Recipe For Deep Fried Crispy Duck With Pickles

This duck recipe is good enough to be the main dish in your lunar new year celebrations :



Recipe for Deep Fried Crispy Duck with Pickles



Ingredients :

• 1 duck about 1.8kg


• 80g ginger


• 5 stalks spring onions


• 2 stalks parsley


• 1 cucumber


• 1 red carrot about 80g


• 2 white carrots


• 4 red chilies


• 1/2 teaspoons peppercorns


• 6 star anise


• 5 cm cinnamon


• 1/2 tablespoons cloves


• 1 tablespoon rose wine

Method :

1. Clean the duck, removing the intestines and beak.
2. Peel and chop the ginger into fine strips. Wash and chop the spring onions and parsley into one inch strips
3. Peel the red carrot and white carrots. Remove the seeds from the red chilies. Chop the carrots, cucumbers and chilies into strips. Add in 2 tablespoons of salt. Mix well. Leave for half and hour. Wash away the salt, drain and dry with a clean cloth. Soak in the *sugar and vinegar dip for three to four hours.
4. Wash the peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon and cloves. Put all the spices into boiling water to bring out their flavour.
5. Marinate the duck with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons mono sodium glutamate, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoons light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine. Rub thoroughly both the interior and exterior of the duck's body. Let it stand for about 25 minutes. Then cover the back of the duck with a clean piece of muslin cloth. Place the parsley, spices, spring onions and ginger on top of the muslin and steam for two hours or until the duck is done. After that, remove the muslin cloth with all the marinating ingredients and drain the duck off any sauce and liquid.
6. Deep fry the duck in smoking hot oil till crispy. Remove and serve with the pickles.

*Ingredients for the sugar and vinegar dip :

• 6 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons sugar

Boil all the ingredients above, cool and soak the pickles in it for three to four hours.

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Recipe For Savoury Pearl Sago Cake

Pearl sago is widely used in Asia as an ingredient in desserts. When cooked it will turn translucent. Here, I'm sharing with you a savoury version of a pearl sago cake.

Recipe for Savoury Pearl Sago Cake

Ingredients :

• 228g pork



• 76g shallots



• 17g dried mushrooms



• 37g dried shrimps



• 150g uncooked peanuts



• 600g pearl sago (small size)



• 2 tablespoons tapioca flour



• 1 chili, chopped for garnishing



• a little chopped parsley for garnishing

Method :

1. Cook the pork and cut into strips



2. Soak the mushrooms to soften them. Cut into strips.



3. Soak the dried shrimps to soften them and chopped.



4. Slice the shallots.



5. Heat a frying pan, add 5 tablespoons cooking oil. Fry the shallots till fragrant and remove.



6. Add in the strips of pork, mushrooms and chopped shrimps. Fry till fragrant and add in 3 teaspoons of white pepper, 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 teaspoons of monosodium glutamate and 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Fry all the above thoroughly and set aside.



7. Wash the pearl sago, drain and add in 2 bowls of water and the tapioca flour, mixing thoroughly.



8. Grease a tin for steaming the cake, add in the pearl sago mixture and all the fried ingredients in point number 6. Mix thoroughly using a wooden spoon and steam for about 45 minutes.



9. Fry the peanuts. Using a wooden pin, crush the peanuts finely. Sprinkled them on the steamed cake with the chili and parsley.

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Recipe For Pumpkin And Yam Dessert

Pumpkin and yam seem to be an unlikely combination. Both of them can be mashed, though. Try this recipe and see how it turns out.

Recipe for Pumpkin and Yam Dessert

Cooking time : 35 minutes Serves 4 - 6 persons

Ingredients :

• 1/4 pumpkin (about 400g)



• 2 yams (about 600g)



• 700ml coconut milk



• 250g gula melaka



• 2 pandan leaves



• 2 tablespoons sugar



• salt to taste

Method :

1. Peel the pumpkin and yams. Cut them into small chunks and put in a microwavable dish. Add 300ml water to it and microwave for 15 minutes. Remove the pumpkin and yams and allow to cool.



2. Tie a knot in the middle of each of the pandan leaves. Cook the pandan leaves in a casserole with the coconut milk, gula melaka, sugar, salt, pumpkin and yams for about 20 minutes.

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Recipe For Steamed Rice Cakes

Steamed rice cake with dried radish is a popular Chinese dish in Singapore. The plain taste of the rice cakes contrasts against the salty taste of the dried radish, bringing out the unique flavour of this dish. It is often consumed in the morning as breakfast.

Recipe For Steamed Rice Cakes

Ingredients :

• 1 cup of uncooked rice


• 3 cups of water


• 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Method :

1. Soak the uncooked rice in water overnight.


2. Pour away the water that is used for soaking the rice. Add the 3 cups of water and salt to the rice. Blend the mixture into rice paste. Cook the rice paste for about 3 minutes till thickens, stirring constantly.


3. Pour the rice paste into small moulds. Steam in high heat for 15 minutes until cooked. Serve with dried radish. (Fry the dried radish in oil with shallots first)

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Recipe For Beancurd With Hot & Spicy Peanut Sauce

This is a popular Malay dish, known as Tahu Goreng (fried bean curd) in Malay.





Recipe for Bean curd with Hot and Spicy Peanut Sauce (Tahu Goreng)





Ingredients :

• 10 pieces of bean curds



• Oil for deep frying

Sauce :

• 3 tablespoons pounded garlic



• 10 red chilies, pounded



• 8 green chilies, pounded



• 10 to 20 chili padis (little red chilies), optional



• 4 to 6 tablespoons dark soy sauce



• 6 to 8 tablespoons sugar



• 4 tablespoons gula melaka



• 4 tablespoons dark sweet vinegar



• 625g peanuts, fried in oil and pounded finely



• 570ml water

Method :

1. Deep fry the bean curds in oil until golden brown, remove from heat and drain.



2. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce. The water should be added in last and gradually. Mix the sauce thoroughly and serve with the fried bean curds.

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Recipe For Steamed Fish Head

Here is another dish using fish head as the main ingredient. The braised fish head recipe in last month's post was a Cantonese dish too.



Recipe for Steamed Fish Head



Ingredients :

• 1 fish head, about 900g


• 5 tablespoons fermented black beans - soak in water, drained and grinded


• 18g shredded young ginger


• 1 tablespoon white vinegar


• 1 tablespoon ketchup


• 1 tablespoon chili sauce


• 1 tablespoon sugar


• 1/2 tablespoons cornflour


• 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil


• 5 garlic, finely chopped


• 2 red chilies, shredded

Method :

1. Clean the fish head, add in all the ingredients except the red chilies. Lastly, add in 2 tablespoons of cooked oil.


2. Steam for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add in another tablespoon of cooked oil.


3. Garnish with the shredded red chilies and serve hot.

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Recipe For Marble Cake

Marble cake is called a marble cake because when you cut it, the pattern on the cake resembles the veins of the marble stone. Marble cake is widely available in bakeries like butter cake.

Recipe for Marble Cake

Ingredients :

• 340g flour
• 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 453g butter
• 1/2 can condensed milk
• 10 eggs
• 340g castor sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method :

1. Sift flour with baking powder twice.
2. Whip butter and condensed milk till white in colour. Add the vanilla essence.
3. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks
4. Beat egg whites with sugar, adding in the yolks gradually. Beat till the the mixture is white and fluffy.
5. Add in the butter mixture to the egg batter quickly. Then add in the flour.
6. Mix 1/3 of the batter with the cocoa powder thoroughly.
7. Line a cake tin with greaseproof paper. First, add in a layer of white batter, then add in a layer of cocoa batter. Repeat until all the batter is used up. The topmost layer should be white.
8. Put the cake into preheat oven at 350 deg F for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 275 deg F and bake for another 30 minutes until done.

Baking tip :

When adding the cocoa batter, every layer should be smaller in quantity. That is, if the first layer is 4 tablespoonful, the second layer should be 3 tablespoonful and so on. In this way, the baked cake will have patterns that resemble marble veins.

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Recipe For Chicken With Chestnuts And Dried Oysters Casserole

This is a Chinese dish cooked using the microwave oven. Dried oysters are commonly used in Cantonese dishes and soups. Most of the time they are soaked in water to soften first before cooking. In this recipe, they are microwaved to save on the soaking time.

Recipe for Chicken with Chestnuts and Dried Oysters Casserole

Cooking time : 55 minutes

Serves 4 - 6 persons

Ingredients :

• 1 chicken weighing about 1 kg


• 300g chestnuts


• 150g dried oysters


• 2 tablespoons dark soya sauce


• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper


• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce


• 1 tablespoon sesame oil


• 500ml water


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon sugar

Method :

1. Marinate the chicken with dark soya sauce and white pepper for 1 hour.


2. Place dried oysters and chestnuts into a microwavable dish. Pour in the water and microwave for 15 minutes. Separate the oysters and chestnuts from the water.


3. Stuff the oysters and chestnuts into the chicken cavity. Place the chicken in a casserole and surround it with the remaining oysters and chestnuts.


4. Mix the water from the microwavable dish with the oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and sugar. Then pour the gravy over the chicken. Cover the casserole with its lid and microwave for about 40 minutes.

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Tips On Choosing Durians

Durian is called "The King of Fruits". People who love this tropical fruit claim that durian is a 'must' try whereas those who hate this pungent fruit simply cannot stand the smell of it, not to mention to eat it.

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Tips on Choosing Durians :

1. Avoid a durian with holes. This indicates the durian is infested with worms.



2. A lighter durian is fleshier than a heavier durian of the same size.



3. Press the durian's spikes. Fresh durian has hard spikes while older durian's spikes are softer.



4. Smell the middle or body of the durian, not the top or bottom.



5. A big and solid stalk indicates a mature and good durian.



6. Press the middle of the seed to test its fleshiness, not between the seeds.


7. Do not taste the durian. The smell that linger around your mouth will confuse your sense of smell when you test other durians.

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Recipe For Coconut Pudding

This sweet dessert uses coconut milk as the main flavouring agent. Store the pudding in the refrigerator as the coconut milk turns bad easily in room temperature.

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Recipe for Coconut Pudding

serves 4

Ingredients :

• 3/4 cup rice flour




• 1 tablespoon tapioca flour




• 1/2 cup sugar




• 1 cup coconut milk




• 1/2 cup pandan juice

Sauce :

• 1 cup coconut milk




• 1 1/2 teaspoon rice flour




• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar




• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts or chestnuts

Method :

1. Mix ingredients and pour into moulds. Steam for 15 minutes. Cool and remove from moulds.




2. Cook all the ingredients for the sauce in low-medium heat. Stir sauce till thickened.




3. When sauce is cooled, pour over the pudding and serve.

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