Tao Yew Bak

Hi there,

Here is a recipe for Tao Yew Bak, one of mummy's signature dishes and a favourite among all the children. This time, mummy has taught Annette how to cook the dish.  Before that here are the ingredients:

(1) One kilogramme of pork belly meat cut into one inch thick. You can ask your butcher to slice the pork belly into one inch thick. You may get about two or three long slices, depending on the belly meat. It may be more than one kilogramme of meat but it doesn't really matter.
(2) Spices: 2 or 3 cloves
                  an inch of cinnamon stick
                  2 star anise
                  5 cloves of garlic (Smashed)
                  3 small onions sliced.
                  20 pepper corns (crushed)
(3) Sauces: Light soya sauce (2 or 3 tablespoonfuls)
                  Oyster sauce  (one tablespoonful)
(4) Rock Sugar - 2 or 3 small pieces or to taste.
                           White or organic sugar can be used if rock sugar is not available.
(5) Alternative items  that you can add into the Tao Yew Bak: (NOT all together, please.  Maybe two or three items, like hard boiled eggs plus tau hoo cut into quarters)
                   Hard boiled eggs.  (One of my favourites -- eggs in Tao Yew  Bak).
                   Sea cucumbers. (Can also be added if you want some variety)
                   Tau hoo. (The firmed variety, not the soft type)
                   Tau hoo pok. (Delicious, especially after absorbing the sweet sauce)
                    Dried mushrooms (Not too many as it may spoil the taste)


                

Picture 1 -Cut the pork belly meat into one inch thick.

Picture  2  -This is about the size. It the meat is smaller in size, it may disintegrate after cooking for two hours.

Picture  3  - Another angle of the same piece of meat.

Picture  4  - These are the spices that you need for the one kilogram of belly meat.

Picture  5  - Hard boiled some eggs, peel  them and set them aside to be added in later.

Picture  6  -  Peel the hard boiled eggs and put it aside. These eggs are to be added later.

Picture  7  - Saute the onions and garlic until aromatic. Then put in the cut meat and seared the meat.

Picture  8 - Seared the meat and stir fry for a few minutes.

Picture  9  - Then put in two or three tablespoonful of soya sauce.

Picture  10 - After that add in a tablespoonful of oyster sauce.

Picture  11  - Add two or three small pieces of rock sugar. Add to taste.

Picture  12  - Stir fry the whole thing and smile for the camera.

Picture 13  -  Heat up the water in the Vision stock pot. When the water is boiling, put in the pork belly meat.

Picture  14  - The pork belly meat is ready to be put into the stock pot.

Picture  15  -  the pork belly meat is being put into the stock pot of boiling water. Be careful to use a ladle to put in the meat, as the water is boiling hot!

Picture  16  -  The last portion of the pork belly meat being put into the stock pot.

Picture  18  -  The last of the hard boiled eggs into the pot.

Picture  19  - Let the whole thing cook for 2 hours at medium heat.

Picture  20  -  The finished product!  Tao Yew Bak  --  Mummy's style.

Mummy used to put in one or two dried cuttle fish which had been toasted over the fire for additional flavour which she loved, but unfortunately, all you guys didn't like it, so she discontinued the practise.  I like the Tao Yew Bak with the sea cucumbers, cook until very soft. Anyway, I hope you all will learn how to cook some of mummy signature dishes. If you don't know how to cook any of mummy's dishes, please let me know and I'll try to persuade mummy to cook the dish again while I record the whole process with my camera. Then I'll put it down in Grandmother's  Favourite Recipes Blog.

Pa.

Sweet Pineapple Salad.

Hi,

Here's a simple and delicious salad that you can whip up in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

(1) One tomato
(2) One Japanese cucumber
(3) Two or three slices of ripe pineapple
(4) One large onion
(5) Two large lime
(6) Organic sugar
(7) Salt

Get all the ingredients together, ready to be cut and dice.

Wash, cut and dice the tomato and put it into a large bowl.

Peel randomly here and there. Cut, dice and put it into the same bowl.

Cut the pineapple and dice it and add it into the same bowl.

Add in  two tablespoonful of organic sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, cut the lime and squeeze the juice into the whole mixture and mix the whole thing together. Keep it in the fridge until ready to eat. 

Method:



All the vegetables and fruits are cut and dice into cubes, including the large onion and put together into a large bowl. Then the final part would be to put in the organic sugar (Ordinary sugar can be used if you can't get hold of organic ones.), a pinch of salt, squeeze in two large lime and toss the whole thing together. After that store the whole bowl in the fridge until you are ready to eat. The salad goes very well with all kinds of food. Please note that you must get RIPE pineapple to get the best result.  Enjoy.


Pa.

Bayam With Coconut Milk

Hi,

I would like to show you how to cook this dish which is one of my favourite dishes, especially when cook with suntan. I think many of you love this dish as well. So you might as well learn how this dish is cooked.
Ingredients:
(1) A bundle of "Bayam" vegetable or spinach.
(2) A cup of "Ikan Billis" or Anchovies.
(3) 3 or 4 cloves of garlic.
(4) 4 small onions or shallots.
(5) RM1.00 or RM1.50 "Suntan" or coconut milk.
(6) Salt to taste.


Method:

Step 1:  Pick the best part of the spinach and put in a basin. Then wash and soak to remove any chemicals lingering on the vegetable. Leave the vegetable in a basin of clean water for some time until you are ready to cook.

Pick or nick off the best parts of the "bayam" vegetables and put them in a basin and wash a few times with clean water. Then soak them in clean water for some time after the last rinse.

Step 2:  Take a handful of anchovies and put them in a bowl. Wash them with clean water and then pour away the water. Keep aside until you want to cook.

The "ikan billis" must be washed with clean water first to remove dust and chemicals.

Step 3: Peel and clean some shallots and garlic.

Peel and wash some shallots and garlic.

Cut the shallots and garlic into small pieces.

 Saute the ikan billis until aromatic.

After frying the ikan billis, then put in the shallots and garlic. Continue to fry for a while.

Add a bowl of water, heat it and then pour in the suntan.

Boil the suntan for some time. Then scoop up the ikan billis with a sieve.

Remove all the ikan billis and the shallots and garlic.

The stock is then ready for the bayam  (spinach) vegetable.

Put in the bayam vegetable and stir.

Cook the vegetable until soft, but still green.

The suntan bayam is now ready to be served.

   This dish should be the last to be cooked so that it will be hot when everybody is ready to eat. This dish should be eaten while still hot to really enjoy the rich flavour of the suntan and the vegetable. This is one of my favourite dishes.

PS. This method can also be used to cook "Paku-pakis" or ferns. The only addition may be you can add dried prawns to cook the ferns to give a better and sweeter taste. I also love the fern dish too, especially with suntan.


Pa.

Sweet Honey Meat (Repost)

Hi there,

This particular recipe is requested by Alan. At the same time I would like to put it in writing so that the children and grandchildren will have a record of some of the comfort food that mummy used to cook.

Firstly, this recipe can be used for all kinds of meat.  After the meat has been cleaned and cut into the required and manageable size, add in the ingredients and mix well. Leave it for a while. It is not necessary to leave for a long time.
The ingredients used are:
 (1) soya sauce (a good type will enhance the flavour and the taste of the meat),
 (2) pepper ( a good type is preferred, or you can use the grinder for fresher taste), and
 (3) sugar ( mummy used 4 tablespoon for a dish for the whole family, depending on individual taste).

(a)Mummy started with "York Gan", the piece of lean pork that is situated at the back of the pig. This meat is a bit tough and so you need to tenderise it by pounding it with an aluminium mallet. Then add in the ingredients.
(b)Another type of pork is the "Mui York", which is more tender and you don't need to pound it. Just slice the meat. Then add in the ingredients.
(c)You can also use chicken  for this recipe. Cut up the chicken into manageable sizes, not too big. Then add in the ingredients.
(d) Beef. Mummy doesn't like beef nor mutton, so I am afraid you have to experiment it for yourself, and let me know, so that I can include them in this record. I suppose you can also use deer meat, ostrich meat, rabbit meat and any kind of meat that you can lay your hands on.

Method:
Heat up the wok and pour in some oil.  Put in some chopped garlic (I love to eat the chopped garlic coated with the caramel).  Before the garlic turns brown, pour in the prepared meat onto the wok and stir with the spatula. This is to prevent the meat from sticking on the wok. Then just before the ingredients dry up, stir and coat the meat with the caramel, and let it burnt a bit for extra flavour. Scoop up the meat and serve.
If you are going to try out this dish, please let me know how it turned out.

Pa.

P.S. Mummy says that you could add a bit of Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins) for a better and more flavourful taste. I agree.

How To Cook "Kak Kueh" Soup.

Hi there,

Since mummy has been sick and admitted to hospital, I have been given the responsibility to start cooking and I am diving right in the deep end! Just a few words of instructions and I would start cooking. Now, mummy has been discharged from the hospital, I am now been given full control of the cooking. I have already cooked a few simple dishes, but now i would like to put in record how to cook one of my favourite dish and also Andrew's favourite dish too. "Kak Kueh" soup. It is a kind of long melon with ridges all along the whole fruit. You have to peel off the skin with a special knife, leaving the white pulp.

Ingredients:

1)  One long young "Kak Kueh". Peeled and cleaned. DO NOT SOAK IN WATER. Very Absorbent.
2)  Prawns, peeled and de-veined. Clean and put aside.
3)  Glass noodles or "Tang Hoon". Not too much.
4)  One egg.
5)  Some shallots and garlic.

Methods:

1) Cut the cleaned melon into slices and put aside.  Don't soak them in the water at this stage.
2) Saute the shallots and then add in the garlic.
3) Add in the prawns and stir fried for a few minutes until the prawns are cooked.
4) Pour in the sliced melon and stir fried again.
5) Add a cup of water, stir and then let it boil for some time.
6) Finally add in the "Tang Hoon".
7) Beat an egg and pour it into the wok in a circular motion. Let the egg cook. Then stir.
8) Add salt to taste.

Let the whole thing boil until melon is soft. You may add in more water if the whole thing is too thick.  If you don't want a soup dish, you can dish out and serve as a dish now.

 If you want it as a soup dish, add more water. Let the water boil.   Then serve.

Pa.

Christmas @ Seremban - 25 Dec 2009

Hi All,

I went back to Seremban for Christmas and pa&mi brought me to see the new KFC in town. It's so huge! It's 24 hours and it has drive-thru summore. Got bucket tiang thing too!



Then pa&mi brought me to this new place called EconSave at this new housing project by Sunrise Bhd (holla at Cheh yooo!) called Forest Heights. Let me tell youuu, EconSave is AMAZING! I love shopping there! They weren't kidding when they said the stuff there is cheap.



Lookit this! This is mom shopping for choy for RM2 a BAG!! Stuff as much as you want, still RM2 leh!!!





Mom and dad let loose at EconSave!



Here's a picture of dad entering another NST contest :P



For Christmas dinner, we had fried fish, kerabu and Chai Sim soup! All ingredients bought from EconSave, obviously! Really fresh too!

First up! The fried fish:

Rub some salt on the fish


Then some kunyit powder


Fry, fry, fry. Done.


Next is the soup!

Fry some ikan bilis first


Add some garlic and shallots


Add water


Add some chicken stock


Add the chai sim


Done!


Mummy's first attempt at kerabu. Didn't manage to capture this but she started off blending some chillies with garlic and shallots. Then she blended the top-quality hey bee (dried shrimps) from Taiping. Finally, add the hey bee with the sambal to a mixture of green mango, cucumber and shallots. Squeeze a lot of lime into it and add some sugar. Done!


Our Christmas dinner!


Papa insisted I take another picture of our food with the mess at the other side of the table. HAHA.


That's all, Merry Christmas all!

Much love! <3