© 2024
0 Items
  • No Products in the Cart
Browsing Category
Browsing Category

Lunar New Year

Carrot Walnut Cake with Mandarin Oranges

It’s been raining the past few days, and where I live in the tropics, this is welcome news. My little one and I have been snuggling under the covers on most evenings just before dinner, reading her favourite Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I know I’ve been quiet on social media, but this intermittent period of ‘missing in action’ has been wonderful for both my mental and physical health. I had a minor surgery last week to remove a skin lesion so I took a few days off to recuperate. On Sunday, we went to visit my late grandparents’ graves to place some flowers because it was Qingming Festival in the Chinese calendar where we honour our ancestors and commemorate those dear to us who have passed on. In the late afternoon, I made this classic walnut carrot cake with mandarin oranges for Easter. 

I find that cream cheese is susceptible to the slightest heat so the first batch of frosting I made with just 375g of icing sugar ended up drippy. I kept the frosting and added more icing sugar, a 150g at a time, until I finally arrived at my ideal consistency, within a 400-600g window. The trick is to gently fold the icing sugar in slowly with a spoon so it’s thick, white and holds its shape. If you overbeat it, the texture goes slack or runny, so just barely beat in each spoonful of icing sugar before adding the next 150g. I always opt for good quality cream cheese like Philadelphia that are brick-shaped (not whipped). They’re better suited for baking rather than the ones in a tub. But even then I’m surprised that the water content in its brick form is still quite high. I drained the excess fluid with a muslin cloth. You could also add in double cream to stabilise it further.

I decorated my carrot loaf cake with edible flowers and finely chopped walnuts. I was happy to find that a nearby supermarket had restocked some locally grown violets and pansies which I adored.

Carrot Walnut Cake with Mandarin Oranges

Deborah, Saveur Malaisie
This is my take on the traditional carrot cake with a twist! I adore mini tangerines. Besides the fact that they continue to be held in high esteem with associations of regalness, joy and wealth in Chinese culture, mandarin oranges are sweeter and less tart in taste compared to regular oranges.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Tea
Cuisine American, English, Western
Servings 12 servings

Ingredients
  

For The Cake

  • 213 g brown sugar sifted
  • 99 g vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs room temperature
  • 240 g fine cake flour sifted
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda don't forget to check the freshness of your baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups carrots shredded
  • 1/2 cup walnuts coarsely chopped, extra for garnish
  • 142 g mandarin oranges washed and chopped, seeds removed and excess juice drained; keep skin for zesting
  • 1/2 tsp orange zest grated

For The Frosting

  • 227 g cream cheese softened
  • 55 g salted butter softened
  • 2-3 tsp milk room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 400-600 g icing sugar (or confectioner's sugar) sifted
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder optional
  • edible flowers for decoration

Instructions
 

To Make The Cake

  • Pre-heat oven to 177 C. Grease bottom and sides of a rectangular 9 x 22 inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick baking spray, then lined it with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, oil and eggs (break eggs one at a time) with an electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until well incorporated. Fold in flour, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla and salt then beat on low speed for 1 minute. Stir in shredded carrots, walnuts, oranges, orange zest and nutmeg. Beat again until combined.
  • With a spatula, spoon the batter into the loaf pan slowly, making sure to spread it out evenly in all directions. Once done, give your pan a light tap a few times to burst any air bubbles. 
  • Transfer your pan to the oven (centre rack with top and bottom even heating) and bake for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then remove the cake from the pan carefully (you can lift up the parchment paper in which the cake sits). If you find that the top of your cake has cracked, don’t worry as that can be easily fixed when you frost the cake later. Just slice off the top of the cake with a serrated knife to get an even layer before icing. 

To Make The Frosting

  • In the meantime, prepare the frosting. Scoop out your cream cheese onto the centre of a clean muslin cloth. As you would a piping bag, gather up the sides of the cloth and twist it then hold it over the sink or a bowl and apply pressure. You should see some excess liquid dripping out from the bottom of the cloth. Once you’ve gotten as much liquid out as possible from the ball of cream cheese, set it down on a kitchen towel and leave to dry out. 
  • Beat softened butter in a bowl with an electric whisk until smooth, then add cream cheese and whisk on medium high until well combined, about 1 minute. Measure 150g of sieved icing sugar with an electric scale, then spoon the sugar into the bowl slowly and beat for 30 seconds. Repeat until the frosting is very thick and stiff. Do a test by dipping your spoon into the batter then lift it up, or hold it upside down—the frosting shouldn’t slide off your spoon. Now you can refrigerate it for 10 minutes before using it. Don’t forget to cover the top of your bowl with cling wrap or a clean cloth before refrigerating.

Notes

Your cream cheese frosting should keep well in the fridge for 5 days before you use it, or up to 3 months in the freezer stored in a storage bag. 
Keyword Breakfast, Carrot Cake, Coffee, Dessert, Tea

If you made this dish, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram!

Continue Reading

Crisp and Buttery Dragon Cookies

Dragon cookies (过年饼 ‘loong peng’ in Cantonese). In Chinese culture, dragons are auspicious, representing good luck, strength, health and also the male element of the “yang” energy. In olden China, they connote imperial power and authority. Dragon cookies are all the rage during Lunar New Year, but since I missed having them during the festival this year, I decided to make them now. They taste just like regular butter cookies, crisp on the edges but soft inside. They’re fun to make and you only need simple kitchen gadgets. But the challenge lies in getting the right dough consistency so that it’s not too hard (which will be tricky to pipe out) nor too fluid and soft that it looses its shape and melts in the oven, or too starchy/custard-y. The end result should be a soft, pliable dough that is easy to pipe out with just a little bit of resistance. 

You should also develop some arm muscles because it takes a fair bit of thumb coordination to get the dough out of the nozzle! 

These cookies are a perfect accompaniment to my warm matcha latte.

Crisp and Buttery Dragon Cookies 过年饼

Deborah, Saveur Malaisie
Known as ‘loong peng’ in Cantonese, these cookies are popular during Lunar New Year. They have a nice crispness to them with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Perfect for tea or snack any time of the day! Find the recipe below.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 14 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 24 minutes
Course Snack, Tea
Cuisine Chinese, Malaysian
Servings 40 cookies, depending on size

Equipment

  • Electric cake mixer
  • Hand whisk
  • Baking sheets/parchment paper
  • Baking tray
  • Rubber spatula
  • Digital kitchen scale
  • Oven (with top and bottom heating function)
  • Wilton 1M piping nozzle and thick, durable piping bag (avoid disposable bags)
  • Toothpicks
  • A cooling rack

Ingredients
  

  • 150 g salted butter brought to room temperature about 30 minutes, then cut to smaller pieces and mashed
  • 100 g icing sugar sifted
  • 2 egg yolks 18g each, brought to room temperature, egg whites separated from the yolk. How to identify eggs: https://www.allrecipes.com/article/whats-the-deal-with-grades-of-eggs/ 
  • 60 g milk room temperature
  • 250 g corn flour sifted (I used unbleached organic corn flour, which is slightly yellower in colour)
  • 50 g cake flour sifted
  • 30 g milk powder sifted
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla essence optional
  • red gel food colouring

Instructions
 

  • Cream butter for 3 minutes at medium high speed until creamy. Add icing sugar and increase to high speed. Mix well until light and creamy and icing sugar is no longer visible. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl from time to time. 
  • Add egg yolks, one at a time, then beat well until just combined. I recommend you to weigh the egg yolks beforehand as this will determine the consistency of the cookie dough. 
  • Add in milk, a little at a time, as you continue to beat everything together on high speed for 3 minutes. Whip until the texture becomes fluffy. Scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl.
  • Fold in milk powder, corn flour and cake flour. Using a baking spatula, gently fold in all the ingredients together, stirring firmly until well combined to form a soft, pliable dough.  
  • You can use a 1.5cm piping tip (those ideal for making churros), but I prefer the Wilton 1M nozzle to achieve a thinner, more organic shape. Fit your nozzle to your piping bag then transfer the dough to the bag. Do not overfill. Kitchn has some great tips on how to use a piping bag for beginners (link below).
    https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-use-a-piping-bag-224064
  • With a firm hand, gently press down the tip of your nozzle to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Pipe out ’S’ patterns, using your thumb to press them out of the nozzle. Try to keep to an S shape as much as possible and don’t pipe too long, otherwise it may end up looking like a snake instead of a dragon. 
  • Use a toothpick dip in red gel colouring to dot the eyes. 
  • Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate cookie dough for 30 minutes before baking.
  • Preheat oven to 150 C. Bake your cookies on the lower rack for 15 minutes till light yellow. It shouldn’t brown too much.
  • Remove and leave to cool on a cooling rack. 

Notes

  1. You don’t need to add salt as I incorporated salted butter in the recipe.
  2. I use cake flour for finer, airy and tender cookies. They’re best for baked goods like cakes, biscuits, or pastries.
  3. It's recommended to bring eggs, butter, and other dairy ingredients to room temperature before mixing them. These ingredients form an emulsion which traps air, while at room temperature. While baking in the oven, that trapped air expands and produces fluffy baked goods.
  4. Chilling the cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread out or “melt” in the oven. 
 
Best practices for storage: Arrange your cookies in layers inside a jar, lined with parchment paper in between to absorb oils. They keep well in an air-tight container at room temperature. 
Tip: Always weigh all ingredients with a digital scale for precision.
Keyword Auspicious, Biscuits, Dragon Cookies, Lunar New Year

If you made this dish, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram!

Continue Reading

Aromatic Poached Chicken with Flavourful Stock

Steamed or poached chicken (鸡肉 jīròu) has always had a special place in my family, particularly throughout the 15 days of Lunar New Year. The dish must always be presented whole to signify completeness, prosperity, togetherness of the family and everlasting joy. It’s customary for Chinese families to have this dish as it was considered a luxury in the olden days.  

I used to get really nervous when I had to carve the chicken. You see, this is a Cantonese dish so it’s a prerequisite to know how to dismantle and present it on a platter in a classic 8-piece configuration: 2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings. Everything else goes in between, and every piece must be easily grabbed by chopsticks. There’s a saying, “yau tau yau mei”, which means you have a head and a tail on the platter, one on each end, symbolising a beginning and end. It takes skill to chop the bird into bite size pieces without tearing the skin, with a sharp cleaver. I hope I did justice to my forefather’s chopping skills because I was very happy with the end result, which you can see in the shot above. I usually opt for village-bred free range chicken fed on corn because it has naturally “golden” yellow skin which is very appealing and auspicious for most Chinese people. 

Here’s the recipe for an auspicious and aromatic poached chicken which you too, can replicate at home. Scroll all the way down for the recipe!

Serves 4 – 6 pax

Ingredients

  • One medium whole free-range chicken, or 3 pieces (750g) whole chicken legs
  • 1.5 litres boiling water
  • 3 shallots
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2cm ginger, peeled and smashed
  • 2 stalks spring onion
  • 10g tong kwai (a type of Chinese medicinal herb; scientific name ‘Angelica sinensis’)
  • Cilantro leaves for garnishing
  • 1 tbsp salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp chicken stock broth
  • 1/2 tsp sugar to taste

Steps

  1. Rinse chicken, then use coarse salt to scrub the chicken skin to remove any residue. For a whole chicken, I’d scrub all over, including the interior. Remove any remaining feathers and guts, then rinse again.
  2. Lower chicken into a pot of boiling water, legs down and head up. Cover the pot and bring back to a boil.
  3. Immediately remove the pot from heat and allow chicken to soak in the stock for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
  4. Remove chicken from the stock and soak in a basin of ice cold water for 25 minutes. While chicken is cooling in the water, prepare the aromatic soup. Bring the previous chicken stock to a boil again, and add shallots, garlic, ginger, spring onions and tong kwai. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Add seasoning ingredients and allow the fragrant stock to cool.
  5. Take out chicken from the basin of cold water and drain well. Return the chicken to the fragrant stock soup in the pot and let chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
  6. Remove and chop the chicken, then transfer to a serving plate. Bring the fragrant stock to a quick boil and serve. You can add some blanched noodles and vegetables such as bok choy or choy sum to the stock and serve it along with the chicken—makes an excellent one-dish meal!
If you made this dish, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram!
Continue Reading

Abundance & Prosperity Poon Choi with Umami-Flavoured Broth

Today marks the 15th and final day of the Lunar New Year. I’m commemorating the occasion with this auspicious Treasure Pot (poon choi or pen cai 盆菜). It’s a one-pot dish containing an overflowing of various ingredients such as abalone, shiitake mushrooms, prawns, sea cucumber, fish maw … all significant foods that carry symbolic meanings during LNY. Traditionally served in wooden, porcelain or metal basins, poon choi was born in Hong Kong during the late Song Dynasty, when the Emperor of China fled to the area around the Guangdong Province and nearby Hong Kong after a Mongol attack. To feed His Majesty and the troops, locals living in the walled villages cooked the best foods then serve these in large wooden washbasins as there weren’t enough serving bowls.

Recently, I thought about my late paternal grandfather. Yeh Yeh was a stern and dignified man who hailed from Guangdong. I feared him and like most Chinese, filial piety—obedience and respect—were virtues to be exercised towards the elderly. Yeh Yeh often regaled us with stories of how he escaped China by boat during World War II when the Japanese invaded. As I arranged the premium ingredients layer by layer, I remembered when Yeh Yeh would buy us cellophane lanterns in different animal shapes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. He was a proud Cantonese man who rode a scooter religiously to his socks factory every day. How he must have lived during his heyday! I thought of his last days, when he could only walk with the help of his walking stick and finally, couldn’t find the strength to get up from bed without assistance. I was never close to Yeh Yeh because I’ve a poor command of Cantonese. But he loved to eat, so at least, this dish would have make up for our lost years. Scroll below for the recipe!

 

Serves 6 pax

Ingredients

  • 150g dried fish maw, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes till softened
  • 60g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked overnight in hot water till softened (keep the soaking liquid); stems removed
  • 500g fresh or dried sea cucumber (if using dried ones, soak them overnight to soften; wash carefully and rinse after then cut into wedges)
  • 1 kg tiger prawns, keep shells on but deveined
  • 250g fresh or frozen scallops (if frozen, transfer to fridge to thaw for at least 2 hours before)
  • 1 kg roast duck meat (alternatively roast pork or chicken)
  • 1 can abalone, drained and soaked in cold water overnight, then washed and cleaned carefully with a brush
  • 1 can sea asparagus, drained, and soaked in cold water for 1 hour, then rinsed
  • 300g broccoli, keep the florets only
  • 150g carrot, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 500g napa cabbage, cut into chunks
  • 500g white daikon radish, head and root removed, sliced into chunks
  • Two handfuls of dried black sea moss (fatt choy), soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
  • 300g fried yam (optional)
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 litres water (including mushroom soaking liquid)
  • 120ml oyster sauce
  • 60ml fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 60ml Hua Tiao Shao Xing wine
  • 4 tbsp cornstarch
  • 4 tbsp water, or more if needed (to make cornstarch slurry)

Steps

  1. Prepare all the dry ingredients in advance, soaking them to soften following the amount of time required.
  2. A) For the Broth: Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, then top up with water, mushroom, fish maw, cabbage, daikon radish, oyster sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Cover and bring to boil, then lower the fire to simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.
  3. B) For the Ingredients: While the broth is simmering, blanch these ingredients in batches, into the same broth: Prawns and scallops (3 minutes); abalone and sea asparagus (2 minutes); broccoli (15-20 seconds); carrots (2-3 minutes); sea cucumber (3 minutes). Remove cooked items then set aside for layering later. Turn off the heat after Step A (above) is done.
  4. C) Layer your Treasure Pot: Start with the napa cabbage and daikon radish at the bottom layer, followed by the fish maw, sea cucumber and carrots. Finally, arrange the roast meat, prawns, scallops, abalone, mushrooms, broccoli, sea asparagus, and fried yam, at the top layer. The black sea moss (fatt choy) goes into the center of the dish.
  5. For the Final Broth: Bring the broth in the pot back to boil. Add Hua Tiao Shao Xing wine and boil for 1 minute until fragrant. On the side, mix the cornstarch with water to form a flurry sludge. Slowly pour the mix into the boiling broth and stir well until desired thickness is achieved. Switch off the fire and scoop some broth from the pot then pour over the layered ingredients in the Treasure Pot. I usually use a traditional claypot to serve this dish, so it could be easily reheated over the stove if necessary.

If you made this dish, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram!

Continue Reading

One-Pot Ginger And Yellow Wine Chicken Mee Sua

Yesterday was the 7th day of the Lunar New Year (“renri” 人日, or “yan yat”). I can’t believe I completely missed the memo. So why is the 7th day so important? I was told that it signifies the day all human beings were created. This day came about when Nüwa, the goddess who created the world, made living beings throughout the first month of the traditional Chinese calendar called “Zhengyue”. 

On the 1st day of Zhengyue, she made chickens.

On the 2nd day, she made dogs.

On the 3rd, boars.

On the 4th, sheep.

On the 5th, cow. 

On the 6th, horses.

Finally, on the 7th, human beings.

The custom dates back to the Han Dynasty in China, and gained importance after the Three Kingdoms period and Jin Dynasty. You can read about all the traditions on Wikipedia, but for now, I’d like to leave you with this bowl of mee sua (wheat vermicelli noodles) that I made with a recipe passed down to me from my mother. Traditionally, we toss yee sang (a Cantonese-style raw fish salad) on this day to celebrate, but in my family, mee sua has a long-standing tradition as “birthday longevity noodles”. 

My mother is from the Foochow clan, so she typically uses ang jiu, a Foochow red wine made from a fermentation of Chinese wine yeast and red yeast rice, to make this dish. After I gave birth, she made me this (apparently the high ginger and wine content is great for expelling “wind” in the body, post-delivery). This year, I decided to use yellow rice wine for a mild, sweeter taste instead. In Malaysia, I used to source mine directly from Sitiawan. In between young or old ginger, I went with the young one, as it’s juicier and less “spicy” or “heaty” compared to old ginger, although the older folks will tell you aged ginger is always the best for unrivalled warmth. Also, the quality of the sesame oil is important—opt for toasted sesame oil because it lends a more flavourful, nutty taste. You can serve this bowl of soupy goodness with red eggs or without, but the red eggs add a special meaning to the dish; they represent birth or a new start, and the red colour is auspicious. I like to add red dates or goji berries for tonic; they’re considered quite “neutral” (not too heaty or cooling) in traditional Chinese medicine. Scroll below for the recipe!

Serves 4 – 6 pax

Ingredients

  • 4 bundles of dried mee sua (flour vermicelli, or any other long noodles)
  • 2 whole chicken legs, blanched in boiling water for 5 minutes to get rid of impurities, then rinse in cold water
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 400ml Chinese yellow rice wine, divided
  • 50g young or old ginger (peeled and sliced)
  • 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water until soft; stems removed
  • 10 red dates, pitted
  • Salt and white pepper to taste
  • Hard boiled eggs

Steps

  1. Heat sesame oil in a wok or pot over medium heat. Add sliced ginger and sauté for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
  2. Add shiitake mushrooms and sauté for 30 seconds. Then pour in 200ml of Chinese yellow rice wine, as well as chicken stock. Top up with a little water if necessary.
  3. Gently lower the chicken legs into the wok or pot. Add red dates or goji berries. Bring it back up to a boil.
  4. Turn the fire down to a simmer and cover to cook for 25-30 minutes, until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from the wok / pot, then season the soup stock with salt and pepper.
  5. On the side, prepare a pot of boiling water. Blanch dried mee sua for 1 minute, stirring to loosen it, then take out and drain.
  6. Scoop the soup stock into a bowl, add chicken and mushrooms, and top with the noodles, sliced ginger and eggs. You can add some blanched vegetables such as bok choy or choy sum as well. Eat the noodles immediately upon serving, as the mee sua will soak up the soup quickly.

If you made this recipe, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram!

Continue Reading
LOAD MORE POSTS
Hello there! I'm Deborah

I love food and photography. If you would like to find out more, head to “About Me” on the main menu.

© 2024 Frejya - Designed & Developed by Sparrow & Snow