Lazy Egg Tarts

 

When I saw this egg tarts made using puff pastry at Nasi Lemak Lover's blog, I immediately bookmarked it.  Simply because I am lazy and simple or short-cut recipes attract me.  Just so that I had a piece of frozen puff pastry waiting to be used and my girls and I loved loved egg tarts (in any crust), so this recipe came in the right moment.  Each of us had three pieces after it came out of the oven and it was pretty good for a short-cut recipe.  However, I would prefer to use the pie crust for this instead of puff pastry the next time as it couldn't hold lots of filling as I was having difficulty in stretching the thawed puff pastry to fill the muffin hole.  

I would use the custard filling recipe again and make my own crust the next time I feel like eating egg tarts.  Definitely not a bad way to get a quick fix.  However, I would recommend the refrigerated pie crust instead of frozen puff pastry if you don't want to make your own crust and want a quick craving fix..

I saw the recipe at Nasi Lemak Lover and she adapted it from Forbidden Garden.

Ingredients:

Egg custard filling:

240g hot water
100g coarse sugar ( I used 90g granulated sugar)
3 eggs
¼ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp white vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)

12pcs frozen square puff pastry, thawed (I used 1 piece of puff pastry, cut into 12 pieces) 


 












Method:

1. Dissolve sugar in hot water, set aside to cool.

2. Break eggs in a mixing bowl, lightly stir.

3. Add in syrup (no 1), vanilla extract and vinegar, lightly stir well to combine.

4. Sift twice, set aside.

5. Divide the puff pastry into 12 pieces and arrange it in a 12 holes muffin pan.

6. Pour egg custard filling in the puff pastry case, about 90% full.  I have some leftover filling which I just pour into a ramekin and bake together with the egg puff pastry.

7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 350'F for 35mins or till golden brown.

8. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Spicy Sardine Puff Pastry

It is not a bad idea to keep some puff pastry in the freezer when it goes on sales.  It can make for a really quick snack or emergency finger food or appetizer.  Not a bad idea to have few canned of tomato sardine in the pantry for cases like this as well.  I always loved the spicy sardine filling, it was a flavor that I grew up loving and still love.  Too bad Evy didn't like the sardine filling, so Edda and I had most of it. :-P

This is one snack that is really easy to make with the frozen puff pastry.  You can get creative with all sort of fillings that you could imagine.  For example, curry chicken with potato, tuna, apple, kaya, red bean paste, nutella, cherry, strawberry, char siew, etc.  As long as you can imagine it, you can make it!

Ingredients:

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thaw in room temperature for 40 minutes.

1 egg + 1 tsp. water for egg wash

Sardine Filling:

1 small canned of tomato sardine, drain

1 big shallot, minced

1 Tbsp. key lime juice

1 Tbsp. ketchup

2 Tbsp. Maggi sweet chili sauce

1.  Cut the thawed puff pastry into 9 square pieces.  Mix the filling ingredients into a bowl.  Use a small roller and roll the puff pastry into a slightly bigger square, fill in the filling and seal it with a fork, like picture above.

 

2.  Brush the top with egg wash.  Bake in preheated 400'F oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

But OOPS!!  Why my filling came out during baking?  But never mind, let it cool and just stuff the filling in using a teaspoon.  Do you think is because I put too much filling?  Because I thought I sealed it pretty well.

Deep Fried Italian Panko Shrimps

Have you ever wonder how the chef deep-fried the shrimps without it curled up?  One time when we were visiting our friend's restaurant, her chef made a similar dish for my girls.  His was without seasonings, just dip in flour, then beaten egg, then panko and deep fried.  What caught my eyes was that the shrimps were not curled up so of course I had to pick one to examining it.  When I tasted the shrimp, I sort of gotten the idea of how it was made.  I would share with you the secret in my next page.

I found the unseasoned one quite bland, so I seasoned mine and added dried herbs.  We all loved this, but who could resist this type of fried food anyway?  Flavorful and crispy, hard to stop at a few.

Ingredients:

18 Extra large shrimps (26-30/lb), cleaned and cut like picture below, set aside.  Notice how I cut the shrimp?  It will straighten the shrimp and won't make it curl when deep-frying.

Self-raising flour, about 3 heap Tbsp.

Italian seasonings, few dashes

Salt, 1 tsp.

Peppers, 1/2 tsp.

Water as needed

Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), as needed

Method:

1.   In a bowl, add in appropriate self-raising flour (depending on how many shrimps you want to make), add in some Italian seasoning and season with salt and peppers.  Then, slowly pour in a little water at a time while stirring the mixture into a thick batter.

2.  In another bowl, pour in the panko (as needed).  You can omit the panko if you don't have it on hand.

3.  Heat up a wok with medium heat oil.  Take a piece of the shrimp, dip into the batter and then coat it well with panko and slowly place into the hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown.  You can put 4 shrimps to deep-fry at one go.  Drain on paper towel and serve hot with the condiment of your choice.  Or serve it plain without condiment since it's already seasoned.

Alternative:  You can dip the shrimp into beaten egg, and then the seasoned panko (add the seasonings into the panko and mixed well), before deep-frying.

Fried Nian Gao and Sweet Potatoes with Spring Roll Wrapper

An interesting new way to serve nian gao that I noticed this year.  I was eager to try it and I did.  I saw a friend did a deep-fried nian gao with spring roll and she said it was delicious.  But I bought a sweet potato to go with my nian gao already and thus I wanted to incorporate the sweet potato into this spring roll.  Then, I saw another similar post while blog hopping.  That blogger used smashed steamed taro mixed with coconut flakes to wrap the nian gao and rolled it in the spring roll wrapper before deep-frying.  So, that was my "aha" moment.  I can steam and then smash my sweet potato before wrapping it with the nian gao and spring roll wrapper.  The idea was set and I got to work and the resulted product was really crispy and delicious.

I used the steamed nian gao that I did earlier.   The verdict of this nian gao is not what I was hoping for.  I wanted one that would melt when deep fried but this one was not.  It is not as fragrant too maybe it was because I didn't use the palm sugar but the Chinese bar sugar instead.  Therefore the color of this nian gao is not as dark brown.  Overall, it was an okay recipe, definitely not the best.  But I would try it again with palm sugar just to see whether it will have any difference (just want to experiment :-P).

This rectangle one only has a piece of nian gao.  This will stay crispy as there is no water from the sweet potato to soften the fried spring roll.

Direction:

1.  Cut the sweet potatoes into smaller pieces and steam for 25 minutes or until soften when poke with a fork.  Take it out and smash it with a fork.  Set aside to let cool.

2.  Take out the nian gao and cut it into log shape pieces.

3.  Prepare a bowl of water.  Take a piece of spring roll wrapper and place some smashed sweet potato on top like the above picture.

4.  Place a piece of nian gao in the middle.  Brush the sides of the spring roll wrapper with water.  Fold and roll it into a roll.  Finish the rest.

5.  Deep-fry in batches in medium heat oil until golden brown.  Dish out and drain on paper towel to absorb the excess oil.  Serve!

Note:  You can keep the leftover in a container in the refrigerator.  Just toast it again in a toaster oven before serving (about 5-6 minutes).

Brie Tuna Wanton

This recipe came about when I decided to create a recipe for brie.  Usually brie is best to serve it with crackers or even toasted English muffin or bagel but I wanted to think outside of the box.   I wanted it a be a healthier combination and also delicious.  So, I created this appetizer or finger food for party or any occasion.

My idea came from cheese wanton but totally different in a sense that I used canned tuna and a slice of brie and some seasoning.  I wrapped it differently too.  After I done deep-frying, it was the taste test time.  I gathered my girls and asked them to try it.  We all loved it and Edda thought it was pork as a filling, LOL!  It's slightly sweet and savory at the same time and brie and tuna came out well together.  It's hard to believe I was actually eating a tuna wanton.

I was at a friend's house during a Chinese New Year Party and she was serving some crackers with Brie as an appetizer.  That was the first time I had brie because I don't normally had cheese in my house or tried any sort of cheeses out there in the market.  My hubby and I were blown away at how creamy and delicious it was but when asked, the host forgot which brand of brie she bought.  I tried one brand in the market and it was not it and tasted horrible. Then, I think I finally found it, it was this Ile De France Le Brie that she was serving at that time.  This cheese was mild and creamy and totally yummy.  This brand is awesome!

Step-by-Step Pictures Guide:

1.  Mixed tuna, scallion, salt and sugar together in a bowl.

2.  Prepare brie cheese as needed.

3.  Take a wanton wrapper and place some tuna in the middle.

4.  Place a piece of brie cheese on top.

5.  Wet your finger with some water and wet all around the edges of the wanton with filling.  Seal it with another piece of wanton skin on top.

6.  When two wanton sealed together, then use a little water and pinch one end together like the above picture.

7.  Use a little water and pinch the other end together like the above picture.  Set on a plate and cover with wet towel/ paper towel and finish the rest of the brie tuna wanton.

8.  Deep-fried in medium heat oil until golden brown and crispy.  Serve warm.

Ingredients:

1/4 of 219g of Ile De France Le Brie (54.5g)

1 canned Chunk Light Tuna in oil, drained

1 scallion, minced

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

20 wanton wrappers for wrapping

Oil for deep-frying

Method:

1.  In a bowl, add in drained tuna, salt, sugar and minced scallion.  Stir to mix well.

2.  Prepare brie as needed, cut a small slice to put in the wanton.

3.  Follow the above step-by-step instruction.  Cover the wanton with wet towel while finishing the rest.

4.  Heat up the oil in medium heat and deep-fry until golden brown.  Drain on paper towel and serve warm.

Nam Yee Chicken Pieces

Since I bought a bottle of Nam Yee (fermented red bean cubes) to make Chicken Biscuit (Kai Chai Peng), it had been left unattended.  I was not familiar with Nam Yee and that was my first bottle.  I searched the web for recipes that I could possibly use with Nam Yee and collected a few that I could try out.  One of it was fried chicken wings with nam yee. Click read more for my version of the recipe.  I hardly buy chicken wings anymore because I don't want to encourage my girls to eat chicken wings.  And the best alternative I found was chicken thigh which I would cut away the skin and fat before chopping into pieces.

We gave it a thumb up!  The cornstarch gave it a nice crunch and the nam yee gave it a unique taste.  You do get the crunch without the skin!  Next time I would try a bake version, as this will be healthier than deep-frying.

Ingredients:

6 pieces of skinless chicken thighs, cut off half of the meat and chop off the bone part into half

Marinade overnight with:

2 pieces of nam yee, smashed

1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

Dashes of garlic powder

1 Tbsp. ShaoXing wine

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Extra cornstarch for coating

Method:

1.  Mix chicken pieces with marinade and marinate overnight.

2.  Heat your wok with enough oil for deep-frying.  In a plate, add in some cornstarch for coating.  Take one of the chicken piece and coat with cornstarch, shake off excess flour and slowly drop into hot oil.

3.  Deep-fry on both side until golden brown and cooked through.  Drain on paper towel and serve warm.

Golden Ingots

 

Sorry for the bad pictures because it was taken at night.  I saw this Golden Ingots at Daily Affairs and decided to give it a try.  It was really an interesting idea and very suitable for Chinese New Year.  The bottom layer was fried beancurd puff (taufu pok) and topped with meat ball of sort. 

I prepared it in the afternoon and took an un-fried version.  The natural lighting made the food looks so good.  Too bad I was just too lazy to fried some just to take the finished products for this post.  I used ground pork and water chestnut for mine with my own seasonings.

The finished products, really looked like golden ingots right?  Actually my beancurd puffs was different from her, mine was the small one and frankly I had no idea how to cut it and flip it over like her.  For mine, I cut it diagonally into half and flip it over and place the meatball on top.

It was really crispy when fried.  But it will turn soft when cold.  So, serve immediately after deep-frying.  It can soak up pretty much oil too, so remember to drain on paper towel before serving.

Jicama Beancurd Rolls

 

This is my jicama beancurd rolls.  I made some of these to bring to my friend's party and save two for ourselves.  The filling is my mung kuan char or stir-fried jicama.  This mung kuan char consisted of jicama, carrot, woodear, garlic and dried shrimps, season with salt, sugar and chicken granules, very simple.  Then, I wrapped it with the beancurd sheet.  I made a mistake as I dipped the beancurd sheet in water, you are only supposed to soften it with wet fingers.  So, the end result was not as crispy.  Also funny looking skin texture.

It changed the beancurd skin texture and when deep-fried, it was not as crispy.

One of the roll burst opened when frying.  So lesson learned, never to immerse your beancurd sheet in water to soften before rolling, just wet it with your fingers.  I knew that but still decided to try it out because my beancurd sheet won't seal with cornstarch mixture.  Alas!  now really learned my lesson.  I made lots of mistakes in the kitchen too, I made mistake and learned from it, only then I can improve myself.  :-)

Vietnamese Fried Springrolls (Cha Gio)

We loved Vietnamese fried spring rolls (Cha Gio). I loved the texture and crispiness of fried rice paper, it added a touch of difference from the usual fried Chinese spring rolls or egg rolls. It was quite pricey to order it in a restaurant as it costs about $2 a piece. So, I decided to make it at home. I got to put more ingredients in my filling as usually what we got at a restaurant was filled with minimal ingredients. It was definitely a treat but I hated that my hair smelled of fried oil afterward.




Ingredients:

(A)
Ground Pork
Wood ear fungus, soften
Carrot, shredded
Green onion, chopped
Glass vermicelli, soften in hot water, cut
Fish sauce
Sesame oil
Salt
Black/ white peppers
A touch of sugar

Vietnamese rice paper
Oil for deep-frying


Filling before wrapping.

Method:

1. Mix (A) together in a bowl. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

2. Soften the Vietnamese rice paper in warm water, place filling on it and wrap it up spring roll style. Set aside and finish the rest.

3. Heat up oil in a wok. When hot, turn the heat to medium and deep-fry Cha Gio in batches. About three at a time and be careful not to let it touch each other as the skin would break. Deep-fry until golden brown in color, drain on paper towel.

4. Serve with Thai chili sauce, or Vietnamese Nuoc Cham (sweet vinegar sauce).

Note: 

1)  I read that by adding a little sugar in the warm water to soften the rice paper will help the rice paper to brown evenly when deep-frying.

2)  Adding an egg or two in the filling might help the rice paper to remain crispy, the filling has to be dry so that it won't create moisture when fried and soften the rice paper.

Deep Fried Seaweed Beancurd Rolls

Deep-fried food, hardly anyone can resist. Deep-fried beancurd rolls with seaweed, give me anytime! I finally bought some frozen beancurd sheet at my last visit to the Asian market and I was so eager to try this out. Of course my homemade version was not as pretty as I made the rolls too long. So, when I tried to roll the seaweed around, I noticed that it looked weird with just one seaweed wrapped around it, so I wrapped two seaweeds, one on each end with the thought that I could cut it in half and made a better presentation. And thus tada! This beancurd sheet is actually the vegetarian version of the pork fat sheet that we used to make "5 spice meat roll" (五香肉).





You can serve it with Thai sweet chili sauce, Maggi chili sauce or Japanese mayo.


Before deep-frying.

Ingredients:

(A)
Ground chicken from 1 skinless chicken breast (can process it in a food processor)
Minced shrimps from 8 large shrimps
4 Chinese dried mushroom, soften and diced
1/2 carrot, diced
1 scallion, chopped
A little ginger, chopped
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste
1/2 Tbsp. rice wine
1 tsp. sesame oil
Dash of white pepper
(B)
Frozen beancurd sheet, defrost, use as needed (about 3/4 sheet)
Japanese sushi seaweed sheet, use as needed (about 2 sheets)


Before cutting in half, notice that the roll with expand during deep-frying and made it tighter.

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix (A) together and stir until it bind together. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

2. Take the defrosted beancurd sheet, cut into rectangle shape pieces. Set aside. Prepare a bowl of water.

3. Dip one piece of cut beancurd sheet into the bowl of water until soften. Take it out and place some filling in the middle, roll it up and seal it. Finish the rest.

4. Take a piece of seaweed sheet, use a scissor and cut into 1 cm length. Prepare some cornstarch water as glue (1 Tbsp. cornstarch + 1 Tbsp. water). Roll the seaweed on the beancurd roll and seal the end with the cornstarch water glue. Finish the rest.

5. Heat a wok with medium heat hot oil. Test with a wooden chopstick, when bubbles, it's ready. Drop 4-6 beancurd rolls into the hot oil, deep-fry until golden brown and the filling is cooked. Can take one and cut into half to make sure it's cooked inside. Finish the rest.

6. Drain on paper towel. Cut it into half to serve. Or if you make the smaller one, just serve it whole. Serve warm with condiment of your choice!

Vietnamese Summer Rolls and Best Peanut Dipping Sauce

We love Vietnamese summer rolls, spring rolls or fresh rolls. We used to frequent one Vietnamese restaurant which served "Nuoc Cham" with the summer rolls and we loved it. And then we started to be more adventurous and tried out other new Vietnamese restaurants around town and discovered a new dipping sauce that was made of Peanut butter and Hoisin sauce. My girls totally loved this dipping sauce and would just lick it off from the spoon. And we started to like this too and would rather prefer this dipping sauce than "Nuoc Cham".

The version of the peanut dipping sauce here are thick and non-spicy. I think they made it non-spicy to suit the American taste buds. Also you can always add the Vietnamese chili sauce if you like it spicy. Because of this peanut sauce, Evy had two summer rolls in one setting for her afternoon snack. Frankly I was surprised because she never had one before and she didn't really like the skin texture of the summer roll. But she said she loved my peanut sauce and thus the summer rolls. My version of the peanut sauce was a hit and both my girls had lots of summer rolls and my hubby didn't touch the "Nuoc Cham" at all. Another surprise because he used to like this sauce with his summer rolls. I guess from now on, I only need to make the peanut hoisin dipping sauce.

Sweet Vinegar Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot/warm water
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/8 cup lime juice

Dissolved sugar in hot water and add in the rest, mixed well. Store any extra in the refrigerator.

2 cloves of garlic, minced
Chopped toasted peanut for garnish

In a bowl, add in some minced garlic, top with Nuoc Cham and garnish with chopped toasted peanuts to serve. You can add minced chili pepper if you like it spicy.

Vietnamese Peanut Hoisin Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup water
4 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter, I used Jif reduced fat
4 Tbsp. Hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp. sugar

Put all in a blender and puree until smooth. Store any leftover in the refrigerator.

Chopped toasted peanuts for garnish

In a sauce bowl, add in the blended peanut hoisin sauce and garnish the top with some chopped toasted peanuts. Seriously, this is spoon licking good as that's how Edda loved hers.

Deep Fried Imitation Crab Legs with Dessicated Coconuts

This dish was created because a reader asked me to come out with a dish which had imitation crab meat, coconut and preferably deep fried for her party. This was what I suggested for her and thought I would share it with everybody as well. Did you know that imitation crab legs can be deep-fried into such a great looking appetizer before? Now I know deep-fried imitation crab legs actually tasted divine especially with the added dessicated coconuts. My recipe is super easy too as I don't like complicated recipes. So, everyone can make this!






Ingredients:

1 packet of 8 oz. imitation crabs, leg style
Dessicated coconuts as needed, probably about 1 cup
1/2 cup of self-raising flour + enough water to make into a thick batter
Oil for deep-frying

Method:

1. Heat the oil into a medium heat (not too high or else it will burn the dessicated coconuts).

2. Cut the imitation crab leg into half. Dip one half into the flour batter and then coated it with the dessicated coconuts and drop into the medium heat oil.

3. Deep-fry until golden brown and drain on paper towel. Serve with Thai sweet chili sauce, or what ever sauce you desired.

Note:
I didn't add any seasoning here because the imitation crab legs were already salted. But of course you can season the flour batter with salt and pepper if you like.


I am sharing this dish with Culinarty's Original Recipe blog event. Check it out every month on the week of 15th for the round up.