One Tonne of Wontons! :)

 Marketing started at 8am this morning. 

Two packets of baby bokchoi.

A handful of chestnuts, prawns and minced pork.

Blanch the baby bok choi in a pot of boiling water with a dash of oil and a sprinkling of salt.

To the minced pork, diced prawns and chestnuts,

Add:

A generous sprinkle of white pepper.

A dash of light soy sauce.

A heaped tablespoon of oyster sauce.

A generous drizzle of sesame oil and shaoxing wine.

Toss them up till well combined.

Rope in the family to join in for the wonton wrapping. :)

Prepare a pot of boiling water to boil up batches of wontons.

Till you get a whole tonne of them.

And while we're at it.

Chop up some onions (since we ran out of shallots)

and fry them over low heat for some shallot oil.

These weren't burnt.

They were actually sweet and pretty yums!

Don't underestimate the fragrance that the shallot (fried onion) oil imparts to the dish.

Add it to the soup or the noodles.

Or both!

Pick up some of those roasted meats from your friendly local roast meat seller at the wet market.

Which comes with a soy based gravy.

Toss the wonton noodles in a tablespoon of the soy sauce gravy.

Top with blanched baby bokchoi, roast meats and a generous serving of wontons! :)

Serve with a bowl of piping hot chicken broth.

That was one tonne of work for some wonton noodles.

Well worth the effort.

Well fed for the night! :)

Shanghai Special

Tong Xin Ju

同心居 

Special Shanghai Tim Sum with a history that dates back to the 1940s used to be at Margaret Drive is now at Maxwell Food Centre.

And still as good.

If not better.

Their Shanghai Nian Gao with seafood.

This is the small portion at $4.

It isn't big on seafood.

But that isn't the main star of this dish. 

Their sliced nian gao is and it shines through.

Delightfully chewy yet easily digestible.

The gravy is lightly seasoned and encapsulates wonderfully umami seafood flavours within that makes one want to finish up every last drop of this!

Seafood hor fun is my favourite cze char dish but it's definitely taking a backseat to this.

And how can one not make an order for their legendary dumplings?

I went for their healthier option steamed dumplings today.

Served piping hot.

They steam only upon each order.

Generous servings of minced meat mixed with some chopped ham for that tinge of pink peeking through its translucent skin.

Perfect with ginger and vinegar.

Tong Xin Ju Special Shanghai Tim Sum

Maxwell Food Centre

1 Kadayanallur Street #01-92

Open Tuesday to Sunday

11.30 am to 8.30 pm

Closed on Monday

Grandma's Bak Chang

Grandma's Bak Chang

1kg pork- thigh meat
300g chinese mushrooms, soaked and cut into halves
6 shallots, chopped and divided equally in 2 bowls
2kg glutinous rice
100g candied winter melon, chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp five spice powder
pinch of pepper
150g of dried scallops, contained in a small pot.
30 dried bamboo leaves, soaked till soft and wiped dry.
1-2 bundle hemp/ rafia strings, soaked

For the glutinous rice:

1. Rinse and strain water from glutinous rice.
2. Brown 1 bowl of shallots in oil till fragrant. Take away half of the shallots, leaving the oil and the remaining shallots in the pan.
3. Fry the rice with shallots and oil till half cooked. Put the half cooked rice in a big bowl and set aside.

For the fillings:

1. Fry 1 bowl of shallots till their amora is liberated. Add in the mushrooms and continue frying.
2. Add in pork after a minute or so, followed by the candied winter melon.
3. Before the pork is done, add in soy sauce, five spice powder and pepper to taste. 
*Seasoning based on personal preferences. 

Boil wrapped dumplings for approximately one hour.

Makes around 20 dumplings

Cooking for family

Diced 4 water chestnuts.

Peel and chop 12 medium sized grey prawns into three parts.

Mix 400g of minced pork and diced water chestnut with 2 tbsp of oyster sauce, a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and a tsp of soya sauce.

Chop spring onions to be used either mixed into the filling or as a garnish for the soup.

(I divided the pork into two portions for two different types of filling- for a 云吞: minced pork, chestnut and spring onions/ for a 水饺: minced pork, shrimp and chestnut)

Makes enough filling for one pack of wanton wrappers, approximately 34 sheets.

For each wanton wrapper, place a generous ball of pork and shrimp filling in the middle before sealing with beaten egg and crimping the ends tightly.

Bring water to a boil before putting in the dumplings to cook. 

The dumplings are ready when the skin turns slightly translucent and they float up to the surface.

Serve in a stock made from simple boiled ikan bilis and peeled prawn heads reserved from earlier (or simply use Knorr ikan bilis MSG free cubes).

Serve dried with the noodles blanched and tossed in a base of sesame oil, oyster sauce, a little soup stock and sambal chilli (optional)

Top with dumplings, roasted bbq pork and chinese kale.

Or simply serve in soup. :)

The dumplings were no sweat.

It's the separate blanching of vegetables and noodles together with the final assembly of soup/ dried orders of noodles that took a while.

But all worth it.

Tummy satisfied!