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|  | (duck soup with salted mustard greens) This soup is traditionally served at Chinese New Year or whenever you crave some comfort food. The sharpness of the salted mustard greens is the perfect foil for the rich flavours of the duck and pig’s trotters and the brandy adds depth. It’s a luxurious dish, best eaten in small quantities and not too often. 1 duck, cut into pieces and rinsed, then rubbed with 1tbsp brandy or Chinese wine 2 pig’s trotters cut into pieces and rinsed 300gm kiamchye (salted mustard greens), rinsed with water and cut into pieces 3 pieces dried tamarind 1 thumb size knob galangal, bruised 1 thumb size knob ginger, bruised salt, pepper and sugar to taste 4 litres water Boil water, add the trotters and boil for about 10-15mins. Add duck pieces and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 45mins or until the trotters and duck are tender. Stir in 1 tbsp of brandy to the soup before serving. Garnish with coriander leaves. The Straits Chinese serve the duck and pork with some sambal blachan. 6 medium red chillies, stems removed 1 tsp blachan (shrimp paste), available at Chinese grocers 2 kaffir lime leaves, remove central vein and tear into pieces (optional) If you prefer a milder sambal, slit chillies down the middle and remove seeds by washing under a running tap. Mould blachan into a flat patty and toast lightly under a medium-hot grill, making sure it doesn’t burn. (It helps to keep the windows open and do wash your hair afterwards as the aroma tends to linger). Use a mortar and pestle and pound the chillies, blachan and kaffir lime leaves until it is well combined and becomes a paste. Or use a food processor and grind until smooth. Enjoy sambal blachan with everything, especially kiam chye duck soup. Any leftover sambal can be frozen. PROSPERITY HOKKIEN NOODLES 200g chicken, sliced 200g squid, cleaned 8 raw medium prawns, peeled, leave tails on, save shells for stock 10 slices fish cake 1 cup bean shoots, washed 2 bunches baby bok choy, washed, remove hard stem at the base 2 eggs, beaten with 1 tbsp water and pinch salt 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 cup chicken or prawn stock 1 tbsp light soy or fish sauce 1 tbsp dark soy sauce salt to taste 3 tbsp peanut oil fried shallots to garnish To make prawn stock, fry shells and heads in a little oil until red and cooked. Add 2 cups water, bring to the boil. Simmer about 15 minutes. Remove from flame, strain and discard shells. Pour boiling water over Hokkien noodles, leave for a minute, drain and rinse. Cut squid into 2.5cm squares, score lightly with tip of knife. Or cut into rings, if preferred. Heat wok, add 1 tbsp oil and pour in beaten egg. Spread around the wok to form a thin omelette. Turn and cook other side. Remove from wok and cool. When cool, roll up omelette and cut into thin strips. Heat wok again, add remaining oil, lower flame to medium and stir fry garlic until golden. Add pork, squid, prawns, fish cake slices and stir fry 2 minutes. Add bean sprouts, bok choy, stir fry 1 minute. Add noodles, stock, soy sauces, salt, egg strips and bring to the boil. Adjust seasoning and transfer to platter. Serve with fried shallots sprinkled on top. Chinese New Year when I was a child always meant chicken curry, cooked only by my Dad. Dad had some friends who lived in a Malay kampung (village) and who reared chickens. Every Chinese New Year’s Eve, his friends would visit our house with a couple of live chickens and for their trouble Dad rewarded them with a fat ang pow (red envelope of money for good luck). He then proceeded to slaughter the poor critters in our backyard and my sister and I would try to watch him behind the kitchen curtains, but always ``chickening out’’ and running off at the last minute, unable to bear the sound of frantic squawking. The rest is best left to the imagination, but suffice to say, after the plucking, the cleaning and the cooking, Dad would proudly serve up his chicken curry. This is my take on Dad’s recipe for best chicken curry. The curry serves four and is best eaten with steamed rice or roti. 2 chicken Maryland portions, remove skin, cut into pieces 2 potatoes, peeled and halved 1 Spanish onion, peeled and quartered 3 cloves garlic, peeled 1 thumbsize piece ginger, peeled 3 tbsp curry powder, mixed with ½ cup warm water ½ cup coconut milk 3 cups water 6 curry leaves 6 cardamom seeds, crushed ½ tsp fenugreek seeds ½ tsp garam masala ¼ cup peanut or vegetable oil for frying salt, sugar to taste Pound ginger and garlic together in a mortar and pestle or process in a food processor, rub all over chicken pieces. Stand for at least ½ hour. Heat a deep saucepan and when hot, add oil and heat again. Lower heat to medium, onion and stir fry until transparent, but not brown. Add chicken and stir fry until fragrant. Add curry paste and stir fry until chicken is well coated and oil starts to separate from paste. If mixture starts to stick, sprinkle in some water. Add potatoes, mix well, add 3 cups water, curry leaves, cardamom, fenugreek seeds and garam masala. Bring to the boil, add salt and sugar to taste, lower heat to medium and add coconut milk (do not add coconut milk on full boil as it will curdle). Simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken and potatoes are tender. Serve hot. CRUNCHY PORK NOODLES BALLS
250g pork mince 1 small red onion (100g), chopped finely 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tsp grated fresh ginger ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander 1 egg yolk ¼ cup plain flour 1 tsp sambal oelek 1 tsp fish sauce peanut oil for deep frying 1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce 2 tbsp lime juice
Crumble noodles into a large heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water, stand for about 5 minutes or until tender, drain. Combine noodles with pork, onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, egg yolk, flour, sambal and fish sauce in large bowl. Roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls. Heat oil in deep saucepan or wok, deep fry pork balls in batches until browned and cooked through. Drain on absorbent paper and serve with combined sweet chilli sauce and lime juice.
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300g fresh Hokkien egg noodles
60g dried egg noodles