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 is one of my favorite dim sum dumpling recipe because you can get two different dumplings with one recipe!  If you wrap it potsticker half-moon style (see jiaozi recipe’s for folding method), and just stop at the steaming step below, you get a steamed chives and shrimp dumpling.  If you follow this recipe, you get the pan fried chive and shrimp dumpling recipes.  They do taste somewhat different.

Chef’s tip: You only need to pan fry the presentation side of the dumpling

Dumpling Dough:
1/2 cups wheat starch
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
3 cups boiling water (MUST BE BOILING)
3 Tablespoons vegetable shortening

Sauce:
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine or pale dry sherry
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, ground

Filling:
2 Tablepoons canola oil
8 oz raw shrimp, shelled and deveined, roughly minced
16 oz Chinese chives, green parts only, chopped ¼ inch length

Paper steamer liner or napa cabbage leaves

Canola oil for frying

Preparing the dough:
1.     Whisk together the wheat starch and the tapioca starch. Form a well in the center. Gradually add the boiling water, stirring until a ball forms.
2.     Cool a little, while still warm, incorporate the shortening, a little at a time.
3.     Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead for a few minutes until dough is soft and smooth.
4.     Divide the dough into 4 balls. Roll each piece of dough into a 2-inch cylinder.  Cut each cylinder into 6 pieces. Roll pieces into a ball. You should have about 24 pieces. Cover as you work.  Cover dough with a damp tea cloth for 15 minutes.
Preparing the filling
5.      Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.  Set aside.
6.     Heat a wok with the canola oil  Add the minced shrimp and saute 30 seconds.  Push to the side of the wok.  Add the chopped chives and cook till just wilted.  Pour in the sauce mix, mix in the shrimp and cook till sauce coats, about 1 minute.

Assembling
7.     Take a dough portion, work into a round ball, flatten it into a 5 inch round, about 1/8 inch thick with a rolling pin. Place a heaping Tablespoon of filling into dough.  Pull the sides to meet at the center, making a ruffled fold as you work.  Pinch the top together and give it a twist to seal.  Pinch off any extra dough at the top.  Place upside down onto a piece of waxed paper.

Steaming the dumplings:
8.     Transfer dumplings and place upside down onto a steamer that is lined with cabbage leaves or steamer liners. Steam over simmering water for 6-8 minutes or until the dumplings are translucent. Add water if necessary so that wok is not dried out.  Let cool.
Pan frying the dumplings:
9.     Once dumplings are cooled, heat a pan over medium heat, then add oil to coat.  When oil begins to smoke, place the dumplings, smooth/top side down to the pan and let fry undisturbed for 2 minutes or until a golden crust forms and releases the dumpling from the pan.  Serve immediately.

Serves: 24 pieces

Tags: Cantonese, Chinese, dim sum, dumplings.

This recipe was part of my final class at Whole Foods San Mateo last month.  It was nice to have some of my students whom I have been working with for many years  – Nancy, Bernie, Chris and Yuko were there, as well as my friend, Joyce and the new host of my cooking class in the Peninsula, Wally. It was a nice way to “wrap” up a 7-year teaching stint at Whole Foods.  We wrapped and we ate, and wrapped and ate a variety of spring rolls.

Chef’s tip:   Fresh beancurd skin is quite difficult to find.  Hodo Soy is probably the only folks who sell it in the US.  If you ever see some, you just have to buy it and taste the difference.   For this recipe, if you can’t find the fresh ones, the frozen ones will have to do.  The dried ones would not work.  When rolling the spring roll, ensure no air bubble is trapped within.  Make it compact and dense by pushing out any air bubbles.

Marinade

¼ teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon black, thick soy sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce to taste
½ teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons Five Spice powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 lb pork fillet or pork loin, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup water chestnut
1/2 cup cilantro stems, chopped
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
¼ cup yellow onions, chopped

20 pieces  6X6 inch fresh beancurd skin/ yuba
1 Tablespoon cornstarch mix with a little water to make a slurry
6 cups canola oil for deep frying

To make the springroll

1. Mix filling ingredients together and marinade for 30 minutes, up to overnight
2. To assemble lobak, place beancurd skin square with one corner facing you.  Next place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on the bottom third of the skin.  Shape the filling into a cylinder, about 3-inches long.  Fold the bottom flap up and over the filling.  Fold the left and right side over the filling. Holding the sides in place, roll up into a tight cylinder.  Moisten edges with the cornstarch slurry to seal.  Lay the rolls flap side down on a baking tray.  Repeat folding the remaining rolls.
3. Heat oil over medium heat till 350F. Deep fry springrolls till golden brown, about 5-6 minutes.

LOH BAK DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
¾ teaspoon Chinese Five Spice powder to be mixed with a bit of water
A pinch of white pepper

1 Tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 Tablespoons water
1/2 egg white
1 teaspoon oil

To make the sauce:

4.     Mix all the seasoning ingredients with the stock and bring to a low boil.

5.     Add cornstarch mixture slowly to thicken the sauce.  You may not need all of it.

6.     Beat the egg white and drizzle into the sauce, wait till the egg white becomes opaque white, then stir slowly.  Finish with 1 teaspoon of oil.

Serves: 10

Tags: Malaysian, springrolls, street foods.