竹蔗凉水 SugarCane Herbal Tea

竹蔗 ( literally means bamboo cane.  竹 = bamboo, 蔗 = sugarcane ) is a kind of sugarcane, dark purple in colour, at 1-2cm diameter, it is skinnier than the normal sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum ). It is also less juicy, and less sweet.  Very much favoured by the Chinese community as the main ingredient of infamous sugarcane herbal tea.

I supposed bamboo cane should be Saccharum sinense, but can’t be 100% sure.  It is also known as Chinese cane.

Fresh Chinese bamboo can be bought in most Asian fresh market.  Dried ones find their ways to hypermarkets and sundry stores pre=packed.

before cleaning ......                                                                 after cleaning ......

If you have fresh Chinese cane, it is vital to clean it off any debris, dirt, buds and dried leaves.  Scratch it, scrub it, rub it, wash it.  Then, cut it into about 10cm long ( for them to able to fit into my pot, of course ), chopped them into 2 - 4 vertically.

Simmer them in a huge pot of water with big chunk of chopped carrot, till the water turns yellowish and smells of sweet sugarcane aroma.  Ironically, add in a bit of sugar to sweetened it up.  Serve hot or chilled.  Discard off the sugarcane lol .

Minus all the hassle of cleaning and chopping, one can always head to any grocery stores or hypermarkets to have pre-packed dried Chinese cane.  Those dried packs are mostly produce of China, often have other herbs added to it : arrowroot, carrot, and Imperatae root.

丝瓜炒虾球 Stir-fried Luffa with Prawn

First, heat oil over medium flame, stir-fry in sliced ginger.

Add in minced garlic as well. 

Then, add in minced meat and skinned prawns. 

When the meat and prawns are half cooked, add in the luffa.

Stir-fry a bit…  Add in some ShaoXing wine ( 绍兴酒 ).

Simmer for a while till the luffa is softened.  Add in bit of water when necessary.

Lastly, a pinch of salt and some oyster sauce ( 蚝油 )to taste.

皮蛋瘦肉粥 #2 Lean Meat Porridge with Century Egg #2

This is again a porridge of century egg. 

Yet, this time, I incorporated the 2 century eggs into the rice for simmering from the beginning.  The century eggs were cut into 4 quarters, together with some minced lean meat.  I expected the porridge to be murky and darker coloured, because of the century eggs.   Yet, it turned out quite fair !  And it doesn't smells unpleasant too.

A little bit of salt and msg, and its another mouth-watering dinner !

p.s.

I checked the century eggs sold in Jusco Taman Equine.  Its RM3.90 for 4 piece, i.e. RM0.975/piece.

The Singapore's century eggs cost S$7 for 20 pieces, i.e S$0.35.  Convert to Malaysian Ringgit @ rate of 2.4, its RM0.84/piece. 

OMG !  Singapore's century eggs are really cheaper than Malaysian's

How can that be ? 

Well, I believe our government will surely compare the price with other development countries, and concluded that our century eggs are among the cheapest !

( OMG ! = Oh My Government ! )

Century Egg 皮蛋

Century egg ( 皮蛋 ), or alkalized egg is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months.

When the Westerners first reached China, they were puzzled with this preserved egg, assumed that it took very long time for it to become dark coloured, thus named it ‘century egg’ or ‘thousand-year egg’.   It is also called ‘pine-branch egg’ ( 松花蛋 ) for the snow-flake pattern on its white.   

Through the process, the yoke becomes a dark grey colour, with a creamy consistency and an odor of sulphur and ammonia.  The egg white become a dark brown, translucent jelly with little flavour.  

Century egg was said to be in existence some 600 hundred years ago during Ming Dynasty in Hunan, when some duck eggs were discovered in a pool of slake lime.

《益阳县志》:“皮蛋于明朝初年在湖南省益阳县在一个偶然的机会下发现。当时有一家人所养的鸭在家里的一个灰卤里下蛋。这些蛋在两个月后被发现，录皮而看，蛋白蛋黄皆已凝固”。明代称之为‘混沌子’。

Traditionally duck eggs are coated in a mixture of alkaline clay ( 3 tea : 3 quick lime : 7 oak ash : 9 sea salt ), then covered in rice husk to avoid the eggs from adhering to one another.

方以智《物理小识》: “池州出变蛋，以五种树灰盐之，大约以荞麦谷灰则黄白杂糅，加炉炭石灰，则绿而坚韧”。

In modern production , duck eggs were soaked for 10 days if solution of calcium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate, then followed by several weeks of aging.

Lead oxide is also known to shortened the curing period.  But its highly poisonous, thus very unlikely is used.   On other side, zinc oxide is a safer alternative.  But excessive zinc consumption  can lead to copper deficiency.

There are some misconception that century eggs are soaked in horse urine, due to its pungent ammonia odour.  Horse urine, however, is only slightly basic, ranging from pH 7.5 – 7.9, not enough to raise the eggs’ pH to >9.

皮蛋瘦肉粥 Lean Meat Porridge with Century Egg

Lean meat porridge is best served with century egg. 

But, in a real century egg porridge, the century egg is simmered with lean pork meat and rice until the rice become porridge.   

I have bought a box of century egg during my recent trip to Singapore.  A box of it contains 20 pieces of this preserved duck egg coated in mud-rice husk mixture. 

Century eggs from Singapore ?   Well, the century eggs are actually imported from China, but apparently they are more fresh than those in Malaysian market, and cheaper too ( S$7 for 20 pieces )
Seems like there will be more recipies of century eggs ......

Petai Belalang Sambal Belacan - Experimental Cooking

Petai belalang is  the name the local Malays call Leucaena leucocephala.  Wikipedia says that the Indonesians call it petai cina or lamtoro, while the Thais call it krathin. 

Petai belalang is definitely edible.  The taste is almost similar to petai ( Parkia speciosa ), only smaller in size. 

However, petai belalang is said to contained mimosine, a toxic non-protein acid amino.  Mimosine is reported to halt diving cell in the late G1 phase by inhibiting DNA replication. ( meaning what ? )  Mimosine is also said to caused lathyrism and depilation in some livestock.  However, fortunately for ruminants, mimosine is degraged to 3,4-DHP and 2,3-DHP, then further digested to non-toxic compound.

So,  it is not advisable to consume a large quantity of petai belalang.   Yet, if someone is lost in a tropical jungle or some inhabited island, I guess there are not much choice after all.   Unless there are a lot of mangoes and coconuts available.   Btw, I remember seeing Jack ( the main character in LOST, an American serial drama tv series on ABC ), in one of the final episode of Season 6,  standing by a thicket of petai belalang … do they ever know that its edible ?  

Some 10 immature pods of petai belalang only yield to a few spoonful of edible seeds.  The pods are dehiscent, meaning they will crack-opened when dried.  Immature pods are harder to open, but I soon discovered an easy way to extract the seeds : peel open from the rear end of the pod.  Easy eh ?!

I stir fried them with belacan and pounded Sarawak smoked prawns, just as a petai belacan dish would be.  The taste is less pungent than petai, more tender, less mouthful, yet still have some bitter aftertaste.

五大天王 5-Heavenly-Kings

四大天王 ( literally 4-heavenly-kings ) is a dish of 4 types of beans, namely : yardlong bean,  4-winged bean, petai ( Parkia speciosa ) and lady’s finger ( although lady’s finger is botanically not a bean, its from the mallow family ), stirfried with belacan.

I have all the ingredients in my garden, except petai.  Why not have something different, I say. 

So, I strolled down my veg garden and harvest whatever are available :
Hyacinth bean ( Dolichos lablab )

Yardlong bean ( Vigna unguiculata sesquipdealis )

4-winged bean ( Psophocarpus tetragonolobus )

Lady’s fingers ( Abelmoschus esculentus )

Cute’cumbers ( tindoras ) ( Coccinia grandis )

Chili ( Capsicum annum )

Curry leaves ( Murraya koenigii )

First, cut all the beans, lady’s finger, and tindoras into bite-sizes.

Then, deep fry the curry leaves in hot oil till it become crunchy.  Set aside.

Next, stir fry till fragrant over hot oil some pounded Sarawaks-smoked-prawn, chili and some belacan. 

Put in all the cut vegs, stir fry till cooked.  Sprinkle the curry leaves on top.

Serve hot !

( but its not as good as I imagined :(  ....
maybe next time, I will try stirfry without belacan  清炒 )

Hrm… I should name the dish : 五大天王, 5-heavenly-kings instead