Fusion Recipes

A peanut filled snack with a crispy exterior crust. These were readily available around Chinese New Year. Traditionally deep fried, this version is oven-baked to reduce preparation time.  Peanut puff molds make the job easy.

One of my favorite Malaysian dishes is Beef Rendang. However, to make an authentic Rendang requires toasted coconut, blending and slowly frying the blended ingredients to a just-so perfection. Though I hope to make an authentic rendang sometime in the near future, my current schedule just doesn't allow for it right now. So I have improvised. Using lndian spice powders (garam masala) and unblended ingredients, I have tried to mimic the amazing fragrant braised goodness of authentic Rendang. Don't be put off by the number of ingredients - once you have them on hand, it's just a matter of placing it in the pot and simmering.  Feel free to substitute Beef with Lamb or Mutton or Pork.  And yes, like the original Rendang, it tastes better the next day.

This curry is one my mom, who is Malaysian Eurasian (of Portuguese descent) taught me to make as a basic chicken curry. My mom tends to cook with tamarind, but I tend to prefer lime or lemon juice to add the tangy flavor to the curry.

This tangy and spicy authentic Eurasian curry comes directly from the Malaysian village of Portuguese Settlement in Malacca. It is bursting with the flavors of lemon grass, coriander, ginger, onions, garlic and vinegar. The perfectly tender potatoes completes the flavor infusion. This dish is usually served during Christmas and special occasions. It can be made with chicken or pork.

Mashed Curry Eggplant is another Indian dish that my family loves.  It works great as a dipping sauce for breads, as a vegetable side or as a filling for quesadilla or roti.  Making it is not as difficult as I thought.  Start the process by baking the whole eggplant in the oven to and start a curry in the pan, then put the two together.  Because of this dish, my husband buys eggplant every chance he gets.

An American Asian fusion dish - perfect for a lunch or snack.

This side is an abbreviated version of the typical vinegar chilli that I used to have in my childhood. It's quick, a little sour and spicy, perfect to spice any noodle dish up.

A favorite amongst locals in Malaysia - A spicy, tangy noodle dish complemented by the sweet taste of shrimp and cabbage and cooled with a cucumber topping. Perfect for lunch or dinner.

A rich curry gravy bursting with the flavors of coconut and lemon grass served over noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, eggs and shredded chicken. A favorite breakfast in Malaysia. It is a hearty meal and we have it for lunch or dinner.

A favorite in my house. This noodle dish is sweet, tangy, spicy and saucy all at once!

Rich flavorful rice topped with spicy shrimp.

Sambal is a thick red spicy paste made of onion, garlic, ginger and red chillies. It makes a good gravy over almost anything - shrimp, fish, eggs, chicken. It is best served over rice. A typical Malaysian fare.

This cake is something that my Eurasian family makes for special occasions. It makes an appearance during weddings and Christmas. Sugee cake, as I remember it, is a very dense pound cake. In this recipe, I've lighten it up with some baking powder to make a less dense form of the cake I remember so fondly. It is best enjoyed warm.

An old hawker favorite - spicy flat rice noodles sauteed to perfection with shrimps, garlic, eggs and soy sauce served with slightly stir-fried, still crispy beansprouts. A favorite street food amongst the locals in Malaysia.

Pineapple tarts are a treat we had every Christmas as a child in Malaysia. It has come to symbolize Christmas for me. Nowadays, I make it for my kids to enjoy. I use 1 inch molds to make the job easy, and the small molds make for crispy bite-sized tarts, gone in 2 bites. Sweet and tart, the pineapple jam can be store bought or home made. Enjoy!

Thick, spicy, zesty onion and garlic based sauce over fried fish.

A hawker favorite - thin egg noodles bathed in spicy seasoning sauce, served with blanched green vegetables, vinegar chilli and ground meat or chinese roasted pork (char sieu) with a side of wonton soup. A favorite local street food amongst locals in Malaysia.

This is a variation of the Malaysian Dry Wonton Noodles. It uses Gochujang as a main ingredient of the noodle. The egg replaces the meat as a quick alternate for protein.

Sambal is a thick red spicy paste made of onion, garlic, ginger and red chillies. It makes a good gravy over almost anything - shrimp, fish, eggs, chicken. It is best served over rice. This is a quick version of a typical Malaysian dish.

In Malaysia, there is a wonderful condiment called "Sambal".  It usually involves a paste of onions, garlic, chilies and if you were lucky, dried shrimp.  While I love the flavors of onions and garlic, making pastes (rempah) is too time-consuming right now for my schedule.  So upon learning how to make Sichuan Chili Oil, I thought that it would taste great with some dried shrimp in it.  So this my quick and dirty version of my beloved Sambal.  Feel free to reduce the amount of oil to 3/4 the amount that it is called for, but I find the extra oil useful when frying something starchy (such as noodles or rice) when more oil is needed.  The flavored oil adds color and flavor to any dish that it is used in.

Chicken Rice is a local hawker favorite. Buttery, slightly sweetened rice simmered to perfection with chicken broth, topped with moist, tender roasted chicken, served with a tangy chilli garlic sauce and cooled with a fresh cucumber side. Makes a meal any time of the day.

One of my Mom's awesome fusion recipe ideas. Here Malaysia's flat bread, roti canai, (also known as roti paratha), becomes rich and even more flavorful with the addition of cheese and chopped chilli peppers. Great for an afternoon snack, or a quick lunch. Thanks Mom!

This is one of my favorite meals, spicy combined with a little sweetness from the shrimp, onions, leeks and cabbage. Makes a perfect breakfast, lunch or dinner.

This recipe is a meat and potato recipe with a dark gravy; usually served over warm steamed rice. What makes this dish diffferent from the other ones I've posted, is the use of taucheo (preserved soybean paste commonly found in Malaysian dishes). Though it looks similar to other dark meat and potato dishes, the soybean paste gives it an additional dimension of flavor. Traditionally made without the chilli peppers, I find that the chilli peppers adds another layer of flavor, but certainly feel free to omit it, if preferred. It is also traditionally made with onion and garlic blended into a paste for use in the dish, but in the interest of time, I have omitted this step. I have found that using chopped onion and garlic doesn't take anything away from the flavors of this dish. This recipe can also be made with chicken.

With oven roasted sweet peppers, zucchini and leeks, this recipe makes a sweet and optionally spicy dip for pita or nacho chips, or a flavorful spread for sandwiches, tortilla wraps or quesadillas. Great for a picnic, a quick lunch or an appetizer.

Sweet, tangy and savory all at once. One of my favorite meals that my aunt makes at her house. This is her signature dish!

Sweet potato is one of my favorite ingredients to make snacks with.  It goes back to my childhood days when I remember eating something called "goreng keladek" (translated from Malay for "fried sweet potato").  My memory tells me it was a thin slice of sweet potato dunked into batter and deep fried.  I also remember something called "kuih kodok", a deep fried battered mashed banana conconction.  For a long time, I had wondered how a mashed sweet potato version would taste.  So in college, I experimented and came up with Sweet Potato Golden Nuggets.  Though the natural sweet potato flavor came through, the texture needed some improvement.  So I experimented with a malasada version of it.  The texture wasn't as crispy as I would have liked in the malasada version.  I made some substitutions to the flour, adding rice flour and switching out the yeast for baking powder. The texture was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and not too hard or soft when cooled; my best version of battered mash sweet potato thus far.  As I do with all my recipes, I will continue to make improvements as I go along, and maybe one day in 30 years, I will have a perfect version of a cross between goreng keledek and kuih kodok.  8)  I will keep you posted.  For now, I hope you enjoy these 2-bite sized sweet potato fritters.

A crispy afternoon snack made with sweet potatoes.