One of the Chinese New Year goodies I love to eat is mini spring rolls filled with bits of pork, chicken, or shrimp floss. They are the crispiest munchies for the festivities and my nieces love making them as they always have so much fun assembling, rolling, frying, and then eating the mini spring rolls. I am happy that my contributor Siew Loon volunteered to share her recipe. The best time to make them is now so they remain crunchy for the New Year. Enjoy!
It is 2 weeks before the we usher in the year of the Dragon. I have been busy with spring cleaning and also listing out the goodies which I would like to bake. As usual the demand for Pineapple Tarts, Butter Cookies, Peanut Cookies and Mini SpringRolls top the list. MiniSpringRolls have always been a very popular savoury snack as it is light and crispy.
I have always liked the mini spring rolls with chicken or pork floss filling as it is tasty and easy to do. Of course you can wrap it with any filling of your choice like Dried Prawn Cili (Sambal Heh Bee) or ground peanuts if you like it to be a sweet snack. This is an easy to do snack and eat it fresh. Do not keep too long as it will lose its crispiness.
The holidays season might be over but for those celebrating Lunar New Year, the festive season has just begun. (The year of Dragon falls on January 23, 2012.) Walk down the aisles of Asian grocery stores, especially Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese here in the United States, you’ll see lots of Lunar New Year goodies out on display. This year, I™m going to share a series of delicious Chinese New Year recipes so you’ll be able to prepare a full course Chinese menu with my recipes!
Chicken is a must-eat during Chinese New Year. Whole chicken is especially auspicious and it’s prepared for prayers to the ancestors in traditional Chinese homes. While regular boiled or steamed chicken is a common dish to serve, Im partial to roast chicken, especially Cantonese BBQ style. My roast chicken is the kind you would get at Chinatown. There are certain techniques and secret ingredients involved to get to the desired taste and texture. I marinated the chicken overnight, and then air dry it for a few hours before roasting. I also created a special concoction for the skin to ensure crispiness. The best part of the roast chicken is the juice seeping out during the roasting process; drizzle the juice on steamed rice while you sink your teeth into the moist and tender pieces of chicken. This Chinese-style roast chicken is simply delicious and imparts the signature “烧腊” (Cantonese BBQ) aroma and flavors. You definitely have to check out my secret Chinese roast chicken Recipe.
Lunar New Year celebration lasts for 15 days, so below are more chicken recipes to whet your appetite. Also, don’t forget that I have 80+ Chinese recipes in my cookbook “Easy Chinese Recipes.” Pick up a copy today and celebrate Dragon year with scrumptious and authentic Chinese food. You can also refer to this Chinese recipes index on Rasa Malaysia.
Recently, my friend told me that I should be sharing more everyday recipes on Rasa Malaysia—meaning homey recipes that can be served on a constant basis. Truth be told, I cook and eat mostly everyday dishes at home. I mean, blog aside, most of the recipes I make are humble, everyday dishes that you will want to eat over and over again, without ever getting bored. Clay pot chicken with mushroom is one of them. I don’t know why it has taken me this long to share this wonderful Recipe; I guess the notion that it is not that visually appealing is the main reason.
Anyway, during winter months, I use my clay pot almost once a week. I have so many recipes that can be easily prepared in a clay pot, for examples: Taiwanese 3-Cup Chicken, Sesame Oil Chicken, Cantonese Beef Stew, Malaysian Yong Tow Foo, Curry Fish Head, Bak Kut Teh, pork belly in soy sauce, and braised pork ribs with daikon. Clay pot is without a doubt one of my favorite kitchen utensils. The thought of something stewing, braising, and simmering in this kitchenware is enough to stir up my appetite.
Clay pot chicken with mushroom is a very versatile dish. You can throw in extra ingredients to dress up this humble dish—carrot, daikon, onion, or even Cantonese lap cheong (sausage). Either way, the taste is remarkable and the sauce is great with a bowl of soft, fluffy steamed rice.
(Click Page 2 for the Clay Pot Chicken with Mushroom Recipe)
As you might have guessed, my favorite region in the whole world is Asia. And of all Asia, my favorite island is Penang, my hometown, and my second favorite is Bali, Indonesia. I love Bali”its lush green fields, Hindu temples, rolling highlands, sandy beaches, rich culture, and friendly people. Ive been there a few times and wish to learn more about its cuisine. I’m so happy to come across Cooking Tackle, an Indonesian food blog by Ira, based in Bali. Cooking Tackle is a visual eye candy. I absolutely love the exotic recipes and mouthwatering food photography. The blog is simply delicious! Please welcome Cooking Tackle and Ira to Rasa Malaysia, with a traditional Balinesechicken, or ayam pelalah Recipe.
Although the sky for the most part is grey here in Bali recently, it doesn’t mean that I’m lack of motivation. In fact, cooking has always been an enjoyable experience, so you could imagine how excited I was when I received an email from Bee, inviting me to be a guest writer on Rasa Malaysia.
We discussed the recipe via email and I proposed a Balinese recipe to showcase Balinese cuisine to Rasa Malaysia readers. I was very happy that both Bee and I liked the idea. To be honest, I take this guest post as the perfect opportunity to share my passion for Balinese cooking with the many readers on Rasa Malaysia, especially to those who are not familiar with Bali and its interesting cuisine. I’d like to thank Bee for the honor to be here. I feel privileged to be able to share my humble recipe here.
Let me introduce myself: M name is Ira, an Indonesian woman who lives in the island of the God, the island of a thousand temples—Bali. Bali is genuinely beautiful; it’s a magical island to many people who have visited it. Bali is the island chosen by God, by its people…it’s exotic and heavenly!
I’m sharing a recipe of Balinese food today. Balinese chicken or ayam pelalah is a traditional and authentic Balinese dish, an everyday dish as well as a ceremonial staple. It™s basically shredded chicken. The chicken is first grilled and then tossed with many aromatic Balinese spices. It’s one of the most scrumptious Balinese recipes and it’s iconic to Bali. Ayam pelalah is commonly served as a side dish or as a compliment for nasi campur Bali or Balinese mixed rice.
The general assumption is that Balinese cooking is tedious and takes a long time to prepare. However, I believe that if you’re passionate about learning Balinese cuisine and have patience, you’ll never be hindered by this presumption. I personally think differently as cooking traditional Balinese food is like a sacred offering to the God—its the belief of Balinese Hinduism. However, I must warn you that Balinese food is spicy and calls for numerous spices in the preparation process, so it’s true that cooking Balinese food is a tedious process.
I learned about Balinese food when I attended a Balinese cooking class last year. I also own a couple Balinese cookery books. After the cooking class, I couldn’t wait to go home and started cooking Balinese food for my family. I was so excited to be able to make authentic Balinese dishes; it was a fun and wonderful experience. I was very lucky as I learned authentic Balinese cooking from a native. Nothing beats learning from native home cooks; they are the most humble, kind, and sincere people I’ve ever known. Since then, I’ve been cooking and experimenting authentic Balinese cooking at home.
(Click Pageł for the Balinese Chicken/AyamPelalah Recipe)
Malaysian cuisine consists of three main flavors: Malay, Chinese, and Indian. I have said it many times, but I love Malay cooking and only wished that I could eat more Malay dishes. Today, I have invited my friend Zurin from Cherry on a Cake to guest post and she shares my favorite Malay Recipe with us: Spicy Honey Chicken. Cherry on a Cake is a delicious food blog with many baking and savory recipes. The recipes are authentic and the food photography is pure eye-candy. Check out Cherry on a Cake and I am sure you will like it.
Like those before me I was ecstatic to be invited to guest post on Bee’s blog Rasa Malaysia. It is the food blog that every food blogger aspires to guest post on. Bee asked me if I would be interested. Was she kidding?! If there is a hole in my roof I think I just made it…
Hers is one of the first blogs I scrolled through in my early days of blogging and still follow silently because my jaw hangs each time I stop by. Everything seems professional, the recipes precise, the photography perfect and most of all her repertoire of dishes are endless. It was and still is sheer inspiration. And here I am now making my little mark and taking up a teeny space on the famous food blog of Rasa Malaysia. Imagine that!
Spicy Honey Chicken is quite akin to the Malay Ayam Masak Merah (red cooked chicken). In both, tomato ketchup is one of the main ingredients used. It is the Malay version of a Chinese sweet and sour chicken.
Ayam Masak Merah and Spicy Honey Chicken are relatively “modern” dishes. These two dishes go back only as far as the Western tomato ketchup became a popular condiment in our households and when, after much dipping, we decided to incorporate it into our cooking as an ingredient. Hence, the Ayam Masak Merah was born followed closely by Spicy Honey Chicken when honey too began to be used in our cooking.
So these were not dishes I grew up eating when I was a child. It was only in later years that it amassed popularity and became a dish that was discovered to pair well with a Rice Biryani or Nasi Minyak and was thus served at special occasions, particularly weddings.
Where most Malay dishes including Ayam Masak Merah (Red Cooked Chicken) use large amounts of onions or shallots to give sweetness and to bulk up the sauce Honey Spiced Chicken does not. This dish has very little sauce or gravy unlike a curry or sambal dish…which is quite uncharacteristic because sauce or gravy in our world serves only one purpose. To drown our rice in.
Lets face it. Rice. Is. Bland.
But I suppose we have compromised our love of sauce and sambal and have come to accept that little sauce is acceptable in some cases. And Spicy Honey Chicken is one of them.
To this recipe, however, I have departed a little by adding an extra ingredient—some lime juice—to balance out the sweetness from the honey.
Malaysian cuisine consists of three main flavors: Malay, Chinese, and Indian. I have said it many times, but I love Malay cooking and only wished that I could eat more Malay dishes. Today, I have invited my friend Zurin from Cherry on a Cake to guest post and she shares my favorite Malay Recipe with us: Spicy Honey Chicken. Cherry on a Cake is a delicious food blog with many baking and savory recipes. The recipes are authentic and the food photography is pure eye-candy. Check out Cherry on a Cake and I am sure you will like it.
Like those before me I was ecstatic to be invited to guest post on Bee’s blog Rasa Malaysia. It is the food blog that every food blogger aspires to guest post on. Bee asked me if I would be interested. Was she kidding?! If there is a hole in my roof I think I just made it…
Hers is one of the first blogs I scrolled through in my early days of blogging and still follow silently because my jaw hangs each time I stop by. Everything seems professional, the recipes precise, the photography perfect and most of all her repertoire of dishes are endless. It was and still is sheer inspiration. And here I am now making my little mark and taking up a teeny space on the famous food blog of Rasa Malaysia. Imagine that!
Spicy Honey Chicken is quite akin to the Malay Ayam Masak Merah (red cooked chicken). In both, tomato ketchup is one of the main ingredients used. It is the Malay version of a Chinese sweet and sour chicken.
Ayam Masak Merah and Spicy Honey Chicken are relatively “modern” dishes. These two dishes go back only as far as the Western tomato ketchup became a popular condiment in our households and when, after much dipping, we decided to incorporate it into our cooking as an ingredient. Hence, the Ayam Masak Merah was born followed closely by Spicy Honey Chicken when honey too began to be used in our cooking.
So these were not dishes I grew up eating when I was a child. It was only in later years that it amassed popularity and became a dish that was discovered to pair well with a Rice Biryani or Nasi Minyak and was thus served at special occasions, particularly weddings.
Where most Malay dishes including Ayam Masak Merah (Red Cooked Chicken) use large amounts of onions or shallots to give sweetness and to bulk up the sauce Honey Spiced Chicken does not. This dish has very little sauce or gravy unlike a curry or sambal dish…which is quite uncharacteristic because sauce or gravy in our world serves only one purpose. To drown our rice in.
Lets face it. Rice. Is. Bland.
But I suppose we have compromised our love of sauce and sambal and have come to accept that little sauce is acceptable in some cases. And Spicy Honey Chicken is one of them.
To this recipe, however, I have departed a little by adding an extra ingredient—some lime juice—to balance out the sweetness from the honey.
Malaysian cuisine consists of three main flavors: Malay, Chinese, and Indian. I have said it many times, but I love Malay cooking and only wished that I could eat more Malay dishes. Today, I have invited my friend Zurin from Cherry on a Cake to guest post and she shares my favorite Malay Recipe with us: Spicy Honey Chicken. Cherry on a Cake is a delicious food blog with many baking and savory recipes. The recipes are authentic and the food photography is pure eye-candy. Check out Cherry on a Cake and I am sure you will like it.
Like those before me I was ecstatic to be invited to guest post on Bee’s blog Rasa Malaysia. It is the food blog that every food blogger aspires to guest post on. Bee asked me if I would be interested. Was she kidding?! If there is a hole in my roof I think I just made it…
Hers is one of the first blogs I scrolled through in my early days of blogging and still follow silently because my jaw hangs each time I stop by. Everything seems professional, the recipes precise, the photography perfect and most of all her repertoire of dishes are endless. It was and still is sheer inspiration. And here I am now making my little mark and taking up a teeny space on the famous food blog of Rasa Malaysia. Imagine that!
Spicy Honey Chicken is quite akin to the Malay Ayam Masak Merah (red cooked chicken). In both, tomato ketchup is one of the main ingredients used. It is the Malay version of a Chinese sweet and sour chicken.
Ayam Masak Merah and Spicy Honey Chicken are relatively “modern” dishes. These two dishes go back only as far as the Western tomato ketchup became a popular condiment in our households and when, after much dipping, we decided to incorporate it into our cooking as an ingredient. Hence, the Ayam Masak Merah was born followed closely by Spicy Honey Chicken when honey too began to be used in our cooking.
So these were not dishes I grew up eating when I was a child. It was only in later years that it amassed popularity and became a dish that was discovered to pair well with a Rice Biryani or Nasi Minyak and was thus served at special occasions, particularly weddings.
Where most Malay dishes including Ayam Masak Merah (Red Cooked Chicken) use large amounts of onions or shallots to give sweetness and to bulk up the sauce Honey Spiced Chicken does not. This dish has very little sauce or gravy unlike a curry or sambal dish…which is quite uncharacteristic because sauce or gravy in our world serves only one purpose. To drown our rice in.
Lets face it. Rice. Is. Bland.
But I suppose we have compromised our love of sauce and sambal and have come to accept that little sauce is acceptable in some cases. And Spicy Honey Chicken is one of them.
To this recipe, however, I have departed a little by adding an extra ingredient—some lime juice—to balance out the sweetness from the honey.
(Originally published on 9/4/2006. Updated with new pictures.)
Malaysian Satay—those little skewers of meat with satay peanut sauce and ketupat (Malay rice cake) is a very popular dish in Malaysia. Walk down any street in the country and the mouthwatering aroma of satay exudes from practically every corner you pass: roadside satay stalls, hawker centers, pasar malam (night markets), kopitiam (Chinese coffee shops), and even high-end restaurants…
Of course satay is universally loved across Southeast Asia. (It’s commonly believed that satay is the region’s distant cousin to the Middle-Eastern kebabs, thanks to the spice route and the culinary influence of the early Arab traders.) However each country has their own interpretation for satay, influenced by their own unique food culture and distinct palate. For instance, Indonesian satay tend to be sweeter because of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) while the Thai satay is slightly less sweet since coconut milk is used instead…
No surprise then that Malaysian Satay is made with ingredients and spices commonly found in Malaysian cooking; shallots, lemongrass, turmeric powder (kunyit), and coriander powder. The basic Recipe calls for the cook’s meat of choice—be it chicken, beef, lamb, or pork—to marinate for many hours or even overnight so as to lock in the flavor. In addition to the peanut dipping sauce, Malaysian satay is served with ketupat, onions, and cucumber. Trust me, the taste of these side dishes complement each other exquisitely.
When I make chicken satay at home I often save time by using off-the-shelf satay marinate powder such as Ayam brand satay seasoning (aka “cheated“), but the existence of Rasa Malaysia has motivated me to try making everything from scratch, if possible. So I will admit to modifying the traditional and authentic Malaysian chicken satay recipe with a tint of kecap manis and Chinese oyster sauce substituting for salt and sugar. But as you can infer from these pictures, the end results were delicious. You can almost smell the enticing aroma of the chicken satay from your computer screen, can’t you?
