Singapore five spice Fried Rice

Aromatic and fragrant Singapore five spice rice that is delicious served as a side dish or a meal on its own.

Ingredients:

12 oz / 360 g  cold boiled rice
1 carrot grated or julienned
8 green beans slit and cut length ways into 3 inch pieces
1/2 red capsicum cut into fine this strips
1 red chilli cut on the slant
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Singapore five spice powder
1 star anise

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large wok, when it is hot add the carrot, beans and capsicums and stir fry  for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the star anise,red chilli, five spice powder and salt and mix well in to the vegetables.
3. Add the rice and toss all the vegetables and rice together and stir fry for 4-5 minutes longer until rice and vegetables are coated with the spice and the rice is heated through
4. Transfer the rice to a serving bowl and serve hot.

NB- To prepare boiled rice wash 1 cup rice in cold water and soak it for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes transfer rice to  a large pan and add 2 pints water and bring rice to boil, reduce heat and simmer rice until tender, drain the rice in a colander and pour over some cold water to wash out starch.
Allow the rice to cool before using it in the recipe.

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Moroccan Tomato Rice

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Singapore sweet and sour stirfried Tofu

Singapore style stir fried tofu in an aromatic sweet and sour sauce.

Ingredients:

480 grams tofu

1 red onion thinly sliced

3 spring onions thinly sliced on the slant

2 cloves garlic finely sliced

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tablespoons plum sauce

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

2 tablespoon chilli sauce

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon corn flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water.

3 tablespoons sunflower oil.

Method:

1.  Remove the tofu block from the wrapper and pat dry with kitchen paper to remove excess water.

2. Cut the tofu into thin strips 1cm wide and 2 cm long.

3. Add 2 tablespoons of the sunflower oil in a wok and let it heat up.

4. Stir fry the tofu in small batches till it takes on a golden colour. Remove from wok and keep aside.

5. Add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil to the wok and wait for the oil to heat up. Add the garlic, chillies, red onion and the spring onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add the prepared tofu strips to the wok and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes with the vegetables.

7. Add the corn flower to the water and mix well, add this to the wok together with the vinegar, salt, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, plum sauce and stir fry until tofu strips are totally covered with the sauce.

8. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with sliced spring onions.

Serve with Rice.

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Chilli Paneer

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Singapore Five Spice Powder

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Aromatic and fragranced  spice powder made with star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cloves and szechaun pepper corns. Its perfect for stirfries and five spice rice.

Ingedients:

5 star anise
2 sticks of cinnamon
10 cloves
1 teaspoon szechaun peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seeds.

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed frying pan , dry  roast the spices for 2-3 minutes to release the fragrance.
2. Leave to cool for few minutes and then transfer them to a coffe grinder and grind to a smooth powder.
3. Transfer to an air tight jar and use as required.

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Szechaun Chilli Sauce

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Flavours Of Singapore event by simply.food

Roti Jala- Singapore laced Pancakes

Lacey thin pancakes that are a wonderful accompaniment to a spicy curry.

Ingredients:

4 oz /120 grams  plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
Cold water or Coconut milk  (I used water)
1 egg (I used 1 tablespoon yoghurt instead)
1 tablespoons sunflower oil

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and add the salt and turmeric.
2. Add the yoghurt and mix with the flour.
3. Add water a little at a time to form a batter of dropping consistency.There should be no lumps.

4. Fill a  roti jala cup mould with the batter.(I used an icing bottle or you can use a ketchup bottle)

Image from Baking Frenzy

5. Heat a non stick pan  and oil it sparingly with the oil.
6. When it is hot turn the heat to medium  and using the roti jala cup mould quickly spread the batter in to the pan using a circular motion  or forming vertical stripes as in this video.

7. Once the pancake has set after 2-3 minutes, you can fold it into three and transfer to serving place and repeat for remaining batter.There is no need to flip the pancake.
Serve with curry of your choice.

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Pudla savory pancakes

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Pisang Goreng- Banana fritters.

Sweet banana deep fried in a crispy  crunchy coating ,drizzled with a flurry of icing sugar.

Ingredients:

3 sweet  firm medium bananas (Do not use over ripe bananas)
30 grams / 1 oz  rice flour
120 grams  /4 oz plain flour
60 grams  / 2 oz  corn flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
180ml (approx) water to make batter
Sunflower oil for deep frying.
Icing sugar to sprinkle

Method:

1. In a  bowl add the flours and salt and gradually add the water to form a  thick batter that coats the back of a spoon.(It should be fairly thick so that it coates the banana and doesn't drop off)
2. Peel and slice the bananas into two .Cut each slice into  three pieces and keep aside
3. Heat the oil and when it is hot, dip the  banana pieces into the batter and drop them gently into the hot oil.
4. Deep fry the banana fritters on medium heat  until golden brown , remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper.
5. Sprinkle some icing over the bananas and transfer them to a serving dish.

Serve with Vanilla icecream.

Fritters are very popular in lots of Asian countries. I love all Asian desserts and am trying to cook my way through the different types. If like me you like Asian desserts do check this list of 25 Indonesian Desserts

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Coconut  milk  pudding.

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Singapore Coconut milk pudding.

Creamy, smooth pudding with a delicious coconut fragrance and taste.

Ingredients:

250 ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon agar agar flakes
2 tablespoons sugar

Method:

1. Add the coconut milk to a sauce pan and heat it up.
2. Add the sugar and agar agar flakes and stir on medium heat untill agar agar and sugar have completely dissolved.
3. Get two ramekin dishes and strain the mixture into them.
4. Leave the pudding  aside to cool to room temperature.
5. Once cooled, place in fridge to set for two hours.

Serve chilled.

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Coconut Barfi

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Szechaun Stirfried Rice

Spicy aromatic rice stirfried in a chilli garlic  Szechaun sauce.

Ingredients:

8 oz cold precooked boiled rice
3 tablespoons Szechaun sauce (Home made recipe here)
8 button mushrooms thinly sliced
1 red onion thinly sliced
1/4 red capsicum diced (small)
1/4 yellow capsicum diced (small)
1/4 green capsicum diced (small)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic cut into thin slices.
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok, when it is hot add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.Add the onions and saute for another minute.
2. Add the mushrooms and pepppers and stirfry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the salt, szechaun sauce and mix well.
4. Add the boiled rice and toss until rice is evenly coated with sauce and vegetables and heated through throughly.
5. Transfer to serving dish.

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Singapore stirfried Tofu

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Flavours of Singapore and Lets cook with Left overs events by simply.food

 

Szechaun chilli sauce

A spicy chilli sauce that is versatile in all oriental  stirfry dishes.

Ingredients:

10 Red dried chillies
1/2 red sweet pepper(long one)
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon sesame paste
2 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
10 szechaun peppercorns finely ground.
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sweet chilli garlic sauce

Method:

1. Soak the red chillies in hot water overnight.
2. In the morning drain the red chillies remove stalks, seeds and membrane and chop roughly.
3.Finely chop the red sweet pepper.
4. In a blender jug add the sweet red pepper and the chillies and blend to a coarse puree .
5. Heat oil in a pan when it is hot add garlic and ginger and saute for  30 seconds.(take care not to burn the garlic)
6. Add the blended chilli paste, salt and chilli powder , chilli garlic sauce , sesame paste and saute till sauce thickens .
7. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar.

Add to stir fried rice or vegetables as required.

NB- I added the sweet pepper to keep the heat less, however if you dare replace it with an extra 10 red chillies instead.Also for cooking with the sauce works well with coarse texture , however if you want to serve as dipping sauce blend it smoother.

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Sweet red chilli sauce

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Acar Timun (singapore cucumber pickle)

Acar Timun is a tangy crunchy pickle is commonly available is Singapore as an accompaniment to main dishes.It has a sweet and sour and tangy taste and it is served as a cold relish. The original recipe is from here but I have made some changes to here to suit my taste.

Ingredients:

1/2  cucumber
1 large carrot
1 small red onion
1 inch piece fresh  ginger
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green chilli finely chopped

Method:

1. Cut the cucumber in half and remove the seeds. Cut it in to 2 inch very thin  julienne strips.
2. Peel the carrot and cut it into 2 in very thin  julienne strips.
3. Peel the onion and slice it very thinly and separate all the slices.
4. Pel the ginger and cut it into fine julienne strips
5 Heat oil in a pan , when it is hot add the mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle. Add the onions and stir fry for a minute.
6.Add the carrots, ginger,cucumber and chillies and  stir fry for a further two minutes.
7.Add the salt,sugar, chilli powder, turmeric powder and the lemon juice and toss.(vegetables should remain crisp and retain shape)
8.Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar and mix well.
9.Transfer to a serving dish and chill the pickle.
Serve with any main dish as an accompaniment.

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Carrot pickle

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