Text 4189, 172 rader
Skriven 2013-09-03 07:08:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: leftovers 92
====================
 ML>> Philip fulfills
 ML>> that function for Court; luckily he doesn't mind leftovers.
 NB>> At least he's a good influence on her... providing a reason not
 NB>> to automatically waste good food... ;)
 ML> But he hasn't managed to get her to actually 1. not buy too
 ML> much; 2. consume leftovers.
 NB> Probably a hopeless cause... 

Court is turning into her mother, something I long ago feared.
Pity, as a couple decades ago people were rooting for us to
get together, and she was kind of cute.

 ML> parsley, slimy succotash, you know, nightmare stuff. Down
 ML> the pig, which acquiesces for a while and then starts
 ML> shooting geysers of fatty liquid up the drain. Argh. After
 NB> Around here that sort of stuff goes down the toilet... of course, we
 NB> don't have a disposal...  ;)  Solid slimy stuff just goes into the
 NB> trash/garbage... 

Did you see the news about how tons of grease coagulated into
a fatberg and threatened the London sewer system? It appears to
have formed out of bacon fat down the drain mixed with flushed
saniwipes.

 ML> Finally, a few gallons of boiling water and half a bottle of
 ML> Joy seemed to have done the trick, but note that I left the
 ML> premises as quickly as possible (I'm heading to Pittsburgh
 ML> as I type).
 NB> Good idea... enough's enough...  (G)

I did come back, and the fix held, though there are gurgly noises
coming from the drain, probably signalling a minigreaseball.

 NB> There's a wide spectrum around here though, I've noticed...  :)  At
 NB> least in How leftovers are taken care of.  :)

I thrive on leftovers. Unfortunately, the Labor Day leftovers
consist mostly of cucumber salad and tortellini salad. The
burgers and dogs and sassengers mostly went away.


Chai tow kueh

250 g Rice flour
10 g Tapioca flour
10 g Wheat flour
5 g Salt
15 g Sugar
10 g MSG (optional)
- or a piece of dried cuttlefish
500 g Radish
1250 mL Water (900 ml for radish, 350 ml for flour)
1 pk Chye Poh
2 cloves Garlic
250 g Pork lard (optional)
In instructions, not in original -
for egg version - eggs, fish sauce, scallions, white pepper
for black version - sweet soy sauce 

Notes on ingredients.

Radish - Since I was making my own carrot cake, I went
for the best and got myself a Japanese Daikon. It is of
course more expensive than the local ones which you can
buy from the local markets. But at $5.60 per daikon which
weighs around 1 kg, you can make quite a lot of carrot
cake, so it is still quite affordable. If you are buying
the ones at the market, go for the ones from Cameron
Highlands instead of the ones from China. According to
the Carrot Cake Uncle at Fu Ming, they are better for
making carrot cake.

Chye Poh - (Preserved turnips) There are two types of
Chye Poh in the market, a sweet or a salty version. Most
carrot cake places use the salty version. However, I
actually like a bit of sweetness in my carrot cake so I
mix both. The taste is really up to your preference.

Rice flour - If I had it my way, I would grind my own
rice flour with a stone mill using Thai Jasmine rice. But
I don't have a stone mill (yet), so the best alternative
is to buy the ready milled rice flour from the shops.
Make sure it is the wet milled type and not the dry
milled type which is used to make batter for deep frying.

1. Cut the radish into strips which are about twice the
size of matchsticks. Cutting the radish is better than
shredding it because when you shred it, the juices tend
to leach out of the radish. Cutting it also means it is a
little thicker and so it gives it a better bite.

2. Mix the rice flour, tapioca flour, wheat flour with
350 ml water into a thick slurry.

3. Heat up the water in a separate pot and add salt,
sugar and msg or dried cuttlefish (optional). You can
use other alternatives to msg such as konbu, ikan bilis,
dried scallops etc. You can of course use a bit of
chicken stock powder but just take note that it is as
good as adding msg. So if you are doing it as a shortcut
to making your own chicken stock then it is ok, but if
you are trying to avoid msg, then it is not ok.

4. Once your stock is ready, add the radishes into the
boiling water and cook until translucent (5-10 min).

5. Add the flour mixture to the radish and stir until it
has thickened evenly.

6. Oil the pans and then add the thickened mixture.

7. Steam for 2 hr and leave overnight in the fridge to set.

Now we can prepare the condiments.

Pork Lard (optional)
Render the pork lard by cutting the fat into cubes and
letting it render over a slow fire (takes around 30 min).
You can add some pandan leaves for flavouring.

Chye Poh
Finely chop garlic and add them to the Chye Poh. Add some
pork lard or vegetable oil and cook until the chye poh
turns brown. You may add some sugar if you prefer your
chye poh to be sweeter.

Instructions on frying

If I had my way, I would have a nice flat cast iron pan
to fry the carrot cake over a charcoal fire. But since
this recipe is for home use, I have taken Chef William's
advise to use a nonstick pan. It actually works pretty
well and is more practical for most people.

1. Cut the carrot cake into 2 cm cubes. 

2. Add oil to the pan and when it is hot, add the cubes
of carrot cake. Press the carrot cake down gently onto
the pan so that it breaks. This creates an irregular
surface which enables the chye poh and fish sauce to
stick to. This is much better then chopping the carrot
cake with a knife into smaller cubes as you get only
smooth surface on your carrot cake that way. That is why
its better to start with larger cubes and break it into
irregular shaped smaller chunks. The aim is to have some
large pieces where you can taste the rice and radish and
some smaller pieces that get charred and coated with chye
poh and fish sauce.

3. Add fish sauce and continue to fry.

4. Add Chye Poh mixture and continue to fry till it
develops a nice crust.

5. Add eggs and fry till brown. Serve with chopped
spring onions and a dash of white pepper.

No egg version (black version)

1. With the black version, add the dark sauce towards
the end of the frying process. Fry till you develop
some crust on the carrot cake and then reduce the heat
and add the sweet black sauce. Toss until evenly coasted.
Then turn off the fire and add some more sweet sauce,
stir fry till even and then serve. (Note: Sweet black
sauce turns bitter if subjected to too much heat)

Courtesy of Chef William Soh, ieatishootipost.sg

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