Chai Kwe / Chives Parcels

From my Perspective...

I have been waiting and pictured this 'Day'... ever since my son was in Year 1... of how life would be... when he reached the end of his 'Schooling' days... 

Yes...His school days has just ended... with him and his peers attended their Graduation Day (last Saturday). As I sat among other parents, listened to the speeches by invited guest, Mrs Principal and Mr Year Co-Ordinator, looking at my boy sitting on the stage in his 'graduation' gown... I had a lump in my throat and was close to tears... My son is no longer that small boy who cling on to his mommy's hand, on to his mommy's every word...

He soon will enter another phase of his life, embark onto another journey called 'Adulthood'. 

And I?... I have to learn to let go....

Stirling Garden, Perth ~ captured by iPhone4S 

From his perspective:

After nearly more than 12 years (would be nearly 16 years if counting his play school, and kindy...) of studying, going through the exams, the ups and downs and the near misses results, braving the stormy weather as well as the scorching hot Perth sun... he is finally done with school!!

21st of November 2012... was a New Day for him... woke up ...no more homework, no more EXAMS!!! Hurray!!!! or was it? 
...possible feeling a little Lost!!

While waiting for another 'Wheel of Motion' to take place... I am taking this opportunity to give him lessons in 'Basic Life Skills' ~helping out with house chores and cooking...
Should he decides to fly away from his nest...then I'd know that he can always take care of himself well (and not survive on miso soup and rice everyday!!!)... just like my late Mother-in-law trained her eldest son (H)... am so grateful and thankful to her. 

Without her training... getting H to help out in the kitchen, when he was a lad, H wouldn't have a clue how to make this lovely Chai Kwe or Chives Parcels...Thank you, Mummy 

Lisa H._xox

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Recipe ~ courtesy from my late Mother-in-Law
(makes about 20)
Click here to Print recipe

Dough

300g wheat starch

200g tapioca flour

A pinch of salt

600-700ml hot boiling water

Garlic Oil

5 cloves of garlic chopped

3 tablespoon of canola oil

Chives filling

2 bunches of chives – washed and chopped

10-15 cooked prawns – chopped

Salt and white pepper

Cabbage filling

¼ of cabbage – finely cut

2 carrots – julienne

2 chopped garlic

2 tablespoon dried prawns – soaked and chopped

Salt and white pepper

Making the dough

1. In a heat proof container, sieve the wheat starch and tapioca flour, add some salt. 
2. Using a wooden spatula, gently pour in 200 ml of hot water, stir. 
3. Repeat the process with the remaining hot water. 
4. By now, the dough would be just combine… 
5. Please Note: we are using hot water.. and we don’t want our delicate hand to be scorched, do transfer the dough into a cake/dough mixer and carry on mixing until its is well mix… the dough should not be too hard nor soft. 
6. Adjust the water accordingly. 
7. Cover with damp cloth and put it aside.

Garlic oil

1. Heat up the oil in a frypan and sauté the chopped garlic until its aromatic and golden in colour.
2. Transfer the golden fried garlic and the garlic oil into a heatproof bowl

Chives Filling

1. Mix chopped chives and prawns and season with salt and white pepper

Cabbage filling

1. Heat up the oil in a frypan and sauté the chopped garlic until its aromatic. 
2. Add in chopped dried prawns and stir for 2 minutes, then add cabbage and carrots. 
3. Keep stirring for another 5 minutes. 
4. Season with salt and white pepper. 
5. Keep aside to cool.

Assemble

1. Roll out the dough into 2mm to 3 mm thickness. 
2. Using a round cookie cutter, gently cut the dough. 
3. Fill each disc with 1-2 teaspoon of chives mixture (or cabbage mixture). 
4. Crimp the edges.
5. Place dumplings on a greased tray (or banana leaf ~ if you can find one) and steam for 15 minutes.
6. Carefully remove from steamer and drizzle each dumpling with golden fried garlic and garlic oil. 
7. Serve immediately with hot chilli sauce or Sriracha.

Soy Pannacotta with Rhubarb Ginger Compote

My bad... for not putting up this post last week. 
I was busy... taking my own sweet time with spring cleaning...  with few tens of glass doors and windows to clean... and at the rate I am going... looks like it will be Summer Cleaning too.

Spring Cleaning is the MAIN reason... but the underlying reason ~ I was distracted by Instagram ... shhhh dont tell H  ... 

photos from InstaGram

What comes to mind when I mentioned the word 'Spring and Summer'?
Perhaps.... Rhubarb is one of them?

I have been experimenting and cooking rhubarb ever since I could get rhubarb in the market at a reasonable price. Tried baking Rhubarb Streusel Cake... I received 3 thumbs down . Had it with Vanilla french Yoghurt... another 3 thumbs down.
Thought I'd give rhubarb another go... this time round, I marry the few ingredients I love ~ rhubarb (of course), ginger and soy milk...the vote was 2:2 .

Hence Soybean Panncotta with Rhubarb compote was 'born' in my kitchen...

I loved the smoothness of Pannacotta with a hint of ginger plus some burst of sweet/sour and gingery taste of Rhubarb compote. H was OK with it .. his comments was "could do with extra sugar"

And the kids... hmmm still 2 thumbs down 

Have a blessed week everyone 

Lisa H._xox

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Recipe
serves 4-6

{click here to print}

Rhubarb Ginger Compote

250g chopped Rhubarb

50g grated ginger

¼ cup raw sugar (add extra sugar if desired)

SoyBean Pannacota

2 ½ cups of unsweetened soy milk

2/3 cup caster sugar

15 ml gelatin

1 inch of sliced ginger

For the compote

1. Place chopped rhubarb, grated ginger and sugar in a pot. 
2. Bring to a quick boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. 
3. Cook and stir occasionally for 5-6 minutes until rhubarb is soft. 
4. Take off the heat and leave it aside to cool.

For the Pannacotta

1. Sprinkle gelatin over ½ cup of soy milk. Leave it aside for 5 minutes. 
2. In a saucepan, place ginger slices and soy milk, over medium heat until it gently simmer for 5 minutes. 
3. Take it off the heat, add sugar and gelatin mixture. 
4. Stir until gelatin is fully dissolved. 
5. Spray 4-6 ramekins with cooking spray. 
6. Divide the mixture equally and refrigerate for at least 5 hours. 
7. Serve with Rhubarb Ginger Compote.

Lisa's Guest Post #2 ~ Indonesian Crushed Fried Chicken / Ayam Penyet

I am honoured to have the talented Tika Hapsari Nilmada of Cemplang Cemplung to be my guest.

Tika who hailed from Indonesia is a super talented young mom, who manages her time between her career, her family, housekeeping, cooking and her hobby which is photography... Tika bagged many awards throughout her blogging/ photography years.
Her cooking skills and her photos are an inspirational to late bloomers like me... Hop over to Tika's kitchen and check out her delicious authentic Indonesian cuisine in her blog.

I'll say no more... I hand over the'podium' to Tika with her mouth watering, authentic Indonesian Crushed Fried Chicken or Ayam Penyet...

"One of Indonesian most popular meat based dish is fried chicken. From roadside stalls to biggest restaurants have fried chicken on their menu list. 
Indonesian fried chicken is totally different with the ones we often see and eat in fast food restaurants. We, here in Indonesian, seasoned the chicken meat with spices, I mean lots of spices :D. 

Therefore, along with this post I keep my promise to Lisa to write about Indonesian Ayam Penyet / Indonesian crushed fried chicken with sambal. Thank you, Lisa.

Various style of fried chicken offered by each region in Indonesia. We have fried chicken in yellow spices, fried chicken in crispy flakes and many more. Every region has its own spices, cooking styles and recipes. Indonesian fried chicken in yellow spices needs two processes of cooking before serving. 
First, chicken braised with ground spices before we can deep fry them. Despite I  don’t like fried chicken too much, but I’ll enjoy it if it served with coconut scented rice or sambal. 
For the sambal itself, I remember I had a dinner with friends few years ago. We ate crushed fried chicken with special sambal and somehow the taste of the sambal still remain in my memory and my taste buds.

The crushed style dishes offer more variations nowadays and fried chicken is not the only option. When it comes to business competition, people become creative to invent new products. 
Surely, customers will get the benefits from this situation. 
Usually all crushed dishes such as tempe, tahu (tofu), meat ball, duck or even catfish use the same chilli sambal. 
The chilli sambal is super hot but it will make you eat more and more :D And guess what, the chilli sambal in this recipe has the same taste as the one I tried long time ago. What a nice coincidence !

So, here is the traditional and humble side dish from Indonesia where you eat it with your right hand (forget the spoon, fork and knife). 
It normally served on a traditional pottery serving plate. 
Don’t forget the warm rice and raw salad..."

oooh... I can't wait to try Tika's Crushed Fried Chicken or Ayam Penyet

Hope you enjoyed Tika's post as much as I do... 
Thank you Tika for the lovely post

Lisa H._xox

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Ayam penyet / Crushed fried chicken with sambal

makes 4

Click here to print the recipe

Ingredients :

1 whole chicken, cut into four pieces
2 salam leaves / Indonesian bay leaves
3 lemongrass, take the white part and crush
2 cm of galangal, crush
6 kaffir lime leaves, remove the center vein
1 liter of water
2 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
oil for deep fry

Grind to make paste :

12 shallots
5 cloves garlic
4 candlenuts, fry without oil
2 cm turmeric, roasted
1 tsp coriander seeds

Sambal :

20 bird’s eye chilies
6 red chilies
4 shallots
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp shrimp paste
½ tsp sugar
4 tbsp oil to saute

Methods :

Chicken :

1. In a pot, put all ingredients and spices paste, bring to a boil. Don’t forget to stir from time to time to ensure even cooking. 
2. Cook on medium heat until the water has evaporated. 
3. Remove from the heat. 
4. Let it cool completely.
5. Heat the skillet over medium heat and add oil into the skillet. 
6. When the oil is hot enough, add the chicken pieces and deep fry until golden brown. 
7. Remove from heat and place them on a cooling rack to drain excess oil.

Sambal :

1. grind all ingredients into a fine paste (I use mortar and pestle). 
2. Heat the oil in the wok over medium heat. 
3. Add the grind sambal and stir about 5 minutes. 
4. Transfer the sambal onto the mortar. 
5. Place the fried chicken over the sambal and crushed it using the pestle. 
6. Serve on a plate with raw salad.