BY GOH KAIXUAN
The order of numbers goes 1,3,2. Is that right?
You, attentive reader, may realise that MasterChef Yang Episode 3: Nasi Lemak and Ondeh Ondeh aired before Episode 2. What gives? Originally, MasterChef Yang Episode 2: Char Kway Teow and Tau Huay was slated to happen on 10th February 2022, which would put it in the proper lineup. However, due to a COVID-19 exposure incident, we had to postpone Episode 2 (a re-run if you will) to the 3rd March 2022. After weeks of sitting in the oven, we finally got to prepare the long-awaited Char Kway Teow and Tau Huay.
Both Char Kway Teow and Tau Huay are local favourites of Chinese origin, and Chef Priscill (from TaiTai Chef Academy) spared no expense in procuring the ingredients for us. With the plentiful ingredients ranging from Halal Chinese sausage to Lala clams and even eggs flown in from Ukraine, Chef Priscill hoped to simulate the type of ingredients we could get overseas. This is, of course, not forgetting staples in Char Kway Teow such as yellow Hokkien noodles, kway teow and bean sprouts!
For the Tau Huay, which is a beancurd pudding made from soybeans itself, Chef Priscill pre-soaked the soybeans for 24 hours for them to absorb water and hydrate. To achieve the pudding texture, coagulants were needed. However, in the interest of health, Chef Priscill swapped out those with chemicals for a safer alternative, agar-agar.
So let the work begin! First things first, we had to blend our soybeans with water to obtain the soya milk ourselves.
Unbeknownst to us, Chef Priscill had intended for us to put in some elbow grease to obtain the clear soya milk ourselves. Working those muscles, everyone had to squeeze the milk and bean grounds mixture through a coffee sock, to force out the soya milk. Trust me, this was tougher than it looked and definitely called back to the past of having to make soya milk by hand.
After we were done, we got our soya milk! But that was still far from the end-product we desired. You might also be wondering, ‘wah Tau Huay so high effort, there must be an easier way…’ and you’re right! Chef Priscill added that we could use canned soya milk in lieu of preparing the soya milk from scratch. It was then time to put our agar-agar powder into our hot soya milk!
You may be wondering, why was this green? Tau Huay ain’t green. Well, there was a little mishap that led to some tables using green-coloured agar-agar powder instead, infusing their Tau Huay with a different personality altogether, perhaps giving the illusion that it could be pandan-flavoured Tau Huay instead. With that, the Tau Huay was left to cool and set! Onto the main star of the day.
With so many fresh ingredients on our hands, we began to prep them. Chef Priscill went straight into it, showing us various knife skills which would definitely prove useful in the future. Her bubbly and engaging nature stole the show as she taught us seemingly mundane concepts and techniques with her own twist.
Surely, we could prepare the ingredients as we cooked the Char Kway Teow to save some time…? Wrong! Char Kway Teow is a stir fry dish, meaning that the ingredients would be tossed in relatively quick succession with little to no time between to tend to something else.
Starting with the aromatics, Chef Priscill continued to add ingredient after ingredient. She highlighted to cook the noodles first in the garlic-infused oil to enhance the texture of the noodles. Then, a combination of sweet sauce and light soy sauce was added to give the dish the distinctive dark colour of Char Kway Teow, with the participants adding different amounts to get the “darkness” they so desired.
Stirring in the rest of the ingredients, the shredded carrots, eggs, Lala clams, fishcake and Chinese sausage, in their pantry and a few minutes of stir-frying later, the participants have whipped up their very own Char Kway Teow! You could tell from the smiles on their faces that they were proud (and salivating) of their dishes!
With that, we concluded our 3 episode journey to tackle 3 different local cuisines, and we hoped that MasterChef Yang has indeed egged people on, in learning to cook. What will you cook up on your OFYP or OGEM? If you do prepare any of these dishes, do tag us on Instagram @cnyangscholars from wherever you are in the world!
We would like to sincerely thank Chef Priscill for her liveliness and for making cooking lessons fun and simple. Do drop her a follow (@taitaichef on Instagram) if you would like to see what else she teaches (you will be surprised by the sheer variety!)
Photos courtesy of Chef Priscill.
Check out the recipes here.