Four Heavenly Kings (Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables) 四大天王

It took me quite some time to find the name for this dish. This rather popular dish is no stranger in Malaysia. In fact, it is authentically Malaysian. As to why it was named Four Heavenly Kings, I believe it is the use of four types of vegetables usually brinjal, okra, long beans, and stink beans. The vegetables are interchangeable with others such as winged beans or snake beans. Plainly put, it is just stir-fried mixed vegetables. In true Malaysian style, this dish is usually served spicy with the use of chilli paste or sambal and dried shrimp. It has this unique pungent smell of the dried shrimp and the sting of the sambal. A truly flavour-filled dish indeed.

Sambal Prawns with Stink Beans/Sambal Udang Petai

Ingredients

1 cup stink beans

100 g prawns, shelled and deveined

1 onion, sliced

2-3 tbsp chilli paste/sambal tumis*

4 tbsp spicy dried shrimp paste/sambal udang kering 

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

2 tbsp cooking oil

*sambal tumis can easily be bought in local grocery stores. Alternatively, omit this and add more sambal udang kering and some water.

Cooking Instruction

1. Saute onion in preheated oil in a wok. When onion becomes limp, add in sambal tumis and sambal udang kering. Saute until fragrant. 

2. Add in prawns and quickly stir-fry until it is half cooked. 

3. Throw in bitter beans and seasoning. When bitter beans are cooked, dish up and serve with rice.

Sambal Udang Kering/Dried Shrimp Sambal - The Product

It has been a while since I last blogged, almost a month to be exact. One must wonder what happened to this usually healthy blog. Well, here's the story....

It all started one fateful day when I took a step of faith to convert one of my recipes into an actual product, something that you could actually see, buy and eat. Praise God, I have never looked back since. The product sold so well that I have to mobilise my whole family including my aged mother for help. But all is well. Sales was impressive. Profit was satisfactory. But most of all, I get to work at home and spend time with my love one. Everybody was happy with the extra work albeit a little too tiring. This marks the beginning of my little cottage industry and I believe there would be more to come. Blogging, sadly and reluctantly, would have to take a back seat for the moment...but definitely not forgotten!

Almond Nestum Cookies/Nestum杏仁曲奇饼

Making cookies is one of the easiest in baking. And making these Almond Nestum Cookies is even easier. You don't even need a mixer or a food processor. The whole process is forgiving whereby you could shape the cookies into any shapes that you fancy and it does not burn easily. When I was making this cookie, immediately I thought of my Muslim counterparts who are fasting in this Ramadhan month. This is an ideal snack since it is so effortless to make. It also makes perfect gift.

Easy Turmeric Rice/Nasi Kunyit 黃薑飯 (Rice Cooker Method)

My mother told me today that she would be cooking chicken curry. Immediately I thought of cooking a small portion of nasi kunyit or turmeric rice to go with it. But how?

The traditional nasi kunyit requires us to pre-soak the rice for hours in turmeric and then steam. It also requires us to add coconut milk in 2 to 3 intervals, mixing in every intervals. Frankly saying, the amount of work for such small amount of yellow rice is often a put off, what more when I am in a hurry to cook some? So I improvised. I used the rice cooker. Yes, it can be done.

Black Pepper Beef 黑椒牛肉

What was meant to be a post on doughnuts became a typical Chinese stir-fried. Yes, I screwed up again. My doughnuts looked like biscuit, unworthy of mention. But all for the better because this black pepper beef is so good I ate a good portion of it.

Many Chinese dishes are stir-fried and mostly in high temperature to get it fragrant. The Chinese call this "wok hei" or breath of wok, very important in Chinese cooking. The high heat fittingly brings out that peppery fragrant with a slight sting to the tongue. Do be careful though as this dish is very "heaty" in nature. So make sure you drink a lot of water or herbal tea or you might just risk getting ulcer or falling sick (the Chinese believe that too much of the "yang" element would upset the balance in the body and hence, making you sick) .

Nestum Crumble Bread Pudding /Nestum 面包布丁

Making bread pudding is pretty easy to do. It was one of my earlier conquest when I started blogging. If you ever have trouble following a bread pudding recipe, just forget the recipe. You don't have to memorise. All you have to do is understand the dish. There are two main components in a bread pudding: the bread itself and the custard. Use any breads and cut it into decent sizes so that it could be soaked easily. As for the custard, use one large egg for every cup of milk (240 ml) and I guarantee you you won't go wrong. Cook for how long? This isn't an issue either. Use the old reliable skewer. If it comes out clean, it is cooked. Generally, it would take 15-20 minutes in ramekins at 170C.