Blissful Happiness

If you have read my previous post, you would know I was awfully late for Christmas, so I promised myself  I must have something up for the Chinese Lunar New Year before it arrives.  The Chinese have this tradition of ushering in the new year with lots of auspicious sounding dishes especially during our reunion dinner.  These dishes come mostly with an ingredient that has an auspicious sounding name. Prawns is one of them, it's Cantonese name "Ha" sounds like HAHAHAHA...when one is happy and in laughter or what we also know as LOL in the modern lingo today :)

All set to put something with the 'hahaha' element on the reunion table, I tried out this prawn dish that I saw in our local daily.   I thought it was a refreshing break from other more common styles like butter, ketchup, pepper etc etc and I always love dishes with a fruity twist.  So, Orange Marmalade Prawns was interesting to me.  Verdict? Me and hubs love it but unfortunately little one didn't really like it.  He prefers butter prawns, I suspect it is because orange marmalade has a slight bittery taste that children might not like.  So, will this dish get a spot on the reunion table?? We shall see...

Next came the task of coining a name for it since the dish and its name is equally important for CNY.  Not superstitious but it is all part of the CNY fun, that's how it is for me at least. It never fails to put a smile in my heart when I come across some auspicious sounding dish, it's all about appreciating the creativity behind it. When I saw my "friend" posted on Facebook that she is "Blissfully Happy", i thought, yes..., isn't happiness the bottom line in life? Ultimately, that's all that matters, isn't it? Only when one is happy can one LOL from the heart, so I thought I would name this dish Blissful Happiness hoping that the "Ha" in the prawns will bring us lots of  happiness (If you are reading, thanks for the inspiration).  So, come roaring in dragon and bring us all Blissful Happiness :)

Will be submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers Event#15:Auspicious Chinese Dishes for CNY (January 2012) by Wen of Wen's Delights

Source : Amy Beh, Kuali.com
Ingredients


(A)

• 500g medium large prawns with shell
•  1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Cornflour
• Oil for deep-frying

(B)

• 1 tbsp chopped cili padi
• 1 orange, shred rind finely
• 1 tbsp chopped ginger

(C) Sauce

• 3 tbsp orange marmalade (jam)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• Thickening 1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water 

Method 

1. Wash prawns and trim the feelers. Season prawns with salt and pepper with a little cornflour.
2. Heat oil and fry prawns till just cooked. Drain and leave aside.  
3. Leave 1 tbsp hot oil in the wok and fry ingredients (B) till aromatic.  
4. Add sauce (C) and bring to a boil.  
5. Return prawns to the wok and fry until sauce coats evenly over the prawns and the gravy is reduced. 
6. Add thickening if required.  (Didnt add any, prefer the dish with some gravy)
7. Dish out and serve.

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Missing Christmas?

Happy New Year! May the year be filled with blessings for all of us.  6 days down, another 360 (yes, we have an extra day this year) to go, so I guess it's still not too late to wish for a blissful 360 days!

With Christmas behind us and Chinese New Year around the corner, I know something christmasy sounds way late, something auspicious to usher in dragon luck would be more timely instead.   But hey,  don't they say better late than never, moreover this is a Christmas after-effect, made possible by a Christmas present from afar.   So, join me as I take you on a little time travel...back to Christmas :)  

These are 2 bakes made some christmasy ingredients i received for christmas, chocolate mint and butterscotch morsels from  NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE.  I also found out that they have quite a bit of products with recommended recipes at their site that looks mouth-watering.  (Hint, hint, if you are reading)  I have never come across locally.  


First up, the Butterscotch Raisin Loaf. All I can say is this was really yummy! The morsels gave the bread a sweet, nice smelling buttery taste.  After getting the bread dough ready, just roll it flat, sprinkle with butterscotch morsels and raisins and roll it up again.  I followed a new tangzhong recipe for the bread dough but I found it wet making it quite a challenge to handle, I will stick to the recipe used for Fruity Braided Bread the next time around.

These chocolate mint cookies were good too, if you are the type who loves the minty flavour.  Little one doesn't, its like eating toothpaste to him :)  But I love them though, i like the refreshing and the slight burning effect.  I merely followed the recipe at the back of the pack, really easy.

Thank you for the nice gift, it was a new experience for me and i enjoyed learning how to use them.

Ok, time to go back in time, I promise it will be something that will bring the dragon roaring in the next time around! 

Have a great year ahead, everyone!

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