Taro Puffs

Taro puffs is one of my favourite thing to eat at Yum Cha. Even though I am not a fan of the pork, I will make an exception for these puffs. And that is saying a lot, when I don't even make exception for sui mais. ( another steamed dumpling, like wontons that has pork). I would eat chicken or seafood dumplings and avoid the pork items whenever I go yumcha.

I have always been fascinated by the outer layer of these taro puffs. I would scratched my head in wonderment, "how do they make the puffs to look like honeycomb pastries?" It is so intricate! Like lace. What kind of sorcery is this? How do I do this magic?? I want this power!!  :)

Then I discovered a recipe on YouTube, hahahahhah and low and behold, today I am trying that recipe. So here goes nothing.  Please go to her blog for recipe ingredients. I have doubled the ingredients to make mine, because I am greedy :)

First, I made the charsiu meat fillings for the dumplings.

Then I steamed one whole taro and smashed it and mixed it with the wheat starch mixes and butter.

And then I pounded on it, like my life depended on it! And finally, fast forward a few steps ...you don't need me to show you a photo of me deep frying these, .....tada.....  a deep fried Taro Puff!

Yumcha to me!! Happy happy dance!!!

Chicken Char Siu Bao

I saw a Char Siu Bao post on friend's time on Facebook, couple days ago and it got stuck in my head for a while. Then I saw this recipe online and thought, "oh what the heck! let's do this." It's not like I can go Yum Cha and ask for chicken bao. They will laugh their head off at me.

You would normally get this steamed or baked in pork, not chicken at Yum Chas. I don't like or eat pork, not really. I do like crispy bacon and smoked ham, only because they have been smoked, and they don't taste like pork and I don't see that shiny bouncy gel like fat shimmering at me. Argh!

So without further ado, the recipes are on the link above. I love Christine's website, she has a lot of easy Chinese recipes if you are a fan of Chinese food. For myself, I prefer Malay food, the spicier, the better.

Here are some of my photos of the making of the bao in my kitchen. Easy, right? Those of you who don't want to spend hours in the kitchen, can follow me.

1. Buy your ready made char siu from a Chinese grocer or shop; your choice of pork or chicken etc
2. Buy a bottle of charsiu sauce and sautee the veges with diced chicken and sauce. 
3. The dough on the other hand, no easy way out, you can't buy it, you have to follow the recipe to make your own. It's not hard. And it taste delicious!

Post by YummyStuffGoesHere.

Ta da.... all done!

Night Noodle Market Hyde Park, Sydney

It was a very warm Spring evening when hundreds or even thousands descended into Hyde Park for this pop up event, Night Noodle Market which is part of the CRAVE Sydney International Food Festival.

Meals are cooked to order and only the freshest ingredients are used by JackieM Malaysian Restaurant. I can see a lot of other stalls are prepping up for the rush, and the vendors are cooking their meals away whilst hungry and patient patrons line up and wait to order their meals for the evening. For some, the aroma reaches the nose before the foods can reach the mouth. It must be quite torturous, the waiting.

For me, it was worth the wait. After tasting every morsel of the char kway teow which was a generous portion by the way with its fine wok breath, one can almost feel like one have been transported back to the street stalls of Malaysia. I also visited Mamak stall, for my all time favourites; satay. I could happily lived on satays alone if I were to give up carbs...but not tonite ;) because that char kway teow is just stupendous!

And this is exactly what Noodle Night Market is all about. The park is transformed into a Street style hawker center,  just like ones, you see in Asia when you traveled. Here are the various stalls that are participating this year.

NNM_map-stalls.pdf

Every year, for the month of October, the beautiful City of Sydney brings you CRAVE International Food Festival and the Night Noodle Market has become one of the regular event. Because of its success in the past, this year, the event has been extended to thirteen nights.

I love this event and was sad to leave. I am already planning my next vacation, October next year and I will be staying longer to visit with this beautiful city of Sydney.

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*** To note, something quite different for this year; is the Noodle Lounge. For $79.95 per person, this includes your drink on arrival plus full menu Рentr̩e, main, dessert and you get to lounge around and catch up with friends after work and eat fabulous hawker fare without the lines. How good is that? Drinks are provided by The Morrison Bar and there is a live jazz music to keep your feet tapping.*****

Where: Hyde Park North

When: October 3-5, 8-12, 15-19; 5-10pm

Loh Mai Kai aka Glutinous Chicken Rice

The Uncle from Balik Pulau said ...."After the Bak Chang Festival, is when the Penang durians will drop from the trees".

When I went home earlier this year, I had wanted to visit a durian farm in Balik Pulau, but he said that there was nothing to see at the moment, only a baby durian if any and this was way back in January when I was home.

Sigh, the only thing I took away from his nutmeg tour was, that piece of advice. I still don't get the boy nutmeg and the girl nutmeg and the whole reproduction thing. Hehehehehe. So me, being the dumb chinese person, asked "Uncle, so when ah, is the durian season?" He goes "Aiyo, bak chang before Durians.... around July...so after bak chang, durian already come."

So that means, the Bak Chang festival is around the corner, mind you, I have seen so many photos of people eating and making bak chang. This is a good thing, it can only mean Durian time is straight after!

Of course since I am back here in Aussie, there are no chance of sampling any Penang durians or for that matter Malaysian durians. All we ever get here are the frozen varieties, imported from Thailand. We will not get any Malaysian durians here in Australia. Sad ;( 

So, no Malaysian durians but we can still Wang Chung right? Sigh, I don't have any bamboo leaves for Bak Chang. I wanted to make Loh Mai Kai instead. And I didn't have any lotus leaves either. Sometimes living in the woop woop is hard and depressing! For those wondering what a Bak Chang is, it is rice dumplings with meat inside. Here is an example http://mykitch3n.blogspot.com.au/2007/01/homemade-bak-chang-dumpling.html

So, no bamboo leaves, no lotus leaves...meh, small matter! It's not going to stop me. We'll go naked! Well, not quite! We have a claypot! Life saver! What I ended up making this morning was Loh Mai Kai which is the simpler version, without the wrapping. 

Firstly, you need to know how to prepare the sticky rice, check out this link. http://www.foodcanon.com/2011/10/making-perfect-glutinous-sticky-rice.html

So my version is adapted from http://www.pigpigscorner.com/2009/07/steamed-sticky-glutinous-rice-with.html because there lots that I do not have in the pantry. So I had to make do with what I've got.

You might also be interested in this link on roasting chestnuts 

1. glutinous rice
2. dried shrimp
3. shitake mushrooms
4. chinese sausage (even though I don't eat pork, I added this for flavour, it smells fantastic) 
5. marinated chicken in dark soy, sesame oil and black pepper.
6. chestnuts
7. Claypot

Breakfast at Concorde KL

It was International Breakfast buffet at the Concorde KL, and me being the food freak, who has been missing out on all these foods for donkey years; err, let's just say....I went a little berserk but gracefully though at the buffet. I sneaked in some of these shots when no one was watching me... of course I earned one of those looks and groans from my son ...he was like"Mum.....can you sit at another table pleaseeeeeeee, stop taking pix!" Such a party pooper!

 

Siew Mai Dumplings, also on the plate is Roti Canai

Nasi Lemak