of "Mala" (麻辣) paste from a friend from China. Frankly I never had "Mala" steamboat before, all I know was from watching the food show on Chinese TV. It is called "Mala" because it is made with Sichuan peppercorns which tends to give a numbing effect and lots of chili peppers which gave the hot/spicy effect. I precooked the paste in a big pot of water as the soup base for our hot pot/steamboat.

Getting the table ready for the steamboat of three adults and two kids. Yeah my non-traditional steamboat pot, whatever works right? ;-)

I just prepared some basic such as marinated chicken breasts, marinated pork slices, shrimps, fish fillets, napa cabbage and baby bok choy.

This side we have canned enoki mushrooms, canned button mushrooms, baby corns, cut regular tofu, tofu fish cake, fried fish balls, fish balls and bee hoon (noodle).

The “Mala Hot Pot” (麻辣火鍋) in action. When the "Mala" soup is boiling, just add the ingredients to cook. Let it boiled for few minutes before dishing it out to individual bowls to enjoy. Normally people eat a few rounds of this and chit-chat until late at night. My hubby and guest had Bailey and cold beer with their steamboat. I had lots of water because it was real spicy for me. Imagine whatever you took out from the pot coated with a layer of the numbing and extremely hot chili oil. You would probably scream for milk to cool it down instead of water. Haha... Oh, my kids had the chicken soup version if you are wondering.

The "Mala" (麻辣) soup base. The soup is really oily with a layer of chili oil and very hot/spicy! I prepared a big pot and we ended up having hot pot for two days in a row, with the leftover soup and leftover ingredients.

The Chili sauce that I made, but was too spicy to eat with the already spicy "Mala" soup. We only used the soup base to cook the ingredients, according to our Chinese friend, the soup is not supposed to be consumed, they only used it to cook the ingredients. First I heard of it because we Malaysian Chinese drink the soup, but not sure people drink the "Mala" soup or not because it's really hot. My hubby ate it anyway, but it was too spicy and oily for me.

The vinegar soy sauce that I liked. I added some thinly sliced gingers and it went well as dipping sauce.

Free flow of crispy fried shallots to add in the broth while cooking or in your own bowl.

In conclusion, “Mala Hot Pot” (麻辣火鍋) is really HOT/SPICY and oily. I actually dished out the layer of chili oil for our hot pot the next day. Without the layer of oil it was actually not bad at all, at least it was not that hot anymore. Next time I want to try the herbal soup base version.

Fried Rice with Asian Mustard Green (Gai Choy) and Shrimps

Once I discovered a veggie, I went crazy with it. If you are my avid reader, you should have noticed that a new veggie in my blog has surfaced. That's right, that's Asian mustard green or gai choy. I have been in love with this veggie and have been buying it and thus have been cooking it and thus the sprout of gai choy recipes in my blog. A dear reader of mine provided me with this great idea. She left in my comment that her mom used it to fry rice and the thought of fried rice with gai choy hasn't left my mind ever since. I could have tasted it in my mind how delicious it is going to be and determine to make my own.





My version of fried rice with gai choy and shrimps. It satisfied my craving for now. Hehe...

Ingredient:

2 big soup bowls of days old rice or cold rice
Large shrimps (how many up to you, I cut mine into small pieces)
2 eggs, beaten with soy sauce and crushed white pepper
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 big bowl of washed and cut Asian mustard green/gai choy (I cut mine into small pieces)
Cooking oil
Seasoning: Salt, light soy sauce, chicken stock granules and lastly sesame oil (add it in when you switched off the fire/heat).
Method:
1. Heat oil in wok, when heated, stir-fry beaten eggs until cooked. Dished out and set aside.
2. Heat oil in wok, when heated, add in garlic and the harder part of gai choy, fry well. Add in shrimps and bell pepper, stir-fry well. Lastly, add in the lefy part of gai choy and season with some salt. Then, add in the rice and stir well. Add in cooked eggs and continue stirring. Add in remaining seasoning and stir-fry well. Season to taste. The best fried rice is when you fried until the rice starts jumping from the wok, then it's done. But if you couldn't achieve that, that's okay too.

Stir-fried Flat Rice Noodle (kway teow/ hor fun) with Black Pepper Sauce

Bought some flat rice noodle (kway teow/ hor fun) and decided to cook something different with it. Instead of the usual Penang fried kway teow or the Chinese style beef hor fun, I wanted something unusual. Since I alway have a bottle of LKK black pepper sauce in my refrigerator, I thought the combination would be great. So, I stir-fried my first kway teow in black pepper sauce.

Ingredients:

1 packet of pre-sliced flat rice noodle (kway teow), separated
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 big bowl of baby bok choy, washed
1 small bowl of marinated pork slices
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
Oil for frying
Sauce (A):
3 Tbsp. Lee Kum Kee black pepper sauce
1/2 Tbsp. Dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up some oil. When heated, add in sliced pork and garlic. Fry until pork is no longer pink, add onion, bell pepper and bok choy. Stir-fry until veggies are cooked.

2. Add in flat rice noodle and sauce (A). Stir-fry well or until noodle is soft. Add a little water if needed. Do a taste test, add a little salt if you want it saltier. Dish out and serve hot.

I would love to share this dish with Presto Pasta Night . Presto Pasta Night was created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week host is Ruth herself at Once Upon a Feast. Please hop over on Friday to see the round up. Thanks!

Crunchy Chocolate Mint Cookie with Candy Cane

As I prefer crispy and crunchy cookies, I played around with the recipe again. This time I added the crushed candy cane into the cookie dough and baked it together. I liked this version better, it's hard and crunchy with the burst of mint each time you bite into it. Me and my girls loved it. Of course if you don't have any candy cane on hand, you can omit it. It is optional since pure peppermint extract is added. If you are brave enough to try this, feedback to me ya. :-)

This recipe yields 40 cookies. Look like Black Beauty isn't it?

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (113g), cut into 8 cubes (8 Tbsp.)

(A)

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder

1/2 cup powder sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

(B)

1/2 tsp. pure peppermint extract

1 Tbsp. milk

1/4 cup crushed candy canes

Method:

1. In a food processor/stand mixer, add (A). Pulse to mix.

2. Add (B) and cut butter cubes. Pulse until a dough is almost formed.

3. Take a piece of plastic wrap, pour dough on it and knead a couple of times until a dough is formed. Then, roll the dough into a long log shape. Wrap and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350'F. Unroll the plastic wrap and cut the cookie dough with a knife, about 3mm thick and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes.

5. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to cool completely on a wire rack. Store in air-tight container.

I am also submitting my recipe to the Original Recipe event hosted by Lore at Culinarty. Check out others' recipes around the week of 15th.