Food and Tigers

My beverage options last night were this or water. I haven't tasted beer since that first trip to HCMC 3? 4? years ago... so non alcohol beer it was. 5. It was 5 years ago. Le sigh. 

Meh. It's ok. My friend whose house we were in was desperately trying to get rid of this stuff so I assisted by drinking two cans. 

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A variety of pineapple tarts on the first day of CNY. There are 2 more bottles that are yet unopened but this was the sample plate my cousin was taste-testing. He's a tart fiend so he was happy to give me his opinion. 

The verdict - the one on the bottom was his favourite!

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Some buah keluak and chicken fillet in a tub ready to be shipped off to the sister's for reunion dinner on the eve of CNY. It is typically more watery and made with cuts of a whole chicken, but in the interest of easy (less messy) transportation and healthier eating, I decided on a drier version with just a couple of chicken thighs and a lot of chicken inner fillet instead. I also used the flesh of the nut without the shell cos it's a lot easier to eat without having to dig it out of the shell. 

Depending on the family's recipe, it could be a soup or a stew, be liquidy or thick, have lots of liquid or be very dry. It can also be anywhere between yellow-brown to black. A search on the web threw these up - and they're all legitly buah keluak looking to me. The one that most closely resembles my mum's version is the first one on the left in the top pic - 

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There were many tiger themed CNY greetings flying all over the messaging apps, but this one was my favourite. Can you name all the tigers? 

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Amidst the festive madness I found time to chuck a bowl of Marks and Spencer lentil stew in with some cooked mixed quinoa for those times when I need a quick and easy meal.

And for tonight's dinner : Leftover cooked barley, frozen shrimp and Wattie's stir-fry mix veggies in a gravy made from a paste consisting of shallots, candlenut, belacan (shrimp paste) and chilli (we call it Ti Tek, and is a familiar flavour in Peranakan cooking - I have little tubs of this pre-made paste in the freezer) + Nuggets that came from the freezer and browned in the oven.

And that's what I cook and eat for sustenance when I'm not out at a restaurant somewhere on a date with BIKSS. :D

Today's chip pic is a video - 

We call these love letters - directly translated from Chinese it reads as 'egg roll' but is quite different from the deep fried eggrolls you get in the West. They're probably more closely related to the Indonesian Kue Belanda (or Kue Sepit / Kue Semprong).

I remember being very confused watching American TV shows as a child when the characters would order eggrolls from a Chinese restaurant for dinner, and I'd be like - Why are they eating Chinese New Year treats for Dinner??? 

Watch this - it comes out of the mold soft-ish but hardens and gets crispy as it cools. This is one of mum's favourite CNY treats!

(I figured this would be a great time to share some of our CNY foods with you!)