Tom Yum Noodle Soup

I love Tom Yum soup.  I took a cooking class to learn how to make Tom Yum soup from scratch many years ago when I was living in Singapore.  The cooking class was fun but cooking from scratch is not my thing.  I find the Tom Yum All-In-One Mixes and Tom Yum Instant Noodles are so delicious and authentic that I really don't need to cook the soup from scratch.

I like to add noodles in my Tom Yum soup.  It goes well with any kinds of noodles such as Dried Hokkien Noodles (Yellow Noodles), Dried Flat Rice Noodles (Kway Teow), Rice Sticks (Laksa Noodles), Vermicelli Rice Noodles, Konnyaku Noodles, Egg Noodles etc.  Click here to see what other noodles we have.

You  can also use the Tom Yum paste as your hot pot soup seasoning.  The weather is getting cold.  It is time for hot pot or a bowl of hot and sour Tom Yum noodle soup:)

Red Bean Paste Mochi

Red Bean Paste Mochi by Phay Ing Landers:
I have always like eating anything that has to do with red beans, be it in a form of soup or pastry. I think this must be due to my parents’ influence. In my growing up years, almost every other Sunday my mother would cooked red bean soup. It was compulsory for everyone in the household to have a bowl! I grew up having a bowl of red bean soup for Sunday’s breakfast.

The lack of good satisfying Chinese dessert at the local Chinese eatery is my driving force to make my own mochi. The eatery serves jin dui 煎堆 (red bean paste sesame balls), and each time I ate the jin dui I ended up disappointed. A tiny dollop of red bean paste is not enough to satisfy my palate.

I want a less oily version of jin dui, so mochi came to mind. I bought the glutinous rice flour and canned sweetened red bean paste with the intent of making mochi. Believe it or not this is my first attempt, and the red bean paste mochi tasted fantastic, with the right amount of chewiness and they were soft to bite! Simply marvelous.

Making your own mochi right in your own turf aka kitchen is a simple procedure. All one needs are the ingredients (which can be obtain through AsianSupermarket365), and an attitude of ‘can do’. The recipe is foolproof, and it is one of the easiest for anyone to follow.

Ingredients:
Mochi making (yields 10-11 mochi)
• 1 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup water

Filling and coating:
• ¾ cup canned sweetened red bean paste#
• 1/3 cup toasted glutinous rice flour for coating and work surface. Alternatively you can use desiccated coconut to coat the mochi.

Method:
A. Filling for mochi : Shape the sweetened red bean paste into a 1inch diameter ball, and place them on a plate.

B. Toasted glutinous rice flour: Toast the glutinous rice flour on a non-stick frying-pan over medium-low heat without any oil. Let it cook for 5 minutes until aromatic. Continuous stirring of the flour will ensure it doesn’t get burnt. Allow the toasted flour cools down in a bowl and proceed to batter making.

C. Mochi:
1. For the mochi batter, combine the glutinous rice flour, sugar and salt in a large, microwave-proof bowl. Add water gradually and mix well till smooth. Make sure there are no lumps. The batter should be runny.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave the batter for 2 minutes on ‘high’ power setting, then remove from microwave and give it a thorough stir to ensure even cooking. Microwave for another 1-2 minutes. (Depending on the microwave voltage. Mine is an 1100W.) Or until cooked through. The cooked dough will be sticky and should be translucent.
3. Remove it from the microwave, and give it a good stir. Allow the dough to cool down for 3 min or until you feel it is not too hot to handle.
4. Rub your hands with toasted glutinous rice flour and dust generously the surface of your working area with the toasted flour. Empty the dough onto the toasted flour working area. Expect the dough to be very sticky.
5. Take a small amount of dough (about the size of a ping pong ball), roll it into a ball then flatten it into a disc. Place 1 red bean paste ball in the center. Pinch to seal the edges around it.
6. Coat the ball in the toasted glutinous rice flour and roll between the palms to make it round. Repeat until done.
7. Store the red bean paste mochi in an air tight container at room temperature. They are good for 2 days.

Mochi can be served as dessert to end your meal on a high note, or to be eaten as a snack accompanied by a cup of Oolong tea. Enjoy.

#The canned sweetened red bean paste was too runny for my liking. In order to remove the moisture to create the paste like consistency, I had to ‘cook’ the mixture. Below are the steps.
1. Heat up a pan/skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil.
2. Add the runny paste to the pan and using the spatula, stir the runny paste.
3. Continue stirring until it turns into a thick paste.
4. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Allow the paste to cool down.

Sambal Tumis Fried Rice

Sambal Tumis Fried Rice by Phay Ing Landers:
Fried rice is a versatile dish.  It is good enough to be eaten on its own, or to be served as a side dish. Just have this wild/crazy idea of using sambal tumis to fry rice and it gave the spicy kick I was looking for!

Precooked sambal tumis sauce by Tean’s Gourmet… what can I say? A very handy sauce to have in the pantry, and what better way than to marry sambal tumis with rice. These 2 combinations can certainly bring your fried rice up a notch.

Ingredients:
3 cups of cooled, cooked rice
1/3 cup sambal tumis (Tean’s Gourmet)* more if you want the fried rice to be spicy
1 cup cooked ham, diced*can be replaced with any meat you fancy
2 large eggs, beaten into a bowl
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ cup onion, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
½ cup French beans, cut into small rounds
½ cup fresh sweet corn kernels
2 tbsp. chicken bouillon powder
Black pepper for seasoning
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Method:
Heat the oil in a wok/sauté pan until it is hot, add the garlic, onion, carrot and French beans and stir fry for 3-4 min.  Set aside and put eggs into the pan and scramble immediately.  When the eggs are set , return the cooked vegetables from the sides to the center and toss to combine.

Add the rice, ham and sambal tumis into the pan.  Stir-fry for several minutes until the rice is well heated through and well mixed with the sambal tumis, ham and vegetables.

Lastly add in the fresh sweet corn kernels and adjust the taste with the chicken bouillon powder and black pepper.

Dish up.  Garnish rice with cilantro sprigs and serve.

Penang Prawn Noodle (Har Mee)

Penang Prawn Noodle (Har Mee) by  Natasha Lim:

I bought Delimas Penang Prawn Noodle Paste from AsianSupermarket365 quite some time ago. This online grocery store is truly my grocery shopping haven. I couldn't have satisfied my simple cravings from Curry Laksa to Kaya Toast of which I was so close to attempting at making the Homemade Kaya myself but then I decided to purchase Yeo’s Kaya (Coconut Jam). The truth is, I knew that I couldn't last more than an hour or so, standing near the stove to stir the Kaya spread. Besides being so easily obtainable, it's only at $3.99 that could last me awhile. The Kaya Toast tasted so similar to what we have back in the Kopitiam-s in Malaysia. Definitely worth a try, guys!

Sorry, I just had to sing praises of that Kaya for quite some time now. I would have founded a fan club of it if I could. Anyway, recently here in Florida, the weather has been going through some bipolar changes from hot and scorching day turning into gloom and storms. So, it was rather chilly at home that I decided to whip up something hot and soupy. What more better ways than to make my day with Prawn Noodle soup. =)

Ingredients:
1.5 lb prawn heads, de-shelled and deveined prawns
Prima Taste Yellow Noodles/ Wai Wai Rice Vermicelli
1/2 lb of water spinach or better known as Kangkung
3 hard boiled eggs (cut into quarters)
Fishcakes/Fishballs
Fried Shallots
Shallot Oil
Crispy Prawn Chili(optional)
Prawn Noodle Paste
Cooking Oil
1.5 liters of anchovies broth

Method:
1. For starters, fry the prawn heads with 1.5 tbsp Cooking Oil until the oil surges. Pour in the Prawn Noodle Paste and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes. Add 1.5 liter of anchovies broth and let it boil.

2. On a separate pot of water, blanch the noodles, water spinach (Kangkung), fishcakes/fish balls accordingly and strain them. Set them aside.

3. When the broth is ready, turn off the stove and strain the prawn heads to discard them. To serve, pour a ladle or two of the broth into the blanched noodles from earlier on. Garnish with hard boiled eggs, fried shallots, fish cakes and water spinach (Kangkung). You may indulge in the Prawn Noodle with the Crispy Prawn Chili for an extra kick of spiciness! Enjoy!=)

Indo Mie Dry Instant Noodles (Mi Goreng)

Indo Mie Dry Instant Noodles (Mi Goreng) by Zahra Kamilla:

As I am an Indonesian, when I went off to college, I brought a few cartons of these Indonesian Instant noodles and stored it in my dorm room. When my friends came to visit me, I cooked them these noodles. At first they were hesitant because they were going to eat an instant noodle without water/soup because that’s what they were used to. However, after they ate it, they said that this was the best instant noodle they’ve ever tasted in their life. When I was going to restock on my instant noodles, each of my friends who’ve tried it asked me to buy them a carton each. If you haven’t tried this instant noodles before, I suggest you try it because you will love it too.

Indomie Goreng Pedas is a famous ‘fried (goreng)’ and ‘spicy (pedas)’ instant noodles that come from Indonesia. It is called fried noodles because it is eaten without the soup. It has a sweet, salty, and spicy (if preferred) taste to it. It is also very tasty and easy to make. First, you boil water in a pot. After the water boils, you put the noodles in the pot for 2-3 minutes or until the texture is just about right (not too hard not too soft depends on your preference).I personally like the noodles a little bit hard and I hate it when it is too soft (overcooked) because it becomes gooey. After the noodles are cooked, you drain the water, usually by using a sieve. After that, put the noodles in a plate and add the seasonings that come in the package. The seasonings include Indonesian sweet soy sauce, chili powder, hot sauce, seasoning oil, and the flavoring (with MSG). Voilà, your Indonesian noodles are ready to be eaten.Also, you can add an over-easy egg and vegetables on your plate to make it even tastier (like the one in the picture). You can eat this Indonesian instant noodles as a meal or as a snack. For me, eating one of this ramen is not enough. I always make two at a time. There are also many other Indomie Goreng flavors that you can try, such as Satay, BBQ, Rendang, etc., but I personally preferred the Pedas (spicy) one.

P.s. since it is near Halloween, I tried to decorate my plate like a cute little ghost with the egg as the head and the noodles as the body. Happy Halloween!

Dragon Beard Candy

I took pictures of this Dragon Beard Candy street vendor in New York City Chinatown last week.

Dragon Beard Candy is a traditional Chinese sweet that was invented for the emperor about 2,000 years ago.   It consists of many very fine strands of sugar, giving it the imagined appearance and consistency of a fine beard, like that of a dragon -- hence its name.

Have you tried Dragon Beard Candy before? You can find 8 different flavors of delicious Dragon Beard Candy on our site.  The 8 different flavors include Original, Seaweed, Black Sesame, Almond, White Sesame, Spicy etc.

It is also a great gift idea.

Hot Pot Obsession

Hot Pot Obsession by Danielle Drew:

You may find it strange that I, a girl from southwest Missouri, have been on a mission for the last several months to find what my taste-buds cannot live without...HOT POT! 

I was first introduced to the Hot-Pot style meal in Dalian, China where I lived for six months teaching undergraduate business courses. I was a little hesitant at first to boil my meat, veggies, and tofu which at first glance looked like a sponge; however, the mere second the soup base touched my tongue I fell in love with the zing, spice, and flavor coupled with the dipping sauce...I was in heaven. My favorite was always the spicy broth, but the plain was good too. I continued eating hot pot about twice a week for the remainder of my time in China. We usually ordered a plate of assorted vegetables (potato, sweet potato, melon, carrot, napa cabbage, bok choy, and enoki mushrooms), frozen tofu, beef, and lamb. I always went with at least 3 other people so this was plenty of food for the four of us. The dipping sauce used in Dalian was a peanut based sauce...I don't know all of the ingredients but I just know that it was delicious. You could add garlic and sliced ma la peppers to your sauce to give it more flavor as well.

After returning to the U.S.A. I knew I had to find a way to either make the soup base and dipping sauces from scratch, or buy them somewhere. I looked at several recipes online but they seemed so difficult. I was really discouraged that I might never get that amazing hot pot again...until of course I found AsianSupermarket365.com !

They had exactly what I was looking for. Several different soup bases to choose from AND dipping sauces . I know there are Asian Markets in the U.S.A. but since returning to the States I moved to Washington D.C. and all of the large markets are in the suburbs. It's difficult for me to get there because I don't have a car so I thought I'd give the online order a try. The products arrived within a few days, hassle free and I have since been able to enjoy my favorite hot pot meal again.

Here is how I prepare my Hot Pot meal with several ingredients purchased from AsianSupermarket365.com .

Ingredients:

• Carrots
• napa cabbage
• potato
• broccoli
• enoki mushrooms
• 1 package of Little Sheep spicy hot pot soup base - I like this one in particular because unlike some other soup base mixes the Little Sheep one allows you to put in the desired amount of each ingredient (oil, peppers, etc). Each ingredient is individually wrapped so you can create your favorite blend for the soup base. It met my expectations plus some!
• 1 package hot pot spicy dipping sauce - This is peanut based and is exactly like the dipping sauce I had in Dalian. I especially like to dip my tofu and potatoes in this sauce.
• soy sauce
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• sliced green pepper (spicy)
• sesame oil
• frozen tofu (I buy an extra firm block of tofu from the grocery store, slice it into rectangles and separate them with wax paper...put into a freezer bag and freeze. When I'm ready for hotpot I get them out about an hour early and remove the wax paper and let thaw on a plate. This gives the tofu a different texture and I think makes it even better for hot pot because it absorbs more flavor)
• thinly sliced beef

I pour the soy sauce in a dipping container, mix the minced garlic, green pepper, and sesame oil to create an additional dipping sauce (besides the peanut based one) that I like to use for my napa cabbage. The rest is pretty easy, just pour the ingredients of the soup base in the pot, add the desired amount of water and once it's boiling drop in your ingredients. Once they are cooked dip with sauce and enjoy :)

Thanks for carrying these products AsianSupermarket365.com , I will be buying many more packages!

Danielle Drew

AsianSupermarket365 Gift Certificates - A Great Gift Idea

AsianSupermarket365 Gift Certificates - A Great Gift Idea!!!

Let your friends shop for themselves!!!

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Traditional Fried Rice Vermicelli/Bee Hoon (Chow Mai Fun)

Rice Vermicelli/Bee Hoon (Chow Mai Fun) has always been my favorite.  I like to eat it with Crispy Prawn Chilli.  Today, we are going to share Natasha Lim's Traditional Rice Vermicelli/Bee Hoon Chow Mai Fun) with you.  It looks very deliscious, doesn't it?

Traditional Fried Rice Vermicelli/Bee Hoon (Chow Mai Fun) by Natasha Lim:

I grew up indulging Fried Bee Hoon every Sunday morning for brunch without fail. This simple comfort food made by my mom always keeps me filled up and wanting more. I've tried to replicate my mom's Fried Bee Hoon and I was glad it turned out just as delicious! Try this recipe and you will be finding yourself scooping for extra serving from the wok. The key to this dish is lots of wok hei (the wok breath).

Ingredients:
200g of Rice Vermicelli (soaked in lukewarm water for 10 minutes and drain water after)
6 pcs of Dried Shitake Mushrooms (soaked in warm water until soft and remove stems after. ** Do Not drain the water as we will use it to coat the noodles later)
Green Vegetables like Choy Sum, Bak Choy, etc.
8 pcs Shrimps (de-shelled, deveined and marinated with 1/2 tsp of brown sugar)
6 slices of Fish Cakes
1 1/2 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 tbsp Grapeseed Oil/Olive oil/Canola oil/Peanut Canola Oil
1 tsp shallot oil
1 tsp Fish Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp thick black sauce
2 tbsp of chicken stock powder diluted with enough water
Salt & Pepper to taste
Fried Shallots for garnishing

Method:
i) Heat up the wok on the stove; add the oil and minced garlic. Stir fry until it turns slightly golden brown and fragrant. Add the shrimps and fish cakes; avoid overcooking the shrimp and stir fry for about 3 minutes until the shrimps are crunchy and cooked. Dish up into a plate and set aside.

ii) Add a little bit of oil again into the wok and stir fry the rice vermicelli. Add 1 tsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp of the chicken stock and 1 tsp thick black sauce. Stir until the noodles are well-coated with the seasonings. If the noodles turns slightly dry, turn the flame down and pour in the mushroom stock saved from earlier little by little. If the mushroom stock is poured all at one go, the noodles will turn soggy.

iii) When the noodles are ready, add the shrimps and fish cakes as well as the vegetables. Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add a dash of salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the stove and drizzle a bit of shallot oil on the noodles.

iv) Garnish with fried shallots and serve while it's hot and fragrant. =)

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Pickled Chinese Mustard (Mei Cai) Steamed Fish

I woke up yesterday morning and felt like eating something with Pickled Chinese Mustard (also called meigan cai, mei cai or mui coi in Chinese) for lunch.  This type of Pickled Chinese Mustard that you see in the above picture is used to flavor stewed dishes, in particular meigan cai cooked with meat or meigan cai steamed buns.

I wanted some protein so I had it with fish.  The ingredients to make the Pickled Chinese Mustard Steamed Fish are:
1.  Pickled Chinese Mustard - this or this
2.  Soy sauce
3.  Shredded Ginger
4.  Shredded Spring Onions

Ready in 10-15 minutes.  Serve it hot with rice.  It is easy, simple and delicious.

Sambal Tumis (Sauteed Chili Paste) Mussels

I love to order mussels when I dine out but I am never 100% satisfied with the mussels that I order. No doubt that the restaurants in New York City have many different flavors of mussels but I want it spicy and tastier.  When Phay Ing Landers sent me her Sambal Tumis (Sauteed Chili Paste) Mussels for our $10 gift voucher program, not only that I can't wait to share with you, I also feel like making this suggestion to the restaurants:)

Sambal Tumis (Sauteed Chili Paste) Mussels by Phay Ing Landers:

I have been yearning for a homey plate of spicy clams or la la as it is called in KL. Alas I have no access to la la (clams) after combing through the frozen aisle at the local store. I made do with frozen cooked mussels, and the end result was awesome. I had one last packet of Tean’s Gourmet Sambal Tumis Stir Fry Sauce in the pantry. I have been saving it for a ‘rainy day’ i.e. when a strong craving for spicy seafood kicks in.

The sambal tumis sauce is a pre-cooked spicy sauce made from ground spices with shrimp paste. Not all readymade sauce or paste is created equal. Tean’s Gourmet is one of the best by far in terms of taste and authenticity and costs less than USD4 per packet.

There are some who think that a readymade sauce is second grade compared to using the mortar and pestle to pound away the spices. To me, it is a blessing to have readymade sauce at hand. I can’t imagine hunting high and low for the necessary ingredients to make the sambal tumis from scratch, especially when most the ingredients are not available at the local stores.

The Sambal Tumis Mussels dish is a quick and easy dish to make – 20 minutes from start to finish. It is simple enough even for one who lacks cooking experience.

First I boiled the 2 lbs of vacuum packed frozen mussels in a big pot of boiling water for 5 mins, as instructed on the package. I took out the packets from the pot, and made a small opening on the packets to drain the water. Thereafter I placed the mussels in a big bowl, and set aside.

Next I used a pair of scissors to cut off one corner of the Sambal Tumis sauce packet and squeezed the sauce into a sauté pan. No cooking oil is required as the oil from the sauce is sufficient. Allow it to cook for 1-2 minutes. It is ready when you can smell the sambal tumis aroma slowly filling the kitchen.

Next, add in the cooked mussels and stir well to combine. Continue to stir the mussels and sambal tumis for another 5 mins to make sure all the mussels marry with the sauce.

Lastly plate the dish, and add a garnish if you prefer. Serve hot with rice.

I ate it with a plate of hot steaming white rice and even had seconds!! Yup it was that finger licking good.

Seaweed Mee Sua (Chinese Wheat Vermicelli) Soup

When we invited Tania Tan to participate in our $10 gift voucher program with her Seaweed Mee Sua (Chinese Wheat Vermicelli) Soup, she asked, 'Are you sure?  This is a very simple dish.' Yes, we are 100% sure.  It is simple but super delicious!

Seaweed Mee Sua (Chinese Wheat Vermicelli) soup by Tania Tan:

Mee sua never fails to remind me of birthdays and of my parents' love! Growing up, we never had big parties with tall cakes on our birthdays.....but instead, my parents would make mee sua and red eggs for us. I remember there was one time when I was having a cold war with my parents and we didn't speak for weeks. On the day of my birthday when I woke up at 6am to get ready for work......there was already a bowl of mee sua waiting for me on the breakfast table accompanied by 2 red eggs. I was so touched! Hence the reason why I like to add a hardboiled egg to my mee sua just so to remind me of home and my parents. And the idea to add seaweed to mee sua….well, the credit must go to my mom for the ingenious idea. She taught me to cook it this way and I just love how the two food items taste so good together. Who would have thought!

Ingredients (Serve 2):

• 2-3 bundles of Mee Sua (Chinese Wheat Vermicelli)
• 1 big round piece of dried seaweed (cut into smaller strips)
• 4-5 leaves of lettuce (cut/torn into smaller pieces)
• 200-300gm pork (cut into thin slices) If you don’t eat pork, you can always use fish slices, beef or chicken instead.
• 8 large shrimps (shelled and deveined)
• 6 cups of low sodium soup stock (I make my own chicken stock but you can use ready ones)
• 1-2 hardboiled eggs
• Seasonings (i.e. salt, pepper, garlic powder, sesame oil to taste)
• Chinese celery for garnishing

Method:

Put the soup stock in a pot and bring to a boil.

Add in the pork slices and shrimps into the boiling stock. The pork slices and prawns won’t take very long to cook.

Then add in the lettuce and seaweed and stir to break up the seaweed.

Add in the mee sua and keep stirring so that the noodles don’t end up in a clump.

Taste and add your seasonings accordingly.

Finally, serve your mee-sua with a hardboiled egg and garnish with some chopped Chinese celery.

Notes:
Please feel free to alter the quantities of the ingredients or substitute some of the ingredients with what you’d like to eat or have on hand. For example, if you don’t eat pork, you can always use fish slices, beef or chicken instead. Same for the vegetables…you can also use cabbage, bok choy, carrots, yam etc. If you are a vegetarian, just omit the meat/egg and use vegetable stock instead. It is very flexible.

I’d strongly recommend to use a low sodium soup stock as mee sua is inherently salty. If you don’t have any stock on hand, you can just use tap water too and add more seasonings to improve the taste.

Oyster Sauce Fried Chicken with Ginger

Zariah Betten participates in our $10 gift voucher campaign with her delicious Oyster Sauce Fried Chicken With Ginger.  Zariah, it looks delicious!  Thank you!

Zariah Betten:
After cooking everything else for the grownups, I wanted to do something else for the kids at our dinner table that could not eat anything spicy so I took the drumsticks and wings of two chickens and placed them in a bowl to make Oyster Sauce Fried Chicken With Ginger.


Here is my recipe.
About 2 sliced shallots
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
3 tbsp of Amoy Oyster Sauce
2 tbsp of Orchid Brand Dark Think Soy Sauce
1 tsp of Baba’s Meat Curry Powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of minced ginger
1 tsp of Baba’s Turmeric Powder

Mix them well with the chicken.  Cover it and place in the refrigerator to marinade for about 1 hour or so (the longer the better).  Then in very hot oil (vegetable oil of course) fry the chicken pieces until cooked about 5-8 mins. per side and voila!

The kids really mopped it up with hot rice.   I still hear them asking their parents when are they coming back to my house for dinner!  What a compliment!

Curry Laksa (Coconut Curry Noodles)

We have many Curry Laksa Noodles lovers.  I am one of them:)  You can find a few different Easy-To-Cook Curry Laksa Paste from us.  Check it out here. 

Today Tania Tan is going to share with us how she cooks her Curry Laksa.  Tania, thank you for participating in our $10 gift voucher campaign.

Curry Laksa by Tania Tan:  Hi, my name is Tania and I have recently moved to Massachusetts with my husband. I was born in Singapore and had lived there for the last 35 years of my life. We are a mixed couple – my husband is an Indian (originally from Malaysia) while I’m a Chinese. In Singapore, we have been exposed to many different types of food from the different cultures – Chinese, Eurasian, Indian and Malay. We love our chicken rice, devil’s curry, roti prata and nasi lemak!


One of our most favorite dishes is the laksa. The traditional way of making the laksa is to start by making the spice paste that usually consists of shallot, garlic, ginger, chilli and hae bee (dried prawn) all blended together. However, as I do not have a blender, I decided to use a ready-made laksa paste instead. I had chosen to use the Tean’s Gourmet Malaysian Curry Laksa paste as I had read very good reviews on it in numerous trusted food blogs.

The paste made my job very simple…..I believe it only took me less than 20min to make the entire laksa dish.

I followed the simple instructions on the back of the paste packet - add 1.5L of water to the paste and bring to a boil.  While soup is boiling....add dried tofu puffs and cook till soft.  Add approx 150ml of coconut cream and reduce heat to let the soup simmer.

Your laksa soup base is now done (yes, it looks spicy and IT IS spicy!).  While the soup is boiling, cut the fish cake into thin slices.  Blanch the bean sprouts in hot water to cook them slightly.

 

I bought this dried thick rice noodles that kinda resembles the laksa noodles.  Boil the noodles till soft.

Drain the noodles and put into a bowl. Add bean sprouts, fish cake and then pour the hot soup (with tofu puffs) over the noodles and serve hot.

My husband and I loved it!!! It was so delicious and tasted as good as (if not better than) the laksa from the famous stalls in Singapore. It felt so surreal as we sat at our dining table on a cold early-spring day in New England and slurped down our bowls of hot spicy laksa with beads of perspiration on our foreheads….for that moment, we felt as though we were back home in Singapore.

I would definitely recommend this paste to any laksa lovers. It not only might cure your cravings but could also warm your hearts and take away some of your homesickness.

Char Siew Pao (Chinese Steamed BBQ Roast Pork Buns)

Today, I am going to share with you our customer, Phay Ing Landers's, Char Siew Pao (Chinese Steamed Oyster Sauce Pork Buns) that she made with the Easy To Make Happy Grass Pao Flour .   They look so delicious!!!

My mother makes Char Siew Pao (Chinese Steamed BBQ Roast Pork Buns) from scratch.  She knows that I can't do it from scratch so she suggested that I use the Easy To Make Happy Grass Pao Flour.  I haven't tried it yet but I will definitely try it one day!

Phay Ing Landers, thank you again for your participation in our '$10 gift voucher' campaign!!!

Phay Ing Landers:

I had a bag of pao flour, Easy To Make Happy Grass Pao Flour, sitting in the pantry, bought in Sept 2010. Last week I caved in to my steamed char siew pao craving! My maiden attempt in making pao was an adventure in every sense of the word as I had not made any pao before and had no inkling of how the end result would be. However, I have eaten countless paos.

I am not the only pao fan in the family. My husband and the boys are a big fan of pao too! Char siew, red bean paste and lotus paste paos are the family’s favorite. The last time we had paos was in 2009 when we visited my parents in Kuching. The local Chinese eateries in Fairmont, WV do not include dim sum in their menus, except potstickers.

Back to my paos making adventure, the Easy To Make Happy Grass Pao Flour is great for first-timers. Everything I needed for the pao dough was there in separate plastic bags: pao flour, instant yeast, sugar and lard.

The whole process took me 2.5 hours, starting from kneading-resting-flattening-rolling-filling-shaping-steaming. Just follow the instructions printed on the package for the dough making. The step-by-step photos on the package helped me to understand the written instructions. I knew I was on the right track when I could smell the familiar pao doughy aroma as I was kneading the dough.

These are the steps I used to make the paos from the divided dough portions. I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small portions. I didn’t use any measuring device, instead I just eyeballed the portions and cut.

1. Use the palm to press the divided dough to flatten. Roll the dough into rounds and place 1 tbsp of filling in the center. Shape into pao and seal by pleating the edges. (Make sure the pao is sealed properly, otherwise it will open when it is steamed).

2. Place the pao on a piece of precut small square parchment paper so the pao will not stick to the bottom of the steamer rack. Cover with damp cloth and leave to rest for 40 mins, as instructed by the package.

3. 5-10 mins toward the end of the paos resting time, prepare a steamer pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Steam the paos over high heat for 10 mins. (The steaming time depends on the size of the pao.)

4. Continue to wrap paos with fillings and steam.

5. Serve the paos warm.

I used the entire bag as I wasn’t sure if the ingredients would keep once opened. I only managed to make 25 small paos (2” in diameter) with 300g of Char Siew. I didn’t want to waste the rest of dough, so I just made plain mantous. That gave me approximate 40 mantous. They tasted heavenly dipped in the char siew gravy.

A decent char siew pao not only depends on the dough’s fluffiness, but it has to be accompanied with tasty and juicy filling. Credits must be given to Lily Ng from Lily’s Wai Shek Hong blog for her Char Siew recipes. She has been very generous to give me her blessings to link her recipes to this write-up. I have been following her food blog for a few years, and her recipes are simple to follow. Most importantly the end results suit my palette.

I used 2 recipes for the paos fillings.
1. Char Siew recipe to make a batch of meat.
2. From the Char siew meat I baked, I followed this recipe to recreate the meat into Oyster Sauce Char Siew to be used for the pao fillings.

Overall I am very satisfied with the paos. After the success of the maiden attempt in making char siew paos, I will try making red bean paste paos next. In fact my boys are very excited and have been asking for it ever since they knew that I could make paos. The red bean paste can be ordered from AsianSupermarket365.

Frozen Yogurt with Canned Lychee (Litchi)

I did very well at the gym so I pampered myself with a cup of Caribbean Coffee Frozen Yogurt with Canned Lychee (Litchi) at Berrywild Yogurt opposite my gym. I was surprised to see that they have Canned Lychee (Litchi) as one of the toppings. So instead of having fresh fruits as the toppings like I always do, I picked Canned Lychee (Litchi) this time. Another surprise... it is more delicious than the fresh fruits.

I am sure ice cream and frozen yogurt will also go very well with other types of Canned Fruits.We have a very wide selections of Canned Fruits such as: Lychee (Litchi), Longan (Dragon Eyes), Guava, Nata De Coco, Young Coconut Meat, Young Green Jack Fruit, Rambutan, Jack Fruit, Tropical Fruit Salad, Rambutan with Pineapple, Toddy Palm's Seed Slices, Palm's Seeds, Papaya, Sapota, Soursop and Mangosteen.  Click here to view them.

Bakuteh (Bak Kut Teh) Herbal Soup

The first $10 gift voucher goes to...Rak Singh!! Below is Rak's Bakuteh (Bak Kut Teh) Herbal Soup and introduction about himself.

Rak Singh's Bak Kut Teh:

Ingredients:
1 Tean's Gourmet Herbs & Spices packet (has two bags in it)
2 to 2.5 lbs of pork spare ribs
2 garlic bulbs (peeled and cleaned)
8-12 dried mushrooms (note, if you use more than 12 mushrooms, you may want to add the optional spices below)
8-12 dried red dates
8-10 cups of water (measuring cups)
Soft tofu
Chinese Lettuce

2 Tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 Tablespoon of dark thick soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster sauce.  You can find a few different brands of oyster sauce here.
White pepper and salt to taste

Optional Spices (rinse them before use)
2 Star Anise (Dried Aniseed)
2 Licorice
6 Dried Cloves

Instructions:
1. Blanch the spare ribs separately first in boiled water so that the Bak Kut Teh soup does not become murky when you cook the ribs with the spices. Discard the water after ribs have been blanched.
2. Soak the dried mushrooms and dried red dates in warm water
3. Boil the 8-10 cups of water and add the Tean's Gourmet Herbs & Spices packet (the packet has two herb bags in it)
4. Boil the herb bags in water for 30 minutes. Cover the pot.
5. Now add the blanched spare ribs, garlic bulbs, dried mushrooms and dried red dates. Ensure there is enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring water to boil again.
6. Turn down the heat and simmer over low-medium heat for 1.5 to 2 hrs. Simmer covered till the meat starts to fall off the bone easily. Add more water as you go along if needed.
7. Add the optional spices if you feel that the dried mushrooms are starting to overpower the taste of the broth or if you would like a strong herbal taste to the soup.
8. Skim the fat off occasionally.
9. About 10 minutes before the end, add the additional seasoning (light soy sauce, dark thick soy sauce, Oyster sauce (you can find a few different brands of oyster sauce here), white pepper and salt.
10. Add the soft tofu at the very end. Alternatively, you can also fry firm tofu and use that instead. Or you can use tofu puffs and add to the broth while boiling.

When serving, add the Chinese lettuce to your bowl/dish and then pour the broth over. Best served with steamed rice, steamed or stir-fried vegetables and chillies.

A little bit about me:
I was born in Kuching but grew up in Brunei as my dad ran a construction services company there. I left Brunei in 93 to head to the UK to study for a degree and then ended up landing a job in America (in San Francisco). I've moved around the States quite a bit and also spent some time in between in Amsterdam, New Delhi and Toronto before finally moving to Denver in 2004, where I currently am now.

I grew up eating a lot of Hokkien food and that is why I like to cook traditional dishes from Malaysia for my family now. And as for why I cooked Bak Kut Teh, well it is one of my dad's favorite lunch time meals and even now when I visit my parents (they still live in Malaysia), we will often go to the Bak Kut Teh restaurant near their house (a trip home is not complete unless we have bak kut teh and Hainanese Chicken Rice at least) . And now that I live in America and have my own son, I would like him to experience the foods that I grew up with so that his culinary experience is as diverse as possible. And I look forward to cooking bak kut teh for my dad too the next time I visit. I bet he will be very proud of my bak kut teh cooking abilities!

Now, I must give credit to a dear friend of mine who lives in the UK (but was from Kuantan initially). I met her while I was in the UK as she was there studying in the same college (and was a class-mate). She recently shared her mom's special bak kut teh recipe with me and that is why you see red dates in the list of ingredients. It adds a little bit of sweetness and also provides a lovely layer of depth to the meal. She can cook some wonderful dishes too so I must steal more recipes from her.

Thai Sweet Glutinous Rice (Sticky Rice) with Mango

Mangoes are in season now!!!  You can get sweet and delicious mangoes from the fruit stands everywhere in New York City.  

After eating lots of mangoes for more than a month, I am still not sick of it yet.  I had dinner with some friends at a Thai Restaurant last Friday and ordered Thai Sweet Glutinous Rice (Sticky Rice) with Mango for dessert.  It was delicious!!!

You can find many Thai Sweet Glutinous Rice (Sticky Rice) with Mango's recipes on Google.  It's pretty easy to make.

The below items are available on our site for making this dessert. 
1. Glutinous Rice (White) or Glutinous Rice (Black)
2. Palm Sugar
3. Coconut Milk
4. Pandan Leaves Extract

Serve the rice warm with cold mangoes.

Have something different for dessert at home:)  Hope you like it.

Hot Pot (Steamboat) Soup Mix and Dipping Sauce

When was the last time you had Hot Pot (Steamboat)? I am curious because my youngest sister, some friends and I have Hot Pot about 2-3 times a month. Is it a bit too much or it's normal?

We love the food and also the joy of everybody participating in the cooking process. We sometimes like to put a lot of food in the pot at once to let it cook but sometimes we like to cook the food individually. What we usually have in our Hot Pot are beef, lamb, prawns, fish slices, crabs, squid, clams, soft tofu, fish balls, enoki mushrooms, taro, different types of vegetables, konnyaku yam noodles etc.

We carry a few different flavors of Hot Pot Soup Mix (spicy and non-spicy). If you like, you can also add the All-In-One Mixes like Curry Laksa, Tom Yum, Prawn Noodle Soup Paste to make the soup. It is very easy to use. You just to need to add water and let it boil. You need to add water to the pot occasionally due to evaporation. You don't need to keep adding the soup mix because usually the stew is strong and zesty enough.

We also have a few Hot Pot Dipping Sauce. You can use them individually or mix them together to make your own sauce.

Hot Pot is fun and delicious!:)

Thai Salad Dressing (Ready-To-Use)

I like to make my own salad because I literally get to eat whatever I want. What I usually have in my salad are fruits (mangoes, apples, oranges etc.), tofu, grilled beef or chicken, shrimps, hard boiled eggs, avocado, dried berries, onions, tomatoes, cashew nuts...

I like many types of salad dressings but my favorite is always Thai Salad Dressing. It is tasty, healthy and light. The Thai Salad Dressing that we have is Ready-To-Use. It goes well with grilled meat and seafood.

We are in the Specialty Food Magazine

We are in the latest Specialty Food Magazine. The article is about Malaysian cuisine. The interview took place last year before we expanded our new line of Chinese groceries from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

To read the article, click here.

We are now also the top online resources for authentic Chinese groceries. This newly expanded line has quickly taken off and customers are thrilled to get the foods they thought were no longer available to them.

Don’t see what you want? Just ask! We will try our best to find the products for you. Don't forget to always get product updates and discount coupon codes from our Facebook Fan Page.

Thanks for your support to us!!!