My My Gyoza!

More or less like Japanese version of the Chinese 'Wo- Tip' instead of just steaming it's sorta grilled then semi steamed.

• 400 grams ground pork
  
• 2 - 2.5 dl chopped cabbage (boiled and cooled)
  
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying, or as
• 1 small green/yellow onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger (REALLY minced)
  
• 1 egg
• salt and white pepper to taste

In a bowl, combine the ground pork, cooked cabbage, onion, minced ginger, egg, soya sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil. Mix well until all ingredients are well combined to avoid having saltier spots.



Place gyoza wrappers in front of you. Wet the edges with water. Place a teaspoon or two of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the sides up to form a semicircle, and then pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the rest of the gyoza wrappers until the filling is gone. (I'm lazy so I bought meself a gyoza clamping thing-a-me-bob)

To cook, heat 2 tablespoon oil in a heavy frying pan over medium-high to high heat. Add 12 - 15 of the gyoza and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom (Eh, GOLDEN BROWN not BURNT!).

Add 250 ml of water to the frying pan. Cover the dumplings and cook until the water is absorbed (8 minutes). Repeat the procedure until all your dumplings are out.



Tip: I usually buy the frozen wrappers from the oriental store/asian store. I have a recipe to make those wrappers too but when you make them yourself, the wrappers tend to become thicker than the ones made from the store and the size...don't even let me start! <__<

Pineapple Jam

1 Whole Pineapple (Remove skin, core and crushed) (semi-sweet preferred)
8-10 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 DL water
1 teaspoon Cornstarch (mixed with 1 tablespoon of water)

Method:

Boil the pineapple in medium heat stirring constantly until soft (approximately 45 mins). Add water and keep boiling until pineapple looks slightly brownish while constantly stiring to avoid the pineapple from burning at the bottom of your pot (another 20 mins). Reduce heat to low and add sugar (cook for another 5 mins or so). End it with the Cornstarch mixture and let simmer for another 5-10 mins until it looks pastey. Leave aside to cool for at least 30 mins before placing it into a jar. Keeps refrigerated for approximately 5 days. If preservatives were added (according to package instructions) It could last from 1 month to a year....*

* I don't recommend preservatives, hence I only make enough to last a few days or to make a few tarts ;). You can always double or triple the recipe for making bigger batches.

Teh Sambal Ikan Bilis (Loosely Anchovies)

Original recipe:

1 Über large Onion
1 dl of Anchovies (dried and salted kind you can find from Asian stores)
1 clove garlic
6 shallots
3 Tbs of Tamarind Juice (Make this out of tamarind paste, the kind that has still the seeds in them)
10 large dried chillies (soaked)
Prawn paste (I would not recommend this) (optional)
Salt and Sugar up to taste

Method

• Fry the ikan Bilis until crisp and put aside
• Grind the prawn paste (ewww) together with shallots, garlic, deseeded (why the hell?) dried chillies. Slice über onions into rings.
• Heat about 2-3 tbs of oil (don't use olive and don't even try margarine <__<)
• Fry the grounded paste until fragrant, then add sliced über onion rings.
  
• Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar
• If it seem to get a bit too dry you may add a few tbs of water
• Cook, stirring occasionally until gravy thickens.
• Add Ikan bilis and mix well
• Serve with steaming hot Nasi Lemak

El-Modified version

1 Über large Onion
1 clove garlic
8 shallots
3 Tbs of Tamarind Juice (Make this out of tamarind paste, the kind that has still the seeds in them)
10 large dried chillies (soaked)
Salt and Sugar up to taste

Method:

• Grind the shallots, garlic and dried chillies (not deseeded) together. Slice über onions into rings.
• Heat about 2-3 tbs of oil (don't use olive and don't even try margarine <__<)
• Fry the grounded paste until fragrant, then add sliced über onion rings.
  
• Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar
• If it seem to get a bit too dry you may add a few tbs of water
• Cook, stirring occasionally until gravy thickens.
• Serve with steaming hot Nasi Lemak

Teh Veggie Curry! (vegan friendly)

1 clove garlic (big clove or single clove garlic)
4-5 shallots
3 tablespoon of cooking oil (not olive oil)
1 1/2 tablespoon of water }
2 tablespoons of curry powder (preferably the Malaysian type ;) ) }For mixing
1 litre water
Salt to taste
1 cm Ginger
1 dl coconut milk
2 carrots
1 big potato
1/2 cauliflower
1 zucchini
1 Aubergine
1 block hard type tofu or few pieces of fried tofu
(you can replace with any vegetable you wish as well)

Method:

Chop garlic and shallots to itty-bitty pieces. Put the water into the curry powder and make into paste (not soup PASTE!) Then fry the garlic, shallot and ginger mix in the heated oil in low heat until fragrant. After the garlic, shallots and ginger mix is ready, fry in the paste. Make sure the stove heat is very low when frying...fry for 5 mins. Pour the water a little at the time until the paste dissipates, about 500 ml. Then add the coconut milk. Now add the vegetables that take a longer time to cook first putting in the zucchini and aubergine. Add a bit of salt at a time. Then add the rest of the water and leave it to boil on low heat for another 10 mins with lid on.