Belimbing Lemak Udang and Nyonya Tumeric Fried Fish

Belimbing Lemak Udang is a prawn dish cook in coconut milk.  Belimbing is a type of tropical fruit, scientifically called Averrhoa Bilimbi.  You can find out more about the fruit and how it looks like from this Wikipedia link.

This is a Nyonya dish which we enjoy with hot steaming rice. All the ingredients are julienned and only take minutes to prepare.  Belimbing is very sour which goes well with the coconut milk.  I remember when I was little, my mom used to cook this for us and I will be only eating this with rice.  Until today, this is one of my favourite dish and now it became my hubby's and kids as well.

I grow belimbing in my garden.  For me, nothing is more satisfying than getting all the fresh ingredients from your own garden.  It bears lots of fruits but they don't last long.  Belimbing is a great substitute for dishes that uses tamarind juice and they make great pickles as well.  Other than the belimbing, the lemon grass and kaffir leaves are from my humble little garden too.  Lol..

Here's the recipe:
2 stalks lemon grass
5 shallots
4 garlic pips
3 kaffir leaves
2 red chillies
1 bowl of belimbing
300gm prawns (shelled)
200ml thick coconut milk
Salt to taste

1. Julienne the lemon grass, shallots, garlic, kaffir leaves, red chillies and belimbing.
2. Heat wok with a little oil.  Fry the ingredients in the order above.
3. Add in the coconut milk and add salt to taste. Let boil and it's done.

Nyonya Turmeric Fried Fish is very simple, fast and delicious.  I harvested about 3kg of turmeric from my garden yesterday and used some to marinate the fish.  All you need is, marinade with pounded fresh turmeric mix with ground Chili powder and salt.  Rub the paste in and all over the fish.  Marinade for an hour or more and deep fry until  crispy.

Here, I used garoupa fish. Other fishes that's suitable for this dish are red snapper, baramundhi, black pomfret and thread fins amongst other marine fishes.

Try this. You'll love it.
 

Udang Lemak Nenas (Prawns with Pineapples in Coconut Milk)

This is a typical dish served in most Peranakan homes during the Chinese New Year or any big gathering and celebrations.  Prawns symbolize happiness and good fortune and pineapples is called 'wong lai' in Chinese which means luck had arrived.  Hence, this dish is prepared during celebrations.  Not only does it 'brings' fortune, happiness and good luck, it tastes absolutely yummy but in my home, my family cook this whenever we want.   We are not going to wait till there's a reason to celebrate to eat this.  Nuh-uh..

The pineapple adds sourness and sweetness to the dish and it's so appetizing to the palate. If you don't like prawns, you can use homemade fish balls or with salted fish.

 Like this?

Here's how to cook it....

2 inch Galangal
2 inch Tumeric
10 shallots
5 Lemongrass - use only the white part
Handful of dried chilies
5 Candlenuts
1 inch square shrimp paste

Blend all ingredients to a paste.

300-500 gm medium to large size prawns, trimmed but with skin intact.
1 pineapple - skinned, de-eyes and cut into bite sizes
200 ml thick coconut milk
200 ml light coconut milk
kaffir leaves
salt to taste

- Heat oil in a deep pot, fry the paste till fragrant and oil separates.
- Add thin coconut milk and thick coconut milk and add in the pineapples.
- Simmer until the pineapples are soft.  Add salt to taste.
- Finally add in the prawns.  When prawns turn pink, take off heat.

Serve with hot fluffy white rice.

Braised Pig Trotters in Sweet Sour Sauce

Another Nyonya Cuisine, which I should be using Pig Trotters but as I don't have any in my freezer, I used the ribs and pork belly instead.  Either or, it tasted super duper yummy. The pineapple makes this dish so appetizing.  It's savory, sweet and slightly sour.  Before getting the first taste, it already makes you salivate..slurp!

400g fresh pineapple, peeled, eye removed and cut into bite sizes (I used 1 small pineapple)
3 tbsp oil
1 1/2kg pig's trotters, cut into 2inch pieces (alternatively, pork ribs and/or a strip of pork belly)
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp tamarind pulp soaked in 250ml water, stirred and strained
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
2 tsp sugar

Spice Paste:
100g chopped shallots
10 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp ground dried red chillies

Blend spice ingredients together to a paste.

• Heat oil in large pot, saute the spice paste until fragrant.
• Add the pork, dark soy sauce, tamarind water (you may add more water if you want to have more gravy and if necessary for a more sourish taste, add more tamarind pulp if you wish), salt and sugar. 
• Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.
• Add the pineapple slices and gently cook until the pineapple is soft and translucent. Remove from heat.
• Leave to stand for several hours to allow the flavors to infuse into the meat.
• Re-heat just before serving with steamed rice.

Nyonya Tumeric Fried Chicken Wing

The aroma of the Tumeric Fried Chicken Wings being fried is just mouthwatering.  This is one of the Peranakan recipe for fried chicken. You can basically use any part of the chicken but I prefer the wings as it takes shorter time to cook and crispier to eat.  The aroma is intensified as I wrapped it in tumeric leaves to deep fry the wings.  If you have run out of ideas in what to cook, try this recipe and it's delicious to serve if you are entertaining.  It's easy and fast.

All you need is to marinade the wings for a couple of hours.  Rub the wings with:

Fresh tumeric (about 1 - 2 inches) - pounded (you can use the tumeric powder if you don't have the fresh ones available)
6 - 7 pips garlic - pounded

2 tbsp tapioca flour (this makes the meat soft and crispy on the skin)

1 tsp chili powder (if you want this to be spicier, add more to your taste. you can also use pounded dry chilies)

salt to taste

Heat enough oil to fry the wings in a frying pan, wrap the wings individually in the tumeric leaves and fry till golden and crispy.  If you don't have tumeric leaves, it's fine too as the fresh tumeric gives the chicken all the flavor and aroma that it needs.

Guess what?  These were gone almost immediately at dinner time and I only managed to eat one of those :).
Looks like I have to fry more next time.

Onde Onde (Buah Melaka)

Onde Onde, pronounced as 'onn-day onn-day' or also known as Buah Melaka by the Peranakans, originates from the state of Melaka.  These sweet balls of treat is one of the many Peranakan desserts and very popular with the locals.  We love these sweet morsels. It has a soft dough coated with lightly salted grated coconut and filled with natural flavors of Gula Melaka (the Pernakans call them Gula Tuak) as the filling.  Gula Melaka, otherwise known as Palm Sugar is made by first extracting the sap from the flower bud of a coconut tree.  Several slits are cut into the bud and a pot is tied underneath the bud to collect the sap.  Then the sap is boiled until it thickens after which, in the traditional way, it is poured into bamboo tubes between 3-5 inches in length, and left to solidify to form cylindrical cake blocks. Alternatively it can be poured into glass jars or plastic bags.  Here's how they look like.

The way to eat the onde onde is by popping the sweet ball into your mouth.  When you bite into it, the Gula Melaka filling will just burst and ooze into your mouth.  It's an explosion of flavors.  The saltiness of the coconut, the almost maple-like sweetness of the Gula Melaka and the chewiness of the dough.  So little ingredients and yet so rich in flavor.  Here's the recipe and step-by-step on how to make them.  Please enjoy!

Yields: 70-80 balls
500g glutinous rice flour (you can also use boiled mash sweet potatoes - 3 parts of sweet potatoes to 1 part of glutinous rice flour)
1  1/4 cup pandan juice (blend some pandan leaves or screwpine leaves with a little water, squeeze the  juice out. Add more juice as needed.)
1 1/2 tubes of Gula Melaka, chopped into small pieces
2 coconuts - grated coarsely without skin and mixed with a pinch of salt.

1. Mix pandan juice with the glutionous rice flour and mix to a dough. Cover dough with damp towel to avoid drying.
2. Bring a pot of boiling water, lower the heat to simmer gently, pinch out a ball of dough about the size of a lime, flatten it into a disc and drop it into the simmering water.  When the disc is cooked and rises to the surface, lift if out with a slotted spoon, shake off excess water and knead the cooked dough evenly back into the main ball of dough.

Chopped Gula Melaka                    Grated coconut mixed with a pinch of salt

3. Pinch off small balls of dough the size of calamansi limes and roll into smooth balls. Shape it into a flat disc and fill the center with chopped Gula Melaka. Pinch together the dough together to enclose and roll them gently to smoothen the ball, and drop them into the simmering water.

4. When the dough balls float to the top, carefully remove them with a slotted spoon and allow any excess water to drip off. Drop the balls into the grated coconut and roll them to coat evenly.  Transfer to serving plate.  

You can also store them in an air tight container and refrigerate them prior to serving if desired.

 

This is a definite thumbs up!