Water Chestnut Jelly

On the hot and sweaty days, kids would not reject any offering of Jelly. I used egg shells as the jelly mould. To make it much "cooling", I use sugar cane stock and add shredded water
chestnuts into it, to give extra texture.To add to the variety, fish and flower shape moulds are used to make the kids happier.Ingredient:

• 10 Water Chestnuts (peeled, finely shredded)


• 25g (1 pckt) Agar-agar Powder


• 2 Tbsp Water


• 50g Cane Sugar (optional)


• 1250ml Sugar Cane Stock

Method:

1. Add cane sugar into sugar cane stock. Bring to boil than simmer until sugar dissolved.


2. In a small bowl, mixed agar-agar powder with 2 Tbsps water. Stir until dissolved.


3. Pour agar-agar solution into sugar cane stock. Continue simmer for ~15 minutes.


4. Add shredded water chestnut. Stir well.


5. Turn off the heat and leave aside for ~ 10 minutes. Pour the jelly into moulds. Chill jelly in the refrigerator.

Points to highlight: As sugar cane is sweet, additional sugar might not be necessary. Use a stick (I used chopstick), to stir up the water chestnut shreds, prevent from sinking to the bottom of the mould, especially the egg shell.

Nyonya Style Stir-fried Sour Cucumber (Timun Su-in)

This is a dish my mother will prepare for Chinese New Year meal and a dish all family members looking forward to! We enjoy chewing the crunchy cucumber and carrot. The crunchiness is the effect of marinated in salt, sugar and vinegar before cooking, vegetables such as cucumber and carrot remains crunchy even after cooking! It is very appertizing to go with other "rich and heavy" meat dishes.
Traditionally, chicken liver and chicken gizzard are added to the dish. These chicken organs are common in the old days when housewife slaughter chicken at home, preparing for Chinese New Year prayer.
Ingredient:

• 1 (large) Cucumber


• 1 (small) Carrot


• 1 (small) Onion


• 2 (small) Chillies


• 2 (large) Chinese Black Mushrooms (optional)


• 2 Tbsp Cooking Oil


• 3 cloves of Garlic (chopped)


• Small Prawn (optional)


• Salt


• Sugar


• Vinegar


• Pepper


• 1 Tbsp Cornstarch


• 2 Tbsp Water (for cornstarch)

Method:

1. Cut all vegetables (cucumber, carrot, onion, chilli, mushroom) into desired shape.


2. First, marinate all vegetables with salt for 5-10 minutes, rinse off lightly. Second, marinate with sugar then vinegar. Retained both "marinate" sugar and vinegar for cooking.


3. Heat wok with oil and saute chopped garlic until fragranced.


4. Add prawn (optional) and stir lightly.


5. Pour in all vegetables with the "marinate" sugar and vinegar. Stir-fried with high heat for ~ 2 minutes.


6. Reduce to medium heat and add seasoning*.


7. Lastly, thicken with cornstarch. Serve hot.

*Points to highlight: Taste before seasoning is added, as additional seasoning may not required. This is a very quick and easy to prepare dish. Taste good even when it's cold!

Nuts & Seeds Crisps

I called it a perfect match with Pineapple Cookies. Not because of their appearance and taste, its the ingredient - egg white! In my Pineapple Cookies recipe, I used 3 "egg yolks" and with the remaining 3 "egg white" I used them for my popular Crisps! Normally, I would search for all the nuts and seeds which are available in my fridge/store, and the proportion I bake is depends on the amount of nuts and seeds that I have in hand.
Ingredient:

• 60g Brown/Caster Sugar


• 3 nos Egg White


• 40g Corn Oil


• 300g Mixed Nuts and Seeds
  
  Method:

1. Mix sugar and egg white with whisk until sugar is dissolved.


2. Add corn oil and mix well. Strain off bubbles.


3. Pour in all mixed nuts and seeds.


4. Chilled batter in the refrigerator for ~ 5 minutes.


5. Spoon batter onto baking tray. Use a fork to press out each piece to a thin layer.


6. Bake at preheated oven at 140 degree celcus for ~ 25 minutes or until is lightly golden brown. Cool on wire rack, store in airtight containers.

Points to highlight: I used white sesame, black sesame, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed and almond slice. Do not lined baking tray, as I find it is not easy to remove and transfer when its baked.

Pineapple Tart 黄梨饼

Pineapple Tart has became one of the popular Chinese New Year cookies in Malaysia besides the traditional kuih kapit (love letter), kuih bangkit (tapioca
starch coconut milk biscuits), and kuih ros/loyang (golden rose /honeycomb biscuit).
Due to the pronounciation of "pineapple 黄梨" in many Chinese dialects, sounds like "旺来 = 旺盛/旺运", meaning "coming fortune", it is consider very auspicious during the Chinese New Year celebration.
Home bakers love to bake some to share with friends - wishing good fortune coming continuously...
There are few shapes of Pineapple Tart, either wrapped pineapple jam completely with dough and garnished with clove or exposed pineapple jam at two ends while baking. I prefer the latter, as sugar in the jam would be caramelized further by exposing to the oven heat. It definately enhanced the flavor!

Kids waiting for tart...

Ingredient:

• 500g Butter


• 4Tbsp Condensed Milk


• 80g Icing Sugar


• 4nos Egg Yolk


• 1no Egg White


• 800g All Purpose Flour


• Extra Egg (to brush tart surface)


• ~1.25kg Pineapple Jam

Method:

1. Cream butter, condensed milk and icing sugar till pale in color.


2. Add egg yolk and white one at a time and mix well.


3. Gradually add flour into the mixture, and mix completely.


4. Press dough through mould. Wrap and roll with jam.


5. Brush tart surface with egg before bring to bake at 180 degree C.

Point to highlight: Shaped pineapple jam into individual ball before preparing the dough.

Spicy Prawn and Pineapple Curry

My family loves to eat pineapple in many ways - raw, make into jam and for cookies (pineapple tart), preserved, canned, or cooked. Pineapple as an exotic tropical fruit, is widely use in Nyonya cuisine, such as the ever popular Nyonya Acar. We like its natural sweet & sour taste, juicy when it is bite, and high in fibre.
Both prawn and pineapple provide natural sweetness of seafood and fruit respectively when its cooked. This is not very spicy & hot curry, though it looked so. The spices make it very fragranced yet the original taste of prawn and pineapple is retained.
Ingredient:

• 70g Dried Chillies (seed removed)/200g Fresh Chillies


• 250g Shallot (peeled)


• 2 Stalks Lemongrass


• 1 Tbsp Turmeric Powder


• 500g Large Prawn (shell trimmed)


• 1/2 Ripe Pineapple (cut into desired shape)


• 1 cup Oil


• 100g Tamarind Pulp


• 2 cups Water (for tamarind juice)


• Salt & Sugar (to taste)

Method:

1. Blend or pound chillies, shallot, and lemongrass together. Add turmeric powder.


2. Heat up oil, sauté curry paste at medium heat until lightly brown and fragrant.


3. Add prawn and stir until coasted well with curry paste.


4. Then pour in tamarind juice and cooked until boiled.


5. Lastly, add pineapple, salt and sugar to taste.


6. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Point to highlight: It tastes better to cook prawn with shell, it gives extra taste, especially the prawn head.