You may have come across a number of different iterations of crispy noodles depending on the type of Asian restaurant you frequent; in this Lockdown Malaysian Cook-Along (yes, I’ll explain in a bit) I made 2 different versions – one using vermicelli (aka rice sticks, depending on the brand), and one using fresh thin egg noodles (aka wonton noodles). I also made them with slightly different sauces – one using egg and the other without.

Here’s the recording of the live broadcast, which I’ve now uploaded to YouTube >>

So back to the cook-along thing, if you’ve only now stumbled upon my website, the deal is that in response to the Covid-19 lockdown environment, a number of people reached out to me about doing live cook-along broadcasts to cater to those stuck at home and wanting to learn some new Malaysian recipes. So I basically came out of what was essentially a 3-year sabbatical from mainstream live video platforms (I had been streaming on Twitch) and came back to Facebook and, by extension, YouTube.

This particular broadcast was actually the fourth in the series, though if I can clean up random tech issues with some of the earlier ones, I’ll upload them onto YouTube and share them here as well, when I find the time. (Pro tip: not generally a good idea to upload anything onto YouTube that has poor audio quality, unless you want to deal with trolls and downvotes.)

Facebook is a bit flaky in terms of showing my broadcasts or notifying people who have RSVP’d, so to make sure you catch them all, your best bet is to join my free Facebook group

Download the recipe for Crispy Noodles here >> Jackie M’s Lockdown Cook-Along Crispy Noodles Recipe

To get future recipes sent to your inbox, sign up to my email list via the form on this page

The post How To Cook Crispy Noodles With Sauce first appeared on Jackie M..

I still remember that time we ordered lobster yee mein (fresh lobster with fried wheat noodles and garlic, ginger and shallots) during lunch in Sydney’s Chinatown; it bumped our yum cha bill to just shy of $1000. We’re talking one lobster shared among the 4 of us, in case there’s any confusion. Thankfully, it was my younger sister, here on a flying visit from her overseas expat job, who paid for the meal.

For the rest of us non-Harvard-educated, non-expat-salaried types, however, here’s a way to indulge in this Cantonese classic without having to sell your kidney. My usual hack for this dish is to use a cheaper crustacean like blue swimmer or spanner crabs; right after Christmas however, I wandered into my local Woolies and saw a pile of cooked lobsters at half price – obviously leftovers from the Christmas trade. I picked up 2 of them (total $40), ate some as-is, and used the rest for lobster yee mein.

Couple of points to note –

• despite the lobsters being pre-cooked, the heads were full of “gao” – you know, that creamy orangey-yellow stuff – which infused the noodles with lots of flavour
• since they were already cooked, I didn’t need to drench the pieces with flour and flash fry” beforehand, but if your last name is Packer/Rhinehart/Lowy and you’re using live lobster, follow the first part of this recipe – https://jackiem.com.au/2018/08/14/how-to-cook-crab-with-yee-meen-noodles/

Lobster Yee Mein (Budget Version)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-2 medium-sized cooked lobsters, cut into pieces
• 2 cakes yee meen noodles, prepared per packet instructions
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3-4 inches ginger, cut into chunks and crushed
• 3-4 green shallots, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 TBSP oyster sauce
• 1 ½ TBSP chicken powder
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine (optional)
• 2L water or stock
• 1 TBSP tapioca flour + 1 TBSP water (optional)
• 2-3 TBSP oil

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in frying pan. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 2 minutes or until aromatic and slightly browned.
2. Add lobster pieces followed by Shaoxing wine.
3. Add all other seasoning ingredients plus water or stock.
4. Bring to a simmer, then add noodles.
5. Once noodles are soft, mix tapioca flour with a Tbsp of cold water, then stir in to thicken.
6. Adjust seasoning, remove from heat and serve.

The post How to Cook Lobster Yee Mein first appeared on Jackie M..

I’ve previously posted a couple of steamed fish recipes with preserved vegetables, and this is a variation on one of them; this time around, I’m using barramundi instead of silver perch (though, really, this would work with most white fish/fish fillets).

Since I get asked all the time, I’m also showing you the type of  “choy poh” ie. preserved radish that I use in this and in some of my other dishes (notably the Chai Tow Kway aka Char Kway Kak aka Fried Radish Cake that I used to sell).

It seems to me that most people who grew up in Chinese households think of one particular type of preserved radish ie. the super salty variety, when I reference the ingredient in any of my recipes.

That’s not the one I use; I get the Thai preserved radish that’s pre-minced, and which is slightly sweetened and much less salty.  These are some examples of what they look like, so keep an eye out for them next time you’re at your Asian grocery store –

The key thing is to look for the “Made in Thailand” product rather than the “Made in China” version; the latter is the uber salty choy poh (chye poh in Mandarin) your mom (and mine) uses in her Chinese home cooking, which requires rinsing and  which sometimes comes in finger-sized chunks.

Steamed Whole Fish with Choy Poh (Preserved Radish)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 x 700g whole barramundi, cleaned
• 1 stalk green onion
• 3 Tbsps minced preserved radish
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• 1 Tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 tsp chicken powder
• ½ Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce or preserved soya beans
• 2 TBS Shaoxing rice wine (optional)
• 200ml water
• 1 Tbsp oil

METHOD:

1. Fill steamer with water and bring to a boil.
2. Place green onion on a plate in steamer basket and arrange fish on top.
3. Steam for about 8-10 minutes, then remove from heat. Transfer fish to a serving dish, minus the juices from the steamer.
4. Heat up some oil in a saucepan, then saute ginger, garlic and preserved radish until garlic is lightly browned.
5. Reduce heat and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer, mix well, then remove from heat.
6. Pour sauce over fish and serve.

The post How to Cook Steamed Fish with Choy Poh (Preserved Radish) first appeared on Jackie M..

This is one of my favourite ways to cook prawns; it’s quick, easy, and uncomplicated, and it goes great with steamed rice. It’s based on my stepmom’s recipe, but the flavour is also somewhat influenced by my experience eating at the Vietnamese-run Urban Crayfish Station in Las Vegas a couple of years back.

This time around I used Australian Crystal Bay Prawns, which are popular among Asians who like to eat prawns whole, because the shells on this variety of prawns are soft. You may, of course, peel the prawns if you so wish, but even with other prawn varieties, we Asians do tend towards cooking them with the shells intact.

Spicy Garlic Prawns

INGREDIENTS:

300g fresh prawns, preferably shell intact & slit along spine

1 ½ TBSP minced garlic

2 tsps chopped fresh bird’s eye chilli or 1 TBSP chopped large chilli

2 tsps chicken powder or 1 tsp salt

Dash of pepper (optional)

Curry leaves (optional)

3 TBSPS ghee, butter or cooking oil

METHOD:

1. Trim prawn feelers, slit the shell along the spine (I use scissors) and devein.
2. Heat ghee/butter/cooking oil, then add minced garlic and saute for about 10 seconds.
3. Add chillies (and curry leaves if using) and fry a further 10 seconds.
4. Add prawns and fry on both sides until cooked, sprinkling chicken powder (or salt) and pepper halfway through.
5. Remove and serve.

The post How to Cook 5-Minute Spicy Garlic Prawns first appeared on Jackie M..

The fact that you need to deep-fry them is probably a bit of a turn-off for your average Australian cook, but as I often tell my Live Asian Kitchen audience, you don’t in fact need a deep-fryer to do decent deep-frying; a wok or pot filled with oil will work just fine.

The filling for this is the same as what I use for pulut panggang – those grilled sticky rice rolls wrapped in banana leaf that I used to sell back when I ran market stalls around Sydney. Essentially, we’re replacing sticky rice with steamed & mashed sweet potato kneaded into a dough with some flour, before dropping them into oil.

Cucur Badak

INGREDIENTS:

Dough:
500g sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
7 Tbsps plain flour
1 tsp salt

Filling:
3 Tbsps dried shrimp, soaked and drained
1 onion, quartered
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 Tbsps minced lemongrass (optional)
3 Tbsps sugar
⅔ Tbsp chicken powder
2 tsps belacan powder (optional)
⅔ cup desiccated coconut
1 Tbsp chilli crush
4 Tbsps oil

Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

1.  Steam sweet potato until soft, then mash. Allow to cool until it can be handled; add salt.
2. Add flour gradually and knead to form a soft dough.
3. Combine onion, garlic and dried shrimp in a food processor; mince.
4. Transfer to a saucepan and fry until most of the liquid has evaporated; add oil.
5. Fry until oil separates and onion caramelises. Add all other ingredients and fry until aromatic.
6. Allow to cool, then form into balls about 2cm in diameter.
7. Divide sweet potato dough into 1 ½ Tbsp portions.
8. Place dough on palm of hand, flatten slightly, then make an indent in the middle.
9. Place a piece of filling in the middle, then seal with dough.
10. Heat oil to between 160-180C; deep-fry evenly until they float and are a light golden brown.
11. Drain on paper towels, allow to cool, then serve.

My Twitch Live Asian Kitchen is supported by:

The post How to Make Cucur Badak (Stuffed Sweet Potato Dumplings) first appeared on Jackie M..

With a bit of digging, I found out that the Malaysian proprietor got his inspiration from some restaurant in Hong Kong that served cheesy lobster yee mein (fried egg noodles). Further research told me that the HK version, at least, was basically a glorified ginger and shallot noodle recipe with sandwich cheese slices added to the sauce. (yes I do mean those individually-wrapped cheese slices; we Asians aren’t cheese snobs, alright?)

So with all that information on hand, I decided to split the difference and make my version using (spanner) crab instead of lobster (too expensive) or prawns (the cheapo banana prawns in my freezer weren’t going to cut it for this dish).

The result was fine, but I’m a bit conflicted about whether I’d make it again; it seems a bit redundant to throw some cheese slices into a dish (crab with ginger and shallots) that I think is already pretty perfect as it stands.

Cheesy Crab Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

• • 2 mud crabs, cut into pieces (approx 1 ½ kg)

• • 2 eggs

• • 2 Tbsp tapioca flour (or cornflour)

• • Oil for deep-frying

• • 2 pieces yee mein noodles, soaked in hot water until soft, then drained

• • 10 garlic cloves, crushed

• • 3-4 inches ginger, cut into chunks and crushed

• • 3-4 green shallots, cut into 2-inch lengths

• • 1 ½ Tbsp oyster sauce

• • 1 ½ tsp chicken powder

• • ½ tsp pepper

• • 2 Tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine

• • 3-4 slices of cheese

• 1L water or stock

METHOD:

1. 1. Heat oil to 180°C.

1. 1. Drench crab pieces with beaten eggs and tapioca flour.

1. 1. Deep-fry for about 3 minutes. Remove and drain.

1. 1. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in wok. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 2 minutes or until aromatic and slightly browned.

1. 1. Add crab pieces followed by Shaoxing wine.

1. 1. Add all other seasoning ingredients plus water or stock.

1. 1. Add cheese slices, bring to a simmer, then add noodles.

1. 1. Mix well, and once it comes to a simmer again, mix remaining tapioca flour with a Tbsp of cold water, then add to wok.

1. Adjust seasoning, remove and serve.

My Live Asian Kitchen broadcasts are supported by the following –

The post How to Cook Cheesy Crab Noodles first appeared on Jackie M..