I do love a good bowl of prawn noodles. Especially when the weather is 7˚C outside. Inside my house though the heating has not even come on as I live in a new build eco-friendly house. After a bowl of my extra spicy Hae Mee noodles, I do not feel any cold at all.

Peeling 5 minutes eggs is not a joke. I have to be gentle and do it slowly. Should have boiled it yesterday and put them in the fridge. TIP – doing this makes them easier to peel.

Having a bowl of spicy prawn noodles that you made from scratch and not from a packet of shop bought paste feels like singing …..I’m walking in the air….. I have been planning this cook for a week. Last week I fried my collection of prawn heads and made into a small pot of sambal ready in the fridge and prawn oil for my chicken rice noodles (Hor Fun) https://www.julieolive.co.uk/2019/03/05/kai-see-hor-fun-%e9%b8%a1%e4%b8%9d%e6%b2%b3%e7%b2%89/

This makes life a lot easier. I have also made some prawn stock and freeze. I defrosted the stock last night as I decided to cook today because I saw some amazingly fresh Kangkong at the Asian supermarket during the weekend. To me a good bowl of prawn noodles must come with its partner, the Kangkong, morning glory vegetables.

Today I am making it with pork ribs. Lately it is very difficult to buy raw pork ribs in the normal supermarket. Most of them have been boiled and marinated, prepared for the masses to oven bake. As I am not a fan of BBQ sauce or sticky sweet sauce myself, I hardly buy, cook or eat those. Nowadays if I want nice raw pork ribs, I find I have to go and get them from Costco. Luckily Costco is nearby and not too far away. The accompanying pics below are the stages and TIPs of my way of cooking this dish in the UK. Enjoy.

p/s Of course, you can make more of the prawn head paste aka otak udang sambal and keep it in the fridge for adding to other dishes like I did with my Asam curry fish dish. The possibilities are endless, and it is not wasted – https://www.julieolive.co.uk/2022/11/24/asam-curry-fish-asam-hue-%e4%ba%9a%e5%8f%81%e5%92%96%e5%93%a9%e9%b1%bc/

Today I make sambal belacan chilli paste again. The ones I made last week were all gone and I only gave 2 cups worth away. The daughter complained she wanted to eat more.

We happened to go near a Chinese supermarket yesterday so I bought the biggest bag of dried chillies and 3 packets of fresh chillies I think amounted to a kg. I spent yesterday deseeding the dried chillies of as much of the seeds as I could. Took quite awhile but I have breaks for chocolates and coffees so no hardships.

Today daughter is home to help do washing up so she asked me to cook. In return I have to mark a big tub as hers and everyone don’t touch.

The recipe is simple and please adjust to your taste.

NOTE

• How spicy you want your sambal is entirely up to you. Sometimes you just cannot get spicy chillies and at other times they blow your head off – so there cannot be a fixed recipe.
• If the sambal is too spicy add more sugar. I prefer to use brown sugar but it is entirely up to you.
• Chillies seeds do not make your sambal more spicy. Please Google and read or should I say educate yourself. I hate to eat chilli seeds.
• Toasted belacan gives a more umami taste.
• Salt helps to draws out taste of everything so add some.
• Adding vinegar helps in preserving your sambal but hey it never last in my house! You can bottle them, vacuum seal them and they last forever.
• It took me on low heat about 2 hours for this batch discounting the deseeding dried chillies time and boiling time.
• Remember the taste mature the next day and it taste more mellowed.
• Enjoy eating knowing that your sambal is cooked with love and you can eat as much as a jar a day – kekekekeke
• There are so many uses – can add in dried shrimps, ikan billis, onions, garlic and anything you like to it.

Nasi lemak is special, special to the hearts of all Malaysian. Although in my household one would think my husband was an Asian in his last life, or so all my elders (family & friends) members seems to think so.

The most important expect of nasi lemak is the nasi lemak sambal. Each person seems to have his/hers own special recipe as well as each household.

One can have nasi lemak with fried fish, chicken, sardines sambal, prawns sambal, sotong sambal and for me the dreaded petai sambal. (I just cannot get on with the smell of petai!)

There are limitless types of food you can serve nasi lemak with but the old school MUST have is the sambal sauce, the cucumber, peanuts, boiled eggs, and fried crispy ikan bilis (anchovies) served with fragrant coconut and pandan leaves flavoured rice.

This is my nasi lemak sambal recipe. I have a little chat with a good friend and finally found out what I have been missing in my nasi lemak sambal kuah (sauce). I was never quite satisfied with mine till now. I have since cooked this twice to make sure. Now I am extremely satisfied and felt I can share this. I do not document food I do not like.

Put this sambal in air tight containers and vacuum sealed. I have even posted to friends who are extremely happy with it. You can absolutely freeze them for a lazy day.

In this pic you will see my nasi lemak share platter which I served with tri-coloured rice. I cooked the nasi lemak sambal the night before and on the day itself I boiled plain coconut and pandan rice with a couple slices of ginger, then I did the same with pandan juice and saffron. I like a nice presentation, yes I do. Food taste much nicer if they are pleasing to the eyes.

TIP – After I fried my ikan bilis and removed from hot oil with a sieve I like to sprinkle them with a dusting of icing sugar while still hot. This makes your ikan bilis stay crispy longer and a lot more tastier. It’s the combination of salt and sugar that is irresistible. However you do not have to do so.

p/s I am sure you do not need me to tell you how to boil nasi lemak However do not forget your liberal pinch of salt.

Update (06/09/2020) – today I added galangal as part of my ginger portion and I really love the taste

Please note that I fried a bunch of anchovies (ikan billis) first then used the oil to cook the kuah. In the kuah itself I add in extras minced ikan bilis (not the fried ones) and minced undang kering. These really add extra ‘ooooomph’ to my kuah in my opinion. After the kuah is done then I added in a portion of the fried ikan billis and saved some for garnishing.

Beef rendang is one of the most well known of Malaysian dishes. It is as synonymous to Malaysian cuisine as nasi lemak.

We, the Malaysian have adopted and embraced this dish from our neighbour Indonesia and made it our own.

Living in the UK we will never make as nice a beef rendang or nasi lemak as we could in Malaysia. This is because we cannot get nice fresh coconut milk. Some may say that the tin coconut milk is just as good but in my opinion, I beg to differ. However as a Malaysian living in the UK I do not really have a lot of choice. I have a coconut shredder chair (yes the old school one) please refer to pic) but I still cannot buy nice enough coconut to give me any worthwhile coconut milk.

To cook beef rendang it not difficult. The hardest job is frying the kerisik kelapa (shredded coconut strands) Please do not buy the ready fried ones. They taste of stale coconut oil – yikes. Buy the frozen coconut strands and fry it yourself on a dry non stick clean pan/wok.

I would have used more galangal but I did not have more. I really love the taste of galangal. You can find it normally at any Chinese supermarket. Galangal is not hard to find.

TIP – In all my curries and cooking I prefer to make my own paste and I always prefers to blitz some of the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves etc with my paste. This not only gives any dishes more uuumph but thicken the sauce without the need of buah keras (candlenuts)

As for my DIY lemang there is a long story of trial and errors. When I first tried to make it in UK I made tons of mistakes and this is the closest I can get to the real thing now.

Basically it is just mix the drained soaked glutinous rice to a tin of coconut milk, mix in the salt, the pandan leaves, stir and steam for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and remove the pandan leaves.

Then scope some onto your ready banana leaves and more pandan leaves, wrapped and steam again for another 15 minutes. This will cause the banana leaf taste to seep in.

Remove and use a blow torch to torch the banana leaves (you can use gas stove or BBQ) for this to achieve the smoky taste. This give me the closest taste I can get to the real lemang minus the bamboo. When you served your lemang you will see light green on the sides. That’s the taste and look you want.

Again as I have stressed before use my recipe as a guide and create your own to your own taste.

I still recall most embarrassingly the first time I tried to make lemang I actually boiled the glutinous rice then roll them into tube using cling film and of course it tasted nothing like lemang!

TIP – Do not add your gula Malacca till the last hour to limit the chance of sticking.

TIP – Taste and season with salt if not salty enough or add more sugar if too spicy during the last 30 minutes.

TIP – Add some fresh cili padi (birdeye chilli) if not spicy enough

TIP – Cook rendang the day before and let it steep overnight. Then the next day you only need to steam and make the lemang.

This is a dish that grows on me. That is to say the older I get the more I appreciate this dish. However I am fussy and I like it only if it’s cook ‘fresh’ and not like my ex mother in law. I have not been happy with my chai buey for the past year because I could not find and buy any asam keping (tamarind slices) for a year. I was told it is because people nowadays like to use tamarind juice in container. Tamarind juice is just not right for Chai Buey. Therefore I am thankful and grateful to good friend for buying me asam keping from my hometown, Menglembu and so I decided to cook this dish today.

Chai Buey in the Hokkien dialect literally means ‘leftovers vegetables’ My ex mother in law was from Szechuan. She was one of those boat people that escaped China on a big sailing junk with 2 young children in tow to join her husband in Malaysia. She did told me before that she was not going to give her husband any excuse of looking for a second wife in Malaysia She went on to have 4 more children. Truly a matriarch!

She washed laundry for a living and saved every cent she earned. When she passed she owned her own double storey corner shop lot +++ I really respect and admire her. Frugal and hard working all her life. Spicy Kiam Chai buey is one of her famous dish served weekly. We employed a lot of ladies to clean birds nests as the family was in Chinese medicine like ginseng, birds nests etc. We feed all the workers with lunch. At the end of each day leftover food that’s worth keeping will be kept in the fridge, usually protein. At the end of each week MIL would boil her ‘master stock’ for the spicy kiam chai buey, then sieve out all the bones before adding the asam keping, chillies, protein, mustard greens and others in. The then spicy kiam chai buey I never dare to eat and on that one day a week I frequent Ipoh Tuck Kee Restaurant for their ribs – memories ……..

I learned from this amazing Szechuan matriarch, that to make a good spicy kiam chai buey there are things we could not do without like dried & fresh chillies, the asam keping (tamarind pieces), tomatoes, pickled mustard and fresh mustard greens.

Asam Laksa can happen in Hertfordshire, England.

A couple of decades ago I I was missing Asam Laksa so much but it was near impossible to find all the ingredients here. I was ‘importing’ my stash every time I balik kampung

My stash included torch ginger (bunga kantan), polygonum odoratum (daun kesum) and calamansi lime (limau kesturi) but nowadays they are able to be gotten here but still not easy.

Today I have decided to use some of my stash from Malaysia to cook Asam Laksa as I am going to replenish my stash soon.

For my paste I like to add a small bit of turmeric and galangal (blue ginger) Both these ingredients are easy to find here in Chinatown.

TIP 1 – To get a clear fish broth sieve it once with a normal sieve then sieve it a second time by placing a sheet of kitchen roll on your sieve as an extra lining for a much clearer fish broth.

TIP 2 – Blend your spices till fine. I like to blend some of my lemon grass and torch ginger besides adding some to boil with the broth.

TIP 3 – Remove the big bits from your broth before adding in your fish meat.

Updated 8/08/2021

Actually Asam Laksa is very easy to cook. Years of working and cooking for a family you learn to organise yourself.

I like to boil and picked my fish the night before and the next day just blend and fry the paste. Mush easier and less stress.

Note – I have tried ordering asam laksa outside and I have yet to find one I am willing to part my ££ for! A famous restaurant in Chinatown which I once took a Japanese friend to try (after singing the virtue of how cool and different asam laksa is) was a HUGE let down.

When I queried, the waitress told me it just tin sardines + chilli + asam jawa water and the people working there don’t even eat it! Till this day I am still shocked!

When I read some good reviews recently I think I have to go and try again to see if they have ‘updated’ their asam laksa OR maybe I am just fussy? – kekekekekeke

A good asam laksa (my opinion)

1 – The broth should not be a murky dark brown or look like curry. It should be a clear fish broth with hint of red chilli oil.

2 – The mackerels if you have picked yourself should be in chunks not in bits.

3 – The taste should be sour, spicy, taste of lemongrass, galangal and most important of all the combo of torch ginger and laksa leaves!

Note – Remember the heh ko/prawn paste is sweet. Use as much or as little as you like.

Sarawak Laksa – a dish I cook a few times a year when I feel the urge and when I really, really miss the taste and when I feel a bit hardworking. I always ended up slurping a big bowl of the broth though.

I am quite particular when cooking Sarawak Laksa. I will buy fresh prawns, clean them, fry the heads and make a big pot of prawns broth. You can do this days or weeks ahead.

Then I will buy a corn fed chicken and boil it for chicken broth. Both the broths with be combined to make the main Sarawak Laksa stock. First fry the Sarawak laksa paste and then add in both the broths and bring to a boil. Let the stock simmer slowly for an hour or so or as long as you can stand it, before sieving and transferring to another clean pot.

TIP – You can make this the night before than on the day itself you only need to reheat and add in your coconut milk and evaporated milk. When I make this I never have enough broth and even worse when I invite my friends who all insist on tapaus! I think next time NO tapaus

To make the sambal to go with this I always used the sieved paste. My way is to fry the paste with the ‘oil’ from the Sarawak Laksa broth and add belacan, dried chillies & udang kering (dried shrimps). Season with a pinch of sugar to taste. Please refer to the pics.

Sarawak Laksa is special to all who have grown up with it. In fact for Sarawakian aboard the mere mention of Sarawak Laksa will make us really homesick! This is the same as Asam Laksa to Penangites. Non other paste in the world can compare to it’s distinctiveness. One taste you will be hooked forever. Like my friends here who have never eaten Sarawak laksa before until I cooked for them. Now they will always ask me for Sarawak Laksa when we do have a gathering. However my pastes are precious.

I am indeed lucky to have classmates who will bring over and classmates who will send me the paste. I am seriously considering importing Sarawak laksa paste to sell in the UK ——- if only I were 10 years younger and bother to – kekekekeke

Black Sweet Vinegar Pork Trotter is such a traditional Chinese dish. In the olden days this dish is often cooked as a confinement food after giving birth. The Chinese believes that this dish would ‘get rid of wind’ and is good for ladies post natal immunity after giving birth. However it is now a very common dish enjoyed by everyone even my very British husband (the eggs for he don’t eat fats).

Do you know that pork knuckles and pork trotters contains high natural collagen, perfect to ward off wrinkles? kekekekekekeke

The main ingredients to make a tremendous yummy pot of this dish are just the pork trotters or knuckles, ginger and the black sweet and sour vinegar. My hubby is a big fan of ginger but not the pig trotters or knuckles. so he will eat the eggs and drink the broth!

On the other hand the pig’s trotters are so tender, moist and wonderfully succulent after simmering slowly for hours that they are my favourite. Especially after I took the trouble of dry frying the skin till they blister. In the UK, I am using normal bottle of dark sour vinegar and dark sweet vinegar mix. I found it too sweet for my taste otherwise and I have to add more sour vinegar. I just love the pungent sweet and sour black vinegar taste but I prefer more sour and I added dried chillies to make it a bit more spicy.

I have actually kept back a huge piece of ginger to age it and I bought some young new ginger too.

Each and every family will have their own way of cooking this dish and their heirloom recipe. My mother always clean, blanch, drain and dry fry the trotters first and I followed suit. I find frying till the skin blistered gives that extra taste I love. However I am missing the black beans which I can’t find here.

Braised Pork Rice Bowl – Lu Rou Fan (滷肉饭) my way 

Recently in the cooking group I am in many mummies and daddies were cooking pork belly until I can’t stand it anymore. Got to eat Chinese/Asian for the Christmas month of December of British meals is getting too much. I don’t think I want to see another sausage or bacon strip for at least a month!

This is my take on Braised Pork Rice Bowl – Lu Rou Fan (滷肉饭)

The most important different way in which I cook my Braised Pork Rice Bowl – Lu Rou Fan (滷肉饭) is that I like to fry my pork belly skin first. This gives the skin an extra ummmph. The skin also absorb more taste from your stewing ingredients.