Mee Siam

Spice paste for both noodles and gravy

3 large onions (or for medium size onions, use about 6)

6 cloves of garlic

4 tablespoon dried shrimps

2cm belachan

20 stalks of dried chilli, soaked 

1/2 cup water

Blend the spice paste in a blender and use 1/3 of the paste for frying the vermicelli

Noodles

1 pack of vermicelli, soaked 

1/3 spice paste

2 tablespoons taucho, washed & pounded slightly

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

Salt to taste

1/4 cup chopped chives

Sauté 1/3 of the spice paste in oil until fragrant. Add the pounded taucho, water, sugar and stir the vermicelli well  and dried . Add the chopped chives and salt to taste. Set aside 

Gravy

2/3 spice paste 

1/2 cup taucho, washed and pounded 

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, pounded coarsely or blitzed in the blender for a short bit

1/4 cup tamarind mixed with 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup santan

2 pieces of asam keping (dried tamarind)

1.5 litres water

200g prawns, deshelled and deveined 

1/3 cup sugar or to taste

Salt to taste

Sautee the spice paste in oil until fragrant, add the taucho and the blitzed peanuts and tamarind water. Once you get a nice paste, add water, sugar, dried tamarind and salt. Lastly add prawns. Simmer for about 10 minutes.  

Always add the salt last as different variety of tau cho has different level of saltiness. The taucho here in Jakarta is super salty!! Adjust the sweetness and tanginess you desire as well. I like a good balance of sweetness for my Mee Siam. This is the Malay version of mee siam.. Nonya version uses lashings of coconut milk in the gravy and has a thicker consistency.

Topping

Boiled eggs, sliced

Chopped chives

Fried tofu slices or tau pok slices

Blanched bean sprout

Sliced fish cakes

Lime halves 

Sambal tumis

Sambal Tumis Recipe

2 large onions

A handful of dried chillis, soaked

3 cloves of garlic

A thumb size belachan

A bit of water to blend

A walnut size of asam or tamarind, mixed with water to get the juice 

1.5 tsp of salt (or to taste)

2 tablespoons sugar

Just blend the above items in a blender until smooth. Sauté in about 1 cup of oil and make sure the ingredients are really fragrant and "crispy". Add your salt, sugar and tamarind water. Add a bit more water if preferred but for mee Siam,   a thick sambal is preferred. 

Fast & Simple Chicken Rice

Yes.... I cheat ... 

Don't we all?  😝

The secret to my fast & quick chicken rice is stocking up my favourite paste. 

I have been using this for the last 12 years to make chicken rice and its awesome every single time and so hassle free !!

Boil a big pot of water a couple of garlic and ginger slices. Add your chicken pieces. Quarter your chicken and for us we like it with extra wings OR you can use 1 whole chicken just like Hainanese Chicken Rice. 

What we want is that chicken stock. Boil for about 7-8 minutes. Strain the chicken and keep the broth. Don't worry about undercooking your chicken. We will fry it after marinating them. 

Wash and strain about 3 cups of rice and set aside in the rice cooker.

Sauté 1 sliced onion, 3 sliced garlic & 1 inch sliced garlic in half the oil from the paste. Once softened, add half a bottle

of the paste in. Mix into the washed rice. Make sure you coat every single grain of rice with that paste and oil. Add 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 knots of pandan leaves. Taste and salt your rice water accordingly. It needs to be salty. Usually 1 teaspoon is enough since the paste is already salted. Cook in your cooker. Rice is done.

Now for the partially boiled chicken pieces, we need to season them with:-

5 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons soya sauce

2 tablespoons sweet soya sauce 

3 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Fry the chicken until golden brown. Since the chicken has been par-boiled already, you don't have to worry about the meat being undercooked.

I love how the marinade gives that gooey blackened skin after frying! 😝

Chilli Sauce 

Blend all the ingredients and sauté in oil for a short while, add chilli sauce, tomato ketchup, seasonings and vinegar and add water to get the consistency that you want.

10 stalks red chilli

3 stalks cili padi

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoon chilli sauce

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup 

1 tablespoon vinegar 

1 tablespoon sugar

Salt to taste

1/2 cup Water

I also like drizzling extra sauce over the chicken before serving to give it that extra salty aftertaste. Just like when you buy your chicken rice at the stall and you see the Aunty sprinkling some sauce over your chicken before she wraps it up?! That!!! 

I used the same ingredients as the chicken marinade but a diluted one.

2 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1 tablespoon sweet sauce

1 tablespoon honey

A dash of sesame oil 

1/3 cup hot water

Mix all of seasonings and put it in a sauce jar next to your chicken rice chilli when serving. I know my kids loves it over their chicken! 

For the soup

None of us really eats chicken rice with much soup but it seem incomplete without it. Remember you have that balance chicken stock ? Just boil it with 2 cloves of garlic and a couple of ginger slices. Add 2 teaspoon of chicken stock granules, some chopped spring onions, chopped carrots, tofu if you like and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with fried shallot before serving . 

Serve the rice, chicken with side salad, sliced tomatoes and cucumber. I like chopped coriander leaves over the chicken too. 

Sounds like a lot? Not really..  I can make this from start to end in under an hour and so can YOU..  if you strategize.. 

Mamak Mutton Chops

I do not miss Singapore, the country, but I do miss the food!! One of them is mutton chops which is easily available at every Indian stall! My favourite of course is at West Coast Food Centre! 

It's seriously easy... I mean who doesn't know how to fry an egg, some potato wedges, slice a cucumber and plonk some peas on a plate right?? Heck even a 12 year old can do that! 

It's the red sauce that a 12 year old can't do! Here's my recipe for 4 persons after trial and error.. The only problem was, there was no mutton available so I bought beef and its equally as awesome! 

I bought 250g pre-cut sirloin for stir frying so I know I can just toss it in quickly and it'll be tender. 

Marinade the beef with 2 tsp of soya sauce (I use cap Kipas) with 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup. Set aside.

For mutton or lamb, you need to boil the cubed meat in salted water for at least an hour until tender. Once cooled, slice according to preference and toss into the cooked red sauce.

Red Sauce

3 shallots

1 garlic

2 tablespoon chilli paste

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

3 tablespoons tomato ketchup

2 tablespoons chilli sauce 

1 teaspoon sweet soya sauce (cap Kipas)

1 teaspoon salted soya sauce (cap Kipas)

1/4 cup water

Salt to taste

A few drops of red food colouring. 

First, stir fry the beef in hot oil until just about cooked. When all sides are no longer pink. Set aside.

Blend the shallot and garlic and sauté with the chilli paste until fragrant. Add the spices and continue to sauté. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Use only a few drops of red food colouring to get that red mamak sauce. Stir the cooked beef in and let it simmer to coat the beef and the sauce is thickened. 

Serve with potato wedges, peas, fried eggs, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. 

Enjoy!