cod fish recipes: February 2010

Pajeri nanas (pineapple curry)

It's been a while since I last posted a Malay recipe. This is what I made last week with opor ayam (creamy chicken). The pineapple was spicy, sharp and sweet, the chicken was mild and creamy, perfect match. This pineapple curry is one of my favourite curry, very tasty. If you like curry and sweet & sour this is for you.Recipe is quite simple. All you need is a fresh pineapple** and some

Kidney and liver rice wine vermicelli noodle soup 腰肝麵線

Rice wine and sesame oil vermicelli noodle soup 麻油酒麵線 is a celebration dish, very popular with Fuzhou 福州 and Hokkien (Fujian) 福建 people. Many after-birth mums will eat this, not sure if the doctor will recommend if the mum is breast feeding because it has oodles of rice wine added, for centuries many Chinese mums had eaten this so I don't see how bad it could be. This noodle soup is also common

Shahi Paneer Recipe

Shahi Paneer Recipe

Shahi Paneer recipe is my fourth recipe in the Paneer recipes series. In this recipe soft paneer cubes are cooked in a creamy, buttery gravy prepared with ghee (clarified butter), cashewnuts, onions, tomatoes and spices.

The other paneer recipes are: Paneer Butter masala, Palak Paneer and Mutter Paneer recipe

Ingredients for Shahi Paneer Recipe:

Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) - 250 gms

Ghee - 4 tbsp.

Onion – 1 (chopped into strips)

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece (chopped finely)

Green chillies – 2 (chopped finely)

Curd - 1/4 cup

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp.

Milk - 1/2 cup

Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp.

Tomatoes – 4 (chopped finely)

Cardamom – 2 (crushed)

Cashew nuts – 10 (made into a paste)

Salt to taste

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serving: 4-6 people

Shahi Paneer Recipe Cooking Method:

Cut the Paneer into medium sized cubes. Take a pan on medium heat. Add 1 tbsp ghee and fry the paneer cubes for around 3 minutes and keep it aside.
Heat 2 tbsp. ghee in a pan. Add onion,ginger, green chilli and cardamom. Fry for 3-4 minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook for 7-8 minutes with the lid covered on the pan.
Add curd and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add 1/2 cup water and allow the contents to cool.
Blend in a blender till smooth.
Heat remaining ghee and add gravy.
To this add tomato sauce, chilli powder and garam masala.
Boil to get a very thick gravy.
Now add milk, cashew nut paste and paneer. Mix well and boil for 3-4 minutes.
Garnish with chopped coriander and serve the Shahi Paneer hot.

Beijing Pizza 韭菜糊餅

韭菜糊餅 Jiu Chai Hu BingSome people called this Beijing pizza, it's an old Beijing style snack 'xiao chi 小吃', made with a thin crunchy cornmeal crust topped with Chinese chives (garlic chives), egg and a little dried shrimp for a more savoury flavour. Very tasty.Pictures are a bit fuzzy due to the hot steam.Here is the recipe - make an approx. 1 x 25cm round pizza (pancake)Ingredients: about 80 g

Fried nian gao (egg fried sticky rice cake)

This is a simple breakfast common during the CNY season. Nian gao will harden after a few days, most people will fry it with egg to soften the cake and also given it a nicer flavour. Sometime if I have sweet potato and/or taro I would use them to sandwich nian goh and dip in egg to fry which is also very tasty too.Here is just a simple fried nian gao with egg. Dead simple to make.Cut some nian

CNY Day Seven Auspicious food (人日七菜羹)

Most Chinese are very superstitious, I know we are a weird bunch, many of the things we do and eat around CNY can all relate to some meanings, mostly something to bring auspicious lucks. Any thing bad is usually avoided or not permitted like no sweeping around the house during the first few days of CNY, this will sweep away any lucks!. Bad luck food is stir fried squid 炒魷 because another meaning

Soy Sauce Poached Chicken 豉油雞 and Master Sauce 鹵水

I love poached chicken, the meat is so juicy and tender. That is why I love Hainanese Chicken rice. Another of my favourite is soy sauce chicken (See Yau Gai 豉油雞). This poaching liquor is a mixture of light soy, dark soy, sugar and spices normally referred to as master sauce (lu sui 鹵水). Chicken poached with this sauce is a lot more flavourful than just poaching with water or plain stock like

Buddha's Delight or Monk's Vegetables 羅漢齋

On the first day of CNY many Chinese. especially Cantonese, will go meat free. Many will cook an assorted vegetarian dish using dried vegetables, edible fungi, tofu products and fresh vegetables. This dish is normally referred to as Buddha Delight or Monk's Vegetable, in Chinese is 羅漢齋 (lo han zai) or simply 齋菜 (zai choi).This dish is the custom in my family for this day every year. My mum would

Celebrate CNY Eve with Fu gui Ji 富貴雞, aka Beggar Chicken

Our New Year's Eve dinner highlight was a Fu Gui Ji 富貴雞, commonly known as beggar chicken (乞丐雞 chi gai zi) or (叫化雞 jiao hua zi). I preferred to called it Fu Gui Ji 富貴雞 for this occasion because fu gui 富貴 means fortune and prosperity.This beggar chicken recipe started a long time ago in Hangzhou 杭州, China. The story was a beggar stole a live chicken from a village. He was found out and the owner

Happy Tiger New Year

新年快樂!Happy New Year!福虎和你拜年!Greetings from Lucky Tiger!The following phrases are Tiger greetings. May sound a bit stupid translated to English, but quite sweet in Chinese. 福虎年祝你財源滾滾 Lucky Tiger wishing you rolling in with money in the coming year 發得像肥虎 Properous like a fat tiger 身體壯的像頭虎 Strong as a tiger 愛情甜的像虎奶 Love life sweet as tiger’s milk 好運多的像虎毛 Good lucks many as

Red bean and coconut sticky rice cake 椰汁紅豆年糕

This coconut flavoured sticky cake/pudding with cooked red beans is another Cantonese favourite for CNY. I made some the other day but I have to say I much preferred the old fashioned plain brownish rice cake. Here is a recipe if anyone is interested.This recipe will make 2 puddings using 1/2 pint (about 250ml) pudding basins (metal or plastic) or other containers.Ingredients:1/2 cup red beans

Crunchy peanut crescents 油角仔

Yau kok zai 油角仔 are crunchy peanut crescents, a very popular snack for CNY especially Cantonese. I have been making these since I was a kid, it's a must have this time of the year. I like to make mine really tiny, it's labour intensive I quite enjoyed making them.

They are crunchy inside out, so can keep for several weeks in airtight container.

For this recipe, this will make about 75 tiny

New Year Rice Cake 年糕

Rice cake or nian gao 年糕 is something nearly every Chinese family will have for CNY. The two words 年 nian and 糕 gao rhyme with the Chinese greeting phrase 年年高升 nian nian gao sheng, literally translated as higher year after year or simply you will prosper year after year. So eating nian gao is considered lucky for the coming year.There are different nian gao, the Northerners have white plain rice

MINI TARTLES WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND DULCE DE LECHE

Absolutely delicious! Very sweet addition to coffee. This is my Mum's recipe.

Ingredients for about 30 cupcakes

300 g plain flour
200 g soft unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
100g icing sugar
Can sweetened condensed milk boiled in a tin for about 3-5 hours/ dulce de leche
Whipped cream
Strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius degrees.

2. Combine flour, egg

Candied lotus seeds 糖蓮子

During CNY many Chinese will have a box of candied fruits and nuts at home to welcome friends and families when they visit and also given them as gifts. Popular candied stuff like candied lotus root slices, lotus seeds, red dates (jujube), kumquats and winter melon.Candied lotus seeds (tang lan zi 糖蓮子) are popular especially for any family wishing to have kids because the word lotus seeds in

Chinese dumplings - Jiaozi 餃子

I love Chinese dumplings and I am sure many of you too. There are hundreds of different kind of Chinese dumplings, from quite small and dainty to golf ball size, so many different methods to wrap, so many different types of pastry and infinite types of fillings. Dumplings can be boiled, steamed, fried or deep fried. And different parts of China have their own different recipes.Southerners'

Yeung Ji Gum Lo 楊枝甘露

Here is another request from a reader for a recipe.Yeung Ji Gum Lo 楊枝甘露 is a cold Chinese dessert created by some Hong Kong restaurant in the '80. It's quite a refreshing dessert soup which is creamy, sweet and fragrant from mango and pomelo. Very simple to make, all you need is gather the ingredients and mix everything together. The key ingredients are mango, pomelo, sago pearls, mango ice cream

Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵 - Fried sauce noodles

Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵 is fried sauce noodles, I called it Chinese spag bog. These noodles are very popular in most parts of Northern China, especially Beijing.Koreans are also fan of zha jiang noodles, similar name called jajangmyeon. The sauce Korean used is not the same as Chinese, similar flavour but made with black beans called chungjang.Chinese zha jiang sauce is dark brown, salty, sweet and

Homemade rustic pulled noodles

When I have few hours with nothing to do at home, I always ended up in the kitchen making something. Today was no difference. I wanted zha jiang mian 炸醬麵 (fried sauce noodles) for dinner but don't fancy using dried noodles. So I made some rustic pulled noodles. I am not expert enough to make those super pulled noodles. My version is easier and more rustic.Here was what I did. This portion is

Pan fried red bean paste cakes 豆沙煎軟餅

I have another portion of this lo mai chee dough and some red bean paste sitting in the fridge need using. I made some fried soft cakes (dou sa jin yuen bing 豆沙煎軟餅) . If you like jin dui 煎堆 you probably like these little soft and chewy cakes. It has the same taste as jin dui only softer and less oily.Very very simple to make when I have the dough and bean paste all ready. Use the same quantity of

Lo Mai Chee with red bean paste 豆沙糯米糍

Chinese New Year is approaching, I am warming my engine up making some favourite CNY cakes, biscuits, dumplings and not forgetting a meal on CNY eve. My first CNY related recipe this year is Lo Mai chee.Lo Mai Chee 糯米糍 is Cantonese style mochi, some people called lo mai chee as snow balls. Anyone who does not know what a lo mai chee or mochi is, it's a soft and chewy dough ball normally filled