I fillet the meat and use it in a variety of different dishes, including in stir-fried noodles à la Cantonese-style stir-fried beef with hor fun (kon chau ngau hor)

It’s worked out pretty well; the only difference between this batch made during a broadcast of my Twitch Live Asian Kitchen and when I’ve used beef in the past, is that I decided to add minced garlic to the recipe.

Stir-Fried Lamb Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

• 100g sliced lamb fillets 
• 1 tsp bicarb of soda 
• 1 tsp Chinese rice wine
• 1 tsp ginger juice
• Dash of pepper
• Dash of fish sauce
• 1 tsp tapioca flour

• 200g fresh rice noodles (wide-cut)
• 1 ½ tsps fish sauce
• 1 ½ tsps oyster sauce
• ½ tsp thick soya sauce aka cooking caramel
• Dash of chicken powder
• 1 stalk green onion, sliced into 3-inch lengths
• ¼ cup beansprouts or Chinese greens
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic
• Dash of sesame oil
• 2 Tbsps cooking oil
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

METHOD:

1. Marinate lamb with bicarb of soda + water for 5 minutes. Rinse with cold water and pat dry.
2. Add rest of marinade ingredients and mix well. Set aside for 10 minutes.
3. Heat ½ Tbsp oil in wok until it starts to smoke.
4. Add lamb and fry for about 1 minute, then remove.
5. Heat wok again without adding any oil, until it begins to smoke.
6. Toss in noodles and allow to scorch, adding a drizzle of oil.
7. Add garlic then fish sauce, and fry quickly. Add more oil as required.
8. Add lamb, oyster sauce, thick soya sauce and chicken powder.  Mix well, then add vegies, and pepper.
9. Adjust seasoning, then remove from heat. Add dash of sesame oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds (if using) before serving.

The post How to Cook Stir-Fried Lamb Noodles first appeared on Jackie M..

Loh Mai Kai (Cantonese for sticky rice with chicken) is traditionally steamed in rice bowl-sized moulds and eaten at breakfast; in this particular version, it’s steamed in a casserole dish. I’ve omitted the Chinese wax sausage since I don’t eat pork, but you’re more than welcome to use it; you just need to steam and dice it up and add it to the rice mixture.

This recipe was originally by Lim Bian Yam of the International School of Home Cookery in Malaysia, but I’ve heavily tweaked it to shorten the cooking time, and by using chicken rather than roast duck (I’ve never eaten or even seen this dish with anything but chicken).

Loh Mai Kai

INGREDIENTS:

450g glutinous rice
1 TBSP thick soya sauce
1 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP light soya sauce
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp chicken powder
450ml water
————————————————-
300g chicken thigh fillets, sliced
½ tsp five spice powder
1 ½ TBSP sugar
2 tsps chicken powder (or 1 tsp salt)
½ tsp thick soya sauce aka cooking caramel
1 TBSP ghee or lard
½ tsp pepper
———————————————–
3 water chestnuts, cut matchstick-style
6 Shitake mushrooms, sliced

Sauce:
Combine –
2 TBSP soya sauce
1 TBSP thick soya sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
1 TBSP sugar dissolved in 2 TBSP hot water
3 TBSP oil or lard

METHOD:

1. The original recipe called for the rice to be soaked for 4 hours with the thick soya sauce, then drained and steamed for 15 minutes before adding 170ml water and the rest of the ingredients and steaming it again until done. Personally, I just throw everything in a rice cooker and cook it without pre-soaking the rice.
2. Cook the chicken with its marinade until just done; about 2 minutes.
3. Toss in water chestnuts and sliced mushrooms and mix well.
4. Line a 20cm casserole dish with ¼ of the rice, then add ⅓ of the chicken.
5. Continue until all the rice and chicken are used up.
6. Steam on high heat for 15 minutes.
7. Remove and serve with sauce and bottled chilli sauce or homemade garlic chilli sauce.

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

The post How to Make Loh Mai Kai (Sticky Rice with Chicken) first appeared on Jackie M..

On my most recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I was reintroduced to a childhood favourite known in my hometown of Seremban simply as Hokkien Mee (Hokkien noodles). I bought it from a stall in Ampang run by Feh Loh (literally “Fat Guy” in Cantonese – that was what he called himself, I promise), asked for it to be made with no pork, and it ended up being the highlight of the KL Makan (Culinary) Mastermind where I took it to be judged that evening.

That experience taught me two things – 1) it reaffirmed my belief that Chinese hawker food can taste fabulous even without the use of pork (none of my pork-loving foodie friends realised it was pork-free) 2) I can simplify my own Hokkien Mee recipe by cutting out the oyster sauce, which was notably absent in Feh Loh’s cooking.

By the way, it wasn’t until sometime in my adulthood that I found out that Hokkien Mee means different things depending on which end of the Malaysian peninsula you hail from; in Singapore it refers to a pale-coloured, braised vermicelli plus egg noodle dish, and in Penang it means what we Southerners refer to as Har Meen, ie. soupy prawn noodles. (One day I should probably publish an encyclopedia of conflicting Malaysian food names and recipes and make it required reading for self-appointed food critics.)

Anyway, since then I’ve had to call it KL Hokkien Mee to distinguish it from all the other Hokkien Mees out in the culinary landscape.

KL Hokkien Mee is a dark-coloured, braised egg noodle dish, and most purists will tell you that the egg noodles used in it are not quite the same as what’s sold as “Hokkien noodles” (those yellow egg noodles you see everywhere) here in Australia. Some people think udon is a better match because it’s softer and chewier than Hokkien noodles, but store-bought udon noodles are a bit too thick in my opinion, hence why I like to make my own from scratch. The homemade noodle recipe is based on fellow Serembanian Lily Ng’s blog post on making udon – https://lilysbest.blogspot.com/2012/03/homemade-udon-noodles.html .

In this Live Asian Kitchen broadcast, I happened to be testing out my new kitchen toy, ie. an electric pasta machine, so I figured it’d be a good opportunity to try making these noodles in it. My past efforts had required cutting the noodles by hand, so using the machine helped speed up the process, even if the noodles came out thinner thanks to the mould.

Homemade Wheat Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups plain flour

2 ½ cups tapioca starch

3 tsps salt

1 ¾ cups water

Pot of salted water for boiling the noodles

Large bowl of cold water

Either –

Dough mixer + rolling pin/pasta roller + knife

Dough mixer + potato ricer

Electric pasta machine

METHOD:

1. Combine plain flour and tapioca flour in pasta machine or dough mixer; add water, then knead.
2. Roll out and cut noodles, or feed through potato ricer or pasta machine mould.
3. Bring pot of water to a boil.
4. Cook noodles until they are slightly translucent and start to float to the surface.
5. Transfer into bowl of cold water, then remove and it’s ready for use.

KL Hokkien Mee

INGREDIENTS:

4 prawns, peeled

4 slices fishcake

2 pieces squid

2 slices chicken

1 TBS minced garlic

250g wheat noodles

Some Chinese greens eg. Choy Sum (I used Baby Bok Choy because that’s what I had on hand)

Seasoning:

2 TBS cooking caramel (aka thick soy – I use Cheong Chan)

1 tsp light soya sauce

200ml chicken stock or water

1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp chicken stock granules

Dash of pepper

METHOD:

1. Heat up a wok until it smokes, then add about 2 tablespoons of oil.
2. Add garlic and saute briefly, then add prawns, fishcake, squid and chicken and cook for some 20 seconds.
3. Add noodles and all seasoning ingredients.
4. Simmer until thickened.
5. Add Chinese greens and cook a further 30 seconds; adjust seasoning.
6. Remove from heat and serve with fresh belacan (shrimp paste) sauce with calamansi lime.

My Live Asian Kitchen broadcasts are supported by the following:

The post How to Make KL Hokkien Mee With Homemade Noodles 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..

This recipe (as well as the next couple of duck ones) is from this Live Asian Kitchen broadcast >>

Ps. I know I’m not the most specific when it comes to recipe instructions, but my style of cooking doesn’t lend itself to exact measurements and steps, hence the videos

Chinese-Style Braised Duck with Mushrooms

INGREDIENTS:

Meat from ½ a duck (approximate size 2.5kg), cut into pieces

10 dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water and drained

5 cloves garlic, crushed

2” piece of ginger, crushed

1” piece cinnamon (optional)

2 star anises (optional)

2 dried chillies (optional)

2 Tbsps thick soya sauce (aka cooking caramel)

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

1 Tbsp soya sauce

1 Tbsp chicken powder

1 Tbsp sugar

1 L water or chicken stock

2 tsps tapioca starch + 1 Tbsp water

2 Tbsps oil

METHOD:

1. Heat oil, then add add garlic and ginger. Saute until lightly browned and aromatic.
2. Add duck pieces, sauces and seasoning ingredients. Saute another minute, then add water, star anises, cinnamon stick and dried chillies.
3. Simmer, covered until meat is tender and sauce is reduced. I did this step in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes.
4. Adjust seasoning to suit, then thicken sauce with tapioca starch mixed with a little water.
5. Serve with steamed rice.

If you want to find out about the Optimum PressureCook pressure cooker that you see in my live videos, visit www.prestigehomeappliances.com.au .

The post How to Cook Chinese-Style Braised Duck with Mushrooms first appeared on Jackie M..

There are 3 broad types of soya (aka soy) sauce –

1. 1. sweet soya sauce

1. 1. salty soya sauce – for this exercise I’ll call it “regular soya sauce”

1. thick soya sauce aka caramel sauce

Growing up in Malaysia, the soya sauces we used in my family’s kitchen were – salty soya sauce and dark (aka thick) soya sauce – that’s pretty much it.

We used sweet soya sauce for the chilli relish that was offered with the cut fruit we sold at my dad’s canteen at the Odeon cinema in Seremban. Beyond that I have no recollection of ever seeing my mom use sweet soya sauce for any of her cooking.

I have to mention that sweet soya sauce does get used a bit more in Malay recipes (my family is Chinese, in case there’s any confusion) but it’s still not as ubiquitous as what you’d find in Indonesian cooking. Sweet soya sauce is known as Kicap Manis in Malay and Indonesian.

My live broadcast discussing different types and brands of soya sauce.

I don’t know if growing up in Malaysia I was just too young to get the nuances of salty soya sauce or if the product has evolved into various sub-types over the years, but nowadays you might find “light soya sauce”, “soya sauce”, “salty soya sauce” or “dark soya sauce” on all kinds of different bottles. These all fit into the regular soya sauce category since their primary role is to provide saltiness to a dish.

The label “dark soya sauce” is problematic because I grew up knowing thick soya sauce as dark soya sauce (literal Chinese translation of thick soya sauce is “black soya sauce”). I know it’s not just me because lots of Asian and Malaysian recipes that call for thick soya sauce in fact list the ingredient as “dark soya sauce”.

It seems though that the term “dark soya sauce” has been hijacked and it can now refer to soya sauces that fit into the darker, richer spectrum of your regular soya sauce.

Rather than black and treacly, they’re just a few shades darker than the lighter coloured types, but their flavour is still predominantly salty and the consistency is still very thin i.e. they pour easily out of the bottle.

If I’m looking for thick soya sauce at the shops and see a bottle labelled “dark soya sauce”, I tilt the bottle to see if the content tips easily – and that’s how I know whether it’s in fact thick soy or just a dark version of the regular variety.

I’m almost certain (I’m too lazy to research it fully) that the term “cooking caramel” which is what is on the Cheong Chan thick soya sauce label is a fairly new adoption. I always knew it as dark/thick soya sauce and that’s what the recipes I grew up with referred to it as. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a traditional Asian recipe that refers to the ingredient as caramel sauce.

I still instinctively call it thick soya sauce but I do remember to self-correct and explain it’s labelled cooking caramel or caramel sauce (which confuses people who associate caramel sauce with ice cream toppings).

Clear as mud, huh?

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The post Soya Sauces (30 Days 30 Asian Ingredients Series Day 1) first appeared on Jackie M..