I’m not going to claim this stir-fried Xinjiang Cumin Lamb dish is the real deal (hence why it’s titled Xinjiang-STYLE) since I’ve yet to even visit China, plus I’ve adapted it to accommodate what I had on hand ingredients-wise along with my own flavour preferences.

I discovered that half a leg of lamb (my recent purchase – see previous post) yields a lot of meat, so I had to figure out ways to use it up, and stumbled upon a recipe for stir-fried Xinjiang Cumin Lamb at omnivorescookbook.com.

I’d always assumed that lamb required slow-cooking but this quick stir-fry dish (along with the cumin lamb skewers I wrote about a couple of weeks back) has put paid to that notion; it doesn’t even need the Chinese restaurant soda bicarbonate treatment you would expect for red meat.

Stir-fried Xinjiang-Style Cumin Lamb

INGREDIENTS:

400g lamb fillets, diced into 2cm cubes

Marinade –

1 TBSP Shaoxing rice wine (optional)

1 tsp soya sauce

2 tsps oyster sauce

————————

3 TBSP tapioca starch (or cornstarch)

Seasoning –

1½ TBSP cumin powder

2 tsps chilli flakes

⅔ tsp sugar

1 tsp chicken powder (or ½ tsp salt)

¼ tsp pounded Szechuan peppercorns (optional)

Stir-fry –

⅓ cup oil

6 large dried chillies, halved

½ onion, sliced

1 TBSP ginger, minced

1 TBSP garlic, minced

————————-

½ TBSP toasted sesame seeds (optional)

METHOD:

1. Combine lamb with marinade ingredients, set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil, drench lamb with tapioca starch, then fry for about one minute, until lightly browned.
3. Remove lamb.
4. Reheat oil, add garlic, ginger and sliced onion, and fry until aromatic.
5. Add dried chillies, lamb and seasoning ingredients.
6. Toss well, cook until lamb is done (shouldn’t take more than a minute).
7. Remove from heat, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve.

The post How to Cook Stir-Fried Xinjiang-Style Cumin Lamb first appeared on Jackie M..

Pickled green chillies are a popular condiment back in Malaysia, and most commonly served as an accompaniment to hawker stall dishes like wantan mee (wonton noodles). I make this only very occasionally, since I don’t often eat wonton noodles myself, and in all honesty, I don’t really measure the ingredients that go into it. Nonetheless, for your sake, here are my guesstimates.

Pickled Green Chillies

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups green chillies, sliced at an angle

2 tsps salt

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 TBSP sugar

Jar for bottling, boiled for 10 minutes, then dried in oven

METHOD:

1. Toss chillies with salt, then transfer into jar.
2. Combine vinegar, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer until sugar is dissolved.
3. Pour hot vinegar over chillies, making sure they’re completely immersed.
4. Secure jar with lid; allow to pickle for at least an hour before use. Once opened, keep jar in refrigerator and consume within 6 weeks.

The post How To Make Pickled Green Chillies first appeared on Jackie M..

I also reveal a good, cheap substitute that I’ve encountered in my recent trips to my local non-Asian fruit and vegetable shop, and how to “hack” the flavour to achieve the same result when used in Asian recipes.

For step-by-step instructions, here’s my video on making your own chilli paste –

The post Chillies (30 Days 30 Asian Ingredients Series) first appeared on Jackie M..

Yee Chai Peng (Cantonese for “ear biscuits”) were these intriguing spiral-patterned, curved fried pastries from my childhood in Malaysia, which were crunchy, slightly sweet and yet savoury. The only ones I ever ate were factory-made; this wasn’t one of those things that you would find people making fresh at home or at their street stall – certainly not in my hometown of Seremban anyway.

Since I’ve yet to see these biscuits here in Australia, I decided to research how to make them myself; I came across Guai Shu Shu’s blog and ended up using his recipe as a guide (with minor tweaks) during one of my Live Asian Kitchen broadcasts.

As you can see from the results, they look accidentally rustic; I’d been meaning to have another go at this so I could produce a prettier result before posting the recipe, but I’ve already waited too long, plus they tasted great anyway, so here it is.

Ear Biscuits

INGREDIENTS:

White dough

⅔ cup plain flour
40mls of water
⅛ teaspoon of baking soda

Brown dough

¾ cup plain flour
30mls of water
2 Tbsps brown sugar
2 Tbsps oil
1 ½ tsps fermented bean curd
1 tsp five spice powder
⅛ teaspoon of baking soda
Pinch of salt

Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

1. Combine white dough ingredients and knead to a soft, pliable texture. Roll into a rectangular shape, approximately 1-2mm in thickness.
2. Combine brown dough ingredients and do the same.
3. Brush brown dough surface with a little water, then place white dough on top and press down gently.
4. Brush white dough with water, then roll the dough sheets into a tight sushi-style cylinder.
5. Wrap with cling wrap and freeze for 20-30 minutes.
6. Remove cling wrap and cut into thin slices about 1mm in thickness.
7. Deep-fry at about 160-180’C until golden brown; remove and drain.
8. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

My Live Asian Kitchen broadcasts are made possible with the support of the following –

The post How to Make Yee Chai Peng (Ear Biscuits) first appeared on Jackie M..

I knew very little about Khmer food prior to Siem Reap, but I had heard of Amok, a strong contender for the title of Cambodia’s national dish. I was also vaguely aware of some lively online debates as to what constitutes an authentic amok.

Chef Chanrith Van of Courtyard by Marriott Siem Reap Resort would later explain that there are in fact two broad versions of amok; one that’s steamed à la Thai Hor Mok or Penang Otak-Otak, and this one here which is like a mild curry.

Not knowing this at the time, I went into this shoot fully expecting to see steamed fishcake wrapped in banana leaf, so I think I deserve some credit in the video for hiding my surprise at the end.

Click to watch >>

Should you insist on the set custard version, just crack an egg into the sauce, mix well, transfer the ingredients onto a banana leaf and steam it for 8-10 minutes.

As with all recipes supplied by the chefs I work with, I try to keep any tweaking to an absolute minimum, hence why you might find some ingredient measurements different to what you might otherwise be accustomed to seeing.

PART 1

Amok Paste

INGREDIENTS:

25g lemongrass
¼ brown onion
1 garlic clove
1 kaffir lime leaf
10g turmeric
10g fresh krachai (Chinese ginger)
5g dried big chillies (soaked in hot water until soft)
50ml ice water

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients and blend to a smooth paste.

PART 2

Amok Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

30g olive oil
5cm young ginger
85g Amok paste
15g dried chilli paste
1.6g Prahook (fermented fish); (substitute with fish sauce)
25g Palm sugar
20ml fish sauce
25ml chicken stock
125ml water
½ tsp chicken powder
¼ tsp salt
400ml coconut cream

METHOD:

Combine chicken stock, water, chicken seasoning and salt; set aside.
Heat oil in wok, add ginger and saute until fragrant.
Add amok paste followed by dried chilli paste; fry for 30 seconds.
Add fermented fish sauce and palm sugar; cook until sugar is caramelised.
Add fish sauce, stock mixture and coconut cream. Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat.

PART 3

Seafood Amok

INGREDIENTS:

50g butter catfish, sliced 1.5cm thick (substitute with any white fish fillets)
30g cuttlefish, cut 4cmx6cm
3 prawns, peeled; tail-on
50g oyster mushrooms, diced
180g Amok sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil or corn oil
2 tsps roasted peanuts, crushed
1 Amok (aka Noni) leaf, cut into 2mm strips (substitute with kai lan or spinach)
2 tsps coconut cream
3 pcs red needle flower (optional)
1 Tbsp deep-fried amok leaf

METHOD:

Season seafood with salt.
Heat oil until smoking hot; sear seafood. Remove and set aside
Wash wok, heat oil and saute mushrooms. Add 50g amok sauce and toss. Set aside.
Wash wok again, add seafood, amok sauce, crushed peanuts and amok leaves. Cook to 75C; remove from heat.
Place sauteed mushrooms on middle of plate, arrange seafood, flowers and deep-fried amok leaf and top with amok sauce.

My Wok Around Asia Siem Reap trip was made possible through the support of the following –

The post How to Cook Khmer Seafood Amok first appeared on Jackie M..

(By the way, I enjoyed the session enough that I’m currently open to offers to do more of these workshops, so if you represent a company or organisation interested in this high priestess of Malaysian cuisine coming to your venue to run a class, hit me up before I change my mind or my schedule gets clogged up).

I made some tweaks to the recipe to accommodate a combination of my own flavour preferences and what ingredients I had on hand.

Here’s the second half of a recent Twitch Live Asian Kitchen broadcast during which I made this dish >>

And here’s the original live broadcast from the Grand Hyatt KL (it’s a couple of years old), starting from the laksa portion (ie. about 10:48s in) –

Here’s the recipe I used in the workshop and also in my Twitch stream, to the best of my memory (allow for a large dose of “agak-agak” ie. guesstimating) –

Curry Laksa

INGREDIENTS:

3 brown onions, peeled
12 cloves garlic, peeled
6 large red chillies
40g mild chilli powder
100g minced lemongrass
60g dried shrimp
3 bunga kantan (ginger flower bud, optional)
150g fish curry powder

4 stalks curry leaves
2 cups oil

2L water or stock
1L coconut cream
1 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsps chicken powder
200g tofu puffs
Noodles
Vegetables
Seafood or meat etc.

METHOD:

1. Combine ingredients to fish curry powder in a blender, blend till smooth.
2. Add oil and curry leaves, and fry until the onion caramelises, the paste is aromatic and the oil separates.
3. Transfer half the paste into a stock pot, add water/stock, coconut cream, sugar, chicken powder and tofu puffs.
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes, adjust seasoning and remove from heat.
5. Separately bring water to boil in a saucepan, and use it to blanch or cook noodles, vegetables and any seafood or meat you’re using.
6. Arrange in a bowl and top with the curry laksa soup before serving.
7. Serve with an optional side of sambal belacan tumis (fried shrimp paste sambal).

Sambal Belacan Tumis

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ cups chillies, cut into chunks
6 bird’s eye chillies (optional)
1 ½ onions
2 Tbsp belacan powder (or equivalent if using Thai shrimp paste or Malaysian/Indonesian shrimp paste blocks)
1 ½ tsp sugar
2 Tbsp soya sauce or fish sauce
½ Tbsp chicken powder (optional)
½ cup oil

METHOD:

1. Blend chillies and onions to desired consistency.
2. Heat oil in frying pan. Add chilli/onion puree and all other ingredients and cook until oil separates and onion is aromatic – approximately 15-20 minutes.
3. Allow to cool, then store in glass jar. Sambal will keep in fridge for 6 weeks or in freezer for 6 months.

The post How to Make Curry Laksa (aka Curry Mee) – Cooking Class Recipe first appeared on Jackie M..

Beef Lok Lak is a famous Khmer dish that is ubiquitous on restaurant menus and at street stalls all over Siem Reap. Chef Chanrith Van of Courtyard by Marriott Siem Reap Resort takes it up a notch by applying his classical culinary training to this local favourite; he uses local beef, and ages it in-house to achieve a melt-in-your-mouth texture. This in turn allows him to cut the beef in cubes (Lok Lak literally means “cube” in Cambodian), rather than slice it thinly, which is how most places serve it nowadays.

Watch the full video to see how it’s made >>

Recipe for Beef Lok Lak (4 parts) –

1) Beef Lok Lak

(Portion size: 1)

INGREDIENTS:

130g aged beef or rib eye
Pinch of salt
1 tsp olive oil
4 Tbsps Lok Lak Sauce
1 quail egg
5 shallots, sliced
5 cherry tomatoes, sliced
10g watercress
5g fresh green peppercorns
5g edible red & yellow flowers

METHOD:

1. Season beef with salt, set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Heat wok to a very high heat, add oil and sear beef on both sides until medium rare. Rest for 5 minutes.
3. Cut beef into 1.5cm cubes.
4. Fry quail egg sunny side up.
5. Wash wok, heat and add oil. Add Lok Lak sauce and beef, and fry briefly until beef is medium cooked.
6. Spoon beef on plate, drizzle with Lok Lak sauce, then arrange shallots, tomatoes, leaves, peppercorns and flowers, and top with a teaspoon of lime and pepper dip.

2) Lime & Pepper Dip

INGREDIENTS:

1 green lime, medium
1 tsp fresh crushed black peppercorns
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt
¼ tsp chicken seasoning powder
¼ tsp fried garlic

METHOD:
Combine ingredients and mix well. Make to order.

3) Aged Beef

(Chef Chanrith Van would not recommend doing this if you don’t have the proper equipment for it. He suggests using rib eye steak instead of ageing the beef yourself.)

INGREDIENTS:

500g fresh beef tenderloin, cut into 130g portions
Vacuum bag & sealer

METHOD:

1. Place beef in vacuum bag and seal using vacuum machine.
2. Hang beef in refrigerator at 0-2’C for 7-14 days.

4) Lok Lak Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp corn oil
5g garlic clove, thinly sliced
2.5g white onion, finely chopped
0.5 tsp kampot peppercorn, crushed
10g palm sugar
18g oyster sauce
¼ tsp soya sauce
2 tsps tomato ketchup
¼ tsp dark (thick) soya sauce
3 Tbsps chicken stock
¼ tsp chicken seasoning powder
2 tsps extra corn oil

METHOD:

1. Over medium heat in wok, add oil, garlic and onion. Saute until golden in colour.
2. Add black crushed pepper and palm sugar; cook until sugar is caramelised and golden in colour.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer; finish with oil, then cool down. Shelf life 6 days.

* Substitute palm sugar with white sugar if unavailable

My Wok Around Asia Siem Reap trip was made possible through the support of the following –

The post How to Cook Khmer Beef Lok Lak first appeared on Jackie M..

Kuih Ketayap, also known as Kuih Dadar in my part of Malaysia, is a popular teatime snack which consists of pandan-infused crepes rolled with a coconut and palm sugar filling. It’s an easy recipe to attempt, and the ingredients should be readily available at any well-stocked Asian grocery store. Should you have trouble finding pandan leaves (readily available fresh in Cabramatta, #postcode2166), you may substitute it with canned pandan juice, or a few drops of pandan concentrate. This recipe is courtesy of Parkroyal Penang Resort, from my Wok Around Asia project.

Watch the full video here (5 mins) >>

Kuih Ketayap

INGREDIENTS:

Crepe Batter:

20 pandan leaves

600ml water

400g plain flour

4 eggs

250ml coconut milk

pinch of salt

METHOD:

1. Cut pandan leaves into 1-inch lengths. Blend with water and strain.
2. Combine with the rest of the ingredients, mix well, sift and set aside.
3. To cook, brush oil on a non-stick pan and heat. Ladle some batter on it and swirl to make a thin crepe. Cook until crepe starts to lift from the pan.
4. Remove and set aside; repeat with rest of batter.

INGREDIENTS:

Grated Coconut Filling:

400g grated fresh coconut

400g chopped gula melaka (dark brown palm sugar)

4 Tbsps white sugar

200ml water

2 pandan leaves, tied in a knot

2 Tbsps cornstarch

METHOD:

1. Combine palm sugar, white sugar, water and pandan leaves in a saucepan, and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Discard pandan leaves.
2. Add grated coconut and salt and simmer until slightly dry. Add cornstarch to thicken. Allow to cool.
3. To assemble, put a spoonful of coconut filling on each crepe, fold in the sides and roll up like a spring roll.

My Wok Around Asia project is made possible through the support of the following >>

The post How to Make Kuih Ketayap (Coconut-Filled Crepes) first appeared on Jackie M..

The most popular version of Long Yoke, aka Bak Kwa, is made with pork, but since I don’t eat pork, I make mine with chicken mince. I could have sworn my parents used to make it with sliced beef as well, but it’s late as I type this, and I don’t want to wake my poor stepmom up with a phonecall to check.

In any case, in this Live Asian Kitchen broadcast, I had some beef mince (not sliced beef) to use up, so I decided to make a batch with it, and it was far superior, in my opinion, to the chicken mince version. It didn’t help that the chicken I was using was a fine mince (unlike the coarser grind I used to use when I made it for my business), so the texture came out weird, like devon.

Watch the Live Asian Kitchen replay to see how it’s done from start to finish >>

This was the recipe I dug up from my restaurant files, though in all honesty I can’t be sure if it was really the same one we used back in the day (I haven’t made it in years), since I vaguely remember adding red food colouring to ours, which isn’t listed here.

Nonetheless, it turned out fine, so here it is –

Adapted from Tazz in the Kitchen

INGREDIENTS:

500g minced chicken

1 1/2 Tbsps fish sauce

1 Tbsp thick soya sauce (aka cooking caramel)

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp 5 spice powder

1 tsp oil

METHOD:

1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl, use a pair of chopsticks or a fork and stir vigorously in one direction until a gluey paste is formed.
2. Pre-heat oven to 125°C.
3. Place meat on a large piece of parchment paper.
4. Cover with clingfilm.
5. Roll into a thin sheet (about 2mm thick).
6. Bake at 125°C for about 20 mins.
7. Increase temperature to 180°C and bake for about 20-30 mins or until the sides are charred.
8. Cool and cut into pieces.

The post How to Make Chicken or Beef Bak Kwa (Barbecued Minced Meat) first appeared on Jackie M..

Folks, I’m very proud to present the first how-to video from my Wok Around Asia project, and it’s appropriately on Char Koay Teow (or Char Kway Teow), one of the most popular dishes from Malaysia’s street food capital of Penang. It’s different from my own version (mine is closer to what you would find in the southern part of the Malaysian peninsula, where I was raised), and it does not contain pork, which is fabulous for a non-pork eater like myself.

I’ve left the recipe format largely unaltered from what was given to me by Parkroyal Penang Resort, so we don’t lose too much in the translation, but by all means hit me up if you have any questions about any of it.

Here’s the video showing the stir-fry process from start to finish, which I think is crucial to capturing the technique in this dish. As a cook and former restaurateur, I target those who are serious about learning the craft of cooking, so if this sounds like you, enjoy the video and the recipe that follows

PENANG CHAR KOAY TEOW

CKT SAUCE

LIGHT SOYA SAUCE 500ml
SUGAR 4 tsps
FISH SAUCE 4 Tbsps
OYSTER SAUCE 3 Tbsps
DARK SOYA SAUCE (aka thick soya sauce, aka cooking caramel) 2 Tbsps

METHOD:

In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients together, then mix well.

INGREDIENTS:

FLAT WHITE RICE NOODLES 600g
GARLIC CHOPPED 20g
COOKING OIL 100ml
PRAWN MEAT 120g
CHILLI PASTE 20g
KOAY TEOW SAUCE 120g
BEAN SPROUTS 80g
CHIVES 40g
EGGS 4
CORIANDER (GARNISH) 20g
CHILLI FLOWER 4 pcs
FRESHWATER PRAWN 1 pc
SCALLOP 2 pcs
CUTTLEFISH 3 pcs

METHOD:
Heat the cooking oil in the wok and sauté chopped garlic until light brown then add in prawns, chili paste and flat noodles.
Add koay teow sauce and stir-fry until sauce is absorbed. Lastly, add in eggs, beansprouts and chives. Garnish with coriander leaf and red chili flower.

My Wok Around Asia project is made possible through the support of the following >>

The post How to Cook Penang Char Koay Teow first appeared on Jackie M..