Tepee

The first day of CNY falls on Sunday 18th. Lasts for 15 days.

15 days? Really? OMG... Oh, this is the year of the pig! Just kidding. ← The pig features at every CNY. (Chinese) Man and piggie nature are inseparable! Human = eat + sleep + work + enjoy Pigs = eat + sleep Hence, Human = Pigs + work + enjoy ...if, Human - enjoy = Pigs + work in other words, Human that don't know enjoy = pigs that work Men = eat + sleep + earn money Pigs = eat + sleep Hence, Men = Pigs + earn money ...if Men - earn money = Pigs ...in other words, Men that don't earn money = Pigs Women = eat + sleep + spend Pigs = eat + sleep Hence, Women = Pigs + spend ...if, Women - spend = Pigs ...In other words, Women that don't spend = Pigs Summary: Men earn money not to let women become pigs! Women spend not to let men become pigs! Men + Women = 2 Pigs Let's pig out!

Yep...it's so important that, though I don't belong to the Eve meal, being married 'out' and all that, my mother is specially changing the meal to lunch (steamboat) since my MIL is having a potluck dinner, both with untraditional menus. Who doesn't like CNY? It's 15 days of living and travelling from one special meal to another.

I don't have any idea, but there could very well be a difference. I just realised that you and the link liuzhou gave use the mothball kind of yeast. That could be more 'potent'. I've only seen the flat, soft disc type here....and everyone hides their pot for weeks and weeks.

Have never measured water for my rice. If I'm opening a new bag of rice, the first cooking will be a test. I adjust upwards or downwards from the result. I don't use a rice cooker either, have been steaming rice for years. Steam for 25 mins, switch off flame, further steaming for 10 minutes, last but not least, fluff up the rice with your spatula while the rice is hot. Dig right to the bottom and upwards, all around.

Hmm....3 days is too short. Here's a Tutorial. Delicious added to noodle soup (whether it's braised chicken or prawn/seafood).

A friend, Ed, who lives in Cheras, supplied the following information. He even snapped pix of the resto exteriors. If you would like the pix, pls PM me your email address. Hau Kee Seafood Restaurant - Tmn Cheras (03 05.976' N, 101 44.498' E) Ketam Restaurant - Tmn Seri Bahtera (03 06.020' N, 101 44.210' E) MPV restaurant is at the same row as the Ketam Restaurant. These 3 places are just within 1/2 a km radius from each other.

2 friends sent me this warning about fatt choy today. Bummer. I do like to eat it once a year at least. Oh well, less fatt choy this year, more sang choy.

Good Malay food? One of them is Rebung. You can see a review and my pix here. Shiewie should have more to recommend. If I want good Malay food, I usually go to the stalls near my house. Cheap and delicious pick your dishes lunches and breakfast. Will check with Cheras friends on good eats. Get back to you.

Oops, almost missed this. You'll be able to find marmite crabs in most (if not all) chinese seafood restaurants. All good. However, if your itinerary includes an island stop, that can't be beat. But don't stop at one style, try them all...black pepper, sweet & sour (what is known to some as chilli crabs), thick soya sauce, cheese and salted egg, steamed with garlic, the list is endless.

When jackal10 talked about cooking it for 12 hours, it's probably at around a temperature of 55 deg C (correct me if I'm wrong). Long time low temperature cooking. Meat cooked that way is deliciously tender and flavourful. The colour is gorgeous too.

This is the time of year (Chinese Lunar New Year) when we do pickling for Acar Sayur (Vegetable Pickle). As you see in the recipes here and here, the process is similar to David Thompson's. The veg are salted, no need overnight, just enough to draw out the juices. For a very heavy-liquid content veg like the cucumber (and if your hands are tough enough, julienned carrots), we take the extra step in squeezing out the juice, then sun them thoroughly. This will make the vegetables extra crunchy. Try the recipes, they are delicious. If you are not heat-tolerant, you can leave out the hot spices, just the vinegar, sugar and salt will do. Serve with crisp deep-fried garlic, shallots, finely fried shredded ginger, toasted sesame seeds and chopped peanut brittle. Do not mix these in the jar. The acar should be ready after 2 days. Although, in one of the recipes, it says the acar will last 2 weeks in the fridge, we make so many jars that it lasts us at least 2 months!

Don't be so hard on yourself. Your standards are probably too high. Hmm...what I do different is soak the bitter melon in salt water before cooking. Rinse.Then let it cook till soft together with the steak and sauce, covered for around 8 mins, and a bit with the cover taken off.

Eeek! Thanks for reminding me that I should watch my diet. Cheongsam time soon. That jumped at me, thank you...because my surname is Choo...sounds like Pig.

Gastro, the poor thing has been boiled (preferably in stock) for 20 minutes, marinated in thick soya sauce for 15 minutes, shallow-fried (original recipe is to deep fry), rinsed in cold water, sliced, then marinated with nam yu and sugar for 45 mins, finally steamed with the 5-spice powdered taro next to it for 2.5 hours. How 'so'??

Just a quick snap of kau yoke - pork boiled, fried, then steamed for 2.5 hours with interspersed taro slices (which had been fried with 5-spice powder and garlic) marinated in nam yu (fermented beancurd) and sugar. Result: everything melts in the mouth. Kids were too hungry, had to serve them pronto. Didn't manage to snap the veg which is just simple cauliflower and julienned carrots, tossed in sesame oil and oyster sauce.

Michael, it's cantonese: dow see = black beans gnow yuk = beef chow = fry fu gwa = bitter melon ho fun = flat rice noodles Noodles topped with beef stir-fried with black beans and bitter melons.

Yum!!! Do I see some rice in your soup, Bruce? These little eggs are like sponge cakes, aren't they?

OUCH! and OUCH! from Ah Leung Gaw and Dai Gah Jeah's kicks. I get the message. Yes, I have taken some serial pix of some of stuff I make. Wow, peony, you are a gou sau (expert of the highest kind)! Peony? Can you provide the pix? We aren't making it this year. Ah Leung Gaw, you are correct. I'm too lazy to look at the link I provided earlier but here's what we do. The tongs are first lightly oiled (they have to be well-seasoned), the batter is ladled on it, at an angle, so that the excess flows out. Clamp the 2 irons shut. Put them over the fire. When you see the batter, which has leaked out a bit, is getting cooked, scrape them off with a knife. Return irons to stove. Turn over for even cooking. Skill is needed to gauge the timing of when the biscuit is nicely golden. You can open the irons to check midway, but this has to be done carefully, so that the still-soft biscuit doesn't run off and the imprint is marred. When the biscuit is ready, the tongs-handler, flips it over to the folder or roller. If the tongs are well-seasoned, the biscuit will come out without sticking. Stuck pieces will have to be cleaned off before making the next piece. When I was little, I used to plaster a finger or two so my fingers won't get burned. We use the tin cover to press and fold. To fold, place cover leaving around a centimeter...do not press all the way to the edge or you get a very flat piece...not pretty. You want it to slope a bit. You have around 10 seconds (or less) to fold before the biscuit cools and crisps. Do they have this in Hong Kong? Woohoooo! Tks. Now I know how to use multiquotes. Peony. Be careful of this bunch. They are mostly Toisanese. If you watch some of the older chinese films, you can hear some the dialect spoken. Boy = chai (cantonese) = doi (toisanese). Eat = sik (cantonese) = hack (toisanese). So, if we don't watch what we say about 'them', we'll get hacked to death!

Where do you get that beancurd sheet, Peony? I don't think I've seen it here. I get mine freshly made from my organic supplier man. I like a mix, though. Love to chew on some bits of sheet. After all those hours working in front of a hot stove making biscuits, you'd better drink more. When we used to make kuih kapit...it was usually a 2-family 12 hours affair. Newspapers were spread out on the porch floor, which was more spacious and cooler, and there will be 2 special long stoves. Each stove had 3 - 6 tongs, one tong-handler, and one or two folders. All in all, 3 generations would be working at various tasks, which ranged from adding charcoal to the stove, fanning the fire, working the iron tongs, sweeping away the scraps from neatening the edges of the tongs and working it into a pile to feed the dog (!), folding the love-letters, putting into tins, sealing the tins with cellotape, filling and refilling barley drink for all. Fringe benefit...we get to eat all the loveletters we want. Priceless!

Well, Ben-Sook, don't sit on your rear like me. I've been toying with the idea of a book too, with pix taken by myself. Need someone to kick me started.

I'm not sure if you do this tong sui (sweet dessert soup) there, but the easiest and most delicious thing you can do with black glutinous rice is simply boil a good handful of rice with say 8 cups of water till the rice opens. Fragrance it with pandan leaves (I'm happy to hear you have a nice ready supply now). Have ready a cup of first-squeezed coconut milk with a pinch of salt thrown in. Add the thick milk according to personal preference. There are various kuihs you can make with it too.

Aaack..don't know how to use the multiquotes...let's see if I remember it all. Dai Gah Jeah - if you have no choice but to use the glutinous rice, I think you shouldn't use more than 30%...too sticky. But that's my 2 sen. Peony - We use very low oven heat all the time. It's more hygienic. If we use the sunning method, we must take care in covering it...them pesky flies. Michael - Forgive us if some of us lapse into colloquial. Indeed, you can see 3 dialects in this thread. Please ask, anytime. Ah Leung Gaw - Long yuk = bakgwa = yuk gawn. 'Long' sounds like wolf in cantonese. But it's just colloquial speech...no chinese character. Some companies do use loong as in dragon, but it's usually yuk gawn. LOL, although I can read and write some chinese, I just don't know how to use a chinese online editor. Ben-Sook - you gotta be kidding! There's much more I need to learn from you than the other way around.

This tong should fix the eyesight part....with the boxthorn berries. But he'll have to add gingko nuts for the other problem. Nah...I think he's just plain vain...get those glasses out, Ah Leung Gaw! Host Note: This topic has become too large for our servers to handle. The topic continues HERE

I couldn't believe how good my estimate was this time. It yielded exactly 5 bowls of tong sui (5 x 250ml). Chop off the top. Dig out as little as possible...only the parts with seeds. You need the structure. Fill up with water and other ingredients. Steam for 1.5 - 2 hours. To serve, ladle out soup, then gently scoop out the melon flesh for each bowl. It would have softened and absorbed flavour from the soup. Yum. Get the smallest one for you and your better half.