Steamed Butter Raisin Cake (Amy Beh's)

Ingredients:


225g butter
185g soft brown sugar
half tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
275g self raising flour, sifted
3 tbsp evaporated milk
50g raisins


Method:


Grease and line a 20cm round cake pan.
Beat butter, sugar and essence until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add shifted flour and stir in milk to mix.  Stir in raisins lightly to combine.  Transfer batter to prepared cake pan.
Steam for 45 minutes or until cooked through when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool it for 10 - 15 minutes before removing it out from the tin.

Parn Mee Noodles(Amy Beh's)

Ingredients  :


600g plain flour
1 small egg
half tsp salt
240 ml hot water


Method:


Sift flour into a large mixing bowl.  Add egg, salt and water to mix.  Knead into a smooth dough.  Divide the
dough into small equal portions and shape each into a round ball.
Flatten it with the palm of your hand and wrap each piece with cling film.  Leave aside to rest for 4-8 hours.


To use the dough:
Press out each piece of dough with the palm of your hands.  Tear off a small piece of dough and pull it like a torn piece of paper-thin dough.  Drop the torn piece of paper thin dough into boiling water. Cook until they start to float and are cooked through.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drop them into a basin of iced water for a short while until cool.  Drain and use in your soup base.

Five Spice Twisty Crackers

100g soft beancurd
1 cube preserved fermented red beancurd(nam yee)
1  and 1/2 tsp five spice powder (ng heong fun)
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 and 1/4 tsp water
350g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g castor sugar
1 egg
2 and 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds


Mash soft  beancurd through a metal sieve until it turns a fine paste.
Combine this paste with the preserved fermented red beancurd, five spice powder , salt and water.
Add flour, baking powder, sugar, egg and sesame seeds.  Mix and knead into a smooth dough.  Cover the dough and leave to rest for an hour.
Roll out the dough thinly.  Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 1 cm x 4 cm strips.  Place 2 peices together , then make a small slit in the centre with a pair of sharp scissors.  Take one end and slip it through the slit.  Pull out lightly to make a twist.
Deep fry the pieces of twisted pastry dough in hot oil over medium heat until they turn golden.
Remove immediately from the oil and drain on several layers of kitchen paper.  Store them in airtight containers when cooled.

Sambal Belachan

Ingredients:


10 red chillies
4 cm-piece belachan, roast till fragrant
Pinch of salt
1 limau kasturi


Method:


Pound chillies until rather coarse in texture.  Break up roasted belachan and add into chilli mixture gradually.
Continue to pound until texture is neither too smooth nor too coarse.  Add pinch of salt.  Remove sambal into a bowl.  Squeeze lime juice in and mix well.  Serve sambal as an accompanying side dish.

Ah Ngoh's Food Ideas: 4) Black Dates Tea (Amy Beh's)

Ah Ngoh's Food Ideas: 4) Black Dates Tea (Amy Beh's): After giving birth, the new mother is believed to have a lot of 'wind' in the stomach.  To avoid getting more wind, and to help to get rid ...

4) Black Dates Tea (Amy Beh's)

After giving birth, the new mother is believed to have a lot of 'wind' in the stomach.  To avoid getting more wind, and to help to get rid of this, a special drink can be made for her to drink instead of always drinking plain hot water.  It is not advisable to drink anything cold during this time.


Black Dates Tea:


Ingredients-


12 red dates , pitted
15 black dates
15g dried longan flesh
20g tong sam
1.5g litres water


Method


Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and boil on slow heat, preferably overnight.  Serve the tea warm as a drink to the new mother.

3) Stir-fried Kale and Snow Peas(Amy Beh's)

Ingredients:


150 g kale (Hong Kong kai lan)
100g sweet snow peas
100g carrot, cut into desired shapes
200g deboned chicken meat, cubed
2 thin slices old ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
half tbsp oil


Seasoning (A)


half tsp salt
half tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper
half tsp sesame oil


Seasoning (B)
half tsp salt
half tsp sugar
half tsp light soy sauce


Method:


Marinate chicken with seasoning (A).
Slice off fibrous parts of the kale stem and cut slantwise into thick slices.
Blanch snow peas and carrots in hot boiling water.
Add a pinch of salt and sugar.  Remove, put into cold running tap water.  Drain dry.
Heat oil and sesame oil in a wok .  Fry ginger till fragrant.
Put in marinated chicken meat and stir fry for two minutes.  Add kale , snow peas, carrots and seasoning (B).  Fry briskly for 1 to 2 minutes.  Dish out and serve hot.

2) Black Bean Herbal Soup(Amy Beh's)

Ingredients :


1 black chicken (600g)
50g black beans, pan-fried without oil


Herbs:


15g wai san
15g kei chee
15g tong sum
15g pak kay


10g dried longan flesh
6 red dates, pitted
600ml hot water


Seasoning
1 tsp salt (optional)




Method:


Rinse all the herbs , longans and dates, and then drain them dry.  Gut chicken and wash thoroughly. Cut into four pieces.
Rinse and drain away the water.  Put all the ingredients into a double-boiler pot.  Add the hot water.
Cover and double-boil for  two and a half to three hours.  Add salt , if preferred, and serve the soup hot.

Stewed Ginger Chicken(Amy Beh's)

Today I am going to post 4 kinds of recipes cooked for new mothers during the confinement period.
For Chinese mothers who had just given birth to babies, the confinement period is an important affair and they will be cooked food that will help to get rid of the 'wind' from their bodies.  If they do not take care during this period, it is believed that they will suffer all kinds of aches and pains later on in their lives.  Some will experience aches and pains long before they even get into old  age!

1)  STEWED GINGER CHICKEN

Ingredients

500g or half a chicken
10g cloud ear fungus (wan yee) , soaked and cut into bite-size pieces
25g dried lily buds (kam cham) , soaked and knotted
16g tong sum
8 red dates, pitted
7g (two thick slices ) old ginger
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 cups hot water

Seasoning (A)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp ginger juice
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp sesame oil

Seasoning (B)
half tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4  tsp pepper

Method:

Gut the chicken and wash thoroughly.  Scald in hot water for 1 to 2 minutes.  Rinse , then drain.  Marinate chicken with seasoning (A).
Heat sesame oil in a deep saucepan and fry ginger slices till fragrant.  Add tong sum, cloud ear fungus and rede dates.  Stir fry briskly.
Add marinated chicken and fry well.  Add hot water and seasoning (B).  Bring to a simmering boil-covered-for 10 minutes.  Lower the heat and cook over a gentle heat for 20 minutes.
Add the lily buds during the last five minutes of cooking.  Dish out and serve hot.