Ma's Lu Song Tang

Chinese Russian soup, luo song tang

My MIL is one of the top 3 cooks I know. Her cooking motto (unofficially) is 'taste first, everything else second'. This means she'll fry and then braise when she does a 'red-cook' meat, use the best ingredients and not scrimp on oil. She also doesn't cut corners and washes her wok clean each time she fries some thing so that she never gets burnt bits in her food. Those who know Chinese stir-fry will know what I mean: if you have, say, 3 ingredients in a stir fry, you should fry each separately, washing the wok clean after each frying, because not all ingredients cook in the same time. After each ingredient is cooked to the right level of crispness/doneness, you then fry them altogether to blend the tastes. I fry each ingredient one after the other without washing in between frying (even though Vero stands by to wash) so my dishes never turn out as perfect as MIL's.

One of the soups MIL cooks often is what she calls "luo song tang" (pronounced "loo soong tongue") or Russian soup. I think luo song tang is the Chinese version of the famous Russian veg soup, borscht. There are many versions of borscht in Eastern Europe countries such as the Ukraine, Poland etc and the main ingredients used are beets and cabbage. The Chinese version is simpler, as all Chinese soup are light and watery instead of thick and creamy because Chinese soup is drunk to clear the palate, not fill the stomach.

We love it when we go to MIL's house for Saturday dinners and a big pot of luo song tang is bubbling and giving the house a warm, comforting aroma. Through the years, I have taught MIL to westernize her soup by flavoring it with bay leaves and a can of tomatoes puree, which thickens the soup and adds a stimulating tanginess.

The last few weeks have been wet and rainy, perfect weather for luo song tang. Another reason I cooked this is to post the recipe for Ming, who's homesick for home-cooked soups. I added a large beet to redden the soup, but MIL doesn't do that.

Ma's Luo Song Tang
1.5 kg beef shin or any stewing beef, cut into small 2 cm cubes
1 medium can tomato puree*
1/2 kg tomatoes, 2 cm cubes*
1-2 large carrot, 2 cm cubes
4 sticks celery, 2 cm lengths
2 large potatoes, 2 cm cubes
1 medium sized beet (optional), 2 cm cubes
1 large onion, 2 cm cubes
2 large bay leaves
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

*MIL blanches the fresh tomatoes, then remove their skin and seeds but I don't bother. If you don't want to add tomato puree, increase the fresh tomatoes to 1 kg.

1. Boil about 6 liters of water, add the beef, onions, tomatoes and bay leaf and boil until beef is half-done. If you don't like the beef too soft, go to step 2 after 45 minutes and when beef is still hard.

2. Add the celery and beets to the soup and let simmer for about an hour. Then add the carrots, potatoes and tomato puree and the seasonings and boil until potatoes are slightly soft. If the water level is too low, add 1 or 2 cups of water if like, let soup come to a boil again and switch off the fire and leave the veg to rest and imbibe the soup.

3. Just before serving, heat soup up.

Black Forest Gateaux

Updated black forest gateaux

FIL was celebrating his 80th birthday and Lorrine of Ganache, who makes the Most Delicious Green Tea Cake (no other name for it, Lorrine), was away for the weekend so she couldn't take my order. In-laws requested a black forest cake, something that went out in the 80s.

I decided to update the classic black forest cake now that cream rosettes and trimmings around cakes are considered dated. I wanted a glossy shiny finish to the cake, but was afraid to try new chocolate icing recipes because I find chocolate temperamental to work with. Okay, the truth is I haven't much experience with working with chocolate. I couldn't even make chocolate curls, upto that point. After making this cake, I not only can make choc curls but choc fans too. And it's so easy. Just buy a flat block of choc converture and slice a thin layer with a cheese slicer, then gather one side to make a fan. Freeze it quickly before it melts.

In the end, I stuck with chocolate ganache. The sides of my cake were not level, so ganache of pouring consistency would just show up the uneveness. I chilled the ganache until it was firm and then whipped it for a stiffer anf fluffier frosting. However, the color of the ganache turned from dark brown to a medium brown but that was okay. For the top of the cake, I preferred a shiny look so I added some butter to the hot ganache and when it cooled, poured it over the top of the cake. It still wasn't as shiny as I wanted. Any suggestions?

The cake was a huge hit at the dinner. I was embarassed at myself for kicking up a fuss about them wanting such a dated cake (I wanted a green tea or opera cake) but I have to eat my words: classics never go out of style because they are just too good. The cake took me nearly a whole day to make because the first chocolate sponge I made was a disaster--the bolt fixing the whisk attachment on my 20 year-old Kenwood Major came loose and I had to whisk the 12 egg whites by hand, which was impossible. I am a person who finds it hard to even switch to Astro so fixing the bolt was not an option. The cake came out flat and heavy. I called a friend who's handy with everything and he fixed the machine in time for me to bake another sponge. Seems like everytime I bake, some dramatic incident happens.

The recipe below was from Mrs (Fat) Liew (there was another teacher, 'Thin Liew'), the most popular cake baking teacher in KK years ago. I made 1 1/2 recipe and there was enough to generously feed 24 people.


The choc sponge was very light and moist, and not too sweet.

Black Forest Gateaux
'A' Ingredients:
8 oz Softasilk flour (or cake flour)
1 T double action baking powder
4 T cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
3 oz caster sugar
4 oz corn oil
8 large egg yolks
6 oz water/milk
1 T choc emulco (optional)

'B' Ingredients:
8 large egg whites
1 t cream of tartar
3 oz sugar

Icing/Frosting:
Fresh cream (dairy or veg-based)
choc ganache (optional)
choc shavings or curls
1 large can black cherries
maraschino cherries (red cherries with stems)
3 T Bols Kirsch ( a cherry liquor, available in cake shops)

1. Preheat oven at 170 C. Get a 10" or 11" round cake tin. No need to grease. Sift cake flour and baking powder together.

2. Mix 'A' ingredients together with a hand whisk until smooth.

3. Beat 'B' ingredients with an electric mixer (best results if you use a stand mixer) until whites are stiff.

4. Pour 'A' into 'B' and mix well quickly (I was taught to use my hand to mix) and pour into the cake tin. Bake 1 hour. Test with a wooden skewer--if skewer comes out clean, cake is done. Cool by turning cake upside down over a cake board so that it doesn't sit on its weight.

5. Slice cooled cake into 3 layers. Put one layer on the cake board, sprinkle with 1 T Bols Kirsch and another T of the chery syrup. Spread whipped cream over the cake and scatter black cherries over it. Continue layering the cake until all 3 layers are assembled.

6. Now you can choose to cover the entire cake with whipped cream or choc ganache. Traditionally, black forest gateaux is covered with whipped cream, decorated with choc shavings and cream rosettes with maraschino cherries on top.

Choc Ganache
9 oz semi-sweet chocolate, in small bits
1 cup heavy(dairy) cream
1 T rum (optional)

1. Put the choc into a bowl. Heat the cream up over a pot of boiling water until it almost begins to boil. Pour the hot cream into the choc and let sit for 2 minutes.

2. Stir the cream-choc mixture with a spoon. If there are still choc bits, put the whole bowl back into the pot of boiling/hot water and stir until all the choc melts. Let ganache cool.

3. If you want a stiffer fluffier ganache, chill it in the freezer until it is thick and nearly firm, then whisk it with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Note: if you aren't good at making sponges, substitute the cake flour and baking powder with 6 oz Optima flour and 4 oz plain flour, remove all sugar because Optima flour is already blended with all the leavening agents and sugar. When you whisk the egg whites, use only 2 oz instead of 3 oz sugar.

Golden Inside-Out Tofu Boks

Deep-fried inside-out tofu boks

This is the third time I've cooked fried tofu boks in the last few months. Each time, the pictures didn't turn out good so I didn't do a post on them. The boks look dry and boring. They also look like Critters eggs, perfect for Halloween. But these boks are absolutely delicious despite their looks. Wey and Yi loved them and insisted I post this recipe. So do not judge a recipe by its looks but try this out yourself. The boks can be served as a snack or finger food.

Tofu boks are fried spongy tofu balls which are hollow inside. The boks are added to stews and soups, but very often are stuffed with a meat filling and simmered in stock. An unusual way of stuffing the boks is turning them inside out and filling the pockets with meat before deep-frying them. The result is super crunchy fragrant boks with springy meat stuffing, guaranteed to keep a man from straying (to the restaurants, what were you thinking?) especially if you allow him a free flow of beer to go with the boks. Seriously, these fried boks are really that good. In my house, we never get to eat these golden boks at meal times because they never make it to the table. Serve them with a creamy dip, such as mayo or tomato or chili ketchup or English mustard (use vinegar to blend the mustard flour) or honey dijon mustard and before you know it, the whole plate'll be gone. And guys, don't wait for your princess gfs to cook these boks for you. This is a super easy dish to cook and I expect all you guys out there to cook it and report back to me. If she won't eat them ("Too oily!") or doesn't like them ("Too oily!"), reconsider your relationship. You don't want to spend the rest of your life eating steamed asparagus with the princess.

Turn the boks inside out, stuff the pockets with meat mince and seal or cover the meat with the tofu flaps.


These are tofu boks before they are turned inside out. When I ran out of boks, Yi bought rectangular boks instead of the square ones but when cut into half they were just as good, except the meat will be more exposed. Choose thick, meaty boks.

Inside-Out Tofu Boks
400g ground pork*
about 25 square tofu boks
1 T cornflour (if using home mince)
a few shakes of white pepper
a smidgen or good pinch of salt (not too much if you use bought ground pork)
oil to fry

*Best to mix half home-ground pork (use machine for finer texture) and bought ready-ground pork to get a springy bite and smooth texture. If you use 100% home mince pork, the filling will taste too coarse and dry unless you leave enough pork fat in when you mince the meat. You'll also need to turn and twirl the meat around until it reaches a springy consistency, so that the cooked meat will give a nice bite. Sure you can use bought mince only but that not only has more fat, it costs twice as much as home mince. If concerned about the pork fat, use fish paste wholly (for a different taste) or mix with minced lean pork.

1. Mix the pork/meat with cornflour, salt and pepper.

2. Do not wash the boks. Make a break on the bok with your thumb and turn it inside out. Fill the pocket with about 1/2 to 3/4 T meat filling. Don't overstuff the bok because it will take too long to cook.

3. Heat about 4 to 5 cups of oil (if the oil is enough to cover the whole bok, it will turn out more spiky, which is nice. I always scrimp so my boks turn out flattened) and deep-fry the boks in medium-hot heat until golden brown and firm. Takes about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

4. Serve hot with a sweet chili sauce, or mayo or English mustard or a honey dijon mustard sauce.

Bacon Fried Rice

Wey's bacon fried rice. The rice here is too broken up and soft because it was leftover rice from a restaurant.

I've been requested to post some simple recipes that don't need much preparation or ingredients. Now that most kids are done with their exams and are nearly into their year-end holiday (the longest school holiday period in Malaysia begins in mid-November to early January), here's a recipe for a bowl of fried rice you kids can cook for your tired long-suffering mother. Or, in Wey's case, for himself whenever he's hungry. His sister brought home 2 kgs of beautiful Australian bacon (we get Danish bacon here, but I don't like them because they are very salty, cut too thin, and are frozen--in contrast to the thick-cut, lightly salted, very fresh and very long strips of Australian middle bacon) and I ration the amount of this preserved meat (all that nitrite) Wey eats so he has found that the best way to eat one rasher of bacon is to cut it up and fry it with rice. And I can tell you bacon fried rice is truly one of the yummiest and satisfying things to eat.

For good fried rice, you must start with cooked, overnight (chilled) rice. Freshly cooked rice will be too wet and will result in clumpy, starchy fried rice. Years ago, my friend Meng gave me a great tip (from her chef friend) on getting overnight rice separated into individual grains: put the hard, overnight rice into a colander and quickly run some water over while using your hands to crush or break up the grains--they will separate easily. Let rice drain well. This is how those restaurants are able to fry huge amounts of rice, say for wedding banquets, perfectly without any tasteless clumps. However, this must be done at least 1 hour or more before you intend to fry the rice because after running the water through the rice, it gets soaked. If you are in a hurry and are only going to fry a small amount of rice, you can skip this step but break the rice up first with your wet hands as much as possible. Because you need high heat to fry a good plate of rice, you don't want to struggle with breaking up your rice during the frying time or some of the rice will burn.

My Shanghainese MIL likes to fry the eggs first, cutting the fried omelette up with her frying ladle after the egg has set, remove them to a plate and then fry the rice. This way, you get to see and bite the egg bits. I grew up eating Cantonese fried rice, and I (and The Sniffer) think it's the best (I get to have the last say since MIL doesn't read this blog). For Cantonese fried rice, the egg is added to the rice as you fry, so that you don't get obvious pieces of egg but instead each grain of rice is coated (and flavored) with egg. Sometimes I combine both methods.

To add soy sauce or not is really a matter of your taste and what you are used to. Fried rice served in restaurants are spiked with msg, which gives the rice a savory sweet taste. You can omit the msg, but your fried rice will never taste like the restaurants'. To give home fried rice some extra taste, it isn't against the rules to add a dash of soy sauce, especially Maggi soy sauce which is tasty and flavorful. I suspect it has msg too.

Lastly, you must have strong heat/fire (you still have to adjust the heat depending on its level) when frying rice. If you can't turn the heat up too high, I suggest you fry in small batches so that the heat is kept to the max.



Bacon Fried Rice
1 rasher middle bacon (a whole streaky and lean strip), cut into small 1.5 cm squares
2 cups cooked overnight rice (treated as stated above)
1 t finely chopped garlic (optional but yum)
1 egg
1/8 t (or to taste) salt
a few shakes of white pepper
a dash of Maggi soy sauce (optional but yum)
some finely sliced spring onions
1 T oil

1. Heat up a wok or frying pan, add the oil and the garlic if using. Stir for a couple of seconds (heat on high), lower the heat and add the bacon. If you like your bacon more fried, add it before the garlic.

2. When bacon fat is transparent, add the rice. Stir and turn the rice quickly, sprinkle the salt. and pepper and the soy sauce.

3. Keep frying to mix everything up, braking up any clumps. Now crack the egg into the rice (or you can whip it up with a fork first; I don't bother), and use your ladle to break up the yolk, shoving and mixing the egg into the rice to coat. Continue frying (you can lower the heat to medium now) until the egg dries up, throw in the spring onions, mix well, and dish into a bowl.

p.s. Fried rice in Mandarin is chow fun ("fun" as in having fun, but in rising intonation), but that in Cantonese means fried noodles although the fun is pronounced "fen" with a falling intonation. Generally chow fan is the more accepted term for fried rice, and that's in Cantonese, but the fan is not pronounced as in "ceiling fan" but "fun" with a falling intonation. Are you as confused as me?

Cempedak Fritters

Cempedak fritters: sweet, creamy, strongly flavored with soft and stringy texture

Lucy (a new cell member, so there's advantage to leading CG) just gave me 2 "very special, the best" cempedaks ("jumpulut" to the Chinese). Lucy was right. These are the best cempedaks I have ever ever eaten. The regular cempedaks have yellow, pulpy edible mesocarps (let's call these compound seeds) inside but these ones had deep orange 'pulps' that were very sweet and full of cempedak flavor. Each compound pulpy seed was twice the size of regular cempedak pulpy seed, so that in one 2 kg fruit, I could only get 15 compound seeds. Cempedaks belong to the same Moraceae family as the decorative pot of fig (ficus) in your living room. Many of our fruits in Borneo belong to this family, including the tarap and the nangka (jackfruit).


The bulging cempedak placed on 12"/30 cm tiles.


My daughter said that cutting this open was like performing an operation.


Inside the tough outer 'shell' are pulpy seeds slightly bigger than golf balls. The usual cempedak color is light yellow, but the new breed of cempedak is deep orange, large, creamy, highly scented and sweet.

It just occurred to me that tropical fruits, being compound fruits, are BIG. Maybe God made them big because he knew people in the tropics love to share their fruits; all those who eat durians will attest to the fact that even though they love their durians to death, it's best eaten with at least one other person. Unlike an apple or a strawberry which you can gobble on your own, our jackfruits (that's probably the world's biggest fruit?), tarap, durians, cempedak, coconuts, soursop etc are too big to be eaten alone.

I just love tropical fruits. While I think berries are pretty, and peaches are delightful, I would pass them over for a good mango or pineapple or mangosteen or rambutans or langsat or tarap or guava or chiku or longans or lychees...Tropical fruits have intense, exotic flavors that are distinct and exciting. Other than being naturally flavorful, tropical fruits have stronger taste and scent because in KK they are usually grown in backyards and small orchards, not on large farms as most temperate fruits are. Because of that, supply is limited and so the prices of tropical fruits are surprisingly high. For example, durians are now RM10 to RM16 per kg, mangosteen RM10 per kg. These cempedaks would be quite costly in the city (much cheaper in kampungs/village) but my friend got them for RM5 each because they were grown by her friend.

If you have been away from home, or if you intend to visit Borneo, come in October for 2 reasons: the local fruits season and the rainy season when temperatures are in the mid to low 20s. Okay, maybe rain isn't so good if you are a tourist, but seriously, get here during fruits season (there's a short fruits season in July but it's hot then) and check out the fruits at one of the tamus or meeting markets.

Back to my cempedak. We ate one au natural and fried the other. It is common to batter and deep-fry cempedak compound seeds whole, that is the pulply mesocarp with the hard seed inside. The seed can be eaten. Tastes nutty. I like to use rice flour batter because it gives a hard crisp that stays longer than plain flour. No sugar is necessary. I would suggest you also make a pot of local black coffee, no sugar. Sit back and let those thighs s=t=r=e=t=c=h as you eat these yummy, creamy, aromatic golden fritters with your coffee.


Oil your knife before (and after) cutting the cempedak because the center stem has sticky white sap. Use plastic bags as gloves to keep your hands free of the sticky sap which can only be removed with lots of oil.

Remember to place cempedak on old newspapers (with the appropriate news) so the sap doesn't mess up your work surface.

Cempedak Fritters
compound fruits of one cempedak, hard seed intact*
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup (+ 2 T) water
large pinch of salt
oil to fry

*If the pulpy seed/fruit is big, cut it into half and fry each one separately so that the seed will cook.
1. Mix the rice flour, water and salt until smooth. The batter should be thick like heavy whipping cream.

2. Heat up 5 cups of oil until a drop of batter dropped in immediately rises to the surface of the oil. Lower the heat to medium. Drop a pulpy seed into the batter, drop the battered cempedak into the hot oil. Repeat with another 3 to 4 seeds, reduce heat to low. Do not fry too much at one time. It takes quite a while-about 3 to 4 minutes-to get the cempedak to cook through.

3. Remove onto paper towels when golden. Eat when hot.