Curry Devil - Mama's style

Curry Devil

This is a family recipe which my Mama learnt from her MIL. Each of the ladies in the family have slight variations to the original recipe but it's authenthically the same.

A little history of this dish. It's most popular amongst the Portugese Eurasians in Malaysia. Am not sure if this dish even exist in Portugal or not (have yet to research it).

So yes, I'm 1/4 Portugese Eurasian & love this favourite family recipe. Hope you all enjoy it too if you like spicy hot stuffs!

This recipe is courtesy of Little Chef's Mama of course ;)

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into bite size pieces

4 large potatoes, cut into chunks1

piece of ginger , shredded

6 pips of garlic, sliced

2 big onions, sliced thickly

2 or 3 fresh red chillies, sliced crosswise

half rice bowl of white vinegar**

2 teasp. mustard seeds pounded

2 teaspoons salt

Oil

Water

To be blended:

30 dried chillies *( soaked in hot water before blending)

25 shallots

half thumbsize kunyit or 2 teasp. tumeric powder

5 slices of lengkuas (nam keong)

3 big pieces of serai

5 or 6 buah keras

1 heapful tablesp. belacan powder

Method

1. Slice all ingredients into smaller pieces before blending.

2. Heat up 2 tablesp. of oil in pot to saute shredded ginger,big onions, garlic and fresh chillies until pungent. Remove and put aside.

3. Add more oil (6 tablesp) to fry the blended ingredients until fragrant and until oil surfaces.

4. Add in chicken pieces and potatoes. Stir thoroughly. Add sufficient water just to cover meat and potatoes.. Simmer.

5. Add vinegar, salt and pounded mustard seeds. Add in ginger, onions, garlic and fresh chillies.Simmer until potatoes are cooked.

(Curry gravy should not be too watery)

* Less dried chillies if a milder flavour is preferred.

** Curry devil is a hot and sour curry. (Can vary quantity of vinegar according to individual taste)

Pumpkin Ah Ma's style

Ingrediants

1/2 pumpkin

5-6 dried chillis

2 Tbsp dried shrimp ("har mai")

1/2 Cup cooking oil (depending on how much pumpkin)

2 tsp salt &/ pepper

1 Tbsp garlic minced

Preparation

Peel the skin of pumpkin with fruit peeler. Cut pumpkin into desired cubes.

Soak dry chillies in hot water to soften them & then cut into 3. Soak & drain the dried shrimp before chopping them finely.

Method

Heat the cooking oil in wok/frying pan. Fry the cubed pumpkin until half cooked (the colour will change). Set aside & wash the excess oil with water (just pour water over the siever that's holding the fried pumpkin - do not soak in water!). Empty wok/frying pan of used cooking oil.

Add 2-3 Tbsp cooking oil, fry minced garlic, chopped "har mai", and dried chilli. Add the salt (to your desired taste). Fry until fragrant and then only add the pre-fried pumpkin. Stir fry until your desired texture (some like it soft & mushy, some like it with a bit of a bite to it).

Veggie Bacon

Got this idea from browsing a recipe book in the bookshop.

Ingredients

3 stalks celery

6 strips bacon

(can add stripes of capsicum red / orange / yellow ~ for colour)

Dash of black pepper (as much as you like)

1 tsp garlic chopped

2 Tbsp oyster sauce }

1 Tbsp soya sauce } sauce

1 tsp cornflour }

1/2 cup water }

Add 3 Tbsp oil into Wok/Frying pan. When oil hot enough, throw in garlic, bacon bits, and as much black pepper as you like. Stir fry till as crispy as you like, then add the celery (& capsicum). Add the sauce ingredients & cover the wok to let the celery get cooked.

Nice dish to have if you have craving for something salty. Can be served with rice or even porridge.

Steamed Pork in Shrimp Paste

Ingredients
300g pork belly (without skin)
1 Tbsp ginger shredded
1 Tbsp garlic chopped
1 Tbsp shrimp paste
1 tsp shao xing wine
1 Tbsp cornflour
1 Tbsp thai chilli sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Steam for 20 mins

Bak Chang 2008

June 2008
Bak Chang (Hokkien) is Pork Dumplings in Glutinous Rice.

1. Boil bamboo leaves over slow fire to soften the leaves. Then let it cool. Once it is cooled, take a clean cloth to wipe each side of the leaf & soak/wash the leaves again.




2. Soak & drain the glutinous rice.

3. Fry the glutinous rice with dark soya sauce, pepper & salt till fragrant.

4. Other ingrediants include sauteed chinese mushrooms, boiled chestnuts, stewed pork belly, uncooked salted egg yolk, soya beans cooked, fried minced dried shrimp ("har mai") & garlic.

Eat to Live or Live to Eat?

The World's Population can only fall into these 2 categories. We either Eat to Live or Live to Eat.

Most affluent people living in the Cities would be in the latter category. Quite shamefully we also waste alot of food by not cleaning our plates i.e. not finishing off what we've taken.

I myself LOVE food. So I think I'm in the Live to Eat category. However, I've been trained from my Mum not to waste food nor be too choosy with my food. "Finish whatever's on your plate" & "Eat whatever's cooked" were common reminders when I was young. Little did I realise how effective those common reminders were until I find myself frowning upon those who are too fussy eaters or don't clean their plates.

Regardless of either category we find ourselves in, I hope to share my journey of self-discovery of home cooked dishes with you all.