Here is another mango salad recipe.  A Malaysian Nyonya version.  The key flavoring here is belachan.  Now, the following paragraph may scare you away from this recipe, but do trust me, once the belachan is roasted and mixed into the sambal, the salad is just absolutely scrumptious!  Ask any Malaysian, and they will surely defend the belachan.

Belachan is to Malaysian cooking what fish sauce is to Thai cooking.  To get the full, sweet flavor of belachan, buy a block of it, slice it up and dry toast it in a skillet.  Just be aware that your neighbors may not be liking it too much!  When I lived in Guangzhou about 20 years ago, I toasted some belachan and thought I was smart to leave the windows opened….after all, I was in US consulate housing and I don’t think my neighbors really dig the smell!  Before I knew it, every fly in Guangzhou decided to join me in the cooking!  After a humourous battle tracking down the flies and shooing them away, I was able to get all but one fly out of the apt.  To get the last fly out, I placed my bottle of now sweetly toasted belachan by the window sill.  The lone fly decided to come out of hiding and follow the waft of the belachan by the window sill.  At that point, I turned on the fan, and off he went out of the window!

Chef’s tip: You can also roast the belachan in an oven.  400F.  Chop up the belachan, spread it on a baking sheet and roast about 7 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon, break up the pieces further till crumbs form.  Return to oven for another 5 minutes.  Store leftover roasted belachan in an airtight bottle for future use!

Sambal Belachan:
6 Fresno/ red jalapeno chilies
1 Tablespoon belachan, more if desired

Dressing:
2 Tablespoon prepared sambal belachan
3 Tablespoon lime juice
2 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked
2 Tablespoon dessicated shredded coconut, toasted
2 green mangoes, peeled and shredded
2 shallots, finely sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chiffonaded

1. In a food processor, finely grind the red chilies into a paste. Mix with belachan.
2. Make kerabu dressing – mix together sambal belachan, lime juice, sugar and salt.  Set aside.
3. Soak dried shrimp in water until soft.  Drain and pound coarsely with a mortar and pestle or pulse with a food processor.  Set aside.
4. Toast desiccated coconut in a pan till golden brown.  Pound coconut lightly.  Set aside.
5. Shred mangoes, cut shallots into thin slices lengthwise.  Slice kaffir lime leaves finely.
6. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with the dressing. Serve immediately.

Note: Mangoes must be green, unriped firm mangoes

Serves: 6

Tags: Malaysian, nyon, Salads.

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

Tags: curry, Malaysian.

This is a Chinese Malaysian version of the Rojak, a popular Malaysian street food.  It has a sweet, sour and savory sauce with some crunch from both the juicy fruits and the added “croutons”.  Some folks use a shrimp cracker “kerupuk”, I like the crucnh and chewiness of a Chinese doughnut aka “Yow Char Kwai”.  If you can’t find either, add a handful of cornflakes.  Rojak essentially means a mixed of vegetables and fruits, although the word has evolved to mean a random mix of stuff.

Chef’s tip: To peel a whole pineapple, chop off the crown, about an inch from the base of the crown, and also an inch off the base.  Now you have a cylindrycal part of the fruit.  Letting it stand on its base, with a sharp knife, cut off the skin with top to bottom motions.  Next, lay it on its side, and made diagonal slits around both sides of a diagonal row of eyes.  Remove the eyes.  Continue till you have removed all the eyes.  Cut the fruit into two lenghtwise, then cut each half into 6 pieces lengthwise.  If you wish, nip off the center core.

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons prawn paste (hei ko)
1 Tablespoon roasted belachan
6 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons Sri Racha sauce, to taste
9 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate

Vegetables:
1 small jicama
1 English cucumber
2 Granny Smith apple
1 green mango
1 star fruit / carambola (optional)
1/2 pineapple
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 Chinese donut (deep fried dough) or 1/2 cup cornflakes

½ cup sesame seeds, roasted
1 ½ cup unsalted roasted peanuts, crushed, reserve 2 Tablespoons

To prepare the vegetables:
1.    Roll cut jicama, cucumber, apple, mango and star fruit into irregular shapes – slice diagonally, then rotate the fruit before slicing again for an uneven shape.  Place all cut fruits and vegetables in a large salad bowl.
2.    Slice the pineapples into wedges.  Add to the salad bowl.
3.    Slice the Chinese doughnut into ½ inch slices.  Add to the salad bowl.
4.    Mung beans sprouts are left raw.  Remove roots if applicable. .  Add to the salad bowl.
To make the dressing:
5.    In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients, reserving 2 Tablespoons peanuts.
Assembling the salad:
6.    Pour the dressing into the salad bowl, toss to mix.   If using cornflakes, add now.  Sprinkle with reserve peanuts.

Serves: 8

Tags: Malaysian, salad.