Satay evening

chicken satay

 

Inspired by the satay experience in Bali, I organised a full blown satay evening with friends as an end to the Chinese New Year holiday. 

fish satay

fish satay

There was quite a bit of work to prepare everything from scratch, the spice mix for fish satay, the peanut sauce for chicken, pork and vegetable satays, tomato cumin sauce for lamb (Moroccan touch), mustard sour cream sauce for beef (English way), and threading all the fish, meat and vegetables on sticks.

 

Peanut sauce

peanut sauce

1. Blend one onion with one clove, 1cm ginger, a red pepper and a chili with water to form a fine paste. 

peanut sauce spice mixture

2. Slow cook this mixture in coconut oil until dry and golden.

3. Bring to boil 2 cups of water with the smashed bottom halves of 2 lemongrass, add cooked paste, 100gm coarse grind roasted peanut, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/4 tsp cumin powder, some lime juice or tamarind paste, palm sugar and soy sauce, cook for 10 minutes until thick, adjust water and seasonings accordingly.

4. Fry shallot, cut into thin slices, until golden, serve on top of peanut sauce.

Tomato cumin sauce

tomato cumin sauce

1. Dry roast cumin seed in a pan until fragrant.

2. Cook cherry tomatoes, garlic and onion in oil until soft, remove tomato skin that has curled up after cooking, season with salt, sugar, pepper, blend into puree and roasted cumin seed.

Meat

meat satay

1. Cut pork, chicken, lamb and beef into strips, season with salt, sugar, oil and wine for an hour.

2. Soak bamboo sticks before threading on meat.

Vegetables

vegetable satay

baby corn satay

1. Blanch baby corn and lady's finger.

2. Season fresh shitake mushroom with a little salt and oil to soften texture.

Fish satay Balinese

Fish satay Balinese

A recipe learned at the cooking class in Bali, it was used to make chicken satay but is equally tasty on fish.

1. Use fresh or frozen halibut or cod, blend into a puree.

2. Blend 2 shallot, 1 clove garlic, 2 cm ginger, 1cm turmeric, 10 coriander seed, 1piece lime leave, with 2 tbsp water, and chili to your taste.

cooked spice mixture

`

3. At medium heat, cook the spice mixture in coconut oil until water dries up and turns golden, season with salt and brown sugar. Add grated fresh coconut to mixture, for flavor and texture.

4. Mix the cooled down sauce with fish puree, about 1 : 5 sauce to fish ratio, test cook a small portion to check seasoning. 

Fish satay Balinese

5. On a piece of flat bamboo stick, wrap a portion of fish paste, roast on bbq until edges charred.

Ma Yau fish in papillote

Ma Yau fish in papillote

This is really a great way to serve fish at a dinner party, just prepare the fish in parcels ahead of time then enjoy chatting with friends while the fish is being baked in the oven.

1. Season fish with salt for a few hours to firm up the flesh, keep in the fridge.

2. Make a very mild sauce by blending ginger with coriander, salt, olive oil and cooking wine. 

Ma Yau fish in papillote

3. Place slice of fish on baking paper cut round, add a spoon of sauce on top, folds up paper to form a giant dumpling. 

Ma Yau fish in papillote

4. For a 1cm thick slice of fish, bake at 200˚C for 13 minutes, rest for 2 minutes before serving.

Red date cake

Red date cake

I prefer to make red date cake than the traditional brown sugar version, because dates gives a beautiful fragrant and sweetness, so feels healthy to eat this sweet dessert.

red date 170gm

sticky rice flour 250gm

rice flour 90 gm

brown sugar 50gm

water 700gm

pinch of salt

red date

1. Soak red dates in 700gm boiling water, cover with lid to soften. Remove stones, bring the water back to boil then blend into a paste, season with sugar and a pinch of salt. 

red date cake before steaming

2. Pour this hot mixture into flour mixture, can pass through a sieve to remove date skin for better visual effect (optional).

3. Pour mixture into oiled tin and steam for an hour.

Chinese New Year cakes - turnip cake and red date cake

Chinese New Year cakes - turnip cake and red date cake ingredients

I have decided to make these traditional Cantonese steamed cakes myself this year, so that I can have them the way I like, full of ingredients and flavor.  

turnip cake seared

I used dried turnip 菜脯 to add texture and savory taste, also included the western way of slowly seared onions to give richness and sweetness to the cake.

Turnip cake - for one normal size tin:

turnip cake ingredients

1kg shredded turnip

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp brown sugar

white pepper

5 dried winter mushrooms cut into small cubes

2 Chinese sausages cut into thin slices

5 dried scallop tear into threads

1/2 bowl of dried shrimp

2 onions cut into very small pieces

1/2 bowl of salted and dried turnip

220gm rice flour

250gm soaking water (mushroom, scallop, dried turnip, dried shrimp etc)

sesame oil

turnip cake cooked ingredients

1. Sweat onion slowly at medium heat to soften without too much browning, add Chinese sausage, followed by mushroom, shrimp, scallop, and dried turnip.

2. Cook shredded turnip with 30gm soaking water, salt, brown sugar and pepper until translucent and liquid comes out. Add cooked ingredients, mix well and simmer for a couple of minutes to infuse flavor.

turnip cake before steaming

3. Pour the hot mixture into flour water mixture, stir slowly to let the heat of the mixture to thicken the flour mixture.

turnip cake after steaming

4. Pour into oiled tin and steam for 50 minutes. 

Green Coconut organic restaurant, Lipah Bay, Bali

 

Very happy to find this restaurant at Lipah Bay, near Coral View Villa, not just it serves organic food (veg, fish, red rice) and the dishes are delicious, also because they use a lot of local ingredients like moringa leaves and star fruit leaves freshly cut from the garden after placing the order.  

Moringa leaves soup

Moringa leaves soup, locals have this soup everyday, generally believed to be good for health. 

Moringa tree

There are star fruit trees in Hong Kong but it is my first time to eat the leaves, never heard that the leaves are edible. Cooked in a thick curry, the leaves have good texture like kale.

star fruit leaves and fish curry

Fish satay (Lillit), fish meat mixed with sambal sauce and freshly grated coconut, tasty and no need peanut sauce. 

fish satay

Lipah Bay, East Bali

A short boat ride away is Coral Garden and Japanese ship wreck sites, both great snorkeling areas. 

Ship wreck

squid

garfish

rockfish

batfish

Snorkeling at Lipah Bay, Bali

Lipah Bay, East Bali

I am very happy to have chosen to stay in Lipah Bay, on the east coast of Bali, below Amed. It is one of three good bays on the east coast for snorkeling, this one is away from the overdeveloped Amed area. 

Lipah Bay, East Bali

The hotel is right in the middle of the bay and a few steps away from the sandy beach, with coral reef on both the left and right sides of the bay. 

Coral View Villa, Lipah Bay, East Bali

open bathroom at Coral View Villa, Lipah Bay, East Bali

There is a good restaurant with sea view next to the hotel that has a small menu of well made local dishes and pizza. 

satay

The water is very calm and fish plentiful, really like swimming in an aquarium. 

snorkeling at Lipah Bay, East Bali

Delicious local food, Bali

After 2 most frustrating dinners eating bland Indonesian meals at Sidemen, finally by asking around and with the help of the driver,  found some good local restaurants that have real Balinese flavor. 

fish set meal

Fish set meal near the Bat Cave temple at Goa Lawah, fish meat-balls in a spicy fish broth, 2 types of fish satays, and fish cooked in banana leaves.

goat set meal

 

Goat set meal at Warung Bali Satia at Kusamba village, goat satay with rich peanut sauce, goat tripe and brisket soup with rich cinnamon spice broth, and goat skin and bean salad, really delicious and very satisfying. 

goat skin and bean salad

Terrace fields, Bali

terrace fields

 

Terrace fields are so pretty to look at, here in Sidemen they are located at the foot hill of Mt Agung, one of the active volcano and highest mountain in Bali. 

rice paddies

Sidemen practices rotation planting, because of shortage of water, of half year flooding the terrace to grow rice, and the other half growing cash crops like peanut with chili. 

rice paddies

Chili is an expensive vegetable here, and is easily affected by weeds, so farmers grow peanuts on the outside of the raise bed, to fix nitrogen in the roots and protect chili that are growing in the middle. Rice stalks are use to mulch the bed. 

peanut and chili

Coffee Luwak, Bali

civet cat caged during the day

 

A famous coffee using civet cats to eat (collect) the most ripe coffee fruits, then collect the beans that passed through the digestive system intact. 

mix plantation

This little farm is a mix plantation of coffee, cocoa, vanilla, turmeric, cinnamon, ginseng and many other spices and flower plants. 

mix plantation

There are a few civet cats that are free to roam in the farm at night, and will come back to the cage (voluntarily with fruits) during the day to rest. 

Luwak coffee bean

washed coffee bean

 

Staff will go round everyday to pick up their droppings, dry in the sun for a couple of days to ferment, then wash, remove skins, roast and pound into coarse Luwak coffee powder, all by hand. 

roasting Luwak coffee bean

pounding Luwak coffee bean

Luwak coffee is less bitter than normal coffee, has a nice sour fruity taste, is pleasant to drink, a good novelty. 

brewing Luwak coffee