Rainbow Salad aka Yee Sang

Chinese New Year speciality dish - Yee Sang or Rainbow Salad.

Consists of all raw and pickled veggies and the hero - raw salmon tossed in a plum sauce making this not just a very colourful dish but delicious, light and refreshing!!! 

The more you eat and toss over the festive season, you will prosper more and more and it is a fun way to get family and friends together to share a meal and I am sure everyone could do with some kind of good luck/fortune!!!

One of many platters I prepared over CNY 2015



Pomelo - a must have ingredient in the Yee Sang salad

I like to add yam bean/bang kuang to my rainbow salad - sweet and crunchy texture

After tossing - all ingredients mixed up and looks so colourful!!!

Toss Toss Toss - the higher you toss, the better luck & prosperity etc!

This dish was from Rasa Malaya in Doncaster

Lots of fine slicing and luckily for me I have this contraption that does a marvellous job!

Another one of my many Yee Sang platters alaSim

Yet another one ... ala Sim creations over CNY 2015

Roti Jala

Roti Jala - Malaysian lacy pancakes

I used a water bottle with 3 holes in the cap, filled with jala batter and squeezed it onto pan



Roti Jala served with chicken curry

Chicken Curry in the making ...

Roti Jala - a nice compliment as a side dish filler with satay on this occasion!

Had these pixs sitting in my draft box for ages now, so I better get my act together.

Remember how I mentioned I might just blog pixs and forget about verbage??? Perhaps, now is the time to start as I am so slack in here.  

Jiew Hu Char - Bang Kuang aka Jicama aka Yam Bean

Known by so many different names since I goggled it, but I grew up knowing this root vegetable by its common name, as Bang Kuang.

Bang kuang, Jicama or Yam Bean

My mom uses Bang Kuang and makes a traditional Hokkien dish called "Jiew Hu Char" and it is a family favourite especially mine!!!  Good knife skills are required as the Bang Kuang is a hard root vegetable to cut.  If you cook in "bulk" like me, you need strength & good control of the knife to shred it paper thin and fine to get the ultimate "killer dish".  You require a lot of it to make a pot full.  For some reason, it tastes even more amazing the next day so that means lots of cutting/shredding as I tend to cook a big pot of it.  It might look like a mountain high of Bang Kuang before you cook it, but when it is cooked, just bear in mind that it will all shrivel up to less than half of its raw form!!!  This dish never fails to grace the dining table and is indispensable especially over festivals in my family home. 



Cooking/simmering on low heat

I thought you might like to know some of its benefits and something about it, so I have goggled it and summarised it so that it is short and sweet.  The root's exterior is yellow and papery, while its inside is creamy white with a crisp texture that resembles raw potato or pear. The flavour is sweet and starchy, reminiscent of some apples or raw green beans, and it is usually eaten raw or can be cooked.  In Malaysia it is also used in rojak, gado-gado or even sliced and eaten fresh like a fruit!!! I like to use it in the Rainbow Salad too.  (I will blog about this soon).

Bang Kuang/Jícama is high in carbohydrates and a good form of dietary fibre.  About 90% of this root is composed of water.  Its sweet flavour comes from something called prebiotic.  Jícama is very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It is also a good source of potassium and Vitamin C.

Now to the most important part of this blog which is the Jiew Hu Char that we have to use Bang Kuang for the bulk of this recipe!!!

I came across a recipe which is pretty similar to mine in ingredients and method of cooking, but I do not use measurements when I cook, so I hope this helps YOU as I am really clueless how much is 80gm of carrots etc!!!  I do not know how much it all cooks up to either using the below measurements. Remember, I cook by guesstimation:):)

200g pork belly
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
60g shredded dried cuttlefish (rinsed)  You have to cut it vertically otherwise it does not curl up when you fry it.
400g jicama/yambean
80g carrot
1 onion
3 dried shitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water)
1-1/2tsp salt (I prefer to use oyster sauce or fish sauce instead)
1 tsp sugar
A dash of pepper
A dash of black sauce

The final look of Jiew Hu Char alaSim

Method:

1. Peel the skin of bang kuang/jicama/yambean and carrot. Slice and cut yambean, carrot, mushrooms and onion finely into thin strips/threads.
2. Boil the pork belly until it’s cooked. Cut the meat into fine strips and set aside. The juices from the pork can be set aside to be used to help the dish slowly simmer.
3. Heat up wok, pour in cooking oil and fry onions and then add in garlic. Stir-fry the garlic until aromatic, add in the dried cuttlefish and continue to stir till you see the cuttlefish curl up.
4. Add in the vegetables and meat. Stir-fry until the vegetables are soft and slowly simmer till tender. (Use pork juices here).
5. Add salt, sugar and pepper to taste.
6. Dish out and serve with rice or you could eat it like an entrée and serve it in a lettuce leaf wrapped up with tee cheo (sweet sauce) and or chili sauce.




Jiew Hu Char in lettuce leaf

If you like this Jiew Hu Char dish as much as I do, then you will most probably be eating it by the mouthfuls just on its own!!!  There might be lobsters, abalone or prawns on the table, they are all my favourites, but I will be diving into the Jiew Hu Char before all the crustaceans!

Barn Concert - Rye at the Swayns

My Aussie friends, the Swayns have a lovely home down in Rye on the Mornington Peninsula (MP) and its set on more than an acre of luscious green green grass of BS's hard work done in the backyard.

Intermission Time

Over the years, I have always enjoyed driving down the MP, but it was more to soak in the hot springs, visit mom as her ashes have been scattered down by the Rye Pier, soak up the sun on the beach, or just to visit the Swayns.  Lately, the Swayns have been hosting house concerts in their backyard.  

The Organiser - BS

Last Sunday, we attended the Berlin duo again which is a husband and wife gig.  Some of us saw them back in 2012 but this year, Rob and Deta presented their "Don't Mention the Wall" production which touched on some history mingled with good entertainment. 
The barn was packed to the brim with 50 lucky patrons and was a SOLD OUT concert - including us the "Asian  Invasion".  This year there are 5 ladies (AY, MA, JT, DT and SC) not including the mix of men!

JS and SC in the Barn

It was a concert & picnic type event, so the ladies cooked up some food which we shared at the table graciously set up for us by our hostess, JS.

We had nasi lemak (coconut rice), anchovies sambal, chicken curry, acar, gado-gado, paprika chicken bbq drumsticks, noodles, curry puffs, extensive fruit platter, longan jelly and an antipasto/cheese board.  MN even brewed some authentic strong Italian coffee and took 2 thermos flasks with us to wash down all the food, but the coffee failed to keep everyone awake!!!

AY and the spread

All of us are normally so busy with our every day lives and seldom get an opportunity to meet up, let alone spend a whole day together.  We marked it in our diaries and like a kid, I was so excited I could not fall asleep the night before.  Perhaps it was also because of all the cooking involved and stressing if everyone that has not been before is going to enjoy it etc etc.  

Most of us did not have breakfast, and after the long drive down to Rye, even before the table was completely laid out, some of us were attacking the food.  Bellies full and happy, a 36c day, it was a bit warm inside the closed barn.  We shall not mention names, but I noticed a couple here and there dozing off, but the 2nd half saw them tapping their feet and getting into the groove with the music, so it was priceless!!! It turned out to be an excellent day and everyone enjoyed themselves. 

So relaxing - green green grass of Swayn's home!

There was so much food left over from the barn concert, so we went back to AY's for dinner and even after dinner, there was picnic food left over for all to take-away!!!

 Looks like now the next picnic concert is not till end of March.  In the meantime, there is always The Warrins, CS or HS gigs down in the MP at various locations to support but I am looking forward to the next gig at the Hickinbotham Winery.

BS - "The Collector/Organiser/Host"

The "JT Wall" between Berlin (Rob & Deta)



The Asian Invasion



JS networking!!!

Chinese New Year Family Reunion Dinner

Tradition!!!  The family reunion dinner every CNY eve is one of the most important family day in most Chinese Malaysian homes.

I know we have been in Melbourne forever now, but its just something that we still continue to do even though mom is no longer with us.  Hopefully, the Chinese half part of Becky will still continue to carry this tradition on now that her other half is Filipino when they both start a family together.


My contribution for 2015 CNY dinner

Mom would cook at least 10 different dishes, but she had a couple of maids to help cut, chop and shred.  I only have me, I and myself... although there is "3" of us, but I only managed to serve 8 different dishes, but its only for 4 of us.  I know, another myth is that the more left overs you have, there will be plentiful for the next year.  As we exit the Year of the Horse to welcome the Year of the Goat so at the l3th hour, we decided to include EM and FW as they are now part family too.  Just so happy they were both able to join us at very short notice.  Also a good opportunity for mother and son to catch up before B & R goes over to Hobart for a mini-moon leaving on CNY Eve, another reason why we had it earlier.




Rainbow Salad aka Loe Sang aka Yee Sang

The Rainbow Salad was our entrée and highlight of the evening.  It was the most time consuming dish to prepare although no cooking whatsoever is involved.  It only has lots of fine shredding required but I also half cheated with a shop bought box of pre-packaged pickled condiments.  All up it was colourful and looked really inviting and when prepping, the last count was close to 18 different ingredients on this plate and when served, it was definitely over 18!!!


Hoong Hoong - means Red Red Pavlova

I spent a couple of days shopping, cutting, chopping, shredding and knowing everyone enjoyed themselves, which they did, has been worth my while slaving over the stove!

We ended the evening with my mixed berry compote concoction drizzled all over my pavlova.  Its CNY, so its got to be Red Red Red ... Red for prosperity, health, wealth, and all sorts of good fortune.  We had to have at least some red somewhere, so I chose strawberry red - I think my pavlova truly represented an Aussie CNY celebration for us!!!

GONG XI FA CAI

Acar ala Sim

Almost all mothers make acar when I was growing up in Malaysia.  However, I might be bias, but my mother's acar is the best!!!  Yet every time I make it, everyone loves it, but I still think it never tastes quite the same like my mom's - but I have come very close to it - so I have been told by family and friends.  Actually, I am not overly pleased with this particular batch of acar as it looks lifeless and is not jumping at me to eat it!  First up, the chillieboh I normally use has been exhausted when I cooked my har mee/prawn noodles.  This acar was made with dried chillies I bought in GWaverley and because it is sooooo spicy which meant I had to use less, so maybe that is another reason why it did not give it the rich chillie oil look when ready. 


Lifeless looking acar without the redness of chillie oil

Everyone have their own recipe and or "secret/different" ingredient for this vegetable pickle and own method of making it, but this is my mom's version.  It is a simple no fuss method and it tastes amazing.

Chillie Paste Ingredients

Onions

Garlic

Lemongrass

Chillies

Blachan
Tumeric

Candlenuts
Blend all the above ingredients into a paste and cook in oil till it separates and put aside to cool down.  Obviously, you add salt and sugar to taste.

Ingredients to be blitz

Vegetables

Mom's combination of vegetables are made up of cucumbers, carrots, french beans, long beans aka snake beans, cauliflower, fresh red and green chillies with their seeds removed and cut longways till it opens up like a flower (optional for me) and savoy cabbage.  With the cucumber, she removes the seedy parts of the inside till you only see the flesh and cuts them down to size about an inch long.  Ensure all vegetables are about the same size, cauliflower in small florets, and cabbage can be about the size of 2x3inches in a square.
Method

Veggies being cut down to size

Cut and blanch all the different vegetables separately in piping hot vinegar. Remember, I repeat, the vinegar has to be boiling hot before you put it in and within a minute or so take them all out.  There is NO WATER whatsoever in mom's recipe.  Then make sure the vinegar is at boiling point again before you put in the next batch of veggies and repeat this process till all the vegetables are done.
The vegetables must be all drained well and dry to the touch in the colander and cooled down completely.

Then mix the chillie paste into all the vegetables or vice versa and add more salt and lots of sugar till you are happy with the contrasting WOW flavours as some might like it more sourish/tangy.  Lastly, toss in pounded roast peanuts and toasted golden brown sesame seeds and mix well in your acar pot.  Note: store in glass or earthen ware as the acidity of the vinegar is not good in stainless steel or plastic.

Rocket salad leaves with acar

I have not put down measurement amounts, as I cook by "abit of this and abit of that" method, but if you merry up the ingredients correctly by judgement and use your tastebuds, (or google an acar recipe to give you a rough idea of proportions) you will end up with a delicious acar that can be eaten on its own or used as a side dish.  It goes extremely well served with nasi lemak (coconut rice).  It may sound weird, but might I also add that it rocks my palate when infused with rocket salad. This is the "Malaysian" in me!!! East meets West.  Acar always tastes better the next day as by now, all the ingredients are infused together and all the flavours have developed overnight oozing out its yumminess.
Have fun cooking and enjoy this tasty easy to make acar recipe that can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 weeks and is still yummy and yesssss I meant to mention it is always CRUNCHY!!!  Gosh, I do miss my mother's cooking and like to share mom's recipe with all of you.  Some day I hope I will make my mom proud and hopefully have done all her recipes some justice!!!:):):)

Acar Ala Sim

Paprika

I do not use much Paprika in my cooking, but I bought this "expensive" paprika as give away souvenirs to my favourite friends who love to cook when I was in Budapest.  



Marinating my chicken with my precious paprika

I have been saving my precious pack for that ultimate recipe which I have still not come across yet apart from Hungarian Goulash.  I came up with my own which I wanted to make something quick yummy and easy for the barn picnic on Sunday.  I trialled it yesterday and it turned out rather yummy, so today we are having it cooked again on the bbq.  It's a winner with GK and even Snowy and he gave it his thumbs up!!! 

This recipe is definitely worthy of me using more of my one and only packet of paprika.  This chicken ala Sim is marinated with the following ingredients:
paprika, garlic salt,  Worcestershire sauce,  fresh lemon extract, brown sugar, pepper, mixed spice and even a dash of oyster sauce.


marinated chicken ala Sim



I let it marinate in this concoction for at least 2 hours before putting it on the bbq till is juicy inside but charred on the outside.
I know most tourists go to Hungary to see the architectural treasures, cultural life, cruise down the Danube, but this cosmopolitan capital Budapest is also full of scrumptious food.  I have always been a foodie, but I went for the above reasons as well as knowing that the local cuisine would be different and a special treat for my palate!!!

Sizzling on the bbq

There are so many kinds of peppers and "heat" levels but the one I am using is a sweet paprika.  The sweet paprika is made from the brightest red peppers which are the mildest and sweetest and the hot paprika is dull red in colour if memory does not fail me.
The Great Market Hall in Budapest is filled with paprika in all shapes and form and packaging ranges from tin to porcelain containers, cloth bags, inside Hungarian dolls etc etc.
Paprika is a cash crop and the locals refer to it as "red gold"!!!

Bon Appetit


E N J O Y

Wished I kept a few more for myself - but I guess I can be an Indian giver when I run out?!?  I will get Becky's portion back as I saw it sitting feeling so lost on her kitchen bench top!!!

Manta Rays at Hanifaru Bay, Maldives

I am having heaps of trouble trying to load the original pixs from my external hard drive, so I got these pixs from my FB and reproduced them in here.

Manta ray feeding frenzy at Hanifaru Bay was awesome.  I was glad I went the 2nd time as the first day, the water was so murky from the feeding frenzy that my pixs were quite blurry. 

Gentle Mantas

However, on the 2nd day we went out on the first boat with the divers and it was the perfect day.  The sun was shining, the sea was calm, the water was clear and when I jumped into the water it was a bit invigorating, but with so many manta rays coming right up to the top and so many of them swimming all around us, my mind was just blown away and feeling cold was the least of my worry.  I was only worried I cannot get close up enough to take some good pixs of these gentle dancing ballerinas in the Indian Ocean!!!



I had to dodge him!!!



They were huge!!!  They never stopped flapping their wings which must easily have span over 2 meters in width from tip to tip.  I have swam with manta rays before in Western Australia, but they were no where as big as the Maldivian ones.  Big, bold and beautiful!!!

He was heading straight at me!!!



Yessss I am checking out your entire wings spread out to the max!!!



Yessssss I know you are humungeous!!!



Thanks for letting me hitch a ride!!!

Hanifaru Bay is an uninhabited island around the Baa Atoll in the Maldives.  I might be wrong, but I believe it is now a prime destination for divers and underwater photographers.  This is where you can come to experience frolicking and capturing these beautiful creatures in huge numbers!!! The surreal experience came to live for me and its another one ticked off on my bucket list!!!

The Wacky Cake

It hardly took any time to whizz up this cake.  It is in the oven right now as I am blogging about it.  Unfortunately, in haste and excitement, I forgot to take any pixs of the mixing process (will steal a pix from the link and insert).  Regardless of how it will pan out, I will definitely post a pix of the end product.  I am not usually a lucky lst time get it right type of baker!!!  It is starting to smell like a real cake in the baking, and if the recipe works, I am in for a yummy treat of a moist chocolate cake - no frosting for me but apparently there are recipes out there that only takes 1 minute to make up.

Well, what is a wacky cake??? It is a cake that is made with no eggs, no milk or no butter!! How crazy is it??? Well, I did not even finish reading the recipe and before you know it, I was dashing over to my pantry and dragged out  the flour and sugar and I was making a cake!!!

Recipe calls for the following ingredients that most of us will have at home all the time:

1.5cups of flour
3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup raw brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt



Stolen pix from the link on computer

Mix all the above ingredients into a greased tin - yes, no need to wash a mixing bowl and it does not even need the mixer and no mess!!!

After mixing the above ingredients ... make 3 holes - 2 smaller ones and the 3rd hole larger.... in the two smaller holes, pour in 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar and in the other 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and in the last hole 5 tablespoons of oil.

Mix thoroughly again and bake in 350F or 175C on the middle rack for about 35 minutes.

Not bad at all for a lst timer!!!!

I guess ovens do vary, so check with a tester if it is completely baked.
I just had a peek and its looking pretty good.  Cannot wait for it to come out of the oven now - just in time for a cup of tea and a slice of yummy moist chocolate cake!

Wacky moist chocolate cake with a cuppa

E N J O Y

Sipadan's - Barracudas in a Tornado!

Barracudas galore 

Not everyday, you get to see this in real life and be up close and personal with thousands of barracudas.  I simply have to share these amazing pixs of them taken from Sipadan.

Like they say, a picture paints a 1000 words, so there is no need for me to say anymore .... and hopefully in years to come, my grand kids can look at this blog too and know that their grandma Sim has done some amazing underwater frolicking with barracudas!!!!!

Da tornado formation

Now you know why I love going back to Sipadan every year... just to be with them even for one day is a truly amazing experience!!!

In Mabul, its like a reality check for me too.  People are just so contented with island life!!!  This year I will be lucky enough to spend a whole month at Uncle Chang's aka "UC". This above the water accommodation is more than a backpacker's lodge... owners and staff are extremely friendly and helpful so almost everyone has a good time on the island.... even their resident chef, Uncle Ah Long is more than happy to cook and cater to your needs (for a small token fee) and make sure you have a happy tummy!!!



UC's over the water chalet



I was in the centre of all these barracudas!!!!
Last trip, I was swirling in circles amongst them and they did not give me vertigo!!!

I hope to go back again to Sipadan in November 2014 -  being my 4th trip!!!  When I went there for the very first time, I told everyone that if I got to see this formation, I will gladly hang up my fins.  Guess what, since that first time, it makes me want to go back every year to get more of them and I have not stopped going back and am so glad to say that I managed to share this awesome experience with my lovely Becky and Charlene last year.

Sipadan Island

Please note that you need a permit to go dive/snorkel at Sipadan. At UC the staff is more than happy to arrange it for you.  UC really makes it happen for you - as there are only 120 permits per day and so many resorts/tourists/divers/thrill-seekers all over the island, so its like striking the jackpot to get a permit based on "first in best dressed" or you have to have the "right connections" to secure a spot on the boat across to Sipadan.  The boat trip is only about 20mins or so from Mabul and you cannot stay at Sipadan. 
The Divemasters (DMs) at UC are also very professional and their team is always on their "toes" to show you the best critters especially the micro life in the water ... Roihan, Shanti, Boy Jay just to name a few of their DMs are not just professionals, but they also have excellent photography skills amongst other talents (find out on the island!) - we thank you very much Shanti for the above photographs taken by my Canon toy u/water camera!!!  Well, if you have been inspired by these barracudas and if you would like to try out diving, UC also offers diving courses at the most competitive prices.

Barracudas like you have never seen b4!!!


Welcome to the underwater world!!!