Twice or trice a year when I need to go into London I always order this dish but each time I am disappointed with the 3 to 5 mini oysters in it.

Hence once in a while I will cook my own with a full bowl of oysters. My husband however does not like to eat but nowadays the daughter will eat some. I don’t mind as I can eat the whole plateful.

There are a few styles of frying this oysters omelette and this is my favourite. I like some crispy bits, some gooey bits and lots of oysters.

There used to be an extremely tall chap in Ipoh garden eatery place that made the best oysters omelette. I have had it in the so called famous place in Penang but it was in my opinion, not up to standard and disappointing.

The last time I had this in Kuching I just got a big huge crispy batter with just a few dots of oysters sadly. I didn’t like it.

My daughter’s god-sister who love this dish wanted to make this but she could not find my recipe which was lost when I lost my old blog.

I promised her that I will do anther one for her. As I have recorded on Facebook this can easily be done.

As for me it is like ABC now. If you cannot or if you are not good in making any other kuih this is the one you sure can make as it is very forgiving. I normally don’t even need a recipe, on a good day when my brain works.

When shopping I will look out for 2 large mooli/daikon/turnip/loh bak or 3 smaller ones. I know when grated they will yield about 2kg thereabout in total.

Then I remember I need 450g of flours in total. Either 100g Wheat starch and 350g rice flours or 330g rice flour and sub 20g corn flour for a softer texture. It is entirely up to you.

This amount will yield 2 tins of 7×7 or 8×8. It is not be all or end all if you do not have the perfect tin.

The beauty of this loh bak cake is you can wrap portions nicely and freeze. It freezes very well.

Read my Tip for ensuring a smooth top with using a cling film.

Note – Use as much as 4 stick of lap cheong or less but you need to cut it small and thin. This is for your easy slicing later.

Note – It is must tastier if you have shallots oil for the tins.

Note – Taste the dough before you distribute to steam, making sure it is salty enough and meet with your taste buds. If not add salt & pepper. The lap cheong releases a sweetness, the dried shrimps the umami taste and I like mine with a touch more freshly ground Sarawak pepper.

Make it your own.

Last weekend a friend told me she has been hankering for cucuk udang. She asked me for my recipe and I realised that I have not made these for years. I am not sure if she meant just these crispy prawns ones which I love or the ones with beansprouts and kuchai. These are my first choice and those are my second loves.

However she got me thinking where did I put my recipe. One day many years ago I experimented with different combination of flours; with and without egg to find the combination I wanted. I have even fried with prawn stock, not water, the bit softer type and the crunchier types etc etc……… The MAD housewife – kekekekekeke

The final recipe I uploaded to my old blog which I have since lost. In my cooking I am often a bit like a ‘bee in the bonnet’ type of person. I will try and try and try and experiment and experiment BUT once I made it to my satisfaction I will lose all interest and only cook once in a blue moon. In this case it has been a few years. I have to dig around to find my recipe and Facebook recorded my mad moment was on 25th June 2011!!! Luckily I found it! Thus this is an old recipe revived with TIPs.

My husband do not like big prawns so I distributed to other families near me when I made yesterday for the pics taking. Luckily I have willing guinea pigs – hahahaha

IMPORTANT TO NOTE – If you want a crispier outcome then make the batter slightly thinner, ummmmm….like pouring custard consistency and if you want crispy sides and softer middle then make it thicker consistency like thick custard.

If you make very thin batter it is very good to eat with rojak sauce!

Of course if you want to add in beansprouts and beans or Chinese chives then you need the thick custard consistency.

Experiment and enjoy.

p/s I used left over batter + a bit more rice flour and batter chicken strips for my son who also like his Dad don’t eat big prawns. Sigh……… I just have to share my prawns fritters out when I make them.

So I am into making talam at the moment. Making and doing research and I felt like I have been to mathematics class last couple of weeks and back. kekekekekeke

Luckily I have enough guinea pigs and even the British neighbours have been promoted to try though it is very far and few that you will meet any British born and bred whom will like our kuih-muih. Well except my husband! He has actually placed an order for a special kuih lapis of his designs! I accepted his challenge. I just have to figured out how to make what he wants as I have not seen this designs online So watch this space!

Today I have decided to finally pen this recipe out. If I tried some more (research) my friends and neighbours and family might kill me. I have bought 2 dozen tins of coconut milk. Go figures However when my classmate from age 13 years old informed me that I have made the best talam pandan she have ever tasted I believed this recipe is a keeper.

Now when I said I felt like I have been to Mathematics class the last week, I meant I have calculated ratios of countless talam recipes online and from my cookbooks. This is the final ratio that I settled on which I can comfortably slice without breaking because I prefer softer talam.

However I did make some in glass jars and those I add a touch more liquids and a touch more salt for the crazy hubby who (thinks he’s a food critic) really like a touch more salty top to contrast with the sweet bottom (his words; not mine!) Shocking right? Coming from a white British guy – hahahahaha

Now if you have read all my musings this far I think you deserve a good tip. I actually added A DROP of alkaline water to my top layer. it works fine but do not be tempted to add more. If you want to know why, you can try it and see I did and the talam went into the bin.

TIP – Use as many pandan leaves as you can afford. Blend with water the night before. Store in a container with a cover and put in the fridge. I hate cross contamination of smell in the fridge. My everything is in either lock & lock, tupperwares or vacuumed sealed. For this recipe of 7×7 tin I used 2 packets of pandan leaves.

The next day when you are ready to make, it is entirely up to you how you use your pandan juice. You can throw the top water away and used the more condensed bottom bit or you can use all but sieve again one more time to remove residue.

TIP – If you want your pandan green to be slightly more deeper green try adding a few drop of intense blue pea flower water. Just boil blue pea right down to get a darker colour. However I am not sure I like it. I prefer a more natural pandan leaf colour. Which do you prefer?

TIP – As long as you stick to the flours and liquid ratio, do experiment. You can omit the tapioca flour and used just green bean flour and rice flour…..but you cannot do the reverse aka you cannot omit the green bean and used tapioca instead. Well I suppose it is all up to you to try Enjoy trying. I did.

p/s I am also trying to perfect the gula Melaka talam. Will update that recipe this weekend if free. It’s so much easier to make as just need to melt the gula Melaka

Beehive cookies or Honeycomb cookies or Phang Siew Kueh or Kuih Rose is normally eaten and served to visitors during Chinese New Year.

It can be a bit difficult to make until you get the oil at the right temperature, the mould at the right temperature or else you will have trouble. However once you got the hang of it then it is easy. Just takes time.

I have been making these every year in the UK for Chinese New Year ever since I got some moulds from home. I have this recipe in my lost old blog and it’s about time I add to this new blog.

Trust me I have had lots and lots of failures and I dread having to change my wok because it means I have to adjust and get to know what heat setting for my new wok.

Hence I actually have a few woks for special dishes/cook/bake. (I know I am weird that way)

As a young teenager growing up in Kuching, Sarawak my father took us out for supper few days a week. I do realized how extremely lucky my siblings and I were now.

One such supper is this Char Koay Kark . This recipe is for the plain Koay Kark aka no fresh radish grated inside, just rice flours mixture. This is the street food version. Not the ones sold in Dim Sum restaurants but it’s oh so nostalgic.

This Char Koay Kar dish brings back memories of us 5 siblings, sometimes laughing, sometimes arguing at the back of my mother’s Volvo 244 in racing green. Those were carefree days and our only worries were our parents not buying for us what we want!

I have extremely fond memories of this street food Char Koay Kark. There was an elderly gentleman with a makeshift stall selling it by an old iron fenced gate near the then Cathay cinema. He used to wrap them into a corn shape with newspaper on the outside and a piece of plastic inside.

If I remembered correctly the plain ones were 50 sen and the added eggs 70 sen. I can’t remember there being prawns but I just wanted to add to mine today.

I have not cook this for years. Hubby reminded me the other day so I decided to cook for him. He loves the preserved sweet radish and will always request for extra! I remembered a few years back when I was first experimenting to make the rice cakes, a lot went into the rubbish bin before I settled on this combo that is not too hard, nor too soft and with just enough ‘chew’

Today I have decided to write out with pics in details. If you made it please post me a pic or tag me and you would have made this post worthwhile.

TIP – Make the koay kark, rice cake at least a day ahead. After storing in the fridge it is easier to cut. Oil your knife.

I simply love yam. It is hard to get nice Chinese yam with the purple specks in UK. When there are some, I will always buy a couple of kg bag and store in my freezer. There is not much point buying fresh yam in UK as the few times I tried half were rotten or browned in colour. I much rather buy frozen ones. However frozen with purple flecks is hard to find. Different batches and supplier I suppose.

The ones with the purple flecks are most ‘powdery’ When you slice into them, milky liquid flows out. Those are the best yam. YUM

When I first got it into my head to make this, I could not find a recipe on the net. I have to try a few time of trial and error, too much liquid it’s too soft to fry and won’t hold it’s shape. Too little liquid then you get Yam cake so hard that can ‘hit die dog’ I have come to the conclusion I like mine just soft enough to hold it’s shape.

I was wondering why Chinese Loh Bak Go (Turnip cake) can make and fry like this but no one make yam ones. So a new idea was born. Anyway the hubby always complains that the Loh Bak Go at Yam Cha never have enough ‘liew’. This recipe satisfies our love for yam and the ‘liew’

I deviate this recipe from the normal Steamed Yam Cake with toppings – http://www.julieolive.co adjusting this and that until they can be lightly, very lightly pan fried though hubby preferred his fried a lot more! I find this is also easier to make and you can actually freeze this for a breakfast another day to go with any other Dim sum dishes you might want to make. As for me, as per usual after slicing, frying some to eat the day itself and the next day plus giving some to friends I have nothing left to freeze. maybe I will make double the amount next time.

Note : The amount of dried shrimps, Chinese sausage and any other ingredients you wish to add are all optional and depending on you.

Note : Because I used chicken powder and lots of dried shrimps I did not add any salt. it is entirely optional.

p/s Please leave a message if you have any questions. Enjoy.

TIP – Cuts easier after cooled in the fridge. Wipe your knife with oil after each slice and make sure you knife is sharp.

TIP – If it’s too sticky dust very lightly with some flour before frying.

TIP – Be generous with your yam, dried shrimps, lap cheong etc. Every slice must have lots as we eat with our eyes first then the gob.

Note – It is important to have a good garlic and shallots oil foundation for a tasty Yam cake.

Double Note – Once you get your consistency the way you like, makes notes so you do not forget it and write out your own tips for yourself aka which tray to use, you like your Yam cake to have height etc…..

Hmmmmmm…….I shall stop ‘advising’ or I sound like an old cow moooooing ……kekekekekeke

I have been thinking of making this for ages in fact years. I wanted to make mango sticky rice pudding but with a twist. So as to confuse the senses. Look like Kueh Seri Muka, but is coconut sweet with a coconut sauce aka Thai Mango Sticky Rice Dessert (Khao Niaow Ma Muang)

The colouring are all natural mango bright yellow and the blue is from blue pea flowers. The riper your mango is the brighter the yellow orange colour is. The more blue pea flowers you use the more darker blue the colour is. 

I have a friend coming over to UK for a visit and she is bringing me some more blue pea flowers so I have decided to splash out and use my precious stash. 

(I am going to experiment this using gelatin powder as a setting agent for the mango topping next and will post recipe if it turn out nice) For the moment I feel this is a good eat.

NOVEMBER 24, 2017 BY ADMIN