Archive for 2015

Freshly caught Mud Crab

Mud crab is another delicacy that most people look for when they visiting coastal or fisherman settlement. Freshly caught mud crab with a good size may reach up to MYR60/- especially if it is female and laden with roe. Having the skill to locate and catch will ensure that I have a fresh crab every time I back in my hometown . The dish can be vary but what I like most will be Spicy Creamy Butter Mud crab...

Ingredients

5 med sized mud crab (roughly half a kilo, gutted and cleaned )
100g of butter
1 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup of creamer
1/2 cup corn flour
5 chilies, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Ginger, approx thumb sized, finely sliced
Salt, pepper and seasoning as appropriate
2 eggs (separate yellow for egg floss and white for coating)

Mud Crab, garnished with egg floss

Method

Frying the mud crab. Seasons mud crab as your liking, thinly coated with corn flour and egg white. Deep fry on high heat for 5-8 min until the shell turn red. Strained from excessive oil and put aside.
Preparing egg floss. In frying pan, melt 50g of butter in heated 1/4 cup of cooking oil. Once butter fully melt and cooking oil hot enough, add in yellow egg with constant stirring motion. It will be bubbly. Keep eyes on egg floss. Removed and strained from excessive oil when it starts to turn golden brown. Put aside for the moment.
Combining the dish. In frying wok, melt remaining butter. Once melted and the wok is hot enough, add in chilies, garlic and ginger. Saute the ingredients until it give out aromatic aroma. Add on creamer into the mix and let simmers 2-3 min. Tastes and seasons well. Lastly, add in fried mud crab and fold in for 5-6 min so that the butter incorporated into the crab. Let simmer for another 2-3 min.
Serving. Put the dish on to the plate and drizzle the butter on top of the crab. Garnish with egg floss on top. Served while still warm. Best eaten as it is or served with rice.

You won't get any messier when you having mud crabs for lunch. Ignoring sense of civilization, it is best devoured using a pair of clean hand and sturdy set of teeth.

Ayam pansuh is Sarawakian specialty specifically more common among the natives. Traditionally, ayam pansuh is prepared by cooking a chicken with minimal amount of water in a bamboo stuffed with tapioca shoot, which later will set upon on open fire. Employing this method of cooking, free range, local breed chicken which normally have tough and chewy meat will tenderize under steam pressure that accumulate and circulate within the bamboo. In city, where luxury of open fire and bamboo is out of equation, ones still can mimic the taste, aroma and texture of traditionally prepared ayam pansuh using conventional slow cooker or cooking it in a heavy bottomed pot under low heat for longer duration. In any methods, the trick behind is to cook the chicken with minimal amount of water without it getting burned.

Cooking chicken with minimal amount of water also posed problem in which during cooking process, water tends to seep out of chicken especially the part that is not in contact with water leaving the end result less succulent. However, parts in which there are plenty skin covering such as the drumsticks and wings rarely have this problem as the skin act as container that prevent water to excessively seep out of the flesh. After knowing the tricks behind, anyone can fools their guests into believing that one has prepared ayam pansuh which in actuality, just employing new method of cooking that gives similar taste, texture and aroma of traditionally prepared ayam pansuh.

Ingredients (serving size: 3-4 people)

half kg of chicken wings

10-15 pieces of tapioca shoots, hand squeeze until almost shredded

one stick of lemon grass, crushed

2-3 cm ginger, crushed

half a cup of water

salt and seasoning

Methods

Clean chicken wings thoroughly and cut into two at the first joint line.
Add chicken, tapioca shoot, lemongrass, ginger and water into a wok. Cook at medium heat until steam starts to appear. Add salt and seasoning accordingly and stir so that it is evenly distributed.
When the outer of meats seem to be cook, transfer to slow cooker or heavy bottomed pot (I'm using clay pot) Close the lead and cook under low heat. Let it simmer for about one to one and half hour.
Occasionally check and stir so that the meat evenly cook. Add water when it is too low. You know it is ready when the aroma wafted across your kitchen.

An earthy meal, stuffed chicken roll and potato cheese layer

Brunch is an exceptionally common especially during weekends in which people do not need to hustle up in preparing their breakfast. In fact, they will opted to have it rather late in the morning and save themselves to cook another meal for their lunch. Normally, a perfect brunch incorporates breakfast element that enjoyed together with slightly heavier savory dish. However, out of simplicity, most people regards their brunch as lunch meal that is taken before conventional lunch time.
Dating back to 1896, the term "brunch" believed to be coined by Guy Beringer in his article of Brunch: A Plea which was published in Hunter's Weekly and was later became a popular word among students.Since then, brunch almost replace breakfast and lunch altogether. As with the rest of the people that consider weekend should be started as late as possible, i.e: remains in one's comfort of blanket before actually move around to do weekend's chores, I found the idea of having brunch instead of early morning breakfast very much alluring... Wake up around 11.30 am, which was considerably late, however, I manage to come up with fantastic brunch, a combination of oven baked potato cheese layer and oven baked stuffed chicken roll bathed in chicken stock.

My version of baked potato cheese layer

Ingredient

one whole potato, cut into chip
cream cheese
grated Parmesan
two eggs, separate egg white and yolks
chopped dill
butter

Methods

Cooks egg yolks, cream cheese and butter slowly using hot water bath and stirs continuously to prevent crumble formation.
Removes from heat once thick curd is formed. Mixes grated Parmesan and chopped dill into the curd. Seasons well with salt.
Add potato chips into the mixture and coats the chip evenly. Transfer into baking container. Bakes the potato cheese layer in 180°C for 20 minutes.
Serve while still warm.

Stuffed chicken roll

Oven baked stuffed chicken roll

Ingredients

half of chicken breast with intact skin, cut into thin fillet
stuffing-chopped dill, chopped parsley, chopped garlic, chopped onion and black pepper

Methods

Marinades chicken fillet with salt, black pepper and seasoning. Spreads the fillet evenly on flat surface.
Mixes all the stuffing ingredients and seasons well with salt and seasoning. Place the stuffing mixture onto the fillet.
Rolls the fillet and tie with strings to hold the shape.
Browns the rolled chicken fillet in a frying pan until the skin is crispy in texture.
Transfers into oven and bakes in 180°C for 8 minutes.
Rest the chicken before cutting. Can be served with chicken juice

Served with golden colored chicken stock

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Baked using microwave oven