Mom's Spicy Beef Noodles

This is my mom's beef mee goreng (literally "fried noodles") recipe with my own twist. She used to make this for Xmas dinner along with chicken curry to go with the roast turkey and stuffing. Yes, interesting combination but noodles and chicken curry are absolute holiday requirements in our household. Mashed potatoes with gravy are so boring and over done.

In this dish, thick yellow noodles are fried with red chilies, tomatoes, eggs and bean sprouts; tossed with fork tender chunks of braised beef and chopped fresh coriander leaves and then finished off with a squeeze of lime juice. It's spicy, tangy and satisfyingly beefy, which makes it a great dish for a festive dinner party.

Baked Curry Puffs

Curry Puffs, or "karipap" as they're called in Malaysia, are sort of like Indian samosas or Spanish empanadas but stuffed with a curried meat filling. They're usually fried, but I wanted to make a somewhat healthier and less greasier version by baking them (I really shouldn't be eating these at all since I'm trying to tone down but what the heck). Of course everything tastes better fried, but these baked curry puffs are so light, flaky and buttery that you'll never crave for the fried version.

You can use store-bought puff pastry if you don't feel like making them from scratch, but I find that I get a sense of pride and accomplishment from knowing that I made the food with my bare hands. After hours of sweat in the kitchen, I was finally able to produce a delicious pastry that has just the right amount of flaky goodness. The secret is to create a dough that consists of hundreds of thin layers separated by solid fat (butter, lard, shortening, etc.) and to prevent the fat between the layers from melting by keeping the dough chilled.

Spicy Skate Wrapped in Grilled Banana Leaves (Ikan Panggang)

Just take one bite of this fish and you will experience an explosion of exotic flavors and spices that will transport you to the tropical beaches of Malaysia. You can almost picture yourself sitting under the cool shade of a coconut tree as the ocean breeze gently blows grains of sand on your face...(ok, maybe a little over dramatic)

In Malaysia, this dish is usually prepared with skate, but you can also use any sort of fish that flakes easily like red snapper or tilapia. Skate is actually a cousin of the sting ray and may not be readily available in local supermarkets due to overfishing. It was my first time cooking with skate, and I was surprised at how well it goes with the spices and how soft and tasty it is. The fish is first smothered with sambal, a spicy Malaysian/Indonesian condiment which is a fragrant blend of almost a dozen ingredients including shallots, garlic, lemongrass, red chilies and belacan - a funky-smelling salty paste made of fermented shrimp that's commonly used as a cooking ingredient in Southeast Asia. The fish is then wrapped in banana leaves and placed on the barbecue until the leaves are charred. The grilled banana leaves impart an additional layer of flavor and perfumes the fish as it steams with the sambal inside the leaves.

Fried Rice Noodles (Kway Teow) in "Tomato" Sauce

I've been craving for this noodle dish that I loved as a child growing up in Malaysia. I also wanted to whip up something fast and easy when my mom, sister and nephews came over for dinner last Easter weekend. I've had a variant of this noodle dish in Thai restaurants but in this version from my homeland, a few dollops of ketchup are added to the gravy to give it a slightly sweet, tomatoey flavor. Hence the term "tomato sauce" - ketchup is known as "tomato sauce" in Malaysia. This is a quick and delicious meal, not to mention healthy - you get a good dose of carbs, protein and veggies all in one dish.