Meat Ball Tempra

This is where East meets West. I mean Swedish Meat Balls (from IKEA) in Peranakan Tempra Gravy. This tempra dish used to be cooked by my M-in-L. She would deep-fry slices of mackeral and cook them in tempra gravy. I like this tangy sweet gravy in my rice.

This is what I used:

12 meatballs, fried till golden brown or oven-baked

1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tomato, quartered
1 chilli, sliced

2 tablespoons dark soya sauce
2 tablespoons light soya sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
400 ml water
1 tablespoon vinegar
Oil to saute the onion and garlic

Cornflour or food thickener (I used Hormel Instant Food Thickener)

What I did:

1. Saute onion and garlic for 2 or 3 minutes.

2. Add in water, both sauces,chilli, vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil.

3. Add in meatballs and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the thickener and simmer for a minute. Serve hot.

Ayam Kunyit

Last Friday, my grandson wanted the 'yellow gravy' over his rice for lunch. He told me that he likes it. I promised him I would cook it next Friday which is today.

Ayam Kunyit is a family favourite. This is one of my mum-in-law's 'agak-agak' recipes. Like her, I also cook the agak-agak(estimated) way. But for the sake of my daughters and friends who read my blog (I hope so), I took the time to measure the amount for each ingredient used. The method of cooking is just to 'dump' everything in and cook! That's how easy it is!! :)


Ingredients:

1.5 kg chicken, cut into choice size

400g peeled onions or about 5 medium-sized onions
30g turmeric (kunyit) or 3 1/2 pieces (see pic)
2 stalks lemon grass (serai), sliced thinly (picture shows the length required)

1 stalk lemon grass, bruised (use a pestle to knock the stalk)
4 to 5 kaffir lime leaves

From 1 1/2 fresh coconut, 1 cup thick coconut milk and
3 cups second coconut milk

OR

800 ml coconut cream from packet
1 to 2 cups water

salt to taste


Method:

1. Grind onions, lemon grass and turmeric together till fine and put into a pot.

2. Add water and bruised lemon grass and bring to a boil.

3. Once mixture is boiling, add the chicken and half of the coconut milk or cream.

4. Stir to mix and bring to a boil till chicken is about cooked, then add the rest of the coconut milk and boil till chicken is done. Add in the kaffir lime leaves, cover and remove from stove.

5. Serve with sambal belachan and rice.



Picture shows the exact portion of ingredients.


The chicken looks 'naked' because I removed the skin.

The layer of oil came from the coconut milk. If coconut milk is boiled too long, it becomes oily. I overboiled after adding the coconut milk because I was interrupted and that led to my giving the dish a double dose of salt. To salvage it, I had to use a small packet of coconut cream with a little water. Thank goodness it didn't taste so salty! Btw, the gravy should be thickish and not watery.

"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!

Chicken Pongteh

Another of my Mother-in-law's "agak, agak" recipe which I prepared today because I was feeling rather energetic after cooking Kuah Lada and I wanted to cook something for my daughter and her family. It's another Peranakan dish but this recipe has been tweaked to suit my husband's palate. He doesn't like the strong smell of certain spices that go into this dish. Hence I used them sparingly so that it not easily detectable.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut to serving sizes
3 to 4 heaped tablespoons taucheo (preserved mashed soya bean paste)
4 to 5 large onions
3 cloves garlic
1 part of a star anise
1 cm long cinnamon stick
Water
Sugar to taste
2 to 3 carrots, cut into chunks (can add more)
2 to 3 potatoes, cut into chunks (can add more)
1 teaspoon dark soya sauce

Method:

1. Grind onions and garlic together.
2. Put onions, garlic and taucheo in a pot and stir fry for a minute with a little oil.
3. Add in carrots and some water, bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add in the potatoes and chicken and add enough water to cover.
5. Bring to boil and then simmer till chicken and potatoes are cooked.
6. Add dark soya sauce and sugar to taste.
7. Serve with sliced fresh green chilli.

The gravy should be thickish. This dish can be eaten with bread/French loaf.

Kuah Lada

Kuah Lada is one of my husband's favourite dishes. The first time I had this dish was at my mother-in-law's place (I called her Auntie then) way back in the early 1970s. I acquired from her recipes of my husband's favourite dishes which I will be sharing by and by. There weren't any specific measurements of the ingredients required to cook the dishes. Everything was "agak, agak". I could jot down only the names of the ingredients. The rest was up to me to "agak, agak." The proof that I could cook just as well as my mother-in-law (ahem!) was a second helping of rice whenever I cooked those dishes for my husband.

Ingredients:

600g stingray, cut into serving pieces
2 long bringals, cut to size and soaked in salt water

Spices to be ground:
Galangal, 2" diameter, 1.5" long
Turmeric, 1 thumb length
Lemon grass, 1 stalk sliced
6 medium-sized onions
4 cloves garlic
1 heaped teaspoon belachan
10 candlenuts

Enough tamarind water strained from 4 heaped tablespoons tamarind to cook
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Salt and sugar to taste
Oil

Method:

1. Pour a little oil and stir fry spices and black pepper for 2 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add in fish and brinjals and gently stir fry for a few minutes.
3. Add in enough tamarind water to cover fish and brinjal and bring it to a boil.
4. Then simmer till both fish and brinjals are cooked.
5. Add salt and sugar to taste. The gravy should not be too watery.

This tangy dish is best eaten with sambal belachan. Yum, yum!