Fried Prawns with Assam Sauce

Fried Prawns with Assam Sauce. Photo is only for illustration purposes.
(Shared on Flickr by rovingl)

Not everyone will automatically use MCM Assam Sauce when it comes to fried dishes. However, we at MCM believes that cooking should all be about experimentation. So, we found this recipe, Crispy Chili Fried Prawns, at allrecipes.co.uk. The ingredients are simple enough.

1. Oil, for deep frying

2. 125gm plain flour

3. 2 tablespoons chili powder

4. 3 teaspoons salt

5. 500gm prawns, heads removed

6. 1/2 lemon, quartered

Well, why don't we alter this recipe a little bit. Instead of chili powder, we substitute it with 2 to 3 tablespoons of MCM Assam Sauce. Take out the lemon, because Assam Sauce is quite sour as it is. But, if you prefer it to be sourish, then go ahead with the lemon. Lastly, add garnishing such as coriander or parsley.

Method:

1. Heat deep-fryer to 180 - 190 degrees Celsius.

2. In a bowl, mix flour, Assam Sauce, and salt together.

3. Coat prawns with flour mixture and deep-fry in batches; cook for a minute or two until they look crispy. Remove excess oil by draining in kitchen paper towel.

4. Serve warm with coriander/parsley as garnishing.

Enjoy your experiment!

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What's The Difference Between Sambal Sauce & Belachan Sauce?

The words 'sambal' and 'belachan' are closely associated with each other, as all Malaysians and a number of Singaporeans would know. So, what is the difference between Sambal Sauce and Belachan Sauce?

Well, there are TWO ingredients in Belachan Sauce that are not in Sambal Sauce: Candlenut (or 'buah keras' for those not in the know) and Lemongrass. So, basically the focus of this post is trivia on candlenut and lemongrass.

According to webmd.com, lemongrass can cure a lot of ailments, including stomachache, vomiting, coughs, the common cold, fever, exhaustion, achy joints, convulsions, high blood pressure and digestive tract spasms. So, lemongrass on its own is really good. But, you know what's better? Lemongrass in MCM Belachan Sauce! Anyway, the use of lemongrass in cooking is as versatile as its use for medicinal purposes. It can be used in teas, soups, broths, braising liquids, curry pastes, marinades, stir-fries, salads and spice rubs. 

Okay, an interesting trivia on candlenut. Do you know that it can be used as a candle? Hence, the name candlenut. According to culinarylore.com, this is because candlenuts have such a high oil content (Wikipedia mentions that 15% to 20% of the nut's weight is purely oil). When it comes to cooking, culinarylore.com mentions that candlenuts are predominantly used in Malaysia, Indonesia and Hawaii. Mostly used as a thickener and texture enhancer in curry pastes and other dishes. The site mentions that candlenut is used in a Malaysian curry dish called kapitan. Well, we Googled 'kapitan curry' and on asianfoodchannel.com, there's a recipe by Martin Yan for Kapitan Curry Chicken. Yup, candlenut is used in the curry paste for that dish. 

So, does this make MCM Belachan Sauce superior to MCM Sambal Sauce? Why don't you be the judge of that because obviously we created these sauces for all kinds of cooking. Belachan Sauce & Sambal Sauce – Best Friends Forever <3

MCM Info

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The Goodness of Garlic

Some time ago on our FB Fanpage, we at MCM posed this question to our fans: What does MCM's Sambal Sauce, Belachan Sauce, Assam Sauce and Gan Xiang Sauce have in common? Though we got a number of Likes for that post, no one actually came up with an answer. Well, there's more than one answer, and one of those answers is garlic. Yes, all four sauces contain garlic, an essential ingredient in many Asian dishes. But, did you know that garlic has medicinal benefits?

According to authoritynutrition.com, the father of Western medicine, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, used to prescribe garlic as treatment for some medical conditions. 

An ounce or 28 grams serving of garlic provides:

1) Vitamin B6: 17% of the Required Dietary Allowance (RDA).

2) Vitamin C: 15% of the RDA.

3) Manganese: 23% of the RDA.

4) Selenium: 6% of the RDA.

5) Fiber: 1 gram.

6) Also some amounts of Vitamin B1, calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium & copper.

Read up more on the article at at authoritynutrition.com to find out more about the health goodness of garlic. 

Check out MCM's convenient sauces at our e-store on Dinasou.com. 

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Fruits that are good eaten with just MCM Rojak Sauce

1. Pineapple

2. Guava and Water Guava ... The popular choice of fruits for rojak sauce. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a nice pic of such fruits for this post.

3. 'Sengkuang'. We looked up Wikipedia and found funny names for it in English, so we'll just stick to the Malaysian word for it.

4. Mango. Try rojak sauce with a mango that's not too ripe, as that's how a number of Malaysians enjoy it.

5. Papaya. This is a rather unusual choice of fruit, but give it a go. Again, go for the not-so-ripe ones.

6. Starfruit. The most unusual combination with rojak sauce, but hey, you only live once!

MCM Info

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Hot Grilled Seafood Mix

Ingredients:

1. 400gm stingray

2. 2 fresh squids

3. 100gm clams

4. 3 long beans

5. 3 lady’s fingers

6. 3 shallots

7. 2 cloves of garlic

8. 4 tbsp MCM Sambal Sauce

9. 1 tbsp MCM Assam Sauce

10. ½ tsp MCM Belacan Sauce

11. 1 tsp turmeric powder

12. 1 tbsp dried prawns (coarsely chopped)

13. 1 tbsp MCM Superior Light Soy Sauce

14. 1 tbsp sugar

15. Small piece of cut out banana leaf

Method:
1. Cut the stingray into 2 pieces, the fresh squids into rings, the long beans into sections and the lady’s fingers into slanting thick pieces.
2. Mash the shallots and garlic until they become a paste. Mix this with the Sambal Sauce, Assam Sauce, Belacan Sauce, turmeric powder and dried prawns. Mix this concoction well.
3. Add some oil to a wok and heat it up. Fry the concoction paste over low heat and then add in the Superior Light Soy Sauce and sugar.
4. Divide the fried paste into 2 portions. Take a double layer of aluminium foil. Put the banana leaf over the foil.
5. Scoop the first portion of the fried paste and spread it over the banana leaf. Lay the cut stingray, squids, clams and all the vegetables on the banana leaf. Pour the remaining fried paste over the all the ingredients. Wrap up the foil neatly into a parcel.
6. Grill the aluminium parcel in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 20 – 25 minutes or until ingredients are well cooked.

Visit MCM's e-store at Dinasou.com.

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Trends in Consumption of Sauces, Dressings and Condiments (as of November 2015)

According to a summary of a report compiled by euromonitor.com for Malaysia, the trend for sauces, dressings and condiments in the country in 2015 hardly changed and continued to remain essential despite the introduction of the 6% Goods & Services Tax (GST) earlier in 2015. In fact, as the GST raised prices for most items, home cooking, as opposed to eating out, became de rigueur as consumers needed to compensate for the price hikes. Due to this, consumers switched to cheaper brands, forsaking the need for quality with regards to their cooking ingredients.

We at MCM are well aware of the situation and the prices for our sauces remain competitive with other more well-known brands, despite the 6% GST rate. At the same time, we have not compromised the quality of our sauces in order to compensate for the increase in prices. 

Check out our sauces on MCM's Brand Street e-store at Dinasou.com. 

MCM Info

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Stewed Spiced Farm Chicken

Ingredients:

1. 1 whole farm chicken

2. 3gm galangal (sliced)

3. 2 whole garlic (smashed)

4. A stalk of spring onion

5. 800ml water

6. 1 pkt spices mixture

7. 5 pcs cloves

8. 6 pcs star anise

9. 2 inches cinnamon

10. 3 tbsp sugar

11. 1 cup MCM Superior Light Soy Sauce

12. ½ tbsp MCM Golden Thick Soy Sauce

13. ½ tsp salt.

Method:

1. Clean chicken thoroughly by removing all innards and drain after cleaning.

2. Heat a wok and sauté sugar until it turns into golden syrup. Add 1 tbsp oil and sauté the galangal and garlic until fragrant. Pour in Superior Light Soy Sauce and Golden Thick Soy Sauce.

3. Add in all the spices, chicken, water & salt and then bring to boil. Transfer all ingredients to a pot. Cover the pot and simmer the chicken in low heat until it is well cooked. 

Check out MCM's selection of sauces on our

 Brand Street page at Dinasou.com

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