Vegetables Lemak

In the mood for something spicy, I requested for Vegetables Lemak today. As usual, Mom obliged and cooked it for me.

First, Mom prepared the spices. She used some chillies, shallots, turmeric, galangal and lemongrass. Mom also used dried prawns and some belacan. She pounded all the spices and sauteed them till fragrant.

The rempah

Any vegetable can go into the Lemak. Today, Mom selected sweet cabbage, long beans, tomatoes, and brinjal. Mom also added 2 of my favourite ingredients, that is vermicelli and dried beancurd skin.

Veges & vermicelli

Dried beancurd skin

Mom gave the vegetables and the dried beancurd skin a quick stir-fry.

The ingredients stir-fried in the wok

Then she added water and fresh coconut milk, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Just before she dished up, she added the vermicelli.

Vegetables Lemak simmering

The vegetables lemak is best eaten with a steaming plate of white rice.

. . . Yum . . .

Homemade Radish Cake

Radish cake features quite predominantly in our household, mainly because it is a favourite with the old and the young.

An array of ingredients can go into the cake, be it ham or shiitake mushrooms. My late maternal grandmother brought a nutty texture to her radish cake by adding braised peanuts.

Mom makes this savoury cake quite often, especially since I like it so much.

Mom used 800g of white shredded radish.

Mom heated the wok and fried the aromatics which consisted of garlic and shallots.




After she dished out the fried garlic and shallots, she stir-fried minced dried prawns and preserved radish till fragrant.




After that, minced meat is added to the wok. Sometimes, Mom used diced meat too.



After stirring the meat for a while, the shredded radish is added, together with some salt and pepper.




Mom added 4 large cups of water to simmer the radish. Sometimes, Mom used soup stock instead of water.




Mom then added a packet of rice flour into the wok. The fried shallots and garlic went into the wok at this time too. Mom stirred the mixture to a smooth consistency.




Then she transferred the mixture into a tray.




Mom coated a spoon with cooking oil and pressed the mixture down.




Then she steamed it for 45 minutes over high fire. It looks like this after steaming.

The steamed radish cake is in fact delicious enough to eat it on its own. However, we like to pan-fry it. I always like it browned, with the edges crisp and burnt.




Sometimes we dice it and pan-fry it with eggs, with extra preserved radish and topped with spring onions.

Growing up eating yummy homemade radish cake, I have pretty high standards for it, and so far store-bought ones seldom satisfy ;p.

Homemade Fishballs

Mom likes to make things from scratch. One of the things she likes to make is fishballs. Traditional Teochew fishballs are made from Ikan Parang. However, Mom has always used Ikan Tenggiri or Mackerel.

She cleaned the fish and then cut it lengthwise.




She used a spoon to scrap out the meat. Mom then addd salt and pepper to the fish meat.




Mom also mixed about 1 tbsp of tapioca flour to the fish meat.




Mom then transferred the fish and flour mixture into a mortar. She pounded the meat till it became firm.




I'm not sure whether you can see the difference. The mixture on the left had been pounded.




After being pounded, the fishballs are shaped. Mom coated the the little balls with starch and salt water. They were then ready to be cooked.




Mom deep fried a skewer for me to snack on.

The rest of the fishballs went into a soup. Mom flavoured the soup with some 冬菜 dong cai.

Mom served the soup with some blanched kueh tiaw, mustard leaves and beansprouts. The soup was sweet, and the fishballs were bouncy and "Q". It was a light and healthy meal.

Banish

Every time I am near you
My mind
Like having a will on its own
Meanders from where I am
To another realm
Where fantasy takes its root

How I long
To be with you
To lead a life beside you
To love and cherish you
And to have you love me too

Yet that dream remains
A beautiful picture
Painted by the impossible dreamer
Beyond the reaches of an ordinary existence
For in reality
You are you
And I am me
We are but two strangers
Living separate lives

Why do I only have to look at you
And my heart yearns
I try so hard
To shut away the feelings
But fantasy always entices me
Draws me to a point
Where I struggle
To grasp the wisps of reality

So that long after you have gone
My heart twists
Aches with a dull throbbing pain
That no remedy can cure
I shrink into my shell
Absorbed in anguish and torment

Books Leftover From My Teens

I'm an old softie. For one, I can read a book over and over again without getting bored.

Some leftovers from my teenage years

I dug up some of my old books from my book box the other day. It's been years since I've seen these books. I read them in my teens. Thinking back now, they would have played a role in shaping my values, making me a hopeless romantic that I am today ;p.

My friends and I used to smuggle them to school and exchanged them with each other. For some reason, these books were not allowed at school. I haven't the slightest idea why. Was it because they were of the romance genre? I don't think they were trashy in any way.

Once in Form 2, my friends and I were forced to be creative to prevent our books from being confiscated. That day, my friend wanted to lend us a few of her newer books. She brought them to school, but not before she wrapped them in brown paper. She secured the package with twine.

True enough, there was a spot check on that day. My friend quickly threw her package out of the window and tied the string to panes. The prefects came, searched our bags and our classrooms, but our books hung safe and sound outside. We only dared retrieve the books once we were sure the prefects were out of sight. You could imagine our relief as it was really a close call.

Anyway, I am taking a trip down memory lane by re-reading some of these books from my teens, and from a whole new perspective too now that I'm older and wiser. They are easy-reads and a few of them prove to be quite enjoyable.

Freshly Baked Bread Rolls

I love the smell of freshly baked bread. And it is an aroma I get to savour every time I come home.

Mom bakes bread once in a while. This morning she told me that she was going to make bread rolls. I was excited to document the process.

Mom was a trained Mathematics and Home Science teacher. She retired a few years ago, and found that she had lots of free time in her hands. Since she loved cooking and baking, she did not mind spending much time in the kitchen.

She first learned to bake bread from her colleagues eons ago. Over the years, she developed her own preferred method and use of ingredients.

Today's filling for the bread rolls is grated coconut flavoured with palm sugar. Mom boiled pandan leaves in a cup of water. When the water boiled, she removed the pandan leaves before dissolving palm sugar in it. Add grated coconut into the flavoured water and stir till slightly dried.

Grated coconut flavoured with palm sugar

Mom added sweet potato into the bread dough. She said it helped soften the bread. Mom used 1 kg of bread flour and about 100g of mashed sweet potato.

She rubbed the potato into the flour and then added 2 lightly beaten eggs.

Mom kneaded the dough by hand. About 2 tablespoons of butter are added.

More kneading followed and then the dough was left to rise. When it was ready, Mom made little balls, flattened them and filled each of them with grated coconut.

She sealed the edges, rolled them into round balls and glazed them with egg and milk mixture. A sprinkle of sesame seeds decorated the balls.

Because I did not really fancy coconut filling, Mom decided to make me sausage and cheese rolls.

She spreaded the bread dough with a rolling pin, placed a chicken frankfurter and a slice of cheddar on top before braiding the dough over the filling. It was brushed also with the egg and milk mixture.

Mom baked the bread rolls for 20 minutes on 220ºF. When they come out of the oven, the bread rolls are glazed with butter.

Fresh out of the oven

Braided sausage and cheese rolls

A halved coconut-filled bread roll

A halved sausage and cheese roll

It is certainly not every day that I get to have freshly baked bread rolls for lunch. Certainly not one that's baked with lots of love. A roll and a cup of coffee. There's an old-fashioned feel to it and it brings warmth to my heart.

Noodles in Tomato Gravy

No, it is nothing like spaghetti bolognaise.

Noodles in tomato gravy is a local hawker's fare unique to Sarawak. You will not find it in anywhere in West Malaysia.

For this dish, egg noodles are usually deep fried to a crisp golden perfection, whilst if kueh tiaw or bee hoon are used, they are usually stir-fried. The sweet and sour tomato gravy is thickened with starch before it is poured over the noodles of your choice. There's no secret that a good plate of noodles in tomato gravy comes with fresh ingredients, such pork slices, fish slices, prawns and cuttlefish.

Noodles in tomato gravy is one of the must-eat dishes when I come home. Mom likes to cook it at home, using bee hoon or rice vermicelli. The bee hoon is stir-fried first.

Stir-frying the noodles

Mom stir-fries sweet mustard leaves separately too.

A plate of stir-fried mustard leaves

Then the sauce is cooked separately.

Mom prefers to use a deep pot for the sauce

Besides the usual ingredients like pork slices, fish and cuttlefish, Mom adds fresh crab meat to the gravy, giving this dish an added freshness and sweetness.

Fresh crab meat, painstakingly removed from the shells

At home, we lay out everything on the table - the bee hoon, the vegetables, the meats, and then we assemble our own plate of noodles at meal time.

Put everything in a plate

Pour piping hot tomato gravy generously over the noodles and serve with seasoned cut chillies.

. . . Yum . . .