Dishes With Good Vibes Too

The four seasons entree, vital to any Chinese banquet, is meant to tease and tempt the palate. Normally served on a presentation of sliced cucumbers, carved carrots, lettuce - and topped with a carved vegetable rose - they symbolically represent the climatic cycle and seasons of a temperate location. Above image, taken at the Jade Restaurant in Georgetown, Penang, are clockwise from upper left, yam with scallops; deep fried prawns in a sweet and sour sauce; and oyster bites - these are preferred Cantonese selections.

A delicacy prized for thousands of years - and now politically incorrect for how they are harvested - are the gelatinous fins of sharks, boiled and brewed to absorb the fine flavours of rich stock and accompanying ingredients. Sharks fins have no taste on their own, are simply soft cartilage, but are treasured for their texture, reputation of nurturing internal human organs, perceptions of retarding aging and being an aphrodisiac. Dorsal fins are priority, followed by tail and pectoral versions.

The dish has shot through the roof in asking prices - and like any sophisticated thing, suffer imitations posing as the real thing. Cleaning of the raw fins require aims of skin peeling, cleaning and boiling them. Preparation of the cooked dish are laborious, involving running the dried or freezed fins under separate processes of cold and warm running water, and then braising the stuff with scallions, clear chicken stock and ginger. When served to discerning diners, they have the choice of quality crab meat and dashes of dark vinegar to add to personal taste.

Penang - Lor Mee

Lor mee is another of those street foods that are not commonly available in Western societies, but are easily found in southern China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The dish is iconic of the Teochew Province in China and has been mainly brought to equatorial climes by immigrants over the last few centuries. It combines snippets of ingredients in a thick savoury sauce. Above, the lor mee with roast pork and sliced hard boiled egg accompaniments at the Fong Sheng Cafe, along Lorong Selamat in Georgetown, Penang - the place was introduced by May Wah and Henry Quah.

The cafe harks back to the seventies or eighties - and maybe earlier - what caught my eye were (above) freshly blended fruit and/or vegetable juices and (below) metal and plastic contraptions of the food trade.

Hot and cold drinks are easily on offer from the cafe (above and below) at very reasonable prices.

Another version of the dish (below) taken whilst Bob Lee was enjoying them in another cafe or coffee shop in Georgetown, Penang Island.

Penang Lor Mee Recipe:

Ingredients
# 250g lean pork
# 2 litres fresh chicken stock
# 200g prawns, keep shells intact

Seasoning (A)
# 1/2 tsp salt
# 1/2 tsp pepper
# 1 tsp light soya sauce
# 1 kg fresh yellow Hokkien noodles
# 1 cup bean sprouts, tailed
# 3 hard boiled eggs, cut into wedges or halved

Seasoning (B)
# 2 tbsp light soya sauce
# 1/2–3/4 tsp thick soya sauce
# Salt to taste

Thickening
# 3–3½ tbsp corn flour mixed
# 100ml water
# 2 eggs, lightly beaten
Condiment - Chilli and garlic sambal
# 3 tbsp chili paste
# 3 tbsp oil
# 1/8 tsp salt or to taste
# 6 cloves garlic
# 2 tbsp chicken stock
# 1/8 tsp salt

Cooking Method

1. Marinate pork with seasoning (A) and set aside. Bring chicken stock to a boil.

2. Add in pork and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool then cut into thin slices.

3. Add seasoning (B) to the stock and bring to a simmering boil.

4. Add corn flour thickening and stir well to mix. Bring stock away from the heat and drizzle in the beaten eggs.

5. Stir gently to mix. Scald noodles and bean sprouts separately and put required amount of noodles and bean sprouts into individual serving bowls.

6. Ladle out starchy gravy or stock over the noodles. Add a few slices of pork and a slice of hard-boiled egg.

7. Serve with chili garlic sambal.

Chili Garlic Sambal
Heat 3 tbsp oil a small saucepan. Add chili paste and salt and cook until oil rises. Dish out and set aside. Put garlic, chicken stock and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a food processor. Blend into a fine paste. Set aside for use.

Copyright for Recipe: Amy Beh, taken from: http://kuali.com/recipes

Another Making of Yee Sang

Yee sang, a most symbolic dish, requires much patience, gathering the lot and undergoing a host of sequential steps before getting all diners present to collectively mix the resulting ingredients and sauces. Basically it is a raw salad of fish slices; fresh leafy and julieanned vegatables; spreading bits of pomelo; a sprinkling of crunchy roasted peanuts and toasted sesame seeds; a display of deep fried wanton skins - and all doused with a variety of sweet and savoury Asian sauces. The dish represents hope, plenty and prosperity.

Image below, left to right - Cindy Low, Chris Wan and Ellen Thein gather to commence the process of preparing the yee sang, in Sydney's Chatswood, February 2011.

Ingredients


250g fresh fish fillet, salmon or any white fish of your choice

1 medium pomelo, cut into small wedges

2 carrots, shredded

1 white radish/ daikon radish, shredded

1 jicama, shredded

2 cucumbers, shredded

80 gms pickled red ginger, cut into small strips

1 mango, cut into small strips

75g (12 cup) roasted peanuts, chopped coarsely

100g strips of fried wonton skins

3 green onions, chopped

50g toasted sesame seeds

For the dressing :
Juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon (15ml) plum sauce
1 teaspoon (5ml) sesame oil
A pinch of 5 spice powder
A pinch of salt

Preparing the Dish:
1. Make sure you buy the freshest fish for the dish and slice the fillet into thin strips. Season with a little salt and lime juice.

2. Arrange all the ingredients into sections on a large serving platter.

3. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds and chopped peanuts over the dish.


4. Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together.


5. To serve - pour dressing over the salad. Have your guests simultaneously toss the salad high with their chopsticks.

Recipe above, copyright of allrecipes.asia

The Making of Penang Pancake

Ah Guan Apong - the display reads - is run from a single, modest wheel cart placed at the same spot everyday along the same street - Burmah - in Georgetown, Penang Island. The ingredients and tools of the trade are all stacked and perched on this vehicle and spot. The couple who run this business are modest, quiet and persevering. A piece of their pancake. otherwise known as ban chien kueh in the Penang version of the Fujian dialect, costs only less than 15 Australian cents. What makes them tick? Turnover, reality, a past time or passion in their food craft?

Ingredients Required:

Sifted 175g self-raising flour

3/4 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda

25g of castor sugar

1/2 tablespoon of salt

2 small or medium eggs, lightly beaten

130 ml of low fat milk

130 ml of water

40g of butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon of alkaline water

1 cup of peanuts, toasted and grounded coarsely

Extra granule sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Sift self-raising flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt to mix. Pour in the eggs, milk and water and melted butter. Use a balloon whisk to beat the mixture, until it is well combined. Add in the alkaline water and mix. Stand the mixture, covered, for an hour.

Heat a small non-stick pan over medium low heat. Grease the pan with a little oil.

Measure about half cup of batter and pour it into the well-heated saucepan. Swirl the pan quickly around to coat the entire pan with a thin layer of batter. Sprinkle with some ground peanuts and half a handful of sugar.

Cover the pan with a lid, then cook the batter over low heat for 1-2 minutes or until the centre of the batter looks cooked through the edges have turned golden brown. Fold the pancake into a half-moon and lift it out of the pan immediately.

Above recipe, copyright recipe.sg
Images above at Ah Guan Apong show that they utilise egg rings to contain the dough - and thereby enable preparing several pancakes at once on a large pan.

The vital ingredients, above, the dough, trays of fresh eggs and more.

Breakfasts in Melbourne

"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart." (C.S. Lewis) Above, an Aussie breakky found at the South Bank.

"I didn't forget your breakfast. I didn't bring your breakfast. Because you didn't eat your din-din.”

(Bette Davis) Below, early morning at The World Cafe.

“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." (Adelle Davis)

Below, a hearty serving of a quisadilla wrap over the usual mix of cooked mushrooms, cut tomato slices, fried omelette, bacon slices and a dousing of barbecue sauce.

"He was my cream, and I was his coffee - and when you poured us together, it was something." (Josephine Baker) Above, blood red Italian orange juice with a mug of cappuccino, somewhere in the business district.

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast." (John Gunther)

Above, the roti prata served at the Sambal Kampung at 234 Little Bourke Street in Melbourne's Chinatown, with an asking price half of Sydney's and accompanied by a more wholesome gravy from Straits Chinese chicken curry. The teh tarik sits waiting to be consumed...