Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and Simple and Easy Red Bean Paste Snow Skin Mooncake

First of all, to all Chinese, HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL and happy family reunion.  

Today is Mid-autumn festival but I had already celebrated it yesterday as it was a Sunday and it was also my eldest girl's birthday.  So, to make things easier and convenient for everyone, we had a double celebration yesterday.

   For my darling girl's birthday, I baked Canadian Lemon Pound Cake  (<-- click  here for the recipe) for her.

In fact it was my first time baking a birthday cake for my girl.  In order to give her a surprise, I baked it when she was away for her ballet lesson.  By the time she arrived home, the cake was ready and of course, she was thrilled to see her first home baked birthday cake from her mum!!

Not only that, I had also made my first snow skin mooncake when the lady boss of the bakery supplier shop taught me how to do it.  So, with her ready recipe, I gave this a try, and I am glad I did it! Never know it's so easy to make snow skin mooncake.  

Ingredients for snow skin :  (I made 16 minis and 2 big snow skin mooncakes)

- 100gm kaofen (sifted)

- 80gm icing sugar (sifted)

- 30gm shortening

- 150ml iced water

Filling :

- 500gm red bean paste (store bought)

(divide into 16 portions of 25gm each and 2 portions of 50gm each.  Shape into balls)

Method :

1)  Mix kaofen, icing sugar and shortening until well combined.

2)  Add iced water and use a spatula to combine the mixture until dough is formed.

3)  Divide dough into 16 portions of 15gm each (for minis mooncakes) and 2 portions of 30gm each of dough (for big mooncakes).

4)  Flatten each dough with rolling pin and wrap it around 1 piece of filling.

5)  Lightly dust the ball of dough with kaofen and press the ball into a mooncake mould.  Press out.

6)  Keep mooncakes in an air-tight container and chill in the fridge before serving.

Happy Mooncake Festival and Have a wonderful Family Reunion :)

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Stewed Pork Belly with Fried Tofu

Whenever my late dad wanted to have plain porridge, he would ask mum to cook pork belly with tofu and with added dark caramel sauce.  Besides him, practically we have grown up eating this dish since my grandparents' era!  I still remember back in my kampung/hometown in Ayer Tawar, our neighbours used to cook this dish and most of them would have it with porridge too.  Are you curious how we eat it with porridge?  I do not know about the others, but back in my kampung, my family and neighbours would mix the thick gravy tofu into their piping hot porridge.  Then, we would use a spoon or chopsticks to break/cut the tofu into small pieces, mix it with porridge, then, 1 spoon of porridge into the mouth, slurrpppp.... followed by a piece of the pork belly... close your eyes, ehmmmm..... so yummy.  Back then, in the 1970s, this is considered quite a luxurious meal for kampung folks in Ayer Tawar where majority of them were rubber tappers.  However, nowadays it's just a common dish and everyone knows how to cook it.  In fact my children like too.

This time I didn't eat it with porridge but with steamed rice.  Then, I noticed that my children mixed the pieces of tofu and gravy into their rice.  It's indeed very delish.....

Ingredients :

- 1 strip of pork belly (blanched and cut)

- 5 pcs hard tofu (cut into four, slightly fried until golden brown)

- 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste/tau cheong (for frying)

- 1 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste/tau cheong (to taste)

- 1 bulb of garlic (finely chopped)

- 1 star anise

- 1 cinnamon stick

- water (enough for stewing)

Seasonings : (to taste)

- a dash of salt

- 2 tbsp light soy sauce

- 3 tbsp caramel sauce (reduce the amount if you don't like your dish to be in dark colour)

- 1 tsp sugar

Method :

1)  Heat some oil in a wok and pan fry the tofu until slightly brown. (You can deep fry until golden brown if you like but I prefer it to be pan fried).

2)  Push the tofu to the side of the wok.  Saute garlic, star anise, cinnamon stick and 1/2 tbsp of fermented soy bean paste until aromatic.

 3)  Add pork belly and tofu. Stir fry for a while and mix well.

4)  Add water, the remaining fermented bean paste and caramel sauce. Mix well. Cover and let it boil over high heat for about 5 minutes. Then, lower the heat and let it simmer until the gravy is thickened and/or the meat is cooked and tender. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the fire and pot/wok used. Add water if you want more gravy.

5)  Lastly, add in the remaining seasonings and bring it to a boil again for 1 or 2 minutes.  

6)  Dish up and serve with plain porridge or steamed rice.

The tofu is very flavourful as it's being stewed together with the meat.

No doubt this is a very simple and common dish, my family members have fond memory of this dish as it reminds us of our beloved dad ~

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest Perak month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for Two….or more

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Sitiawan Fuzhou Egg Noodles (Long Yan 蛋燕)

Has anyone tried Fuzhou egg noodles which is also called Fuzhou flat flour noodles (pan mien) from Ayer Tawar or Sitiawan in Perak? This is a traditional dish especially for folks in my hometown, Ayer Tawar.  My family members love this.  I remember the very first time when I cooked this for my own family (that was few years back), my girls and hubby love it so much. 

The batter can be varied according to your preference. I have seen others added rice flour and 5 to 6 eggs for the batter. I have tried the batter with added rice flour and 3 eggs but I just don't like the texture. Later, I got this recipe from a childhood friend and I just followed the measurement she gave me. Eh... I like it. Since then, I stick to this recipe. You can be flexible with the batter depending on your taste.

PART I :

Ingredients for Egg Noodles (batter) :

- 500g tapioca flour

- 190g plain flour 

- 710ml water

- 1 egg (add extra eggs if you want it to be more springy)

(if you do not like to add any egg, the water should be 750ml.  1 egg->reduce 40ml water)

 Method :

1)  Put all the batter ingredients into a big bowl.  Stir and mix well until the batter is smooth.

2)  Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan or wok.  Pour 1 ladle of batter into the wok and fry until both sides are cooked.  Repeat the whole process for the remaining batter.

3) It's not necessary to add oil to the pan anymore as the pancake will not stick to the pan or if you are using non-stick pan.  I used AMC pan and I only used 2 times of oil for the whole batch process.

4)  Roll the pancake individually and use scissors to cut it.  Place the freshly cut egg noodles into a serving bowl and add your choice of soup into it.

5)  The balance of egg noodles can be stored in the fridge or frozen for future use.  However, for refrigerated egg noodles, you need to add it into the soup to be cooked for a while before serving.

PART II : (you can use any of your preferred soup but I prefer anchovies/ikan bilis stock)

Ingredients for soup : (individual's preferences)

- prawns (shelled and marinated with salt)

- fish balls

- shredded mushrooms

- shredded black fungus/woodear

- shredded chicken meat (I used leftover from the previous evening doubled boiled ginseng chicken soup; just want to be thrifty, hehehe)

- fresh vegetables 

- anchovies/ikan bilis stock

- some chopped garlic

- cooking oil

Seasonings : (to taste)

- salt

- soy sauce

- a dash of pepper

Method :

1)  Heat oil in a wok or pot and saute garlic until fragrant.  Add all the ingredients except fish balls and vegetables.  Stir fry until aromatic and add anchovies stock.

2)  Cover and bring it to a boil.

3)  Add fish balls and vegetables and cook until vegetables and fish balls are cooked.

4)  Add seasonings and ladle the soup into a serving bowl filled with freshly cut egg noodles.

Make extra pancakes/egg noodles and refrigerate it.  You can have it anytime even for breakfast.

Isn't this homemade noodles anytime healthier than the commercial instant noodles???

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest Perak month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for Two….or more

I am also submitting this to the Little Thumbs Up "Egg" event organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

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Mixed Vegetables with Fried Duck Eggs Soup

I grew up eating this Mixed Vegetables with Fried Duck Eggs Soup.  I still remember whenever mum cooked this soup, she would make sure to cook extra fried duck eggs. Know why?  There are 8 children in my family and if mum didn't cook enough deep fried eggs, we would be fighting for the eggs!!  Imagine, most of us could eat 2 or more of these fried duck eggs.  We just loved it.  Even now I have a family of my own, my children also love these eggs, and ME too.  Hubby so so only :)  Those days, we enjoyed cracking and shelling the hard boiled eggs and most of the time, mum cooked about 20 eggs or more at a time!! 

It has been quite some time I didn't cook this traditional soup until I saw the recipe in Yum Yum (52) pg 27 and this reminds me to cook for my family again.  

In my family, this traditional dish is usually cooked during any Chinese festivals.  As far as I know,  the Foo Chows of Sitiawan and Ayer Tawar, Perak cook this whenever there is a family member leaving home for studies or to start a new job.  It symbolizes smooth sailing in whatever they do and  all's well that ends well. Well, is there any one who can give me a better or accurate understanding of this traditional dish?  I may be wrong too.

Ingredients : (My version in red)

- 4 hard boiled duck eggs (shelled)

- 1/2 cup black fungus (soaked and cut into small pieces)

- 1/2 cup white fungus ( soaked and cut into small pieces)

- 2 dried mushrooms (soaked and shredded)

- 1/2 carrot (shredded)

- 1 bowl  cabbage (shredded)

- 1 bowl long cabbage (shredded)

- 1/2 tbsp tung choy (preserved vegetable)

- 2 thumbsized ginger (crushed)

- 3 cloves garlic (chopped)

- enough water for the soup (I used anchovies/ikan bilis stock)

- oil for frying

Seasonings :

- salt

- sugar

- pepper

-sesame oil

Method :

1)  Heat up enough oil.  Fry duck eggs until golden brown.  Dish up and set aside.

2)  Leave some oil in the wok.  Saute chopped garlic, ginger and tung choy until fragrant.  

3)  Add all the remaining ingredients except the cabbages and the fried eggs.  Stir until fragrant.

4)  Then, add the 2 types of cabbages.  Stir fry and mix well.

5)  Add ikan bilis stock/enough water depending on your preferences.  If you like soup, you can add more water.

6)  Bring to boil and lower the heat.  Simmer until the vegetables is cooked (about 10 to 15 minutes).

7)  Add in seasonings and add the fried eggs. Cover and let it simmer for a further 5 minutes.

8)  Dish out and serve.

Has anyone tried this soup before?

With this traditional dish, I wish everyone a smooth sailing in whatever you do!

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest Perak month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for Two….or more

I am also submitting this to the Little Thumbs Up "Egg" event organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

and this post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

To receive new updates, do LIKE me on FACEBOOK. Thanks!

http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/6015563 Follow this blog with bloglovin Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me comments.. I really appreciate all your visits and comments! Have a nice day :)