[Snacking while eGulleting...(Part 1)]

Late afternoon snack of an orange, some rambutans and half a you tiao.

[Dumplings: Tips, Techniques, Recipes]

The Chinese Dumpling Festival (also known as the Dragon Boat Festival) is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month - which falls on 4th June this year.

What is your favourite Chinese dumpling? Do you like the sweet or savoury ones?

[Chinese Salads: Do they exist?]

There's a raw fish salad that's eaten by the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore during Chinese New Year called "Yee Sang" - it's a salad of shredded lettuce, julienned carrots, julienned jicama, finely shredded lime peel, pickled ginger, kaffir lime leaves, pomelo, crunchy bits of crackers and slices of raw fish topped with a lime-plum sauce (there's also a Nyonya version with Hoisin sauce) and spices. The various ingredients are placed on a platter and the diners toss and mix it at the table with their chopsticks. It's traditionally only eaten on the 7th day of Chinese New Year ("yan yatt" - everyone's birthday) but nowadays restuarants serve it throughout the whole Chinese New Year period.

The Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese believe that Yee Sang brings good luck, prosperity and wealth for the year to those who toss and mix it while shouting "Low Hei". It's also believed that the higher you toss and mix it, the better your luck will be for the year.

Yee Sang is most likely an invention of the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore as I don't think it's eaten in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.

[Chinese Watercress, Thai Style]

Kangkung is also known as water convolvulus.

There's a dish called "sotong kangkung" in Malaysia where blanched kangkung is served together with dried cuttlefish and a peanut or chilli shrimp paste sauce.

[yam bean ideas]

Forgot this - add some sugar to the crushed peanuts before sprinkling the mixture on top of the slice of yam bean / jicama with hoisin sauce.

[yam bean ideas]

Peel, slice, spread with hoisin sauce and topped with crushed peanuts as a snack.

Shredded and stir-fried with with shredded carrots, thinly sliced french beans, pork and dried cuttlefish (known as "jeu hoo char") - it's similar to spring roll stuffing but is eaten with rice. It's also served in little wafer cups served with a chilli sauce - "pai tee".

[Soup in the Chinese Kitchen]

By the way, has anyone figured out if soup comes first or last in a formal banquet? Have heard conflicting advice from various sources

At Cantonese banquets, a savoury soup is usually the 2nd course (out of 8 or 10) after the 4 seasons platter (saye yee fun). There is also a sweet soup as the last course as part of dessert.

[Soup in the Chinese Kitchen]

Folks I hate to do this to you but all this raving about Chinese soup is STRICTLY a western invention.  I am living in China and have travelled throught a broad stretch and I must tell you soup in China is something of an enigma.  It amounts to hot water with something dead in it.  They add no seasonings and nothing to thicken it, it has been quite a shock to yours truly as well.  At people's homes or in the nicest restaurants it matters not, Chinese soup is a non-event.  Don't believe the hype.

Soups are a Cantonese thing. In fact, for some Cantonese families, it's not dinner unless there's soup is part of it.

However, the soups that we have at home is hardly ever Hot & Sour soup or Wonton soup. It's usually a chicken herbal soup, pork ribs with lotus root / watercress / marrow / wintermelon / preserved greens or dried anhchovies with greens.

[Laksa]

My favourite is Curry Laksa - a combination of yellow egg noodles and rice vermicelli with bean sprouts garnished fried tofu puffs (tau pok), poached chicken pieces/slices, sliced fish cake and boiled cockles smothered in a thick curry. There is also the sambal with a squeeze of kalamansi - it's great with the cockles!

I don't like Assam Laksa as much - usually add lots of prawn paste, mint, sliced onions and sliced preserved shallots as the soup is otherwise a bit too sour for me.

Laksa Lemak - the laksa lemak I know is somewhat different - a sort of combination of Curry Laksa (known as Curry Mee in Penang) and Penang Assam Laksa. Laksa Lemak has a fish-based gravy like Assam Laksa but has coconut milk added.

There are all sorts of variations to the basic Assam Laksa / Curry Mee in Malaysia. The ones I've tried are :

Laksa Johor - the gravy is fish-coconut milk-tamarind-based similar to that of Laksa Lemak - it's sometimes served with spaghetti

Laksa Kedah - tomato-based fish gravy

Laksam - the gravy is fish-coconut milk-based served with a thick flat rice-tapioca flour noodle

Laksa Sarawak - somewhat like a curry laksa minus the cocunut milk.

[Roast Pork Buns]

I wish someone would make veggie roast pork buns.  Say, substituting pork with boca burgers.

Your wish has come true!

There are vegetarian Chinese roast pork buns - the meat filling is made from some sort of soya product. Chinese vegetarians have substitutes for eveything! They actually taste quite good and are amazingly similar to the real thing.

[Roast Duck: Tips, Techniques & Tradition]

We can get roast duck quite easily in Malaysia. Roast goose is available too but it is a lot less common.

roast goose ... is more fatty and gamy than duck

Hmmm...to me, roast duck tastes more gamey than roast goose. Maybe the ducks we get here are different! I prefer roast duck to roast goose as the taste of roast duck is more intense while roast goose is relatively bland.

[Fresh Turmeric Stains, and Choosing Fresh vs. Dry]

Hi Pan and terima kasih banyak for your greetings!

:shock: I'm Malaysian not Singaporean!!!

Where did you go to school in Terengganu? I used to spend Chinese New Year in Kuala Terengganu as my grandfather lived there.

Hi The Camille - I don't know where the pinned threads are . Will add it to the pinned thread if someone could point them out to me. See these for more on white turmeric

- http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=Z

- http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredien...s/turmeric.html

Here's a link to a Nasi Kunyit recipe - the site is trove of Malaysian recipes. The nasi kunyit recipe I use is similar to the one in the link - the difference is that I use fresh pounded turmeric (about 1 to 1 1/2 inches - use a fork to hold the turmeric on a chopping board so that yours fingers won't be stained and scrape off the skin with a knife. Cut the turmeric into pieces then pound it in a mortar and pestle.) in place of the turmeric powder. I also add the coconut milk, salt and peppercorns after the first 20 minutes of steaming.

[Fresh Turmeric Stains, and Choosing Fresh vs. Dry]

Here'a a link to an excellent article on turmeric and some helpful hints on how to get rid of turmeric stains. Not sure whether you would want to try it on your teeth. Perhaps the hint on removing turmeric stains on clothes can be adapted by having some lemonade and milk.

Fresh turmeric ("kunyit") is commonly used in Malaysia and Singapore.

Besides being used in curries as mentioned by Pan, it's also used in a traditional turmeric rice dish (known as "Nasi Kunyit" in Malay or "Wong Geung Faan" in Cantonese) that's eaten for a baby's "full-moon celebration" (i.e. when a baby turns a month old) by Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese and Baba/Nyonya families. Nasi Kunyit is generally served with a chicken curry. Little glutinous rice cakes with green bean filling in the shape of turtles ("Ang Koo Kuih"), hardboiled eggs dyed red and pickled young ginger are also served as part of "full-moon" celebrations.

[Chinese duck eggs]

Steamed Triple Egg Custard

Ingredients

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsps canola oil

1 preserved duck egg (thousand-year old egg or "pei tan"), coarsely chopped

1 salted duck egg, yolk only, coarsely chopped

3 large eggs

1 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground white pepper

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp chopped scallions (green onions)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry minced garlic in oil until golden and crispy. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Scatter chopped preserved egg and salted egg yolk on the bottom on a heat-proof dish (approx. 8-inch).

3. Beat eggs lightly in a medium bowl. Add water, salt and white pepper and stir to blend (the custard should not be foamy). Pour the custard over the ingredients in the heat-proof dish.

4. Prepare a wok for steaming. Set the dish into steamer basket, cover the wok and steam until custard is firm, about 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Combine fried garlic and oil with soy sauce and pour over steamed custard. Garnish with chopped scallions and serve.

[The Best Hainanese Chicken Rice in Singapore]

A note on the rice-balls - they were not invented by the Malaccans.

Hainan (which means South Sea) Island's traditional livelihood was fishing and farming - rice was formed into balls simply because it is easier to eat it out in the fields - it saves the hassle of having to bring along chopsticks.

Some Hainanese families in Malaysia and Singapore still make these rice balls for prayer offerings on Qing Ming (Chinese All Souls Day).

[Flatbreads]

Hi Suvir,

I normally have Roti Canais at the street stalls or Indian Muslim (Mamak)restaurants. They even have them at buffets at some hotels here but they seem to taste so much better at the stalls or Mamak restaurants. I've never tried making them at home as they're available at the stalls / restaurants throughout the day and are freshly fried when you order them. Some of these Mamak restaurants are even open 24 hours.

I have a couple of recipes for Roti Canai from some Malaysian cook books. Will post them here soon once I dig the books out.

PerfectCircle,

I'm posting from KL. I think each roti stall probably has their own variation of the basic roti. I haven't tried ones with peanuts and honey or spiced potatoes but I definitely like the roti with the filling of little sweet bananas - it's quite good with honey drizzled on it too. I like the plain Roti Canai or Roti Bom (smashed up version of the plain one) best drowned in dhall curry.

Eating Roti Canai in Cameron Highlands sounds really good - a hot crisp Roti Canai with its chewy doughy layers smothered in curry in the cool clean highlands air. It's a lot warmer here in KL so we're usually drenched in sweat once we've had our Roti Canai and Teh Tarik (pulled tea) at the hawker stalls.

Did you try the Murtabak when you were in Malaysia / Singapore? It's sort of like a Roti Canai but is made in a square shape (Roti Canais are usually round) with a minced mutton / chicken, egg and onion filling. It's served with a curry and pink pickled onions.

[Flatbreads]

My favourite Indian flatbread is Roti Canai / Chanai. Some say Roti Canai is a Malaysianised term for Parathas as it was first introduced here by someone from Chennai.

Roti Canais are eaten throughout the day here - they are a favourite for breakfast or a late night snack at Mamak (Indian Muslim) restaurants / hawker stalls found in almost every street corner. They are usually eaten with dhall, chicken curry, fish curry, mutton curry or just a spinkling of sugar.

Besides the basic Roti Canai, there are also spin-offs such as:

Roti Telur - Roti Canai with Egg

Roti Telur Bawang - Roti Canai with Egg and Onion filling

Roti Pisang - Roti Canai with Banana filling

Roti Bom - a Roti Canai which is smashed in between the cook's hands so that it explodes like a bomb

Roti Planta - Roti Canai with extra margarine

Roti Sardin - Roti Canai with a Tomato Sauce-based Sardine filling

[Restaurants and food stalls in Bangkok]

Hi Matthew

[moderator's note: Material from this post has been removed to avoid copyright violations]

[There] is a recent article by Stan Sesser in the Wall Street Journal (21 June 2002) with recommendations on where to eat in Bangkok.

I live in KL and would be glad to recommend places to eat here. Like Bangkok, KL has great food at a wide range of places, from grungy street side hawker stalls to fancy restaurants in posh hotels. You can also eat out in KL at any time of the day or night - there are many street side hawkers that are open throughout the night.

Unfortunately, I am not as organised as Stan Sesser and haven't the exact addresses of many of these places. We sort of just know them as the place around this and that corner. However, if you could tell me when you'll be leaving for your trip to Bangkok / KL, I'll try to compile a list of places to eat in KL before that date.

WSJ - 21 June 2002

A Bangkok Sidewalk Is a Buffet of Flavor

By STAN SESSER, Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL