Yeung Chow Chao Fan 楊州炒飯 Fried Rice With Prawns, BBQ Pork And Peas A.K.A Special Fried Rice

As promised I am sharing with you a dish that many Chinese restaurant goers consider to be a must - have here in Australia.

Yong Chow fried rice is a Cantonese classic that is better known as "the special fried rice",  "number 21", "number 42", "number 66"... depending on which "palace", "inn", or "house" one frequents.

It is indeed a very special dish when it is done right, unfortunately it is often not the case when the dish turns up greasy or inferior ingredients are used.

Serve it on its own as we often do or you might want to have a "Chinese night" in by simply teaming it up with sweet and sour pork, beef in black bean sauce and lemon chicken.

serves 4 as a one dish meal or as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
3 tbs of cooking oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 spring onions (white parts only), chopped
300 g of banana prawns, peeled and roughly chopped
250 g of char siu, homemade or shop bought, diced
6 cups of cooked rice, cool if using freshly cooked rice
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
4 tbs of light soy
a dash of sesame oil
a dash of white pepper
3 spring onions, chopped

Prepare the ingredients and set aside.

Heat up the wok, using 2 tbs of oil lightly scramble the the beaten eggs, remove and set aside.

Heat up the wok again, saute the minced garlic and spring onions using the remaining oil. Add the prawns and cook until prawns are just cooked.

Return the scrambled eggs to the wok, add rice and mix well, stir fry on hi heat for a minute.

Add char siu and peas and mix well, stir fry on high heat for another minute. Season with soy, sesame oil and white pepper, add chopped spring onions and continue to stir fry for a further minute. Check for seasonings before serving.

Serve it on its own or as part of a Chinese meal.

Fu Pei Guen 腐皮卷 Beancurd Skin Rolls - Yum Cha Special 3

I told myself I must put up a post tonight and here you have it - another one of my must order items when visiting a yum cha restaurant.

As I mentioned in my last yum cha special installment, the ingredients of the filling for my fu jok guen is the leftover from my siu mai making. So make a bigger batch of the filling and you should be able to serve both items at your yum cha party without working out too much of a sweat. 

I am making this a very brief post... time to catch up on my reading. Happy cooking and see you soon.

P.S To my fellow blogger friends, I will drop by to say a quick hello when I have a little more time over the weekend :)

makes about 10

for the filling you'll need;

500 g of minced pork or chicken

250 g of banana prawns, shelled, chopped

8 water chestnuts or 1/2 can of bamboo shoots, chopped

2 spring onions (white parts only) minced

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

3 tbs of light soy

1 tsp of white pepper

2 tsp of sesame oil

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

1 egg white, lightly beaten

3 tbs of corn flour

you'll also need;

10 pieces of 8 x 8" beancurd skin

for the sauce;

1 tbs of cooking oil

1tsp of chopped garlic

1 tsp of minced ginger

1 cup of chicken stock

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

a tiny pinch of white pepper

corn flour solution for thickening

Place all ingredients for the filling in a large bowl and mix well.

To wrap the roll - Place a piece of the beancurd skin on a flat surface, use a damp cloth to wipe the beancurd skin to remove the excess salt and to soften the wrapper a little. Place about 3 heaped tbs of the filling in the middle of the beancurd skin.

Roll the beancurd skin over and fold the sides to form an envelope.

Roll tightly into a cylinder roughly 1.5" wide and 4" long. Brush a little egg white on the edge to secure the roll. 

Shallow fry beancurd skin rolls in batches until golden. Remove and drain well.

To prepare the sauce - saute garlic and ginger with cooking oil for a few seconds then add in the stock, cooking wine, white pepper. Allow it to come to a boil and thicken with a little corn flour solution.

Arrange half of the rolls in a shallow bowl, pour half of the sauce over, cover and steam over medium heat for 8 minutes.

Sprinkle with some spring onion julienne spring onions and serve as part of your yum cha at home.

Kerabu Kay, Nyonya Poached Chicken And Prawns Salad

Hello everyone! It has been almost 7 months since my last post and I am ready to come out from my all too long hiatus. 

A long hours and stressful job, daily gym routine and other works and projects on the side made me rather selfish with the little spared time I am left with - spending time with friends and love ones or catching up on my reading became my priorities for the last few months.

I have missed talking about food; one would have thought working in a kitchen gives me plenty of opportunity to do that but unfortunately that is not the case. A decision was made to modify my daily routine a little to enable me to start blogging about food again and I can already feel the joy of blogging as I type....

I posted a kerabu dish (Nyonya's answer to Thai yam or salad) a while back and this is another variation using chicken and prawns and dress with a slightly different dressing.

F.Y.I kay = chicken in Hokkien, unlike Nyonya dishes from other part of the country, those from Penang are often named in the Hokkien dialect rather than Malay.

serves 4 as part of a Malaysian meal

you'll need;

1 chicken breast (~350 g), poached, cooled and shredded

10 banana prawns, poached, peeled and halved lengthwise

15 green beans, finely sliced diagonally 

1 large shallot, peeled and sliced lengthwise

6 tbs of desiccated coconut, dry fried until golden

1 stalk of coriander, picked (optional)

for the dressing;

4 tbs of sambal belacan (see below)

1/2 a very juicy lime

2 tbs of sugar

2 tbs of coconut milk

a pinch of salt

sambal belacan;

200 g of dried chilies

80 g of toasted belachan

salt and sugar to taste

Prepare the green beans and shallot and set aside.

Prepare the chicken and prawns and set aside.

For the kerisik - dry fry the desiccated coconut in a pan over moderate heat, stirring constantly until it turns golden.

Prepare the dressing by mixing all the dressing ingredients in a bowl, taste for seasonings and adjust accordingly.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and pour the dressing over and mix well. Check for seasonings before serving.

A quick and delicious salad is ready.

Serve as part of a Malaysian meal or it will go very well as a snack with some cold beers.

Siu Mai 燒賣 Steamed Pork Dumplings - Yum Cha Special 2

For many, a yum cha meal is incomplete without ordering both siu mai (燒賣, steamed pork dumplings) and har gau (蝦餃, steamed prawn dumplings), the two most popular dim sums (點心, yum cha dishes) classics on offer. Lucky for us the former also happened to be the easiest to replicate at home, so it is only fitting that I share this with you as my second installment of yum cha special.

This is not the dim sims served at your local fish and chips shops but rather one that inspired the creation of the supersize deep fried version so familiar to most Aussies. In contrast these healthy steamed dumplings are  dainty and won't have you feeling guilty afterwards.

I have some leftover filling which I will turn into some equally delicious fu  pi guen (腐皮卷, beancurd skin rolls) so please stay tuned!

makes about 20

for the filling you'll need;

500 g of minced pork

250 g of banana prawns, shelled, chopped

8 water chestnuts, chopped

2 spring onions (white parts only) minced

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

3 tbs of light soy

1 tsp of white pepper

2 tsp of sesame oil

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

1 egg white, lightly beaten

3 tbs of corn flour

you'll also need;

20 wonton wrappers

prawn roe

Place all ingredients for the filling in a bowl and mix well.

Place a heaped tbs of filling on a piece of wonton wrapper, gather the edges around the filling.

Hold the dumpling between your index finger and your thumb, gently squeeze it to form a barrel shape dumpling.

Flatten both the top and the base and you'll get something like this. Repeat with the rest of the wonton wrappers.

Line a bamboo steamer with a piece of grease proof paper that has been pieced with holes, arrange dumplings in the steamer and top each dumpling with a small piece of prawn roe. Cover and steam over simmering water for around 15 minutes.

Serve the delicious siu mai with some chili sauce on the side.

Char Swee, Stir Fried Prawns And Cucumber With Vinegar Sauce

I don't start work until 4.30pm on Saturdays, however I do start my day very early to make use of my precious time off from work. If I am diligent enough, I would make a quick shopping trip and cook a simple meal at home for myself.

This is another everyday Nyonya dish I cooked during one of those very productive Saturdays.  It resembles a much more colourful and vibrant version of stir fried cucumber with prawns, a favourite childhood dish of mine, needless to say this is now a new favourite.

This refreshing sweet and sour dish is a great accompaniment to the other Nyonya dishes with big and complex flavours. Some recipes asked for liver and gizzard as well, feel free to chuck a few in if you are an offal fan.

F.Y.I - char swee = (炒酸) sour stir fry in Hokkien, unlike Nyonya dishes from other parts of the country, those from Penang are often named in the Hokkien dialect rather than Malay.

recipe adapted from Nyonya Flavours
serves 4 as part of a Malaysian meal
you'll need;
oil for cooking
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
400 g of banana prawns, shelled (retaining the tails)
2 tsp of sugar
1/2 a continental cucumber, peeled and seeds removed
1/2 a red onion, peeled and sliced
1 red chili, halved lengthwise, removed seeds and diagonally sliced
1 green chili, halved lengthwise, removed seeds and diagonally sliced
1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise and diagonally sliced

for the sauce;
150 ml of stock
4 tbs of white vinegar
1.5 tbs of plum sauce
1 tbs of sugar
salt to taste
1 tsp of white pepper
2 tsp of corn flour

Remove heads and shell prawns (save them for other uses), butterfly and removed the veins. Marinate prawns with sugar, rinse prawns before adding to the wok.

Prepare the cucumber, carrot and the rest of the ingredients.

Place all sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well, check for seasonings and adjust accordingly.

Saute garlic with 2 tbs of cooking oil in a hot wok and stir fry until is fragrant.

Add cucumber and carrot and continue to stir fry for another minute, add sauce mix, mix well and continue to stir fry until the sauce thicken.

Add onion and chillies and mix well, cook a little longer or until the onion is soften. Check for seasonings, it should be sour, sweet and savoury.

Serve as a part of a Nyonya or Malaysian meal with plenty of steamed rice on the side.

The crazy season has started, we decided a combined Nov/Dec roundup should work better for everyone during the busiest period of the year. I will be hosting the next event, so please send all your entries to me at sureshchong@yahoo.com . To find out more about MMM and on how to enter please click here

Geong Chung Har Kok 薑蔥蝦角 Ginger, Spring Onion And Prawn Dumplings － Yum Cha Special 1

At last we had a relatively low key Sunday for a change. I spent a better part of the day catching up with my reading and  composing new posts for the blog. When it was time to plan for dinner, Tummy suggested a yum cha favourite of ours that we always order at yum cha.

If you are a big yum cha fan like we are, the chances are you might be familiar with this delicious dish too. Steaming with a light sauce after deep frying the dumplings might sound weird to some but such a process creates the most agreeable texture and mouthfeel so prized in Chinese cooking.

I will share with you our other yum cha favourites in the near future, hopefully you'll be able to have a cosy yum cha lunch at the comfort of your own home soon.

P.S Another of my lovely reader turned up the the restaurant last night. It was a very nice surprise indeed, thank you again!

makes 12

you'll need;

500 g of prawns, shelled and roughly chopped

6 water chestnuts, roughly chopped

2 spring onions (white parts only), minced

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

dash of Chinese cooking wine

1 tbs of light soy

1 tbs of oyster sauce

1tsp of sesame oil

1/2 tsp of white pepper

1 tbs of corn flour

12 wonton wanton wrappers

oil for frying

2 spring onions, julienned 

3 slices of ginger, julienned

for the sauce;

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup of chicken stock

1 tbs of light soy

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

corn flour solution

Peel the prawns, reserving the heads and shells for curry laksa or prawn noodles.

Roughly chop the shelled prawns.

Place chopped prawns, water chestnuts, minced spring onion, grated ginger, seasonings and corn flour in a bowl and mix well.

Place ~ 1.5 tbs of the prawn filling in the middle of the wonton wrapper, gather all edges to form a plum dumpling. Repeat with the rest of the wrappers.

Fry dumplings in batches until golden.

To make the sauce - saute garlic with a little oil, add stock and soy and allow to come to a simmer, thicken with a little corn flour solution.

Place dumplings in a bowl that fit nicely in a steamer, pour the sauce over, top with julienned spring onion and ginger and steam over high heat for 5 minutes.

I served the dumplings as an appetizer with some Cantonese chili oil on the side.