Traditional Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies (Fah Sang Peng)

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*Also available under Chinese New Year Cookies to Order- $20 per box of 30 pcs

Chinese New Year is 2 weeks away, and having missed out on all the festivities back home for the past 6 years, I decided 2010 was the time to more actively recreate some of the buzz all the way here in London, at least on the baking front.

I urge you SERIOUSLY, even if you're not Chinese and don't celebrate CNY, to try this recipe. If your life's experience of peanut cookies has been limited to chunky Western versions made with peanut butter and a criss-cross fork pattern, these little devils will be a revelation- crisp to the bite, then crumbly as you first chew, then melt-in-the-mouth, then unbelievably fragrant as the salty nutty flavour hits your tongue. Well-made fah sang peng are an exercise in taste and textural heaven akin to a cross between buttery shortbread and melting moments, except better, because of the added oomph and aroma of peanuts. :)

The recipe below is simple and easy too, the only slightly time consuming bit being the shaping of the cookie with a bottle cap. Most people choose to add more oil so they can roll the dough into smooth solid balls- I prefer to keep the pastry short and crumbly, and I like the rustic and uneven end result with the little cracks around the edges. Just beware- once baked, you'll have one (just to try), two (just to be sure), and before you know it you'd have had thirty.

Don't say I didn't warn you :)

Traditional Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies (Fah Sang Peng)

Makes about 60 cookies, depending on the size of your bottle cap

Blitz 200g roasted salted peanuts in a blender/spice mill until a finely ground powder/paste is formed.

*Note: I used a ready-to-eat Asda Smartprice pack (which was insanely cheap, only 27p!) that was already roasted, salted and had added vegetable oil, hence a more pasty rather than powdery result. If you prefer you can use raw nuts and dry fry/roast from scratch, but remember you'll be adding salt and oil later anyway.

In a large bowl, sift together:

200g (approx. 1 1/2 cups) plain flour

100g (approx. 3/4 cup) icing sugar (essential for the fine texture- do not substitute with normal sugar)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Dash of salt (more if you used unsalted nuts)

Chuck everything into a food processor (or a mixing bowl if kneading manually), add a good glug of vegetable oil- I used rapeseed, but any mild variety like corn, sunflower or groundnut will do- and blend at high speed (or work with your fingers) until a crumbly, dry, short dough that looks like this is formed:

If the mix is still floury, add more oil gradually and keep blending/kneading until the "grainy sand" look (like shortcrust pastry before liquid is added) is achieved, and forms a solid tightly packed mass if compressed. Be sure not to pour in too much oil at one go- you don't want a greasy mess.

To shape each cookie, place a piece of cling film over a clean bottle cap

(I used the plastic top of an HP sauce bottle, about 3cm wide and 1.5 cm deep)

and press in dough tightly. Yank out the cling film to release the cookie and place on a lined baking sheet. Repeat until all dough is used up.

Using the back of a spoon, brush each cookie with a bit of egg wash (1 egg yolk diluted with 1 tsp of water).

Bake at 160 C fan-assisted (or 180 C for non-convection ovens) for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool, then devour!:)

Little Hanoi Vietnamese Restaurant

Little Hanoi Vietnamese Restaurant 22 January 2010

147 Curtain Road

The City

London EC2A 3QE

Tel: 0207 729 6868

Rule no. 1 at this little family-run institution: stay away from the bog-standard Chinese trappings on the menu, get head waiter Michael Luong to help you order correctly and your tastebuds are in for the feast of their lives! Super-talented chef Phai (Michael's father) dishes up mouthwatering, robust Vietnamese dishes using the freshest of seafood, meat and vegetables paired with the most flavourful of herbs and spices that will leave you salivating for more.

Located above the club Plastic People on Curtain Road (near but not on the "Pho Mile" that is Kingsland Road), there is no doubt whatsoever that Little Hanoi more than holds its own. I will leave the pictures to speak for themselves :)

STARTERS

Grilled Scallops on Shell (£10.50 for 4 pcs- they looked so good Arivind ate one before I could take a picture!)- DIVINE, an absolute must-try. Topped with crunchy peanuts and a luscious tangy sauce,

no wonder some call it the best scallops in London!

Fresh Summer Rolls (£3)- packed with prawns, crunchy lettuce and carrots with a

thick hoisin dip. Good and generous, but pales in comparison to the

scallops (but then again most things would...)

King Prawn Sweet Potato Pancake (£6.80)- fabulously fried,

crisp and crunchy on the outside and chewy inside.

MAINS

Grilled Venison (£12)- Mmm mmm MMM! So tender, so moist, so deliciously charred

yet sweet yet peppery all at the same time... a true work of art. Little Hanoi claims to be

the only place that serves this divine creation in the whole haven of Viet cuisine

that is Shoreditch- if that isn't reason enough to go I don't know what is!

Grilled Salmon in Banana Leaf (£12)- Praise. The. Heavens. OMG. I thought the

scallops and venison were my favourites, till waiter Michael plonked this gorgeous

melt-in-the-mouth slab of perfectly cooked flaky pink goodness with a beautiful

fragrant sauce in front of us. Totally SUBLIME with hot steamed rice.

A new discovery in July 2010- Phai's genius creation of deep fried giant scallops with Parma ham.

Priced the same as the previous scallop dish if I'm not mistaken.

Vietnamese Pork Chops (portion here shown for table of 10, can't be certain of the price as it was for a party)-

grilled to sweet succulent perfection

Some crab dish (again for a table of 10)- no idea what it's called but it comes with a

mouthwatering spicy sweet gravy!

Vietnamese pho- personally I still prefer Song Que's version of this, but Phai's

is delicious and comforting nonetheless.

Little Hanoi don't do desserts (traditionally the Vietnamese finish meals with fresh fruit or liquor), but you can rest assured you'd be too stuffed anyway to want anything else. If you have the opportunity to give 24-hours notice in advance of your visit, I would also highly recommend these two other specialities which they are happy to arrange for you on special order as long as you call beforehand:

Dover Sole Boat (£50)- fleshy chunks of dover sole served on a crispy "boat"

made of the fish's skeleton, deep-fried til it's crunchy and edible

Lobster (£70)- can't remember the exact name sorry, but it is YUM.

If you've previously walked into Little Hanoi for nothing more than their cheap lunch buffet or Chinese standards, I implore you to return and go for the ala carte specialities as this is where their true strengths lie. Good food at good prices- GO TRY IT!

Yummy in our tummy!:)

Cocoa Fleck Ice Cream

Just like my other Brown Bread Ice Cream, this recipe does not require an ice cream maker, repeated churning nor any cooking of the ingredients into a custard before freezing. Simply whisk, combine, freeze and ta-daa!: easy-peasy smooth and creamy gourmet-quality chocolate ice cream :)

Whilst it doesn't show up well in the picture because I ran out of chocolate and therefore put way too little this time round, the word "fleck" in the title refers to the finely grated dark chocolate I add into the mixture (my attempt at recreating something visually similar to Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate). The recipe below gives you the correct amount to use- by all means increase or decrease it as preferred, or use chocolate chips, brownie chunks, crushed biscuits or whatever else you fancy instead.

Cocoa Fleck Ice Cream

Makes a 1 litre tub

2 egg whites- whisk until stiff.

2 egg yolks- combine with 1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 tsp dark rum for a more adult version). Fold into egg whites. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together until floppy (be careful not to overbeat until too stiff):

300ml double cream

85g icing sugar and 2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder, sifted together

100g melted dark chocolate, cooled

Fold together double cream mix, egg white mix and 100g finely grated dark chocolate (or other toppings of choice). Pour into a 1-litre container and freeze for at least 4 hours. Move to refrigerator for 20 mins before serving to soften slightly.

The Mini Sam Tan Kitchen

For all catering enquiries please email me at bakecookeat@gmail.com :) For recipes, feel free to browse the site or click on the name of each dish below.

A couple of weeks back I had my first professional catering job, all thanks to my lovely dancer friend Tristan Ching-Hartmann who decided I was a good enough chef to pay for based solely on the pictures on this blog alone (and my ability to Facebook, tweet, blog and basically yap about food all day). Considering that she wanted a full-on 3 course Southeast Asian buffet despite never tasting my cooking coupled with the fact that I had never cooked for 10 complete strangers before (i.e. not friends/family who would smile and say they love the food even if it sucks), my first thought was wow, this woman is nuts! But it was her birthday so she was entitled to madness plus I do love a culinary challenge, so my immediate answer was yes yes YES :)

A 5-day cooking schedule/to-do list- necessary due to limited pots,

storage equipment and kitchen/refrigerator space :)

Thankfully, with the help of my utterly indispensable partner/kitchen assistant (or as he prefers to call it, slave/serf/bitch) Arivind and the initial hiccups aside (the first attempted sago pudding not setting, an emergency dash to Asda for more chicken...) all 16 items managed to be cooked in time and packed safely into the cab for the ride with us to Tristan and her husband Mark's flat (which incidentally, is gorgeous!). As it turns out, clearly people here don't gorge themselves like Malaysians when faced with a buffet- there was probably enough for 30 rather than 10 but ah well... too much food= not really a bad thing :)

Thank you Tristan and Mark for the opportunity, I really had fun and hope you guys enjoyed the end result!

With the wonderful host and hostess

Starters:

Fresh Popiah Rolls

Sticky Hoisin Chicken Wings

Snacks:

Crunchy Butter Caramel Popcorn

Freshly Fried Prawn Crackers

Mains:

Leafy Salad with Asian Soy Ginger Vinaigrette

Thai Seafood Kerabu Salad

Roti Jala (Malaysian Lacey Coconut and Turmeric Crepes)

Thai Pineapple Fried Rice

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Chicken Adobo (Filipino Vinegar and Garlic Stew)

Malaysian Beef Rendang

Char Kuay Teow (Fried Flat Rice Noodles)

Desserts

(which we somehow forgot to

photograph other than the brownies!):

Malaysian Pandan Chiffon Cake

Caramelised Brown Bread Ice Cream

Bitesize Chunky Chocolate Brownies

Sago Gula Melaka

*Ooh yes, and thank you Makcik Marisa for lending me your roti jala and jelly mould :)

Wagamama-Inspired Asian Soy Ginger Vinaigrette

A tangy sour-salty vinaigrette that makes salads absolutely mouthwatering! :) Inspired by Wagamama's famous dressing, I chuck in a dash of sesame oil and a sprinkling of seeds to add a further dimension to its gorgeous Asian flavours (and it just so happens floating sesame seeds look pretty). Have a taste once it's made and add more soy/vinegar/whatever you like to suit your own preference.

Keep refrigerated. Use on everything :)

Wagamama-Inspired Asian Soy Ginger Vinaigrette

Makes 1/2 cup (125ml)

Stir together well to blend and store refrigerated in a jar:

2 small shallots, finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

1" fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1½ tbsp rice vinegar (or other vinegars if you want to change things up)

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp water

100ml vegetable oil

2-3 tbsp light soy sauce (depending on how salty you want it)

Dash of sesame oil

Sprinkling of sesame seeds

Roti Jala (Malaysian Lacey Coconut and Turmeric Crepes)

SAM TAN'S KITCHEN HAS MOVED! Please visit the new website/online store at www.samtanskitchen.com. You can also follow Sam on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!

Am really on a bit of a Malaysian cuisine show-and-tell mood at the moment, due in large part to the all-out Southeast Asian buffet a friend asked me to cater for her recently (a post on that coming up soon) :)

Roti Jala translates literally from Malay to mean "net bread", and are essentially soft savoury crepes traditionally served alongside a good chicken curry (although they are just as good for mopping up other kinds of tasty gravy too). Made out of coconut milk and coloured a natural yellow by ground turmeric, the attractive lacey pattern is created using one these funny-looking thingies:

A roti jala mould

Unfortunately whilst these moulds are dead cheap and easily available in Malaysia, they are nowhere to be found even in the largest Asian supermarkets here in London. Lucky for me my good foodie friend Marisa happily lent me hers (thank you makcik!)- if you can't get your hands on one then suggested substitutes I have heard of are using a squeezy bottle with a narrow nozzle (although you will need quick fingers to squirt out the pattern at top speed) or making your own mould by drilling holes into an empty tin can (although some say the lack of funnels means the batter ends up pouring out in big blobs). If you find an alternative that works do let me know!

One other really cute tip I picked up watching a roti jala man at work at his stall was to shove a fork or skewer into half an onion and using it to grease your frying pan- this not only lightly flavours your pancakes with a delicious hint of onion, but ensures you get a very thin even layer rather than pouring in too much oil.

The cool little oily-onion trick

Lastly, whilst it takes a tad more effort Marisa and hubby insist that the roti jala must be rolled into neat long bundles as shown below to ensure the correct bite, texture and "moppability", rather than being folded into triangular quarters (half, then half again). It's entirely up to you but I am inclined to agree, plus it looks prettier to me anyway :) Happy cooking!

Roti Jala (Malaysian Lacey Coconut and Turmeric Crepes)

Makes about 20 crepes

Sift together into a large bowl:

2 cups of plain flour

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Make a well in the middle of the flour, add in and whisk to form a thin batter (I use an electric mixer briefly at the end to get rid of lumps):

2 eggs

2 cups milk/coconut milk

1 cup water

Let rest for 30 mins.

Set a heavy-based frying pan on low-medium heat and grease with an onion dipped in oil. Pour the batter in using a quick circular motion as shown in my nifty little home-video below:

Wait for the batter to set (which only takes about 20-30 seconds).

Fold over two edges towards the middle.

Roll one end all the way up towards the other. Remove and place on a plate.

Repeat all of the above until the rest of the batter is used up. Serve immediately with a good hot curry.