Chinese New Year delicacies...

How time flies. Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year and marks the entry of the Year of Ox in Chinese zodiac calendar. Last year, I didn't celebrate the festival. This year, my relatives called me to go down to the "City" and spend the occasion with them.

So I drove down to the city in my little "tin box" on early Saturday morning. The traffic was light and I was practically cruising all along the way. The entire journey took me about 2 hours and that was my best personal record so far.

Anyway, we didn't do anything elaborate for the end of year dinner. Still, it took us more than half a day to prepare the ingredients and cooking. The ingredients were very easy to get but the tasks of preparing them were laborious. One thing to note that, the dishes and delicacies that we cooked were distinctively different in terms of taste and texture from the food prepared by people from mainland China. That's because the food that we prepared had a strong Baba-Nyonya slant in the flavours.

So today, I will post 3 recipes that we made to celebrate CNY...

Kuih Kapit (Love Letters) - This is a must have delicacy for the CNY celebration in Malaysia and Singapore. Some called it Love Letters but I think they are quite misleading because they are totally different and do not bear any resemblance at all. Also we do not have charcoal stove, so we baked them over the BBQ stove covered with hot rocks. This is the first time I saw the entire preparation process and it was a fun experience. :)

Ingredients:-

• 125g rice flour
• 35g plain flour
• 155g granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (from 1 coconut)
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
  

Method:-

1. Sift rice and plain flour into a mixing bowl. Add in sugar and slowly add the coconut milk. Stir until smooth then add the eggs and egg yolks. Whisk until well blended. Strain the batter.
2. Lightly grease love letter moulds with a piece of muslin cloth dipped in oil. Heat mould over charcoal fire.
3. When heated, place the moulds open over a bowl of batter and pour a ladle of batter onto the mould. Close the mould tightly and bake over charcoal fire for about half a minute on each side.
4. When golden in colour, remove and immediately fold into a quarter. Press lightly with a tin cover to level the surface.
5. Cool and store in an air-tight container or tin.

Kuih Bahulu - These mini cakes are usually baked during the festive seasons. They go very well with coffee, and are always a crowd-pleaser during the festive seasons.

Ingredients:-

• 3 eggs
• 175g castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
  

Sifted:-

• 175g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  

Method:-

1. Beat eggs with an electric beater until just frothy then add sugar. Continue to beat until mixture turns pale and thick.
2. Beat in essence and gently fold in flour in 2–3 batches. Do not over-mix. Lightly grease Bahulu moulds and fill up to surface-level.
3. Bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 12–15 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Remove Bahulu from the moulds and cool on wire racks before storing in airtight containers.

Yee Sang - This is a very special dish found no where else except in Malaysia and Singapore. It is a must have delicacy during the CNY celebration. It is considered as a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigour.There many variants to this versatile recipe and this is what we prepared for ourselves.

Ingredients:-

• White radish
• Carrot
• Celery stalks
• Ginger
• Wonton skins
• Raw salmon fillet
• Jelly fish
• Roasted Peanuts
• Toasted sesame seed
• Pomelo wedges
• Coriander
• Lime
  

Sauce:-

• Apricot jam
• Plum sauce
• Honey
• Lime
• Sugar
• Salt
• Lemon
• Five Spice powder - Just a pinch
  

Method:-

1. Shred white radish, carrot, celery and ginger into fine strips.
2. Split shredded ginger into 3 portions, colour one portion green, and the other red and the last portion without colouring. Season them with vinegar and some sugar, drain them and let them dry in room temperature
3. Slice the jelly fish and raw salmon thinly and set aside.
4. Peel pomelo wedges and separate the sacs
5. Chop the coriander finely and set aside
6. Cut wonton skins into thin strips.
7. Heat oil in saucepan/wok. Deep fry wonton skins until crispy. Drain the oil with paper towel and set aside.
8. Pound roasted peanuts and sesame seed.
9. Arrange all the ingredients attractively on a round platter with salmon in the centre.
10. For the sauce, mix apricot jam, plum sauce, lime juice, honey and sesame oil in a saucepan. Add sugar and salt according to taste.
11. Squirt lime juices generously over salmon and jelly fish.
    
12. Sprinkle peanuts, sesame seeds and coriander over the arranged platter. Pour sauce just before serving.