CANTONESE PICKLES

This recipe is from a very old recipe book published in Taiwan from my collection of food recipes.   Looking at the year of publication, it is not less than 30 years old.  There are numerous recipes and the chef apart from sharing food recipes also shares much knowledge about Chinese cooking.  It is a valuable reference book for novice cooks.

According to the Chef, the pickled vegetables are sweet, sour and crunchy.  It tastes refreshing after a rich meal and is used in sweet and sour dishes.  This pickle keeps well in refrigerator for several weeks.

Great to serve this pickle with fried meats.

Recipe adapted from the book ‘You Can Cook Anything Chinese’ by Madame Yee Yo

Ingredients

[serves 3-4]

1 red carrot - peel

1 white carrot - peel

1 zuchini

1 tsp salt

Seasoning

3 thin slices of ginger

3 tbsp each of sugar and white vinegar

1 small red chilli – sliced

1. Roll cut the carrots and zucchini.  Mix in salt and let them stand at room temperature for about 4 hours.  Stir occasionally.  Drain. Squeeze out and discard excess liquid in vegetables.
2. Combine ingredients with seasoning, add in chilli.  Mix well and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.  Stir occasionally.  May be kept in the refrigerator for several weeks. 
   
   
   

I am sharing this post with Cookbook Countdown Event #21 hosted by Joyce and Emily of Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking [Makan2] Foray respectively 

HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE

Came across this recipe in my this month's selected cookbook for Cookbook Countdown Event.  I am not sure if this is an authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe.  What tempted me to try out is that, the post has 4 separate recipes [chicken rice, steamed chicken, vegetable pickle and chilli dipping sauce].

So this gonna be a long, long post that I am sharing here.  
Recipe adapted from this month's selected cookbook for Cookbook Countdown Event#7- 'Home Cooking June 2002 Issue'. 

HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE

Ingredients

[serves 2-3]

2 cups rice - washed and drained

2 pips garlic - bruised

25 gm ginger - bruised

25 gm butter

salt and pepper to taste

enough water or chicken stock to cook rice

1. Heat butter in a pan or wok, fry garlic and ginger until fragrant before adding in the drained rice to fry for about 3 minutes.  Season and cook in a rice cooker with about 1 3/4 cups water or stock.

Notes: I did not use frying method, instead I combined all the ingredients then steamed the rice in the steamer.  

The rice is aromatic eventhough without frying.  I believe it would be better if the ingredients are prepared as per Step 1.

HAINANESE STEAMED CHICKEN

Ingredients

3 chicken whole legs [with skin] - washed and pat dry

1 tbsp each of grated or blended ginger, garlic and shallots

salt and pepper to taste

Dash of sesame oil

Garnishing - some chopped coriander leaves

1. Rub the chicken with all the grated ingredients, salt, pepper and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Steam for 20 minutes or poached till cooked.  Serve with a dash of sesame oil and garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes: The steamed chicken is tender, juicy and sweetness with the fragrance of the spices [ginger/garlic/shallots] and sesame oil.

 

 

CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE

Ingredients

5 fresh red chillies - roughly cut

4 pips garlic - skinned

20 gm fresh ginger

Seasoning

Juice of 4 small limes

2 tbsp white vinegar

salt and sugar to taste

 

1. Blend all spices together then add in the rest of the seasoning ingredients to taste.
2. Serve with chicken rice.

Notes: This dipping sauce is garlicky, ginger and spicy.  Tastes sourish and goes well with the steamed chicken and rice.

VEGETABLE PICKLE

Ingredients

4 dried mushrooms - soaked and cut strips

200 gm cabbage - cut shreds

1 red carrot - peeled and cut shreds

200 gm turnip [sengkuang] - cut shreds

1 large onion - sliced

some fresh coriander leaves 

1 red chilli - cut strips

100 ml white vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

5 tbsp sugar

1. Prepare the above vegetables.  Blanch the carrots and mushrooms.  Drain in colander and leave it to cool.
2. Combine vinegar with salt and sugar then mix in all the ingredients.
3. Leave to pickle for one day before serving chilled or at room temperature.

Notes: I love this pickle very much.  It is refreshing, the vegetables are tasty and very crunchy.  Definitely something extraordinary to go with Chicken Rice.  This is a nice pickle to go with any grilled or fried meats.

I'm sharing this post with Cookbook Countdown Event #7 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

Candied Ginger

Sometimes I love to have a piece of candied ginger when I have ate too much. By chance I saw Alton Brown on TV showing how to make candied ginger, something which I will buy from the Chinese Medical Shop.   Then I thought, if we can make candied orange peel [quite similar to keat paeng] at home, perhaps I can also try candied ginger.  To know 'what is crystallized ginger?' check it out here.

Today, I saw a box of very fresh young ginger roots at the vegetable stall in the wet market.  I bought some to make these candied ginger.

Recipe Source - Candied Ginger from Alton Brown

Ingredients - Small Portion

250 gm young ginger roots - scrape the skin/peeled

1 and 1/2 cup water

200 gm sugar

1. Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/2 cm thick slices.
2. Place ginger and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and cover to cook for about 35 minutes or until ginger is tender.
3. Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 30 ml of the cooking liquid.  Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar.  
4. Return the ginger and liquid to the saucepan.  Add in the sugar.  Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.  
5. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the sugar syrup looks dry [has almost evaporated and begins to re-crystallize, approximately 20-25 minutes.
6. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces.
7. Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or more.
   
   
   
   
   

Information on Uses of Candied Ginger or Crystallized Ginger from this site
Crystallized Ginger – dried slices of natural ginger root, cured and coated in sugar. Here are 10 great ideas for putting this sweet, spicy and comforting ingredient to work in your kitchen:

1. Chop and add to batter for cookies, such as ginger snaps, or quick breads like gingerbread, orange bread or banana bread.
2. Melt butter with diced Crystallized Ginger, fresh lemon juice and sliced green onions in a saucepan. Spoon over hot rice and serve with chicken or fish.
3. Sprinkle finely chopped pieces as a finishing touch on apple pie a la mode or a whipped cream-topped brownie.
4. Combine diced Crystallized Ginger with nuts, brown sugar and spices for a baked apple or pear filling.
5. Add chunks to a stir-fry for a sweet and spicy bite.
6. Dip Crystallized Ginger pieces in melted chocolate. Let cool and serve as a special after dinner treat.
7. Add to water and sugar mixture to make ginger-infused simple syrup. Strain before adding to drinks, such as iced tea.
8. Sprinkle diced Crystallized Ginger into fruit salad for a spicy, zesty flavor lift.
9. Add to a homemade cranberry sauce with orange zest.
10. Or, just snack on this sweet treat right out of the package. Crystallized Ginger is especially helpful for calming the stomach while traveling.

Candied Orange Peel

Saw Phong Hong's post on this recipe the time when I wanted to make  Orange Marmalade.  Normally, I don't add all the orange skin to the marmalade as my hubby is not in favour of too much zest in it.  The remaining skin is usually discarded.  This time after seeing Phong Hong's post, I put them to good use by making candied orange peel.

The cooking part is quite easy but removing the white pith from the skin is quite time consuming and you need a sharp knife for easy cutting.  I removed quite a bit of the white pith which is bitter.   But it is worth the trouble cos' the candied orange peels are good, very suitable for my mixed nuts mooncake filling and cakes.   I'm very happy that I made these cos' I have used them in several of my bakes [see coming posts].

Recipe Source - Phong Hong Bakes

Ingredients

- Orange peel from 3 oranges [I used about 150 gm]

- Enough water to cover orange peel in a saucepan

- 1.5 cups sugar [I used about 1 cup]

1. Wash the oranges and dry them.  Slice off the top and bottom of the oranges.  Score the skin in quarters.  Keep the orange flesh for making marmalade.
2. Remove the skin [white pith]  an cut into strips of about 1/4 inch wide.
3. Put the orange peel strips into a saucepan, cover with water.  Bring to boil, then drain the water.  Add in water and bring to boil again.  Repeat this twice.
4. Add water just enough to cover the orange peel, add sugar.  Stir to dissolve the sugar, then bring it to a boil.
5. Lower heat and simmer for about an hour or until sugar mixture is thick and syrupy.  Swirl the pan every now and then to coat the orange strips with the syrup.
6. The orange peel should be translucent and the syrup almost dried and some sugar crystals.
7. Remove to cool on a rack then roll in some sugar to coat the peels.  Let dry and store in airtight container.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Vegetarian Pickled Mixed Vegetables [Acar Awak] 2013

It's Nine Emperor Gods Festival [Kew Ong Yeah] which starts today 5th till 13th October for 9 days.  I made this pickled mixed vegetables again.  I think, I skipped this dish last year cos' the family was in mourning of our beloved father then.    This time I have replaced long beans with french beans.  The idea came from a lady at the wet market who told me that french beans stay crunchy and taste better in this acar.  Look up this post [here] for the recipe with long beans.

Cut vegetables before blanching

Ingredients for the Chilli Paste [combine together]

200 gm chilli paste

100 gm grounded lemongrass

50 gm grounded galangal

50 gm tumeric paste [tumeric powder mix with water]

30 gm grounded candlenuts [buah keras]

2 kg cucumber - cut 1 inch length thin strips - season with some salt, set aside

1/2 kg cabbage - break into bite size pieces

1/2 kg carrots - cut 1 inch length thin strips

1/2 kg french beans - cut 1 inch length pieces [replacing long beans]

200 gm grounded peanuts

3-4 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

200 gm sugar

2 tsp salt

1.5 ml water and 200 ml white vinegar
150  ml oil

Blanched vegetables and chilli paste

1. Season cut cucumber with some salt and set aside for 15-20 minutes. Place seasoned cucumber in a muslin bag and squeeze out the water.  Do this in several batches.  Drier cucumber will make it crunchy when cooked.
2. Bring water to boil in a wok then add in vinegar.  Blanched each of the cut vegetables for about a minute and remove using  a serrated ladle into a basin. Usually, I will blanch the cucumber first, followed by carrot/long beans and cabbage.  Do not overcook the vegetables.  Discard the water after all the vegetables are blanched.
3. Heat up oil in the wok to saute the chilli paste till aromatic and oil separates.  Add in half portion of sugar and salt.  Fry to combine then add in all the blanched vegetables.  Stir to combine the chilli paste and vegetables. Then add in the cut chillies, balance sugar and salt.  Taste to adjust seasoning [need not be too sweet, sour or salty as it tastes better after 1-2 days].
4. Bring it to a boil, lower heat then add grounded peanuts and sesame seeds [keep a little as garnish].  Mix well and off fire.  Leave to cool before storing in containers.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds when serving.  Keep well for 4 weeks or more in refrigerator.  Bring out and leave it to  room temperature before serving with white rice.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

  Notes:

• If cooking less, just adjust the quantity of the ingredients proportionately.  
• Acar tastes better after several hours or even after several days.
• Chilled in the fridge in airtight container, keeps well for up to at least a month

Visit this site for its Nutritional Facts [here]