Chinese New Year 2011

Below post was supposed to be uploaded during Chinese New Year – got delayed and I supposed it is never too late.

Sugee Cake

Sugee cake is a semolina buttery cake  infused with rosewater (or rose essence) , brandy and almonds which originates from another sub-ethnic group in Malaysia – the Eurasians – a mix of Indian, local, Portuguese or Dutch blood, some may trace their ancestries to Spain (and the mixed bloodline with the Moors).  The word ‘sugee’ is in fact in Hindi for semolina.

This cake is so popular, it has been adopted by many Malaysians especially the peranakan (nyonya) households adapting it to their own taste – you will see the addition of candied kumquats and melons – your typical sweetener for the chinese ‘tong sooi’ – sweet soups.

This cake is unique as it has rosewater  (or rose essence included) besides sugee, no doubt there is a strong influence from the Middle Eastern /South Mediterranean region. This cake is rather popular with the locals hence you can find these exotic ingredients available easily in most stores in Malaysia or Singapore.

As this cake is quite heavy so a small piece each is sufficient for most people, normally made for very very vspecial occasion or festivities.

For more on Eurasian ethnic group please see my post on Pineapple Tarts or on Eurasians in Malacca (specifically the Cristang people ) please read Celine Marbeck’s website on their culture and food heritage.

The flipside with a multicultural society is , sometimes the blending has been so well intergrated – the origins get blurred. Each subculture starts adopting one another’s cuisine heritage, sort of like cherry picking the best from one another and incorporating into their own repertoire. And the result is the younger generation have no idea of its history. That is why you see sometimes local folks themselves get confused thinking sugee cake is a nyonya delicacy which may not be entirely wrong, but it definitely does not originate from them.

I find the traditional fusion of  food cultures  in South East Asia, parts of Africa, Mediterranean and the Middle East, to the United States – particularly California, New Orleans very fascinating. I have not travelled to South America or the Caribbean but I am quite convinced you will find a colourful blend of fusiony foods there too.

Anyways here is a home recipe of a sugee cake. You can ice it with marzipan, buttercream (but being in Singapore due to the humidty and heat, this frosting sweats too much) or in this case simply dust icing sugar over the cake and sprinkle some organic dried rose bud petals.  They are very popular as wedding cakes in Singapore and Malaysia.

Recipe

• 4 oz of Self Raising Flour
• 4 oz of sugee (fine semolina)
• 2 oz of tang kua teow (candied melon pieces)+ 2 oz of candied tangerines or kumquats chopped (pulsed it through the food processor) into small pieces but not fine.
• 2 oz finely chopped almonds but not ground.
• 1 tsp rose essence or 1 tbp of rose water
• 1 tbp of brandy
• 6-8oz sugar castor depending how sweet you like the cake to  be
• 8oz salted regular butter soften
• 5 eggs + 1 egg yolk – beat the eggs till fluffy and pale yellow.

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture and blend well. Add the brandy, rose essence after. Fold in the flour + sugee into the butter/egg mixture carefully , followed by the candied melon +  kumquats and almonds. Mix until well incorporated.

Pour the batter into an 8inch square baking tin lined with greased parchment paper.

Bake in 150 degrees preheated oven for 50mins-1hr or cake skewer comes out clean.

Pai Thee Kong – 8th/9th Day of CNY

Tonight midnight, the Hokkien people those whom are taoists buddhists will pray to the Jade Emperor God (Thee Kong) as it is his  birthday tomorrow (the 9th day of Chinese New Year). The prayers involved a very high altar table (the higher the better – hence closer to heaven) where an array of fruits, mee suah (vermicelli), fungus, huat kueh (fermented steamed rice cakes) and ang koo (red coloured glutinous rice cakes filled with sweet yellow bean paste, shaped in tortoise shells) are offered. And around the altar tables, rows of sugar canes are erected tied to the tables. Prayers are to thank  Thee Kong for protection from evils and disasters, as well as for blessings and answering prayers.

Why the sugar cane? Because the hokkien people were hiding from their enemies in the large sugar cane fields, whilst praying to Thee Kong for protection. The danger passed and the hokkien people could return back to their villages safe. Feeling their prayers were answered and in gratitude since then, they offer sugar cane during their prayers on the eve of Thee Kong’s birthday for centuries until today.

Ang Koo

Being new to Singapore, I did not know where to get nice Ang Koos – a highlight of this celebration ( I did not get the sugar cane as I do not have an altar or space to tie them anywhere ,  home too small-lah, but will send a quiet prayer of thanks to Thee Kong this midnight).  And thanks to Facebook and helpful friends I managed to source some decent Ang Koo Kueh (Jia Xiang – at Everton Park, closest MRT Outram Park)

How to eat them? Fresh as they are or pan fried!

Pan Fried Ang Koo

Reunion Dinner

For the reunion dinner on the eve of the Chinese New Year, each family would have their own traditional dishes served on this special evening.  First of all you need to have enough food to stay up the whole night, at least past midnight to usher in the new year – the taoist would be offering prayers and burning papers at midnight and firecrackers where they are legal, are being set off.

The louder (the red ones particularly are a favourite) the better, because the noise will chase away the bad spirits and usher in the auspicious spirits. In Singapore as these firecrackers ARE illegal, the atmosphere past midnight was a little subdued.

Spring rolls and Stir fried vegetables

For our family, we normally would have curry chicken, spring rolls, jiu hu char (slivers of cuttlefish and sliced turnips, eaten with sambal), too toh thng (pig stomach soup – tastes better than it sounds) and chap chye (mix stir fried veges).  This time I hosted the reunion, and hence there was a slight change to the usual menu – instead we had spring rolls, fish curry assam pedas, chap chye and vegetarian yee sang (from Whole Earth, at Tanjung Pagar).

Yee Sang and Fish Assam Pedas (Sour Spicy Fish Curry)

The chinese believe one must have a fish dish for Chinese New Year eve as again it symbolises abundance – the word ‘yee’ in cantonese or ‘yu’ in mandarin. Being nyonyas, here is our version of a fish dish – the quintessential Fish Curry Assam Pedas with okra

Fish Assam Pedas Recipe (for 4 people)

• 4  pieces of fish steaks (ang cho/ red garoupa) or 1 large pomfret /2 small ones or any firm white fish or stingray
• 5 pieces okras chopped into half (across width wise)
• 1 tomato (cut into wedges)
• fish assam pedas spice paste (see below)
• 3 tbp of cooking oil
• 1 pandan leave washed and tied into a knot
• 1 tablespoon of palm sugar/sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1 sprig of daun kesum (laksa leaf) – optional

* Fish Spice Paste:

• 1 clove garlic
• 2 stalks of lemon grass (white parts only)
• 6 shallots
• 8-10 dried chillies (depends how spicy you like – soaked in hot water for about 30mins)
• 1 inch long tumeric root, peeled.
• 1/2 tablespoon of belacan (prawn paste)
• 1 tbp of cooking oil or coconut oil

Tamarind Juice:

2 cups of water + 2 tbp of tamarind pulp

For garnish: 1/2 bunga kantan, sliced finely

Blend the spices for the fish spice paste in a blender or a food processor.

Soak the tamarind pulp in warm water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind pulp constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.

Heat oil with the pandan leave and fry the spice paste for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Slowly add the tamarind juice, while stirring it and bring to boil – once boiling, add in the tomato wedges, daun kesum and okras and let the vegetable simmer for about 10-15 minutes till okra is soft but not squidgy.

Lastly add the fish, salt, and palm sugar/sugar, give a quick stir to coat the fish with the curry. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked.

Serve hot  (garnish with a sprinkle of the chopped bunga kantan and mint leaves if you have them). To be eaten with a bowl of white rice.

Peanut Cookies Chinese New Year

So here goes my first batch of cookies for CNY, making the Peanut Cookies – the savoury salty kind, that melts in your mouth. Well symbolically, these cookies mean “full of golden sand” for prosperity , in addition peanut means longevity.

Recipe

• 200 g of ground peanuts
  (if you bought whole ones from the market, do fry them in a wok or pan for about 10 mins on medium to low fire.. make sure they don’t burn. Stir them constantly – when the peanuts have a nice aroma and are golden, turn off the heat. Let them cool. Remove the skins, this is the tiring part and place the skinned peanuts in a food processor, pulse them til fine)
• 200g of castor sugar
• 200g of plain flour
• 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate soda
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 120 g of peanut oil (plus 1 tsp of  melted butter)
• 1 egg  yolk + 1 tsp of water, mix them together for glazing

Preheat oven at 160 degrees C

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and with your hands blend them well. Then slowly add in the oil, bit by bit as your stir and knead them with your hand. Keep adding the oil bit by bit until the dough becomes cohesive, it resembles a shortbread dough consistency. Knead the dough with your palm, for about 5 mins.

Then pinch a small teaspoonful of dough and roll them into balls, put them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and flatten the balls slightly with your palm about 1.5-2 cm in diameter. I used a chopstick to make an indention in the middle of each flattened but 1.5 cm thick cookie. Brush the tops with the egg yolk mixture

Bake the cookies for about 15-20 mins  til slightly golden but not brown. Let them cool and store them in an airtight container.

Year of the Tiger

With the chinese lunar calendar, Chinese New Year does not fall always on the same date each year based on the Gregorian calendar.  So for many of us who are chinese, living abroad but have no access to a lunar calendar, we rely on our parents or the internet to inform us when the Chinese New Year will fall. Normally I would check like 5 months in advance, as plane tickets and bus tickets home tend to be fully booked if you don’t start booking 5 months in advance! Crazy!

This year though it falls incidentally on the 14th of February – ahah, Valentine’s Day.  How poetic! It will be the year of the Tiger. (Several astrology sites are already saying it will be a rollercoaster year in politics, stock market and flat news for the housing market..but with the strong will and resolve of the Tiger – we will persevere).

We are about a month away only and it is time to start baking some traditional chinese sweetcakes (cookies and cakes)- usually when I was growing up, it about 2 weeks before the actual day helping my mom out but I am a little peculiar, I like to be quite organised in my preparations to a point sometimes I stress myself out unnecessarily. I tether towards the perfectionist side somewhat I have found out lately, just like my father!

I confess, well this year is different because instead of us going home to Penang to celebrate it with my family, my mom, grandma and my brother will be coming down to Singapore to celebrate it here with us! Thought I should give my mom a break and do the hosting ourselves here, so me the ambitious hostess – will be the good cook-lah, wife-lah, daughter-lah, sister-lah and granddaughter too. So I must now  plan in advance what to make for the reunion dinner and the sweetcakes. I am a nutter when it comes to hosting anything – it is all in the details and I am into details and stickler to tradition (ok, ok to an extent)

Tnee Kuih photo from chanlillian.net

As I am indeed a one woman show, there are a few traditional kuihs (sweetcakes)  I won’t be making – ‘tee kueh’ (steamed caramel glutinous rice cakes) and ‘kuih kapit’ (love letters – thin crepe like wafers, cooked over decorated metal flatplates on hot charcoal fire). My mom will be ordering 1 tin of kuih kapit from Penang to bring down to Singapore! Phew..  (ps – like many food bloggers from Penang are saying, I have to agree with many of them, it is sad to see the traditional ‘kuihs’ – sweetcakes are no longer made at home and many are being manufactured in the factories. Most modern folks have no time, too busy working and families are losing this tradition of making them to big food companies where quality and taste are compromised – I assure you that!)

kuih kapit photos from tuapui and fawked

This is my family’s recipe:

Love Letters (Kuih Kapit)

• 130 g rice flour
• 30 g plain flour
• 160 g sugar
• 2 ½ cups thick santan
• 5-6 eggs

Mix all together into pancake like batter. Put through a sieve to ensure smooth batter. Place on heated love letter iron plates and grill it over hot coals.  Make sure iron plates have been oiled nicely. When toasted golden, scrap the loveletters off the hot irons carefully as they are very thin wafers now, and fold while hot into a triangle. Once cool they will become crisp. Store in airtight containers like used milo tin.

I won’t have a chance to make them as I need the floor space (living in a flat now) and the charcoal grill and loveletter irons which I don’t have.  My family gave ours away when we moved house 20 years ago. I am on a mission to collect them back – wink!

My attempt this year instead would be to make the following (and I have never made any of them on my own before!!):

- melt in your mouth peanut cookies
- kuih bangkit (tapioca/arrowroot floury biscuits)
- almond cookies
- pineapple jam tarts (eurasian recipe)
- sugee cake or layer spiced cake , not quite decided yet!

As for reunion dinner, the menu is still work in progress but I will certainly post  and share my (mis) adventures with you here. Stay tuned…

For more on CNY tradition, please read my previous post http://yoonsy.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/cny/

Chinese New Year 2009

Well Chinese New Year this year was spent in Venice, unpacking boxes!! I guess a good way to start the year in a new home!

This year (Year of the Ox) – began on Jan 26th and the celebration lasts for 15 days (until Feb 9th). Last year was the Year of the Rat – we saw a lot of things unfold worldwide. Year of the Ox will symbolise the return to the basics and values such as hard work, honesty, preservarence and modesty to help us go through these tough times. The Ox is known to be dependable, calm, pragmatic and self sacrificing. The Year of the Rat – undoubtedly delivered the consequences of the past years of greed, selfishness, dishonesty and ego. All our actions have consequences – and cumulatively it got so bad that it had to go out with a big bang!  What will this year hold for us? We will see , but right now it is probably most prudent to ask ourselves what have we learned and how will we live this new year.

Tradition has it that the Chinese New Year means family reunion and on the eve we have the big reunion dinner.  The dinner consists of various traditional dishes of each family or a hot pot. In my family, being with Peranakan influences – we would normally have ‘jiu hu char’, ‘nyonya chicken curry’, ‘roti babi’, ‘chap choy’, ‘lor bak’, spring rolls, ‘tu toh th’ng’ and rice.  Of course days before the event, my family and our relatives will also start making cookies and traditional cakes. Not to mention a major spring cleaning too.

Kuih Kapit

We used to make ‘kuih kapit’ aka love letters – but now our parents generation are getting older, they don’t do it anymore. The ‘kuih kapit’  we made were awesome, and they were made the traditional way over hot coals. They are thin rice/coconut milk wafers – that crackle and melts in your mouth. It is quite hard these days to find good ones. Electric made ones are not as good!

kuih bangkit

 

 

Another traditional cookie is ‘kuih bang kek’ – which are also with coconut and tapioca flour based. They are delicious – almost like unbaked cookies as they look ‘white’. They come in various animal shapes. See photo on the left (from www.knowingfood.com). This photo shows the exact way they looked like as I know them when I was a kid. Normally my mother will also order pineapple tarts from her colleague, Aunty Jane (who unfortunately passed away) – and she made the most delicious pineapple jam tarts ever! In addition to that, we have ‘layer cake’ (kuih lapis) – similar to the Indonesian kuih lapis, ‘sugee cake’ (rosewater, almonds and sugee cake) , peanut cookies and cashewnut cookies. All these are served with dried fruits (geng geng), red dates and melon seeds aplenty to our visitors. Some families will also make ‘tong sueh’ – sweet soups with various dumplings or with dried fruits and seeds.

I love ‘tee kuih’ – caramelised, glutinous rice steamed cakes, wrapped with banana leaves. You can only find them during Chinese New Year. They are made as offering to the ‘Kitchen God’ so that he does not report any bad deeds to the Jade Emporor (Tee Kong). It is gooey when freshly steamed but taste excellent rolled with coconut shavings seasoned with a little salt.   You can also fry them by sandwiching between a layer of yam and another layer of sweet potato – coated with batter and deep fried. In Penang, there is a famous stall close to Heng Ee school on Free School road. They have delicious fried bananas (pisang raja), yams and sweet potato balls too. If you are curious how Tee kuih is made – you can watch on YouTube on the making of ‘Tee Kuih – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F59rQt3k9A

Red packets

During this festive season, red packets are given out to children and unmarried members of the family or friends. These red packets or commonly known as ‘ang pows’ have money in them. For children this is extra  fun, since  you get the extra pocket money to buy more firecrackers or sweets! Firecrackers – yes an essential part of CNY and ‘lion dance’. This is to usher more luck and chase away evil spirits.  When visiting friends or relatives we bring along mandarin oranges as they symbolises ‘gold’ or pomelos in cantonese meaning ‘abundance’. The first 2 days of CNY are dedicated to visiting relatives and friends. In Malaysia being multi ethnic, it is common for chinese families to have ‘open houses’ for friends of other ethnic groups to visit and makan together.

The 3rd day of CNY is normally regarded as not a good day to visit anyone and a day where one visit the graves of ones’ ancestors to pay respects.

Another symbolic dish only for CNY on the 7th day is Yee Sang- raw fish salad – meaning increase in abundance, prosperity and vigour. The trick is to toss it as high as possible with your chopsticks to signify ‘lo hei’ – increase in your fortune. This raw fish dish comes with a special sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, kumquat paste and sesame oil, and the fish (originally mackerel but today salmon is equally popular) was served with carrots, chilli, mengkuang (jicama), limes, jellyfish, red pickled ginger,etc. Today, this dish is eaten throughout the 15 days of CNY. Check this photo out by my friend Esther.

On the 8th evening (as the 9th day of CNY is the Jade Emperor’s birthday)  is a big prayer day fo the the hokkiens where many live in Penang, my hometown. My maternal side is hokkien, so we have a table in front of our house – the idea again is to have a high table (so closer to heaven) – and offerings are made to Tee Kong (Jade Emperor). There will be mee koo (red buns), ang koo (tortoise cakes), huat kuih (prosperity cakes),  roast duck, sugar cane, big jossticks, fruits – the whole works. Also ghim chuah (joss paper) are being folded and burned. Sugar cane is very important. The legend has it that the Hokkiens escaped persecution by a cruel general in ancient China by seeking refuge in a sugarcane plantation. They emerged unharmed on the birthday of the Jade Emperor. So in gratitude, this has become a big prayer day for the Hokkiens. Photos below are from flickr nick chan.

The final day being 15th day, fondly known as Chap Goh Meh - my family will make ‘pungat’ – tastes like bubur cha cha except with extra bananas and sweet potatoes of all kinds (sweet potatoes, yam) in creamy sweet coconut soup. It is the last day and also the chinese’ Valentine’s day where maidens throw oranges into the river or sea (as done in Penang ) in order to attract good husbands. There will be prayers too, to mark the end of the celebration.

Recipes for CNY (coming soon!)