kitchen tigress

How to Make Kueh Lapis (九层糕)

2011-12-14T10:37:00.093+08:00

Kueh lapis, take one: So there I was, poking the first layer of my nine-layer kueh lapis with a pair of chopsticks. Yup, it's cooked! At this point, other people would proceed with steaming the second layer, but not me. Snip, snip, went my scissors, and I popped a small piece of single-layer kueh lapis in my mouth. Ouch, ouch, it's hot . . . and mmm, not bad! The recipe was from Cooking for the

In Praise of Teochew Ngoh Hiang (五香, Five-Spice Meat Rolls)

2011-12-07T09:34:00.020+08:00

I can never get enough of ngoh hiang, the deep-fried meat rolls that are full of the fragrance of five-spice powder and yam, the sweetness of prawns and pork, and the crunch of water chestnuts. The salty beancurd skin wrapped around the filling adds to the aroma and, more importantly, it stops moisture from escaping, keeping the meat roll moist and juicy. Mmmmm . . . . What makes Teochew ngoh

Not Sam Leong's Crispy Bean Steamed Cod (豆酥鱈魚)

2011-11-28T14:27:00.097+08:00

Baked Fillet Cod Marinated with Miso-Honey Accompanied with Wasabi-Pickled Cucumber is one of the recipes in Sam Leong's A Wok Through Time. There're four problems with the recipe (apart from the terrible name):First, the name for the recipe says Blah Blah Blah Honey, but there's no mention of honey in the instructions or ingredients listed.Second, the marinade consists of 4 tbsp red miso paste,

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Crispy Anchovies with Chilli)

2011-10-30T19:39:00.020+08:00

The good news is, anchovy stocks have doubled because their predators – the type that doesn't have legs – have declined sharply in numbers. This is where we, the two-legged predators, need to step up our efforts. Eat more anchovies, people!I don't know about you but I don't need much persuasion to eat sambal ikan bilis. The salty little fishies and deep-fried peanuts make a perfect ménage à

Pickled Green Papaya – And a Pickle Story

2011-10-24T14:14:00.025+08:00

A story about pickles, as told by Bob Farrell:I’ve been coming to your restaurant for over three years. I always order a #2 hamburger and a chocolate shake. I always ask for an extra pickle and I always get one. Mind you, this has been going on once or twice a week for three years.I came into your restaurant the other day and I ordered my usual #2 hamburger and a chocolate shake. I asked the

Bubur Cha Cha (Yam & Sweet Potatoes in Coconut Milk)

2011-10-21T11:50:00.061+08:00

Coconut milk is the most important ingredient in bubur cha cha, so I've got a photo of a coconut tree:Nice 'trunk', eh? ....... . . . .. ... . . ... . . .... . .. . . . . . .How does Miranda Kerr get her million-dollar bikini body? By eating coconut oil everyday, as reported here and here. If you think coconut oil is evil, you are so last century. There was a time when the luscious oil was public

How to Make Fried Wontons

2011-10-17T12:20:00.021+08:00

Fried wontons are different from wontons in soup, apart from the fact that they're fried.The filling for boiled wontons should have dried sole (大地鱼, aka 铁脯). The fish is toasted till brown, crisp and fragrant, then chopped into little bits. If it's not available, deep-fried shallots are a good substitute. With either of these ingredients in the filling, wontons cooked in soup would have a rich,

Spicy Baba Belachan Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng Rempah)

2011-10-14T09:26:00.029+08:00

Fried rice is one of those things. It may be a great chef's finale for a grand Chinese banquet, or it may be something rustled up by a hungry youngster snooping round the kitchen when Mum is out. Brilliantly executed, fried rice is sublime. If not, it's (usually) at least edible.Baba fried rice is easier than the Chinese version. The latter requires fierce, intense heat for best results (imagine

How to Make Kaya (Coconut Jam) – In 10 Minutes

2011-10-09T14:55:00.093+08:00

If you google 'kaya hours of stirring', you'll find people (like here and here) who really do stand beside their pots of kaya, stirring away for hours on end. I greatly admire their patience, dedication, and tenacity but, sadly, these are virtues I don't possess. So I make kaya the quick way, in 10 minutes.What's the difference between the longie and quickie? More importantly, is the quality

Buah Paya Masak Titek – Peppery Papaya Soup

2011-10-06T17:53:00.009+08:00

If I had a dollar for every bad recipe I come across . . . . Who is it this time? It's Sylvia Tan, whom I absolutely loathe because she's such a killjoy. She goes on and on about cutting out the fat from this, that and every other recipe. Biggest turn off ever, she is!I used to have zero respect for Sylvia Tan, but that was before I saw her on TV. Believe it or not, she made skinless, low-fat (of

Ikan Tempera – Nyonya Sweet & Sour Fish

2011-10-03T04:13:00.022+08:00

Previously on Kitchen Tigress, in the episode on Kueh Bengka Ubi in 90 Seconds, Mac wanted to eat fish.Ikan, which means fish in Malay, is Mac's favourite food. 'Wai doesn't shee kook ikan?' she wondered wistfully.Suddenly, there was something in the air. *sniff sniff* 'Fee-fi-fo-fum . . . feesh! I smell the blood of . . . feesh! Ikaaaaan!'Is KT cooking fish? Oh yes, she is!Mac waited anxiously.

How to Make Soon Kueh

2011-09-26T20:57:00.027+08:00

Success at last at making the dough for soon kueh/koo chai kueh. It was my seventh attempt and sixth recipe. How's that for perseverance? As I kneaded the dough, I felt quite sure that this time it would work. And it did, beautifully. Even the bangkuang filling was cooperative. Half of it had been already made into deep-fried spring rolls, and gobbled up for lunch. The remaining half turned out

Babi Masak Assam – As Taught by Mrs Wee Kim Wee's Sifu

2011-09-23T22:59:00.058+08:00

Compared to Shermay Lee, who supposedly began learning Peranakan cuisine when she was five years old, Wee Eng Hwa was a very late starter. She began learning Nyonya cookery at the relatively ancient age of 47. Fortunately, she had two advantages over the self-proclaimed culinary child prodigy. One, she could see what was in the wok without standing on a chair. Two, her sifu has been guiding

Not LKY's Babi Pongteh

2011-09-14T10:37:00.105+08:00

Cast your mind back, all the way back to when you were five years old. Do you remember anything much?Would you believe that a five-year-old child is capable of learning how to cook, and remembers what she's learnt when she's a 28-year-old adult? That a five-year-old can be instilled with a passion for cooking?This is what Shermay Lee, author of The New Mrs Lee's Cookbook and The New Mrs Lee's

Lotus Seed Sweet Soup (蓮子爽) – Hot or Not?

2011-09-10T09:46:00.035+08:00

I was buying lotus seeds when a fellow aunty shopper who was waiting for her turn asked me how the dried seeds should be cooked. Whilst I pondered the question (and sized her up), she told me hers were still hard after soaking overnight and simmering for two hours! Ah yes, my mother had warned me about that. I said (after deciding she wasn't trying to sell me something), 'You mustn't let lotus

Pork & Kiam Chye Stir-Fry, Not . . .

2011-09-07T23:41:00.015+08:00

Do you know what the difference is between pork stir-fried with kiam chai, and kiam chye stir-fried with pork? If you think they're the same, you're wrong. If you think it's a trick question, you're wrong too.Pork stir-fried with kiam chye is when there's more pork than kiam chai. Pork is the host and kiam chye the guest, so to speak. If there's more kiam chye than pork, that's kiam chye

Bring Back Paper . . . -Wrapped Chicken

2011-09-04T09:35:00.071+08:00

I hadn't had 纸包鸡 (Paper-Wrapped Chicken) for such a long time I'd forgotten what it was like. I couldn't see the point of wrapping chicken in paper and then deep-frying it. Surely the chicken would steam in its own juices underneath the paper shield? So why not just steam it? Or deep-fry without the paper?On the other hand, I liked the idea of unwrapping little parcels of food because that would

Learn How to Make Muffins – Only $520

2011-08-31T17:38:00.031+08:00

A Google ad for a two-day course on making muffins has been on my blog now and then:For those who don't know, muffins are made by the stirring method, which means all the ingredients are stirred together without beating the butter or eggs separately. And muffins are meant to be quick and dirty, so they're not decorated.At their most basic, muffins take no more than five minutes to put

How to Make Tau Suan (Split Green Bean Sweet Soup)

2011-08-27T10:17:00.024+08:00

If you know what tau suan is, you probably know that 'tau' ('豆') means beans. What about 'suan'? What does 'suan' mean?No one has ever explained to me the meaning of 'suan'. But I know that when 豆爽 is made with lotus seeds instead of mung/green beans, it's called 蓮子爽. And my mother made a savory sticky soup with chicken and duck 'spare parts' – gizzards, livers, blood and intestines – called 爽腹內

My Mother's Kiam Chye Ark (Duck Soup with Salted Mustard Greens)

2011-08-25T22:04:00.066+08:00

When I was looking at recipes for Itek Teem, I was surprised at the number of ingredients used for the Nyonya soup. Various Peranakan adaptations of Kiam Chye Ark had pig's trotters, assam skin, brandy, nutmeg, and even sea cucumber. These were on top of the kiam chye (pickled mustard greens), ark (duck), pickled plums, and tomatoes found in every recipe, Nyonya or Chinese. It all seemed a bit

Sayur Lodeh – Cook a Pot of Vegetable Curry

2011-08-22T09:30:00.089+08:00

It was Cook a Pot of Curry Day yesterday because, to cut a long story short, some mainland Chinese with a delicate nose had asked his Singaporean Indian to stop cooking curry. Indignant Singaporeans protested in unison when they heard the story. How dare they tell us not to cook curry! It was a wonderful excuse to tell the mainland Chinese where to shove it, all in the name of protecting the

Minced Pork Stir-Fry with Ketchup & Fermented Black Beans

2011-08-19T11:32:00.014+08:00

Minced pork stir-fried with fermented black beans is one of the standard items served at places that sell Teochew porridge. It's different from other fbb-based recipes because it's got a good amount of tomato ketchup, a decidedly non-Teochew ingredient which, I suspect, my cousins in China don't use. But ketchup actually goes well with fbb's salty fragrance, adding a distinct dimension not found

Kueh Bengka Ubi – 90-Second Baked Tapioca Cake

2011-08-15T18:18:00.048+08:00

I was going to say it takes five minutes to put together a Kueh Bengka Ubi (Baked Tapioca Cake). But, thinking about it as I write, I'd say it takes only 90 seconds if, unlike me, you're not reading the instructions at the same time, and chasing cats out of the kitchen.Yup, one and a half minutes is all Kueh Bengka Ubi takes, or I'll eat my hat. Baking time is not included, btw, so please

Diced Chicken in Spicy Fermented Tofu Sauce

2011-08-12T15:19:00.063+08:00

One day, whilst shooting the breeze with me somewhere, an ang moh acquaintance said he had a tattoo. Without any encouragement on my part, he rolled up his sleeve to show me the Chinese word on his arm. He seemed quite proud of it, and I was all prepared to 'Oooh!' appropriately (whilst running my fingers gently over his bulging biceps *wink wink*). Instead, when I saw the word he had chosen,

Pork Stir-Fry with Sesame Oil – Same Old, Same Gold

2011-08-07T14:55:00.019+08:00

I stir-fry pork with sesame oil; so did my mother, my mother's mother, my mother's mother's mother . . . . I'm guessing that since sesame oil was invented discovered in China, which was supposedly some 2,300 years ago during the Three Kingdoms period, Chinese have been cooking pork in it one way or another. The version I make is with garlic, ginger, light soya sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing