Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls Recipe

Hainanese chicken rice may be very common, but chicken rice balls are definitely not. 

We used to frequent the ones at Braddell and Jalan Besar, but the former has closed and the latter was supposed to return again. We haven’t been back since the pandemic so we can’t confirm. There’s another one at Jurong which was alright but somehow the ones we had at Malacca Jonker still reigned supreme. 

The Malacca ones were smaller in size, golf ball sized as opposed to the tennis ball or larger ones found here. And they had a more sticky ketupat texture with a zesty calamansi hit as well. Hence, we made ours using a mixture of different rice grains to get that texture and making ours smaller too.

Salmon Rice Bowl Recipe

Marinate 300g chopped salmon (into square chunks) with 2 tsp udon/soba sauce and 1 tsp mirin. Mix well with your hands and set aside or refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.

In a saucepan over low heat, make a sushi vinegar by adding 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir until all everything is dissolved and you get a sushi vinegar solution. Set aside.

Cook 1 rice cup of Japanese rice in a rice cooker. Slowly drizzle the sushi vinegar into the cooked rice and use a spatula to stir and fold the rice lightly to mix the sushi vinegar into the rice.

San Lou Hor Fun Recipe

Marinate 200g of sliced toman or batang fish with 1 tbsp light soya, white pepper, 1 tbsp Chinese wine and 1 tbsp corn flour. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a wok with some oil, fry 2 persons worth of hor fun or kway teow. Season with 1 tsp light soya. Fry for a few minutes until the noodles are evenly coated and glossy. 

Then set aside on the serving plate. This is the first toss, though you can also blanch the noodles, but frying this way is more delicious.

Sour Plum Chicken Wings Rice Cooker Recipe

Marinate 8 chicken wings with 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tsp light soya sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp plum sauce, Sarawak white pepper and 1 tbsp corn flour. 

Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, remove the strings of from 1/2 cup worth of sugar snap peas. Rinse and wash thoroughly.

After 30 minutes, add the sugar snap peas to 1 rice cup of rinsed rice. Followed by 1 chopped tomato. Pour in 220ml water that has been seasoned with 1 tsp light soya sauce.

Ipoh Hor Fun Recipe

Make the stock by frying 50 prawn heads in a wok with some oil and a handful of white peppercorns. Fry until you get a nice aroma and the prawn heads turn bright red.

Transfer the prawn heads and the accompanying oil into a slow cooker. You may wish to add chicken bones or chicken carcass for more chicken flavour as well. Fill the slow cooker with hot water and let it slow cook for 6 hours.

After 6 hours, strain the stock and add 8 ladles of the stock to a pot. Bring the stock to a boil. Add 150g chicken breast and poach for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken breast after 20 minutes and shred the chicken into thin strips. 

Bee Tai Mak Recipe - One Pot

In pot with 1 tsp of oil, add 2 cloves of minced garlic and white parts of 3 stalks of scallion. Sauté for a few minutes until fragrant.

Add 100g of minced pork and cook for a few minutes until the pork has turned a brown colour. Season with 1 tbsp fish sauce, Sarawak white pepper and 1/2 tbsp light soya sauce.

Add enough bee tai mak noodles enough for 2 persons. Mix well and add 400ml water. Next add 6 to 8 pieces of packet yong tau foo. We are using fish paste and stuffed tofu yong tau foo here.

Potato Minced Pork Rice Cooker Recipe

Marinate 200g of minced pork with 1 tsp light soya sauce, 1 tsp dark soya sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce and a dash of Sarawak white pepper. Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Add 1 tsp dark soya sauce to 220ml water and stir to mix well. Slice 2 medium sized potatoes thinly. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and white parts from 1 stalk of scallion to 1 cup of rinsed rice.

Add the potatoes, followed by the soya water. Add the marinated minced pork. Set the rice cooker to cook at normal mode and let it cook all the way.

Preserved Mustard Braised Pork Belly 梅菜扣肉 Recipe

Marinate 300g of chopped pork belly with 1 tbsp dark soya, 1 tbsp Chinese wine, 1 tsp sesame oil, white pepper and 1 tbsp corn flour. Mix well with hands and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Soak a packet of sweet preserved mustard in water for an hour. Then strain and wash the vegetables to remove excess salt and dirt. Slice the mustard into smaller pieces.

Start to make the dish by frying 2 sticks of cinnamon and a few shards of star anise in a wok with 1 tsp lard oil. Add 1 finely diced shallot and sweat the aromatics for a few minutes.