Moomy and Her Newfound Friends!

Starting our life anew in a different city, different country is always an adventure. There’s excitement, anxiety and at times, bloody scary too.

And me being me, I would always do some kind of research on where we are headed so that I don’t jump in with both feet not knowing how deep the water may be.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. One has just got to be flexible enough to work around any unforeseen circumstances that might come their way.

It’s been almost ten months since our move here and we were lucky to come across some very nice people – Mark & Krista, the couple who owned the vacation rental where we had first stayed when we first got here; Cindy & Mark, our current landlords; and John & Sharen, our next door neighbors.

In their own way, each couple had made our move back to the States/settling in a whole lot easier. We have been very lucky to cross paths with such wonderful people – thank you, guys! You don’t know how much we appreciate what you’ve done for us :D:D:D

And if there’s anything I’ve learnt about being far away from loved ones in SG, that would be the power of communication!

Technology and the wonders of smartphones and their apps have made it a lot easier for us to keep in touch with our family and friends. I use WhatsApp and Viber for their free texting services. For free long distance calls, Viber made it sound as though the person I’m talking to is in the same city as me!

And let’s not forget the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Keeping in touch is as easy as taking a picture and then uploading it onto Twitter or IG with a short catchy phrase … voila! Your friends are able to see what you’re up to in your new environment!

But sometimes, apart from your sweet neighbors and landlords, everybody needs a new friend in their new environment. One of my BFFs’ sister, Lina, lives in the States too with her husband and 4 gorgeous kids but they are in Houston, TX. That is sooooooo far from where we are.

It’s frustrating … to know that there’s a family friend nearby but not close enough. But what can we do? Its not like either of us can easily travel to visit each other.

So imagine my excitement when Marlina & Eric found us through Rantauan, a Facebook group for Malay expats all over the world.

Marl & Eric is a mixed couple, just like me and my darling hubby. Marl has been here in the States for 10 years now. We exchanged messages back and forth for a few weeks – I was super-stoked to found a Malay friend near me. Anyway, both our schedules finally cleared and we invited them over for a late lunch this past Saturday :D

As with most gatherings, food is often usually the one thing that brings people together. Let's face it: a gathering without food is simply a boring old meeting hehehe

I didn’t know what to cook – should I make something Asian? Something Western? Lots of dishes popped to mind – from meatloaf to turkey (yes, a whole fat turkey! I didn’t know what I was thinking! *shakes head*) to pot roast to seafood chowder … I changed my mind so many times and bugged my darling hubby for suggestions until he pointed out that simple finger food works best because we are going to be chatting most of the time so …

And as usual, Mr. O'Bayley was spot-on! So this was what I came up with: 

Fried Bihun (rice vermicelli) - this is such a typical dish at any gatherings in SG! And it goes well with just about any finger food!

Epok-epok Sayur - deep-fried pastry with a vegetable filling. It's like those Spanish empanada; these epok-epoks are also known as curry puffs and they're good any time of the day!

Chicken Karaage - there's nothing like crispy Japanese-style fried chicken to go with those fried noodles! Yum yum! 

and Devilled Eggs! Just because!! :D:D:D

Let me share with you how I made these Epok-Epok Sayur/Vegetable Curry Puffs (don't worry! There isn't anything curry-ish in the filling :D:D:D)

The Pastry

In a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of margarine, 1 tablespoon of ghee and 40ml of vegetable oil. Pop the bowl into the microwave and nuke them enough that the soft margarine and ghee has melted enough so you can stir them together into a warm mixture. Set this bowl aside.

Measure out 200ml of hot water in a measuring cup and set this aside.

Into a big bowl, add 3 and a half cups of all purpose flour and half a teaspoon of salt. Stir to combine the two ingredients together.

Slowly add the warmed fats into the flour mixture; get your clean hands into the mixture to incorporate everything together. 

Very carefully, add a little bit of hot water into the mixture. Knead to combine the dough together until it is soft and no longer sticking to the bowl. It is OK if you did not use all of the water.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. 

The Vegetable Filling

If you've ever been to SG, you would know that there are many types of curry puffs. There are meat curry puffs, vegetarian options and even ones filled with sardines!! 

My dear mum used to make hers with bean sprouts and little cubed tofus. Absolutely delicious!! This is how I made my filling:

Growing up, I always helped my late grandma in the kitchen. 

My task was ALWAYS to clean those bean sprouts!

I used 3/4 of a packet of firm tofu and cut it into small cubes. Using paper towels, I dried these cubes as best as I could and then fried them gently in hot oil, long enough so you'll get that nice golden yellow color and quick enough so the tofu will still be soft on the inside. Set these aside.

I found that bean sprouts are not quite readily available here in the States. Or perhaps it just wasn't my luck ...? When we shopped for groceries for this gathering, I couldn't find bean sprouts at Freddy's but my darling hubby stopped by Safeway and woohoo!! They have bean sprouts!! 

I love bean sprouts in my vegetable puffs. To not have bean sprouts in it will be like Thanksgiving Dinner without a turkey. Or to start the morning without a cup of hot tea. Hehehehe

Anyhoo!! I used a whole packet (about 8oz) of bean sprouts. I cleaned these sprouts by pinching off their tails so I have good-looking sprouts to eat. Give these sprouts a good rinse, drain any excess water and set them aside.

I discovered that mixing these carrots and cabbage 

together with the bean sprouts and diced fried tofu

made a beautiful filling for the vegetable puffs. 

I forgot that I had some chives in the fridge too, so next time

round, I can add chives into the mixture for some spots of bright green!

I skinned 2 carrots and cut them into fine matchsticks. Set these aside.

I also used about half a cabbage; I sliced them pretty finely and set it aside together with the carrots and other veg.

Now you need the Aromatics to flavor this vegetable filling. I used a small handful of dried shrimps (you can get these from your local Asian supermarket): soak these shrimps in a cup of hot water. 

While those shrimps soak in the hot water, dice half an onion and finely mince 3-4 cloves of garlic.

Once the shrimps have softened, I scooped out the shrimps and gave them a pounding in my trusty ol' pestle and mortar. Mix these mushed up shrimps with the diced onion and minced garlic.

From left to right: 

The packet of dried shrimps I always use (I got these from Fubonn);

Pounding those softened shrimps in my good ol' stone pestle & mortar!;

The smell of dried shrimp + onion + minced garlic is quite delicious, I tell you!

Heat up a good glug of vegetable oil in your frying pan/wok, over medium-high heat. Once the oil is ready, saute the mixture of shrimps + onion + garlic till the mixture is fragrant. Add handfuls of the sliced cabbage and finely julienned carrots into the wok; stir to combine the mixture thoroughly.

Add 2 generous teaspoons of oyster sauce into the mixture; stir again. Once the cabbage and carrots have softened, add the bean sprouts and fried tofu cubes. Stir the mixture; taste and season with white pepper and salt (if necessary). Pour this beautiful veggie mixture into a colander (place a plate underneath the colander) and let it cool.

As the filling cools, juice/gravy from the fried vegetables will seep through the colander. You'll need the filling for this puffs to be free from liquid because you wouldn't want your puffs to pop in the hot oil as you fry them later.

Now isn't that a beautiful mixture of vegetables ...

Assembling The Vegetable Puffs
I divide the dough into 2 portions. Take 1 of the portion and roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a floured surface. You don't want your dough to be too thick (when you fry these, a thick dough might remain uncooked inside while the outside is burnt to a crisp - not yummy!) or too thin (if your pastry's wafer thin, chances are your parcels of vegetable puffs will split on the surface and then when you fry 'em, the vegetable filling will spill into the hot oil and you get burnt filling floating on your oil and basically an empty puff - defo not yummy!)

There aren't any round cutters in my kitchen but that

did not bother me one bit. A good sturdy drinking glass

with a perfect circular rim worked just as well :D:D:D

I used a huge round drinking glass to cut the rolled out dough into circles (about 3 and a 1/4 inch in diameter). And with each circle, I used the rolling pin to further press the circle wider so you get a slightly bigger circle to work with.

Add a generous forkful of filling into the center of the circle. Fold the dough into half and working from left to right, gently press the edges of the dough together to seal the filling inside the puff. You might have to tuck in any stray vegetables or pull out some if the dough seems too 'tight'.

Remember: First you seal the edges together from left to right

by pressing both edges together. 

Then you start crimping the edges to make it more ... pretty. Work from right to left.

But if you can't be bothered to do that, use the tines of a fork

and press it against the edges of the puff. That will work too :D

The traditional epok-epok has a pretty curly-wurly twisted edges. When fried, the braided edges made for a very crunchy bite! I am not good with pinching the edges together (my dear mum used to tell me that I'm doing it backwards! I didn't understand what she said LOL!) but to me, it's pretty enough so here's how:

Working from the right, pinch the dough outwards using your thumb and index finger. As you pinch it outwards, use your thumb pad to fold the dough over. And as the dough folded over, move your thumb a wee bit upwards and repeat the technique - pinch outwards + fold over, scoot up a bit, pinch outwards + fold over, scoot up a bit - until you've worked your way through the entire semi-circle.

I felt pretty accomplished the minute this tray

was filled up. The puffs looked pretty, huh?

Pretty lil puffs, huh? Place these on a parchment paper-lined tray while you work on the rest of the circles. I got approximately 2 trays of vegetable puffs from the above recipe (about 40 puffs).

You shouldn't let the puffs sit in the open so what I did was cover these puffs with a double layer of dampened paper towels. The damp paper towels will prevent the dough from cracking.

I used my deep frying work to fry these puffs: I poured enough oil to cover the bottom of the wok and 1 side of those puffs. Let the oil heat up over medium-high heat and fry a few puffs at one time. Overcrowding the wok will just bring the oil temperature down and then you won't get that nice golden brown color that you need.

The puffs will only take a couple of minutes on each side, tops. Once they're nice and golden, transfer these babies onto a plate lined with a paper towel.

This chilli sauce is pretty versatile. 

Drizzle them over your fried vegetable puffs

or dunk your puffs into a small bowl of sauce ... 

You're most welcome! *winks*

The vegetable puffs are good on its own, but taste even better with sweet chili sauce! Try to look for Lingham's Premium Hot Sauce at your local Asian supermarket (we got ours at Fubonn Supermarket!). Don't worry, Lingham's is not as spicy as Sriracha. 

And if you can't find Lingham's, the next best alternative is Tower Mas Gold's Original Chilli Sauce. It tastes just as good as Lingham's. We usually grab these by the bottles each time we go to Fubonn to stock up. They are good on burgers, french fries and when drizzled over scrambled eggs, o boy it gave the good ol' breakfast dish quite the zazzy taste.

 The spread I had prepared for our newfound friends, from left to right:

Fried Bihun (stir-fried rice vermicelli with squid rings, cabbage, carrot and chives),

Chicken Karaage (crispy Japanese-style fried chicken), and

Epok-Epok Sayur!

I forgot to take a picture of them Devilled Eggs - oopsy!

 Those veg puffs are hard to resist! Even lil Aidan enjoyed them!

We made enough to have leftovers the next day. So yummy! :D:D:D

Shame I had forgotten to take a picture with our guests because we were just busy chatting away that afternoon hehehe but there you go, my dear reader. There's nothing like a good home-cooked meal to welcome new friends into your life :D

Here's to a beautiful friendship, Marl & Eric!! :D:D:D