Recipes

 As we travel we've come across some great recipes which we've collected in the hopes of giving them a go when we return:

Brazil

Acarajé (Bahia)

We had this bit of street food on an evening out in Lencois, Bahia. It was a kind of bean bun with stuff in it.

http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/appetizersfirstcourses/r/acaraje.htm

Brazilian beans (Bruno Ferreira, Camaçari)

You can't go to Brazil without experiencing beans

• separate the beans  (remove the old beans and pieces of stuff into it like small stones)
  
• put the beans with water in a bowl for a few minutes to see if any of the beans are coming up and remove those ones that have a hole or look like had a bug. If you leave the beans soaking for about 20 minutes it`ll  be easy to cook or you can just boil it in a pressure cooker for about 30 minutes if you don't have a pressure cooker it'll take a lot more time to cook so cook for as long as you need.
  
• Then after cooking the beans you're ready do make the seasoning.
  
• Fry the onions, pepper, coriander, garlic, and in another pan fry a few pices of salt meat to put into the beans. After you've fried everything put all those things in the same pan and add some tomato sauce. The salt depends how much salt you like you can also use stock cube to give more flavour.

Bruno's Passionfruit Mousse

To make the mousse you need:

365ml cream
365ml condense milk
3 1/2 passion fruit

First you need to remove the seeds of the passion fruit. You can do it using a sieve to help you and like heating the passion fruit in a pan make ease for me but I don’t know how you would like to do it.
When you finely manage to remove the seeds of the passion fruit put the cream, condense milk and the passion fruit pulp in the blender. Blend everything and put it into a bowl and leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

Obs.: It tastes better the next day. But you can eat it after it is really solid if you want to have it the same day.
You can use more passion fruit if you want but remember that the flavour will be stronger.
The half passion fruit left you can use to put on the top of the mousse to make look nice.

Bruno's Avocado juice

To make the avocado smoothie you need:
1 big avocado
600ml of milk
3 to 4 spoon of sugar

Put everything in the blender and blend it.

Obs.: I like it more solid, so I use more than one avocado to make the smoothie. Kat does like it too solid. You need to decide how you want the smoothie.   

Peru 

Peruvian BBQ Meat Elixir (Juan Carlos, Cusco, Peru)

• Oil - 1 cup
  
• Vinegar - 4/5 tsps
  
• Garlic - lots
  
• Soy Sauce - 1/2 cup
  
• Black Pepper
  
• Salt
  
• Oregano - handfull
  
• Water - 1 cup
  

Mix together and spread over meat before BBqing

Ceviche (Susan Reed, Cusco, Peru)

A really good raw fish dish that's iconic to Peruvian cooking

• White fish (mahi mahi) cut into chunks
  
• Red Onions
  
• Chillis
  
• Limes
  
• Corriander
  
• Black Pepper (lots)
  
• Monosodium Glutimate (lots)
  
• Evaporated Milk
  
• Garlic paste (garlic with a little water) - two big spoons
  

Mix fish and onion together with lime and add flavours, adding milk last. Eat immediately.

Chilcano (Susan Reed, Cusco, Peru)

A soup made from the bones of the ceviche fish.

Boil unused fish from Ceviche and strain. Keep liquid. Heat oil, garlic and red chilli paste in another pan and add a diced onion. Add whatever you want (fish, potatoes etc).

Pastel De Papa (Maru Delgado, Arequipa, Peru)

A Peruvian potato dish

Peel Potatoes and slice thinly.  Beat together evaporated milk, eggs (beaten), salt, pepper
and Slice cheese (nearest feta).  Oil/butter a casserole dish and layer tatties/cheese/tatties/cheese etc. and add liquid.  Bake in the oven for approx 1h (medium temp).  If you live, you can beat an egg white and spread over the top for a souffe - like dish.

Ocopa (Maru Delgado, Arequipa, Peru)

A sauce that goes really nicely with the potato dish, and a whole load of other things too.

Fry onion, garlic + long yellow chilli and add salt and pepper.  Blend with a little milk,  cheese, soda crackers and peanuts.  Make sure garlic + onion is well cooked.

Cuba

Camarones Enchilados (Maria, Trinidad, Cuba)

A shrimp dish which we had with salad, rice and beans. It's shrimps in a red-coloured sauce.

Fry garlic, onion, small sweet chilli, and add a cap full of sherry, oil, tomatoe puree and a lime.  Marinade shrimps that have been cleaned and salted in this mixture for 10-15 minutes.  Pan-fry onion, garlic and another sweet chilli, sherry and tomatoe and add marinaded shrimps and simmer for ~10 min.

USA

Jennell's Swedish Ham (Jennell Harris, Burlington, North Carolina)


This was a beautiful way of curing meat that we have to try when we get home. Fantastic for sandwiches with a really vinegary pickle.


Put a frozen pork loin in the oven at 175 degrees F for 12 hours.
Make sauce: 2 cups of water, 2 tblsp sugar, 1 cup salt (Kosher, ie. not iodised), seasoning eg. smoked paprika, garlic, creole (whatever you want to flavour it with, basically) - boil for 10 mins to dissolve.

When the pork is cooked, put it in a loaf tin and roll in the sauce for 4 hours, drain, and wrap in foil. Refridgerate and slice thinly when you want to use it! 

Crabcakes (Jennell Harris, Burlington, North Carolina)

Catch about 8 crabs (using fisheads in a crab pot),  Heat water with vinegar and put crabs in while boiling.  Boil until pink and simmer for 10 minutes, cool and remove the white meat from inside (not the brown meat from the claws).  Mix together 1 egg, 1 piece of bread (in crumbs), 1 tbsp mayo, a finely chopped onion, a finely chopped red bell pepper and a shake of baking powder.  add crab meat last so as not to break it up.  Mix all ingredients together and make a patty.  Leave it in the fridge to solidify and fry on each side until crispy.  Option - roll in penko breadcrumbs and spray with oil to oven bake.

Shrimps (Jennell Harris, Burlington, North Carolina)

Pick off skins and save with heads for stock (boil for a few minutes and use for Gumbo!).  Roll shrimps in seasoning (salt, celery seed, red pepper, mustard, black pepper, paprika).  Saute in olive oil.

Clam Chowder (Jennell Harris, Burlington, North Carolina)

Saute little pieces of salt prok for fat, sweat a cup of chopped onions and add 2/3 teaspoons of celery salt.  Add just enough clam juice + water to make 5 cups.  Cube tatties and add along with thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and cook until tatties are cooked but not falling apart.  Add clams and let cool for next day.  Reheat and add cream, milk  and 1/2 cup white wine.  Cook longer for thickness and crisp up more salt pork to put on top.

Crab Claw Dip (Jennell Harris, Burlington, North Carolina)

Mix cream cheese, seasonings, spring onions and worcestershire sauce with crab claw meat.

Canada

Beef and Lentil Pie (Christine Chesterman, Ottawa, Ontario)

• Mince
  
• 1 can green lentils
  
• Sweetcorn
  
• Onion
  
• Garlic
  
• 1/2 can mushroom soup
  
• rosemary
  
• basil
  
• Salt
  
• Pepper
  
• Potatoes
  
• Spring Onions
  
• Butter
  
• Cheese on top
  

Bread-Making, Miller Style (Alistair Miller, Deep River, Ontario)

I always use a starter, though it’s not essential. Nor is it necessary to leave it overnight – several hours at room temperature will work.

Starter: To 2 cups (450 mL) of slightly warm water add a half teaspoonsful of dried yeast. After about a minute to soften the yeast, add three cups (1 lb) of flour – any sort will do though hard wheat obviously is better and I find at least a small amount of white flour in this is desirable. Cover and leave to rise for at least two hours and preferably overnight.

Then add the main ingredients:

1 more cup of water
½ tblsp. salt
2 tblsp molasses (or 2 sugar)
4 tblsp. cooking oil
1 cup of rolled oats
As much flour as is needed to make a dough that is not sticky – about 3-4 cups
- in all, half the flour being whole wheat will work quite easily. Beyond that proportion, getting a dough that will rise well gets more difficult.

Kneed until the dough develops a satiny feel – at least 10 minutes.

Cover and leave to rise in a warm place – preferably an oven at about 125°F – until it doubles or triples in bulk.

Knock-down dough and kneed briefly, shape either into loaves or rolls – I hand-roll the rolls and half-dip them in white flour – and allow to rise by a factor of three or four.

Bake in a moderate oven – about 360 - 375°F for about 25 to 30 minutes

Optionally can add some or all of the following:
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
2 tblsp. mixed seeds (7-grain, 3-grain, Red River, whatever) – soften with a few ounces of boiling water (easy in a microwave) and let sit for a few minutes (so start this first)
2 tblsp of shelled sunflower seeds and/or pumpkin seeds
1 cup of wheat germ
2 tblsp. ground flax seeds
2 tblsp. sesame seeds
2 tblsp. poppy seeds
1 cup walnuts

Lots of seeds and nuts make rising more difficult.

Jill's Double Chocolate Brownies (Jill Jones, Vernon, BC)


It says on the piece of paper: the temptation is always to cut the brownies too soon, but if you do, they'll completely fall apart and you'll be left with a big brownie mess. Give it patience.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 12-oz packages semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt, and set aside. In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar and water. Bring butter mixture to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and half of the chocolate chips. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly blend in the flour mixture, and then add the remaining package of chocolate chips and the chopped nuts. Pour into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan and bake for 30 to 40 mins, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake; when you test with the toothpick, make sure you are testing the brownie part and not spearing gooey, melted chocolate chips. Let cool at least 2 hours before cutting and serving.


Spaghetti and Meat Balls (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

1 lb. Ground pork
1 lb. Ground beef
1 egg
1 clove garlic chopped
1 slice bread, broken in small pieces
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese

Mix this and make small meat balls about 1 ½ inches across. Brown these in fry pan with a little olive oil.

Sauce:

Mix 1 large can tomatoes
1 can tomato paste (small)
1 bay leaf (broken)
2 Tbsp. Vinegar
2 Tbsp. White sugar
salt & pepper.

Put sauce and browned meat balls into large saucepan and simmer for two hours. Serve hot over spaghetti, the sauce and meatballs can be made up in advance and frozen.

I always make at least a double batch.



Betty's Pastry (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

I pound lard (or shortning if you prefer)
6 cups Cake and Pastry flour
I cup boiling water

Have lard at room temperature, and cut into chunks.  Pour boiling water over lard and let sit for a few minutes.  Use a fork and mash lard and water, or beat with beaters.  Dump in flour and mix until all flour is absorbed.  Roll by hand into a ball and put in a plastic bag and chill for at least an hour in the fridge.  (I make this one day and do the pastry the next. This makes enough pastry for six crusts.  So cut it into six even pieces and use or wrap and freeze.

To bake, roll a piece of pastry (at room temperature) on a floured table or use a pastry cloth, to the required size. I put a little flour on my rolling pin to make this easier.

Cut to required size.


Betty's Butter Tarts (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)


Plain Pastry (shortcrust)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden corn syrup
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup seedless raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Line about 12 medium-size tart pans with pastry.  Beat butter until creamy, gradually beat in sugar and syrup and mix well.  Add egg and beat until light.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Spoon into unbaked tart shells and bake in a very hot oven, 450 F for 8 minutes then reduce heat to moderately hot 375 F and bake for 15 mins longer until filling is set and pastry baked.


Tabbuli  (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

¾ cup burghul, #2 (bulgar wheat)
2 large bunches of parsley (approximately 1qt when finely chopped)
1 cup finely chopped fresh mint or ¼ to 1/3 cup dried mint
½ bunch green onions, with green ends, finely chopped
1 or 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
1 small dried onion, finely chopped
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2-3 tsp salt
pepper to taste
½ to 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup olive oil

Rinse burghul (crushed wheat) drain, then squeeze excess water out. Place in large mixing bowl. First finely chop the parsley then mint, then green onions and the tomatoes. Place vegetables in layers on top of burghul in the order given, leaving dried onions on one-half of the top layer and diced tomatoes on the other.

Add seasonings to the dried onions and mix thoroughly with fingers. Add lemon juice and toss with spoon and fork. Just before serving, add oil and toss thoroughly.

This is eaten by hand by using very tender grape leaves, Romaine lettuce, or head lettuce to pick up tabbuli in bite-size servings.

Note: Tabbuli may be prepared 1-2 hours ahead of time by omitting tomatoes and oil. Just cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Add tomatoes and oil just before serving.

Mihshi Waraq ‘Inab (stuffed grape leaves, Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

55 – 65 grape leaves (3-4") fresh or canned
1 lb lamb shoulder, finely chopped (or lean ground beef)
1 cup uncooked rice
¼ cup lemon juice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse rice in cold water and drain. Add all ingredients, with the exception of lemon juice and leaves. Mix well.

Wilt leaves by rinsing a few at a time in hot water. ( Hot water is kept near the working area.) Drain. Place a heaping teaspoon on edge of the dull side of the leaf. Begin rolling as with jelly roll. After the first roll, fold in ends and continue rolling. This will be about !/2" to 3/4" thick depending on size of leaf.

Place a few leaves in bottom of 2 ½ quart pan to prevent sticking. Arrange rolls in compact rows and barely cover with water. Sprinkle a tbls (I use less) of salt on top of the rolls and place a pottery plate over them to the rolls will remain firm and intact. Cover pan and cook on medium fire 15 minutes. Add lemon juice, lower heat and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Unmold by placing plate over pan and invert. This is especially good with laban (yogurt). Serves 6 – 8.

Note: If stuffed grape leaves are barely covered with water, all water will be absorbed with ready to unmold. Yum!

Kibbi (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

(basic recipe)

2 2/3 cup Burghul # 2 (Bulgher wheat) (add additional ½ cup when using lamb)
1 large onion, grated
2 T salt (I use less)
¼ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
2 lbs. Ground lean lamb or beef (4 cups)

Cover burghul with cold water, soak for 10 minutes. Drain and press between palms of hand to remove excess water. Work onions and spices together with fingers. Knead meat and spices thoroughly; add crushed wheat and continue kneading. Dip hands in ice water while kneading in order to soften Kibbi. ( Ingredients must be kept cold.) Run the kneaded mixture through a meat grinder one to three times for a finer consistency.

Note: When using beef, a ¼ teaspoon of ground sweet basil may be added.

Hashwit al-Kibbi (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

(basic Kibbi stuffing)

¼ cup pine nuts
2 T. butter
½ lb. Ground lamb shoulder
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/8 tsp. Cinnamon
1/8 tsp. Allspice
salt and pepper to taste

Brown pine nuts in butter until golden. Then add meat and sauté for 10-12 minutes. Add chopped onions and spices and cook until onions are limp. Remove from heat.

Kibbi bis-Sayniyyi (Betty Siverns, Vancouver, BC)

(Baked Kibbi)

1 Basic Kibbi Recipe
1 Basic Kibbi Stuffing
½ cup melted butter or margarine

Generously butter a 9 X 12 cake pan. Spread a half inch layer of kibbi on the bottom of the pan (It is easier to take several large balls, pat them flat, place in the pan, piecing kibbi to form an even layer on the bottom of the pan.) Then go over kibbi with hand and smooth evenly. Spread the stuffing evenly over the kibbi layer. Then spread the remaining kibbi mixture on top. (The top layer should be thicker than the bottom.) Use the same method as bottom layer, dipping hands in cold water so kibbi will not stick to the hands. Smooth well.

Score the top layer ½" deep in a diamond shaped design 1" apart. Pour melted butter across top. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes, lower heat to 300 degrees and bake for 20-30 minutes more. It should be golden brown. When serving, cut along diamond shaped wedges.

Serves 8 – 10


USA


Tiny Spanish meatballs in almond sauce (stolen from Gemma's Tapas book in San Jose, California)


2 oz/55g white or brown bread, crusts removed
3 tbsp water
1 lb/450g lean ground pork
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp, chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to garnish
1 egg, beaten
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
flour, for coating
2 tbsp Spanish olive oil
squeeze of lemon juice
crusty bread, to serve

Almond sauce:
2 tbsp Spanish olive oil
1 oz/25g white or brown bread, torn into pieces
4 oz/115g blanched almonds
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 fl oz/150ml dry white wine
salt and pepper
15 fl oz/425ml veg stock

To prepare the meatballs, soak the bread in the water in a bowl for 5 mins. With your handsm squeeze out the water and return the bread to the dried bowl. Add the pork, onion, garlic, parsley, and egg, then season well with grated nutmeg and a little salt and pepper. Knead the ingredients well together to form a smooth mixture.
Spread some flour on a plate. With floured hands, shape the meat mixture into about 30 equal-size ballsm then roll each meatball in flour until coated.
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottom skillet and cook the meatballs, in batches, for 4-5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meatballs from the skillet and set aside.
To make the almond sauce, heat the olive oil in the skillet. Add the bread and the almonds to the skillet and cook gently, stirring frequently, until golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 39 seconds, then pour in the wine and boil for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and let cool slightly.
Transfer the almond mixture to a food processor. Pour in the veg stock and blend the mixture until smooth. Return the sauce to the skillet. Carefully add the cooked meatballs and let simmer for 25 mins, or until tender. Season the sauce with salt and pepper if  necessary.
Transfer the meatballs and almond sauce to a warmed serving dish, add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste, and sprinkle with chopped parsley to garnish. Serve piping hot, with chunks of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

Salmon Log (Gloria Aguiar, San Jose, CA)

1 can salmon

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp chopped onion or onion flakes

1 pkg chopped pecans toasted in the oven

Bunch chopped corriander

Mix all the ingredients except pecans and corriander and refrigerate for at least two hours.  Shape into a log and roll in chopped corriander and toasted pecans.  Serve with craackers.

Japan

Ume-boshi (preserved plums) – Mari Isobe, Nara, Japan

January - Take green plums (they're small and sour and poisonous unless this process is done to them), clean them, dry overnight. Put them in a pot with salt (10% of the plums' weight) and green and red shiso herb (perilla, according to the dictionary) to taste. Leave in a cold dark place until July. Remove from the pot and dry for 3 days and 3 nights (hot and sunny days), keeping the liquid. Return to the pot (with the liquid).

At the January stage you can also add a bit of shochyu (spirit), enough so it doesn't affect the flavour

Used in: to eat plain (v. sour and salty), with rice, with chicken or pork (see recipe below), with gyoza (Chinese dishes).

Good for: a cold (make into a tea), or if tired.

Tonkatsu (bread-crumb fried pork) – Mari Isobe, Nara, Japan

Take pieces of pork and tenderise. Make a paste with the ume-boshi (above) and spread on the pork. Wrap each piece of pork (bite-sized) in a green shiso leaf. Dip this in some beaten egg and then penko bread-crumbs. Shallow fry, and dip in light soy sauce to eat.

Great sauce for green beans (and other cooked veg) – Naoko Koizumi, Hiroshima, Japan

Roast (dry heat in frying pan until they start to pop) and grind sesame seeds, mix with sugar and soy sauce. Mix with cooked beans!

Also tasty – soy sauce diluted with vinegar.

Miso Soup – Naokoo Koizumi, Hiroshima, Japan

-Essentially a broth made with dried things, spring onion, and miso paste (fermented soy beans). You can put anything you wan in it – usually fish-based.

Make a broth with eg. Seaweed (kelp)/dried fishes/katsuo-bushi (flaked bonito fish). Naoko heats kelp in water until it's coming the the boil. Add fish flakes, and sieve a short while after boiling. Don't boil for too long. Take the yellowish stock and add a little salt. Heat again. Add lumps of tofu and spring onion (chopped). Add 1 tbsp miso paste (for 4 people) when broth is boiling (strain it into the stock so that it doesn't go lumpy). Bring off the boil quickly or it loses its flavour.

Variation – after the broth is ready cook in sweet potato/big onion (sweetens soup) – or whatever you have at home! White radish sliced 3mm thick.

Gyoza - Mari Isobe, Nara, Japan


Japanese flour dumplings (in a Chinese style). (Demonstration video to follow). Use papers about 3 inches in diameter. These can have anything you want in them, but these are the ones Mari made.

Pork
Pork mince, onion (diced small), cabbage (diced small), ginger (diced small). Proportions - as you like, with a bias towards the vegetables, and the ginger not too strong. Season with salt and pepper, and mix together well with a drizzle of sesame oil.

Chicken
Chicken mince, cabbage (diced), onion (diced), green shiso (perilla) (diced), about 4 plums-worth of ume-boshi or 3 tsp (in a paste), ginger (diced) - prepare with seasoning and sesame oil as above.

Potato
Mashed potato, salt, pepper, chopped almonds, little chunks of mozzarella. (Mari's own invention). Mix all together except the mozzarella, this goes in when making the dumplings - 1 piece per dumpling.

To make (see video) - place 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of the flour paper. Spread a line of flour/water mixture around one edge to act as glue, and fold and crimp the dumpling. They're fiddly, so make in large quantities. The excess can be frozen (uncooked). They can be deep-fried (potato ones work best this way), otherwise heat oil in a large flat pan with a lid, and place the dumplings on the flat surface. Cover with the lid and cook until brown on the bottom. Then pour a layer of water and replace the lid to steam. The water should not cover the dumplings. Steam until the water has gone, and serve fried-side-up.

Malaysia

Pulut Kuning/ Gulai Ayam (Adida Abdullah, Shah Alam, Malaysia)

Shallotts (blended into a paste with the garlic)

Garlic

Chicken Ribs
Rice
Turmeric
Coconut Milk
Salt
Cucumber(chopped into sticks and de-seeded)
Carrot (chopped into very small sticks)
Chilli (chopped into rounds)
Chilli paste
Rempah Gulai
Rempah Masak
Palm Oil
Tamarind paste
Shrimp Paste
Palm Sugar (100 %)

Fry chilli paste and mix in blended shallotts and onions, Rempah Gulai and Rempah Masak.  Add a little oil
 tamarind paste and shrimp paste before adding tatties and plenty coconut milk.  Keep stirring to avoid lumps and simmer for a while.   Add palm sugar and chicken (not sealed) and simmer more - the aim is to have the chicken and the tatties cooked at the same time.  For the rice, mix the rice with turmeric and coconut milk and cook in your preferred method for cooking rice.  The cucumber, carrot and chillis is mixed with vinegar, salt and sugar (about 1 spoon salt to 4 spoons sugar) to give a pickle as a side dish.


Fried Koay Teow

Preheat a wok over a high and add oil followed by a small amount of crushed garlic and fresh prawns.  Stir fry until the prawns are semi-cooked before adding noodles, a dash of seasoned soy sauce, bean sprouts, eggs and chives.  Cockles are added last and the dish is served when it is medium cooked.  Other vegetables/chillis can be added as well.

Curry Kapitan (Rick Ng, Georgetown, Penang)


This dish is from the Nonya (or Nyonya) style of cooking, which is basically a fusion of Malay and Chinese. Apparently it's a dying art!

For the paste:
ginger (about 2 inches), galangal (about 2 inches), shallots (10 or 15), 3 fresh red chillies, dried red chillies (15 soaked until soft), 3 or 4 cloves garlic, 3 or 4 candle nuts for thickening (it's like a macadamia nut that tastes a bit like tea tree oil), 2 stalks lemongrass (no tops, just yellow root), 1 tsp turmeric. 

For the gravy:
1 large onion (red or white), 300ml coconut milk, handful finely chopped kafir lime leaves, enough chicken pieces (usually on the bone for more flavour), 1 tsp shrimp paste, fried crispy shallots to garnish.

Fry paste in oil until it starts to smell fragrant. Mix in shrimp paste. Add the onions and fry for a while. Add the chicken, followed by coconut milk. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Add the lime leaves towards the end, and more chopped lemongrass if desired. Season with salt and sugar to taste.

Serve with vermicelli (rice) noodles - stir-fry with finely chopped carrots, cabbage, garlic (whatever you fancy), shredded omelette. Mix in soy sauce and oyster sauce to taste.
Eat with pickled veggies (see Adida's recipe) sprinkled with ground up peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.