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

Ma Po Do Fu is probably the most popular (or at least the gentrified version is a permanent item in the Chinese take out menu) of Sichuanese cuisine. As many of you know, the “ma” refers to the hot and numbing spice, not some old lady with pock marked face, which the dish is sometimes referred to.  It’s truly a Chinese comfort food.

Chef’s tip: The steps below may look laborious but frankly, I am just trying to line out in great detail the steps in wok cooking.  It literally takes about 5 minutes or less to cook the dish.  This dish employs the classic steps in working with a wok.  The wok is designed so that the hottest part of the pan is the bottom part, that’s where you brown the meat, etc.  The sides of the pan serves as the in between placeholder, where you park parts of the dish while you cook the other parts, before tossing them all back together.  That way, ingredients that need different cooking times get their own special treatment and you come out with the perfect crunch and tenderness.

8 oz ground beef
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 lb silken tofu
4 tablespoon scallions, white part, chopped

Sauce
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon chili bean paste
1 tablespoon fermented black beans (optional)

1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar

½ tablespoon cornflour, plus 2 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons scallion, green part

Preparing the meat
1. Mix ground beef with 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce and shaoxing wine.  Set aside

Preparing the vegetable
2. Dry fry the Sichuan peppercorn. Lightly grind peppercorns
3. Chop scallion (white part), ginger and garlic finely, set aside separately
4. Cut bean curd into 1 inch cubes.

Cooking the dish
5. Heat the wok over high heat.  Add the peanut oil followed by the marinated meat.  Drizzle remaining shaoxing wine around the side of the wok.  Fry for 1 minute until meat starts to brown.  Push the meat to the side of the wok.
6. Add chili bean paste, fermented black beans, and fry till the oil is separated, about half a minute.
7. Add chopped garlic, ginger and scallions (white part).  Fry till fragrant – about 30 seconds.  Toss with the meat.
8. Add broth, soy sauce, and sugar
9. Add tofu, stir lightly and bring to boil.  Then lower the heat and simmer 5 minutes.
10. Combine cornstarch with water to make a slurry, add to the sauce, toss to cook until sauce thickens.
11. Add chopped green scallions and crushed Sichuan peppercorns, toss to coat.
Serve immediately.

Serves: 6

This is a classic chicken curry, Chinese Malaysian-style.  It goes really well with tumeric sticky rice.

Chef’s tip: Curry powder is commonly used in Malaysia, the concoction is similar to Sri Lankan curry powder.  Here’s a recipe to make your own curry powder.

Ingredients
6 pieces chicken legs with thighs, bones and skin on
2 tablespoons curry powder

3 small Russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch wedges
2 cups canola oil

Spice paste:
5 red jalapeno chilies, seeded
8 shallots
3 stalks lemon grass
1 inch galangal
1 inch fresh turmeric / 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon roasted belacan
5 candlenuts

Sauce:
¼ cup canola oil
5 sprigs curry leaves
1 cup water
3 cups coconut milk, reserve 1 cup of the cream
2 tablespoons kosher salt, to taste

Marinating the chicken:
1.    Rub the curry powder over the chicken
Preparing the potatoes
2.    Peel the potatoes and cut each into 4 pieces. Pat dry.
3.    Heat a skillet with about 2-inch of oil.  Fry the potatoes till it is golden on the outside.  Remove and set aside.  The potatoes need not be cooked through.
Preparing the spice paste
4.    Roughly chop up all the spice paste ingredients (except lemongrass and galangal that needs to be finely chopped).
5.    Place all spice paste ingredients in a food processor and grind into a fine paste.
Cooking the curry
6.    Heat about ¼ cup of oil in a pot on medium high.  Add the spice paste and curry leaves fry till fragrant and red, about 5 minutes.
7.    Add the marinated chicken and fry for about 3 minutes.
8.    Add 1 cup water and 2 cups of coconut milk and salt.  Simmer for about 10 minutes
9.    Add the fried potatoes and reserved 1 cup coconut milk, and simmer uncovered until chicken is tender and gravy has thicken, about 30 minutes-45 minutes.  Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves: 6

Fancy dinner nachos, or some call it a “chilaquiles.”  This is how we eat at home   Marco, my DH, makes the best dinner nachos – and he makes it often too, especially when the chef in the house is too lazy to cook!  Seriously, I have tried to imitate his dinner nachos and have yet to succeed.  This is HIS recipe!  Adding a dash of lime juice at the end sparks up the flavors.  This is a good comfort food!

Chef’s tip: To make avocado slices, run a knife around the avocado middle lengthwise and twist it to split it into two. Using the heel of your knife, make a small stab into the pit, twist to remove the pit. Discard the pit. Then using a paring knife, score the half avocado right down the middle, and then down the middle on each quarter. Do not cut into the skin. The avocado should still look like a half avocado. Using a spoon, scoop out the slivers.

Also, if you can find it, get the Primavera hand-made corn tortilla.  It’s thicker and soaks up the sauce.  And the sauce, I prefer the Las Palmas brand which is less starchy.

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
1/2 small red bell pepper, julienned
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 pieces handmade corn tortilla, cut into 1 X 2 inch strips
1 14-oz can Las Palmas medium hot enchilada sauce
2 medium tomatoes, cut into medium dice
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1 cup Monterey jack, shredded
1 avocado, sliced into 8 slivers
1 cup cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges
1/2 cup sour cream

1. Heat some olive oil in a skillet under medium heat.  Saute the red onion, about 2 minutes till the onion is limp and slightly browned.  Add red bell peppers and saute another 2 minutes.
2. Add add more oil, add the cut tortilla and toss to brown, about 2 minute.
3. Pour in the enchilada sauce, cover and simmer for a minute.
4. Add in the tomatoes and kidney beans.  Cover and simmer another minute.
5. Sprinkle on the cheese, cover for half a minute until the cheese is melted.  Remove from heat.
6. Gently lay the avocado on top, garnish with cilantro and serve with wedges of lime and some sour cream on the side.

Serves: 2

Tossing in as many Vietnamese herbs I can find from the only organic Asian vegetables vendor at the farmers markets in San Francisco Bay Area – Phan Organics Farm of Elk Grove (Civic Center Farmers, SF – Wed and Sun, Berkeley- Tue, Alemany – Sat), this super light noodle salad gives lots of exploding flavors.  It’s a great introduction to the world of Vietnamese herbs.

Chef’s tips: To chiffonade herbs, stack several leaves and roll them tightly.  With a sharp knife, slice the roll finely.  Fluff the sliced herbs to separate them.

Ingredients

Meat:
1 lb ground lean chicken or pork or turkey
2 stalk lemon grass, white part only, very finely sliced
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
Juice from 1 lime
1 Tablespoon rice flour, roasted

6 oz dried  rice vermicelli

Herb:
5 Thai chilies, deseeded and chopped finely
1 cup cilantro, chiffonade
½ cup green onions, sliced thinly
½ cup rau ram, chiffonade
½ cup shiso perilla leaves, chiffonade
½ cup mint leaves, chiffonade
5 kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
Lime zest from 2 limes

Dressing:
Juice from 1 limes
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup fish sauce
½ teaspoon brown sugar
Cilantro or mint sprigs for garnish

Preparing the meat:
1.    Heat a non stick pan under high heat, add the ground meat, chopped lemongrass, 2 Tablespoons each of fish sauce and lime juice.  Cook 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through, while stirring constantly.  Transfer the meat to a large bowl.  Drain off excess liquids.  Cool.
2.    Dry-fry the rice flour (without any oil) under medium heat till golden brown. Add to the meat mixture.
Preparing the rice noodles:
3.    Bring a pot of salted water to boil.  Add rice noodles.  Bring back to a boil, cover, remove from heat and let noodles sit for 15 minutes in hot water.  Drain.
Preparing the herb and dressing:
4.    Slice and chiffonade the herbs.  Toss all herb ingredients together. Set aside.
5.    Mix dressing ingredients together.
Assembly:
6.    Toss the meat, noodles, herb and dressing together to combine.  Let sit for 10 minutes for the flavors to come together.
7.  Garnish with mint sprigs and cilantro.

Serves: 6

Also known as “Terong Belado” this is a yummy and beautiful dish. The juxtaposition of the fiery red of the sambal with the brilliant purple of the eggplant is a feast for the eyes as well.

Chef’s tip: The sambal can be used as a condiment for lots of other dishes. Try it with grilled salmon, or a bowl of laksa.

Spice paste:
10 fresh red Jalapeno
5 shallots
2 tablespoons roasted belachan, optional
1 stalk lemon grass
2 cloves garlic

Sambal:
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)
1 tablespoon lime juice

5 small Japanese eggplant, cut into 2 lengthwise
Kosher salt
2 cups canola oil

Preparing the spice paste
1.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
Preparing the sambal
2.    Heat ½ cup of oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste.   Add sugar and salt.  Cook, stirring constantly until it achieves a deep red consistency, about 10 minutes.  Mix in lime juice.
Preparing the eggplant
3.    Cut eggplant into half lenghtwise.  Salt generously and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Pat dry.
4.    Heat 2 inches of oil in a skillet until hot (360F) over high heat.  Divide the eggplant into small batches so that they do not crowd the pan. Deep fry the eggplant for about 5 minutes each or until golden and tender. Remove with a slotted spoon, and drain on a cooling rack over a sheet pan (line sheet pan with aluminum foil for easy cleaning).  Repeat with the remaining batches.  Pour off the oil and discard oil.
Assembling
5.    Spoon the sambal over the eggplant.

Serves: 10

The Singaporeans claim the Chili Crab as their national dish. As a good Malaysian, this was ^our^ dish! But since my good friend, Karina Lee, gave me the original recipe for the dish, which I have now adapted to the abundance of this side of the Pacific pond, and she lives in Singapore now, I will gladly attribute this dish as Singaporean.

When you fly into Changi, after a grueling 16 hour flight, your food obsessed Singaporean friends (every Singaporean is a foodie) would say “Let’s go for Chili Crabs” and before you can say no as you struggle with your jet-lag stupor, you are already at one of the outdoor, jumbo seafood restaurants on East Coast Road!

Chili Crabs are finger lickin’ good. With the meaty Dungeness crab, you will have a little bit more crab meat to soak up the wonderful sauce and not be tempted to eat your fingers, too. Serve it with a loaf of baguette or horrors! toasted white wonderbread.

Chef’s tip: You will need live crabs for this dish. Some stores like Wholefoods will take orders ahead, otherwise, many Asian fishmongers carry live crabs.

Ingredients

Sauce:
6 tablespoon Asian sweet chili sauce
10 tablespoon ketchup
4 tablespoon vinegar
2 cups of water

2 egg white, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

3 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water

5 tablespoon canola oil
2 Dungeness crabs (2 ½ lbs each)
10 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
10 slices of ginger, julienned finely

4 tablespoon sugar (to taste)
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup of cilantro, cut into 2 inches sprigs
1 cup of scallions, sliced into 2 inches strips

Preparing mise-en-place
1.    Mix chili sauce, ketchup, vinegar and water together; set aside
2.    Beat egg whites with water; set aside.
3.    Mix cornstarch with water; set aside.
Preparing the crab
4.    Ask your fishmonger to kill and clean the shellfish for you, but you must cook it within 2-3 hours of killing.  Remove gills and innards.  Clean and pat dry shellfish.  Crabs should be cut into 6 pieces each.  Keep the crab roe.
5.    Heat 4 tablespoon oil in wok.  Fry shellfish including crab roe till bright vermillon red and fragrant.  Remove crabs from wok.  Do not wash the wok!
6.    Using same wok, brown garlic, ginger with the rest of the oil till fragrant; about 2 minutes.
7.    Add chili-ketchup sauce mixture.  Add more sugar and salt to taste.
8.    Add egg white, wait half a minute then stir to get silky threads of whites.
9.    Add cornstarch mixture and stir to thicken.
10.    Add back the crab.  Mix well.
11.    Toss in the cilantro and scallions, leaving a small handful for garnish.
12.    Serve immediately garnish of cilantro and scallions.

Serves: 6

Succulent morsels of chicken meat typically grilled over a charcoal fire. In South East Asia, every country’s got their version of satay. This is the Malaysian (or Singaporean) version which is sweeter, and less spicy than the Indonesian’s version. We also use cubed pieces of meat unlike the Thai version which meat is in one strip.

Chef’s tip: To ensure that the meat remains moist, reserve the green stems of the lemon grass and split the lemongrass length-wise, leaving 2 inches uncut. Tie them together to make a brush. Baste the satay as you grill them with a mixture of water and oil. Also, when skewering the chicken, to avoid your fingernails from being dyed yellow by the tumeric, wear a food grade pair of gloves. Your hands will not smell later either.

Ingredients

Marinade:
8 shallots, peeled, sliced
3 stalks lemon grass, white part, cut finely.  Reserve green parts.
2 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1 tablespoon ground tumeric
2 teasspoons kosher salt
5 tablespoons sugar
2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed of fat
1 cup water + 2 tablespoons canola oil
20 bamboo skewers, soaked

Peanut Sauce Spice Paste:
4 large shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic
4 red fresno chile, deseeded, chopped
3 candlenuts or macadamia
1 inch fresh galangal
1 stalk lemongrass, white part, sliced finely
½ inch fresh turmeric
1 tablespoon belachan

Sauce:
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup water
1½ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed
4 tablespoons palm sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar/ tamarind paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Garnish:
1 english cucumber
1 red onion

To make the marinate and sate
1.    In a food processor, grind shallots, lemongrass, garlic and oil together till a fine paste.  Add dry spices and salt and sugar and mix together. Set aside.
2.    Make cuts lengthwise into the green parts of the lemongrass leaving 2 inches from the leaves uncut.  Bunch the stalks together with kitchen twine to make a basting brush.  Mix a bowl of water with 2 tablespoons of canola oil and set aside as basting liquid.
3.    Trim chicken of fat and cut chicken into small cubes 1 X 3/8 X 1 inch.  Marinate chicken in marinade at least 30 minutes. Skewer chicken with the bamboo skewers. Scrape off marinade bits.
4.    On a hot oiled grill/broiler on high, grill chicken skewers – about 2 minutes on each side, or more depending on thickness, until nicely browned.  Baste with water mix as you grill.
To make the sauce:
5.    In a food processor, grind all Peanut Sauce Spice Paste ingredients together
6.    In a sauce pan, heat oil on medium high.  Saute spice mixture till fragrant and oil separates.  Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, till mixture is thick.
Serving:
7.    Cut cucumber at an angle, avoiding the seeds.  Rotate cucumber per cut.
8.    Cut onions into small wedges.  Serve satay with peanut sauce and cut cucumbers and onions.
Serves: 10