Cookies : Seaweed Crispies

Cookies : Seaweed Crispies

Recipe source :  Lily's Wai Sek Hong

These crackers are very crispy. One piece is usually not enough as they can be highly addictive once you start nibbling them. 

I made lots of these for Chinese New Year. Wash them down with hot Chinese tea. They go equally well with cold beer. 

Ingredients

10 pieces seaweed /nori sheets
20 sheets spring roll wrappers
2 egg whites, lightly beaten with 1/2 tsp salt for glazing
Oil for deep frying

Method

1.  Lay a piece of spring roll wrapper on the table.
2.  Brush with egg glaze.
3.  Place a sheet of seaweed on top of the spring roll wrapper.
4.  Brush another piece of spring roll wrapper and use this to place it on top of the other piece, sandwiching the seaweed in between two spring roll wrappers.
5.  Cut into pieces of 2 inches by 1 inch rectangles.
6.  Fry the rectangular pieces in hot oil until golden.
7.  Drain on kitchen towels.
8.  Store in air-tight containers. 

I am linking this post to My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies Jan/Feb 2015

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders 

and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

I am also linking this post to Cook and Celebrate CNY : 2015

Orgainsed by Yen of Eat Your Heart Out , Zoe of Bake For happy Kids and 

Diana of Domestic Goddess Wannabe

  

Fish and Pork Ball Soup 鸳鸯鱼丸汤

Fish and Pork Ball Soup 鸳鸯鱼丸汤

Recipe source :  Doris Choo

When I first started working I was posted to a small town. In fact it was not even a town, it was a small fishing village near the coast. Life was peaceful and quiet in the fishing village. I was lucky to have rented a room where the landlady cooked for the tenants as well. Luckier still, she was a wonderful seamstress and a great cook!

After work each day, my hobby then was to watch her prepare and cook dinner as we chatted on the day's events. That was a long time ago. 

This was one of the dishes she used to make and I just love it. 

Ingredients

300g fish paste
100g minced pork
20g tung-choi (chopped into smaller pieces)
200g choy-sam
500ml chicken stock 
500ml water 
1 egg, beaten
1/2 piece seaweed, tear into small pieces
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Choy-sum

Tung-choi

Laver or seaweed

Method

1.  Mixed fish paste with minced pork.
2.  Add in the tung-choi and beaten egg
3.  Wet your palms and form the mixture into balls and drop into a bowl of cold water.
4.  Heat chicken stock and water in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil.
5.  Add choy sum and the mixed meat balls (minus the water in the bowl) into the soup.
6.  The meat balls will sink to the bottom of the pot and when they float to the surface they are cooked.
7.  Add in seaweed and salt to taste.

Miso Soup 日本豆酱汤

Miso Soup 日本豆酱汤

 

Recipe source : Adapted from   Just One Cookbook

Ingredients

1 piece konbu
4 cups water
1 piece soft tofu, cut into small cubes
3 tbsp miso
2 tsp dried wakame

Instructions

1.  Use a damp cloth to wipe clean the konbu. Make a few incisions on the konbu.
2.  Soak konbu in 4 cups of water for 3 hours.
3.  Remove and discard the konbu after soaking. Strain the stock.
4.  Bring the dashi stock to boil. 
5.  Use a ladle and dissolve miso in the ladle before adding into the dashi stock. Make sure the miso is dissolved completely.
6.  Add in tofu cubes. 
7.  Add in soaked wakame.
8.  Ready to serve.

 Miso

 Wakame

Tofu

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  #1 Oct 2013 : Japan

hosted by Alan from Travelling-Foodies

I am linking this post to Mich from Piece Of Cake

who is hosting this month's Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October 2013 is Soy beans

The event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Pig Tail, Seaweed & Tofu Soup 猪尾海带豆腐汤

Pig Tail, Seaweed & Tofu Soup 猪尾海带豆腐汤

A traditional soup handed down from my father-in-law

 Ingredients

 

Pig tail and soaked seaweed

Soft tofu

Anchovies or ikan bilis as it is known locally in Malay

Ingredients

1 pig tail about 500g ( cut into 2 inches sections )
15g dried seaweed ( soak in water, clean and cut into strips )
1 piece soft tofu ( cut into chunky pieces )
10g anchovies a.k.a ikan bilis ( wash )
2.5 litres water
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Instructions

1.  Pour the 2.5 litres of water into a large pot. 
2.  Add in the cut pig tail pieces, seaweed, tofu and anchovies
3.  Use slow fire to boil till the pig tail is soft and about 1.5 litres of soup is left
4.  Add in salt to taste

Seaweed is believed to be a rich source of iodine

Fish Paste Strips Cooked In Soup

  Fish Paste Strips Cooked In Soup

Fish paste strips or "herr chek" in Teochew have a bouncy bite to them which is very tasty

There were plenty of fresh mackerel fishes in the wet market. I love to buy fresh mackerels as my whole family likes fish balls, fish paste and all the variations which can be made from fish paste. These past few weeks, SK has been geared up to make " herr chek" or fish paste strips. Today, I am sharing another recipes using the "herr chek" or  fish paste strips to make soup.

You can read up my blog on how to make "herr chek" or fish paste strips here

Ingredients

300g of fish paste strips ( "herr chek" in Teochew )
1 litre of chicken stock
2 Chinese rice bowls of water
1/2 of a round piece of seaweed
1 tsp of toong choy
1 tsp of shallot oil

Garnishing

1 sprig of Chinese celery

Cooking Instructions

1.  In a pot, add in 1 litre of chicken stock and two Chinese rice bowls of water. Let it boil
2.  When simmering, add in the herr chek and stir to make sure they don't stick together.  When cooked, the herr chek will turned white and float to the top.
3.  Add in the seaweed, toong choy and the shallot oil
4.  Garnish with Chinese celery.

Fish Maw & Fish Ball Soup 鱼膘鱼丸汤

Fish Maw & Fish Ball Soup 鱼膘鱼丸汤

 

See the fish balls ?....they need not be perfectly spherical

  

Growing up in the 50s and 60s we used to eat a lot of fish balls and fish cakes (yee pang) made from 100% fish even from the hawker stalls. But somewhere after the 70s things changed and the food available outside became commercialised and the tastes were never the same again!  Well, today you can rediscover the authentic taste of fish balls and fish cakes again. Here's how!

Ingredients :

400g Chinese Cabbage (Wong Ngah Pak)

30 pieces of fish balls

2 pieces of fish maw

1/4 piece of laver ( seaweed )

1 tbsp toong choy ( Chinese preserved vegetables )

1 tbsp fried shallot oil

2 litres of chicken stock

2 tsp salt, or to taste

 

Step-by-Step preparation

1. Fish Maw :  Boil the 2 pieces of fish maw in water until soft. Rinse thoroughly in water several times. Squeeze gently to remove the oil. Repeat the rinsing and squeezing until the the fish maw is clean. Cut into bite size pieces

before boiling in water

After boiling and cut into sections

      

2.  Laver or seaweed :  You need only a quarter piece of the seaweed shown here. Toast the laver over a flame very quickly, otherwise it gets burnt. Set it aside for use later.

Laver or seaweed

  3.  Toong Choy :  Scoop out 1 tbsp of  Chinese preserved vegetables or toong choy

Toong Choy

.

4.  Chinese cabbage :  Cut the Chinese cabbage ( wong ngah pak  ) into sections. Wash and soak the Chinese cabbage for a while then drain off the water.

Chinese cabbage

5.  Fish paste :  To make the fish paste,  you can click  here

Fish paste

6. Fish ball : to make the fish ball, get a handful of fish paste and squeeze through your thumb and forefinger as shown  below. Use spoon to scoop it and put it into a bowl of water

scoop out the fish ball once the round shape is formed

7. Shallot  oil :  Slice 1 shallot and fry the slices in 4 tbsp of cooking oil until fragrant and slightly brownish. Use only 1 tbsp of the fried shallot oil for this soup. You can keep the balance in the fridge for future use.

Cooking Method

1.  Put the 2 litres of chicken stock in a pot. and bring it to boil.

2.  Add in the Chinese cabbage and boil until the vegetable is soft.

3.  Add in the fish balls and the fish maw together

4.  Once the fish balls are cooked they will float to the surface.

5.  Add in the laver, toong choy and fried shallot oil

6.  Add salt to taste

Mouth-watering fish maw & fish ball soup