Pork - Bak Hu (Meat floss)

Meat floss (Hokkien: bak-hu, Mandarin: rou-song) can be eaten with rice porridge/congee, used as a bread filling, or you can have it by itself as a snack.

Ingredients – Makes about 11 oz (300 gm) meat floss

• 1.5 lbs (650 gm) pork shoulder
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled (optional)
• Water – enough to cover the meat in the pot; a few cups extra if also making a soup.

Seasoning

• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
• ½ tsp seasoned salt
• 5 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• ¼ cup of the stock the meat was cooked in

Method

1. Trim all visible fat from the pork, and slice the meat into strips about 1” thick. Bring the water to a boil, then add the meat and garlic and cook for 15 minutes. This timing gives the best tasting meat stock for making a soup. The meat stock will be a little sour if the meat is cooked too long.
2. If planning to use some of the stock to make a soup, scoop some out, leaving enough to cover ¾ of the remaining meat.
3. Continue to cook the meat on low heat for about 1 hour or until the meat is soft enough to shred easily.
4. Take the meat out and allow it to cool, reserving ¼ cup of the stock to make the seasoning. Shred the meat.
5. Mix the seasonings and heat to dissolve the sugar and set it aside.
6. Heat a wok and fry the shredded meat on medium heat until very little steam is coming out (about 20-30 minutes).
7. Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour the seasoning mixture, a little at a time, over the meat in the wok. Fry, stirring continuously, until the meat floss is dry and crispy (about 20 minutes).

肉松（福建话是bak hu）可以是配白粥吃，可以当面包的馅料，也可以不配什么，咀馋只吃肉松。

材料 - 可做约11安士（300克）肉松

• 1.5磅（650克）瘦猪肉
• 半粒 蒜头去皮（可有可无）
• 水 – 锅的水位盖过肉，可加多几杯水若要煮成汤水

调味料

• 2茶匙 酱油
• 2茶匙 蚝酱（可有可无）
• ½ 茶匙 调味盐
• 5汤匙 糖
• 2茶匙 胡椒粉
• 2茶匙 辣椒粉（可有可无）
• ¼ 杯 肉味汤

做法

1. 切掉肉的脂肥，将肉切成约一寸宽。用锅煮水滚后，放进肉块及蒜头煮约15分钟，这时是肉味最好的汤，若肉煮太长久时间，汤味就会有点带酸。
2. 若想要肉汤，就取出部份的汤，保留还有汤水于肉块的3/4水位。
3. 继续用慢火煮一小时或至肉块已软可容易弄成丝。
4. 将肉块捞乾放在盘，冷后可弄肉成丝。保留1/4杯的肉汤做调味料。
5. 把调味料弄热以溶解白糖，放一旁待用。
6. 将肉丝放进热镬，用中火炒（约20-30分钟）至已剩很少的湿气。
7. 调成中慢火，一次倒入少许调味料在肉丝上，继续炒（约20分钟）至肉松已乾脆。

Pork - Bak Kwa (Dried Meat)

I like Chinese-Malaysian style dried meat (Hokkien: bak-kwa, Mandarin: rou-gan). We have made it several times, because Steve is also hooked on it, especially since we added a lot of cayenne pepper.

Ingredients – Makes 1.76 lbs (0.8 kg)

• 2.2 lbs (1 kg) ground pork

Seasoning

• 1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp brandy or rose wine
• 3/4 cup (180 gm) sugar
• 1/2 tsp licorice powder*
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/8 tsp five spice powder
• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 2-3 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix the seasonings into the ground pork. Cover the meat mixture and keep in the fridge at least 4 hours.
2. Spread the meat mixture evenly onto a baking mat as thin as possible (1/16 to 1/8 inch thick). Put on a baking pan, bake in oven at 175F (about 80C) until firm, about 10-12 minutes.
3. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Repeat steps (2) & (3) until done.
4. Cut the meat into large pieces (about 4x6 inches works well) for grilling. At this point, the meat can be wrapped and stored for several days in the fridge before grilling.
5. If smoking (hickory is good), build a two level fire. Grill the meat until it is reddish-brown. Move pieces to the cool side when they are close to done so they can smoke.
6. Serve immediately, or wrap and store in the fridge. Heat the dried meat in the oven before serving.

* Licorice (Chinese: gan cao) powder can be found in most Asian grocery stores. Ground anise seed can be substituted if licorice powder is not available.我很喜欢马来西亚华人的肉干（福建话是bak kwa）味道。我们做了很多次肉干因为 Steve也喜欢上它了，尤其是我们做的是肉干是加了很多的辣椒粉。

材料 - 可做 1.76磅（0.8公斤）

• 2.2磅（1公斤） 碎猪肉

调味料

• 1 1/2汤匙 鱼露
• 2汤匙 酱油
• 2汤匙 白兰地或玫瑰酒
• 3/4杯（180克） 糖
• 1/2茶匙 甘草粉
• 1/2茶匙 胡椒粉
• 1/8茶匙 五香粉
• 1茶匙 调味盐
• 2-3茶匙 辣椒粉（可有可无）

做法

1. 将碎猪肉和调味料搅拌均匀，包盖然后放进冰箱至少4小时。
2. 取部份（1）材料压平（尽可弄薄但尽密无小洞）在烘烤软垫上，用铁盘放进华氏175（摄氏80）温度烘炉约10-12分钟或至结实。
3. 把肉片取出烘炉，退热。重覆至做完（2）和（3）。
4. 切肉片块成约4x6寸以方便烧烤。在此，可包盖肉片块存进冰箱几天以待烧烤。
5. 若要烟薰（山核桃木的烟薰味很好），弄两层火，将已近烤好的肉片块移至较低热的位置让它烟薰。烧烤肉片块至呈褐红色。
6. 可即食，或包盖肉干放进冰箱，食用前再烤热。

Snack - Kuih Pulut 'Bee Koh' (Sweet Glutinous Rice)

Do you know what ‘bee koh (kuih pulut)’ is? It is glutinous/sticky rice with coconut milk; a Nyonya dessert. My family used to make bee koh as one of the food offerings for the Festival of the Jade Emperor, a Taoist god. They wanted the food offerings to have something ‘red’, or a good meaning like 福 (fu in Chinese means good fortune), on top of it, so they had me use red food coloring to write a word, because I was good at calligraphy. I remember I was always glad to write for them.
I like bee koh but have not had it for a long time and almost forgot it. Last time I was in Penang was during the festival, and I saw a plate of bee koh, which was a food offering from my sister-in-law. We finished it immediately.
I remembered it recently, so I made it and the recipe:

Ingredients – Makes 8-10 servings

• 2 cups glutinous/sweet rice
• 3 pandan (screwpine) leaves (optional)
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6-8 Tbsp sugar

--> --> Water – enough to cover the glutinous/sweet rice if using a rice cooker Method

--> -->Soak the glutinous/sweet rice for at least 4 hours, then drain it and put it into a steam tray or rice cooker with the pandan leaves. Mix the coconut milk, salt and sugar. After the rice is cooked, add in the coconut milk mixture and stir well.

Remove the pandan leaves, and press the cooked rice onto a plate or into a mould. Let cool, then cut into pieces.

-->

--> -->

*Revision on Dec 9, 2008 修改

你知道什么是 bee koh (kuih pulut) 吗？它是甜椰浆糯米糕，是一種娘惹糕。我家人大多数在拜天公诞时才做 bee koh 当供品。她们做好后，为了使供品有‘红’ 色及好意兆，所以要我用红色素沾水在糕上写‘福’字之类的，我的书法还好也乐得可以挥字。 我很喜欢吃 bee koh，但因很久没吃 bee koh 了，已没想念它。上次回槟城刚好碰上天公诞，看到三嫂买的一盘 bee koh 供品，三几人很快就把它吃完。 最近想起它，就自己做了食谱:

-->

材料 - 可做 8-10人份量

• 2杯 糯米
• 3叶 班兰叶（可有可无）
• 200豪升 浓椰浆
• 1/4茶匙 盐
• 6-8汤匙

-->幼糖

水 – 若用煮饭锅，水位盖过糯米

做法

--> -->糯米浸水至少4小时，然后倒掉浸水，将糯米及班兰叶放进蒸盘或煮饭锅。混合浓椰浆、盐和幼糖，放入已熟的糯米，搅拌均勻。

弃掉班兰叶，用盘或模型盘盛装煮熟的糯米。冷后切块食用。

Snack - Apom Telur Manis (Sweet Egg Pancake)

I like Indian apom (pancake) so I bought it during our last trip to Penang. Steve tried a few bites and had a good impression of it. One day, we talked about apom, and I said the original ones the Indian hawkers used to sell were baked using a clay pot with charcoal. They have more than three pots and only one or two lids, with a little charcoal put in the lid. Then they need to check the heat of the apom, so they move the lid from one pot to another. They covered this one and then that one…. The action of moving endlessly, as a metaphor: an immoral person trying hard to use something to cover those ‘falsehoods’ being made constantly by him/her-self!

I think most of the apom hawkers changed to use tiny iron woks with gas instead, and several apom hawkers in Penang are Chinese.

A recipe for Indian ‘apom/apam’ (pancake) - some people also call it apom manis, I call it apom telur manis (sweet egg pancake).

Ingredients – Makes 9 pieces

• 5 oz (150 g) rice flour
• 2/3 cup (180 ml) coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp dried yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 4 Tbsp (60 g) granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup (100 ml) water
  

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together, strain into a smooth batter then cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 1 hour.
2. Heat a crepe pan (around 7 ½ inches) or a tiny wok over medium high heat. If it is not a non-stick pan/wok, lightly oil it. Pour about 1/3 cup (about 80ml) of batter and swirl it in the pan/wok so the batter coats the sides. Allow to cook for about 2-3 minutes over a gentle low heat, until the edges are light golden brown. Gently use a spatula to loosen the pancake from the pan/wok. Lift it out of the pan. Carefully wipe any remaining crumbs out of the pan, and continue the process with the rest of the batter.
3. Serve hot & crispy.
   

我很喜欢吃印度的apom，我回槟城时看到它，我买来吃也让Steve试了几口，他就对它印象深刻。这一天Steve谈起apom，我说以前传统的印度人卖的apom是用砂锅，三几个砂锅在火炭上烘制apom，将一、两个锅当盖子，盖子上面也可以放一点火炭，那卖apom的印度人须检视apom的熟度将锅盖从这个锅移到另一个锅，就是盖了这个后又得盖另一个... 没完没了的，有如比喻不节制的人在遮盖不断冒出来的‘谎言或漏洞’ ，或如捉襟见肘，顾此失彼！
我想槟城卖apom的人已大多改用小铁镬及煤气烘制了，也可见到有华人卖apom的。有人叫它apom／apam（apom manis），我叫它apom telur manis（sweet egg pancake）:

材料 - 可做 9片

• 5安士（150克） 粘米面粉
• 2/3杯（180豪升） 浓椰浆
• 1/2茶匙 乾酵母
• 1/2茶匙 盐
• 4汤匙（60克） 幼糖
• 4粒 鸡蛋（A級）
• 100豪升 水

做法

1. 将所有材料放入碗搅拌成均勻，然后碗上盖着毛巾让它发酵约1小时。
2. 用中上炉火烘热小镬或7寸半平底锅，然后用布拈少许油搽镬，舀入（1）材料约80豪升，旋转镬使材料到镬边，低炉火烘约2-3分钟至到apom呈金黃色，用铲刮离取出apom，重覆至做完（1）。
3. 香脆热食。