Adventurous Kitchen

I've been very hardworking in the kitchen since I got back. Maybe it's a long rest after 3 weeks I didn't go into Kitchen (ha, I don't need to do housework too) or I just feel guilty to left my husband alone and eating outside for 3 weeks. :P I am not a good cook but definitely an adventurous chef. I like to try new things. Of cause, there will always risk that I need to throw away my food. But I am 打不死的小强.

First, Agar agar, yummy, I know it's a very simple dish but this is my first try though. I always just ask my mum to made for me whenever I feel like eating it. Sorry no mama in Shanghai. I was looking up and down for the pandan leaves. I tried Carrefour and Lotus but fruitlessly. My last hope was the Citishop as they are selling all the imported goods. Phew luckily I found it as you can see in my previous post and the mandarin name is quite funny - 露兜叶 as in "show stomach leaves"??!!?? I was trying to find the longan can or lychee can too. FYI, there aren't any in Shanghai, I tried most of the supermarkets. Boh huat, thus I have to use the mix fruits. The agar agar turns out to be quite good, not too sweat and the texture too. My testers said PASS !

The second is the Char Siew, ha, keng chao le, I saw this recipe in Ohbin's website and wanted to try. Finally, I saw a good belly strips in Lotus and decided to buy and try it. How is the taste? Well, I think the pork is too thick, should find a thinner as the pork smell is a bit heavy. Overall, Chew Chin said still acceptable. I also bought some small pork strips to marinade and still in the freezer, maybe the pork strips will be nicer. However, I couldn't find the 麦芽糖 thus I took honey as the substitution.

Lastly, my proud presentation of the "Bi Kuey" as in Rice Kiuh. My grandma used to make the best Bi Kuey in the world and only can find in the Chan's family. This is the home made dish. It's actually quite fattening and oily but the taste is so GOOD. Pardon me for the outlook of my bi kuey as I still can't get the perfect way to make it nice but the taste is there. The first row is the first attempt and it's look quite cacat. I can't get the ingredient stick together and once i put into the pan they separated. Thus, I had to call my aunt in Singapore and asked her what's wrong with that. She asked me to put more flour and drained the water. Finally, I got a better looking shape (as in the second row).

Ingredients : overnight rice, tapioca flour, dried prawns (虾米), peanuts, a bit of salt and pepper

Method :
1. Mix the overnight rice with tapioca flour (sufficient to cover most of the rice), dried prawns, salt and pepper. Spring a little bit of water to make it moist enough until it's sticky (not too much)
2. Roll the mixed ingredients into a ball then flatten it, put peanuts on top.
3. Heat the pan and oil. Put the flatten rice kuih into the pan and fry and turn it until golden brown. Don't fry too long as the rice will be harden.