Xi Yan's Tang Yuan (湯圓) Recipe

Christmas Christmas Christmas. Christmas has become the second biggest festival in Singapore, next to Chinese New Year. It's very commercialized but, since I'm not a Christian, the loss of spirituality doesn't bother me. I just join in the festive fun and food orgy. Party spirit in place of religious spirit, sort of. It's end of the year, work slows down, kids are on school holidays, and everyone's in a partying mood. Any excuse to take a break and relax is good!

In the midst of the Christmas frenzy, I almost forgot the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival (冬至 or 冬节), which falls on 23 December. I remembered only a few days ago when I saw packs of glutinous rice flour prominently displayed at the supermarket. Of course! Time for tangyuan! These little chewy tangyuan (湯圓) with sweet, and sometimes savory, fillings are traditionally eaten during 冬至 to symbolize reunion and celebrate the longest night of the the year. In the old days, it was a festival almost as important as the Chinese New Year. It was called 'the little new year', and everyone was a year older after the festival because the year was considered over and done with. In Singapore, the Winter Solstice Festival is now just another day for most people. But it's not totally forgotten. I went to the market today to get some pandan leaves for making glutinous rice dumplings. And they were sold out at four vegetable stalls. Found some only at the fifth one I went to. Judging from the demand for pandan leaves, I guess the festival's alive and kicking. By the way, pandan leaves with glutinous rice dumplings is a Singaporean thing. And maybe Malaysian? The people in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong may find it quite novel!

Today, I rolled up my sleeves and made my own glutinous rice balls. The filling wasn't the usual red bean or sesame paste but a mix of seven ingredients, including salted egg yolks. They provided a much needed balance for the cloying sweetness of candied winter melon, the filling's main ingredient. The other five ingredients were shredded coconut, ground peanuts, butter, sugar and white sesame seeds. It was a bit like mooncakes with salted egg yolks, a brilliant recipe from Jacky Yu of Xi Yan. I didn't make the dumpling dough his way, though. I preferred a Hakka friend's Hakka method. It was a bit more work than normal, mixing cooked and raw dough. But the results were totally worth the extra effort. The rice balls were very chewy and not a single one burst, no matter how hard they were boiled.

I got my nieces and nephews to come over and enjoy the fruits of my labour. As expected, the eating machines gobbled up everything. Did that mean the tangyuan recipe was good or the tangyuan maker was good? Hey, they were both good! More importantly, I did my part to keep a Chinese tradition alive.

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SWEET GLUTINOUS RICE BALLS (湯圓) (Makes 32 pieces) Filling (Source: Xi Yan Cuisine, Jacky Yu) 4-5 salted duck egg yolks, cooked and mashed while hot 50 g butter, melted 75 g candied winter melon, finely minced 2 tbsp skinless peanuts, roasted and ground 2 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds 2 tbsp dessicated coconut (unsweetened), toasted till fragrant 2 tbsps sugar (or to taste) Dough 300 g glutinous rice flour Soup 850 ml water 10 slices ginger (about 50 g) 8 pandan leaves, knotted in two bundles brown rock sugar to taste (about 75 g or 6 tbsp) Mix ingredients for filling evenly. Make into 32 little balls, about 1 tsp each. Place in freezer till frozen. Add 150 ml warm water to glutinous rice flour. Mix thoroughly. Remove 60 g dough, flatten and tear into 3 pieces. Cook in boiling water till floating, about 1 minute. Remove and let excess water drip off. Add to raw dough. Knead till evenly mixed whilst cooked dough is still hot, gradually adding about 2 tbsp warm water for dough to just come together and leave bowl and hands clean. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log shape, then cut into 16 pieces. Place damp towel over dough you're not working with. Roll each piece into a ball. Flatten with palms. Press into a circle about 5 cm (2 inches) wide. Run fingers round edges to make them thinner than the middle. Place filling in the middle. Seal and roll into a ball again, making sure dough wraps filling tightly. Repeat . . . . Bring ingredients for soup to a boil. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, covered. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Add dumplings and cook till floating. If dumplings are chilled, simmer gently for another minute after they start floating; if frozen, another 2-3 minutes. Serve hot.

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Bombay Duck Soup – Quack, Quack?

These Bombay ducks look pretty ferocious, eh? Good thing they aren't moving anymore, or they might snap off my fingers! I think they could be the star of some B grade horror movie. Can you see them wriggling around, snake-like, wreaking havoc on unsuspecting teenagers skinny dipping in a lake? Would have to make them much bigger though, since these cute little critters are only about eight inches long. But boy, they sure don't need extra teeth! Here's a closer shot of those impressive jaws:



Obviously, Bombay ducks aren't ducks. Since fake doctors are called quack doctors, that would make fake ducks . . . quack ducks . . . . . .? Never mind. Mum called Bombay ducks '硬魚', which means 'hard fish'. This name is also rather weird because the fish is anything but hard. The meat is soft as silken tofu and the bones are all soft cartilage. It's like eating fish flavoured tofu which you can, if you want to, sort of slurp and suck off the bones. Oh, by the way, the Bombay ducks would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, before they get eaten up:


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Apparently, Teochews love hard fish and Indians love Bombay ducks. I can't speak on behalf of Indians but as a 100% pedigree Teochew, I can vouch that my entire family loves hard fish. It's not a very common fish, certainly not something that I can find everyday. And they're sold only at markets and never at supermarkets. Or at least, I've never seen any at the supermarkets I go to.



Whenever I see Bombay ducks, I never pass up the chance to grab some. Like last Sunday when I crawled out of bed at noon and finally popped round to the market at one o'clock. At that hour, I was practically the only shopper around, and the stalls were all either closed or closing. I was thinking there wasn't anything I wanted to buy when I spotted the fishmonger lady taking a box of hard fish to the fridge. Hey! I want that! Phew! Just in time. Good thing I got out of bed early.



I always make a very simple soup with Bombay ducks. The fish has lots of flavour, so I just chuck it in boiling water – no stock needed – and add a bit of soya sauce, a dash of pepper, and deep fried shallots and something green as garnish. For those who love spicy and sour dips, a mix of thinly sliced chilli padis, lime juice and soya sauce makes a wonderful complement to the fish. It's simple, tasty and healthy. Not bad for a quack duck. Not bad at all.

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Chewy Oatmeal Cookies – Great Jaw Workout

I'm trying hard to think of a good reason why I like chewy cookies more than crisp ones . . . . . . . Hm, I don't think I can 'cause I like 'em both. I don't prefer one over the other any more than . . . oh, Brad Pitt over George Clooney? But chewy ones are special 'cause I always eat them fresh. Ideally still hot from the oven and if not, certainly not more than two or three days old. Yup, no supermart soft cookies for me. Have to go to a bakery and pay an arm and a leg for small little discs of freshly baked dough. Or, make my own lah! It's fun and relaxing, a wonderful way to while away the afternoon. Yes, it takes that long. Maybe an hour or so to measure, mix, bake a few batches, and wash up. Then, a couple of hours to kick off my shoes and enjoy warm, fresh-from-the-oven cookies with a coffee and a book. That's the whole point of homemade cookies, isn't it?

Making cookies chewy is quite easy. There are three ways to ensure chewiness. First, the cookies must be slightly underbaked, so they should be removed from the oven when the centres are still soft. Second, the sugar used must be mostly brown sugar, which absorbs water and helps make the cookies chewy. These are the methods used for Chunky Chocolate Cookies (click here for the recipe). Third, to go all out and maximize the chewiness, chewy ingredients such as rolled oats or dates must be added. The Chewy Oatmeal Cookies I make combines these three methods, and they're so chewy they give your jaws a little workout! If you're a fan of chewy cookies, this is one recipe you must try. And I guarantee these cookies are so light, you can eat as many as you like and not feel stuffed. Your jaws ready for a marathon?

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Stir-Fried Crocodile	Stir-Fried Eggplant with Chicken	Stir-Fried Tomatoes with Eggs	Prawn Tom Yum Soup

Light and Moist Carrot Cake

Can a cake be moist yet light at the same time? Isn't that like asking a woman to be skinny and curvy? Yes, ideal women do exist, and so do ideal cakes.

I'm not that into cakes and neither is the rest of my extended clan. We find most cakes too rich and filling, especially after a heavy meal. And our meals are always heavy when we get together!

But there's one cake that has everyone's approval: Angela Nilsen's Carrot Cake, from The Ultimate Recipe Book. We love it 'cause it's really moist yet really light. No one needs any strong Chinese tea to wash down this yummy babe! Before I found Angela Nilsen's recipe, we always had lots of leftover cake whenever we had a birthday do. To cut down on the wastage, we even tried having a small little cake once. But a crowd of 20 people singing happy birthday around a tiny six-incher was so miserable it was funny. That has become one of our most memorable birthday parties 'cause we laughed so hard we were bent double.

Now, we don't have a wastage problem anymore. We take turns to bake Angela Nilsen's Carrot Cake, and it's beautifully done every single time. It's so easy it doesn't matter who's baking it, and there's never any leftover. If there were, it keeps really well apparently and is even better after a day or two. Hm, I wonder if skinny and curvy babes keep just as well?

In case you think I think the ideal woman must be skinny and curvy, I don't. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and some profound, thinking men have their own ideas about the ideal woman. Like Giles Coren, for instance:

'Once upon a time, a man on the hunt for a wife would set great store by a woman who could cook. But things have changed. And to be honest, I’ll settle for a woman who can eat. A woman who doesn’t poke her food around the plate and hide things under her knife and claim to have a thousand intolerances and allergies. A woman who isn’t “off carbs”, “not drinking this year”, “toying with the macrobiotic thing” or made to “feel funny” by red wine. I don’t want to sound narrow-minded. If I truly love her, then I guess we could always work the food thing through. As long as she isn’t always “tired”. Men are either awake or asleep, but women are always “exhausted”. What the hell is that? If you’re tired, woman, go to bed.

Also, I want a woman who is prepared to admit that what she wants from a man is a big c*** and a lot of money. I am fed up with women always claiming that what they find most sexy is a sense of humour. Because it isn’t true. I know this because I am hilarious. Way more funny than most of the slack-arsed, car-obsessed, office wonk baldies you’ll meet in a wine bar on a Friday night, and yet I practically never get laid. If it were true that women are turned on by a man who makes them laugh, Woody Allen wouldn’t have had to marry his own daughter.

As for a woman with a sense of humour, that’s fine, as long as it simply means that she will laugh at my jokes. Most women only laugh at their own jokes. Shut up. If you say something funny, I’ll let you know. And don’t give me “career”. Only women have “careers”. Men have jobs, to get money, and if we could stop and have babies while someone else earned the loot, believe me, we would. We don’t need a “career” to feel validated. We don’t want to feel validated. We just want to feel boobs. As many as possible. And then, at the last minute, quickly have babies and then die.'

(Source: Timesonline, 28 September 2008)

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Chewy Chunky Chocolate Christmas Cookies

What's Christmas and New Year without a few decadent, to-die-for cookies? It's a time for continuous feasting, and chocolate cookies are perfect for those who can still eat after the major feast. Marathon mahjong or DVD sessions require lots of energy that needs to be replenished with non-stop munching, right? And there's the long wait for the Christmas and New Year eve countdown. When the mouth is busy chomping away, the wait seems a lot shorter, doesn't it?

The Triple Chocolate Cookies I make for the year-end festivities are a once-a-year indulgence. Chock-a-block full of real chocolate – chips just can't compare – they're an edible decadence that's best enjoyed infrequently. When I serve these dark and sinful cookies, there would be squeals of delight, sighs of resignation and looks of disapproval. Those who shake their heads whilst tsktsking away tend to be the most senior ones. They may feign disapprove but would still enjoy a cookie or two with a cup of strong Chinese tea. The younger ones rejoice without restraint since they can put away a few big cookies each, washed down with a glass of ice cold milk, and not feel a thing. The sandwich generation? They know that resistance is futile, especially when coffee is served with the super chocolatey cookies which have crispy edges and soft, chewy centres. But they wisely pace themselves according to the size of their waistlines. So, there you go. One cookie, three reactions.

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Gingerbread Men	Ginger Milk Custard (薑汁撞奶)	Kiwifruit Trifle	Chocolate Truffles

Gingerbread Man – The Real Story

Making gingerbread men and pedigree doggies on a rainy afternoon is good fun. It's part and parcel of anticipating and building up the excitement of Christmas. But it's even more fun reworking the story about the gingerbread man. The original version's here if you need a refresher, and this is the new version:

Legend has it that the gingerbread man was eaten up by the fox but that's not true. The legend's inaccurate in many ways. First, there was more than one gingerbread man. Making one was way too much trouble, so the little old woman made four. Yup, it was a gang of four and . . . two of them were Chinese, with rice instead of raisins for eyes. The four gingerbread men ran as fast as they could from the little lady, the little old man, the pig and the cow. These were all evil villains who wanted to eat them. The gingerbread men got rather out of breath because it was hard work running with short, stumpy legs made of dough, not to mention those damned buttons that kept falling off! And their body shape wasn't terribly aerodynamic unless they, er, ran horizontally like crabs. But they never thought of that because, well, they didn't have a brain to think with. When it started to snow, running became even more difficult because their feet – which were kind of narrow – kept sinking into the snow. Soon, the gingerbread men were too tired to run any farther. They sat down at the foot of Ginger Hill to catch their breath, unaware that a pack of starving dogs were hiding nearby, waiting for a tasty snack. When the gingerbread men dozed off from sheer exhaustion, the canine attackers pounced on the unsuspecting doughboys. SNAP! CRUNCH! RIP! The hungry dogs tore the gingerbread men from limb to limb and gobbled them up in two ticks. Nothing remained except for a few crumbs and these were soon covered by fresh, white snow.

Moral of the story? There are dangers and challenges everywhere. No recess allowed whether you're a student, working, running a business or a work-at-home mom. You have to keep moving. :D

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Rubies and Emeralds – Ideal Christmas Dessert

The colour combination of Red Rubies and Green Emeralds makes for a wonderful Christmas dessert. Nothing says Christmas louder than red and green together. They're redolent of Christmas trees and red trimmings, a tradition which started in the Middle Ages when firs were decorated with red apples. Green and red also symbolize eternal life and the blood of Christ shed at the crucifix. And a bit of white is always good for Christmas, isn't it? I'm dreaming of a white Christmas . . . .

A lot of Thai desserts are coconut based and Red Rubies is one of them. This cold dessert usually has only rubies, which are actually diced water chestnuts I dye red with beetroot juice. But why stick to just rubies? When it comes to jewels, the more the merrier. As Gordon Gekko said, greed is good! So, I add some emeralds, coloured with pandan juice, and sometimes sapphires when I have bunga telang (blue pea flowers). Gold's pretty good, too, coloured with sweet corn juice. With gold prices what they are now, making edible gold must be better than buying the real stuff! Of course, artificial food colouring works just as well and is much more convenient if you haven't banned it from your kitchen. To serve the dessert cold, I usually leave the coconut milk in the freezer till it's slushy. It's very refreshing on a hot day. When the weather's cooler like it is now, I like to serve the dessert hot for a change. How about a bowl of hot Red Rubies and Green Emeralds after the Midnight Mass? It will make you smile in your sleep till Christmas morning.

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Gingersnaps	Lemon Tarts	Almond Toffee	Durian with Sticky Rice