Soy Sauce Prawns

 

In this post, I'm sharing a recipe that is easy & has always been one of our childhood favorite. My mom's version of this dish is lighter in color without much reduction of the sauce. I prefer it dry as it's more finger licking good & I fry with it as much ginger as possible. Ginger is a must in this recipe. You can use lesser if ginger is not your favorite. This recipe is based on 5 large prawns. 

Ingredients :

1. 5 Large Prawns, washed & trimmed. 
2. Ginger, about 2cm thick, julienned. 
3. Salt to marinate 
4. 2tbsp oil for frying
5. Sauce : 

• 3tsp Soy Sauce
• 1tsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 2tsp Sugar
• 1/2tsp White Pepper 

 2cm thick ginger root. 

Method : 

For step No.8, refer to this picture

1. Pat prawns dry with paper towel & marinate with salt, set aside & prepare other ingredients. 
2. Once the ingredients are ready, heat oil in wok.
3. Add in ginger & fry for 5 seconds, push to the side of the wok, allowing space to add prawns.
4. Add in prawns & fry in wok for about 2 minutes or until 50% cooked. You can tell by looking at the shell turning orange but still grey in some parts of the prawns.
5. Add in sauce, toss prawns around for about 5 seconds & reduce heat to low. 
6. Pay attention to the ginger, do not let it burn. Once they are dried enough, dish out & set aside, continue with the prawns in wok.
7. Let sauce reduce, turning prawns every 10-15 seconds, allowing even coating both sides. 
8. Once you see more oil than sauce in the wok, toss prawns around until fully cooked. 
9. Dish out, garnish with fried ginger & serve. 

Salted Egg & Tomato Salad

Among many Filipino food that I miss very much, this is one of them. It's easy to prepare & the burst of flavors in your mouth is just beyond words. It's salty, sour & juicy. My helper told me that most Filipinos eat salted eggs this way. I googled & learned that the locals call it Itlog Na Maalat At Kamatis (Salted Egg & Tomatoes). Traditionally it is paired with dried fish, grilled pork belly, smoked sardine just to name a few. Some will add shallots & some just the egg & tomatoes seasoned with Calamansi juice or fish sauce.

In this recipe, I used Lemon juice in replace of Calamansi juice because I ran out of it & medium big onions instead of shallots. Taste just as good. 

Ingredients : 

1. 1 Whole Salted Egg, cooked & roughly break into small chunks with a fork
2. 2tbsp Lemon Juice
3. 1 Whole Tomato, diced 
4. 1 Medium Big Onion, diced 

Method :

Mix diced tomato & onion in a bowl, add in lemon juice. Mix well & add in salted egg. Serve :) 

Orange Sponge Cupcake

As I've mentioned in my Rose Tea Cupcakes post, buttercakes has always been my choice of cake, even for my kids. For a change, I wanted to bake orange flavored cupcakes for my kids & I found this recipe from Nasi Lemak Lover. So I gave it a try. No regrets. I enjoyed the whole process from preparing it to eating it! The best part was watching it rise in the oven & it didn't upset me by collapsing after cooled. My advice is to eat it a day after. I made this batch 2 days ago & today, it's still fresh & tasted even better! The aroma of the orange zest is even stronger today. So, if you are planning to make this for potluck or give away, make it a day before. Love it! 

This recipe is so precise. In the original post, it says that this recipe yields 11 cupcakes. It really does. And do click on the post to read the tips on using cold eggs vs room temperature eggs. :) 

Ingredients : 

1.  25g Corn Oil (I used Canola Oil)
2.  35g Fresh Orange Juice (I used juice of 1 Orange, about 40g +/-) 
3.  3 Large Cold Eggs
4.  95g Caster Sugar
5.  100g Top Flour / Cake Flour (I used Cake Flour) 
6.  1/4tsp Fine Salt
7.  Zest of 1 Orange 

*The call for Zest, Rind & Peel in some recipes may vary, depending on what the writer intent to make. 
*If it is for flavoring, Zest will be it. It is the color layer of the fruit, the most flavorful part of the fruit. 
*The differences; Zest & Rind may be called for the same reason, flavoring. To my understanding, Rind comes in tiny Strips, while Zest, grated. 
*In some recipes, Rind may be called for, for its obvious presence when the Baked, Cooked, or Drink is  being chewed. 
*As for Peel, it is the entire "Skin", including the white pith all the way before you reach the flesh of the fruit.   
*In case you don't know, the Pith, the white part of the Peel, is bitter. Don't go beyond the colored part when you are making Zest or Rind, unless stated so.

Method : 

1. Preheat oven at 170°C.
2. Line 12 holes cupcake tin with cupcake cases (I used 11).
3. Mix corn oil together with orange juice, set aside.
4. Beat eggs & sugar in mixer with a paddle attachment until pale & fluffy. In the original post, the speed used for this step is as follow : (Using KA mixer, 15mins in total)        -3Mins at speed 8-9, 10Mins at speed 4-5, 2Mins at speed 1-2.       
5. Remaining at speed 1-2, add in orange zest then add in flour spoonful by spoonful, followed by corn oil+orange juice mixture. Do not over mixed.
6. Remove mixing bowl from stand mixer & fold batter using spatula until well combined. 
7. Scoop batter & fill up each cupcake case up to 90% or 3/4 full.
8. Once done, tap the filled cupcake tin lightly on countertop twice to remove air.
9. Bake at 170°C for 25mins at middle rack. (I baked at 160°C fan mode), or until cake tester inserted comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven & let cool on cooling rack. Store :) 

If you have not tried making a spongecake, the eggs mixing step sounds scary. At least it scared me with the speed so high & so long. But I understand after seeing the outcome. Sorry for the blurry image. I took this picture to show why it needed hi-speed & 15mins. The mixture will become airy & increase in volume. Something like meringue. It will decrease in volume once flour is added into it. 

The original recipe calls for Orange Rind. I did not read properly & grated to zest. Look at the bright colors. It smells wonderful! 

Watching... 

Almost there... 

Done! 

Waiting impatiently... 

One more picture before I gnaw one of it :D 

Spongy, light & aromatic. Tasted better the next day. 

Hope you enjoy the whole process like I did. 

Happy baking!!

Honey Joys (Cornflakes)

Crunchy, sweet, salty, buttery & honey'ee! We finished almost the whole canister on the same day. It's a simple recipe but quite time consuming to fill them into the patty cases. As the cornflakes are well coated with the buttered honey, they stick together & become chunky making it difficult to fill the cases. I had a little panic attack there because the recipe says to work quickly in this step. Phew! Had to get my helper to help me out. Nevertheless, it was all worth it. Hope you like it too! 

Recipe adapted from Kelloggs. 

Ingredients : 

1. 4 cups Cornflakes 
2. 1 tbsp Honey
3. 1/3 cup Sugar
4. 90g Butter or Margarine.  

*Because I was only trying out this recipe, I used Buttercup in replaced of Butter. It turned out well. 

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 150°C 
2. Fill baking sheet with small paper cases. (The original recipe says 24 cases but I used more than that, depending on how much you spoon into each case.)
3. In a saucepan, melt butter, honey & sugar until frothy, remove from heat.
4. Add in cornflakes & mix well. Make sure to reach to the bottom with a spatula to ensure even mixing. Coat the cornflakes well.
5. Working quickly, spoon the cornflakes into the paper cases. 
6. Bake in the preheated oven at 150°C for 10 minutes. 
7. Remove from oven & let cool on cooling rack before arranging into canisters. 

Melting butter with sugar & honey.

Not quite frothy yet.

Frothy, ready to mix. 

At the mixing step (No.4), I mentioned to make sure you reach to the bottom of the pan to ensure even mixing. Here's the reason why. My saucepan is too small for the amount of cornflakes filled into it, I didn't bother to reach to the bottom much. Taking for granted that the cornflakes are well coated, I proceeded with the filling. As I reach to the bottom, I realized there were so much more syrup left. Here's the problem. I spoon the rest of the cornflakes into the cases together with the much left over syrup, not knowing that they will be as hard as candy! In the picture above are the few failed ones. It became so hard that they stick onto the paper cases, making it difficult to remove. Thin traces of paper will stick onto the candy & it's not edible. So make sure to mix well! :)

Stir Fry Tumeric Pork

Here's a simple dish I make when I ran out of ideas of what to cook. I have tumeric powder sitting in my cabinet for a while now, so it's time to make use of it. 

Ingredients : 

1. 300g Tenderloin (Mui Yuk in Cantonese), thinly sliced.
2. 2 tbsp Soy Sauce 
3. 1 tbsp Fish Sauce 
4. 1/2 tsp Sugar
5. A dash of White Pepper 
6. 2 pips of Garlic, chopped 
7. 1/2 tsp of Tumeric Powder
8. 1 big Onion, wedged. 
9. 2 stalks of Lemongrass, chopped off top & root end (about 3mm) discard, leaving 2 inches length from bottom. Pound lightly.
10. 2cm thick Galangal, lightly pounded. (Slice thinly if you're able to)
11. 2-3 Dried Chilies. Halved, remove seeds & soaked in hot water for about 1 minute. (Optional. Omit if you can't take spicy food) 

Method : 

1. Sliced pork & marinate with soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, white pepper, & tumeric powder. Set aside & let it marinate while preparing other ingredients.
2. In a wok, heat oil. Add in chopped garlic, lemongrass, galangal & dried chilies. Toss around till fragrant. 
3. Add in marinated pork & toss till almost cooked, add in wedged onions. Toss for another 1 minute or until pork is fully cooked.
4. Serve with hot steamed rice. Goes well with sambal belacan too!