【福州芋泥】FooChow Or Nee

 

第一次吃芋泥是在马来西亚一家有名的福州餐厅，甜甜糯糯的芋泥是非常好的甜点，吃过让人久久不忘。

去年春节的时候我做了一批芋泥，成品非常好。却一直没机会写食谱，今年春节再做一次，写个食谱记录一下。

I had this Or Nee （taro dessert）the first time at a famous FooChow restaurant in Malaysia many years ago, on my grand father's birthday party. It is sweet and very fragrant, makes it a very good dessert. 

I made a batch of this Or Nee during Chinese New Year last year, and it turned out very good. But I have never had a chance to write a recipe. 

I make the same dessert again this year and decided to write the recipe down.

【花生肉粽】Bak Zhang with Peanuts

咸棕子里我最喜欢的就是烧肉粽了，小时候不会欣赏加了花生和豆子的肉粽，就喜欢糯米和多多馅料的烧肉粽。现在反而喜欢带有花生和各种豆子的粽子，人的口味真的会改变的呢！

今年裹了一批红豆肉粽和一批闽南烧肉粽后又做了这个花生肉粽，一样好吃。

When I was young, my favorite dumpling was Bak Zhang. But as I grow older, I started appreciating dumplings with various kinds of pulses in it, this year I decided to make a type with peanuts and it came out absolutely delish!

【五香眉豆糕】Steamed Black Eye Peas Cake

芋头糕、萝卜糕、金瓜糕 是星马人经常早餐和茶点吃的糕点。我们喜欢沾上特制的叁巴辣椒酱或甜酱，再配上一杯浓浓的咖啡乌（就是不加奶只加糖的黑咖啡），实在是简单又风味十足的点心。

今天做的这款眉豆糕没有上边提到的三种糕点那么有名，却非常非常好吃。在这个禁足在家的日子，干豆子可比萝卜芋头更好储藏，所以做眉豆糕更合适，只要几种干料就可以了噢！

今天的眉豆糕是自己磨米浆做的，浓浓的米香真的很让人欲罢不能噢！

Steamed Yam Cake, Steamed radish cake and Steamed pumpkin cake were my all time favorites for breakfast and teatime.

This version of steamed cake is using black eye peas and homemade ground rice, Steamed black eye peas cake is a little rarer and is most likely only found homemade even back home in Malaysia.

At the time of shelter in place and when we are told to limit our grocery shopping trips, dried pulses like black eye pea are really good choice of protein to have and have a long shelf life! This steamed cake can be made with few dried ingredients at home. Delicious and very comforting food indeed.

【怡保鸡丝河粉】Ipoh Kai Si Hor Fun

我是长到大约十岁，跟着外公外婆到北马旅行时，在怡保吃到这款面食我才知道米浆制作的这个粉条也叫“河粉", 米浆制作的粉条在我们那旮旯一直都是叫做“粿条”的。

至于为什么它只有在马来西亚北方的怡保（市）才会被叫做“河粉”呢？

那就要追溯到华侨下南洋的历史了，当年下南洋的华侨一批一批的，广东人，客家人，潮州人，福建人，到步后很自然的就奔着老乡们去了。后来逐渐地，北方的槟城变成了潮州/福建人的聚居地，中部靠北的怡保，还有吉隆坡就变成了广东人的集聚地，南方的马六甲，柔佛则福建人和客家人比较多。这样的分布其实很容易地就可以从马来西亚各地的华人美食看出来。

再回到为什么只有怡保的米粉条叫做河粉，很可能是第一代的老华侨里有广州沙河镇来的移民，发现怡保这个地方被岩石山岭环，山里的泉水和广州家乡的九龙泉水类似，很适合制作河粉。于是就这样，怡保产出来马来西亚最有名的河粉了，它很薄，而且滑润透明，爽软韧筋，质量非常好。至今仍然有许多的北马人坚持只有怡保才有正宗的“怡保河粉”，其它的都是粿条呢！

这款鸡丝河粉我想念了很久，但是一直找不到比较好的新鲜河粉，而且一如其他马来西亚的面食那样，工序非常繁琐，所以就一直没有做它。我这里只能买到吃越南粉用的细米粉，如果你住的地方买得到2-3厘米宽的新鲜粿条/河粉，强烈建议你用那种哦！

 I didn't grow up eating Hor Fun -- which is what flat rice noodle is called in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia, especially in Ipoh. This type of noodle is called "Kuey Teow" in my part of the world.

The first time I heard the term "Hor Fun" was probably when I was around 10 years old, sometimes around long school holidays when my maternal grandparents brought us to visit Penang and en-route to Ipoh for the good foods that the town is known for.

Though not a big fan of soupy Kuey Teow a.k.a Hor Fun, this dish caught my fancy the first time I tried it, the noodles are smooth and the broth so full of flavors.

My FB friend Ivan posted his version of this Hor Fun on his page not long ago and it really got me craving for a good bowl of this noodle for sometimes. So one fine day I finally gathered enough ingredients (and courage) to go through the lengthy process just to prepare a bowl of this hearty noodle soup.

Try using the rice noodle which is 2-3 mm thick if you can find it, I strongly suggest to use only the fresh noodles, unfortunately the only fresh Hor Fun I could get in the nearby supermarket is thin rice stick noodle, not ideal but at least it is fresh! The dried version just won't cut it.