Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Prawn Soup with Fresh Herbs)

Tom Yum or rather Tom Yum Goong as its widely known is definitely one of my favourite soups. Tom Yum is a name for two very much alike soups originating from Thailand (Thai tom yum) and Laos (Lao tom yum). Lao tom yum is relatively unknown outside of Laos whereas Thai tom yum is widely served in the neighbouring countries and has been popularized  around the world.

Though this soup is widely served here, only a few restaurants can produce a good and authentic tasting tom yum. For those who has been to Thailand and tasted the real deal , that taste will serve as a benchmark for you whenever you step into any restaurants serving Thai tom yum.  

Ingredients

ROASTED CHILLI PASTE (NAM PRIK PAO)
* 40g (1/2 cup) dried red chillies
* 30g unpeeled whole shallots
* 30g unpeeled whole garlic cloves
* 50g dried shrimp powder
* 2 tbsp shrimp paste
* 2 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
* 2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
* 2 tbsp tamarind paste
* 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:
1) In a wok , dry-fry the chillies over low heat until they are darken and become fragrant. Shake the pan and stir frequently as they roast. Be careful not to burn them. Put the chillies aside to cool.
2) In the same pan, dry-fry over medium heat the shallots and garlic, turning them until they are softened and blistered. Set aside to cool.
3) Remove stems from the chillies and shake out most of the seeds , then cut into small pieces.
4) Peel and slice the garlic and shallots, set aside.
5) Wrap the 2 tbsp shrimp paste in a double piece of aluminium foil and put it in the frying pan and cook for about 5 minutes, turning over once or twice.
6) To save time , i put the dried shrimp, chillies, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, sugar , fish sauce and tamarind juice in the blender and blend it into a smooth paste.
7) Warm the oil over medium heat and add the paste and stir occasionally until the paste slowly darkens to a deep brownish colour and becomes very fragrant. When cool , the paste can be stored in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.

Note:
This recipe has been adopted from a Thai cookbook with a list twist in it.

Don't be fooled by the long list of steps. Its definitely worth the trouble just to have a taste of the authentic thai tom yum again. The ready-made chilli paste out there tasted rather generic therefore instead of getting a bottle of it and to cut down the preparation time, i chose to make my own just to find out how it will taste like with the soup.

That's just the chilli paste needed for the soup and here's a list of what you should have in your bowl/pot of yummilicious appetizing soup!

SOUP

* 750ml (3 cups) chicken broth

* 20 medium sized prawns

* 2 stalks lemongrass (bruised)

* 8 kaffir lime leaves (sliced)

* 60g galangal, large slices

* 6 bird's-eye chillies

* 4 tbsp fish sauce

* 4 tbsp lime juice

* 150g oyster mushrooms

* 1 tbsp roasted chilli paste

* 2 sprigs coriander (roots included)

Method:

1) Bring the chicken broth to boil, and add in the bruised lemongrass, bird's-eye chillies, galangal lime leaves and the cleaned roots of coriander. Let it boil.

2) Add in fish sauce and mushrooms.

3) Add lime juice and the roasted chilli paste and lower the heat and cook for about 3 minutes or so then add the prawns.

4) Check seasoning, adding more fish sauce or lime juice for a hot and piquant soup.
5) Add chopped coriander leaves when you serve.

Note:
You can choose to add the lime juice and fish sauce just before you serve instead of adding it into the soup. while it boils.

You can choose to shell and devein the prawns or you can just put the prawns with its shell into the soup. I shelled and deveined the prawns for ease of consumption.

Nasi Lemak ( Rice in Coconut Milk )

Nasi Lemak literally means rice in cream, adopted from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in coconut milk/cream and then the mixture is steamed. This is my first time tryin my hands on cooking this particular dish. When i was growing up, whenever we have Nasi Lemak served at home , I'd get excited cause i can put as much gravy as i want on my rice unlike the store bought ones, dry without much gravy.

Usually Nasi Lemak would be served with spicy anchovies and since i don't have any at home, i substituted it with spicy prawns (sambal udang). You may also serve this dish with fried fish (sardine, mackerel, etc), peanuts and just bout anything that you desire. I don't quite fancy peanuts, therefore i excluded it.

Ingredients

RICE

* 3 cups rice

* 4 cups of water

* 1/2 cups of coconut milk

* 3 screwpine leaves (knotted)

* 3 shallots (thinly sliced)

* 1/2 inch ginger (thinly sliced)

* A pinch of salt

Method :

1) Wash and rinse the long grain rice for at least 5 times to get rid of the starch and also any particles in the rice.

2) Add in the rest of the ingredients in the rice cooker and let it cook.

3) After 10 minutes or so, stir the rice so that the remaining ingredients will be well blended with your rice.

4) Once the rice cooker's "keep warm" indicator is on , fluff up the rice with your fork and cover it up with the lit and let it sit approximately 15mins before serving.

SPICY PRAWNS

* 800g-1kg prawns (shelled and deveined)

* Tamarind juice to taste

* Salt and sugar to taste

* Olive oil

Spice Paste

* 3 medium red onions

* 3cm ginger

* 5 cloves garlic

* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder

* 5 candle nuts

* 5 tbsp chilli paste

Method:

1) You can either blend or pound all the ingredients for the spice paste.

2) Fry your prawns with a little bit of oil for less than a minute and dish out.

3) Heat up your work and add olive oil and stir fry the spice paste until fragrant.

4) Season with salt and sugar to taste and finally add in your tamarind juice until it reaches the consistency you desire.

5) Taste again and season accordingly if you need to.

6) Add in the prawns and simmer for less than 5 minutes otherwise the prawns will turn hard and rubbery.

Note:

If you like the gravy to be more spicy, adjust the amount of chilli paste you included in your spice paste.

Spiced Panko Prawns with Wasabi Mayo

This particular dish is inspired by my dearest friend. I had this when i was having lunch with her and i love her version! It was really yummy! Today i was craving for some of it so i decided i should reinvent the dish with a twist.

My bro was the happiest when he saw this dish, he's a big fan of finger food or fried stuff. Even my granny enjoyed it as well.


Ingredients

PRAWNS
* salt
* pepper
* corn oil
* water
* Panko
* Crispy Fry flour
* cayenne pepper powder
* prawns ( deveined and shelled)

Method:
1) Season the prawns with salt and pepper.
2) Mix the Crispy Fry flour with water and corn oil and mix until it form a thick batter.
3) Add in cayenne pepper powder and salt to the batter.
4) Coat prawns with the batter and coat it with a layer of panko.
5) Pour enough oil for shallow frying and fry the prawns in batches.
6) Placed the cooked prawns on a paper towel to absorb excessive oil.

DIP
* wasabi paste
* mayonaise

Method:
1) Mix both together and there you have it , its ready to go with your prawns.

Note:
For those that love wasabi, you can add more wasabi until you reach the exact consistency you like for your dip. You can add some finely chopped onions as well to give the dip more texture.

Spicy Broad Noodles

As usual i went to shop for grocery and i ended up at the noodles section. So i was just checking out the types of noodles available and this particular Non-fried broad noodles caught my attention. At first i thought of cookin some home made Wantan noodles with the broad noodles but without a good Char Siew in hand, it wouldn't be a complete plate of meal.

Since that was the case, i decided to stir fry it instead.

INGREDIENTS

* broad noodles
* minced garlic
* sliced onions
* prawns
* chilli paste
* shredded carrots
* chopped romaine lettuce
* pounded dried shrimps
* sesame oil & oil
* dark soy sauce
* sweet soy sauce
* oyster sauce
* salt and pepper to taste
* sugar

Method:
1) Cook the broad noodles until they are half cooked, remove and place it in a bowl of filtered water.
2) Marinate the prawns (deveined and shelled, leavin tail intact) with salt, pepper and onion powder. Heat a non-stick with a lil oil n sesame oil and fry the prawns until they turned pink and set aside.
3) Break eggs into a bowl and add a few dashes of fish sauce and pepper. Heat the non-stick pan and scramble the egg. Set aside.
4) Heat oil and sesame oil together and saute the minced garlic until fragrant and add in the pounded dried shrimps.
5) Next add in the chilli paste and stir fry further. Add onions and the shredded carrot.
6) Drain the noodles and add it in. Season with dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce and oyster sauce.
7) Add in the prawns and eggs and stir fry further. Season with salt, sugar and pepper to taste.
8) Before serving, add in the chopped romaine lettuce and give it a last stir.

Note:
The chilli paste i used is a ready made chilli paste with tamarind juice and salt added into it. You can stir fry the chilli paste with a lil belachan stock granules /shrimp paste before hand and store it for later use in stir fry dishes or serve as a condiment with some freshly squeezed lime/calamansi juice.

You can cook the eggs and prawns together with the noodles. I chose to cook it separately to get a good results cuz i was stir fryin the noodles for 4 persons so its kinda a lot of noodles in a wok.

Sambal Prawns

Its been a while since i last had this dish. I was craving for something spicy and sourish ,so i decided to cook this particular dish. So off to the market i went . i bought some medium-sized fresh prawns along with other stuff from the wet market.

This dish is good to go with Nasi Lemak, especially when the gravy is thicker and spicier. Yummy.. just by describing it makes me wanna have some of that spicy prawns with Nasi Lemak!

INGREDIENTS
* garlic
* shallots
* sugar
* salt
* chili paste
* sliced onions
* tamarind juice
* pepper
* chicken broth
* shrimp paste (Belacan)
* prawns ( deveined and shelled, leavin tail intact)

Method:
1) Season the prawns with sugar, salt and pepper, leave it aside for an hour or so.
2) Heat oil in wok and stir fry till prawns turn pink, set aside for later use.
3) Pound/blend shallots and garlic and stir-fry it until fragrant.
4) Add in the chilli paste and stir further.
5) Add in some sugar and stir until it dissolved and add in the shrimp paste and let it simmer for a while before adding the tamarind juice.
6) Stir until it has perfectly combined before adding in the sliced onions to the wok/non-stick and stir until onions has soften.
7) Add chicken broth and let it simmer. Season with salt and sugar.
8) When the gravy is almost done, stir in the prawns and let it simmer for a short while before serving.

Roasted shrimp paste is recommended for this dish. The roasted version of shrimp paste is more flavorful than the non-roasted ones. You can also replace this with shrimp paste powder if the roasted piece of paste isn't available.

For those who love a more sourish note to this dish, feel free to adjust the amount of tamarind juice used. You can also omit the sliced onions if you're not a big onion fan. But the sliced onions in this dish sure give it the perfect kick. The whole combination's like a match- made in heaven!

Pineapple & Prawns Fried Rice

Despite me being a pineapple lover, i'm pretty picky and will only devour those that are sweet and juicy. Too bad for me the pineapple i bought earlier isnt that juicy and sweet so instead of whipping up the same thing again (Prawns with Pineapple in Sweet Sour Sauce) i cooked it together with the left over rice from the night before.

INGREDIENTS
* rice
* finely chopped garlic
* sliced onions
* shredded carrots
* chopped coriander
* prawns (shelled & deveined)
* pinapples (cubes)
* light soy sauce
* egg
* salt
* pepper
* brown sugar

Method
1) Saute the garlic and onions
2) Add the shredded carrots and pineapples
3) Next, add the prawns. I seasoned the prawns with salt and pepper 30mins ahead.
4) Add the rice and season with light soy sauce.
5) Make a well in the middle and break the egg into in and add in pepper and light soy sauce and stir till its cooked and fold the rice over it
6) Salt and sugar to taste
7) Add the chopped coriander before you serve.

Leftover rice from the night before is ideal for fried rice. The freshly cooked rice will somewhat make the fried rice rather soggy. I'm not sure bout others but i know i dont fancy soggy fried rice. If there's no leftover then cook the rice for fried rice with a lil less water than the usual, that should do the tricks

Khai Yat Sai - Omelette

It is also spelled as Kai Yat Sai, its a square stuffed eggs; a type of Thai Omelette. This simple egg dish is one of my best friend's fav!

You can basically stuff your eggs with any type of filling you want. Be as creative as you want. You can even decorate your omelette with strips of tomato sauce if you like.

Ingredients:

Filling
* finely chopped onions
* finely chopped garlic
* chopped tomatoes
* prawns ( shelled and deveined)
* mince meat ( i used lean pork)
* finely chopped carrot ( i substituted with long beans)
* freshly ground black pepper
* sugar to taste
* tomato sauce
* dark soy sauce ( a drop or two)
* chopped coriander

Method :
1) Season the mince meat with sugar, black pepper and fish sauce
2) Season the prawns with pepper and fish sauce
3) Saute the garlic and onions
4) Add in the the minced meat , long beans and prawns
5) Next, add in the chopped fresh tomatoes and stir
6) Add water/chicken broth, let it simmer before adding tomato sauce and dark soy sauce
7) Lastly , add in the chopped coriander. Sugar to taste
8) Set aside

Omelette
* eggs
* fish sauce

Method:
1) Break the eggs in a bowl, add a few dashes of fish sauce and whisk it
2) Glaze the non-stick pan with butter or oil
3) Pour just enough of egg into the pan to form a thin sheet
4) Once the mixture has cooked, spoon the filling and place it in the center of the egg and fold the sides so that it looks like a square
5) Switch off the gas
6) Use an average size of plate to cover the squared omelette and turn your non-stick pan up side down.
7) There you have it, your Khai Yat Sai is ready to be served.

For those that dont quite fancy the distinctive taste of ketchup, you can add in a lil chilli sauce or some chopped bird eye's chilli or dried chilli to give it the "heat". Freshly ground black pepper would be just as good. I gotta admit i'm not so much of a ketchup fan but when it comes to this dish, i simply love it!

Prawns with Pineapples in Sweet Sour Sauce

I'm a citrus person. I love anythin citrusy. I'm constantly thinking of how do i infuse citrusy fruits into my food. Today i decided i should add in some pineapples to my food. I know that i can use it anytime in my salad but today isnt so much of a salad day but more of a somethin under the water - prawns!

Ingredients:

Prawns
* shelled and deveined 
* marinate with salt and pepper ( i used freshly ground black pepper)

Method:
1) Heat butter over low heat and saute prawns until it turns pink
2) Dish out and set aside

Sauce
* finely chopped onions
* finely chopped garlic
* sliced ginger
* tomato sauce
* chilli sauce
* water
* salt and sugar to taste
* cubed fresh pineapples
* sprigs of coriander for garnishing

Method:
1) Heat butter and saute the chopped garlic, ginger and onions.
2) Add in tomato and chilli sauce
3) Add in a little bit of water and let it simmer
4) Next, add in the pineapples
5) Let it simmer for a lil while more before adding the prawns
6) You can toss in some chopped coriander and spring onions, otherwise use it for garnishing.

It would be superb if you serve this dish while its hot with a plate/bowl of steamed white rice. This particular dish definitely got my bro goin for second serving of rice despite him wanting to cut down on food portion! Perhaps the next time around, i can add in some chopped bird eye's chilli to give this dish the spicy kick!

Glass-Noodles Salad

Glass noodles also known as Cellophane noodles, Chinese Vermicelli or Bean Thread Noodles are a type of transparent Asian noodles made from starch. This is one of my fav type of noodle and I'd pick it anytime as compared to other Asian/chinese noodles.  

What i have over here is what you called Yam Woon Sen - the Thai Glass noodles with Prawns. Again whatever dish/recipes you see over here isnt the auntentic ones, rather the altered version of whatever my fav dishes are.

Ingredients:

Glass noodles
* soak in water for about 10 mins or until soft dependin on brands and blanch it

Prawns 
* marinade with salt & pepper
* simmer in soft brown sugar+ water until the prawns turn pink
* dish out and keep the extra gravy aside to be used as part of the dressing

Mince meat (pork)
* marinade with salt, black pepper and fish sauce
* saute the mince with finely chopped onions until it loses its pink colour
* break the mince into small morsels.

Vegetables /Greens
* slices of tomatoes
* chopped cilantro
* chopped mint leaves
* slices of onions
* chopped bird eye's chilli
* finely shredded carrot

Dressing
* lime juice
* fish sauce
* brown sugar
Note: i mixed the 3 items together and transfer it into a sauce pan n double boil it until the sugar has dissolves and added the gravy from simmering the prawns. 

Methods: 
1) Put the blanched glass noodles in a large bowl
2) Put in the the list of greens
3) Toss in the cooked prawns and the minced meat
4) Pour over noodles and mix thoroughly

For those that prefer a spicier and tangy note to this dish, add in more bird eye's chilli and adjust the taste of the dressing to your liking.

 

Reunion Dinner Feast

Usually for the Chinese, reunion dinner means steamboat but as for my family, steamboat isnt really our thing or rather we dont own a steamboat pot so havin a steamboat's rather impossible. Back then when my grandpa and grandma ( my dad's side) was still alive, we'd travel bout 100km+/- for reunion dinner and since they are no longer with us, we dont have steamboat anymore.

Since a few years back, i've been the in-house chef to prepare food for the family prior the reunion dinner. I would say this year's dinner was the most grand i've prepared.

A week before the dinner, i actually asked my family members for opinions, ideas, suggestions on what to prepare or what they would like to have for reunion.

Bro being his sarcastic self answered duck and crab. Its not impossible to prepare those but the bro actually requested Peking Duck and since i've no experience with using duck to prepare a meal, i googled for recipes and so on and i saw a youtube like clip that showed the whole process of preparing Peking Duck and it takes bout 8 hours before you can start  feedin on it! Upon knowin that, bro decided it was too much hassle and requested that to check if we can get supply of crabs at our local seafood supplier. Dont know wht made him changed his mind, he decided that he didnt want anymore crabs.

At the end of the day, i'm still left with no suggestions. Then i thought i should do somethin really different this time. Somethin ive not done. Then I've no idea what came over me when i was plannin on the menu for the reunion, i came up with 6 dishes!

The 1st dish: Braised Sea-Cucumber & Mushrooms.

Ingredients:

Sea- cucumber
* young ginger
* spring onion
* Shao Hsing Hua Tiau 
* cut into big slanting pieces

Note: stir fry all ingredients to prepare the sea-cucumber

Mushrooms
* medium-sized dried mushrooms,washed
* water
* oyster sauce
* light soy sauce
* sugar
* sesame oil

Note: simmer until mushrooms are soft and keep the remaining stock for later use

Ingredients for stir-frying & gravy :
* oil
* garlic
* young ginger
* Shao Hsing Hua Tiau
* oyster sauce
* light soy sauce
* thick soy sauce
* sugar
* salt
* chicken stock granules
* pepper
* sesame oil
* mushroom stock ( from simmering of the mushrooms)

The 2nd dish: Deep-Fried Crispy Seafood Tofu

Ingredients:

* japanese egg tofu
* soft beancurd
* salted egg yolks
* fish paste
* prawn paste
* spring onion
* chopped red chilli
* cornflour
* plain flour
* salt
* chicken stock granules
* pepper

Note: combine all ingredients and steam it in a tray until cook, remove, cut into strips or cubes then dust the steamed tofu with the combination of tapioca flour + rice flour and deep fry.

The 3rd dish: Sichuan Chili Prawns

Ingredients:

Marinade
* Shao Hsing Hua Tiau
* sesame oil
* finely minced garlic
* sugar

Note: marinade the prawns (deveined & shelled) for a few hours

Sauce
* sesame oil 
* salt
* sugar
* chili sauce
* tomato sauce
* corn flourNote: stir-fry the prawns and add in the sauce

The 4th dish : Sweet Pork

Ingredients:

* pork ribs
* brown sugar
* red shallots
* fish sauce
* sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
* white pepper
* coriander leaves
* warm water

Note : dissolve brown sugar and water in a non-stick, add ribs and shallots, followed by fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, pepper and water and simmer it.

 The 5th dish : Stuffed Calamari

Ingredients:

Dipping Sauce
* lime juice
* fish sauce
* brown sugar
* chopped red chili

Stuffing
* fish paste (used dory fillet)
* prawn paste 
* finely chopped garlic
* fish sauce
* chopped coriander
* lime juice
* brown sugar

Note : prepare the stuffin and fill up the calamari about 3/4 full and secure with a toothpick. Rice flour to coat before pan-fryin.

The 6th dish : Steamed Seabass with Garlic & Lime

Ingredients:

* seabass
* chicken broth
* bird's eye chillies (finely sliced)
* lime juice
* fish sauce
* sugar

Note: You can prepare the gravy and the fish separately or you can steam everythin together.

Separately: Steam the fish with a few tablespoons on the chicken broth and simmer the remaining of chicken broth with the rest of the ingredients and when the fish is done, just pour the gravy over the fish.

Everythin together: Simmer the chicken broth and the rest of the ingredients together and when its done, pour it over the fish and steam the fish until its soft and tender.

So there you have it, my rather elaborated reunion dinner with the family. I gotta say i enjoyed every single bit the work involved in preparin it for my family! Wht's more satisfactory was that all the dishes was wiped out! The faces of my family members piggin out on the food was priceless.

Drunken Coriander Prawns

You must be wonderin why the name drunken coriander prawns? The word drunken is derived from one of the ingredients used in this dish and along with that i've inserted my favourite - coriander leaves! A lor of people dont fancy the taste nonetheless the smell of it. Both my bro and mom isnt a big fan of this herb. But me and my dad, we're both into zesty herbs.

I would say this is one of the easiest dish to cook. It doesnt require much ingredients and the cookin time is short as well. This dish is best to be cooked with the shell intact to give more flavour to the gravy. Since the prawns i have in the fridge are already shelled i've not much choice but to use it. 

For those who have the prawns in shells, do remember to trim the feelers of the prawns neatly with the kitchen scissors.

Ingredients you need would be : - medium-large prawns in shells , oil, sesame oil, minced garlic, finely shredded ginger. As for the sauce, you'll need chinese rice wine, salt and sugar chopped coriander leaves.

Heat wok with both types of oil, stir fry minced garlic and shredded ginger until fragrant. Stir in the prawns and fry a short while , add in rice wine and bring to boil.  Next, blend in sugar and salt to taste and add the chopped coriander and let it simmer for a while and dish out onto a bowl or platter. If you've slightly marinated ur prawns with salt then you can ommit adding salt into the sauce. 

My granny loves to have a lil more gravy with her rice so my version of the drunken prawns has a lil more gravy to it. If the taste of the gravy is too thick for you, do add in hot water to diluted the taste a lil.