MIXED VEGGIES & SEAFOOD - CAPCAY

Ingredients :
1/2 medium size carrot - sliced
1/4 head of medium size cauliflower - sliced
3 stalks of yu choy sum (optional)
1/4 head of small size cabbage - sliced
1 small pickle cucumber - peel the skin, discard the seeds and sliced
10 medium size shrimp (optional)
5 fish balls - sliced (optional)
4 cloves of garlic - bruised and thinly sliced
1/3 cube of beef/chicken bouillon
1/4 tbs of pepper
1 tbs sweet soy sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs Chinese cooking wine
1 tbs tapioca starch - dissolve in 4 tbs of water
1/2 cup of water
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* Heat the pan, saute garlic and bouillon cube in 2 tbs of cooking oil until slightly brown
* Add carrots and water, cook around 1 minute then add all the other ingredients.Cook around 4 or 5 minutes.
* Slowly pour the tapioca starch into the pan and mix well. Remove from heat.

KERING TERI ( FRIED DRIED ANCHOVIES)

Ingredients :
1 small bag (around 120 gram) regular or salted anchovies
2 Thai chilies - remove the seeds, thinly sliced and fried
2 lime leaves (optional)
1 bay leaf (optional)
3 cloves garlic - minced
5 tea spoon sugar
3 tbs tamarind juice - dissolve tamarind paste in hot water
1/2 tea spoon salt (optional) - I use dried salted anchovies, salt is not added.
2 tbs oil to saute

How to Cook:
Deep frying anchovies until slightly brown - set aside.
Saute garlic, lime leaves, bay leaf and add the tamarind juice, then add fried anchovies and chilies. Stir well and remove from heat.

TEKWAN

Tekwan is a fish ball soup from Palembang, South Sumatra. The fish balls are made from fish paste and tapioca starch - similar to empek-empek and siomay bandung :)

#1. FISH BALLS
Ingredients:
13 oz fish paste.
7 tbs tapioca starch
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
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* Mix fish paste with sugar,pepper,salt, and tapioca starch.
* Bring water to boil in a pan.
* Use two teaspoons to make the fish paste into round shapes and add in boiling water. The cooked fish balls will float in a pan. Remove and set aside.

#2. THE SOUP
Ingredients:
10 tbs dried shrimp - soak in water, drain, and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 handful dried lily flowers - 金针 (^available @ 99 Ranch Market)
1 handful black fungus (^)
4 tbs butter
4 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs Dashida
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt.
4 tbs sugar
2500 ml water
3 stalks celery - thinly sliced
1 medium size jicama
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*Soak dried lily flowers and black fungus in hot water for 5 minutes or so. Rinse and drain.Cut black fungus into 2 or 3 pieces. Knot lily flowers. - set aside
*Peel and cut jicama into strips
*Heat butter in skillet,add garlic and dried shrimp^^, stir frequently until slightly brown.Remove from heat - set aside
*Bring 2500 ml water to boil, add garlic + dried shrimp^^, Dashida, fish sauce, pepper, salt, sugar. Then add fish balls,jicama, black fungus and lily flowers.Cook for 2 minutes.

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* Move to a serving bowl, garnish with celery and fried shallots. I like to add 2 tbs vinegar, ABC sweet soy sauce, and ground chilies. It tastes better ;)

SIOMAY BANDUNG

Siomay Bandung is an Indonesian steamed fish dumplings served with peanut sauce.It's ubiquitous in the city.You can find it from restaurants to street vendors.
Here is the recipe! (Enough for 4 servings)

Ingredients:
26 oz fish paste (I usually buy fish paste in a plastic container weigh 13 oz each)
8 tbs tapioca starch
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pack medium firm tofu
3 medium size white potatoes
1 head of medium size cabbage
2 medium size bitter melons
2 eggs - hard boil, peel the skin and cut in half - set aside
key limes
1 pack of peanut sauce(sambel pecel-can be found at Asian grocery stores)
ABC Sweet soy sauce
Ketchup (optional)
Sriracha Hot Sauce (optional - if you love spicy, this is a MUST)

How to cook:

* Clean the cabbage, thin the stem on the leaves and boil it for a few seconds. Remove form heat and drain. Roll each of the leaf. - set aside.
* Cut each bitter melon into 4 parts and remove the seeds with a spoon. Soak in hot salt water for 5 minutes or so then rinse them.
* Cut tofu into 6 thin slices, and cut each slice in 2, then cut diagonally to make triangles.
* Rinse and peel potatoes, cut into 4 parts.
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* Mix fish paste with pepper,salt,sugar,and tapioca starch in a large bowl.
* Stuff 2 tbs fish paste into the bitter melon.
* Take a piece of tofu, use the end of the spoon to make a cut on one side of the triangle and stuff with fish paste.
* Steam the bitter melons, tofu, and potatoes until they're fully cooked.
(Note: if you can't stuff all the fish paste into tofu or bitter melons, simply make a few cylinder shapes out of it and steam them!)
* Bring 500 ml water to boil. Add a whole package of peanut sauce and stir until dissolve.Remove from heat.
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Place bitter melons,tofu,potatoes,cabbage,and half of the egg in a plate. Pour peanut sauce on top along with the sweet soy sauce, ketchup and sriracha sauce.Squeeze key lime juice on it.



-A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body (Benjamin Franklin)- 

EMPEK-EMPEK - INDONESIAN FISH CAKES

Empek-empek is an Indonesian fish cake made of fish and tapioca starch; served with sweet and sour vinegar sauce. To make it simple, I buy fish paste from Asian grocery store and mix it with tapioca starch, a little bit of pepper and salt;
(13 oz fish paste : 7 oz tapioca starch). Since the paste has been mixed with garlic powder, I don't have to add garlic anymore. Then I make cylinder shapes out of the dough, boil until it's fully cooked and fry it.

Now the most important part to me is the sauce :)
The ingredients are :
200 gram palm sugar
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
2 or 3 Thai chilies, depends on how spicy you like. I usually grind the chilies.
100 gram of tamarind paste - dissolve in 1/2 cup of hot water and discard the pulp. Use the juice only.
A little bit of salt and vinegar.
500 ml water

Bring the water to boil and put all the ingredients in the boiling water and mix them together. Once it boils, switch off the stove. What you have to do next is taste the sauce. Seriously! It has to be sweet and sour :)

* You can also put fresh chopped cucumber in the sauce ( optional) before you serve it.



-Trial & Error is important to make good foods - :D