Ah Ma, my father’s mother, made the most delicious acar.  She learned from her nyonya mother-in-law, Ah Chor, the lady we thought looked like the little old lady in the 1960′s sitcom, Beverly Hillbillies, in a kebaya!  Ah Ma’s acar is so well pickled, it could have lasted for months if we didn’t devour it all in a week!  Her trick was to wring the blanched vegetables real dry.  I never really appreciated the nyonya heritage in my dad’s family until much later when I got interested in cooking and realized that my grandmother was probably one of the best nyonya cooks around.  Since then, it’s been an endless effort to recreate many of her recipes from the memory of taste.  This is one of them.

Chef’s tip: Use a salad spinner to remove as much water as possible from the blanched vegetables.  Pack acar tightly in a glass jar and keep refrigerated.  Like kimchi, it will keep for several weeks.

Spice Paste:
10 dried long Asian chilies, rehydrated in water or fresh Fresno chilies, seeded
2 stalks lemongrass, sliced thinly
2 slices galangal
1 piece fresh turmeric, about 1 Tablespoon, sliced
8 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon roasted belachan
4 candlenuts

Vegetables:
2 carrots peeled
¼ head cauliflower
1 Japanese Eggplant
½ small savoy cabbage
12 Chinese long yard beans
1 English Cucumber, seeded

½ cup canola oil
1 cup white vinegar
½ cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 cup roasted peanuts, crushed
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

1. In a food processor or blender, grind chilies, lemongrass and galangal till fine. Add remaining spice paste ingredients and process till smooth. Add a little water if needed. Set aside.
2. Cut all vegetables into 1 inch juliennes. Cut cauliflower into small florets.
3. Blanch vegetables. Blanched carrots, cauliflower and eggplant till tender, about 3 minutes, and cabbage and long beans two minutes. Spin and squeeze vegetables very dry. Add in cucumber.
4. Heat oil on medium high. Fry spice paste till fragrant, red and oil has separated, about 7-10 minutes. Add vinegar, sugar and salt. Fry till fragrant about 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Remove from heat.
5. Mix in vegetables and toss to mix. Add peanuts and sesame seeds and mix to combine.  Let it sit for at last 30 mins for flavors to come together.  Can be prepared in advance.  Serve room temperature or chilled.

Serves: 6

Tags: Malaysian, Nyonya.

This simple, Vietnamese-influenced shrimp salad encompasses the full flavors of hot, sweet, sour and salty.   The dressing is really versatile and you can vary the choice of fruit, too – for example, use pomelo, green papaya, even Granny Smith apples, peaches or cantaloupe.

Chef’s tip:  To peel soft, ripe fruits like mangoes or peaches, use a serrated peeler.  Kent mangoes work well for this salad.  To seed it, peel the mango.  Then cut off about 1/2 inch off the bottom and it will reveal part of the oval, flat shaped seed.  Noting the flat side of the seed from the cut tip,  stand the mango on the cut tip, then cut along the flat side of the seed from the top down, applying a slight pressure towards the seed.  Repeat with the opposite side.  Then carefully slice off both vertical side edges along the seed.  To chiffonade herbs, stack several leaves, then roll them tightly into a little cigar.  Next, slice through the roll to create thin slices.  Fluff the sliced herbs to break up the strands.

Dressing
3 small Thai red chilies, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large shallot, finely chopped
¼ cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar/ brown sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon finely chopped kaffir lime leaves, optional

Salad
1 lb medium sized shrimp, shelled, deveined
2 ripe, firm mangoes, peeled, cut into thick juliennes
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil leaves
1/2 cup mint, chiffonade

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparing the Dressing and topping:
1.  Place the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined.
Preparing the shrimp
2.  In a pot of salted boiling water, drop in the cleaned shrimp.  when shrimp turns pink, remove and immediately plunge into an ice bath.   Drain and pat dry.
Preparing the salad
3. Peel mangoes, and remove pit and slice flesh into thick juliennes.  Toss mangoes herbs and half the dressing.  Set aside.
4. Toss the shrimp with remaining dressing.  And place on top of the mangoes.
5. Garnish with pine nuts and cilantro leaves.

Serves: 6

Tags: Salads, Thai.

A really light noodle dish that is full of flavor- nutty sesame and peanut butter, and hot Sichuan chili cooled down by the cucumber and cold noodles.  You can make your own noodles or substitute with store bought egg noodles or even spaghetti.  And if you really want to do this in under 30 minutes, use store bought rotiserrie chicken.

Chef’s tip: Mung bean starch is easily available in Korean grocery stores.

Noodles:

4 cups + 2 Tablespoons water
¾ cup mung bean starch

Meat and marinade:
2 chicken breast, bone-in, skin-on
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon ginger juice
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon canola oil

Sauce:
3 Tablespoons tahini + 3 Tablespoons water (more if tahini is thick)
1 Tablespoon light soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Chinkiang or black Chinese vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan peppercorn or Sichuan peppercorn oil
1 teaspoon ginger, grated fine
1 clove garlic, grated fine
1 Tablespoon Asian chili oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 stalk green onions, green parts only, julienned into 1 inch strips
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon Asian chili oil
½ teaspoon sesame oil

Preparing the noodle
1.   Mix starch with 1 ½ cups of water till starch is fully dissolved.  Mix in remaining water.
2. Bring to boil, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens.  It’s easiest to stir from the center out. Stir until the mixture is clear and translucent.  About 4 minutes total.  Immediately pour mixture into a wet, glass or ceramic dish, about 9X12 inch, making a thin 3/8 inch layer.
3. Leave to cool for 45 minutes in the fridge or 2 hours at room temperature.
4.  When set, cut noodles into thin ¼ inch strips

Preparing the chicken
5.     Preheat oven 350F.  Mix chicken marinade ingredients together.  Place chicken breast on a baking sheet, rub skin with marinade.  Roast for 35-40 minutes until chicken is just cooked (190F).
6.  Remove the meat from the bones, discard skin and shred the chicken.

Preparing the sauce
7.   Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Preparing the garnish:
8.   Cut the green onions into 1 ½ inch section, then sliced lengthwise into thin shreds.  Put into cold water and drain well and pat dry before use.

9.   Pan-fry the sesame seeds (without any oil) under medium heat till golden brown.

Assembly:

10.  In a bowl, place a heapful of noodles.  Pour sauce over the noodles and toss to coat. Place on top of noodles some shredded chicken, green onions and sesame seed.  Finish with a little chili oil and sesame oil.

Serves: 6

Tags: Chinese, noodles, Sichuanese, street foods.