Chicken with Coconut Gravy ( Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Padi)

This is another form of curry that you can take with rice. The main ingredients are coconut milk and cili padi, some small fresh green chillies that you can get at any Asian stores. The more chillies you put, the hotter it will become, therefore be careful on how many chillies you would like to add in your curry. If you prefer a milder version, you can substitute the small fresh green chillies with the big fresh red or green chillies instead.

Ingredients
8 parts of chicken
500 liter coconut milk
1 tumeric leaf, thinly sliced
salt, to taste

Pounded/Blended Ingredients
4-6 small fresh green chillies or cili padi
4 shallots

1 big onion
1 lemon grass
1 inch galangal

Methods
1. In a pot, put the chicken and the rest of the pounded/blended ingredients together with the coconut milk, tumeric leaf and salt.
2. Heat the pot and stir all ingredients until the chicken is cooked. If the gravy becomes too thick while in the stirring process, add some water and continue stirring until you get the desired consistency.
3. Do not stop stirring until the chicken is cooked to avoid the coconut milk from breaking.
4. When the chicken is ready and you have achieved the desired consistency, serve in a serving plate with rice.


serves 3-6 people

Prawn Fritters (Cucur Udang)

Cudur Udang is normally for breakfast or tea time. Taken with a cup of tea, they complement each other very well. To make this dish is very easy and you can whip in all ingredients in one go. Kids love this savoury dish and they can disappear in simply seconds if you have lots of them!

Ingredients
3 cups of wheat flour
100gm dried prawns, pounded
300gm fresh prawns, skinned
2 eggs
100gm bean sprouts
100gm chives, thinly sliced
1 green chilly, thinly sliced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
a pinch of tumeric powder
water, enough to make a thick batter
oil for frying

Methods
1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In a heated pan, pour some oil.
3. With a spoon, scoop a small amount of batter and fry it in the hot oil.
4. Keep forming and frying until the batter turns golden brown.
5. Serve with chilly sauce or tomato ketchup.

serves 3-4 people

Batik Cake

This recipe is easy and simple to do. My kids love this cake and normally it would not stay long in the fridge. You can either bake this cake or let it cool and freeze inside the fridge before consuming it. The items that you need are minimal and the uniqueness of this cake is that it contains biscuits and condensed milk that are just simply sweet and sensational!

Ingredients
175g butter
4 large eggs
300g condensed milk
40g Nestum
110g Milo powder
15g cocoa powder
125ml water
280g Marie biscuits or any biscuits (break into pieces)

Methods

1. Beat butter till light and creamy. Add in one egg at a time and beat well after each addition.

2. In a saucepan, mix together condensed milk, Nestum, cocoa powder, Milo and water. Add in the butter mixture. Mix well.

3. Cook over low heat until batter thickens, stirring all the time so that it won´t get burnt.

4. When the batter thickens, turn off the heat and set aside to cool. Gently fold in the Marie biscuits bit by bit.

5. Spread the cake mixture and press lightly layer by layer on a greased and lined 7-inch square cake tin.

6. Bake at 150C for one hour. Remove and let cool thoroughly before wrapping up tightly with
aluminum foil. Chill for a few hours or overnight before serving.

Note: The small crumbs from breaking the Marie Biscuits into pieces should be discarded and not added to the cake batter.

Bandung Noodles (Mee Bandung)

Bandung noodles or mee bandung as locally known, is a quite popular noodle recipe besides mee curry or mee rebus. In Malay, mee means noodles and bandung is a name of a city in Indonesia. It is not known why it is called mee bandung, whether it has a connection with the city or just merely a coincidence. Nevertheless, this is a good change if you are tired of eating soup noodles and are looking for different variations of cooking noodles.

Ingredients
500 gm yellow/egg noodles
3 garlic, crushed
2 big onions, thinly sliced
1 inch ginger, thinly sliced
2 table spoon chilly paste
1 small can tomato puree
100 gm dried prawns, soaked until soft (optional)
200 gm fresh prawns, cleaned
200 gm chicken breast, cleaned and thinly sliced
500 liter chicken stock, or vegetable stock or just water
1 carrot, thinly sliced
a small bunch of spring onion, thinly sliced
a bunch of coriander leaves, thinly sliced
a handful of dried shallots
1- 2 eggs
salt, to taste
1 table spoon of sugar, or to taste
5 table spoon oil

Methods
1. In a pot, pour in the oil and fry the garlic, onions and ginger until golden brown.
2. Put in the dried prawns and fry for a minute. Then add the fresh prawns and chicken breasts.
3. When the fresh prawns are turning red, add in the chilly paste and sugar and cook for about a minute.
4. Add tomato puree and stir for a while. Then add the sliced carrots. Stir briefly for about 30 seconds.
5. Pour in the chicken stock and simmer for five minutes. Add salt to taste.
6. When the broth is slightly thicken, add the noodles.
7. After a few seconds, crack open the eggs and let them cook in the broth. Do not touch the eggs and let them cook for a while.
8. When the eggs are beginning to take shape, add the spring onions and coriander leaves.
9. Sprinkle some dried shallots over the top.

10. Serve in a bowl while still hot.


serves 1-2 people

Soy Fried Chicken

There are many ways to fry chicken and this is one of them. For this recipe, the chicken is boiled in an onion and ginger broth until tender and then fried until crispy. Suitable eaten with chicken or tomato rice as it is subtle and light in terms of taste which compliment the taste of the rice and does not overpower it.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 parts (boil in a broth together with some onions and ginger)
10 table spoon dark soy sauce
5 table spoon light soy sauce
1 table spoon fish sauce (optional)
1 table spoon sesame oil ( optional)
white pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
oil, to fry

Methods
1. Boil the chicken with water, onions and ginger. Boil until the chicken is tender.
2. When the chicken is tender, take them out and drain any liquids thoroughly.
3. Put the chicken in a big bowl and mix all ingredients until the chicken are well coated.
4. In a frying pan, fry the chicken parts for about five minutes each side.
5. Serve in a serving plate with chicken or tomato rice.

serves 2-4 people

Prawn Sambal with Petai

Sambal is a delicacy on its own. Most Malaysians, especially the Malays, must live with their sambals. We have ikan bilis, prawns, squids, fish even dried fish sambals or simply boiled egg sambals to name a few. All these sambals can be eaten with plain rice or nasi lemak, which is a Malaysian favourite breakfast. Some people choose to eat them with bread or buns. In short, sambal can be eaten in various ways and will be even better if they are mixed with petai which is suitable for prawns, ikan bilis and fish.

Petai beans look like broad beans but in a much larger scale. Like mature broad beans, they may have to be peeled before cooking and the seeds must be taken out before cooking. Petai has earned its nickname 'stink bean' because its strong smell is very pervasive. It lingers in the mouth and body. It contains amino acids that can give a strong smell in the urine but that will subside after a day or two. Stinky or not, Malaysians love this one!

Ingredients
500gm medium size prawns, cleaned
2-3 petai beans ( take out the seeds and clean thoroughly)

salt, to taste
1 cup tamarind juice (throw away the seeds if any)
5 table spoon oil

Blended Items
250gm dried chillies
5 shallots
1 big onion
3 cloves garlic
1 inch belacan or prawn paste
2 table spoon sugar

Methods
1. Put oil in a pan. When the pan is hot, put in the blended items and cook for about five minutes or until aromatic. You can add a little bit of water if it becomes dry.
2. When the blended items have slightly thicken, put in the tamarind juice and stir briefly.
3. Add in prawns and cook until they are tender.
4. Add the petai seeds and salt, to taste.
5. Stir well for about one minute and the prawns are ready to be served.


Serves 2-4 people

Garlic Potato Salad

I recently invited one of my school mates for tea, and I made this simple potato salad that is simply delicious. There is nothing Asian about this dish, but it is well accepted here. Malaysians are very open to western food and with the mushrooming of fusion and international restaurants and cafes, this has become almost like a local dish also. I simply love it and hope you do too.

Ingredients
6 medium size potatoes, boiled until soft, and cut into four
3 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped or 2 teaspoon of garlic powder
salt, to taste
a sprinkle of olive oil
chopped onion and coriander leaves
pepper, to taste

Methods
1. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Add salt and pepper, to your taste.
3.Serve in a serving plate.

serves 2-4 people

Durian with Sticky Rice (Pulut Durian)

When I was small, my mom would make durian with sticky rice which is a delicacy on its own whenever the durian season arrived. Durian is well known as 'the king of the fruits' and is the fruit of controversy in terms of its aroma. Some might detest the pungent smell from the durian and some simply love it. Durian can be eaten on its own or can be turned into sweet desserts like ice cream and caramel, also into condiments like tempoyak (flesh of durian mixed with pounded chillies and salt) or can be cooked with fish and prawns with loose thin broth, eaten with rice. When eating durian with sticky rice, you can either cook the flesh with sugar and coconut milk or eating them fresh. My recipe is the latter.

Ingredients
3 cups of sticky rice, cooked or steamed until tender
8-12 flesh of durians
sugar, to taste
6 cups of thick coconut milk, or to taste

Methods (How to eat durian with sticky rice)
1. Put the sticky rice on a plate.
2. Put the flesh of durian on top of the sticky rice.
3. Sprinkle some sugar, up to your liking.
4. Pour in some coconut milk.
5. With your clean hands, mixed all ingredients including the durian flesh and eat them with your hands.

serves 1-2 people

Mixed Fruit Jelly

Jelly is better known as agar-agar in Malaysia. Normally, you can either choose powdered jelly or dried jelly to make this sweet dessert. For this recipe, it is ideal if you use dried jelly which you can get from the supermarket or any grocery stores at your neighborhood. Powdered jelly will not produce the best result because it does not give the desired texture and taste that is required.


Ingredients

1 packet of dried jelly
1 can of creamer
250gm sugar
1 can of fruit cocktail

Methods

1. Put the dried jelly in a pot and add water just enough to cover the jelly's surface.
2. Boil the jelly until it turns into liquid. Drain the liquid to separate the loose particles or any dried jelly which has not been liquidized.
3. Put the liquid into another pot and simmer briefly. Add the sugar and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Pour in the creamer and a can of fruit cocktail including the juices.
5. Simmer in a low heat for a minute.
6. Transfer the jelly into a mold, up to your preferences.
7. Let it cool before transferring it into a refrigerator.
8. Serve when the jelly is set.

serves 6-8 people

Watch Malaysian Wedding - Chef Wan, February 14 on Asian Food Channel!

As Asia’s most celebrated chef, Chef Wan currently hosts several of his own TV shows, holds the role of Malaysia’s culinary ambassador and has even been invited to cook for Malaysian royalty! Nothing seems to daunt this seemingly unstoppable chef where food is concerned– well, almost nothing.

Chef Wan now faces the ultimate challenge – putting together a Malaysian wedding for his own daughter, Serina! With multiple locations, extensive media coverage and culinary expectations set at an all time high, the pressure is tremendous! Not to mention the fact that Chef Wan is determined to produce a menu that is heavily influenced by his Malay and Chinese ancestry. From ensuring the precision and consistency of his signature dishes for a gala dinner of 700 guests to seeking out the best designers and jewellers in Malaysia, Chef Wan will stop at nothing to give his daughter the perfect wedding!

Will Chef Wan succeed in making his daughter’s special day a dream come true, or will his efforts be a disaster waiting to unfold?

excerpt from Asian Food Channel