Seasaltwithfood

If you love crabs like I do, then you ought to try my favorite Malaysian Dry Curry Crabs recipe. Get your fishmonger to prep the crabs, discard the hard shell and reserve the tomalley. The coconut milk does make this dish a bit rich; but, it blends so well with the crabs and rest of the ingredients like curry leaves, curry powder, garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, green chilies, and chili powder. Wish I can post the delicious smell and flavors of this dish. :-) Yummy! Malaysian Dry Curry Crabs (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 2 Large (3 ½ to 4 lbs) Dungeness Crabs, cleaned, cut into 6 to 8 pieces for each crab, discard the hard shell and reserve the tomalley 1 Bunch Fresh Curry Leaves (5-6 sprigs) 1 Cinnamon Stick, about 3 inches 3 Whole Star Anise 1 Tbsp Garlic Paste 2 tsp Ginger Paste 1 Medium Red Onion, chopped 50 g Fish Curry Powder 10 g Chili Powder 500 ml Coconut Milk 2 Fresh Green Chilies, halved and seeded ½ of a Lime, juiced Sea Salt to taste 4 to 5 Tbsp Peanut or Vegetable

I had a fun time teaching my kids how to make this easy Chinese Egg Drop Soup. All you need is chicken stock (or just water), eggs, scallions, salt, and pepper. I know many of you will know, egg drop soup is meant to be clear with thin, silken strands of eggs. A little trick to avoid clumps of eggs in the soup is to slowly stream the beaten egg into the boiling stock and then whisking it quickly with a fork. There you have it, a hot bowl of simple and delicious home made egg drop soup. Chinese Egg Drop Soup (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 500 ml Chicken Stock or Water 2 Large Eggs, beaten with a pinch of sea salt and white pepper 1 to 2 Scallions, sliced Sea Salt Freshly Ground White Pepper Roasted Sesame Oil (optional) Method Bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil. Slowly stream the egg into the stock and whisking quickly with a fork to form fine shreds. Season the soup with sea salt. To serve, top with chopped scallions, pepper and drizzle with sesame oil, if des

This is a kids friendly Chocolate Cornflake Cookies recipe. It’s very easy to make, get your kids to mix all the ingredients together and press them into the tart pan. Then, just help them place the pans into your preheated oven. The cornflakes makes these cookies crunchy and it has lots of sweet fragrant from the shredded coconut. It’s fantastic, try it! Chocolate Cornflake Cookies (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 227 g (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature 100 g Sugar (add 20-30 g for sweeter cookies) 35 g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 200 g All Purpose Flour 250 g Cornflakes, lightly crushed 60 g Unsweetened Shredded Coconuts (Desiccated) 4 x 6 ½ inches Fluted Tart Pans with a removable bottom Method Preheat the oven to 350˚/180˚C. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, mix until pale and creamy. (About 5 minutes) Add in the cocoa powder and flour. Mix until well combined. Then add the cornflakes and coconut, mix until just combined. Pres

About 3 months ago, I posted an oven cooked orange chicken recipe. The email responses to that post was just brilliant. I also had many of my loyal North American readers requesting for the recipe of this popular version of orange chicken, a Chinese take-out favorite. Here, I used dried tangerine peels to achieve the deep orange flavor for this recipe. It tasted so good that I had to do an encore for my kids the next day! :-) Dried tangerine peels are available from any Chinese Medicinal shops. Just look for the better grade ones, if possible. Have fun cooking this great tasting orange chicken! Chinese Orange Chicken (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 350 g (2-3 pieces) Skinless and boneless Chicken Breast, cubed (about ¾-inch pieces) 1 Egg White A pinch of White Pepper 2 tsp Soy Sauce ½ tsp Mei Kuei Lu (Chinese Rose wine) 3 Tbsp Corn Flour 8-10 Dried Red Chilies, cut into ½-inch pieces 18-20 g Ginger, peeled and chopped 3 Cloves Garlic, chopped 1 piece (about 2-inch) Dr

This is a rustic French dessert called Clafoutis (pronounced “kla-foo-TEE”). It originated from Limousin, in southern France, where they are best known for their sweet black cherries. This is in fact my new favorite dessert recipe, you won’t believe how easy it is to prepare. It has the right amount of sweetness and best of all, you can also use different fruits for this recipe and it would taste just as good, for instance, raspberries, plums, champagne grapes, or blueberries. Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Cherry Clafoutis (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 4 Eggs, separated 2/3-Cup Sugar 6 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour 2 tsp Vanilla Extract 1-Cup Heavy Cream ½ tsp Sea Salt 1-½ lbs Fresh Cherries, pitted ½ tsp Lemon Zest Method Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter a large rectangular baking dish. (Or 6 smaller baking dish) Combine the egg yolks and 1/3 cup of the sugar in a large bowl. Whisk until ribbons form and add the flour, vanilla extract, and cream. Beat the mixture until comple

I am welcoming summer 2010 with this cool and refreshing Watermelon Sorbet. There are only 3 ingredients for this recipe, namely, watermelon, sugar, and lime juice. If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, don’t fret. Just pour the watermelon mixture into some Popsicle molds, leave it overnight in the freezer, and you will have some delicious pops. If you want watermelon slush, just chill it for about 3 hours in the freezer instead. These will certainly cool you down during the sizzling hot days! Have a wonderful summer everyone! Watermelon Sorbet (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 5 Cups Watermelon Chunks, seeded 6-8 Tbsp Sugar, or to taste 2 tsp Lime Juice Method In a blender container, combine the watermelon chunks, sugar and lime juice. Cover the blender with the lid and hold it down while you blend on high speed until the mixture is liquid. Allow the mixture to chill thoroughly, and then freeze it in an ice cream maker.

I did this Tandoori Cauliflower With Mint Chutney recently. Again, just another one of my endless effort to coax my kids to eat more vegetables, this time, cauliflower. They are just not bothered with cauliflower unless it’s roasted with lots of spices. So, that’s just what I did. I cooked the cauliflower directly on the grill and served them hot with some mint chutney. They loved it and I was happy. Worked out as planned for me. Try it. :-) Recipe adapted from The Moti Mahal Cookbook by Monish Gujral Tandoori Cauliflower With Mint Chutney (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 1 Large (about 1.2 kg) Cauliflower, cut into large florets 3 Green Cardamoms 1” Stick Cinnamon 4 Cloves 5 Black Peppercorns 2 tsp Sea Salt Marinade 4 Tbsp Yogurt 1 ½ tsp Red Chili Powder (Degi Mirch) 1 ½ tsp Garam Masala Powder 1 ½ tsp Cumin Powder ¾ tsp Black Salt (Kala Namak) ½ tsp Sea Salt ¾ tsp Chaat Masala ¾ tsp Coriander Powder ¾ tsp Fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi) 2 tsp Ginger Paste 2 tsp Garlic Paste 1 tsp Dried

I love fresh figs, especially, the sweet Black Mission variety. The way I like to enjoy them is to pair the figs with salty Bulgarian Feta cheese, some raw pistachio, honey, and served with some wholemeal rusk. This is one of my favorite non-cook and no recipe needed appetizer. You can play around with the ingredients, perhaps, you may want to pair the figs with some goat cheese and walnut instead, or maybe serve with some dry toast, pita chips, or even flatbreads. Try it. Fresh Figs With Feta Cheese, Pistachio, Honey, And Wholemeal Rusk (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 6 Fresh Black Mission Figs, washed and halved Crumbled Feta Cheese (Bulgarian) Honey 12 Whole Meal Rusk Raw Pistachio, lightly chopped Mint leaves, optional Method Scattered some feta cheese on each Rusk and top with a fig half. Drizzle some honey, top with pistachio and garnish with mint leaves. Makes 12 appetizers

I finally got around to make some Kale Chips. I had bookmarked the recipe from The Food Librarian a couple of months back. It drew my interest as kale chips are super healthy, chocked full of antioxidants, and they taste great too. This is an easy recipe, after washing and drying the kale, simply toss them with some lemon juice, olive oil, and then season lightly with sea salt. Pop the kale in the oven for 15 minutes and there you go, a bowl of lemony kale chips! Enjoy. Kale Chips-Crisps (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 1 Bunch (About 280 g) Organic Kale, strip out the center core or stalk, tear kale into small pieces, washed and dried 2 Tbsp Olive Oil 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice Sea Salt Method Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and season lightly with sea salt. Toss in the dry kale and coat them evenly. Arrange the kale in a single layer of the baking tray. Roast the kale for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are crispy. (You may need to turn the kale onc

Popiah or Fresh Spring Rolls, are typically filled with a good variety of healthy fresh ingredients. No hard and fast rule here, just fill it up with what you like. Here is what I usually include in my popiah, sweet sauce over a leaf of lettuce, cooked jicama, green beans, fried bean curds, shredded omelet, fried shallots, blanched bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, and thinly sliced fried Chinese sausages, if I have some available. Wrap it all up when you are done and you have a great tasting spring roll! Just omit the eggs and sausages, if you are a vegan. Serving popiah or spring rolls over a casual gathering or party is very enjoyable. Just arrange the fillings in the middle of a table and let your guests attempt to wrap their own spring rolls. It’s quite fun watching everyone try to gather all the fillings into the little popiah skin without letting it fall apart! Popiah-Fresh Spring Rolls (Printable Recipe) Ingredients Popiah Skin/wrapper (about 40 pcs) Cooked Jicama/Yam Bean Cooke

Today, I am posting a recipe for homemade Popiah Skin aka the thin wrapper skin for Chinese Spring rolls. Popiah is a word derived from the Hokkien dialect. A good popiah skin must be thin and elastic. They should be strong enough to wrap the vegetable fillings without breaking apart. Fresh Popiah or spring rolls are popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Anyway, my late grandmother was brilliant at making paper thin popiah skin. I recalled when I was a kid, I used to watch her painstakingly stirred and kneaded the batter until it turned elastic. I have tried using the same method in the past; but, it was too laborious for me. So, this is a simplified method, thanks to the modern mixer. :-) There are only 3 key ingredients for the batter. You just need to beat the batter until it’s smooth and elastic. You will need a bit of practice to be able to coat the batter onto the griddle quickly in a circular motion using one hand. Click on the above video to see how I do it. In order for the batte

Yes, this is a post about Macaroni and Cheese. I chuckled a little when my daughter had requested for macaroni and cheese for dinner. Never occurred to me that she would like this. Seems like she had watched an episode of Ricardo and friends, and he had prepared macaroni and cheese for some kids and it looked very good. So, here is the recipe for a creamy and cheesy Macaroni and Cheese recipe adapted from Ricardo’s cookbook. I have used the combination of Aged Sharp cheddar and Jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese for the recipe. The combination of both the cheeses were simply delicious! Try it! Recipe adapted from Meals for Every Occasion by Ricardo Larrivee Macaroni And Cheese Ingredients 350 g (3/4 lb) Elbow Macaroni, preferably Organic 3 Tbsp Butter 3 Tbsp Unbleached All-Purpose Flour ½ tsp Paprika ¼ tsp Dried Mustard Pinch Ground Nutmeg 430 ml (1-3/4 Cups) Milk 50 g Aged Sharp Cheddar, grated 100 g Jalapeno Monterey Jack Cheese, grated ½ tsp Tabasco Sauce Sea Salt Freshly Ground Black

This is a quick and easy Korean Green Onion Pancake recipe. I had adapted the recipe from Eating Korean cookbook by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee. I had added some Korean chili peppers as well to the recipe and it turned out really good, with a touch of spiciness which was more to my liking. Recipe adapted from Eating Korean by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee Korean Green Onion Pancakes-Pa Jun (Printable Recipe) Ingredients ¾ All-Purpose Flour ¼ Cup Rice Flour About 1 Cup (250 ml) Cold Water 5 Green Onions (Scallions), cut into ½-inch pieces 2 Tbsp Korean Sliced Chili Peppers (Dried) Dash of Black Pepper ¼ tsp Sea Salt Vegetable Oil for frying Vinegar Soy Sauce (Cho Ganjang) 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce 2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil 1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Seeds 1 tsp Black Pepper Method In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the vinegar soy sauce and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the flours and cold water, adding water a little at a time and mixing until the mixture is the consistency of thin pancak

I love these Hanoi Shrimp Cakes or also known as banh tom in Vietnam. These sweet and savory shrimp cakes are great for a weekend brunch or as an appetizer. The sweet potatoes and shrimps were coated with a light batter and then deep-fried until crispy and golden brown in color. Then, just wrap the shrimp cakes with greens and herbs, and dip into Vietnamese sauce before you savor them. Yum! By the way, I am contributing this lovely recipe for the Delicious Vietnam. It’s a monthly blogging event to celebrate Vietnamese cuisine created by Anh of A Food Lover's Journey and Ravenous Couple by Hong and Kim . If you are into Vietnamese food, then do check out their blogs. They have many interesting and tantalizing Vietnamese recipes. Well, I would like to thank Hong and Kim for inviting me to participate in this Delicious Vietnam event. Recipe adapted from Pleasures Of The Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham Hanoi Shrimp Cakes-banh tom (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 70 g (1/2 Cup) All-Purpos

I made this Hot And Sour Soup With Seafood recently. I have had this soup at a local restaurant several times before. Good every time, but, I felt it could be improved by adding some key ingredients. There are many ingredients in this soup; but, not to worry as it’s actually very easy to prepare and cook. You just need a little patience to slice and dice up all the ingredients to small bite sizes. Trust me here, the end result is rewarding as nothing beats a warm bowl of home made soup! Hot And Sour Soup With Seafood (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 150 g Peeled Prawns 150 g Fresh Small Scallops 100 g Small Squids, cleaned (optional) 10 g Dried Lily Flowers 10 g Dried Wood Ear Mushrooms 15 g Dried Shitake Mushrooms (about 3 to 4) 1 pc Fresh or Can Bamboo Shoots, julienned 1 Block (200 g) Medium Firm Bean Curd (Tofu), diced 6 Cups (1500 ml) Chicken Stock 4 Tbsp Corn Flour, mixed with 3 Tbsp of water 4 Large Eggs, lightly beaten 1 ½ Tbsp Soy Sauce 1 Tbsp Shaoxing Wine 4 Tbsp Chinese Dark V

I have found a wonderful Brownies recipe and I’d like to share it with you. These brownies were very soft, moist, buttery, nutty, and chocolaty. I adapted this fantastic recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. As usual, I reduced the amount of sugar called for by the recipe, I used 180g instead of 250g. The brownies still turned out great, not too sweet, just the way I like it. Recipe adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme Brownies-Moist, Buttery, Nutty, And Chocolaty (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 5 oz (145 g) Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped 2 ¼ Sticks (9oz/260 g) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature 4 Large Eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten 1 ¼ Cups (250 g) Sugar 1 Cup (140 g) All-Purpose Flour 1 ¼ Cups (5oz/145 g) Walnuts, lightly toasted, coarsely chopped Method Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). Butter a 9 x 12 inch (24 x 30 cm) brownie pan, line with parchment paper, butter the paper, and dust with flour, tap out the excess flour. In the top of a

I like making this Grilled Asparagus With Lemon Vinaigrette, served with some crunchy Serrano Ham. Toss some lemon vinaigrette over the asparagus before grilling. The grilled asparagus will be sweet, smoky, and crisp. As for the ham, just grill over medium heat until golden brown. Then, let it cool down before gently break them into smaller pieces. Drizzle some lemon vinaigrette before serving and top the asparagus with some crunchy Serrano ham. Sounds yummy? Try it! Grilled Asparagus With Lemon Vinaigrette (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 600 g Asparagus, discard the tough ends 100 g Thinly Sliced Serrano Ham Lemon Vinaigrette 1 tsp Mustard 3 Tbsp Lemon Juice ¼ Cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Sea Salt, to taste Fresh Ground Black Pepper Method Prepare the grill for direct cooking on medium heat. Combine the mustard and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil until emulsified and season with sea salt and pepper. Grill the ham for about 1 minute on each side until golden brown in c

This is a fantastic Vietnamese inspired Grilled Meat Pops recipe. You can use either ground pork or beef for this recipe. The meat pops are full of flavors from the combination of lemongrass, galangal, shallots, chili flakes, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and sea salt. I marinated the meat for about 2 hours. Then, I gently shape them into oval shape patties and pierced into the skewers. Lightly brush the meat patties with some oil before grilling. Serve the meat pops with some Vietnamese Chili Lime Sauce . Grilled Meat Pops (Printable Recipe) Ingredients 500 g Ground Pork or Beef 1 ½ tsp Ground Lemongrass 1 ½ tsp Ground Galangal 2 Shallots, minced 1 tsp Chili Flakes 1 Clove of Garlic, minced 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce 1 Tbsp Sugar 1 tsp Sea Salt 20 Short Bamboo Skewers, soaked in the water for 1 hour Peanut or Vegetable Oil Vietnamese Chili Lime Sauce Method Combine the ground meat, shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, chili flakes, sugar, fish sauce, and sea salt in a bowl. Refrigerate the mea