Fireworks that we saw from my grandparents’ house
Happy Chinese New Year! I went back to my home town in Batu Pahat, Malaysia last Sunday and returned on Tuesday night. We only go back once or twice a year, so it’s good to see that all my relatives (especially my grandparents) are healthy and well. (:
Chinese New Year is all about reunion, and what’s reunion without food? Every meal (except for breakfast) is practically a feast – we have 10 people, and we polished off 3 whole chickens, 1 whole duck, 1kg++ prawns, 1kg++ pork ribs, 1 huge slab of roasted pork, 3 huge pots of soups, 1 pomfret, 1 red snapper, countless plates of rice and many vegetables over the course of 5 meals (*looks at my waist line in denial*).
All the dishes we ate during Chinese New Year are whipped up by my grandmother, my aunt and my mom (see a pattern? heh) and they are so, so delicious. I’m glad I manage to “steal” some recipes back :p Hopefully I’ll be able to try some of them and share the recipe up here. (:
Abalone galore!
A luxurious dish that we always prepare during Chinese New Year is definitely the cold dish of abalone slices. Abalone is an expensive treat so instead of cooking it (and losing the natural flavour of the abalone), we sliced it and drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce and served it with crunchy cabbage. It is an extremely easy dish to prepare and can be prepared well in advance (:
Before I share the recipe, I would like to thank these people for nominating me these awards (this is my first time receiving an award and I’m so thrilled!)
Versatile Blogger Award and Liebster Blog Award from I Really Take the Cake
Dear Stephanie, thank you so much for nominating me these two awards! I Really Take the Cake is a budding blog that features food, travel and photography. She is really talented – her blog is a bilingual blog and she has all her entries written in German too! And I’m so happy to know a friend who’s from Vienna, Austria – I totally love that place! Do check out her lovely site (:
As part of the Versatile Blogger Award, I need to share 7 things about myself…
1) I am born Malaysian but I came over to Singapore to live and study since I was 2 years old.
2) My maternal grandparents are really awesome cooks. My grandfather owned a zhi char stall a very long time ago (zhi: 煮/cook; char: 炒/fry – zhi char means Chinese home-style dishes cooked to order). My grandfather was the head chef while my aunt was the sous chef. She was in-charged of taking orders from the customers and cutting up the vegetables and meat – thus her knife skills are really superb!
3) My maternal grandmother used to rear chickens for our own consumption – I did witness the process of killing the chickens (I wasn’t traumatized by it, don’t worry) and I used to help her pluck out the chicken feathers.
4) The first section that I will go to in a book store or a library is definitely the cookbooks section – I have quite a huge collection of cookbooks and my most recent was a gift from two dear friends – Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I’m really excited and I can’t wait to try the recipes! Butter!
5) Whenever I go to a supermarket, I will keep a sharp look-out for groceries on discount – and I’ll decide on what to cook / bake based on the food that’s on discount (I cook/bake only on weekends due to my work commitment).
6) I love, love, love baking stores – I can browse the tins, pots, and pans for almost an hour and I often succumb to impulse purchases. Nowadays I try to steer clear of them because the cupboard containing all my baking tins and pans are bursting and I want to save up the money!
7) I love travelling – I just came back from a 42-day Europe trip. My next aim over the next few years is to travel to all the different Asian countries – Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia etc…
Reader Appreciation Awards from Bam’s Kitchen
Dear Bobbi, thank you so much for your nomination! Bobbi is an amazing woman and her kitchen features many delicious and, to quote her, “unique international dishes that even teenagers will enjoy”. I’ve already seen Western, Chinese, Korean and Thai food being featured on her delicious blog! I’ve adapted a recipe from her and it worked perfectly – definitely not a blog to be missed!
Now… to pass on the love! I’m pretty much a silent blogger – I read a lot of blogs but I usually don’t comment on them. Lately, I try to leave comments more often, so giving out these awards are a real joy because the following blogs are a handful of my favourite blogs. I do hope they become your favourite too! (:
Versatile Blogger Award
“Versatile” means the ability to do many things competently (though I don’t think I’m that versatile myself!) I’m not sure of the origin/true meaning of the awards, so I’ve re-defined the award and it’s going to bloggers who blogged about different topics on their blogs or just simply bloggers whom you think are competent! If you’re awarded, do share 7 things about yourself before passing the love on!
4) Min’s Blog
Liebster Award
Liebster is a German word, which means “sweetest”, “kindest” and “dearest” award. It’s given to upcoming bloggers with less than 200 followers to encourage them to blog on! If you’re awarded, do share 7 things about yourself before passing the love on!
1) Vegan Lenna
5) Ovenloven
Reader Appreciation Award
Reader Appreciation Award is an award to thank your readers for their support and love! Give this award to those who have commented the most on your blog (: If you’re awarded, do share 7 things about yourself before passing the love on!
I try not to duplicate recipients given for the awards, so others have a chance to award you again! I’ve also limited to 5 recipients for each award, because I know we all know a lot of common bloggers out there. (: And I think everyone liked to read about some things about you, so I’ve included the sharing of 7 things about oneself to all 3 awards.
It’s definitely not a compulsory award – you can always just accept and admire it!
If you’ve been reading all the way till now… thank you! Here’s the recipe!
Cold Abalone Slices with Sweet and Spicy Sauce (serves ~10)
recipe by my grandparents, no source
Serving size of this dish depends on how many abalone slices do you want to eat, normally we eat about 3 – 5 slices each, so adjust the recipe accordingly! Also, we didn’t really measure the amount of sauce ingredients used, so the sauce ingredients is purely estimation. Adjust the amounts accordingly too!
1/4 of a whole cabbage
2 cans abalone
1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons plum sauce
3 key limes (the really small kinds)
Slice the cabbage very thinly. Place the sliced cabbage in the middle of a large serving plate.
Open the abalone cans. Wash the abalones and pat it dry with kitchen paper towels. (Reserve the juices and add it into soups or noodles for abalone soups or abalone noodles!) Slice the abalones thinly and arrange it around serving plate.
In a small bowl, combine the chili sauce, plum sauce and juices of the key limes. Taste and see if it needs more chili sauce, plum sauce or lime juice.
Drizzle the sauce all over the abalone slices. Refrigerate for at least an hour, up to 3 hours.
Serve chilled.
The brands of Thai chili sauce and plum (prune) sauce we used
I’m submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012) hosted by Wen of Wen’s Delight
Enjoy the rest of the Chinese New Year! Happy baking / cooking! (:
dedy oktavianus pardede says
that huge slab of sliced abalone is adorable!
the thai chili and plum sauce is disgrace the pricey abalone,
light soy sauce is juat perfect for me….
Dedy Oktavianus Pardede says
i love abalone all the way, except sashimi,
kinda weird n chewy..
my fav is braised abalone with sea cucumber, fish maw, mushroom n silkie tofu
Jasline says
Hi Angela, thanks for dropping by and leaving such a sweet comment. I really love the time spent with my grandmother, despite the time was spent plucking chicken feathers… haha. I’m sure you had a great time with your grandmother! 🙂 Have a great week ahead too and take care!
The Charmed Cupcake says
Hi Jasline, I can so relate with you ‘rear chickens’ experience as my grandmother did the same when I was a child and I would help pluck the feathers too.
Just wanted to say I love your blog and I always look forward to new posts.
Wishing you a great week ahead.
Cheers
Angela
Thank You! « Food Is My Life says
[…] shared 7 things about myself in my previous post… and I’ll share more below via the ABC […]
Kreativ Blogger Award – Thank You! « Food Is My Life says
[…] things about myself… I think most interesting facts would have already been mentioned here… so I’m gonna spare you all from reading 7 boring facts about me. […]
liebster blog award | filing away cupcakes says
[…] you so much food is my life, for presenting me with this award. I am sorry it has taken me so long to recognize that I had it. […]
filingawaycupcakes says
Thank you so so much! I am so sorry I didn’t see/understand this. I am going to post it up, right away. Thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me, because I have actually faced some adversity bloging lately. I will put it in my post:]
You’re most welcome! I’m really happy that the award made your day, continue to blog and rock on! (:
Have a great week ahead!
Jasline
Janine says
thanks for the award 🙂 Now i need to figure out how to pass the joy along heh ;p
and some of your qualities are very similar to mine too – i keep an eye for discounted groceries and i spend a really long time in baking shops, to the point that no one wants to go with me when i say i want to visit a baking shop lol.
You’re welcome, Janine. I know right… one can never have enough baking tins and pans! Hahah. Have a great week ahead!
Cheers,
Jasline
Lenna (veganlenna) says
Hi, thanks for tagging me 🙂 You really deserve all those awards!
I had to google what abalone is, never heard of it before 😀
Thank you Lenna, and I’m glad you like the award. I think abalone is a more popular food in Asian countries!
Take care!
Jasline
lena says
hi jasline, you come from a family of chefs!! wow!! thanks for sharing this recipe , i believe this abalone dish must be so nice..guidance from the head chef and the sous chefs! I think we are all cookbook collectors, it’s addictive buying those books, sometimes just by glancing thru the recipes and not making them are already gave me so much satisfaction! Thanks so much for passing the award to me..i’ve already done the 7 things abt myself some time ago but i would be glad to accept this award and display it on my blog. Much much appreciated and thanks for your support given to me too!!
Hi Lena, the dish was delicious! I hope I can make it more often but abalone’s expensive… gotta save it for special occasions! Glad you like the award! Will participate in the next bake-along (:
Cheers!
Jasline
Small Small Baker says
Thanks for the award!! And nice to know more about you. 🙂
You’re welcome SSB, love reading your blog (:
Take care!
Jasline
Wen's Delight says
Lovely starter dish! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Wendy, you’re welcome!
Take care!
Jasline
kitchen flavours says
Congratulations on your awards! And thank you so much for passing one to me! I really appreciate it. It is nice to know more about you! Looks like we both enjoy the same things, from the cookbooks to the supermarket to the baking stores!! And that plate of abalone looks so delicious! I have never tried them with crunchy cabbage before, these really sound delicious! Thanks for sharing, Jasline, have a lovely week!
Thank you Joyce! I’m glad you like the award (: Can’t wait to see more delicious food on your blog! (:
Take care!
Jasline
Zoe says
3 awards! This is amazing! Congratulation!
Thanks for passing one one of your awards to you. I’m very happy to receive this from you. I must thank you too for being very supportive, joining us for our bake-alongs. Very honored and happy to know you as my baking friend!
You’re welcome, Zoe. I’m really happy to be able to participate in your bake-along. Will definitely be joining the next one – I’ve been dying to try baking red velvet cakes!
Take care!
Jasline
Ann@Anncoo Journal says
Thank you very much for the Appreciation award 🙂
Gong Hei Fatt Choy!!
You are welcome Ann! Gong Hei Fatt Choy to you too! Take care!
Cheers,
Jasline
Bam's Kitchen says
Thanks so much for your kind mention. Grandparents are the worlds finest culinary experts and we can learn so much from them. All those yummy recipes passed on by mouth from one generation to another. Chinese New year almost every restaurant here in HK featured abalone and in every market there is the special xoxo sauce to go with it. However, yours is original with the Thai chili sauce and plum sauce.
You’re welcome Bobbi! I agree that grandparents are the best cooks ever, and I have so much more to learn from them. Hope to read more about what’s going on in your kitchen! Take care!
Cheers,
Jasline
Musketnuss says
Thanks so much!
Looking forward to some posts about the Julia Child cookbook. 😉
You’re welcome! I can’t decide on which recipe I should try… hopefully it will be successful so I can post it up! (: Take care!
Cheers, Jasline
sugaredpecan says
Looks wonderful, thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! (: Cheers, Jasline