Nyonya Chang (Glutinous Rice Dumplings Nyonya style)

Nyonya Chang...one of my favourite kinds.  Oooh, just thinking about the fragrant aroma of the "cekor" and "pandan" and the sweetness of the candied winter melon (and pork) makes my mouth water!

I was in Malacca not too long ago and went on a "quest" to search for "THE" Nyonya Chang! Alas, after buying from several eateries that sold it, only one came close to the taste I remembered. Two had used artificial food colouring instead of the (natural) blue colour from the Butterfly Pea flower.  "Cekor" was missing from one of them.

To make your own, you would need to have the time to do it.  And since you are taking the time to do it, why make so few?

What I needed was - glutinous rice, bamboo leaves (bought extra during the last "chang" season), candied winter melon, pork, mushrooms, pandan leaves (for extra fragrance), the blue flowers, cekor and spices.

 This is the "cekor" plant. The leaves are used for "Nasi Ulam".  For Nyonya Chang, the root (not shown here) is used.

 Glutinous rice soaked overnight.    

Using dried flowers of this plant to extract the blue colouring.

 

 Soaked overnight in the flower extract, this is how the glutinous rice turned out.

 

 Filling made of pork, candied winter melon, dried mushrooms, cekor and spices.

 

 

Assembled "chang" ready for the pot of boiling water!

 

Can you just imagine how delicious the aroma is, once these are cooked and ready to be eaten! 

Want some?

 

Mixed meat dumplings with spinach in clear broth

I keep stuff in my refrigerator for those days when there are not enough of us around to cook up a feast for; or for days when we just do not feel like eating so much.

Sometimes you just don't have the time to cook; yet the idea of eating out or a take-away does not appeal. Let's face it, even the most hardworking of us, do get plain lazy once in a while!

I just had to get some spinach, mushrooms and dumpling skins from the market for what I was going to prepare for dinner.

There were already minced chicken, minced pork and shelled prawns in the freezer. Just had to finely chop up an onion and a few sprigs of coriander and spring onions to add to the minced meat; season with pepper, soy sauce and abalone sauce; mix together.

Put some of the mix onto a dumpling skin and foldover; keep in the refrigerator until time to use.

If you don't fancy it in a soup, you could always fry it and it would taste delicious too!

The soup stock can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator. Since I was adding spinach to the soup, I made ikan bilis stock with garlic (my family loves garlic and pepper!) and added some of the chicken stock which I had (in the fridge!).

No need to do anything else until it is time to eat!

Since we did not have the time to sit down and eat together today, this dish was just ideal! You still get to have your broth piping hot!

Just dish out enough soup into a smaller pot to boil.  Add the vegetables and when it is boiling, put in a few pieces of the dumplings, let it boil for a few minutes and it is ready to serve!

Every now and then, I get a day like today when I can consider cooking truly as a hobby, rather than a necessity!

It becomes an even happier day, when the food turns out better than expected!

Since I had almost all the ingredients required, going to the wet market this morning was a quick trip.  On my way out, I spied ingredients available (yam, sweet potatoes that were orange-coloured, yellow-coloured and purple coloured) for "Bubor Cha-Cha", and since I had some nicely ripen Pisang Raja... "PENGAT" came into mind.

If the banana is not ripe enough, it would make your dessert sourish.  The more discoloured the skin is, the sweeter the Pisang Raja is.

Having bought Petai (again!) from the Orang Asli along the highway just a few days ago (well, I did say before that I just love Petai!), I had planned to prepare a SAMBAL IKAN BILIS WITH PETAI.

At the same time, I had promised someone that I would make her a meatloaf (with pork and chicken; doesn't take beef) this weekend, and so I did - a POTATO-COATED MEATLOAF.

There were enough leftover potatoes to make a POTATO SALAD.

Before my stash of red chillies become spoilt, I decided to make a SAMBAL BELACHAN.  It is good to have this handy.  It compliments Fried Noodles, you can have "Ulam" (local salad) with it and it also tastes delicious, fried with "kangkong" (water convolvus) etc etc.  Really a "must-have" in your refrigerator.

Mum's Prawn Curry

Prawns or shrimps, I just love them! Served in a cocktail, sauteed, steamed or fried... No wonder I have a slightly elevated cholesterol level!

This time around, I decided to make a prawn curry ala Mum's style. Mum in this case, is my mother-in-law who makes "killer" curries and other dishes which you are not able to find, when eating out.

Most of them are "hand me down" recipes, so I am indeed very blessed to be able to learn from her.

There are two things that I don't prefer in a curry. 

(1) I don't like it wet/soupy.
(2) I don't like it with lots of coconut milk/santan.

As this recipe calls for a dry-style curry and no santan used, it is just the right kind.

Spices include dried chili, black pepper, mustard seeds, coriander, cumin, grated coconut (kerisik), garlic, ginger and turmeric (not shown in photo)... all blended into a paste.

Other ingredients are: onions, garlic, ginger, curry leaves and a little tamarind water.

A favourite with Mum's children in this prawn curry is the addition of drumsticks (Kelor in Malay, the fruit of the legume tree Moringa oleifera originating from India).  Since I can't find any available, I used potatoes instead.

Voila! The end result is a fragrant dry-style Prawn Curry. 

Not to get flavours mixed up, we usually just have this one dish with hot steaming rice (and sometimes with a side vegetable dish).

"Sunday" Chicken

"Wow! This sure is spicy!" exclaimed Angela.  "What kind of chili did you put into this dish? It is absolutely DELICIOUS! May I have some to take away?" she giggles.

"Of course!" I laughed, "If we have any left over after our meal!"

Angela continues, "By the way, how come you call this 'Sunday Chicken'?"

"Well, to cut the long story short, for a period of time, my Mum-in-Law used to cook this particular dish every Sunday when all her children and their families would gather at her house for lunch.  We had asked her for the name of this dish but we could not get an answer, so we dubbed it 'Sunday Chicken'! Hehe."

"So," Angela persisted," What kind of chili do you put in it?"

"Hah! I thought SPICY was your middle name, Angela! Not only is there grinded dried chili, this dish has grounded black pepper in it as well!"

"No wonder! Spiceeee....!" Angela licks her fingers, "The chicken is really yummy! Keep some for me to take home! Haha!"

*************************************************************

Ingredients include: Big red onions, Garlic, Ginger, Curry leaves, Potatoes, white vinegar, salt and Chicken, of course!

Spices are: Dried chili, Black pepper and Cumin

Petai (Parkia Speciosa)

Petai!

I just love petai, call it stink bean or whatever else, when I bite into it raw (freshly peeled from the pod)... oooooh... the taste is really, really out of this world.

The bunches of petai in the photo above was bought off an Orang Asli man who was displaying it along the Karak Highway.  I was driving and saw him from afar, the bunches of petai hanging at the end of a stick. Parked the car by the road shoulder, negotiated with him and happily drove off with it.

You can't get it any fresher, just plucked from the trees in the surrounding jungles off that highway.

I was fortunate that this time around, the beans were of a good size.  Look at the peeled ones. Of course, while peeling, I popped some into my mouth and was having a great time savouring the taste.

Luckily, I was alone or else, my breath could have caused some distress to whoever was around! They don't call it stink beans for nothing!




I usually cook a Sambal Udang Petai dish out of it. But on this day, I had only sotong (squids) available and so I made a Sambal Sotong Petai dish instead.

When the petai is fresh, I also have it with some freshly made Sambal Belachan. 

Delicious!

Nyonya Acar Timun

 

Many, many years ago, I used to drive all the way across Penang Island to the Pulau Tikus market for this Acar Timun dish, prepared and sold by this elderly couple.

 

More than 2 decades have passed and (sadly), the uncle and auntie are no longer there.

 

I have asked numerous friends and relatives for this recipe but none of them knew how to make it.

 

So imagine my surprise and pleasure when I came across a Nyonya Cookbook (written by an authentic Nyonya cook) with a recipe of Acar Timun (exactly the kind I was looking for) in it!

 

I was at a flea market, just strolling and browsing at what was being sold by the traders, when I spied the book.

 

I grabbed it before anyone else could take it and quickly paid for my purchase.

 

My first attempt at making this Acar Timun turned out rather well (I gave to relatives and friends to test it).

 

At last, my search for Acar Timun is over!