When I was growing up in Kuching, Sarawak I remembered one of the places where my mother used to take us, me and my 4 other siblings to buy breakfast from this shop (I forgot where) that sold the best egg tarts, cream puffs and this very special egg sponge cake but with savoury mince pork and fried shallots in the middle.

I have tried to recreate this over the years, ahem….decades actually… but the last few batches always ended up in the bins. As I have ‘accidentally’ clicked and bought too many packets of cake flour a couple of months ago from Amazon, I decided to give it another go. Finally I have a recipe I am happy to record and share. This is because hubby asked for a second slice. When he does this it means ‘he passed it’ – kekekekeke

I have always remembered this as something from my childhood which I have eaten countless times growing up in Kuching, Sarawak. This is like 5, 6 decades ago but I am not counting. – kekekeke

Only recently some claimed that this is a ‘Taiwanese street food’ Which is which I am not sure but hubby loves this now as he is not too keen on char sui bao being of fatter pork fillings. The daughter declared today she loves it too. Previously they both have said it was weird being sweet and savoury and refused to eat, hence the bin ate them. Of course that got them the lashing of my tongue as isn’t char sui bao etc sweet buns and savoury fillings too? Here are some TIPs if you want to give it a go.

TIP – When steaming use medium to high heat. Make sure water is bubbling before your batter goes in.

TIP – When steaming second round after the mince and fried shallots toppings do not forget to top up water before doing so.

TIP – You can season your mince a tad saltier because the egg sponge is plain.

TIP – Do not be tempted to add more seasonings to the mince or vanilla essence etc to your egg mixture. You do not add vanilla essence to your char sui bao bun do you? Same concept.

TIP – Remember to lift out your cake from the tin onto a rack to cook. If not you might have a soggy bottom syndrome.

Note : Big NO. NO, this savoury sponge cake from my memory do not have chicken floss! Of course that is not to say you cannot add to your bake but this IS my childhood nostalgia indulgence. My childhood idiosyncrasy if you like.

Today is Thursday, the day hubby has to pop into his office. I like to cook him a surprise lunch every Thursday. I sent him to work this morning after giving him eggy bread and started to make my asam curry paste. I planned to finished cooking and showered by the time he comes back for lunch.

There are many ways of cooking this dish but this is the way I preferred mine to be cooked as this is the way I have eaten for as long as I could remember. I suppose like most dishes traditionally we are used to how our parents and grandparents cooked them.

As for me myself I still much preferred my fish to be seasoned and fried before adding to my asam curry sauce. Hence, I find it hard to eat fish curry outside and I always asked the vendor if they fried their fish first before placing my order.

As usual this is more as a guide than a fixed recipe as such. I have a pot of otak udang chilli that I have made the other day which I can add to my paste. If you do not have you can add a small handful of dried shrimps and blend with your paste. I also have daun kesom, laksa leaves, bravely surviving in the cold so I used some to boil my nasi kunyit.

As I am using oil to fry and aubergines and fish, I decided to also fry some keropok ikan and prawns from Kuching and some chicken and prawn wantons. This is because after frying my aubergines and fish I will throw away the oil. The oil will then have no more ‘strength’ for frying anything else. To try and reuse it some more will cause your cook to be very greasy!

p/s Otak udang – fried prawns heads with oil till crispy with garlic, salt, chilli and blitz in the blender to make a paste. Store in fridge and use at will.

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.

My hubby is a big fan of chicken breasts. He was so happy when I told him the Sunday passed we are going to Costco to get some chicken breasts. The typical Englishman that he is, is a huge fan of chicken breasts as they have no bones.

However hubby did not know that I was going to make him chicken floss. He was such a happy bunny when he realised and saw me shredding the chicken. Later he kept coming into the kitchen in between meetings and kept asking me if they were ready when I was frying, frying, frying and frying.

I told him “it was the slow and steady one who won the race, have you forgotten?” He gave me such a grin and of course I rewarded him with a small saucer of chicken floss.

He then placed an order for plain congee with chicken floss for breakfast the following morning. – kekekekeke

He got his wish of course.

• 

Here is another post hubby was able to recover from the net, from my old block. It’s ‘Chuk bi peah’ I have made both sweet ones and savoury ones.

This ‘peah’ literally means ‘biscuit’ in Hokkien dialect. This is only sold in Kuching in the old days as far as I know. Only those who grew up in Kuching will know this kueh and some have not even eaten them before.

A few times when I phoned my mother she was on and on about this chuk bi peah. She kept telling me how much she misses this kuih. and she’s in her 70ies.

So I wanted to learn this kuih and make it for her one day. Thanks to some of my classmates, their patience with me and guidance, taking pics for me so I am able to make this in UK. Thank you Ron, Cindy and Mary. Hubby extended his ‘Thanks’ too. He said next time in Kuching beers on him!

He preferred the haebee one because of my sambal even though he ate 4 of the tausah cause I fried and served them first! 

I will defo make this again. Love the crunchiness – Happy me.

First published – 1st August 2018

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.

I make this sambal udang balacan/belacan a few times a year. It is when we, the family kept asking me when I am making again or when my friends persuade me “when you next make sambal udang belacan can I book 10 jars please” then only I make.

Now I am not sure how to write a fix recipe as I have never measured my ingredients. I taste as I make and add a bit of this and that to make it resemble the taste I know. The taste of how my mother’s sambal used to taste like.

When I was a youngin’ when my mother made this, we always make them into sandwiches Do you know dried shrimps sambal that has a generous amount of dried shrimps taste amazing with buttered bread? If you have not try before, try it. My husband loves this on buttered brioche rolls.

Now as I said I have not measured my ingredients. when I asked my mother she will tell me a bowl of this and half a bowl of that. So I will attempt to tell you. However sambal is one of those dish you can make your own. There is absolutely no right or wrong. When I first started making I tried to add this and that (not mentioned by my mother) but in the end I do not like the taste. Not nostalgic lah. so I stick back to the basic ingredients. If for any reason I want to use this sambal to cook other things then I will add other ingredients as and when.

Take this recipe as a guide and make your own as sometimes our onions has a stronger taste or our chillies is hotter. I remember one time I bought some chilli powder that were so hot! I of course had to add more sugar. I will give you tips to adjust.

Oh yes when using the dried chillies, snip off the heads a bit and empty out as much of the seeds as you can. When I was young grandma use to say don’t let the males eat chilli seeds or they can’t pee – kekekekekeke Funny things I remember from young but now that I am all grown up I know that it is the spicy hot food that can increase bladder pain and inflammation in some people thus making it hard to pee for them. BUT there is some truth in so called ‘old wives’ tales after all!