Soon Kueh/Turnip Dumplings (II)

Making 笋粿 is a hell of a lot of work! There, I've said it before anyone moans about soon kueh being a hell of a lot of work. Even if you have a food processor, which I don't, and you're not making a video of the whole process, which I was, all that stir-frying and rolling is still a lot of work. Are you counting? I just said "a lot of work" three times . . . make that four times.

Nobody makes soon kueh because he's hungry, even if he's hungry for soon kueh. It's far easier to just buy some or eat something else. You make soon kueh because you want to MAKE it, not because you want to eat it.

Some people go mountaineering or scuba-diving, others knit, play golf, whatever. Me, I make soon kueh. It's a hell of a lot of fun. I'm sure you think so too because why else would you be reading this post, right? (If you say it's because of my wit and wicked sense of humour, I WILL blush.)

Making soon kueh is time-consuming. But it's not difficult because one, I have a good recipe and two, I have a video to show you how step-by-step.

 Wanna learn how to roll dough into perfect, thin circles? You have come to the right place.



The recipe is here. Good luck, and have fun.

Sui Gaw (水餃)

Dried sole is a crucial ingredient in sui gaw. It's grilled or roasted till dry and crisp, then pounded so that it's not too small (you wouldn't be able to taste it) nor too big (would be gritty). Added to the filling, dried sole gives sui gaw a unique toasty flavour. And if the stock is simmered with a few chunks of the dried fish, that's even better.

To make good "water dumplings", the prawns in the filling must be fresh. Ok, I know you know that. Here's a more useful tip: blot the prawns with plenty of paper towels after rinsing. If there's time, leave 'em in the fridge for a few hours, uncovered, so that they dry out a bit more. The drier the prawns are, the firmer they'll be after they're cooked.

Sui gaw filling must have lard or it'd be dry. Again, everyone knows that. What most people don't know is, we're NOT gonna keel over with a heart attack or stroke just because we eat lard every day. Don't believe me? Fine, go google for scientific studies that show there's a correlation between eating saturated fats and heart diseases, strokes, whatever. There should be heaps, right? Well, if you can find one, just one, I'll . . . bake you a LARDY CAKE!

When you cook a lump of minced meat, the proteins join together to form a tight, hard ball which is not very nice. The Italians overcome this problem by adding bread soaked in milk to their meatballs. The Chinese add other stuff like water, cornflour, tapioca starch, eggs, dried mushrooms and Chinese chives. Did you think water chestnuts are added only for their crunch? Well, now you know the coarsely chopped bits also help soften the meat filling.

Making good dumplings is only half the story. The stock can make or break sui gaw soup, so you need a good one. Before cooking the dumplings in the stock, blanch them in boiling water to wash away excess flour on the wrappers and also some of the lye. Lastly, add some veggies to the sui gaw soup. A bit of green on food is like a slick of lipstick on women.

Okey dokes, enough with the theory; here's the step-by-step how-to practical to help you make good sui gaw:

SUI GAW (水餃; WATER DUMPLINGS) (Recipe for 28 pieces, or 34 smaller ones pleated) 250 g minced pork 100 g minced lard 200 g prawns shell, keeping the shells and heads for making stock; devein, rinse and dry thoroughly with paper towels; cut pea-sized ½ tsp salt 30 g dried mushrooms break off stalks; soak caps in 3 tbsp water till soft, about 30 minutes; squeeze dry, reserving the liquid; chop roughly; stalks and liquid may be used for making stock 20 g dried sole, boneless tear into small pieces; roast at 180°C till brown, crisp and fragrant, about 20 minutes depending on the thickness; pound into 3-4 mm bits 120 g water chestnuts (6 pieces) peel, rinse and chop roughly into 3-4 mm bits 1 tbsp egg 1 tbsp light soya sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce ½ tbsp Shaoxing wine ½ tbsp white sesame oil 28 or 34 sui gaw wrappers 1 beaten egg (add 1 tbsp to filling) if making crescent-shaped dumplings 1 litre chicken or pork stock, seasoned to taste 250 g green leafy veg, such as nai bai (奶白) or choy sum (菜心) rinse thoroughly; cut bite-sized 3 tbsp fried shallots ground white pepper Thoroughly mix minced pork, lard, prawns and salt. Gather mixture into a ball. Throw mixture back into the bowl, hard. Repeat 3-4 minutes. Add water chestnuts, mushrooms, sole, egg, light soya sauce, oyster sauce, wine and oil. Mix evenly. For unpleated dumplings, place 25 g filling on a wrapper. Smear some egg on edges of wrapper and fold to form crescent shape. Press edges to seal. For pleated dumplings, use 20 g filling per wrapper. Pleat as show in the video (2:21-2:37), then use water instead of egg to seal edges. To cook dumplings, bring pot of water and chicken stock to a boil. Keep stock simmering gently. Over high heat, blanch dumplings in the water till half cooked. Increase heat for stock to high. Transfer dumplings to the stock with a slotted spoon. Boil gently till cooked through. To test, place a dumpling in a spoon or ladle and press with chopsticks. Dumplings are done if hard. Transfer to serving bowls with a slotted spoon. Add vegetables to stock. Bring to a gentle simmer. Turn off the heat. Divide vegetables and stock between serving bowls. Top with fried shallots. Serve immediately, adding ground white pepper to taste before eating.

Har Cheong Gai (Prawn Paste Chicken)

How many ways are there to fry chicken?

More ways than there are to skin a . . . c-a-t. (Shhhh! Don't let the kitties hear us.)

Every culture has its own version of fried chicken. That is the chicken's destiny. That is why it crosses the road.


The recipe I use for har cheong gai is from All About Ci Char Cuisine. There're only four ingredients in the marinade: prawns fermented to a grey goo, oysters fermented to a brown goo, sugar and water. It's simple but that's how it should be. Are you tempted to add some ginger juice and good ol' Shaoxing wine to the simple marinade? Well, don't.

You might think wine and ginger would reduce 虾酱's fishy, pungent smell but they don't. I know 'cause I've tried. Without wine and ginger juice, 虾酱 undergoes a transformation when it's fried. Instead of the smell of dead rats – there's no better way to describe it – there's a distinct aroma and umaminess that's very similar to grilled dried squid. With wine and ginger juice added, the fried chicken would taste of raw 虾酱. The pungency is muted compared to uncooked 虾酱 but it's still pretty nasty. The chicken would taste nothing like dried squid that's been grilled. Sometimes, less is more.

The recipe is here. Give it a try if you like har cheong gai. Bye-bye.

Sambal Ikan Bilis (II)

Ini ikan bilis; ini kacang.

"Beep beep beep! KT has reached maximum capacity of her Behasa Melayu."

What?! That is so not true. I know lots more Malay words . . . like, um, nasi lemak, mee rebus, ayam, ikan, babi, pulut, pisang goreng . . . .

No, it's not just food words I know. I can count up to 10 in Malay, and I know colour words like hitam, hijau, merah, puteh and biru. I have to confess though it's food, like kacang puteh and nasi kuning, that helps me remember the colour words.

I also know "majulah Singapura" means forward Singapore. Believe it or not, that's the only part of Little Red Dot's national anthem I understand. The rest is just gibberish to me, most of which I don't even pronounce correctly.

If it's any consolation, I'm not alone in my ignorance. Wiki says (link):

 The majority of Singaporeans are clueless about the meaning of their national anthem. Only 1 in 7 know the meaning of each word.

Only 1 in 5 are able to sing the anthem perfectly. Singer Taufik Batisah, who is Malay, isn't one of them. Instead of bersatu, he once sang berseru.

 About 1 in 10 can recite only the first line, or not even that.

One-time Deputy PM Rajaratnam once said, "Anyone over the age of five, unless mentally retarded, has no difficulty singing the anthem."

Ha . . . ha . . . ha . . . oh dear . . . .

Well, better late than never. Time to find out, I guess.

*google . . . click click click*

What the . . . !

I'd always thought "forward Singapore" meant forward in terms of economic growth. Hell no, it's actually happiness. Sama-sama menuju bahagia means: let us progress towards happiness together. Happiness? Gee, what's that? According to the Happy Planet Index, Singapore is the second unhappiest nation in Asia.

After looking up the meaning of each word in the anthem, I can now compose two Malay sentences: Marilah kita masak! Marilah kita makan! Come, let us cook! Come, let us eat!

Marilah kita click sini for the resipi. Please click here for the recipe.

Teochew Fish Porridge (潮州鱼粥)

How do you tell if the fish you wanna buy is fresh? (a) It doesn't smell fishy. (b) The eyes are bright. (c) The gills are red. (d) It feels firm. (e) The skin is shiny. (f) All of the above. If you choose 'f', then sorry, you're wrong . . . mostly.

20 years ago, 'all of the above' would have been the correct answer. These days, the fish may feel and look fresh because it's preserved with formaldehyde, the stuff used by embalmers. Nice, eh?

So how do you tell if the fish is fresh or embalmed?

If the fish is cheap, such as ikan kuning, ikan selar or some farmed fish, it's probably safe from chemicals added postmortem. The more expensive stuff, like large white pomfret and large sea prawns, are more likely to be preserved. Without a lab test, you can tell if it's fresh only by eating it. If it looks and smells fresh but it's tasteless even though it's wild, not farmed, then you've been had.

When you've NOT been had, fish porridge is an absolute delight. It's full of the sweetness of fresh fish and, the way my mother did it, dried prawns, dried squid and 冬菜. It is light, with no fat at all other than a few drops of garlic or shallot oil, but it's totally delicious.

The special ingredient in my mother's fish porridge is dried squid which must be: (1) cut lengthwise into very thin strips; (2) soaked till it's completely soft; and (3) very lightly blanched in the porridge, just enough to make the squid curl. The dried squid lifts the umaminess of the porridge to a higher level but if you don't follow the three steps, you'll think there're rubber bands in the porridge. You have been warned.

I wouldn't say I'd eat fish porridge every day because there isn't anything I could eat every day. But I'd eat Teochew fish porridge maybe once a week. That's the biggest compliment possible from me.

TEOCHEW FISH PORRIDGE (潮州鱼粥) (Recipe for 2 persons) 20 g dried prawns rinse and soak 10 minutes or longer in just enough water to cover 10 g dried squid body, quill discarded, at room temperature with scissors, cut crosswise about 3 cm long; cut 10 g lengthwise into thin strips about 1 mm thick; rinse and soak in just enough water to cover till soft, about 20 minutes 200 g white fish fillet rinse and slice bite size 3-4 mm thick; mix evenly with 1 tsp light soya sauce; sprinkle with ½ tsp cornflour or tapioca starch and mix again 120 g long-grain jasmine rice 800-900 ml boiling water 1 tsp light soya sauce 1 tsp 天津冬菜 (Tianjin/Tientsin pickled cabbage) 1 tbsp fried garlic or fried shallots 1 tbsp spring onions cut 3-4 mm thick ground white pepper to taste Fish porridge should be made with a mild tasting white fish that has a fine, smooth texture, such as ikan tenggiri papan (spotted Spanish mackerel), ikan tenggiri batang (barred Spanish mackerel), white pomfret, or ikan kurau (threadfin). Prepare dried prawns, dried squid and fish as detailed above. Put kettle on. Wash rice till water runs clear. Add dried prawns, along with soaking liquid, and 750 ml boiling water. Bring to a boil. Stir thoroughly to prevent rice from sticking. Keep rice boiling rapidly for 10 minutes, checking and stirring from time to time to make sure rice doesn't boil over. Top up with boiling water if necessary, depending on how thick or thin you like your porridge. Continue boiling rapidly till rice is just soft but surface is still smooth without any sign of turning mushy, another 5 minutes or so. Season porridge with 1 tsp light soya sauce and 天津冬菜. Add fish and stir through gently. Turn off heat once porridge returns to a gentle simmer. Add dried squid, along with soaking liquid, and stir through. Remove pot from stove. Quickly taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Immediately transfer porridge to serving bowls to prevent fish from overcooking. Sprinkle with spring onions, fried garlic and ground white pepper. Serve immediately with light soya sauce or light brown taucheo (fermented soya beans) as a dip, with lime juice and/or thinly sliced bird's eye chillies added if you like, to bring out the sweetness of the fish. Fish porridge is best eaten steaming hot. If your mother-in-law is Teochew and you want to impress her, add a pinch of very finely julienned young ginger next to the spring onions. If you want to knock her off her chair, add a piece of toasted Chinese seaweed (in addition to the young ginger), and make your porridge with white pomfret.