Penang Famous Nyonya "Acar-Awak" (Mix Vege Relish)

This special recipe, has been passed down for 3 generations from my Grandma. She used to make and sell it at Pulau Tikus, Penang wet market. It is one of my favourite dish. Nyonya "Acar-Awak" or Mix Vege Relish is a showcase of a Nyonya delicacy that has become a trademark of Nyonya Kitchen. You can make it for party and also store well in refrigerator. Here's how you make this authentic dish.

ACAR-AWAK

Ingredients:

4tbsp ground peanuts
8tbsp sugar
1tbsp turmeric powder
200gm tamarind juice
10 blended shallots (or 4 big red onions)
4tbsp blended dry chili
3pcs cube prawn paste (balacan)
2 cucumber
8 big cabbage leafs
2 carrots
1/2 Kati long beans
Oil
Sesame seed

(Make sure all your vege are fresh from the market)
Here's how you prepare the ingredients:

Long Beans & Carrots cut into short strips

Cucumber cut into smaller cubes

Cabbage

Turmeric


Add water into tamarind and press the juice out


Dry roast sesame seed in pan until golden

Use a mortar to grind the sesame seed

Baked blended peanuts


Blended Onions, dry chili & prawn paste


Method:
Heat wok with oil
Stir fry blended onions, dry chili and prawn paste until fragrant
(Make sure all the 3 mix thoroughly)
Add little bit more oil
Add in all the vege, stir until the chili paste mix all together
Add in turmeric powder and tamarind juice
Stir until everything is well mixed
Make sure the vegetables are just cooked through, but still crisp
Mix in peanuts and stir
Sprinkle some sesame seed before serving

Optional - If you can finish it at one serving, you can add pineapple.
If you intend to cook a lot and keep it in refrigerator, do not add pineapple.
Pineapple tends to release lots of juice and make the dish too soggy.

Acar-Awak

This recipe is dedicated to my late Grandma, who has make this special dish for the family for the past 30yrs. Thank you Grandma.

East meet West

What happen if a Thai girl marries a Italian husband? She will put tom yam in his spaghetti dish...ha! Interesting right? Here's how you cook Italian Tom Yam Spaghetti. PS. I didn't marry a Thai girl ...

Italian Tom Yam Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1pack of angel hair spaghetti (boil in water - angel hair cooks quite fast)
2big onions (cut into cubes)
6-7 Kaffir lime leaves (pic below) - (shredded)

1bottle of Pasta sauce (prefer tomato & herbs)
5tbsp tom yam sauce
1tsp parsley
bunch of Mint leaves
1tbsp sugar
Cocktail sausages
Ham cubes
1tsp fish sauce

Method:
Heat oil in woks
Saute onions until fragrant
Add in sausages and ham and stir fry
Pour in pasta sauce and tom yam sauce
Add sugar, fish sauce, parsley and kaffir lime leaves
Mix everything nicely and bring it to boil

Serve it on a plate of angel hair spaghetti and garnish with mint leaves
You'll love this Spicy hot spaghetti, a mixture of western and eastern cuisine.

Honey Glazed Roast Chicken (Char Siew Chicken)

I'm a fan of char siew, but every time I go buy my char siew, I can get only pork char siew. But this time around, I've thought of making char siew with chicken. It takes shorter time to cook then pork and it's less fat too! Here's the recipe:

Honey Glazed Roast Chicken (Char Siew Chicken)

Ingredients:
3pcs Chicken drumstick (remove middle bone)
2tbsp 5 spice powder
3tbsp honey2tsp soy sauce
4tbsp char siew sauce
pinch of salt
1tbsp Oil


Remove skin and middle bone of chicken drumstick
Wash and pat dry
Use a fork to pook a few holes on the drumstick
Rub soy sauce, char siew sauce, salt, oil and 5spice powder over the drumstick
Set it aside for 30mins
10mins before time, pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius
Wrap the end bone of drumstick with foil (to prevent it from burning)
Place drumstick on rack and grill in oven for 30mins
Every 10mins into grilling, brush the drumstick with left over seasoning sauce
15mins into grilling, brush all drumstick top with honey
Serve hot with rice


You'll get the same succulent juicy char siew chicken.

Tesco Brands & Baked Herbs Potatoes

Ever go to Tesco and try some of its own brand of sauce or seasoning? They have a wide range of Tesco brands which are meant for UK market. Last weekend shopping at Tesco, I've come across this - Honey & Mustard cooking sauce. A creamy sauce made of mustard, carrot and honey. Well, with that sauce, I've come up with a simple chicken recipe and serve it on top of spaghetti. Besides that, I also grab some range of potatoes and baked it with herbs and honey to serve as side dish.

Creamy Honey & Mustard Chicken with Spaghetti



Ingredients:

500gm chicken (prefer to use whole chicken drumstick)

- cut into strips, remove skin

- seasoned with Worchester sauce, salt & pepper
- set it aside in refrigerator for 15mins to let the seasoning penetrate the meat

2big onions cut into cubes

1pkt of spaghetti

Spaghetti preparation:

Bring to boil a pot of water

Add in spaghetti (put some salt in water to make the spaghetti taste better)

Stir a few times to prevent spaghetti from sticking to the pot

Drain water out when spaghetti is soft, set it aside.

Cooking the chicken:

Heat oil in wok

Add in onions

Stir fry until fragrant, then add in chicken strips

Add some water
Add in Honey & Mustard sauce and stir

Simmer in low fire until chicken is soft & tender

Serve it on top of spaghetti and garnish with some dry parsley.

Baked Herbs Potatoes

Ingredients:

Grab a few types of potatoes, remove its skin and cut into cubes
(Try to cut it into same size so that cooking time would be the same)

Dry Oregano

Dry Parsley

Season-All Salt

Olive Oil

Honey

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius

Spread aluminium foil over baking tray

Spread even cut potatoes on baking tray

Sprinkle olive oil, dry oregano, parsley, season-all salt & honey over it

Baked in oven for 20mins ( baking times defer from potatoes sizes and oven)

Voila! You have a nice healthy dish with fresh smell of herbs, sweet and sour taste of honey & mustard. Enjoy...

** I'm not advertising or doing any promotion for TESCO **

Note: You can always add pumpkin or carrots in.