Back again blogging after 1 1/2 months' hiatus. My apologies to some of you who have been back checking regularly, I was just not in the mood to blog with so many things going on the past 2 months. Now that things have quieten down, and I started to twiddle my thumbs again, I thought I'd give it a go. Thank you for the wishes and greetings! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fat Chai and Happy Valentine Day to all....LOL! Incidentally, that list nearly covers all wishes I got in my Christmas card from hubby (with the presents to match all occassion too, but that would be the subject of another entry in a more appropriate blog).

For those of you who have linked to this blog, I have linked to you also. If I miss you out and you'd like to be linked, give us a yell :)

Anyway, for Reunion Dinner, which sadly wasn't celebrated with all my immediate family members, I decided to make a few "traditional dishes". Although these dishes might be traditional for many of you, they are certainly not in my family. Having grown up in Indonesia, we are more accustomed to have dishes like chicken curry, beef rendang, satay and semur for our Ciak Tua Kai, besides the few must have Chinese Dishes like braised sea cucumber with bamboo shoots & mushrooms, he keng (prawn roll similar to ngoh hiang of the Hokkian people) and hoi chor (crab balls). For this year Reunion dinner, celebrated with my sis and her colleagues and family, I contributed these few dishes:


Vegetarian Yee Sang
Was told by dear hubby to shred the vegies longer next time. Sigh.... must use the right tool. Totally forgot my special vegetable shredder!


Loh Hon Chai
Not very pleased with this one, as I cooked it at home some 2 hours before the dinner, and subjected it to two sessions in the microwave oven before it was served, resulting in rather overcooked and soggy vegies.


Yam Ring
Read further below on comments on this one.

My sis cooked a few other dishes, including a very nice chicken satay which I don't have the picture of, the picture on my digicam being out of focus.


Fried Noodle & Steamed Fish

I totally forgot to take pictures of the desserts, Almond Jelly with Longan (made by my sis) and the very refreshing Cente Manis contributed by Marina.

Back to the Yam Ring.
I think I finally figured out how to make a nice crispy one. These are the pictures of Yam Ring I made on CNY day for lunch at home.



Much more fluffier! Yipee!
The recipe was taken from here.

Another of my mid-week one pot meal, made using left over roast chicken from the weekend. Very easy to prepare using my favourite Magic Jar.



Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1.5 litre chicken stock (or water + vegeta)
roast chicken, shredded
handful of blanched skinless peanuts
finely chopped carrot
salt & pepper to taste

Garnishes:
Coriander leaves
Fried shallots
Chinese doughnuts

Method:
Put the rice, stock, peanut and carrot in the inner pot. Bring it to the boil, and keep boiling for 10 minutes. Remove from fire, transfer the pot to outer pot and lock securely. Rest for 1 hour. Porridge is ready. Season to taste, served garnished.

Serves 2

As a snack, these little dumplings are simply delicious eaten with tomato sauce.



Ingredients:
36 won ton wrappers (approximately)
Filling:
250g chicken mince or pork mince
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp sugar

Method:
Mix the filling ingredients together. Wrap the wontons and deep fry them at 180C until golden brown. Drain and serve with sauce of your choice.

Serves 6 as snacks

This is a dish my mum cooks quite often, especially if we are having a feast! A family favourite recipe passed down by my maternal grand father. It is nice eaten fried crispy, either with or without sauces. Thai chilli sauce is a good choice if you cannot take hot chilli sauce.



Ingredients
1 kg green prawn, shell on
100 - 200 gr plain flour
300 g lard (pig fat)
2 eggs
chinese parsley
msg (optional)
salt & white pepper to taste
beancurd sheet

Method:
De-shell the prawn and chop it or pulse in a food processor briefly. Do not over process it.
Dice the fat abt 0.5 x 0.5 x o.5 cm.
Mix all ingredients except beancurd sheet. Wrap them in beancurd sheet tightly. Steam for about 20 minutes. Cut at slant into small pieces. If you like it crispy, cut thinner. Fry in hot oil.

I adapted this recipe from Amy Beh's Braised Teochew Duck recipe. Since duck is not my favourite poultry, I used chicken instead. The resulting sauce is thick and rather sweet. I would reduce the amount of sugar next time, and add water to the sauce after the chicken is done, to thin it down, before adding other condiments such as boiled eggs and beancurd.



Ingredients
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5kg)

Seasoning (combined):
1 tbsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 tbsp salt
2 slices (20gr) ginger
2 stalks spring onions (use only the white portion)
Oil for deep frying

Gravy:
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 cups water
50g garlic (whole)
25g shallots (whole)
4 star anises
6cm-piece cinnamon stick
100g galangal, sliced
3 cups water

Method
1. Rub the inside and outside of the chicken with the combined seasoning ingredients and leave aside to dry for one to two hours. To quicken up the process, place the rubbed chicken inside an oven, and bake at 150C for 20 minutes. This will seal the five-spice flavour in.
2. Heat enough oil, about 1/5 full, in a wok. Fry chicken in hot oil until just lightly browned. Remove and drain well. Place ginger and spring onions into cavity of chicken.
3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok, add sugar and three to four pieces galangal slices; when oil turns a dark gold, turn off heat. Add dark soy sauce. Return chicken to the wok and coat well with this sauce.
4. Combine all the gravy ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then pour the cooked gravy ingredients over the chicken (sauce should cover more than half the chicken). Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, for 40 to 45 minutes over low heat or until chicken is tender and the sauce thick.
5. Dish out chicken and cut up into bite-sized pieces. Arrange chicken pieces on plate and pour gravy over. Serve hot.