"Chap Chye"

I Did It My Way - I cooked 'chap chye' or mixed vegetables the way it would be palatable and acceptable to my family.

There are many recipes to this dish. It all depends on which dialect group one comes from. When I was a kid, my grandmother would cook the Cantonese style chap chye. My mum was a Hokkien and she cooked her style of chap chye. I never got to cook their style of chap chye because I prefer the peranakan style.

Although a number of ingredients go into this nonya chap chye, my version omitted some of them like the black fungus, bean curd skin and mushrooms.



Ingredients:

250g cabbage, sliced to preferred size
1 carrot, sliced
About 25 dried lily buds, soaked in hot water to soften
3 pieces sweet bean curd, cut ( see pic )
1 roll vermicilli (tang hoon), soaked in water

3/4 tablespoon mashed soya bean paste (tau cheo)
5 cloves garlic, minced
200 ml prawn stock
2 tablespoons cooking oil


Method:

1. Wash lily buds and nip off the hard tip. Soaked vermicilli and cut it shorter.
2. Heat oil and fry garlic and tau cheo for a couple of minutes.
3. Add drained lily buds and carrot. Stir fry till well-mixed.
4. Add prawn stock and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. If carrot is slightly soft, add cabbage and bean curd slices and simmer. Add water if required.
6. When cabbage is about done to preference, add in the vermicilli and some water. Vermicilli tends to soak up the water. Simmer for a few minutes and it is done.

You don't have to add any seasoning as tau cheo is salty and the carrot provides the sweetness.
You can also tie the lily buds into a knot before cooking to give it a nicer look.
Other ingredients such as tau kee, black fungus or mushrooms can be added.
Lastly, chap chye goes well with sambal belachan! Yum!