Beet Cake

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice is one of my favourite. When home in Penang, it serves as an afternoon lunch. I always return to the same favourite stalls for chicken rice. It's always the soft chicken meat, and springy chicken skin with the flavourful chicken rice topped with appetising dipping sauce that makes one return for more.

Living in London, it's not easy to find this dish. A friend made it one day and shared her tips on cooking. After tasting it, it's made me look up some recipes online for inspiration.

The recipe captured below might look lengthy and challenging, however it's rather easy once you get the procedure right. I'd definitely recommend an attempt as you can achieve a wholesome meal derived from one whole chicken!

Chicken

Ingredients:
• 1 whole corn fed chicken - given good scrub with generous amount of sea salt
• 1 inch ginger sliced into thins
3-4 springs of spring onion chopped into 3 or 4 sections
• Salt for seasoning
• 1 full stock pot of water
• 1 stock pot of ice bath

Method:
• Bring the full stock pot of water to boil.
• Prepare chicken by giving it a good spa treatment of rigorous salt scrubbing. If required, scrub several times, rinse away peeling skin and scrub again to achieve taut gleaming skin.
• Season chicken inside out and stuff it with ginger and spring onions.
• Slowly immerse whole chicken in boiling water, let it bring to boil again then immediately turn heat low enough to simmer throughout cooking time (approximately 2hours).
• As the chicken simmers in the stock pot, gradually sift / ladle out the scummy residue that surface.
• There are two ways one could use to determine when the chicken is done - a) use a cooking termometer to measure the temperature is 76 degree celsius (170 farenheit) at the thickest part of the chicken (in between the thighs not touching bones); b) reaching 2hours cooking time and a little beyond making sure it's at such a slow simmer that bubbles merely break through the surface.
• Carefully bring chicken out from stock pot, immerse fully into ice bath to stop cooking process and tightens chicken skin. This is key to getting the best skin texture for Hainanese Chicken Rice!
• Bring chicken out from ice bath, set aside.
• Keep remainder chicken stock in stock pot for use in making the rice, beansprouts, and soup for serving with the dish.
• When all other preparation is complete, just before serving, start chopping up or boning the chicken into nicely proportioned bite size slices onto serving dish.

Rice

Ingredients:
• 3 cups rice, washed and drained, set aside
• 2 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
• Chicken stock from poaching chicken
• 3-4 Pandan leaves, washed, divided and knotted
• Garlic minced - approximate amount based on cups of rice to cook
• Ginger minced - approximate amount based on cups of rice to cook

Method - with rice cooker:
• Heat up cooking oil in wok at medium-high heat, gently fry ginger and garlic until fragrant, but not burning it.
• Add rice, stir to mix thoroughly, cook for 2 mins.
• Ladle chicken stock into rice cooker, scoop up rice from wok, add sesame seed oil and pandan leaves then turn rice cooker on to cook.
• The frying step is meant to bring more flavour to the rice. It is also fine to skip the frying step if time is limited.

Learn how to cook rice over the stove here.


Whilst the rice is cooking, start preparing the dipping sauces, blanch beansprouts, and carve the chicken.

Dipping Sauces

Penang Inspired Chilli Sauce - Ingredients:
• 1 inch ginger roughly chopped up
• 3-4 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 lemon grass, cut into small sections
• 1 red chilli, desseeded and roughly chopped
• 2-3 birds eye chilli, roughly chopped
• 2-3 lime juice (1 whole lemon juice can be used as a substitute if desperate)
• Sugar and salt to season

Method:
• Put ginger, garlic, lemon grass, chillies, lime juice all into a blender. Give it a quick blend once or twice, just enough to shred up the ingredients, but not overly processed.
• Pour chilli mix out into sauce dipping bowl, add sugar and salt to season.

Dark Soya Sauce Dip - Ingredients:
• 2-3 birds eye chilli, roughly chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic peeled and minced
• Desired amount of sweet dark soya sauce or just enough to cover the chilli and garlic mix

Method:
• Add chillies and garlic into sauce dipping bowl, top it up with sweet dark soya sauce.

Blanched Beansprouts

Ingredients:
• 1 packet of beansprouts, washed and drained
• 2-3 sprigs spring onion chopped into small chunks
• 1-2 ladles of stock from poaching chicken
• Medium pot of water bring to boil
• A few dashes of soya sauce and sesame seed oil to season

Method:
• Gauging when rice is just about ready, in a medium pot bring water to the boil.
• Add beansprouts into water and bring to the boil again.
• Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until beansprouts turn slightly translucent, yet still crunchy to the bite.
• Turn off the heat and dish out beansprouts into serving dish.
• Ladle over the chicken stock, season with soya sauce and sesame oil.
• Garnish with spring onion and serve.

If served as a buffet style dish, you can very well have all chicken in one big dish. If serving individually, below is a suggested method. Hope you have fun with this!

Leek Potato and Carrot Soup

I remember a while back when working in Hong Kong, a French colleague who was feeling under the weather craved some homestyle comforting soup. So the natural instinct was to offer the kitchen to her dispose since she was an intern who was living in a hotel room with no kitchen!

From that I learnt a most easy yet healthy and comforting soup ever - the leek, potato and carrot soup!

Ingredients:
• 2 big bowls of water
• 1 leek (washed and chopped into squares)
• 6-8 small / medium potatoes (peeled and chopped up into easy to cook chunks)
• 3-4 medium carrots (peeled and chopped up like potatoes)
• grated cheese (you can choose to ready grated or grate from your favourite block)

Method:
• Bring water to boil
• Add potatoes and carrots, 5 mins later the leek
• Bring to boil once again
• Let boil until potatoes and carrots are soft
• At this point you can choose to sift out some of the stock and keep it aside, leaving just enough stock to give right consistency for your soup
• Using an electric hand blender, blend till the vegetables are well mixed or if you prefer chunky bits in your soup then less blending is required. If you do not own an electric hand blender, do not fret, you can sift all the vegetable stock out leaving just the bits in there and using a hand mesher and elbow grease mash all vegetables until smooth
• Bring pot back to the hob on low heat
• Now if your soup looks too thick, using the saved up stock, add in once again and stir well, add more until the correct consistency of your liking is achieved. If you had sifted out all the soup stock, this is the time to reintroduce your soup stock back to the blended bits and mix well
• Before serving dress your soup with cheese and black pepper and some chopped parsley

Recipe serves 2

Tomato & Ham Cheese Melt Toastie

It's been too long a silence on any food post that I feel guilty. So here's a simple recipe I hope that would quench the thirst for some breakfast or afternoon snack ideas.

Ingredients:
• Bread - depending personal preference degree of munchieness; decide on what type of bread and how many slices
• Tomatoes - enough to cover the bread sliced
• Ham - one slice ham per slice of bread
• Cheese - can be your favourite ready sliced cheese or grated from blocks

Method:
• Warm the grill
• Toast the bread
• When bread is ready, arrange tomatoes on top of ham, then cover with cheese
• Stick it under the grill for approximately 5mins or until the cheese turn golden brown (careful not to burn the cheese)

Autumn Lamb Stew

This is a recipe found online from the Timesonline website. I think Autumn is the time of year for stews and soups. I like making stews as once the cooking is done, you just leave it to simmer and you can get on with other tasks at home. It makes time for being productive, and at the end of it, you still get a lovely tasting meal!

Ingredients:
• 1.5kg lamb shoulder or leg, boned, and cut into 3cm cubes
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, halved and finely sliced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 celery stalks, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 200ml red wine
• 500g celeriac, peeled and diced into 3cm cubes
• 2tbsp tomato purée
• 400g canned chopped tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper
• 500ml water or stock
• 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Method:
• Heat oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Toss diced up meat in the flour.
• Heat butter and 2 tbsp oil in a heatproof casserole dish or deep pan and brown the meat in batches.
• Remove the meat, add the remaining oil and cook the onion, carrots, celery and garlic for 5 minutes.
• Add the red wine and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Return the lamb to the pan.
• Add the celeriac, tomato purée, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and the water or stock, and bring to the boil, stirring.
• If using caserole dish with lid, cover tightly. If using deep pan, transfer contents into an oven proof dish with a lid or alternatively using aluminium foil to cover tightly. Bake in the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes.
• Scatter with parsley and serve.

Leon Gobi

One of my favourite curry found at a health food chain in London is the Leon Gobi. This simple vegetarian curry is full of flavour, and the texture is nevertheless not lacking interesting crunch in between the soft cauliflower and sweet potato mouthfuls. It's just heart warming on a chilly winter's day...

Full recipe can be found on the Guardian website.

Apple and Pork Stew

Autumn arrives and the apple tree in the garden bears beautiful fruits. It's so pleasant to be able to pick apples from the tree to make food of them!

The neighbour's children actually had a nice afternoon gathering sacks full of apples for the autumn. Just love it!

We started with the usual favourite apple cake recipe, then experimented with some apple crumble, and couldn't think of what next... and a neighbour suggested cooking in stews!

At first it sounded a little bit of a strange mix, but having Googled up recipes, 'Apple & Pork Stew' seems quite a popular. Here's an adapted recipe after trying two rounds of stews. It's heart warming especially as the chill sets in and the days grow shorter.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 apples, skinned, cored and quartered
• 500g pork shoulder, diced into bite sized chunks
• 1.5 tbsp oil
• 1 red onion, skinned and chopped
• 2-3 carrots, diced into squares
• 3-4 potatoes, skinned and chopped into squares (if using baby potatoes, just rinse and cut into halves or quarter)
• 1-2 stalks celery (optional if short of other vegetables)
• ½ tsp allspice
• 1 leaf fresh or dried sage
• 1 tsp mustard (optional
• season with salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat oil in stock pot over medium to high heat.
• Add pork shoulders and brown on all sides, turning as needed, for approximately 5 minutes.
• Transfer pork to a dish, season with salt and pepper.
• Add onions, carrots, potatoes, celery and apples to pot and cook. Stirring constantly until onions begin to brown, for approximately 5-6 minutes. (optional: mustard can be added in before the next step)
• Return pork shoulders into the pot, add allspice and sage to pot, then pour water enough to cover the contents in pot and bring to a quick boil.
• Turn heat low to simmering speed, scraping up brown bits on bottom and sides of pot.
• Cover and simmer until pork is tender, couple of hours or longer. (optional: if a slow-cooker is at hand, you can use a slow-cooker instead.)

The measurements above will cook enough for 4 portions. The stew is great to serve with fresh crisps bread or rice.

Apple Crumble

This is quite easy to make. If you don't try it, you'll never know... honestly, try it, it's lovely!

Ingredients:
Apple mix

• 6-7 apples
• 6tbsp brown sugar
• 75g raisins
• 1½ tsp cinnamon

Crumble
• 150g butter at room temperature
• 260g flour
• 150g brown sugar
• 1cup of rolled oats (optional) OR
• 150g of roughly chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200° celsius
• Butter the sides of 1-2inch deep oven proof dish
Apple mix

• Rinse raisins in hot water and let soak for a while before draining and set aside.
• Peel, core and quarter apples into bite size chunks.
• Mix well with sugar, cinnamon and raisins.
• Pour into buttered oven proof dish.

Crumble

• Put flour in a deep mixing bowl
• Dice butter and start rubbing together with flour until the mixture has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Mix in rolled oats and mix roughly.
• Sprinkle crumble mix over the top of the apple and spread evenly.
• Lastly sprinkle over chopped nuts if using them.



• Bake in the middle shelf for approximately 30minutes or until golden brown.
• Serve warm with custard or vanilla ice cream.

Jiao Zi (饺子)

This is a special post for my cousin Kristie who is living on Cayman Islands. We were online chatting about food, and I was describing what we were planning to have on this Winter Solstice evening. She requested for the recipe, so here it is!

The recipe below has been adapted from a well cherished recipe from my mother. It's developed from the basic meat seasoning recipe. The seasoned meat is very versatile. It can be used as meatballs in simple soups for noodles, or steamed as a dish to go with rice, and as below used for Jiao Zi wrapping!

I've included an extended list of ingredients as you will see. Excluding the optional ingredients will still give you a basic seasoned mince not lacking in taste.

Makes approximately 40 dumplings.
Ingredients:

1. 500g fresh ground pork
2. 1 egg
3. 1 tsp salt
4. 1 tsp sugar
5. 1 tbsp sesame seed oil
6. 1/2 tsp pepper
7. 3 tsp cornstarch
8. 3 spring onions thinly chopped (optional)
9. 6 water chestnuts chunky chopped (optional)
10. 200g shrimps roughly chopped (optional)
11. 2 packets (200g per pack) of Jiao Zi pastry

Method:

1. In a deep bowl or plastic container with lid, season ground pork with salt, sugar, pepper, sesame seed oil and egg. Mix thoroughly, then add cornstarch and mix until cornstarch is well disolved into meat. If in a bowl, use cling wrap to cover bowl, otherwise just pop the lid on the plastic container and chill prepared mince in the fridge.



2. This can be prepared 1 day ahead. If preparing on the same day, allow at least 30mins chilling time.
3. Whilst chilling meat, chop up the shrimps, spring onions and water chestnuts. Put aside in separate containers.
4. Bring out chilled mince from fridge. Add shrimps, spring onions, and water chestnuts into mince and mix well.



5. Now the wrapping of Jiao Zi begins... Taking one Jiao Zi wrap on one hand, using another scoop up a spoonful of mince and lay it in the centre of the Jiao Zi wrap.




6. Use some cornstarch in water to mix up a light solution that can help the sealing of the sides. Apply the cornstarch solution to the sides, then lightly fold it over into half, slowly sealing and lightly stretching the sealed wrapped edges.






7. When you're almost complete with wrapping, start a pot of hot water to boil. Add a dash of oil just before putting the Jiao Zi into the boiling water to prevent them from sticking together. Cook for approximately 10minutes, but usually when they float to the surface, it indicates that it's cooked.



8. The presentation and serving can vary depending on individual taste. You can serve it in a special soup; or serve it dry with special sauces (sweet & sour chilli sauce, garlic chilli sauce, sliced ginger in vinegar & soya sauce). If you're a Jiao Zi fan, you will know there are many ways to savour this dish. My favourite is the ginger in vinegar & soya sauce.

Here I share with you an article (in Chinese) with a short history of the Winter Solstice (冬至節). It gives you a short background to the significance of the Winter Solstice in Chinese culture. Hope you enjoy the Jiao Zi with this article!

Piparkakut (Ginger Cookies)

Christmas is coming. 3days and counting down!

Today happens to be the Winter Solstice '冬至', a rather significant day for the Chinese. On one hand, we have traditional Chinese Winter Solstice celebration food like Jiao Zhi　'饺子', and Tang Yuan　'汤圆'; on the other we're preparing Christmas food.

This recipe is adapted from the Finnish Christmas table recipe site. I've halved the portion as the original makes about 200 cookies!

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes per batch
Oven Temperature: 200 degrees celsius

Ingredients:

1. 150 g Unsalted Butter or Margarine
2. 150 g Brown Sugar
3. 1.5 Eggs
4. 175 g (1/2 cup) of Dark Syrup (I've improvised by using Golden Syrup)
5. 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
6. 1 tsp Ground Ginger
7. 1 tsp Ground Cloves
8. 1/2 tbsp Grated Orange Rind
9. 3.5 cups White Flour
10. 1.5 tsp Baking Soda (Alternatively you can use Baking Powder - 1 tsp for 1 cup of flour)

Method:

1. Boil the syrup and spices in a pan, add the margarine and beat until the mixture is cool.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar until thoroughly mixed.
3. Mix the baking soda in with part of the flour, then combine with the spiced margarine syrup. Add whipped eggs and the rest of the flour and fold in until well mixed. Do not knead the final mixture.
4. Cover the dough with cling wrap and leave overnight in a cool place (in the chiller/ fridge).
5. Next day, roll out the dough, cut up into shapes and bake the cookies in the oven until golden brown.

Double-Cooked Pork in Dark Soya Sauce

Ingredients

• 350g Pork belly (cut into cubes)
• 2 pcs Star anise
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 4 tbsp Dark-soya sauce (make sure it's the really thick type of dark soya sauce sold in Malaysian grocery stores, not the watery dark soya sauce found in Hong Kong)
• 2 tbsp Light soya sauce
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Five-spice powder
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 tsp Cooking oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Eggs (hard-boiled, peeled) - optional

Method

1. Rub salt and five-spice powder onto the pork belly cubes. Then add dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, sugar and pepper and mix well. Leave to marinate for at least a few hours or overnight.
   


2. In a pot, brown garlic in cooking oil. Then add star anise and cinnamon stick. Fry until fragrant.
3. Add in the marinated pork belly and fry until the meat is partially cooked. Then add water.
4. Add dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, sugar and pepper as needed to suit taste.
   


5. Leave to simmer on low heat for about 20-30 minutes or until the meat is cooked.
6. Transfer the meat and sauce into slow cooker and leave to cook for approx. 6 hours.
7. Add the hard-boiled eggs into slow cooker just half an hour before serving. (Cooking for too long will make the eggs too hard to eat)
   

* Serves 4

Tips

1. The tenderness of the meat is very much dependant on the cooking time. Cooking the meat for too long/not long enough will make the meat tough.
2. Cheat trick: If you're too busy to marinate the meat overnight nor cook the meat for 6 hours, try rubbing the meat with 1.5 tbsp cornflour which acts as a natural tenderizer for meat. Then add all the other marinade ingredients and marinate for at least half an hour before cooking; the longer the better. Cook meat for about an hour or more and serve.

Cooking Tips

1. Avoid Sticky Rice

A. Wash the rice a few times until the water runs clear. Remove all the water until no water remains. Let it sit for 20 minutes. This will remove all the starch and help the rice to remain separate.

B. Also adding a few drops of lemon juice to the rice while cooking, you will find that the grains of rice will tend to remain separate.

2. For Crispier Puris Add a teaspoon of Semolina / Rava and 1 teaspoon of Rice flour to the wheat flour while kneading.

3. Quick Tomato Paste Cubes : Spoon tomato paste into ice cube trays. Freeze overnight. Transfer into plastic bags and freeze. Frozen cubes can be dropped right into curries.

4. Eggplants Retaining Color : When cooking eggplant add a spoon of milk to a bowl of water and add the cut up pieces to that water. The eggplant will retain their color without becoming black.

5. Remedy for Salty Curry : Wash a potato. Cut into two. Place a the two halves of the raw potato in the curry and it will absorb the extra salt.

6. Ready To Use Masalas Indian cooking requires a lot of pre-preparation. Make wet and or dry the masalas ahead of time making extra portions. Divide the masala into the desired portions according to the recipe. Place the portions in Ziploc Freezer bags and freeze till the next time. A great time saver....for next time you make the same recipe !

7. How to cut an onion without crying ? Indian food requires a lot of onions sometimes. Use sweet onions. Peeling and cutting under running water, chopping near a gas flame, and refrigerating onions before chopping, all methods for reducing the volatility of the sulfide that causes the irritation.

8. Alternative to Fresh Coconut Ever try to break open a fresh coconut for making Indian chutney? Well, here is a great alternative. Out here in the US look for UNSWEETENED dry grated coconut. Make sure it is not the sweet kind. Add just enough water so that the coconut is covered with water. Use as directed in the recipe instead of freshly grated coconut. Making chutneys will be a breeze.

9. Using Kitchen Scissors Most Indian dishes require the use of freshly chopped coriander leaves as a garnish. Use the scissors to chop fresh mint, chilies and coriander finely and without any mess.

10. Buying Lemons and Lime Buy large lemons and limes, they tend to be much sweeter. Make sure that the skin is thin, those are much juicer. To obtain more of the juice from lemons, limes or oranges, microwave on high for 30 seconds and then let stand for a couple of minutes before cutting and squeezing. Rolling them between your hand and the counter will also help release more juice.

11. Skinning a Chicken with Ease Have you tried skinning a chicken? Well, always peel off a little part of the skin to start with and hold it tightly with a paper towel. The skin latches on to the paper towel and skinning the chicken...even the tough skin on the chicken legs becomes a breeze ! Try it.

12. Overripe Tomatoes Dip them in cold water, add some salt and leave overnight. They will be fresh and firm to the touch the next day.

13. Trying New Recipes Remember....Try ONE NEW recipe at a time. Get all your ingredients together. Check the spices for freshness. Lay the spices and ingredients out in the order that they are to be used. Make a plan and get started with ONE easy recipe. Most of all make sure you have the time to make the recipe. Do not try something new at a "rushed time".

14. Tips for Making Dosa : To ensure that the griddle (tawa) is hot enough before spreading dosa, sprinkle a little water over it. If it sizzles immediately, then the griddle is hot enough. Wipe with a clean rag or half a raw onion and proceed.

15. Tip for making soft chappati dough. While making paneer from milk, don't throw away the paneer water. This nutritious water can be used for making soft dough for chapatis or can be used to cook dals.

16. Retaining the "whiteness" of white rice : While cooking rice add a few drops of lemon juice. The color of the grains become bright white.

17. Reheating left-over Rice : Refrigerate leftover cooked rice in a well-sealed container. Reheat cold rice with a sprinkling of water in a microwave oven or in a covered pot over low heat. Left over rice is great to have on hand for stirring into soups and broths and for making fried rice — it's perhaps the world's best vehicle for turning leftovers into something fresh and new.

18. Peeling a whole Garlic : To peel garlic, place your knife flat on the garlic clove and whack with your other hand. The covering will burst open and the clove can be easily removed.

19. Peeling or scraping Ginger : Peeling or scraping ginger with the back of spoon is an easy way to peel ginger. Scrape the ginger with the inside of a spoon, getting the edge of the spoon into the crevices of the ginger. The skin will come off with a gentle scrape.

20. Dicing Onions : The best way to avoid crying when dicing an onion is to use a very sharp knife and to move as quickly as safety permits.

A. Cut off the end of the onion end with the small roots sticking out.

B. Cut it into half lengthwise, so that the end that is still together is cut into half.

C. Now remove the skin and may be one of the layers to clean the onion.

D. Holding your knife parallel to the cutting surface slice the onion parallel to the cutting surface so that you are making slices that are 1/4 inch from each other. Remember to never make a cut that would break through the end of the onion. The onion will come apart if you slice through the bottom end. Remember to never make a cut that would break through the end of the onion. The onion will come apart if you slice through the bottom end.

E. Turn the onion. Make lengthwise slices remembering not to cut all the way to the end . The onion will still be in one piece and look like half an onion.

F. Turn the onion and chop the onion all the way to the back of the part that is still together.

G. You will have perfect small dices of onion.

H. Now chop the other part of the onion the same way.

Finely chopped onion is a very important ingredient for many Indian curies.

21. Avoiding over-spilling milk when boiling : Before pouring milk into a pot for boiling rub butter along the top edge and inside lip of the pot. When the milk foams up, it will stop over spilling when it hits the butter.

22. Removing the garlic skins : Use 'Jar Openers'- round flat pieces of rubber. Put the clove of garlic in the center of the jar opener and fold it in half over the garlic. Then press down with your hand while rolling it back and forth over the garlic.

23. Instead of Onion : If anyone does not like or want the strong taste of onion, you can use cabbage in the recipe for the same taste and good recipe.

Cream Puffs

Custard:
3 egg yolks
3 tbsp custard powder
60g sugar
600ml milk

Choux pastry:
250ml water
125g unsalted butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
150g plain flour, sifted
4 eggs (medium size)
1 egg white

Method:

1. Make custard. Whisk egg yolks, custard powder and sugar together with 2 tablespoons of milk.
2. Heat remaining milk until very hot, then gradually whisk into egg yolk mixture.
3. Pour mixture back into pot and continue whisking over medium heat until custard boils and thickens.
4. Cook 1 minute more, then pour into a bowl and allow to cool completely.
5. Make pastry. Bring water, butter, sugar and salt to a full boil in a tightly-covered pot over medium heat.
6. Pour all the flour in at once.
7. Reduce heat to low and beat with a large wooden spoon; dough will form a ball.
8. Cook for 2 minutes, beating constantly.
9. Scrape dough into a mixing bowl and beat for 2 more minutes. Beat in eggs one by one, then egg white; don't worry if dough looks uneven, keep beating and it will smoothen out.
10. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Line baking sheets with well-greased foil.
11. Pipe or spoon choux pastry into small mounds, about 1 tablespoon each, spaced at least 3cm apart.
12. Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 180 degrees C and bake for 15 minutes.
13. Remove puffs from oven, cut a small slit in each with a knife, and return to oven.
14. Bake 10-15 minutes more. Transfer puffs to a rack and let cool in front of a fan.
15. Once cooled, halve each puff and fill with custard. Serve immediately.

Oat Prawns

Ingredients

• 15 large prawns
• Half-cup oats
• A handful of curry leaves
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 red chillies (chopped)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method

1. Sprinkle salt and a little sugar on prawns and leave to season. Set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Heat oil in wok and brown half the minced garlic.
3. Add prawns and fry till prawns turn reddish in colour.
4. Add lemon juice and continue frying.
5. Add pepper, oyster sauce and sugar to taste.
6. Remove prawns from wok and set aside.
7. In a clean wok, heat oil and brown remaining minced garlic.
8. Add chopped chillies and curry leaves. Fry till fragrant.
9. Return the prawns to wok.
10. Add oats and continue frying till oats start to brown.
11. Remove from wok and serve.

Penang Hawker's Food

Here's a little introduction to some Penang Hawker's Food. These pictures were taken during my recent trip home to Penang, Malaysia. Note that these are just a small sample of the wide variety of Penang food. You can get them anywhere on Penang Island, but to know which is the best stall, best to ask the locals! :)










To check out more Penang food, visit Penang Food Haven website, or the Penang Hawker Food Blog.