I regularly visit a TCM specialist for holistic health checkup. Yes, I see the doctor even if I’m not sick. In TCM, it is believed that nobody can be 100% healthy and seeing the doctor is for ‘maintenance’ (tiau li/ 调理)

While I am blessed to not have any major illness, my stomach and digestion is weak. According to the doctor, poor digestion is the reason for my puffy eyes and inability to gain weight. Gasp. My stomach is not making me pretty!

---

FERMENTED FOOD IMPROVES DIGESTION

This piece of information led me to find ways to improve digestion. One of the many ways is eating fermented food. Then it became my  Food Philosophy. I believe in eating traditionally like our grandmothers - which include eating fermented food.

While there are plenty of traditionally fermented food, many of them are made or processed in such as way that the good bacterias are gone (Read: 10 Fermented Food in Malaysia)

---

---

BUT PASTEURISED FERMENTED FOOD IS WITHOUT PROBIOTICS

I've been to a Michelin-star restaurant in Tokyo, Shiojiri Jozojo,  that serves only Fermented food

According to the owner, Nobuaki Fushiki:

“There’s no point to eating the miso and soy sauce you can buy at supermarket…Those products have been pasteurized and contain zero live enzymes and good bacteria.” - Nobuaki Fushiki (Source: A Culinary Calling in Tokyo)

---

MAKING KIMCHI IN MALAYSIA

That is why I make my own kimchi. There is no guarantee that the 'fermented' food that we buy truly has probiotics in it. As we only need to eat a small quantity, I only need to make it once every few months.

Here’s my family's recipe using things easily find in Malaysia e.g anchovies to replace salted shrimps (for the umami flavour). Other ingredients like napa cabbage and Korean pear are easy to find in the supermarket. The only specialty produce you need to buy is Korean Chili Powder.

Does it taste as good as regular kimchi? Yes! I let my Korean guests at my cooking class to try these recently. They told me it's just like those they had at home.

---

TOOLS

• 2 large mixing bowl (about 13 inch/ 35 cm)
• Colander/ Salad spinner

---

RECIPE CARD

Easy Malaysian-Style Kimchi

19th August 2019

Servings: 8 cups

Prep: 30 min

Print This

By: Sara Khong

Ingredients

• To brine:
• 1 large (1.3 - 1.5 kg) napa cabbage, cut into squares
• 1/4 cup himalayan pink salt
• To blend:
• 1 (80g) red onion, large
• 1 (350 g) Korean pear, peeled deseeded and chopped
• 1 bulb (45 g) garlic
• 1 thumb size (20 g) ginger
• 1/2 cup anchovies (ikan bilis), toasted
• 3 tbsp anchovy fish sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• To mix:
• 1/2 cup Korean chile pepper flakes
• 10 green onions (green part only), cut into 2 inches

Directions

• Step 1 CHOP CABBAGE: Chop cabbage into half, then quarter. Rinse under running water. Chop into 2 inches squares. Slice off the hard part.
• Step 2 SALT CABBAGE: In a large bowl, combine the cabbage with salt and set aside for 1 hour.
• Step 3 BLEND SEASONING PASTE: In a blender, pulse together onion, pear, garlic, ginger, anchovy, dried shrimp, fish sauce, and sugar until a paste is formed. Transfer to large mixing bowl and mix in the chilli pepper flakes. Set aside to let the flavours combine.
• Step 4 RINSE & DRAIN CABBAGE: Pour away the liquid. Then rinse the cabbage to remove any traces of salt. Drain in a colander for 20 minutes, or use a salad spinner to remove move of the water.
• Step 5 MIX CABBAGE, SPRING ONIONS, & PASTE: In another large bowl, mix together the green onions, seasoning paste, and drained cabbage until combined thoroughly, making sure the seasoning paste is distributed evenly among the leaves.
• Step 6 PACK IN CONTAINER: Packed the mixture tightly into a large containers. Leave about an inch from the cap.
• Step 7 LEAVE TO FERMENT: Ferment. Leave to ferment cool place for 24 hours. 
• Step 8 STORE: Store. Refrigerate and consumed within 6 months.

---

SHORT RECIPE

Chop cabbage into squares. Rub salt into cabbage. Set aside for 1 hour. Blend seasoning paste: 1 onion + 1 bulb garlic + thumb-size ginger + pear + anchovy + fish sauce + 3 tbsp shrimp + 2 tsp sugar.  Pour into mixing bowl + add 1/2 cup chili flakes. Set aside to let the flavours combine. Rinse cabbage and drain in colander.  Mix : cabbage + seasoning paste + spring onions. Pack in jars. Leave for 24 hours. Keep in fridge.

---

KIMCHI-MAKING TIPS

1. Cut cabbage in squares so that it's easy to eat. In Korean, it is call Mat Kimchi (pre-sliced).
2. Use a salad spinner to speed things up You can drain the cabbage in a colander. That takes about 20 minutes. Sometimes, when I don't have that patience, so I'll just dry it quickly with a salad spinner.
3. Buy Korean Chili Powder (Gochugaru) from Korean Mart  I got my chili powder from a Korean Mart (Freshan) in 163 Retail Park at Mont Kiara. It's RM 18.80 for a packet (500g). Find a Korean Mart near you or buy it online.
4. Store in glass jars Reuse empty jam jars. If you don't have any, get them at Daiso or IKEA
5. Use hands, not gloves According to Connie Chew, a fermentation guru from Malaysia, there are microbes in our hands that is good for fermentation(Source: Kimchi, Kombucha, and Belacan: How to ferment food at home)
   

   “Some people use gloves – especially when making spicy dishes like kimchi, but when you use gloves, you’re actually disconnecting from the microbes. There’s actually bacteria in the hands, which is encouraged, so try not to wear gloves when you’re making fermented food,” Connie Chew

    

---

RULES FOR FERMENTATION

1. Do not fill kimchi to the brim When the fermentation process begin, vegetable liquid will be realised. Carbon dioxide and lactic acid that are produced will cause bubbling. If you fill it to the brim, juice will spill out.
2. Pack it tightly and submerge kimchi Don't expose it to air.
3. Do not open the jar during fermentation as the most important fermentation activity occurs at this stage (I got this tip from a book I read ' The Kimchi Cookbook' by Lauryn Chun. Opening it frequently will expose kimchi to oxygen which will affect the condition of kimchi.
4. Leave it to ferment for 24 hours in a cool and dark place. In a book that I read, the kimchi is left out for 3 days to ferment. However, I feel that Malaysian weather is too hot for that. After 24 hours, there is already sign of fermentation i.e bubbling. So I've always just leave it for a night.

Kimchi is one of the easiest and most sustainable way to get probiotic into your body. It's not hard to make and it goes well with rice. I try to have a little kimchi everyday when I have dinner at home.

If you're looking to improve your gut bacteria, this would work for you. Try it!

The post Easy Kimchi Malaysian-Style (11 Ingredients, 30 minutes prep) appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

The post Homemade KFC Cheesy Potato Wedges appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

In my family, we consume crispy pork lard cautiously and in small portion. We love sprinkling these flavourful and crunchy fats over Hokkien Mee. In our opinion, Hokkien Mee without crispy pork lard is not ‘true’ Hokkien Mee. Yup, that’s how much we like it.

Recently, we’ve been going to a few popular Hokkien Mee stalls such as Damansara Uptown and Ah Wa Hokkien Mee. Crispy pork lard are sold separately, and charged at what I considered a high price for just fats. When I make my own, I no longer wonder why: 1/2 kg slab of fat makes barely 1 cup of crispy pork lard!

You need only cook the pork lard with nothing other than a wok and a little bit of salt. But the difficult part is dealing with splattering oil, and taking the lard out from the oil at the right time so that it brown perfectly and not burned. If you do not mind the toil, you’ll be awarded with delicious crispy bits. Oh, so satisfying!

TOOLS

• Chopping board + knife
• Wok
• Strainer
• Paper napkin (optional)
• Air-tight container

ACTIVE TIME

25 minutes

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

Chop 500 g of pork fats into 1 cm cubes. Heat wok, add fats + 1 tsp of salt. Cook until cubes float and brown (10 min). Strain, cool & store in containers.

COOKING TIPS

1. Chop fats when it’s slightly hard. To chop fats into 1 cm cubes easily, place it in the freezer for a while so it hardens. That is because fat solidifies at lower temperature. If you leave it out, it’ll become soft which makes it hard to chop the lard into perfect cubes.
2. Larger cubes. If you prefer, you can chop it into larger cubes. However, I think 1 cm is just right.
3. Crucial to remove pork lard at the right time. The most important part of cooking lard is removing them when its browned but not burned. However, if you cook it at a relatively high heat, the transition can be very fast. One moment it just begin to turn golden brown, and another moment it seemed over fried.
4. Reduce heat to medium low. If you’re not confident with your cooking, when the fat floats and begin to turn colour, reduce the heat to medium low. However, this will take a longer time.
5. Control browning accordingly. As I’ll be keeping the lard over a few meals, I prefer to not brown it too much. That is because it will brown more the second time (when I put it into the toaster oven/ air fryer). This way, the lard wouldn’t brown too much and turn bitter.

Enjoy!

The post Crispy Pork Lard (Chu Yau Char/ 猪油渣) appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

I’m glad to find that this hot condiment easy to make. Even if you rarely go into the kitchen, you can nail it, I promise! It requires no other skills than blending fresh ingredients in a food processor and then heat up on the stove. Don’t worry, it’s not cooked with oil so chances of ruining it is almost zero!

TOOLS

• Blender
• Stove + spatula
• Air-tight container
• Knife + chopping board

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

Blend 450 g of red chili + 5 pcs of cili padi + 1 tomato + 4 tbsp of belacan until fine. Cook on stove with 1/4 cup lime juice (10 min). Season with sugar. Transfer to bottle.

COOKING TIPS

1. As the degree of spicy heat in chili and sweetness in tomato differs, the above measurement is only a guideline. If it lack fragrance, add more belacan. If it’s too spicy, balanced the taste with lime juice and sugar.
2. Cooking the paste allows you to keep in the fridge for a longer time. So does keeping it in a clean container.
3. To save time and reduce washing, I like to deseed chili directly into a plastic bag and use a pair of scissors to cut chilis directly into the food processor.
4. This recipe makes two small containers.

Enjoy this dip (with almost everything)!

The post Sambal Belacan Chili Dip – 6 ingredients appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

But fruits is not good only for constipation. It provides fibre and fibre is an important part of a healthy balanced diet. It can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and some cancers, and can also improve digestive health. (source: UK National Health Service)

So in my attempt to make fruits more enticing, I thought of flavouring it with a Thai dip: prik-kab-klua. In Thailand, this salt-sugar-chili mixture comes along with fruits that you buy from a roadside stall. The additional tastes – salty, sweet and spicy – gives another dimension to tropical fruits.

I personally like the colour and texture. Fruits look so invited with sprinkles of red and white on top (sometimes I even oregano for the extra taste and additional green colour). Perfect to jazz up an ordinary plate of fruits for a party!

TOOLS

• Dipping bowl

RECIPE CARD

SHORT RECIPE

Mix 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp sea salt + 1 tsp chilli flakes

TIPS

1. Use sea salt I’ve switched to using sea salt in flavouring my food. Unlike table salt which has a sharp taste, sea salt milder and gentler to the tongue. Find out why sea salt is better than table salt
2. Add oregano I like to add another teaspoon of oregano into this traditional dip. Why? Of all herbs, oregano is one of the highest in antioxidant. Hence, I always find ways to sneak them into my cooking. I was so please to find that this dip taste much better with the addition of this spice. The herbaceous green notes tone down the spiciness of the chilli powder, the sweetness of the sugar, and the saltiness of the sea salt.

Sprinkle these over guava, mango, pineapple or any other fruits. Enjoy!

The post Thai Chilli Salt (Prik-kab-klua) – 3 ingredients  appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.

Despite all of them being mouth-watering, most are incredibly difficult to make or time-consuming. The list of ingredients are so long, and the process so tedious that I doubt I’ll be making it daily.

As I believe in cooking more at home, naturally I prefer simple recipes. Thankfully the cooking class offered one recipe that is perfect for home cooking: the versatile salad dressing for spicy tropical mixed fruit salad.

When I hear the word ‘salad dressing’, I immediately think of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Not only these ingredients are rather pricey in Asia, it’s just not quite suitable to pair with the other Asian dishes I like to cook. Besides, I’m not a big fan of raw vegetables (i.e salad).

Besides I think good salad are hard to come by; most taste rather bland and one-dimensional. If you’re like me, you will enjoy this salad dressing which teases your taste buds with an amazing combination of umami, sour, sweet and salty. This dressing makes vegetables taste so delicious!

\

RECIPE CARD

Pour dressing over any salad. Try my favourite Thai Spicy Mango Salad. 

SHORT RECIPE

Boil and simmer 1.5 cups water + 1 tbsp tamarind paste + 100 ml fish sauce + 150 g gula melaka + 1/2 tbsp shrimp paste. Simmer until all ingredients melted. Add 1.5 tbsp lime juice. Cool.

COOKING TIPS

• The saltiness of fish sauce and shrimp paste varies. Do adjust the amount accordingly.
• Depending on how salty or sour you like the dressing to be, add more fish sauce and lime juice respectively.

STORAGE TIPS

• This recipes makes a big batch of salad dressing. Transfer it into a bottle, label it and keep it in the fridge.
• If made and stored properly, this salad dressing can last to up to a month or longer.

I’m trying to incorporate more vegetables into my diet. If you have a good recipe, please drop me a line below!

The post Thai Salad Dressing appeared first on New Malaysian Kitchen.