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Recipe: Kuih Kodok (Malaysian-style Fried Banana Fritters)

Several years ago, my dear friend Sr. Norsofina prepared this yummy snack for me and DD1 before she returned to Malaysia.  My big thanks to her for inspiring me to learn to prepare this dish for my family.

Source: http://rasamalaysia.com/kuih-kodok-recipe-malaysian-fried-banana-fritters/2/

Ingredients:

3 big ripe bananas
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
Some water
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Break the bananas (with hands) into small pieces and put them into a bowl. Add flour, egg, sugar, and some water. Use a big spoon and stir the ingredients so they are well blended.
Heat up a frying pan and add some cooking oil for deep frying. Once the oil is heated, scoop up a spoonful of batter into the frying pan. Try to “shape” the batter so it’s somewhat round. Deep fry until golden brown.

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Recipe: Traditional Moroccan Harira (Tomato, Lentil and Chickpea Soup)

Recipe taken from here.

The recipe below will serve 6 to 8 people, and follows the pressure cooker method. To adapt cooking times for traditional simmering in a stockpot, read the Tips at the bottom of the page.

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• ½ lb. uncooked meat (lamb, beef or chicken), chopped into 1/2” pieces
• several soup bones (optional)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 bunch cilantro (coriander), finely chopped to yield about 1/4 cup
• 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped to yield about 1/4 cup
• 1 or 2 celery stalks with leaves, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, grated
• 1 handful of dry chick peas, soaked and then peeled
• 1 tablespoon smen (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric or ¼ teaspoon yellow colorant
• 6 large tomatoes (about 2 lb. or 1 kg), peeled, seeded and pureed
• 2 to 3 tbsp dry lentils, picked over and washed
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste, mixed evenly into 1 or 2 cups of water
• 2 to 3 tablespoons uncooked rice OR uncooked broken vermicelli
• 1 cup flour

Preparation:

Step 1 - Ahead of Time

Make sure you have all the ingredients. Do the following before you begin cooking the soup.

1. Soak and skin the chickpeas. (You might want to soak them the night before you cook.)
2. Pick through the lentils and wash them.
3. Peel, seed and puree the tomatoes in a blender or food processor. Or, stew the tomatoes and pass them through a food mill to remove the seeds and skin.
4. Pick the parsley and cilantro leaves from their stems. Small pieces of stem are OK, but discard long, thick pieces with no leaves. Wash the herbs, drain well, and finely chop them by hand or with a food processor.

Assemble the remaining ingredients and follow the steps below.

Step 2 - Brown the Meat

Put the meat, soup bones and oil into a 6-qt. or larger pressure cooker. Over medium heat, cook the meat for a few minutes, stirring to brown all sides.

Step 3 - Make the Stock

Add the cilantro, parsley, celery, onion, chick peas, tomatoes, smen and spices. Stir in 3 cups of water.
Cover tightly, and heat over high heat until pressure is achieved. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and release the pressure.

Step 4 – Make the Soup

Add the lentils, tomato paste mixture, and 2 quarts (or about 2 liters) of water to the stock.
Set aside (but don’t add yet), either the rice or vermicelli.

Cover the pot and heat the soup over high heat until pressure is achieved. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking.
If adding rice: Cook the soup on pressure for 30 minutes. Release the pressure, and add the rice. Cover, and cook with pressure for an additional 15 minutes.
If adding vermicelli: Cook the soup on pressure for 45 minutes. Release the pressure, and add the vermicelli. Simmer the soup, uncovered, for five to ten minutes or until the vermicelli is plump and cooked.

Step 5 – Thicken the Soup

While the soup is cooking, mix together the 1 cup of flour with 2 cups of water. Set the mixture aside, and stir or whisk it occasionally. The flour will eventually blend with the water. If the mixture is not smooth when you're ready to use it, pass it through a sieve to remove balls.
Once the rice (or vermicelli) has cooked, taste the soup for seasoning. Add salt or pepper if desired.
Bring the soup to a full simmer. Slowly — and in a thin stream — pour in the flour mixture. Stir constantly and keep the soup simmering so the flour doesn’t stick to the bottom.
You will notice the soup beginning to thicken when you've used approximately half the flour mixture. How thick to make harira is your own preference. I like to thicken the broth so that it achieves a cream-like consistency.
Simmer the thickened soup, stirring occasionally, for five to ten minutes to cook off the taste of the flour. Remove the soup from the heat.
Serves 6 to 8.

Tips for Making Harira

• If the meat had a lot of fat, expect to see some foaming as you simmer the thickened soup. Skim off the foam and discard it.
• As harira cools in the pot, it’s common for a skin to form. Simply stir to blend the skin back into the soup.
• A small wedge of lemon may be served as a garnish; its juice may be squeezed into the bowl of harira.
• When reheating harira, don’t bring it to a boil. Heat over medium heat and stir frequently to avoid lentils sticking to the bottom.
• Preparation Shortcut: Chop your cilantro, parsley and celery together in a food processor or blender. Add the peeled and seeded tomatoes, and blend until well-pureed. Add the onion and process until the onion is reduced to small pieces. Proceed with making the stock.
• Thickening with Egg: In place of flour and water, two or three beaten eggs may be used to thicken harira. (If desired, beat the eggs with 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice.) Add the eggs in a thin stream to the simmering soup, stirring constantly. You will see some cooked strands of eggs in the soup as it thickens.
• Prep and Freeze: If you plan to cook harira frequently, it’s helpful to prep large amounts of key ingredients in advance. Soak and peel chickpeas; drain well before freezing. Chop an ample supply of parsley, cilantro and celery; measure the mixed herbs by soup bowlfuls and freeze. Peel, seed and stew tomatoes; puree and freeze in 1 kg (about 2 lb.) batches.

Traditional Stockpot Method

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, use a 6- or 8-qt. stockpot and adjust the cooking time as follows:

• In Step 2, cover the pot and simmer for one hour.
• In Steps 3 and 4, partially cover the pot and simmer for double the suggested pressure cooking times.
• Proceed with thickening the soup according to the recipe, or try the egg thickening method in the Tips above.

Recipe: Sweet Sambal Tumis

Necessity of the mother of invention cooking. Since husband and I love spicy food and I don't have confidence in those bottles of imported chili paste sold in Asian stores, I've been cooking up batches of this yummy condiment for a while. With my mini food processor and my shallot peeling and slicing skill practices supervised by my mother during my teens, I am saving money by making my own sambal tumis.

Recipe taken from here.

Sweet Sambal Tumis
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

100g dried chilies
100g fresh red chilies
10g bird’s eye chilies
250g shallots (I use Rose shallots, bawang Rose)
1 big onion
10g ginger
15g galangal (blue ginger)
30g garlic
15g belacan (shrimp paste)


3/4 cup cooking oil (suggest change to 1 cup)
40g tamarind pulp , add 1/4cup water to become assam water, discard the seeds
50g sugar or palm sugar (gula Melaka)
1tsp salt


Method
1. Use a scissor to discard dried chili’s head and cut into 2-3pcs and boil in hot water for 5mins. Drain and discard the chili seeds if you want less spicy.
2. Toast belacan in a frying pan, chopping and break it up till powdery and aromatic.
3. Blend dried chili, fresh chili, shallots, big onion, ginger, galangal and toasted belacan with 1/4cup of water till smooth paste.
4. Pour chili paste into a big wok, stir fry for 5-10mins over medium low heat until slightly dried paste (By not adding oil at this time as to avoid oil spill)
5. Now add in cooking oil, continue stirring (tumis) over low heat for 30-40mins. The chili paste will turn darker, light and oil separated after long stirring.
6. Add in assam water, salt and sugar, continue stirring (tumis) for 5-10mins.
7. Leave to cool before storing in the fridge or freeze in small containers for later use.

Homemade Sticky Rice Cakes for TteokBokkI and TteokGuk (떡볶이 떡)

Tteokbokki/Dukbokki (rice and fish cakes in chili sauce)

 Recipe taken from here.

Tteokbokki/Dukbokki (rice and fish cakes in chili sauce)

• 1 package of tubular Korean rice cakes (300 grams)
• 7 cups water
• 1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms
• 1/3 cup gochujang (hot pepper paste)
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 package of fried fish cakes (12 ounces), cut into bite-size triangles
• 5 stalks green onions, cut into 1 1/2 inch segments
• 1 white onion (small), cut crosswise into half moons
• 2 zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 package of ramen noodles (optional)
• 4 eggs, hard boiled and shells removed
• Sesame seeds (to garnish)

1. Separate the rice cakes into individual pieces.

2. In a large pot or saute pan, bring water and dried mushrooms to a boil over medium-high heat. [Maanchi's version calls for dried anchovies rather than mushrooms.] Once the mushrooms have softened, add the rice cakes, fish cakes, gochujang, and sugar to the broth. Simmer for approximately 25 to 35 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. When the rice cakes are al dente and the sauce has slightly thickened, add the green onions, white onions, and zucchini. Season the broth with additional sugar and/or gochujang to taste. If using ramen noodles, add to the mixture after the vegetables are fully cooked. [Dukboki with ramen added is called rabukkee.] Finally, stir in the hard-boiled eggs.

4. The dukboki is ready when the sauce is thick enough to coat the rice cakes, and the rice cakes are plump and soft all the way through.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

食在有健康 - 麻油雞麵線

Thanks to my dear sister for recommending this show to me.

開心大發現 - 好味麵疙瘩 (Homemade Soup Dumplings)

1. Add salt to all purpose flour.
2. Add water to the flour. Mix well.
3. Roll the dough into two portions.
4. Soak the dough in cold water for 20 minutes.
5. Tear the dough into bite size portions and drop them into boiling water.
6. Drain the floating dough and cook them in vegetable or beef broth for a short time.
7. Serve with chopped scallions.