Sunday, October 15, 2006

Granny: Back from Japan!

Yes, dear readers, I'm more than glad to announce that my grandma is back from her trip in Japan and is once again whipping up nice and scrumtious dinners for me! *Huge grin*

Look at what awaited us when we popped by on Thursday!



Oooo, look really good doesn't it. Lets break them down individually shall we?

First and foremost, roast duck which she always buys. Goes great with the chilli she makes!


Next up! Steamed prawns with egg and tomatoes specially for Qin cause grandma knows she love prawns. Therefore, she always cooked an entire plate for her everytime we pop by!


Steamed red snapper with plum and tomatoes and topped with chilli. I love the broth, really yummy and not too salty. I dip it with everything.


Fried fish balls and prawn paste in ngoh hiang skin.


And of course, some mixed vegetables for the veggie boy in me :)


Lastly, Yong Tau Hu soup.



To compliment the food, she made this kick ass chilli which never fails to whet my appetite. It's made from green mangoes, dried shrimps, chilli and sugar. It's sweet-sourish and is really good. I even eat it own it's own!

Other than the food, guess what she brought back from Japan for me?

Hokkaido red beans!



Check out the size of those beans, they're humongous!

After dinner we went to make some red bean paste and glutinous rice balls. It's interesting how her method of making red bean paste differs on what we find on the internet. Firstly, the red beans are soaked overnight and cooked till soft. Next, over a sieve, use hands to mash the red beans while adding water. This will leave you with the skin left behind and a watery red bean solution in the bowl below.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Rather than stirring the solution over low heat like commonly called for, the solution is poured into a cotton sieve and the water squeezed out of it, resulting in dry blocks of red bean.



Next, simply add the same weight of sugar to the blocks (I used approx. 30% lesser) and cook it over medium-low heat whilst stirring constantly till all the sugar melts. You can then add in some oil to improve the texture.




Tada! A good big tub of red bean paste which we made glutinous rice balls with. Oh ya, don't forget to let the red bean paste sit for a few days to let the flavour develop!





Oops! Gotta run now, heading to granny's place for some home-made mee siam. Cya!

15 comments:

homemaker said...

Woo, ur granny's homemade chilli looks really appetising. Granny always cook the best homemade food.=)

if only I cook as well as you do, I would love to try making my own red bean paste too.

D said...

Steamed fish with sour plums and tomato is quite Teochew. Are you Teochew by any chance?

Sammy said...

Hello! The red bean paste is really quite easy to make :) You must mean if you cook as well as my grandma do, haha. I make for a bad cook.

Hey D, spot on! Teochew here :)

FatMan Seoul said...

Nice blog you have here. Bookmarked.

Anonymous said...

wow bro, your grandma went to japan. so fortunate!! i love the roast duck and steamed prawns. they look so delish! the steamed fish reminds me of my mum's cooking. i don't cook much fish after i got married, so whenever i go back to my parents' place, they'll force me to eat lots of steamed fish, esp. threadfin. hehe. i love the gravy with rice. very nice :p

i wish i hv a grandma like yours! does she take on any god-granddaughters? *winks* lol.

Sammy said...

Hi Fatman Seoul! Thanks for your compliments and for dropping by! :)

Hello evan sis! Haha, yah so fortunate right... I don;t even have the chance to go Japan :( if I do, I'll gorge myself on red beans, soft ice cream and mochi!

Next time rd I ask her if she wants a god daughter anot okay? haha

Unknown said...

YD,

Wow! Your grandmum is such a great cook, everything looks so good! Not forgetting the red bean paste too.

Unknown said...

Hey hey YD, er.. I'm bad with my orientation of TB market. The nam of the ondeh ondeh stall is HariAnn's, hope it helps :)

Anonymous said...

Ok, tell me what I must do to get invited to your granny's for a meal. Pleassseee???

D said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
D said...

What's this with grandmas hey? It's like once they have grandkids they become ultra-super cooks... there must be some secret handbook you receive when you have kids haha.

That being said, when all these flogger dudettes become old (yes you will haha) and become grandmas of their own, at least they can continue the trend of being ultra-super-cooking grannies hahaha.

Gracio said...

WOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!U're one lucky guy, YD! :)

Same same,teochew here too! Love the fish & the dessert to bits! Can u pls pls throw some over here? Yummy!

Sammy said...

Haha yeah I should seriously convince her to start doing some catering huh! *winks*

I can seriously imagine angie, evan, cadenza being great grandmas. I mean, look at the stuff their whipping out now! And Gracio! Your home-cook dishes never fail to leave me drooling :P

the baker said...

oh wow-wee! that's ALOT of food! Me likes! your granny rocks!!! don't you just love homecooked food? beats outside food anytime! and i'm like drooling at all the pictures. damn, those redbeans are way cool. i want to make my own tang yuan too! will def. try your method for the red bean paste! Great yummy post as always! :)

Sammy said...

Haha. Thanks cheryl :) Yep, definately prefer home-cooked food to outside fare ANYTIME! you're so lucky! your dad always cooks such nice goodies :P