Prawn Fritters (Cucur Udang)

PRAWN FRITTERS (CUCUR UDANG)
A recipe from Rohani Jelani with slight adjustment 

Ingredients

For the fritters:

150 g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt 

¼ tsp tumeric powder (you can add more for extra aroma and flavour)

50 g onion, sliced thinly
30 g carrot, finely shredded
30 g Chinese chives, cut into 4 cm lengths
150 g prawns, shelled and de-veined
1-2 waterchestnuts, chopped into small cubes
200 ml water 

For the chilli sauce:

6 fresh red chillies (120g), sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2-3 Tbsp tomato ketchup
2 Tbsp water

Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the onion, carrot, Chinese chives and prawns. Stir in water and mix well.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or shallow pan on medium heat. Test by placing a small drop of batter into the oil – if it sizzles, the oil is ready. Drop tablespoonfuls of batter into the oil, leaving at least 1 cm of space between them. Fry until lightly puffed and golden brown on both sides. Drain well in a wire basket. Fry fritters in batches until all the batter is used up.

3. Meanwhile, measure all the ingredients of the chilli sauce into an electric chopper/blender and blend finely. Transfer into a small bowl. Serve the fritters hot or warm, accompanied with chilli sauce.

With the added of chopped waterchestnuts, there's some crunch in the texture when bite; and it taste good too.

Fried Shrimp Balls

I have one big bag of tiger prawns left over which supposed to cook for the CNY dinner but due to I have been unwell, I have not done any cooking since.

Well, instead of cooking my usual sweet and sour prawns or sambal prawns, I have chosen to use Nami's Fried Shrimp Balls again because I just love the crisp of the fried panko.

Fried Shrimp Balls

Recipe sourced from Nami of JustOneCookbook

Ingredients

1 medium onion

1 tbsp oil

650g black tiger prawns, peeled and deveined

1 tbsp corn starch

1.5-2 inch ginger

3 stalks spring onion

2 small eggs, separate into egg whites and yolks

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1.5 – 2 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp Sesame oil

1 Cup Panko or breadcrumbs

Oil for deep frying

To Serve with:

Ketchup

Salt & white ground pepper

Instructions:

* Do hop over to Nami's Fried Shrimp Balls on the method to prepare and deep fry this Shrimp Balls as well as to view her tutorial photos.  

 Itadakimasu!

Do you like Fried Shrimp Balls?

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for March 2014 is Prawn

Hosted by Moon from Food Playground

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

 

 

 

"Goong Sarong" (Deep Fried Prawns Wrapped In Vermicelli)

This month (November) Asian Food Fest No. 2 has landed to the country of Thailand.  There are so many dishes I would like to try out too and hopefully I will be able to share out some post on Thailand cuisine.

Today post is "Goong Sarong" ~ "Goong" in Thai means shrimp or prawns while "Sarong" ~ I am sure you know what does "Sarong" means right; literally means wrapped around!

"GOONG SARONG"  (Deep Fried Prawns Wrapped In Vermicelli) 
Recipe sourced from Window On Phuket 

Ingredients 

200g fresh prawns
100g vermicelli / rice noodles
1 tbsp chopped coriander root
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup vegetable oil 

Dipping Sauce 
2 tbsp Chinese plum sauce
1 tbsp ketchup 

Preparation 
Peel the prawns, but leave the hard tail in tact. Remove the dark vein. 
Pound the coriander and garlic in a mortar until a paste is formed. This can also be done in a blender or food processor. Add a little oil if necessary. Add the pepper and the shrimp to the marinade, mix well and let marinate.

Soak the noodles in the hot water until soft and then drain. Remove a shrimp from the marinade and wrap with some strands of vermicelli until the shrimp is covered in a 'sarong'. Repeat until all the shrimps have been covered. Fry in hot oil until the vermicelli are brown and crunchy.

Drain on a paper towel and serve with small bowls of warm plum sauce and ketchup.

I am submitting this post to

 Asian Food Fest ( Thailand ) - November Month 

hosted by Lena of frozen wings

ASSAM PEDAS IKAN KEMBONG

I like to eat dishes that are spicy and sour, but not too spicy; just moderate to my taste.  Dishes like Tom Yam, assam pedas, oooo, yum!  Previously I do not know a thing about cooking this type of dishes,  as I find cooking this dishes are so troublesome and tedious.  So many ingredients required and you need to grind all those spices and herbs in, and moreover some spices I never heard or seen before. 

But eversince I started food blogging and looking at others cooking these yummy food at home, it has prompted me and 'brave' myself to cook this at home.  Homecooked food always the best ~ you eat with at least less worrisome!

I'm sorry the photos weren't good taken as the day has started raining and already turn dark indoor.  

ASSAM PEDAS IKAN KEMBUNG

Recipe sourced from Wendy of Table for 2...or more 

Ingredients

3 whole fish (I used Ikan Kembung)

1 torch ginger bud (half)

4 sprigs daun kesum

2 lemon grass, (4” from the base) smashed

10 lady fingers

2 tomatoes

50gm tamarind paste

700gm water

4 tbsp oil

Salt & sugar to taste

Grind to paste ingredients

12 dried chillies, soaked, cut and deseeded

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

5gm belacan (toasted)

5gm tumeric root

15gm ginger

Method

Mix the tamarind paste and water, stir to mix well.  Set aside.

Heat wok, add in oil and sauté the chilli paste till glossy and oil split.

Put in the lemon grass, torch ginger,  daun kesum,  and tamarind juice.  Bring to a boil.

Put in the lady’s fingers and the fish in.

Let it bring to a boil, lastly add in the tomatoes and lightly give it a stir.

Serve hot with rice.

As long as you have the ingredients or using any fish, I assure you this is still as good, because the spicy sauce simply is so appetizing!

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest  Johor month 

hosted by Annie of Annielicious Food

Shrimp Ball

Now that it is school holiday and it's a long Public Holiday here, so I guess most of the food bloggers are taking a break from their normal post as I have noticed.

Instead of joining to the crowded places, I stayed at home taking a rest as I have not been feeling good recently.  Few days while shopping, there were some offer on the tiger prawns, hence I just grab some and thinking of making some snack food out of it.

Today, I have made this "Mom's Shrimp Ball".  Well, for your info, it is not my mom's recipe but it is Nami's mom.

Hop over to Nami's JustOneCookbook for this delicious Mom's Shrimp Ball recipe.
I am just being lazy to type out the recipe here.........  

I just had this for my lunch today.  

Thousand Corner Seafood Balls

Oooh.... I am "speechless" in this post.  Never mind, just scroll down to view this delicious seafood balls.  I am sure you and your family will like this very much especially children!

Thousand Corner Seafood Balls

Recipe adapted from Adora's Box

Ingredients
1 cup prawns, peeled
8 crab sticks
1 tbsp of chopped spring onions (white part only)
2 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sesame oil
2 cup very dry mini croutons (white bread cut to small cubes)


1.  Put all of the ingredients, except for the croutons, in a food a processor and grind into

     a paste.

2.  Drop tablespoonfuls of the prawn/crab stick mixture into the croutons.  (Used two

      small spoon to make the balls). Cover with balls with croutons all over  and roll into

      round shape.

3.  Heat wok with some cooking oil.  Deep fry the balls for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.

     Turn them around constantly so the bread coating won’t be burned easily.

     The seafood balls will be done when puffed up and golden brown in colour.

     Drain on kitchen paper and serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Oh, I have forgotten to cut open to let you view the inside of this seafood balls.  No worries, hop over to Adora's Box to view her beautiful golden seafood balls.

   
Make sure to fry it in medium heat so that the inside is well cooked.

Herbal Fresh Fish Soup In Claypot

Being as a Chinese, I believe most of us all like to drink soups, any type of soups and more so putting herbal in the soups, right?  And more so, soups are very healthy for the elderly. 
The elderly has significantly lower metabolic rate and their bodies do not absorb nutrients as well as before. They should have lighter meals consisting of good proteins and complex carbohydrates.
Does that conjure up cooking of bland boring food?
It does not have to be that way...  Ingredients such as Chinese mushrooms (fresh or dried), Chinese wolfberries, red dates, Chinese angelica root, and astragalus add complexity and interest to Chinese soups and are ideal for the elderly.

And if you do not feel like eating, drinking soup and nibbling some of the ingredients is a good alternative to get your nutrients and calories.
Common Chinese soup ingredients like carrot, potato and Chinese yam provide excellent source of carbohydrates while pork, poultry, eggs, provide proteins.

Herewith an easy pot of Herbal Fresh Fish Soup in Claypot..... this dish is so easy to cook. 

Ingredients

1 fresh fish (700-800g), cut into pieces (or any fish that is good for the soup, I used Garoupa here)
1 tbsp oil
3 shallots, peeled
5 slices ginger
3 slices dang gui (angelica root)
50g dang shen (radix codonopsis), cut into short length
5 red dates, seeded
1 tbsp Chinese wolfberries
500ml water

Seasonings
1/4 tsp salt (or to your taste as the original recipe called for 1/2 tsp which is too salty already)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
Some chopped coriander leaves

METHOD
Heat up a claypot, pour in oil and saute shallots, sliced ginger until aromatic.  Add in all ingredients and bring to boil.  Lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes.

Add seasoning, fish and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top and serve hot with steamed rice.

                   Angelica Root ("Dang Gui") on the left, and Radix Codonopsis ("Dang Shen") on the right

Crispy Fried Fish with Chilli sauce

 I have fish almost everyday, if not, at least 5 times in a week.  One thing I dreaded of cooking fish is frying the fish.  No matter how I pat dry the fish before putting in the frying pan, it still splatter at me!  There was a time I was watching a cooking TV show, Kylie Kwong, and you know what, when she was about to put the whole fish into the wok to deep fried it, she will have one big scarf wrapped around the whole hand till near her finger first and only she put the fish in!  Should I follow her step like that?  Or should I just head on to Ikea to get the oil splatter utensils which is more convenient?

This dish looks a lot spicy but it is not, it is the ginger that makes it hot.  The taste overall is hot, sweet and sour.  Quite appetising for a change. 

Ingredients
1 whole fish (Red snapper or black pomfret or fish fillets)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
2 fresh red chillis, finely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 tbsp rice wine
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/3 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped (for garnishing)
1 small carrot, shredded (for garnishing)
Oil for deep frying

Method

1) Pat dry the fish with paper towels. Cut a few slits on both sides and season the fish with sea salt.
2) Heat a wok full of oil. Deep-fried the fish until it's crispy, golden browned and cooked. Remove the fish
    and drain on paper towel.
3) Heat a small saucepan with 1 tbsp of oil, fry the ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli until fragrant.
4) Add soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, rice wine and white pepper. Bring to a boil and turn off the
    heat.
5) Place the fish on the serving plate. Scatter half of the coriander leaves and shredded carrot over the fish.
6) Pour over the hot sauce and scatter the remaining half of the coriander and carrot.
7) Serve with steamed rice.

 I run out of carrot and coriander leaves, so no garnishing on top.......... just shredded some green leaves vegetable on top.

Soya Sauce Fish

When I was preparing and cooking this dish, I wasn't prepared to post this dish up but after dishing up on a plate, I have always feel quite satisfied with this Soya Sauce Fish.  Why?  Because I loves the sweet and sour taste of it.  So I quickly get my camera and take a nice shot of it.  Luckily it turn out well as it was already late evening and I thought the quality shot would not be cleared.

I loves any dish with tomatoes in it.  I remember when I was staying in NZ few years back, I was so craving to have tomatoes, looking everywhere in the supermarkets and the Chinese grocery stores for it.  And as it was not in season at that time so when I found some selling it, it was $7.00 per kilo!!  My oh my.........

The ingredients goes for this dish are ........

1 medium size black pomfret  (marinated with some salt & pepper)
2 medium size onions (sliced in ring)
2 tomatoes (cut in wedges)
1 red chillies (sliced thinly)
1 green chillies
some oil for pan frying

Sauce
125ml water
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
juice from 2 kalamansi/lime juice
salt to taste
Spring onions & coriander leaves for garnishing

1.  Heat oil, pan fry fish turning over once.
2.  Remove fish from frying pan, leaving about 2 tbsp oil in the pan, saute the sliced onions for 30 seconds,
     add in tomatoes, red and green chillies stirring for about 1 minute.
3.  Add in the sauce ingredients and the fish.  Simmer until the fish is thoroughly cooked.
4.  Add in salt to taste.
5.  Dish up and garnish with spring onions and coriander leaves.