Nyonya Achar Version 2

This is a modified version of Nyonya Achar to my previous post at http://www.yummystuffgoeshere.com/2011/03/nyonya-acar.html

Once again, I used peanuts, as I was unable to find candlenut in Regional New South Wales.

I used half and half , of white vinegar and rice wine vinegar this time, and it tasted a whole lot better. Sweeter!

I didn't boil them this time as I wanted a bit of crunch on the vegetables. So I gave them a salt bath instead, the veges had a spa day :)

You can choose to have as many or as little veges as you like. The main important ones are cucumber, carrots and string beans. I used green beans as I was unable to find long beans at this time. Telegraph cucumber was almost $5 each, so I bought a bag of 4 Lebanese cucumber for $5 instead.

It's better if you can use fresh tumeric, but nobody is going to be any wiser if you use tumeric powder instead. I have also added grinded lemongrass this time and omitted the dried shrimps.

I added 5 Habernaro chillies to the red ones for an extra punch and kicks. Don't let the yellowness fool you, this batch of pickles packs plenty of punch!

Lemongrass, shallots, garlic, red chillies, Habenaro chillies and tumeric powder

Sambal Brinjal and Okra

I found some okra and brinjal in my local vege store after work Friday, so I decided that I must buy some to cook. It's funny, growing up, I never used to like brinjal. It is also known as aubergine or eggplant in other countries. My mum would used it in curries and stir fries. It was the same feeling of distaste with okra, also known as Lady's fingers in the western world. I thought it was slimy and furry tasting and totally weird me out. Now I liked eating it because it takes me home.

Ingredients for 2 diners

• 1 large Brinjal 
• 200 gram of okra
• 1* piece of roasted shrimp paste (belacan)
• 6* large shallots
• 5* cloves of garlic
• 5* red chillies ( I use Habenaro for extreme heat)
• salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1. Grind the chillies, garlic, shrimp paste and shallots to make the spice paste, put aside.
2. Slice the okra, set aside.
3. Cut whole Brinjal into 5 cm length pieces and pan fry lightly on each side to brown. Set aside
4. Stir fry the spice paste in oil in a heated wok. Add in some sugar, allow to melt and watch the paste cooked and changed colour.
5. Tossed in the okra and cooked brinjal into the wok, stir to mix well with the paste.
6. Remove and serve with steam rice.

Making Kimchi

My local Asian store sells Kimchi by the tubs, it's a small margarine container for $5, don't you think that, that's pretty expensive? Or maybe I am just a cheapskate! I bought it once out of desperation when I couldn't get the ingredients. Today, I had found some ingredients and wanted to make some for myself.

It was hard to get the Korean chilli powder. I had wanted genuine Korean chilli powder, not ones from China peppers or anywhere else. Lucky for me, there was a packet staring back at me and it was a whole 1kg bag. Thank You Lord!!

I'm making this Kimchi from a recipe in SBS Foods. I do like this version because the instructions were pretty easy to follow and it came with a video presentation as well. Plus the recipe is from a Korean person ;) so it's all good, sounds pretty authentic! Getting the right ingredients was the tricky part. I am missing Korean watercress, and Daikon (turnip) but that is not going to stop me from making this today.

Here are some of my photos from my Instagram today. I didn't really planned on this post, hence the lack of photos :) only from my IG feeds. Sorry about that. The recipe is on the SBS link above. Please click on the link to their website if you are interested in making these.