Savory Plantain Pancakes/Fritters

We can’t get good bananas here for frying like our goreng pisang back home. I tried using the regular Dole kind but they were not good for frying. They became so soft and watery once it hits the hot oil and it will start spattering all over. I tried it once and never attempt frying it again. Once awhile I will use plantain. Plantain is like our pisang tanduk and I usually slice it up and pan fried it with a bit of butter. This time I mashed it up and made it into pancakes like. Man, were they good. The pancakes were sweet and savory at the same time. Since plantain is pretty starchy you don’t need to add to much flour to it. I used only 3 tbsp of it.

Snowskin Mooncakes

Mid-Autumn Festival is just a few days away and is time to make some mooncakes. This year I just did the snowskin kind as I don’t have time to do the bake ones. I’ve been pretty busy with some orders and also social life. Have invites to gatherings most weekends. Anyway, I made these mooncakes for a Malaysian get together a couple of weeks ago and I just used back the same recipe from my previous one.

Chee Cheong Fun/Steamed Rice Rolls

One breakfast that I miss a lot from home is Chee Cheong Fun. Oh we can readymade CCF from the Asian supermarket but taste and texture is somehow not right. I like the one served at the dim sum place but it came with fillings which I like but sometimes I like it just plain and serve it with some sweet sauce.

I’ve tried making it before but not too happy with the results. So after tweaking and trying it out a few times I think I almost got it right. It is very close to the results that I wanted. It has a much softer, thinner, smoother and right texture. I also added a bit of spring onions to it for some color and flavor.

Soon Kueh/Bangkwan Kueh/Jicama Dumplings

Soon Kueh/bangkwan kueh is a very popular snack in Malaysian and Singapore. Tradionally the filling is made out of bamboo shoots but nowadays you can usually get the make from Jicama/bangkwan which I prefer. Added to is mushrooms, carrots or dried shrimps.

I grew up eating this savory kueh as my grandma, aunt and mom will made it over the weekend to feed our big family. My family made a lot of yummy kueh when we were growing up but I don’t think anyone ever write down any recipes. Everything ingredients are just an estimation or agak agak so this is not our family recipe. I try out this recipe from Rose Kitchen and it turn out pretty good.

Pork and Shrimp Shumai

Non - halal

Shumai is a type of Chinese dumpling, often associated with Cantonese cuisine. The half wrapped dumpling is filled with pork and shrimp and then steamed. You can find it serve at all dim sum restaurants.

I miss the Shumai from Malaysia which if full flavor and juicy when you bite into it. The shumai here is not very good. They were way too huge and don’t taste very good. I find some of it was too dry which I suspect they were being steam over and over again before serving it to the customers. That is why I hardly order it when I have dim sum. I’ve eaten a very good one though but it was in New York. So the best thing to do is make it myself. It was pretty good and the taste of this will do for me until my next trip home.

Banh Khot/Vietnamese Mini Savory Pancakes

I am so sorry for not updating my blog for over 2 weeks. I have been very busy and also having some problem with my car too. It was stolen from my driveway and it totally stresses me out. Thank God the police found it and it was in pretty good shape. Now I have to deal with the insurance, the DMV and whole loads of paperwork to be done before I can drive the car again. Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with all the details.

Now let’s talk about Banh Khot. Banh Khot is a mini sized rice cake that is fried and served with fresh lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce. I’ve eaten Banh Khot from a Vietnamese restaurant in PA and really like it. What I love about this snack is the crispy texture on the outside and soft and tender in the middle. To eat it you take a piece of the banh khot, place it in a bed of lettuce and herbs, a bit of the pickle carrot, wrapped it up and eat it. It is crispy, sour, sweet, salty and spicy at the same time. Really satisfying!!

I bought a Banh Khot/Ebelskiver pan from Amazon last year so I thought I try to make this at home. It turns out pretty well but not as crispy as the restaurant ones. I think it’s because I used too little oil to the pan when I was frying it. The last batch I added a bit more oil to it and it did turn out crispy. The Asian supermarket does sell the ready mix banh khot flour and you can use that. Since I am too lazy to drive out to buy it, I just goggle for the recipe. As for the dipping sauce I added some carrot to the dipping sauce as this way I don’t have to pickle the carrot separately. I serve mine with only lettuce since I don’t have any fresh herbs in my fridge but you can have it with any type of lettuce and fresh herbs.

Shrimp and Carrot Fritters

I love fritters of any kind. They were great for afternoon tea or even breakfast. I prepared this batch for fritters when my friend Nini’s came over for afternoon tea. We had it with some Chinese tea from Teavivre – Tea for Life . They sent me some sample packets to try out a few weeks ago. We tried out the Jasmine ‘Dragon Pearl’ Green Tea. When I opened the packet I can see the unopened bud and small leaves in it. I understand that the tea leaves were hand rolled into small pearl shape, which will slowly unfurl during brewing. The flavor is so delicate and light, with great aroma of sweet jasmine and faint hint of green tea. You have to drink this tea slowly to savor all the delicate taste.

Now let's get back to the fritters. I’ve made a lot of fritters but I think by far this is the best tasting one as the fritters came out crunchy and with a bit of sweetness from the grated carrot. It goes really great with a cup of tea. What a great way to cleanse the palette.

Chinese Style Prawn Fritters

I made these last year when a couple of friends came over for tea. I like this thin kind of fritters as it is much crispier. I used the recipe of Nasi Lemak Lover but I replaced the chives with spring onions and add a bit of pepper to the batter. It turns out really good and it was well received by my friends.

Steamed Savory Yam (Taro) Cake/Orr Kueh

I am a big fan of yam but I don’t buy it too often it can be quite costly at time. Usually it is around $1.79 - $1.99 a pound and if you buy the vacuum pack peel kind it is about $3.59 a pound. It happen it went on sale a few weeks ago and it was selling at $0.99 a pound so a bought a huge tuber. I used some to cook bubur cha cha and Taro Puffs (recipe coming soon) the rest for this yam kueh. The yams sold here are all good as I have yet to find a bad one. It has a powdery texture and it is really good to make yam kueh. I like a lot of yam in it so I added a bit more to it. Please be cautious when handling yam. I would advise you to wear gloves as it might cause some skin irritation.

Coconut Buns/Cocktail Buns

This is by far my most favorite soft buns to buy from the Chinese Bakery. I will always get a few to last me for a week. I am a fan of coconut and anything with coconut in it I will eat it. The coconut bun or cocktail buns (gai mei pau) is very popular in Hong Kong. It is a soft sweet bun and with rich buttery coconut filling in it. You can read the history of the cocktail bun here .

I did it slightly different. Instead of having the coconut filling on the inside I like the filling to be exposed on the outside. I just love the look of the tiny sparkles of coconut after baking it. They look so pretty. As for the dough it is just regular sweet bread dough and it is not as soft the next day like the tangzhong method dough but you can just warm it up in the microwave for 15 seconds and they will be soft again and taste just like freshly baked right out of the oven.

Traditional Cantonese Mooncakes

Is Mid Autumn Festival again and every year the festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month according to the Chinese calendar. This year Mid-Autumn festival falls on September 8th. I am feeling really homesick especially during the traditional festival where my family will get together to have dinner. Our family groups are getting smaller as most of my nieces are away from home either working or studying overseas. Anyway my heart will always be with my family even though we are thousands of miles apart.

I actually have no intention of making these mooncakes but after looking at the prices of mooncakes sold here I just can’t bring myself to buy any. The cheapest box of 4 pieces cost over $20.00 and they are mostly from China. The one from Hong Kong cost over $40.00 a box. I can’t bring myself to pay this kind of money for it. So I decided to make some myself this year.

Chinese Glutinous Rice Rolls/Fan Tuan

This is a Taiwanese breakfast rice rolls. You can find some street vendors selling at near the bus stations or along the busy road side. In Chinese it is called ‘Fan Tuan’ it is compacted roll of glutinous rice that’s filled with eggs, fried dough (Chinese culler) meat and etc… It looks like a Mexican Burrito. The rice roll is roll up in a plastic wrap so you can eat it on the go. The first time I tried this was at a Taiwanese restaurant at Foster City. There were pretty good. This restaurant only serves this kind of breakfast on weekends. It is eaten with warm soy bean milk.

Anyway I am trying to replica it at home. I am doing the version that I’ve eaten before but I understand in Taiwan they do serve different kind of fillings so I guess you can basically put anything you want in it.

Baked Panko Parmesan Zucchini Crisps

My two zucchini plants have been giving me a few zucchini and since Carlos is not a fan of it I have to find ways to finish them up all by myself. I put them in my Korean pancakes, my curries and make it into this healthy snack. I coat them in panko breadcrumbs as they are much lighter and give the zucchini much crispier texture. They are great as snack, appetizer or side dish to any burger meal. This is much healthier than potato chips because they’re baked and not fried. Since I had it as snack I did make a dipping sauce to go with it but you can use any type of dipping sauce of your choice.

Baked Scallion/Green Onion Pancakes

Crispy, flaky, and savory scallion pancakes are one of our very favorite Chinese restaurant treats. This Chinese pancake is very much like the Indian parathas and other type of flatbreads. When I saw these pancakes at Seasaltwith Food website I know I just have to try it out as they look so fluffy and crispy. Best of all it was baked and not pan fried. I’ve done this before but it is without the yeast so the pancakes were much denser. True to how Angie’s described it. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Do hop over to Angie’s website to check out her step by step video on how to make this.

Rose Shape Steamed Buns

I love making home-made buns and usually make a large batch of it and freeze them up. The filling can be savory or sweet and it all depends on what I have in hand or sometimes just some plain ones like these to eat it with some stew pork. I am not too comfortable eating store bought buns or mantau as I know they put ammonia and other additives to it in order to keep them soft. No doubt these buns do harden a bit when it cools down but you can always steam them up again before you eat it. They are as good as new. These soft and fluffy steamed buns can be eaten plain, with your favorite spread or with any gravy. They are best served hot, straight out from the steamer.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

I made this the first week I arrived back to the USA. This is one particular dish that reminds me a lot of home. I grew up in Kajang. Kajang is a small town in the state of Selangor that is famous of its Satay. You just have to mentioned Satay and many people will tell you that Kajang serve the best satay. There are quite a few of Satay restaurant in Kajang but I still like the satay from Restoran Malaysia.

What sets their satay apart from the rest? It is because they don’t use chicken skin or fatty bits in their satay. I hate biting into them when I have my satay. They also serve the traditional ketupat (rice cakes in coconut leaf casings) instead of nasi impit (compactly pressed rice cut into cubes) to accompany the satay. Anyway, I am sure the ingredients used to marinate their satay are well guarded secret but you can find many recipes online now. I adapted this recipe from MamaFami with minor changes.

Salmon Onigiri/Japanese Salmon Rice Balls

Onigiri is Japanese rice balls. In Japan you’ll find onigiri in supermarkets and convenience stores. Usually shape in round or triangle with finely chopped pickles, fish, meat, vegetables in it. Packed into a lunch bag, they are filling, nourishing and easy to eat on the go, whether you're on the road headed out of town or packing for a picnic. I usually make this when I have leftover sushi rice or fish or whatever I have in hand. You can basically put anything in it…. The sky’s the limit.

Purple Sweet Potato Angku Kuih/Steamed Purple Glutinous Rice Cake

It has been a long while since I last made this kuih/cake. I’ve been having huge craving for the past few weeks and finally made some. I freeze some of it up in case of future craving. The name “angku kuih” or in English translates as “red tortoise cake” is a type of traditional glutinous rice cake with mung bean fillings that’s made into an oval shaped like the back of a tortoise. This kuih/cake is usually used for prayers, during birthdays or baby full moon because it’s symbol of longevity. Normally made with red coloring but I decided to make it with natural color of purple using purple sweet potatoes. The recipe I am using here is the same one that I used before. You can check out some of the step by step pictures here .

Snow Skin Mooncake with Mung Bean Filling

Mid autumn celebration is just around the corner and I’ve seen so many bloggers posting mooncakes. I too get excited and eager to try my hand in making Snow skin mooncake or also known as crystal mooncake. Since I still have a packet of cooked glutinous rice flour in my pantry I decided to make some last week. I just love the moulds that Ann helps me to purchase from Singapore. Don’t you think they are very pretty?

This is my first time making it so it didn’t turn out too well. The texture of the skin is not as smooth as I wanted it to be. I blame it on the glutinous rice flour that I purchase here as I find the texture a bit too coarse. Nevertheless, it tasted ok. Since I am not a fan of snow skin mooncake, I tried a piece and took the rest to my workplace. Everyone seems to like it a lot.

 

Curry Flavor Fried Oyster Mushroom Fritters

I bought some fresh oyster mushroom from the Asian store recently not knowing what to do with it. I remember seeing a few recipes of fried mushroom at Elin’s blog and decided to check them out. I settle for this batter recipe as it looks really crispy. I double up the recipe and added some curry powder to the batter to give it an extra kick. Like Elin said, the mushroom was crispy and crunchy on the outside and chewy and moist on the inside. Do give it a try, it is really good.