CT's Tummyfilling Experiences

Passport & Plate - Grandmother's Village Dish "C Ya Chi"

Malaysia | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 4 photos

Ingredients
Patties
1/2 cup rice flour
2 cup plain flour
2 cup water
1 tbsp salt
2 bunch chives
2 turnips
1kg peeled prawns

Sauce
1 cup chilli paste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup assam water
4 tbsp sugar
2tbsp garlic paste

Yellow egg noodles

How to prepare this recipe
1)Mix together chilli paste, tomato sauce, assam water, sugar and garlic paste in a pot and keep warm.
2)Mix the rice flour, plain flour, water and salt together to make batter.
3)Chop the chives and julienne the turnips, combine and add salt. Squeeze out all juices.
4)Combine chives and turnip into batter.
5)Heat a large pan of oil deep enough for deep frying.
6)Using soup ladles, fill batter and place 2 pieces of prawn in batter, deep fry.
7)Repeat step 6 for all.
8)Serve patties with egg noodles and chilli sauce.

The story behind this recipe
This is one dish that I've had for many years, it's safe to say for as long as I've been eating! From the days I lived in Malaysia as a kid, to migrating to Australia. It is a family legacy, from my great grand mother, to my grand mother, to my mum and I hope to live up to its standards when I make it for my family in the future. Without a doubt, it is the one dish that reminds me most of home as I am currently studying overseas. The very first time I tasted it was when my grandmother made it with my mum, many years ago, the details are sketchy but I loved it. I loved the juiciness of the patties, the spice and sweetness of the sauce. It's a dish that mothers and daughters make together in our family. It's called grandmother's village dish because thats what my mum's grandmother made in the village back then. I had the opportunity to travel to this fishing village of the east coast of West Malaysia once and got to taste this dish from my grandmother's family. The last few times this dish was served in our household, mum and I would make it together. The last this was made, I had friends over to taste them too and all they said was "these are magic prawn patties". This is the one dish that brings me back to the fishing village, the simple life and yet the best thing I've ever tasted.