Laksa Sarang by Chef Amin at Mu Hotel, Ipoh

Laksa Sarang (literally, bird’s nest laksa) refers to the egg that’s beaten, then poured in a thin stream into hot oil to create a nest-like effect. It’s served on top of the laksa, which adds a beautiful crispy texture and rich flavour to what would be recognised as a sour fish-based (asam) laksa. Chef Amin, the head chef of Mu Hotel in Ipoh, Perak, demonstrated how to make Laksa Sarang in this episode of Street Food Journeys: Laksas of Malaysia, and provided his insights into how to produce a rich and flavoursome broth.

 Chef Amin from Mu Hotel in Ipoh, Perak, with his Laksa Sarang from our web series, Laksas of Malaysia

Laksa Sarang ingredients

Also in this episode, Malaysia’s most well-known vegan chef, MOMC’s very own Dave Murugaya, showed me how to make a vegan version of Laksam, which is an East Coast Malaysian variation on laksa, served with rice noodle rolls. Laksam is usually made with fish, but if you didn’t know, you would not have guessed that the Laksam served by Dave was in fact vegan.

Vegan Chef Dave’s Vegan Laksam from Street Food Journeys: Laksas of Malaysia 

Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) chef Dave Murugaya with his Vegan Laksam

Also in this episode was yours truly’s segment on how to make an easy version of Curry Mee, based on a more elevated version that our MOMC chef Debbie Teoh once made in a different series.

All these recipes were included in our Masters of Malaysian Cuisine eMagazine which was published shortly after the series.

To get all our future eMagazines and recipes, make sure you join our email list here >> MalaysianChefs.com/JoinToday

Street Food Journeys: Malaysia is a web series produced in partnership with the Tourism Malaysia Australia Sydney Office.

Watch the replay here >> https://youtu.be/_9auvw1-4-k

The post Laksas of Malaysia: Episode 4 (Street Food Journeys 4) first appeared on Jackie M..

In the third of our four-episode web series, Laksas of Malaysia, we were thrilled to be invited by Datin Suraya Kusaidi, a friend of Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC)’s Mazna Merten, to film a segment on Laksa Sarawak. Most Laksa Sarawak recipes do not disclose how to make the laksa paste from scratch, but Datin Suraya, who’s originally from Sarawak, was happy to share her own family’s recipe for what the late Anthony Bourdain once described as the “breakfast of the gods”.  

Laksa Sarawak by Datin Suraya

I first discovered Laksa Sarawak several years ago during a short trip to Kuching; I found its rich, dark colour and intense flavour quite confronting. Subsequent to that, I had some limited exposure to other variations of the dish, mainly thanks to pre-made laksa pastes brought over to Sydney courtesy of Sarawak friends. Then I was introduced to Datin Suraya’s recipe, a lighter and more refined version that instantly became my favourite out of all the Laksa Sarawaks I’ve tried. I finally understood, thanks to Datin Suraya, why this dish is so beloved by so many.

Left to Right – Paul Gray, Mazna Merten, Jackie M, Datin Suraya Kusaidi

Baby Noah enjoying his nth bowl of Laksa Sarawak at Datin Suraya’s residence

In the same vein as MOMC Chef Johari Edrus’s reimagination of laksa in Episode 2 as noodle rolls, in this episode, MOMC Chef Bob Adnin made a laksa-inspired stir-fry by frying laksa rice noodles with typical laksa spices such as shrimp paste, dried shrimp and chilli paste to produce Laksa Goreng (fried laksa).

MOMC’s Chef Bob Adnin with his Laksa Goreng (fried laksa)

Chef Bob Adnin’s Laksa Goreng

While we were travelling through Penang, we managed to catch up with another of Mazna’s friends, Shiha Holden, who is originally from Kedah. Shiha taught us how to make laksa from her homestate, ie. Laksa Kedah (aka Laksa Utara ie. Northern Laksa). If you’ve never tried Laksa Kedah, you will recognise some similarities with Penang Asam Laksa – it’s made using fresh rice noodles and served with a sour fish broth and shredded cucumber, onion, calamansi limes and more.

Shiha Holden flanked on the left and right with MOMC@Heart’s Rosita Heilek and Mazna Merten

Garnishes and toppings for Shiha’s Laksa Kedah

Laksa Kedah by Shiha Holden

Finally, I did a segment on how to make an easy version of Laksa Nyonya Melaka – which is the same recipe as what I used for my restaurant back in the day.

All these recipes were included in our Masters of Malaysian Cuisine eMagazine which was published shortly after the series.

To get all our future eMagazines and recipes, make sure you join our email list here >> MalaysianChefs.com/JoinToday

Street Food Journeys: Malaysia is a web series produced in partnership with the Tourism Malaysia Australia Sydney Office.

Watch the replay here >> https://www.youtube.com/embed/HzjsIJt4xXc

The post Laksas of Malaysia: Episode 3 (Street Food Journeys 4) first appeared on Jackie M..

It’s easy to whip up, especially if you’re happy to use shortcuts like canned pineapple, but I’d definitely advise using “fresh” prawns (ie. ones that are raw and with shells on) as opposed to what we Chinese call “restaurant prawns”, which are the ones that are peeled and have been treated so they’re bouncy but have lost most of their flavour. But that’s just me.

What really lifts the game with this and with a lot of Malaysian recipes is the type of coconut milk or coconut cream you use. A lot of overseas Malaysians who try to recreate their favourite Malaysian recipes complain that they lack that fragrant coconut flavour that’s a signature of great childhood culinary memories – and that’s because in Malaysia we used to buy freshly-grated coconut at the wet market and extract coconut milk from it ourselves.

A few years back, I had an interesting discussion about fresh coconut milk with a transplanted South Indian food blogger here in Sydney, who was on a similar quest to find freshly-grated coconut so she could make her own curries taste like what she missed from home. When she finally got her hands on some (if you’re in Sydney, you’ll know there’s at least one place where you can buy it these days), she ended up being a little underwhelmed by the result. Somehow we came to the (probably hypothetical; I can’t remember) conclusion that the fresh coconut you can get here in Sydney nowadays must be a different strain to what’s found in Southeast Asia, hence why it lacks that distinct fragrant aroma we both craved.

A much better solution is to use canned Malaysian coconut milk, which, thankfully, we can get our hands on easily here in Sydney. Coconut milk brands are not created equal, unlike some products where the “home brand” isn’t discernibly different except in price tag. The ones I used for this Malaysian Ingredients Made Easy series are as close a match as you’re likely to find, to using home-extracted fresh coconut milk from Malaysian coconuts, plus they contain no preservatives or additives.

Other types of seafood would work well with this recipe; if using fish fillets, I’d cut them into chunks, drench in tapioca starch or cornstarch, and fry them up (ie. deep-fry), then make the sauce separately and pour over the fish before serving.

Here’s the replay of my broadcast on Malaysian Prawn And Pineapple Curry from my Malaysian Ingredients Made Easy >> https://youtu.be/mZZ9OJxD4a0

Here’s the highlights video which includes other ways to use Malaysian Coconut Milk >> https://youtu.be/Sr5pzaZ4bQY

If you’d like to get your hands on ALL the recipes in the video above and also in the rest of my Malaysian Ingredients Made Easy series, go ahead and sign up at MalaysianChefs.com/Recipes 

Recipe For Easy Malaysian Prawn & Pineapple Curry

INGREDIENTS:

8 large prawns, peeled & deveined, heads intact

½ cup pineapple chunks

Sauce –

1 tsp chilli crush

1 tsp minced lemongrass

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ onion, minced

½ tsp turmeric powder

4 kaffir lime leaves – thinly shredded

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp mushroom stock granules or chicken powder (optional)

1 tsp salt

½ tsp belacan (shrimp paste), optional

250 mL Malaysian coconut milk

2 TBSP oil

METHOD:

1. Combine sauce ingredients except coconut milk and mix into a paste. Fry with oil until it separates. 
2. Add prawns and saute for 10 seconds, add pineapple and coconut milk.
3. Simmer on low heat until prawns are cooked through, adding some water if you prefer a thinner sauce. 
4. Adjust seasoning, remove from heat and serve.

Additional Recipe Suggestions:

By the way, I reached out to my Jackie M and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine email subscribers for creative suggestions on how to use Malaysian Coconut Milk; here are what they came back with:

By Nur Diyanah Magness (Instagram.com/sweetsharings)

• Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding
• Vegan Coconut Popsicles

By Mankay –

• Whipped coconut cream for crepes

By PS Ling 

• As a dairy substitute in canned Chicken & Mushroom Soup

By Michael Cheong – 

• Coconut Dalgona
• Coconut Panna Cotta
• Light Coconut Milk Steamboat Broth
• Seafood Carbonara Pasta

By Fauzia Khuhro –

•  Coconut and China grass pudding 
• Jaggery and Sago pearl drink
• Pumpkin soup

By Elizabeth Rayney – 

• Rich Durian Pulp Ice Cream

The post How To Cook Easy Malaysian Prawn & Pineapple Curry (Restaurant Recipe) first appeared on Jackie M..

The endless variety of stuffed vegetables and tofu that are poached, steamed or fried, and served with a clear broth and “tim cheong” (literally, sweet sauce), and the idea of making the fish paste from scratch, makes the prospect of recreating Ampang Yong Tau Foo at home somewhat daunting for most overseas Malaysians. Which, of course, has never been a good enough reason to stop me – I used to sell this at my restaurant here in Sydney, Australia, though I applied some liberal shortcuts including using basa fillets instead of filleting a whole fish from scratch, etc.

Watch the final episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia Series 2 (Selangor); my Ampang Yong Tau Foo cooking segment starts at the 1:39 mark >> https://youtu.be/lrPbCIy0Ogs

Ampang Yong Tau Foo

INGREDIENTS:

Fish Paste:
1⁄2 kg fish fillets
1⁄2 cup cold water
1 Tbsp chicken powder
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 TBSP tapioca flour
Tofu, tofu sheets & tofu puffs plus variety of
vegetables – eggplant, chilli, capsicum – slit open
Oil for deep-frying or pan-frying
Water for poaching
Broth:
3L chicken stock
1⁄2 cup soya beans
1⁄2 yam bean (sengkuang) or daikon
Salt and pepper to taste
Spring onion, sliced

Sweet Sauce Dip:
1 cup hoisin sauce
3-4 TBSP sugar
1⁄3 cup water
1 tsp tapioca starch + 1 TBSP cold water
Sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds

METHOD:

To make the fish paste & stuffed vegetables:

1. Divide ingredients into 2 batches; pulse to a paste in a food processor.
2. Use to stuff vegetables, tofu, tofu sheets, or to make fish balls (boiled or fried).
3. Fill cavity of tofu and vegetables with fish paste, using butter knife.
4. Cook all ingredients – Deep-fry at 180C for 5-10 minutes, or poach, steam or pan-fry to your liking.

To make the broth:

1. Place soya beans in a muslin bag, secure, then add to stock along with yam bean.
2. Simmer for 1 hour. Season with salt, pepper and/or chicken powder.
3. Garnish with spring onion, and serve with stuffed vegetables.

To make the sweet sauce:

1. Combine hoisin sauce with water and sugar and simmer on low heat until sugar is dissolved. Amount of sugar used will vary according to the brand of hoisin sauce and your own personal preference.
2. If necessary, thicken by adding tapioca starch plus water mixture towards the end.
3. Place some stuffed tofu and vegetables in a bowl, top with broth and serve with side of sweet sauce and chilli sauce.

Also in this episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia (Selangor) –

• Mazna Merten shows us how to make Satay Kajang
• Christopher Lee gives us a history lesson regarding Ampang Yong Tau Foo
• The JetLag Warriors are back with some Selangor food hunts
• Shaukani Abbas gives us his top picks of things to do and places to go in Selangor

The recipes for the entire series, produced in partnership with Tourism Malaysia Australia, can be found in the special edition MOMC eMagazine which you can download here >> Click to View or Download

Sign up to our email list so you don’t miss a single issue of our MOMC free recipe eMagazines >> MalaysianChefs.com/JoinToday

The post How To Make Ampang Yong Tau Foo (Stuffed Tofu & Vegetables) first appeared on Jackie M..

In this episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia (Sarawak), Vegan Chef Dave from Masters of Malaysian Cuisine, who happens to have grown up in Sarawak, demonstrates how to make the dish from scratch, including the paste, which he’s tweaked to accommodate vegan diets.

Watch the replay here; Dave’s cooking segment kicks in at the 8:00 mark >> https://youtu.be/BkWxCs1b3EU 

Vegan Laksa Sarawak

INGREDIENTS:

Laksa Sarawak Paste –

Oil as needed for tempering
Salt as needed
8 Onions
4 cloves Garlic
3 Candlenuts
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1⁄4 cup roasted Sesame seeds
1⁄4 cup fried Peanuts
10-12 stalks of Dried Chillies
1 inch roasted Vegan Belacan (fermented soy
bean paste)
1 inch Galangal
2-3 stalks of Lemongrass

4 fried Tofus – sliced finely
1 pack Vermicelli – cooked
Salt & Sugar
200-250ml Coconut Cream
200gm Laksa Paste
2 stalks slightly smashed Lemongrass
Blanched Beansprouts
Shredded Coriander Leaves
Lime cut in 1⁄2

METHOD:

Laksa Sarawak paste –

1. Ground the paste ingredients and saute till the oil separates.
2. Add sugar and salt as needed. Add tamarind juice little by little. Stir until it gets thick.

To Serve –

1.  First, pour 2L water into a pot. Add lemongrass and let it boil.
2. Add in laksa paste and stir over low heat. Then, add coconut cream with a pinch of salt and sugar; continue to simmer.
3. Finally, put the vermicelli in a bowl and top with garnish ingredients such as beansprouts, tofu & coriander leaves. Pour the gravy over the vermicelli and serve while still hot.
4. Vegan Laksa Sarawak is delicious eaten with spicy and thick dried vegan shrimp sambal.

Also in this final episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia Series 1 (Sarawak),

• Tomato Kway Teow by yours truly (Jackie M.)
• a piece courtesy of Walkabout Asia on Kedey Kamek’s famous Laksa Sarawak
• Emma Symonds visits an Iban longhouse in Sarawak and tries Umai and Ayam Pansuh
• The JetLag Warriors try Mee Kolo
• Shaukani Abbas talks about places to visit including Gunung Mulu National Park and the Kuching Heritage Trail

The recipes for the entire series, produced in partnership with Tourism Malaysia Australia, can be found in the special edition MOMC eMagazine which you can download here >> Click to View or Download

Sign up to our email list so you don’t miss a single issue of our MOMC free recipe eMagazines >> MalaysianChefs.com/JoinToday

The post How to Cook Vegan Laksa Sarawak by Vegan Chef Dave first appeared on Jackie M..

Nasi Kebuli is a fragrant rice and crispy chicken royal dish that’s famous the Malaysian state of Pahang. The word “Kebuli” is an abbreviation of the royal honorific “ke bawah duli (yang maha mulia)” (kind of like “his Majesty” etc.). I didn’t grow up in Pahang so this backgrounder on Nasi Kebuli is courtesy of our Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) chef Zaleha Olpin who IS from Pahang, and from my own reading at the Aku Anak Pahang Malay-language blog. Nasi Kebuli is said to be a middle eastern-Arabic dish which became popular in India, and then Indonesia and Malaysia. In Malaysia itself, it was a favourite in kampungs (rural villages) in Pahang, and especially in the Kuala Lipis region.

Sultan Mahmud Shah of Pahang (1914-1917) visited Kuala Lipis with some 60 of his followers, and when he requested for a meal with chicken, a local gentleman by the name of Hussin served him Nasi Kebuli, and the rest is history.

In this episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia featuring the state of Pahang, I had a go at making Nasi Kebuli, with the recipe tweaked to be accessible to Australian cooks.

Watch the replay of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia Series 1 Episode 3 on Pahang here (my cooking segment kicks in at about the 15:30 mark) >> https://youtu.be/KL7QWoBanfc

Nasi Kebuli

INGREDIENTS:

1 brown onion
1-inch piece ginger
4 cloves garlic
2 stalks lemongrass
1 tsp crushed pepper
1 TBSP coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp galangal powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 TBSP oil
2 cups water
2 chicken Maryland pieces (thigh plus
drumstick)
2 tsp salt
1 TBSP chicken powder (optional)
2 TBSP spice mix
2 TBSP oil
2 cups Basmati rice, rinsed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chicken powder
Water
Oil for deep-frying
1 cucumber, sliced

METHOD:

1. Blend spice ingredients in a food processor;transfer into a saucepan and fry until oil separates.
2. Remove two TBSP spice mix and set aside. Add water to the saucepan along with salt and/or
   chicken powder and chicken, and bring to a simmer.
3. Cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is just done. Remove chicken pieces and allow to drain on a rack.
4. In a separate saucepan, mix the rinsed rice with the remaining 2 TBSP spice mix and toss well on low heat.
5. Transfer into a rice cooker or saucepan, add water and some of the sauce from the spice marinade that was used to simmer the chicken;
   cook until done.
6. Heat oil to 180C; fry the chicken pieces until skin is crispy (about 5 minutes).
7. Mould rice in a bowl, transfer onto serving plate, add chicken and serve garnished with cucumber slices and optional tomato sambal.

Other guests in this episode include Zaleha Olpin, who made a Pahang version of Pulut Panggang (grilled sticky rice rolls wrapped in banana leaf), our resident award-winning tour guide Shaukani Abbas, Masters of Malaysian Cuisine co-founder Paul Gray, and TV host and TikTok star Mark O’Dea.

Our MOMC group publishes a free recipe eMagazine which we send to our email subscribers. Here’s the issue which accompanied Street Food Journeys: Malaysia Series 1 >> Click to View or Download

Sign up to our email list so you don’t miss a single issue >> MalaysianChefs.com/JoinToday

The post How To Cook Nasi Kebuli (Crispy Chicken & Rice) first appeared on Jackie M..

Melaka-born Nyonya cuisine expert and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) chef Debbie Teoh demonstrated how to make Satay Celup sauce in the first episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia (her segment kicks in at the 9-minute mark)

–

Here’s Debbie’s Satay Celup recipe from the show:

Satay Celup

INGREDIENTS:

1⁄2 cup cooking oil
Spice Paste:
2 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced
8 shallots, sliced
80 g galangal, thinly sliced
15 g dried chillies, soaked in hot water till soft
20 g candlenuts
3⁄4 Tbsp coriander seeds, pre-toasted
1⁄2 Tbsp fennel, pre-,oasted
25 g garlic, sliced
2 chicken carcasses (or pork bones), chopped
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
50 g Gula Melaka (or brown sugar), to taste
1⁄2 Tbsp salt, to taste
150 – 200 g peanuts, fried & ground coarsely
Recommended Dipping Options:
300 g meat (beef/chicken/pork), sliced into 4cm
rectangles
500 g medium sized prawns, peeled
400 g squid, cleaned & cut into 4cm squares
350 g brown squid, cleaned & cut into 4cm squares
10 pcs tofu puffs, halved & filled with a slice of
cucumber then skewered
250 g Meatballs
250 g fish balls
1 packet deep fried bean curd slices
Some “yong tau foo” like stuffed chilly, bitter gourd
200 g cockles
20 pcs hardboiled quails eggs, peeled
200 g vegetable balls
1 packet fresh brown mushroom
1 packet young corn, cut into 3cm lengths
1⁄2 loaf Hainanese bread, cut into 2.5cm squares
2 cucumber, quartered & sliced
Deep-fried Chinese crullers “yau char kwai”
Bamboo skewers

METHOD:

1. Place the chicken carcasses and crushed peppercorns in a large pot, then cover with 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or till it reduces down by a third.
2. Strain the stock & set aside. Alternatively, use chicken stock granules and add water.
3. Using an electric blender, finely blend the spice paste ingredients. Heat oil in a wok sauté spice paste until fragrant, stirring continuously.
4. Add the stock and gula Melaka, then add salt & ground peanuts to taste. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, then check for seasoning.
5. To serve, lay out a select of meat/vegetables to cook in the gravy. Keep the gravy on a simmer, stirring
   occasionally to prevent the gravy scorching at the bottom of the pot.
6. Using bamboo skewers, place the meat/vegetables into the gravy to cook through.
7. Serve with some Chinese bread, “yau char kwai” & freshly cut cucumber for dipping into the Satay Celup gravy.

Don’t miss any of the recipes by yours truly and by my Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs; sign up to my mailing list here and I’ll send the PDFs to you directly along with our latest news etc. >>

The post How To Cook Satay Celup by Debbie Teoh (Street Food Journeys S1E1: Melaka) first appeared on Jackie M..

I’d first experienced chocolate as a savoury ingredient when I tried MasterChef Malaysia judge Chef Johari Edrus’s Spicy Chocolate Pasta in Kuala Lumpur a few years back. It was delicious and I’d always meant to experiment with the use of chocolate in creative ways back here in Sydney, so this seemed like a good opportunity to do finally so.

I went Live on my Masters of Malaysian Cuisine platform in partnership with Facebook groups Apa Kau Rasa and Masak Apa Tak Jadi Hari Ni, and featured two recipes from Chocolat – Cacao Chilli Crisp Noodles, and Dark Chocolate and Date Cookies – the replay of which you can watch here >>

Cacao Chilli Crisp Noodles | Dark Chocolate & Date Cookies Live w/JackieM.

Here’s the recipe for Rachel’s cacao chilli crisp sauce (note that I’ve kept her formatting and abbreviations intact rather than adapt them to my own).

Re: the second recipe from the Live broadcast ie. the Dark Chocolate & Date Cookies, that’s available as a PDF which I’ll send to send to your inbox shortly if you sign up to the Masters of Malaysian Cuisine email list >> MalaysianChefs.com/JoinToday 

Cacao Chilli Crisp with Noodles and Pak Choi

Rachel: I’ve had a chilli crisp sauce a few times in various Chinese restaurants but it wasn’t until recently I actually knew it’s super easy to make it at home. It’s now become a must have ingredient in my fridge as it lends itself to putting on everything from fried eggs, cheese on toast, roasted veg, steamed fish…anything which is a bit dull and could do with a kick. Cacao nibs are not a traditional ingredient but they actually work extremely well they give the condiment a satisfying crunch (which peanuts do aswell but they go slightly soft when sitting in the fridge for too long) and depth in flavour.

INGREDIENTS: 

Makes 500g jar of chilli crisp
Preparation time 30 minutes
Resting time 30 minutes
Cooking time 10 minutes
Diet: Vegan, GF

Ingredients for the chilli crisp

1 dried ancho chilli
1 dried chipotle chilli
3 tbsps Sichuan peppercorn
3 tbsps cacao nibs
60g salted peanuts
25g dried chilli flakes
2 tbsps sea salt flakes
2 tbsps caster sugar
30g fresh ginger
4 shallots
500g peanut oil

2 pak choy
150g Flat rice noodles
2 tbsp chilli crisp
2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce

To garnish:
Thinly sliced spring onions, thinly sliced chilli, thinly sliced radishes, julienned carrot

METHOD: 

Take the stem off the ancho and chipotle chilli and blitz with the Sichuan peppercorns in a spice grinder until a fine powder. Add this to a large heatproof bowl. If your cacao nibs are still rather whole then crush the cacao nibs in a pestle and mortar or use the spice grinder to blitz a little further. You want to retain a bit of their texture, like a chunky peanut butter. Do the same with the peanuts. Add both to the bowl with the chillies. Mix in the chilli flakes, sea salt and sugar.

Peel the fresh ginger using a spoon and then slice into 2mm slices. Cut the slices into 2mm matchsticks that are roughly a centimeter long. Add these to the bowl.

Peel the shallots and finely slice into 2mm thick slices. Add them to a large pot with the oil. Place this on a medium hot heat. Stir continuously until the shallots start to get a light golden colour. Use a slotted spoon to remove the shallots and place into a separate bowl. Take the oil off the heat and pour it into the bowl with the chillies. Be careful as the oil will bubble up (that’s why it’s important to use a large bowl) and gently stir so not to get any splashes of hot oil on yourself. Leave to cool for 30 minutes before adding the crisp shallots. Once the mix is completely cool you can add them to a jar and keep in the fridge. It’ll keep for a month.

To serve:
Halve the pak choy, add to a non-stick frying pan cut side down with drizzle of oil. Allow to heat up and once it sizzles cover and cook for 3-5 minutes until the pack choy is soft.

Cover the noodles with boiling water in a heatproof bowl and allow to soak until soft (or prepare according to the directions on the packet). Drain, rinse with cold water and add to the frying pan. Remove from the heat and toss together with the chilli crisp, vinegar and soy sauce. Dish up into 2 bowls and serve with your choice of garnishes.

Top tip
This condiment isn’t very spicy and goes well in loads of different dishes.
You can stir it into noodles with vinegar and soy sauce for a simple dressing.
Use it in salad dressings or for seasoning steamed vegetables.
Add to stir fries. Spoon over noodle soups.
Drizzle over fried eggs or scrambled eggs for an easy way to make breakfast more interesting.
Spoon into tacos, drizzle on hummus or pizza, mix with mayo + spread on your burger bun
Mix up the spicing here to fit your flavour preferences. You can add more spicy chilli flakes/ use different types of dried chillies for more heat and different flavours. You can add things like fennel seed, star anise, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cumin seeds for a different flavour profile. You can also fry sliced garlic in the oil until golden for a garlic hit.
Using a mandoline to slice the shallots helps make them uniform thickness (so they all fry at the same rate/don’t burn) and is a super easy way to cut them quickly.

Get ahead
You can make the chilli crisp ahead of time and store in a jar in the fridge for up to one month.

This makes a lot of chilli crisp so it’s great to make a big batch and divide into smaller jars to gift to people.

The post Cacao Chilli Crisp w/Noodles | Dark Chocolate Date Cookies (Rachel Khoo) first appeared on Jackie M..

This was from Series One of my weekly Lockdown Live Cook-Alongs , where the recipes were selected or adapted so that they’re not too hard to follow.

This was my second broadcast in less than 24 hours on Singapore Chilli Crab (due to Noah being around the day before); if you watched the first one, you will notice a couple of minor differences in how I tackled this recipe the second time around, the main one being the use of potato starch as a thickener instead of cornstarch, which produces a much nicer sauce aesthetically,  since cornstarch makes it look foggy.

The crabs used in both broadcasts were courtesy of Tavis, whose business supplies Live seafood to restaurants around Sydney. Due to the Covid-19 situation, Tavis has had to pivot his seafood business so that he now also supplies directly to the public. 

Join Tavis’s private FB group if you want to buy fresh seafood at wholesale prices >> (pickup in Bankstown)

Join my FREE Malaysian Street Food Kitchen Community if you want to catch all my live videos >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/malaysianstreetfood/

Interested in my Online Malaysian Street Food Coaching Course? Find out more here >> https://www.wokaroundasia.com/

Chilli Mud Crab

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg crab, cleaned and quartered

2 eggs

¼ cup tapioca/corn starch

1 brown onion

10 cloves garlic

5 large chillies

4 slices ginger

2 TBSP ketchup

3 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP lemon juice/tamarind extract

2 tsp chicken powder

Dash of soya sauce (optional)

4 cups water

1 Tbsp potato/tapioca/corn starch + 2 Tbsps water

METHOD:

• Heat oil for deep-frying.
• Crack eggs and separate one yolk. Coat crab pieces in the egg yolk followed by tapioca starch.
• Fry in oil for 1 minute, then remove and drain.
• Combine onion, garlic, chillies and ginger in a food processor and mince.
• Transfer spice mix into a pan and fry for a minute to remove the moisture, then add 3-4 Tbsps oil.
• Saute for 5-10 minutes or until oil separates.Add ketchup, sugar, lemon juice (or tamarind extract), chicken powder and water and bring to a simmer.
• Add crab, cover and cook until done (a minute or two depending on size).
• Remove crab pieces and place in serving dish.
• Thicken sauce with potato starch & water mixture.Turn off the heat, then add beaten egg in sauce and swirl in one direction gently to create a runny egg sauce texture.
• Pour sauce over crab and serve.

The post How To Cook Chilli Mud Crab first appeared on Jackie M..

As someone who’s run a Malaysian food business for decades, I’m always trying to strike a balance between maintaining “authentic” flavours while cutting down on time spent in the kitchen (thanks to labour costs and staff shortage issues). My friends at MyBlueTea.com.au recently sent me some samples of their natural pandan powder (made from pure pandan leaves with no artificial colouring) so I decided to give them a try in my cooking.

Just to clarify in case you’ve no idea what pandan is, I’ve always described it as “Asian vanilla” – it’s subtle and it’s used as a flavouring agent in both sweet and savoury dishes in Southeast Asia. If you come across green-looking snacks, it’s a good bet they’re pandan-flavoured, though to be fair, a lot of the pandan essence you see is “enhanced” with artificial colouring.

Typically I’d use fresh (or frozen) pandan leaves, and either blend them with water, then strain, or when cooking rice or curries, I would bruise the leaves, tie them into a knot and add them to my cooking.

The pandan powder supplied by My Blue Tea saves me having to hunt down pandan leaves in my corner of Sydney (no mean feat), and it saves me having to blend them etc. – I just use it straight from the packet, as you’ll see in the video here >>

Pandan Coconut Rice

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups jasmine rice

2 cups water (approx)

1.5  tsps pandan powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBSP coconut milk powder

METHOD:

1. Combine all ingredients except for the coconut milk powder in a saucepan or rice cooker; cook until rice is done.
2. Sprinkle coconut milk powder over the surface of the rice, stir with a rice paddle and mix well. Serve.

Pandan Chicken Curry

INGREDIENTS:

1.2 kg chicken drumsticks

2 brown onions, peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 stalks lemongrass
1-inch knob ginger
4 Tbsps Malaysian curry powder
1/2 cup oil

1 TBSP pandan powder

2 stalks curry leaves (optional)
1.5 Tbsp chicken powder
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
3 cups water + 1/4 cup coconut milk powder

METHOD:

1. Coat chicken drumsticks with Malaysian curry powder.
2. Combine onions, garlic & ginger in a food processor; blend.
3. Transfer into a saucepan and fry until most of the moisture has evaporated.
4. Add oil, and cook further until lightly browned.
5. Add chicken and sear.
6. Add all other ingredients, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally.
7. Remove from heat; serve hot with pandan coconut rice.

The post How To Cook Pandan Chicken Curry & Pandan Rice first appeared on Jackie M..