Fried Tomyam Meehoon

I love this dish--it's light, easy to make, and soooooo yummy. Also easily customisable to your taste in terms of type of meat and vegetables used. The tomyam paste most probably can be obtained from your local Asian store.

200-300g dried meehoon (rice vermicelli), soaked in water to soften, and drained
cooking oil (I used olive)
2 tbsp tomyam paste
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion or 3 shallots, chopped
approx 300g boneless meat (chicken, beef, prawns, etc), cut into bite-sized slices

optional:
3 tbsp dried shrimps, ground
2 beancurd cakes, fried and sliced
mushrooms, sliced or quartered
carrots, diced/sliced
beansprouts
capsicum, sliced
sugar snaps, halved
(basically, you can add any crisp veg you'd add into a stirfry)

Method
Heat oil in a wok, fry the onions and garlic. Add 1 tbsp of the tomyam paste and saute till fragrant. Put in the meat (and dried shrimps if included), and fry well until meat is cooked. Dish out and set aside. Pour enough fresh oil into the wok to coat the bottom, add the remaining tomyam paste and a little water to dissolve it to a more watery mixture (easier to coat all the noodles with). Add mee hoon, stir-fry until evenly mixed. Toss in the veggies and the meat again, stir till integrated with the noodles, and serve hot.

Serves 4

Pongteh Chicken

This is one of my favourite Nyonya (Straits Chinese) dishes. I think it's usually made with pork--I'm trying to find a butcher in this town to get meat for the pork version (as well as siew yoke or Chinese roast pork). I used to have pongteh with steamed rice quite often at Baba Low, a Nyonya cafe near my ex-office and have been craving it since I moved here. Happily, I think that my recipe tastes just as good as the one in Baba Low. :)

You'll need:
1 kg chicken (with bone) - cut into serving pieces
cooking oil (to cover base of pot)
a few good shakes of good sesame oil
3 large shallots (or about 6 small ones), sliced
half a bulb of garlic, minced
2in piece of ginger, cut into chunks
2 tbsp preserved bean paste
1 tbsp thick sweet soy sauce
2 heaping tbsp gula Melaka (if unavailable, use dark muscovado sugar)
approx 3 cups water
3 (starchy) potatoes, peeled/quartered
salt to taste

Method:
Pound shallots, garlic and ginger into a paste. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large pot, add sesame oil, and saute the paste till fragrant. Add preserved bean paste, thick soy sauce, sugar, salt and some water, and stir till well mixed. Add chicken pieces and stir till well coated. Pour in the rest of the water and leave to simmer. When chicken appears cooked, add potatoes. Simmer till sauce is thickened and meat/potatoes are very tender. Add more salt if necessary. Serve with steamed white rice.

Serves 4

Pounding the shallots, garlic and ginger into a paste

Note: You may add Chinese mushrooms (shiitake) if you wish... soak a few dried mushrooms in water till plump and add to the pot with the chicken.

Spiced Hot Chocolate

It's autumn now and I constantly crave hot drinks to help keep me warm. There can be only so many cups of coffee or tea that one can drink... hot chocolate is my favourite non-caffeinated beverage.

You'll need:
1 mug of milk (about 500ml or so, less if you like)
1 heaping teaspoon good quality cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sugar (to taste)
pinch of salt

Optional (one or a combination):
sprinkle of powdered cayenne pepper (adds a delicious heat and zing)
hearty shake of powdered cinnamon (or about 1/8 teaspoon)
about 1/8 teaspoon of powdered cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
glug of flavoured syrup (such as hazelnut, vanilla, etc)

Method:
Gently heat milk in a saucepan. While heating, add cocoa, sugar, pinch of salt and chosen spices, and mix well. Stir constantly, do not allow milk to boil. Once the mixture is hot, pour into serving mug and topped with whipped cream, if desired.

Yield: 1 large mug of hot chocolate

Welcome to Siryn's Kitchen!

Hello there! This is intended to be a sort of bank for my tried-and-tested recipes. I'm a Malaysian who has just moved abroad; now I have the time and a very good reason to cook almost daily - cooking our own meals is a necessity as eating out here is expensive, unlike in Malaysia. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do. :)