Little Teochew Cookbook

Eric Low

Description

Chef Eric Low puts together a collection of 42 authentic and highly popular Teochew recipes in The Little Teochew Cookbook. From mouthwatering street food such as oyster omelette and muah chee to festive favourites such as png kueh and chwee kueh to the Teochew must- have - Teochew muay, this book showcases the distinct flavours of Teochew food and is an indispensable guide to serving up light yet satisfying Teochew treats for the whole family. With informative headnotes and invaluable cooking and preparation tips, The Little Teochew Cookbook makes an ideal gift and re-introduces Teochew food in delightful bite-sized morsels.

Sujets

• Singapore
• Cooking
• Singapour

Informations

• Publié par: Marshall Cavendish International
• Date de parution: 03 juillet 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789814677387
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

The
Little
Teochew
Cookbook
A Collection of Authentic Chinese Street Foods
ERIC LOW
The
Little
Teochew
Cookbook
Copyright 2015 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
Published by Marshall Cavendish Cuisine An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Email: [e-mail] Online bookstore: www.marshallcavendish.com/genref
Limits of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The Author and Publisher of this book have used their best efforts in preparing this book. The Publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book and is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe in this book. While the Publisher has reviewed each recipe carefully, the reader may not always achieve the results desired due to variations in ingredients, cooking temperatures and individual cooking abilities. The Publisher shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offices: 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Low, Eric, author. The little Teochew cookbook : authentic dishes from South East China / Eric Low. - Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Cuisine, 2015. pages cm ISBN : 978-981-4634-27-4 (paperback) eISBN : 978-981-4677-38-7
1. Cooking, Chinese. 2. Cookbooks. I. Title.
TX724.5.C5 641.5951 -- dc23 OCN908065324
Printed in Singapore by Times Offset (M) Sdn Bhd
Contents
Introduction 4 Street 7 Festive 31 Teochew Porridge 57 Comfort 73 Symbolic Sweets 83 Glossary 98 Weights Measures 104
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Introduction
Teochew cuisine is often described as one of the most underrated in the family of Chinese cuisine. In the 8 major schools of Chinese cuisine, Teochew cuisine is accredited as a sub division of Cantonese cuisine due to its geographical location in the Guangdong province. The cuisine is considered as the healthiest kind of Chinese food available due to its cooking philosophies and eating habits. Traditionally, Teochew cuisine embraces lighter cooking techniques of cooking like poaching, steaming and quick stir-fries. Seasonings are also sparingly used in order to enhance the natural freshness of ingredients during food preparation. As such, dishes are usually prepared with light and clean soup bases instead of complex and robust flavours.
Street food is a strong element of Teochew cuisine history as it provides affordable cheap meals and is also readily accessible to all. If one looks closely at the home-cooked dishes and hawker foods found along the streets and markets of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, we can see that theses dishes can be traced back to their Teochew roots found back in ChaoShan. In each of the mentioned countries, these Chaoshan dishes have been translated into local versions with their own unique touch of local ingredients and preferred way of eating. Most overseas Teochews communities around the world have kept the cuisine true to its roots back in Chaoshan except in South East Asia, where local spices and interracial interactions have led Teochew cuisine to adopt local ingredients like coconut milk, lemongrass, pandan leaves, ketchup, coriander and cumin spices to create their own blend of street food signatures.
Teochew porridge can be classified into two different schools. One is a complete meal on its own that includes meat or seafood or both with vegetables and the other is plain white porridge cooked slightly softer and thicker to be appreciated with pre-cooked dishes and pickles such as salted pork and pickled Sichuan vegetables and the savoury omelette with white bait.
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The Teochews are also well known for their desserts, from the traditional favourites ah balling and tau suan to the likes of muah chee and sugar-glazed yam and sweet potatoes. One of the most unique attributes of Teochew cuisine is that it is the only cuisine in the world that uses a considerable amount of savoury ingredients for sweet dishes and desserts. From pork meat to pork lard, coriander leaves, spring onions, shallots, five-spice powder, fermented red bean curd, quail eggs and radishes, these ingredients are creatively integrated into dessert recipes to give flavour, texture and aromas.
There is a growing concern that the younger generation of local chefs are not interested in learning and preparing their heritage foods. As such, I hope that the recipes in this book will truly inspire and encourage both chefs and readers alike to revisit their Teochew roots and embrace their unique Chinese heritages. The amount of support I have received from everyone around me has been extremely heart-warming and it has certainly spurred me on to learn even more about this amazing school of cuisine, and I am really happy to share all that I have learnt in this book.

Street
Chye Tow Kway 8 Or Luak 11 Shantou-style Bak Chor Mee Pok 12 Kway Teow Tng 14 Fried Beef Kway Teow with Sacha Sauce 17 Char Kway Teow with Preserved Radish 18 Ter Kar Png 21 Olive Vegetable Fried Rice 23 Spring Rolls 24 Longevity Noodles with Garlic Chives and Mushrooms 27
Mee Kia Soup with Bottle Gourd, Minced Pork and Dried Shrimp 29
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Chye Tow Kway Serves 4
While the dish is traditionally known as carrot cake, the batter is actually made from grated radish, which is known as bai luo bo or white carrot in English. Hence, the dish became better known as carrot cake instead. A childhood street favourite of mine, there are two versions available in Singapore, white and black carrot cake. The black version is also sometimes known as the market version with the addition of sweet dark soy sauce.
700 g carrot cake batter 50 ml oil or pork lard 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
60 g preserved sweet radish ( tian chye poh ), soaked in water for 30 minutes, rinsed and drained
4 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tablespoon fish sauce 2 tablespoon sweet dark soy sauce 80 g bean sprouts 40 g Chinese celery 20 g spring onions (scallions), cut into 3-cm lengths 4 tablespoon icing sugar
CARROT CAKE BATTER
175 g rice flour 35 g cornstarch 675 ml water 500 g white radish, coarsely grated 1 tablespoon salt 2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1. Prepare carrot cake batter. Combine rice flour and cornstarch with 300 ml water in a large bowl. Mix well.
2. In a large heavy bottomed pot, place grated radish, remaining 375 ml water, salt, fish sauce and ground black pepper together. Bring to a boil.
3. Add rice flour mixture, passing mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps.
4. Cook mixture until it thickens into a paste. Transfer to a steaming tray and steam for 1 hour.
5. Allow carrot cake batter to cool and chill overnight until set.
6. Take 700 g carrot cake batter and cut into 3-cm strips. Heat oil or pork lard in flat bottomed frying pan and fry carrot cake for 5 minutes.
7. Add chopped garlic, preserved radish and fry for another 2 minutes.
8. Add beaten eggs and scramble lightly. Season carrot cake mixture with fish sauce and sweet dark soy sauce.
9. Add bean sprouts, Chinese celery and spring onions. Stir-fry for 1 minute.
10. Divide cooked carrot cake into 4 serving portions and serve with icing sugar on the side.

11
Or Luak Serves 4
Oyster omelette is a popular street food often found especially near Teochew street opera performances. The mandatory ingredient for this dish is pork lard which gives the dish its ultimate fragrance and taste. Good fish sauce as well as fresh oysters are a must too.
6 tablespoons oil or pork lard 120 g oysters, washed and drained 40 g spring onions (scallions), cut into 2-cm lengths 4 eggs 30 g coriander leaves (cilantro)
BATTER
50 g sweet potato flour 20 g rice flour 200 ml water teaspoon salt
DIPPING SAUCE
2 tablespoons fish sauce 6 tablespoons water a pinch of ground white pepper
1. Prepare batter. In a large bowl, combine sweet potato flour and rice flour with water and salt. Mix well and set aside.
2. In a large flat frying pan, heat oil or pork lard until pan is hot. Add oysters and spring onions to batter and mix well.
3. Spread batter mixture all around frying pan, adding some extra oil or pork lard if necessary.
4. Allow batter to cook for 2-3 minutes over high heat until the sides turn crispy. Break eggs in and scramble around batter.
5. Flip omelette pieces over and fry until both sides are crispy.
6. Transfer omelette to serving dish and garnish with coriander leaves.
7. Prepare dipping sauce. Combine fish sauce with water and ground white pepper. Serve with oyster omelette.
12
Shantou-style Bak Chor Mee Pok Serves 4
Local versions of mee pok have been adapted to local taste with the addition of tomato ketchup and chilli paste. Traditional bak chor mee pok calls for black vinegar and sesame paste as part of the sauce mix, and is still fondly remembered by the many older generations of Singaporeans who tried the authentic Teochew version in the 1950-1960s.
160 g pork loin, sliced 100 g pork liver
400 g fresh flat egg noodles ( mee pok ), divide into 4 portions
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