Kiam Chye Tng (Pickled mustard with duck soup)

This is a simple dish, as long as you have a slow cooker. You can throw everything into the pot, switch on to low heat and leave for office. When you come back in the evening, you open your door and is welcomed by the fine aroma of the soup wafting through your home. It's ready and duck is so tender.

You'll need

1 duck, chopped into big pieces
1 thumb size ginger, bruised/crushed
1 packet pickled mustard or kiam chye (discard the pickled juice and wash the mustard under cold water)
2 Tomatoes, quatered
a bit of salt
a bit of white pepper
a bit of sugar or ajinomoto or Maggie chicken granules

Put everyting except the tomatoes into a slow cooker, add enough water to cover the duck. Cover and switch to low or auto and leave to boil for several hours, 4 hours at least. When it's cooked, add salt, pepper, ajinomoto etc to taste. Add your tomatoes before serving in a soup bowl.

Ngo Hiang

This is mom's recipe, a favourite of mine and I believe a favourite "snack" amongst Singaporeans as well. Mom is so good in rolling this meatrolls, it makes mine look under-nourished and insecure! Even hers taste different eventhough we put in exactly the same ingredients. I believe it has something to do with the pork. In Sweden, the pork is very different. It's lean, not an ounce of fat insight, and it has an odour, a porky body odour. In Malaysia and Singapore, pigs are castrated (neutering) for several reasons :
- to increase growth rate
- to improve the quality of meat - meat from entire male animals often has a very strong, unpleasant smell and taste
- to reduce dangerous behavioural traits - for example, entire bulls can be dangerous to handle compared to neutered bullocks.
- to prevent unwanted breeding - farmers only want to breed from the best genetic stock.

And exactly for the reasons above especially point 1 & 2, that pork in Asia are fatter and has no unpleasant odour. In Europe (and even Australia), you would have the animal-rights group protesting and demonstrating outside your farm it is deem cruel to animals, thus no castration is being done here. And thus my less than tasty ngo hiang.


Ingredients
800gm mince pork
200gm minced prawns (raw)
half a carrot, chop finely
a few sprigs of coriander, chop finely
3 shitake mushroom (soak in water till soft), chop finely
4-5 pcs water chestnuts, chop finely
1 shallot, chopped and fried
white pepper
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1-2 tsp five spice powder
1 egg

Beancurd skin to roll.

Deepfrying oil.



Method
Mix all the ingredients above evenly (except the beancurd skin). Use a clean, damp cloth and wipe the beancurd skin thorougly. This takes away the saltiness of the skin. Cut the beancurd skin into big A4 size sheets. Put a substantial amount of meat onto the sheet, arrange it in a way so the meat is nearer to your side of the beancurd sheet. leave some space on both sides so you could roll it later.

First, fold the sides on your left & right, then fold the sheet nearest to you. Roll it like how you would roll a popiah/springroll/fajitas (or whatever that mexican dish is called). Then seal the end of the beancurd sheet with beaten egg.

Put all the ngo hiang rolls in a plate and steam it for 10 minutes. Let it cool. When you are ready to eat it, take one roll, cut it generously and thickly across and coat it with corn flour. Then deepfry them until golden brown.

Altenatively, you can also coat the whole roll of ngo hiang in corn flour and deep fry it, and then cut it into bite-size pieces after that.

You can also deep freeze the rest of the rolls after you have steamed them. Thaw them when you want to eat them and then deep fry them.

Sarawak Laksa

For us Sarawakians living overseas, you will always find Sarawak laksa paste in our food storage. It is an absolute must-have and as long as you have this precious paste, you can have Sarawak in your heart and stomach without feeling too homesick. The Sarawak laksa is not like its cousins in Singapore or even Penang. This is a flavour all of its own, it's taste is so unique, spicy with a coriander and sambal belacan soup base that it stands out from the Singapore or Penang version. The Singapore laksa is more curry/lemak based whereas the Penang one is assam/tamarind based.
Nobody really knows the actual ingredients in the Sarawak Laksa paste. The coffeeshops in Kuching also order these paste from the one and only manufacturer in Kuching, which is coincidently near the area i grew up in, Kim Kiat Road. So this paste is a closely guided secret even the coffeeshops can't emulate. Well, they try to but it just doesn't taste the same as the authentic Sarawak Laksa paste with the sparrow brand. All I know is, it contents a lot of coriander seeds as well as sambal belacan.


For the soup
1 packet Sarawak Laksa paste
2 cans coconut milk
2 liters chicken and prawn stock + 5 liters water
1 pc chicken stock cube
salt to taste

Garnish
Omellet, cut into thin strips
Tiger prawns (cooked, peeled and deveined)
coriander leaves
beansprouts (blanched)
chicken meat, cooked and torn into strips
sambal belacan
Lime


In a large pot, boil the chicken in water and peel it into strips. Set aside. In the same broth, boil the prawns for 3 minutes. Peel and devein them. Set aside. Now you have your chicken and prawn stock. Add in the 5 liters water and bring it to a boil. Add stock cube.

Then add the Sarawak Laksa Paste and stir. Bring it to a boil. Sift the whole contents into another pot, press the soup thoroughly from the sieve and discard the husks in the sieve.
Now you have a clean pot of soup without any of the pounded/blended ingredients. Make sure the soup is free from all husks. Boil for a while and switch to low heat.

When it is about time to serve the soup, add in the coconut milk and salt to taste. The coconut milk should be added in last minute so it won't boil too long in the stock.

Garnish with all the garnishing ingredients. If you want it to be extra spicy, add in homemade sambal belacan. If you want a tinge of tanginess, squeeze in juice of 1 lime.

Nyaman! Ahhhhhhhhhh

Singapore Chicken Rice (or Hainnanese Chicken Rice)

Chicken
1 whole chicken
Half a pot water
1 thumb ginger, crushed
2 whole garlic (with skin attached)
Sea salt
1 chicken boullion

(Sauce to pour over chicken later)
100ml chicken stock (from above)
2 tbps oyster sauce
2 tbps light soya sauce
3 tsp sesame oil
1½ tsp sugar
3 tsp shallot oil (optional)


Rice
500gm Jasmine rice (depending on how many people are eating)
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tbsp minced garlic
700ml chicken stock (from above)
2 tbsp minced ginger
1 whole garlic (with skin attached)
2-3 pandan leaves, knotted


Method
Bring half a pot of water to boiling point. Lower fire to medium, put in the whole chicken, crushed ginger, whole garlic and sea salt and chicken boullion and bring to a boil. Around 25 minutes under medium low heat. To check if the chicken is cooked, poke a chopstick on the thigh of the chicken, if blood oozes out then you have to cook it further. Do not overcook the chicken, and do not be impatient and cook under high heat, otherwise the skin will start to flake off. Poke the other thigh after further cooking, no fresh blood should be running out after 30 minutes of boiling.

Bring out the chicken to rest. Do not leave the chicken in the stock, otherwise it will still be cooking in the stock eventhough you have switched off the fire.

Meanwhile, prepare the rice. Wash the rice and drain the water thoroughly. Warm up a skillet, add cooking oil and fry the mince garlic and mince shallot till fragrant. Add the washed rice to the pan and fry for around 1-2 minutes. Transfer the rice to a rice cooker. Add the chicken stock (instead of water). 700ml is just an estimation. The best way to cook rice is to put your pointer finger (the 2nd one!) just on the top of the rice and the water/stock level should reach the first line (lowest line ) on your finger. Stir in the minced ginger in the rice-stock, add 1 whole garlic, knotted pandan, close the rice cooker and let it cook.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce for the chicken. In a separate bowl, add 100ml or 1 big scoop of chicken stock, the oyster sauce, sesame oil, soya sauce, sugar and shallot oil together. Chop the chicken into pieces and arrane it on a serving dish, pour the sauce mixture on the chicken. Garnish with slice cucumber and coriander leaves.

When the rice is cooked, you can dish out and serve it with in a Chinese rice bowl or compact the rice in the Chinese rice bowl, then overturn it onto a plate.


This dish is best eaten with Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce and kecap manis.

Blend 1 handful chilli padi, 5-6 garlic, 1 knob ginger (peel off skin), chicken stock from above( maybe 2 tbsp), 1 tsp salt, 1tbsp sugar, lime juice. Add some kecap manis. Blend with a handblender still smooth. Adjust the taste. If too spicy, add a bit more sugar etc.


Bon Apetit!

Nasi Lemak

I tend to cook nasi lemak a lot this year. I cooked it for most of the guests we invited over for lunch, alongside another dish- tauhu goreng. I think i need to change the menu, it's getting boring. However, this is an alltime favourtie dish. You can eat it for breakfast, or lunch or dinner, even supper! Yup! You westerners might be thinking we Asians are crazy eating this for breakfast but we Asians think that you westerners are crazy not to eat such things for breakfast. So there we have it.

It seems like a lot of ingredients and a lot of work, but sersiously, it is not that bad. You can make a lot of sambal and keep for next weekend and let the rice cooker worry about cooking the rice.

For the rice
2 cup rice (rinse thoroughly)
1 can coconul milk (about 400-500ml)
1-2 pandan leave, knotted
½ tsp salt

Sambal prawn
10-12 tiger prawns (washed and deveined)
1 big onion (sliced thinly into rings)
2 tbsp cooking oil

to pound/grind into a paste
2 dry chilli
2 red chillies, fresh
1 small piece of belacan (pungent prawn paste)
1 small thumb of galangal (blue ginger)
1-2 candlenuts (substitute with almond nuts)

½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp tamarind juice


Garnish
2 hard boil egg, halved or fried eggs
4 tbsp ikan bilis (or dried anchovies), deep fried for 1 minute
½ cucumber, sliced thinly
Optional garnishes
kangkung (water spinach) blanched in boiling water
hard tofu (fried and sliced)
2-4 pics whole makarel fish - deepfried
Fried chicken pieces


Method
Put the rinsed rice into a rice cooker. Pour in the coconut milk, salt and knotted pandan leaves. Make sure that when you put your finger on top of the rice, the liquid should reach the 1st line of your finger (or lowest line from the tip of the finger), if there's too little liquid, you may add more water.
After the rice is cooked, make sure you switch off the rice cooker immediately, to avoid burning the rice, and let it cook gently in its own heat. After 5-10 minutes, lift the lid and fluff the rice.

Meanwhile, while the rice is cooking, prepare the sambal and the garnishes.

For the sambal, heat up the cooking oil, and fry the big onion until soft and brown. Add in the pounded paste ingredients and saute gently until fragrant. Add in the tiger prawns and fry for additional 2-3 minutes. Add in the sugar, salt and tamarind juice. Cook it for another 5 minutes more under medium low heat. Then dish it into a serving bowl/dish.

Serve the rice with all the garnishes and the prawn sambal.

Soto Ayam

This is one of the most difficult dish i've ever attempted and so far, i've made it twice only. This recipe is from my sister in KL. She can just read out the long list of ingredients to me over the phone. However, i have to say, it is worth the effort. It is best eaten during Autumn/Winter weathers like now or when you are down with a cold. It's the Asian version of the American chicken soup and it taste so wonderful, the aroma lingering around the whole house and around the neighbourhood and i always get compliments and hints from neighbours about the wonderful aroma and btw, when is my next party. Haha.

Chicken wings, drumsticks or breasts. (cook in 1.5 ltr water to obtain stock)
1 chicken boullion
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 cinnamon bark
3 star Anise
4 cloves
1 can coconut milk 400ml
carrots, roughly chopped
celeries, chopped
tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt


Ingredients to grind
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 stalk lemongrass (cut off top half and discard, use only bottom half)
2 slices galangal
2 slices ginger (or 1 tsp minced ginger)
1 tsp tumeric powder
4 shallots
3 cloves garlic


Garnish
Deep fried shallots
shredded omellete
Spring onions, chopped finely.


Method
Boil the chicken in water, add salt. Take out the chicken pieces for use later. If you are using breast meat, peel the meat into strip and put aside. Save the chicken stock.

In a deep pot, add cooking oil. Add cinnamon bark, star anise and cloves and fry for 1 minute. Add the pounded/grounded ingredients. Fry till fragrant. Add 1 litre stock and bring it to a boil. Boil a while longer and strain/sieve the stock into another pot, discard the leftover residue in the strain/sieve. Add in carrots and tomatoes and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then add tomatoes and a dash of lemon juice and pinch of salt. Adjust taste.

Dish out soup into a serving bowl and top with shredded omellete, chicken strip, deep-fried shallots and and spring onions. You can even add cooked macaronis or cooked yellow noodles to this dish.

Beef Rendang

I've got to say, this photo is badly taken and doesn't do the food justice, It was taken in a hurry and it was not taken by me. Haha.

This dish is one of my favourites. This is a classic Malaysian dish, normally served during festive season, like Hari Raya Aidil-fitri. Nowadays, you can find it everywhere in restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore. It kind of reminds me of the french dish Boeuf Bourgionne, or the Hungarian Goulash, or the English Stew. This is the Malaysian version of the famous beef stew.

I got this recipe out from an ancient recipe book as a gift from my dad. Dad's a librarian (yes, he's as ancient as the book). The recipes are all written in classic, olden day Malay and so I have to translate it into English from here. I hope i get the measurements correct because nowadays, you don't use Kati anymore but Kilos. If you really couldn't be bothered to pound and grind the ingredients, the easy way is to drop by Hong Kong Trading in Hötorget and ask them for Prima Taste Rendang paste. I got 5 packets of that from friends visiting from Singapore and it taste just as authentic as the original ones, although the packet ones do not come with kerisik (or toasted dessicated coconut). Sometimes, small thins like this makes a lot of difference to a dish.

I remember making Duck Soup with pickled mustard for my friends in Singapore long time ago, and they were all slurping and ooohing and hmmming away and couldn't put a finger as to why my soup tasted so deliciously different from theirs, and in the end, at the bottom of the claypot, they found a big knob of bruised ginger, thrown in to the take away the smell of the duck. That was my secret. But, that will be on another recipe blog later.



800gm-1kg beef chunks
1 can creamy coconut milk, about 400-500ml
1 can light coconut milk, about 400ml
4 tbsp cooking oil
pinch of salt
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup kerisik or dessicated coconut (toast in a pan till brown)
4 kaffir lime leaves, trim into small long strips


Ingredients to pound/grind
10 pcs dried chilli
1 tps black pepper
1 thumb-size ginger (peel off skin)
1 thumb-size tumeric (or you can substitute with 1 tbsp tumeric powder)
5 cloves garlic
10 shallots
4 stalks lemongrass (cut off top half and discard, use only bottom half)
4 pcs of candlenuts (or subsitute with Almond nuts, skin off)


Method
Add cooking oil in a pot under low heat, add the above pounded (or ground) ingredients. Fry slowly till fragrant. (your whole house will be filled with the aroma of these ingredients). Add in beef chunks, salt and fry for 3 minutes.

Add in the coconut milk (not the creamy one but the lighter one) about 200ml at a time. Cook until the liquid has dried up before adding the rest of the 200ml. After this is drying up, add the thick coconut cream. You have to keep stirring it every 5 minutes under low heat so you won't burn the beef and the coconut cream will not curdle. Yes, it takes a lot of effort if you are really desperate. This whole process takes at least 1-2 hours. I will give you some tips i discovered after this.

After the meat is really, really tender, and the gravy has thicken and turned a dark brown colour, add in juice of 1 lime, kaffir lime leaves and dessicated coconut and coat the whole beef with it. Serve with steaming hot rice.


Tips:
1. Kerisik (or dessicated coconut) is important to this dish, you can omit it if you are too lazy to toast them separately. You can buy dessicated coconut from the bakery / confectionary section of your local supermarket.

2. Kaffir Lime leaves. The recipe book didn't call for it and i don't understand why. I added this one in myself. I find that adding kaffir lime leaves into rendang is a must. It adds a tangy balance to an otherwise cholestrol rich dish. It's like the sour cream in goulash and stroganof. I myself have a thriving plant of Kaffir plant in my study room window. As fresh as you can get.

3. Candlenuts are difficult to get hold of nowadays. Long time ago, people used candlenuts for all curried/spiced dishes. The nuts are needed as they release oil when blend together with the rest of the ingredients. Candlenuts are considered to be the cheapest nuts during those days, since people were poor and couldn't afford to buy macadamia or almonds. Recent studies shows that candlenuts are not advisable to congest in large amount as it may be poisonous and Almonds are the best substitute as it has a high content of oil.

3a. To peel off almond skin, put the nuts in a hot boiling water for 5 minutes. Then take out and peel off the skin effortlessly.

4. 2 Hours of stiring is just too much? well, get a pressure cooker and put the whole 2nd paragraph into the cooker and pressure cook for half an hour. Make sure you know how to use a pressure cooker first before attempting to use one. 2 hours of cooking cut down to 30 minutes, dish the contents back into the pot and cook further till all the gravy has dried up significantly. Then follow paragraph 3.

Good luck!

Fried Bee Hoon (Singapore breakfast beehoon)

I loovvvvve Singapore fried beehoon. The one that i used to eat for breakfast in Singapore and you have a choice of side ingredients like ngo-hiang, fish cakes, fry egg and lots of sambal. Hmmmmm. I have been trying and trying to emulate this dish forever!!! Partly cos' my husband and i eat this dish for breakfast almost every morning and I thought it was rather a waste of money. If i can cook it, then we could save quite a lot of breakfast money. But it just never, ever turned out the same!! And my husband liked to point out that fact :(

We used to live in Bedok North, there's this hawker place a couple of blocks from where we lived, near to the Bedok Police Station and there, you can find the famous minced-meat noodle, bbq chicken wings, satays and it is a very popular place. Everybody from all over Singapore goes there for dinner and supper and it's always packed. We have the luxury of walking there whenever we felt like it. However, the bee hoon store (which recipe i'm about to share with you) is not located in Bedok North. It is actually located in Bedok central, where the bus terminal is. Kai and I normally have to take the feeder bus to the bus terminal and switch to the MRT to get to work. And there, you will find another hawker centre where mouth-watering foods are served. From the basic kaya toast with half-boiled eggs and local kopi (coffee) to the fried bee hoon and all its toppings, to Chui Kuay with its fragrant radish toppings and fiery sambal, to the dark and wonderfully delicious fried carrot cake. Let's not forget the muslim dishes like Mee Rebus and Mee Siam too, or even the wonderful and rich Indian rojak. I normally get lots of SMS in the mornings from my colleagues at work, ordering for Chui Kuay, bee hoon and carrot cake to go....that's how popular it is to live in Bedok!

How could anyone make a comparison about living in...i don't know, Paris or Europe or US when you have lived in a multi-cultural country like Singapore and Malaysia and being exposed to these kinds of food everyday, and cheap too come to think of it. I remember a few westerners who relocated to Singapore but refused to touch any local food. Their diet consisted of burgers, pizzas, pastas and potatos, the same kind of food from their homeland. I think that's really a shame, they really do not know what they are missing. Part of relocating to this part of the world is the acceptance of the culture and the readiness to be adventurous with the local food. It's one of life's greatest pleasures to be able to experience these food, rich in spices and lifting one's senses to new heights.

OK, here comes the recipe. This dish can be accompanied by ngo-hiang, fish-cakes, fried egg or anything you can find in your fridge. I will post the ngo-hiang recipe in the next post.


Bee Hoon preparation
½ packet bee hoon
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
2-3 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1-2 tbsp ground dried shrimps (hay bee)
A little ajinomoto or Maggie Chicken granules
Bean Sprouts (lots of it)
Baby corn (optional)

Garnish
Finely chopped spring onion
Omelette, cut into fine strips

Seasoning A
3 tbsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp light soya sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil

Seasoning B
3-4 tbsp Fish sauce (according to your taste)
2-3 tbsp black sweet sauce (kicap manis)


Here's how
1. Boil a kettle of water. You can either use half a packet or whole packet of bee hoon. I used half a packet. Put half a packet into a pot and pour over hot boiling water into the bee hoon. Let the water just covers the bee hoon. Pour Seasoning A into the bee hoon, mix it evenly and let it marinade for 1 hour.

2. After 1 hour, heat a wok with oil and add the garlic. Make sure the wok is not smoking hot or you'll burn the garlic. The trick is to put the garlic in when the wok is heating up.

3. If you have chicken pieces and baby corn, now is the time to add it and fry it first. Otherwise.....

4. Add in the bee hoon with all its marinade juices. Add Seasoning B and keep frying on high heat. Make sure you have 2 spatulas or spades and keep frying and lifting up the bee hoon and turning them over so at to coat them evenly. This also avoids burning the bee hoon. It is inevitable that some of this will be burn or stick to the wok. It's ok!! Don't fret. Keep frying till almost all the gravy has dried up but the bee hoon is still wet and moist. Add some chicken granules or ajinomoto and fry somemore.

5. At this point, you can taste and see if you prefer to add more fish sauce and kecap manis.

6. Last but not least, add your bean sprouts, fry for another 1 minute before lifting them up to the serving dish. The bean sprouts have still be crunchy but cooked.

7. Garnish with spring onions and omelette strips.

This dish HAS to be accompanied by sambal belacan or chilli sauce. homemade sambal belacan

Tips 1: You can get fish-balls or fish cakes from the local Chinese store or even frozen ngo-hiangs but it's not as tasty as homemade ones, of course.

Tips 2: For the kecap manis and fish sauce, quality is very important. I use the ABC brand for the kecap manis. It is produced in Indonesia. The fish sauce has to be produced in Thailand and not somewhere in Europe.

Good luck!

Tao Huay / Tao Hu Hua / Soya Beancurd

I learnt this recipe from mom. Mom is the best cook in the world. I mean, she could make dying recipes. By that, i mean she has all these recipes in her head on all those bygone era's food, grandmother's cooking, dishes that is passed down from generations through word of mouth. Mom is a hakka but i must say, her cooking is very nyonya, very straits cooking. A fusion of Malay-Chinese. I can tell...or taste in this case by her hand-rolled ngo-hiang, her spicy curry, her rice dumpling or "chang", and all her sambal and lemak dishes tend to be very similar to peranakan dishes. Mom makes the best curry chicken. She fries her own curry paste, can you believe it? I always hand-carry this precious commodity back with me to Stockholm and it can be kept in the fridge for up to a year.

OK, here's the first recipe which is actually a dessert. I always like to do things differently don't i? Like to read my newspapers and magazines from the back to front, eat my desserts before my main meal, and now, write my desserts first.

This dish can be eaten either warm or chilled.

Beancurd
2 (chinese rice) bowls of dried soya beans (soaked overnight till soft and swollen)
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tsp gymsum powder (calcium sulphate) (hard to get, personally flown in by me. You can try plain gellatine i guess)
2 tbsp castor sugar / palm sugar

I muslin cloth or any thin and clean cotton cloth.

Syrup
About 600ml water
2 lumps Palm sugar
5 bunch of pandan leaves, knotted

Instructions
1. Drain the soya beans. With a juice blender, blend 1 bowl soya to 3 bowls water. (The beans would have swelled to twice its size by now).

2. Put a muslin over a big pot and strain the blended soya beans with the cloth. Squeeze all the soya milk out from the cloth and discard the husks. Repeat this until all the soya beans have been blended and strained.
(Please ensure that no husks drop into the pot otherwise you will have to strain it all over again).

3. Add the sugar and bring the soya milk to a boil over moderate low heat. Meanwhile, prepare the cornflour mix.

4. In a separate pot (another big pot), mix the cornflour and gymsum powder with a little water, perhaps 2 tbsp water. Stir to blend. Leave aside.

5. When the soya milk is boiling, pour this boiling milk into the cornflour-gymsum mix and cover with a lid and set aside to cool. DO NOT STIR ANYMORE!!!!!
(This is very important. A lot of people makes this mistake. They stir AFTER they pour the milk into the cornflour-gymsum mix and you will end up with a pot of cuddled beancurd. If you want to stir, stir the cornflour-gymsum mix right before you pour the milk in).

6. To prepare the syrup, put the syrup ingredients into a small gravy pot and boil till the sugar dissolves. I realise that palm sugar in the syrup taste better than castor sugar. Set aside to cool.

You have to wait at least a few hours or overnight for the beancurd to harden. If you want to have a warm beancurd, you could prepare the beancurd in the morning and have it probably in the mid-afternoon with warmed up syrup. If you want to have it chilled, wait till the pot has cool down to room temperature before putting both the pot of soya milk and the syrup in the fridge and leave it there overnight.


Good luck!


Ps: Gymsum powder can be bought from local chinese grocery stores in Singapore and Malaysia. That's what all the hawker centres selling their authentic soya beancurds are using and they have their sources. Ask around, try Bedok, Tiong Bahru, Bukit Merah, Kallang, Geylang, Bugis area, Ang Mo Kio since those areas tend to have more traditional shops still surviving (I hope). In Malaysia, it is easily attainable everywhere.