Homemade Teo Chew Cai Kuih /Teo Chew Dumpling

This seem to be my last post for year 2012, with just second away to 2013. I would like to wish all of you :

 Happy New Year !

Welcome 2013

Penang Teo Chew Vegetarian Cai Kuih




On the 15th December, we made a road trip to our hometown in Penang and later on our return journey extended our trip to Batu Kawan, a small town located along the route not far from Penang, to visit Auntie Lan’s sister. Auntie Lan’s brother-in-law recommended a local skilful Thai massage lady in Batu Kawan for therapeutic Thai massage to treat hubby’s chronic back pain and my repeated knee ache lately.

The massage was not the typical Thai massage for relaxation but rather like pressure point massage which hurt quite a bit. My body was said to have too much “wind” and the advice given was to reduce the consumption of ice and cold drinks.  Thankfully, other than the agonizing pain suffered on our bodies,  our tongue and stomach however got to savour one of the best homemade food.

Auntie Lan’s sister, Auntie Chun Li is another great cook. She is especially good at cooking vegetarian food. One of her specialties is the Teo Chew Cai Kuih  (Teo Chew dumpling). I told her that I wish to video tape her vegetarian Cai Kuih making and upload to Youtube. Both husband and wife were so happy to share the recipe and looked forward to be featured in Youtube.

There are 2 types of Teo Chew Cai kuih, traditional Cai Kuih which is using rice flour with thicker skin texture and chewy in taste. Another type which Auntie Chun Li shared here is using wheat starch. The pastry skin is translucent and thinner than the rice flour version. As this is Vegetarian Cai Kuih, Auntie Chun Li replaced Chinese Chives (韭菜) filling with Amaranth (苋菜) and using vegetarian meat in replacing dried shrimp and pork mince.

Sharing below the step by step video which I had uploaded in Youtube:

For recipe kindly click below link.

Teochew Style Steam Fish 潮州式蒸鱼

年年有余(鱼) To be abundant, to be plentiful year after year

I know this post comes a bit late since Chinese New year was over for 2 weeks now, better late than never I guess. J

It is customary for Chinese to have a feast of symbolic dishes to welcome the Lunar New Year. There are a few “must serve” auspicious-sounding dishes during the Chinese New Year Eve "Family Reunion Dinner". Other than the usual chicken, duck and pork, fish is one of them that plays major role in festive celebrations.

Fish in Mandarin 鱼 is pronounced as “Yu".  A homonym of fish, is the word abundance/surplus (余). Hence it is a Chinese ritual to serve fish during the reunion dinner to signify a wish for abundance and plentiful harvest year after year年年有余 (nian nian you yu). In addition, the fish is to be served whole, with head and tail attached, symbolizing a good beginning and ending for the coming year.

For this dragon New Year, it was our first CNY since we got back from Auckland. We were delighted to have a bigger group of 30 family members in celebrating reunion dinner. We joined my dad along with all my brothers and sister and her in-law Lee’s families’ to dine at Red Rock Hotel, Tian Tian Restaurant.

The following were some of the signature New Year dishes we had from our 8 course sumptuous reunion dinner.

Prosperity salmon Yee Sang

Braised abalone, sea cucumber, mushroom and broccoli

Last but not least the FISH!

Soya sauce steamed grouper

For the 2^nd day of CNY, my 2^nd sister-in-law suggested to have simple homemade family lunch at home.  In view of the fact that during the first few days of Chinese New Year, dining out was very difficult because many restaurants were close for the New Year break, I gladly supported her idea and contributed my help in the kitchen.

The following was one of the dishes that I helped my sister-in-law to prepare. Steamed fish in Teochew Style, a favourite steam menu I often cook at home.

Teochew Style Steam Fish 潮州式蒸鱼

Taucheo(Soya Bean paste) Ling Fish 豆酱鲮鱼 - Featured in Group Recipes

Teochew Cuisine – Part 2

This is another Teochew dish our auntie used to cook for us back home in Malaysia. When I saw Ling fish steak which was also Ray's favourite fish were on special, I wouldn't miss the chance to grab them.

Furthermore, this fish was not available in Malaysia so it would be great experience for our Auntie. I'd asked auntie to cook her specialty Taucheo (bean paste) fish which we missed so much.

If you'd like to have some extra kick of hot and spicy fish, you can use Sichuan chili bean paste instead or add some chilies into the sauce.


Taucheo(Soya Bean paste) Ling Fish 豆酱鲮鱼 - Featured in Group Recipes 1/12/2010



Teochew Loh Ack (Braised Duck) 潮州卤鸭 - Featured in Group Recipes

Teochew Cuisine

With Ray’s auntie, our ex-home chef, staying with us for the next 2 months, I am taking this opportunity to hand over my kitchen duty to her since we miss her cooking so much.  With her running my kitchen and being my guest chef, I bet I’d get to learn more home cooking and have more recipes to share in this blog especially hubby’s family Teochew cuisine and authentic Nyonya dishes which she specializes in. I’m so pleased to step down from my position and pass my chef cap to her. :-P

With a master chef brought in all the way from Penang, I proudly invited my Penang group of friends in Auckland who were craving for Penang food to come over for a real Penang home cooked meals.  It was such a divine feast; the dishes served were so homely and authentic which we all missed so much.  Shared below are the main course and side dish we had for the night.  If you think they look tempting, wait till you have tasted them J

Teochew Braised Duck 潮州卤鸭 - Featured in Group Recieps 24/11/2010

I want that drumstick!

Braised eggs and bean curds

 

As some of us may have noticed, most experienced cooks don’t usually measure the cooking ingredients with a scale, spoon or other measuring gadgets.  Though it may not appear that they are measuring but they actually are. They measure by a combination of their eyes and experience. When I asked her how much to use she had difficulty to spell out as precisely.  In order to transcribe this recipe, I had to ask her to measure every single ingredient she added.  However, most of the time I was not fast enough to measure them before she added the ingredients in L

Hence, I can only try my best to estimate the quantity of seasoning.  However she said the amount used is based on taste which is really the essence of measuring. I hope my effort in recording this recipe does not contribute to another item in your kitchen trash bin.