My Experience of Confinement and Hand Pulled Noodles/Mee Hoon Kuey

It's nearly week 4 of my confinement. I am very blessed. Having my parents and grandmother travel from Singapore to help out as we get used to having a baby. My very generous mother took time off work and as a family, we decided that they will be spending 2+ months with us. It's a big deal, as not only does little Asher has a chance to know his grandparents and great-grandmother, we have not stayed together under one roof since I was 16 for such a long period of time.

Confinement, as the name suggests, indicate that I am confined to at home during the first month of Asher's life or post delivery. While many would say confinement is like "jail at home", I begged to differ. For most of it, I agree with the concept. This month is used more for recovery and getting used to parenthood to a new infant with help from women who have been through it. Not to mention, I enjoy the confinement food;which is meant to restore energy and nourishment to the body.

I did break a few rules of course. Traditionally, I'm not allowed to wash my hair. Well, rest assured, I did wash my hair but probably every few days. Given that it is winter and I'm not in humid Singapore, that does not bother me. Grandma explained I have to keep my body warm to prevent any future illnesses. Well, I guess I did listen by showering and washing my hair in hot water and blow drying it immediately.

Then of course, there is this myth that one should not drink water as that causes water retention. As I am breastfeeding, I need to keep the hydration up so I drank a combination of water and the warm logan/red date/ginger drink. My poor mother has to keep reminding me to drink it to the point she would give me a mug of it while I breastfeed.

Usually the baby is looked after by the confinement lady (which in this case, my whole family) to provide maximum rest for the new mother. Asher is sleeping with us though, and most of his needs are taken care by us. While it is tiring, my mother understood that it is important for breastfeeding reasons. My family stepped in to look after Asher, so that I can take a nap or shower during the day.

Confinement means I am not allowed out. Well, I broke that twice. Once when I needed some documents signed so it was a quick 30 mins trip, whereas the other time, I could not resist and headed to a children and baby expo that was held once a year. My mother went with me and we had a great time being out. The expo was indoors though and we kept it fairly short.

My mum prepared most of the food, with many of it ginger based. Due to my surgery, Mum lessen the amount of ginger as it was said that to much "heat producing" food might cause infections. Nevertheless, I enjoyed all the meals for numerous reasons. While I love cooking, it's really lovely having mum looking after me (!) and it is one less thing I need to worry about while I get to know Asher better.

As the month ends, I will be glad to be able to go out for walks (I'm very eager to shed the baby weight), and run errands. I'm glad that while my family is pro-confinement, they also respect our wishes and allowed me to wash my hair, look after Asher and looked after all the other necessities! It's a luxury and one that I am basked in the love and sacrifice of my family.

 I'm still quite behind in blogging my adventures of cooking before I delivered. In actual fact, I have bookmarked quite a few things I want to do when I am not working. Hubby commented that he really enjoyed me being a "housewife/domestic engineer" during that period of time!

Hand Torn Noodles or Mee Hoon Kuey is one of it. In theory, it is a really simple hawker dish to make. However, it requires time to do it. I chose it because I recall the happy memories that went with it. It was a dish of choice when I hang out with my dearest of friends. Three girls, sharing two bowls. One would prefer the meat, the other likes the vegetables in it. I'm the one who benefited the most- I like everything in the bowl of mee hoon kuey with extra chill.

There are many recipes out there for Mee Hoon Kuey, but I quite like this one. I added soya beans to the dried anchovies broth which I believe imparts a sweeter flavour. The other thing I changed, was to microwave some anchovies to make it crispy- rather than frying it in oil. The negative about it is that I couldn't keep it crisp for a long time. I burnt two batches of it before getting the timing of the microwave right too.

The dough can't be kept so this dish is best eaten fresh.

Next post- Asher's full month celebration!

Hand Torn Noodles or Mee Hoon Kuey (Serves 2)
2 cups of flour
1 egg
1 tsp of oil
1/2 cup of water

Broth
1/2 cup of dried anchovies
1/4 cup of soya bean
2 litres of water

Toppings
handful of anchovies
mince pork marinated with soy, pepper and sesame oil
egg
a bunch of choy sum


To make the broth- boil everything for a hour or so

Start with the noodles- In a mixer with a dough hook, make a well in the flour. Add egg, salt and oil. Turn beater on and mix. Once it comes together, continue the beater till it becomes soft and springy. You can also do this by hand. Rest dough in a clean bowl for an hour.

Meanwhile, crisp the anchovies in the microwave by placing them on a plate. Microwave high for 30 seconds first. If they are crisp, great! If not, try for another 30 seconds.

Cook mince meat in a pan by heating some oil and frying it. Set it aside.

Once dough is ready, roll it out. Tear them into pieces.

Re boil the broth. Add dough in and cook till it floats up. Add choy sum and cook till done (That will take 30 seconds). Crack an egg in a small bowl and pour it in. Quickly dish the broth, hand pulled noodles, egg and veges into your serving bowl. The egg should be lightly poached. Top noodles with crisp anchovies, mince meat and chill.

5 Spice Honey Drumettes

The quiet anticipation of awaiting the arrival of bub is so precious. I'm feeling increasingly uncomfortable and heavy. I can understand why the body gets to the stage where it is not practical or comfortable to hold a baby in any longer. However, I am also sitting in the moment where bub and I share that special space that only a mother and child can have.

It's also a time where hubby and I reflect that life will probably never be the same again as a couple versus with a baby. We anticipate that regardless of how difficult it is, no one can fully prepared us for what will follow. Sleepless nights, dealing with bodily fluids, never having that flexibility that we are used to, costs, focused change.. oh what else have I missed? everything probably!

I have always spoken how marriage is a bond and this baby will bond us even more together. It will be a test for sure.

Getting increasingly tired means dinner preparation is slowing down too. Free range chicken drumettes were on sale at our local supermarket recently and we bought 3 kg of it! Lucky we have a big freezer now for bulk buys like this. I decided to marinate it the way my grandmother used to do it for me when I headed out for bbqs with friends as a teenager and stuck it in the oven to bake. The result was a no fuss but delicious quick dinner.

5 Spice Honey Drumettes (for 2-3 people)
10 little chicken drumettes
2 tsp of 5 spice powder
1 tsp of honey
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
white pepper

Marinate chicken with all ingredients overnight or for 2 hours. Pre heat oven to 180C and bake chicken for 40 minutes or so.

Panfried Rice Rolls

There is a calm in my heart. A feeling of being contented by the simplicity that our lives have fulfilled over the past few months. I am now in the middle of my 2nd trimester, fast approaching 3rd, and woah has time passed fast.

I woke up one morning and told my hubby that the feeling of being close to him, incubating having a life in me seems almost perfect. I'm not sure why I was chasing so many things at once before anymore. I suppose this is Part 1 of nesting (part 2, I may start cleaning.. don't think I'm there yet!)

I have become a fan of our local libraries. I'm starting to feel better so I'm starting to take over the reins in the kitchen a little more (much to my hubby's relief- really, he should do a guest post one day of the wide eye worried look when he is in charge of dinners). We looked at investing in some 2nd hand items for our little one, and decide what we need new.

I'm reading more. Like heaps more- the way I was when I was a teenager. Except it is filled with parenting and baby books.. oh, and an odd romance here and there. Trying to do what I do not think I will have time to do when baby arrives.

As a couple, we discussed parenting styles, values and changes to our finances. I'm glad that we were well trained in our uni days to live on one income means I'm equipped with some skills on budgeting. So far we have...

- re looked at some of our previous love of mince.
- re look at our mortgage and bank cards
- libraries and more libraries
- shopped around for car, house and car insurance

I'm so proud of my hubby who is really the true bargainer of the family- any aunties should take tips on how smooth and calm he is when bargaining!

While I do not have many cravings, one thing I always go for are my childhood food groups. Yes, eating clean is not exactly the easiest thing to do at the moment but I manage. This was not one of my eating clean days :p I took the idea from Tigerfish though. Who nearly always give me a lightbulb moment on using the most simple kitchen ingredients and transforming them into something else.

Panfried Rice Rolls.

My childhood favourite- steamed usually with a dash of dark sweet sauce and sesame seeds. Not forgetting the chill. This version, means I fried it with some dried shrimps, chinese sausage and heaps of chives. Oh it was so good. So good that I licked my plate. I picked up fresh rice rolls from our local oriental stores.

Panfried Rice Rolls (serves 4-5)
1 packet of rice rolls 400 grams snipped into small bites
1/2 cup of dried shrimps washed
1 tablespoon of garlic
2 chinese sausage sliced
2 chili padi
2 tablespoon of caramel sauce
2 tablespoon of soy
1 tablespoon of hua tiau jiu (chinese cooking wine)
bunch of onion chives chopped roughly
pepper

serve with chill sambal if you have any.

Heat wok or pan really hot. Dry toast the shrimps. Set aside. Heat a tablespoon of oil and fry some garlic and chili. Add chinese sausage. Then toss the rice rolls with the sauces. Simmering for around 2-3 minutes. Add in dried shrimps and chives. Taste, season and serve with sambal chill.

Happy Easter ;) 

Nonya Chicken Curry

I have grown to really like Poh's Kitchen. I like how she showcase the beauty of Malaysian and Chinese food to Australia. I like how ABC has all her shows on internet TV (means I can watch it anytime!)

It is also one of the most tedious curries I have made. Woah, the steps! It is actually very easy, but it does takes patience. I took a few short cuts-such as using ground spices instead of whole. Simply because I have some ground spices on hand and that I didn't want to purchase new whole spices again.

If you are wondering... why am I serving this with Thosai- wrong curry! I had a friend came over to teach me how to make thosai on the day I made the curry! oops. Oh well, I learned how to flip thosai (FINALLY!)


At least the curry was good.

Nonya Chicken Curry

Rempah/Spice Paste
• 3 tbs coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp fennel powder 

• 15 dried chillies, deseeded, soaked in hot water, drained and chopped
• 270g red eschallots, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 20g belachan, toasted* (place it in the oven with foil for 5-10 minutes till it becomes crumby) 
• 25g fresh turmeric root

• 3 tbs coconut cream
• 6 - 7 sprigs of curry leaves
• 4 tbs veg oil

• 1 star anise
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 kg chicken thigh fillets
• 3 potatoes peeled and chopped 
• 4-5 birds eye chillies, de-seeded and halved lengthways
• 400ml coconut milk
• 1 tbs salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 100ml coconut cream

1) Toast the ground spices

2) To make the rempah, Slowy grind the shallots, dried chill, garlic, belachan, turmeric root together. Add the spices as well.

3) Heat oil in pot. Sizzle star anise, cloves and cinnamon stick. Add the rempah. Cook it till it smells wonderful and the oil seems to have separated.Add a little coconut milk to make into a gravy. 

4) Add chicken, potatoes and the rest of the coconut milk. Cover and simmer.

5) Taste and add seasoning. Slowly add in coconut cream. Then add the chopped birds eye chills. 

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! xx 

I'm submitting my post to Aspiring Bakers #28: Chicken Feast (February 2013) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker. I have always wanted to join in and this is my chance!!!!

Guanxi Steam Chicken

My grandmother loves steaming chicken for dinner. She would often steam a whole chicken, serve half for dinner and freeze the other half for another night. It's one of my favourite dishes as it is so clean and healthy. On the 2nd day of CNY, we usually start our morning with a full meal- signifying full and prosperous start to the new year. Chicken is definitely a feature.


Once again, I am not back in Singapore to enjoy the festiveness this year. I miss the preparation, the food, and seeing my extended family.


When I spotted Celine with her version of Guanxi Style Steam Chicken and of course I read it on Wendy's blog before, I knew I just have to give it a go. I tweaked it as I am used to following my grandmother method of steaming chicken. I chose to focus on how Wendy make the sauce for the chicken.

The Nam sauce added another dimension and depth to a simple steam chicken. The sauce is light and tasty. It lingers in your mouth and the gravy is perfect with a bowl of steam rice (or if you are in the mood- make a pot of chicken rice flavoured with the essence of chicken and pandan).

The other thing I did was that I couldn't bear to part with all the sweet essence of the chicken after it has been steamed. So I actually combined the sauce with the juices and reduce amount of oil. I chose to serve the chicken with the sauce and rubbed my hands with glee looking at how the chicken absorb the flavours of the sauce.

I chose chicken thighs- boned in instead of a full chicken. I didn't want to do any chopping (But i really should do it one day...).

I'm submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover.

Guanxi Steam Chicken
1.5 kg of chicken or used boned in chicken thighs. Celine used deboned chicken drumsticks.
around 1 tablespoon of salt
2 tablespoon of Shan Xing Wine
1 tsp of sesame oil

Nam sauce
1 small bunch of chinese chives- probably around 100 grams I used
1 big knob of ginger chopped finely
3-4 tablespoon of oil
5 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Spring onion chopped

Steam chicken- prepare steamer with some water.

Meanwhile, rub chicken with salt and wine all over. Steam over heat for around 30-40 mins depending on the size of the chicken. I kept the cover on for another 5-10 mins. Make sure juices run clear. Sprinkle sesame oil on it.

To make the sauce, chopped chives. Dry fry ginger and place it into a heatproof bowl. Place 2/3 of the chives in the same bowl.

Then heat oil till very hot. Place chives into the hot oil (pays to have the chives really dry first!). Pour the hot oil into the heatproof oil. Season with sesame oil and soy.

Plate chicken. Combine juices with the sauces. Pour it all over chicken. Sprinkle spring onion over it. Eat!

Lotus Peanut Pork Ribs

I know. It's summer. Yet we are having lotus peanut soup. It reminds me of home. It's the kind of soup we grow up with. Slow cooked with lots of flavour, it's a clear broth with the nutrients from lotus root and ribs.

You see, when I was a child, I can never understands why my family enjoys drinking hot soup on a hot humid day. I'm not sure why singaporeans in hawker centres love having bowls of noodle soup either. Sitting in a hot stuffy hawker centre, the last thing I wanted was something steaming hot.

I was naive. Hot soup warms the soul up. It is often full of nutrients and best of all, low in saturated fat.

Back to the lotus peanut soup. Truth be told, it was just getting a little tricky coming home on time and cooking dinner on time. Because it's so hot, we find ourselves not really wanting to have a full meal at the end of the day. Suddenly, a common side dish that we have for dinner growing up became our main meal.

Lotus Peanut Pork Ribs (serves 6)
600 grams of pork ribs
200 grams of lotus
100 grams (1 cup) of raw peanuts soaked for a few hours
3-4 seedless red dates
small handful of wolf berries
1 litre of water

Blanched ribs with hot water first.
Placed everything in a slow cooker (I used my thermal cooker). I had mine from morning till night but I think it is just as good after 4-5 hours. Serve with some cut chill and soy sauce!

Steam Chicken with Chicken Essence

A simple steam chicken is often welcomed at dinner time. Comfort food can be easily done with simple ingredients. Having a few bottles of chicken essence left in my pantry, I wondered what it would be like to lightly marinate chicken with it and steam it. Surely it would create a lovely gravy?

True enough, it lifts the flavour of steam chicken. I added some goji berries and also enoki mushrooms to go along with it.

It's funny how when the weather turns warmer, I like to experiment with more chinese dishes. Yes, I still adore my salads (since it is so simple to make), but there is something special about a nice stew, rendang, or bowl of herbal soup. This dish, is like the best of both worlds- herbal taste with steam chicken with a lovely gravy.

Steam Chicken with Chicken Essence 
600 grams of chicken thighs chopped
1 bottle of chicken essence
50 grams enoki mushrooms
handful of goji berries
garlic

Marinate chicken with chicken essence for 10 minutes. Place everything in a steam proof dish and steam for 15-20 minutes. Season with salt. Serve with veges.

Ginger Wine Chicken

Back in 2008, I made my first ginger chicken. Since then, I have been adapting and adjusting this recipe. It hasn't changed much, but I really like it with chicken thighs-maybe for its tenderness than drumsticks for some reason. The addition of spring onions is good too.


I "inherited" a clay pot when a friend of mine returned back to Singapore. What a gem I thought!! The use of a clay pot makes such a difference. It retain heat and adds a lovely flavour to this stew. Perfect for winter!

I used Stones ginger wine to make this dish. While it is not "authentic" in the sense of making the ginger wine by myself, it is a good compromise. The more I stewed this dish, the better it taste, but I cannot resist adding an additional dash of ginger wine before serving for a stronger taste.

The most funny thing was, back in 2008, I forgot the black fungus. guess what? I forgot it this round too!


Ginger Wine Chicken 
600 grams of chicken thigh diced
1 tablespoon of garlic
5 generous slices of ginger
1.5 cup of ginger wine
1 cup of chicken stock
small bunch of spring onions
10 chinese mushrooms hydrated and sliced
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sesame oil

saute garlic and ginger. Brown chicken in claypot. Simmer in stock and wine for 20 minutes or so. Add in mushrooms at the 10 minute mark for it to absorb all the beautiful flavours. Season with salt and sesame oil. Toss in spring onions at the last minute. If you like, add a dash of ginger wine before serving and a little drizzle of more sesame oil.

Stir Fry Pork Mince with Brinjal

Did I mention that my husband do not like eggplant or brinjal? Yes, my mother in law was surprised too as it seems that we share a common fondness for this vegetable (in addition to my hubby!) and she tried on many occasions to teach him to appreciate it when he was growing up.

I sneaked this into one of our meals one day and he said he didn't mind it as much as what he thought. Well, I grew to appreciate coconut so the least he could do is to enjoy brinjal right? Isn't it what we call compromise?

It's a simple classic dish I suppose. Nothing too fancy, but it's a quick and budget friendly meal. He had it with his rice. I had some with a side of vegetables.

Stir Fry Pork Mince with Brinjal (serves 4)
500 grams pork mince
2 red chill chopped
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
handful of pine nuts
3 baby brinjal

Heat oil in pan. Saute garlic, chill and onion. Brown mince, adding sauce and seasoning. Add brinjal and let it soak up the flavours. Taste and season. Toss through pine nuts.

Fish and Prawn Cakes

A blink of an eye and I have been in Australia for 12++ years. Pretty much an adolescent in terms of developmental growth. Yes, I have grown to adore the place that I met and fell in love, established a home and married. It's a little scary to know that one day, I will spend more time in this country than my hometown.

During this period of time, I continued to stay in contact with my closest and dearest friends. I recall that we had chats on ICQ (I presume it no longer exists!!), and hand write letters and cards to each other. I brought along an autograph book with all the profiles of my friends and read them whenever I felt homesick. It graduated to text messages and of course emails. And now, it's whatsapp and skype/facetime.

Technology keeps us close. I never felt they are too far away. One of my best buddies and I often chat on email on what kind of quick lunches she can prepare and the outcome of one of those emails was these fish and prawn cakes.

I grew bored of grilled fish and thought of blending snapper with some prawns. The result was a bouncy tasty fish cake! I was so pleased with it. I seasoned it with spring onions, chopped chili and salt and pepper. Egg and some almond meal was used to bind it together. Nothing fancy but it reminded me of home.

Fish and Prawn Cakes (makes 12)
400 grams of white snapper
300 grams of shelled tiger prawns
1/4 cup of almond meal
3 springs of spring onion chopped
2 red chili padi chopped
1 egg
salt and pepper

Blitz all together. Shape into patties. Heat oil on pan and fry both sides till brown.

Tomato Chicken

Earlier this year, I said that one of my goals this year is to explore and learn to cook more home style chinese dishes and curries. Tomato chicken is one that I remembered tasting it when I was younger but have never since cooked it or had it at home again. My hubby seem to think that it is more common in Malaysia than in Singapore-which could be the reason why.

I experimented and came up with this- hubby thinks it is more similar to what he remembers it to be. What do you think? I used a mixture of tinned and fresh tomato for the tangy taste. It did has some heat from the chili I added which I quite like.

The thing about learning about home cooking is that.... is there ever a wrong answer? :p However, if you have cooked this dish, let me know what can I do to improve it. OR do you think it's more common in Malaysia than Singapore? (you can nearly hear the line of debate in my household don't you?!)

Tomato Chicken (serves 4)
350 chicken thigh meat chopped
1 onion chopped
1 tsp of garlic
1 tinned tomatoes
2 fresh tomatoes chopped
2 chili padi chopped
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tsp of dark soy sauce

Heat pan up and sauté onion, garlic and chili. Brown chicken and pour tomatoes (Fresh and tinned) in pan. Add water and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Season with soy and pepper.

Chicken with Ginger and Lemongrass

I'm not sure where I got the inspiration to make this dish from. But I love the flavours of ginger and lemongrass in this. All I wish is to have a clay pot and gas stove to cook this in!

I'm pleased to let you know that reducing in carbs for a few weeks has resulted in a stronger me. Don't get me wrong, I'm still eating carbs- just not every day and also, just realising how much carbs are there in natural occurring food anyway like fruit. It has also tested in my ability to think out of the box and cook with more protein!

Having chinese meals is actually not that difficult. The only thing that I need to not eat is rice. Other than that, it's meals-as-usual in our household. My hubby on the other hand, is excited as he started to see more dishes like lamb, pork, salmon and beef presented to him for dinner.

I think Chicken with Ginger and lemongrass has a thai or even vietnamese feel to it. Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy this as much as we did.

Chicken with Ginger and Lemongrass (serves 4)
500 grams chicken thigh chopped
1 small knob of ginger sliced
1 tablespoon of garlic
2 red chill padi chopped
2 stalk of lemon grass-white bit chopped
1/2 cup of water- or chicken stock
2 tsp of fish sauce
pinch of salt
squeeze of lime or lemon
fresh spring onions chopped

Saute ginger, garlic and chill. Cook lemon grass with it as well. Brown chicken in pan. Then add stock/water, fish sauce and pinch of salt. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve with lime/lemon juice and spring onions.

San Choy Bow

San Choy Bow is one of those dishes that regularly appear in chinese restaurants in Perth. It's considered as a staple- yet we have never tasted it at home before. It's one of those dishes, that I wondered when Chinese restaurants decides on their menus, obtain inspiration from different parts of China, Singapore and Malaysia and call it "Chinese". Nothing wrong with that, just my curiosity that's all! ;)

Making it at home is fun. Wrapping the lettuce with hot pipping mince mixture, topping it with peanuts, crunching them up and biting into it. YuM! Cold and hot together.

I'm not sure if this is the authentic version- it's one of those quick home cooked meals that I came up. I omitted water chestnuts but think they will be a good addition. Dried chopped shitake mushrooms were added and I do like the texture it creates.

What is your favourite Chinese order at a restaurant? In Singapore, it would be the yam ring basket filled with seafood and chicken! In Perth, probably yam duck (noticed my fondness for yam?!)

San Choy Bow (serves 4-5)
300 grams chicken mince
1 small red onion chopped
1 tablespoon garlic
2 red chill padi chopped
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tsp of minced ginger
2 tablespoon of hua tiao jiu
1 tsp of sesame oil
2 spring onions chopped

50 grams of roasted peanuts
ice berg lettuce- separated in cups.

Saute garlic, ginger, chili and onion till done. Cook chicken mince, breaking it as you go along. Add in all sauces and mix well. Cook for around 5-8 minutes. Then add the chinese cooking wine. Drizzle sesame oil and finish it with spring onions. Serve with lettuce cups and roasted peanuts.

Tau Suan

Back in Singapore, I have not been a big fan of hot desserts. I wouldn't call Tau Suan- or split mung bean sweet soup my favourite either. But weird things happen to tastebuds when you miss home and this is one of them.

I spotted Cuisine Paradise lovely break down of the recipe on her blog and decided to try the stir fried method. It was spot on. The way I remember it, the way I like it. Best of all, I found some fried dough in a neighbourhood grocery shop- a win! They sell it in a big bag though so the rest of the packet is still in the freezer. I would love to have some rice congee with it one day!

But back to the Tau Suan. It was much simpler than what I thought it would be. Soaking it and then frying it makes it quicker I presume. I didn't bother to boil water with pandan leaves because they come in frozen packets here and by the time I defrost them, it doesn't have any flavour. I wouldn't want to add any pandan essence to this either-that would be very weird! So we made do with just sugar and water.

After we had our first bowls, silly me forgot to turn off the stove fire (I had it on very low) and the delicious desert turned... into mung bean paste! argh! needless to say, I need to make another batch when the weather cools down a little.

Tau Suan (recipe adapted from Cuisine Paradise)
100 grams split mung bean
1 lyre of water
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
sugar to taste
1 pair of fried fritter

To thicken
1/2 tsp of potato or water chestnut flour mix with 100 ml of water

Soak Mung beans for 10 minutes. It should expand. Drain.

Then fry mung bean in a sauce pan with the sugar. It should be fragrant and caramelised. Turn off heat. Set aside

In another pot, boil 1 litre of water. place mung beans in. Simmer for around 5-10 minutes. Taste and add sugar if required.

Then lower heat and stir in potato/chestnut flour/water mixture to thicken it. Serve with tau suan into bowls with fried fritters.