Baby full month recipes

A baby’s first month is celebrated in a big way by Chinese families. Impress your friends and family by whipping up these dishes at home!

1. Red Eggs (Serves 20)

What you need:

20 fresh eggs

1 tbsp vinegar

½ bottle red food colour

What you do

Place eggs in cold water in a large pot. Bring to a boil.

Let eggs boil for about eight minutes. Once boiled, plunge into a large pot of cold water to stop the eggs from over-cooking.

Add two liters of water, red food dye, vinegar and salt together in a large pot. Stir to dissolve.

Slowly place the eggs into pot and leave to soak until the shells absorb colour. Drain eggs and keep in a cool temperature.

2. Ang Koo Kueh

What you need:

(A)

250g glutinous rice flour - sifted

1 tbsp tapioca flour

75g steamed sweet potato - mashed

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn oil

(B)

150g water

1/8 tsp orange-red colouring

Banana leaves - cut into small circles and

greased Corn oil for glazing

(C)

Filling:

200g split and skinned green peas - washed and soaked overnight; drain well

150g sugar

1-2 tbsp corn oil

2 pandan leaves

What you do

Mix (A) in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add corn oil and (B). Knead to form smooth dough.

Divide dough into equal portions and roll into balls. Flatten each portion slightly; add a small ball of filling. Pinch and seal the edges. Lightly dust ang koo mould with glutinous rice flour. Press each ball of dough into the mould. Knock mould lightly against table and the ang koo will slide out. Place each ang koo on greased banana leaves.

Steam ang koo over boiling water for four minutes. Open the lid and continue steaming for six more minutes to ensure that the pattern comes out clear.

Remove ang koo from steamer and brush lightly with corn oil to prevent them from sticking to one another.

To make (C): Steam green peas in a steamer for 20-30 minutes or till soft. Mash the green peas.

Heat a non-stick pan, add in all filling ingredients and stir till mixture is almost dry. Remove the pandan leaves and leave aside to cool. Roll green pea paste into small balls and set aside to be used as filling.

3. Siew Yuk

What you need:

3kg belly pork with skin

130g coarse salt

A pinch of five-spice powder

What you do

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Score the inner pork belly with a sharp knife.

Rub the meat with 30g of coarse salt and five-spice powder.

Pierce metal skewers through the upper and lower portion of the pork belly to prevent it from shrinking during roasting.

Rub the remaining coarse salt on the skin of the pork belly.

Roast the pork for 45 minutes. Halfway through roasting, remove the roast pork from the oven and rub off all the salt from the skin. Prick the skin all over with a tenderiser needle.

Return the pork to the oven and roast it on high heat until pork is blackened and skin is crispy. Remove from oven and scrape off the blackened part.

Return to oven and continue roasting till done.

4. Geong Jouw

What you need:

350g chicken, skinned and cut into small pieces.

Seasoning:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 dash light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp rice wine or Wincarnis tonic wine

1 tsp sesame oil

10g mok yee (wood fungus)

5 slices old ginger

3 tbsp ginger juice

1 cup Wincarnis tonic wine

1/2 cup hot water

What you do Soak wood fungus in water for 30 minutes. Drain and cut into slices. Marinate chicken with seasoning for 15 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp sesame oil in a deep saucepan, fry the ginger slices till fragrant.

Put in wood fungus and marinated chicken and fry for five minutes.

Pour in ginger juice, wine and water, then cover the saucepan and allow to cook for five minutes.

Lower the flame and simmer till chicken is tender and gravy is thick. Serve with hot rice.

Do you have other tried-and-tested quick recipes? Share your recipes below!