Blog Party # 4 - The Holiday Edition

It's Blog Party time and this month is the holiday edition as proposed by our lovely host, Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness. Hasn't time flown? I can't believe it's almost the end of the year and I should be planning Christmas gifts, Christmas parties and New Year celebrations.

As turkey is way too big for both of us, for my Blog Party, I made an Asian feast and served up Chiku Lassi and Satay Lilit. Chiku is a fruit also known as Sapodilia which is popular in Asia. We get Chiku trees blooming with fruit all year round and the fruits are found in most stalls. I remember when I was young, we had a Chiku tree in our garden which bore us lots of fruits and kept me happy as it was my favourite fruit. Sadly my mother cut down the fruit trees in the garden as she said it was too much trouble looking after them so now it's just a plain green lawn. For my Chiku Lassi which I got inspiration from drinking a Chiku Smoothie recently, I blended a yoghurt lassi with cut Chiku fruits. Truly yummy stuff especially served ice cold.

For eats, I served a dish that is unique in this region known as Satay Lilit. Usually the satay we eat in Malaysia is made from meats and uses wooden skewers. This version from Bali uses minced fish and prawn mixed with aromatic herbs that is wound around sticks made from lemongrass. Inspiration for this dish came from a recent Malaysian Women Weekly magazine (i.e. the localised version of Australian Women Weekly) where they featured dishes for Deepavali and Raya celebrations. I loved the satay with it's lemongrass aroma and the texture which is softer than the usual meat satays.

Satay Lilit

150 grams prawns, shelled
200 grams fish fillet (deboned and skinned weight)
3 red chillies, sliced
3 green chilli padi, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 shallots, sliced
1 cm ginger, sliced
1 cm turmeric root, sliced
2 stalks lemon grass, sliced
1/2 teaspoon crumbled and roasted shrimp paste (belachan)
3 rounded tablespoons grated coconut
2 tablespoons oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons calamansi lime juice
20 stalks of lemon grass sticks trimmed to 20 cm lengths from base

Mince prawns and fish finely using a cleaver. Cover and refrigerate. Pound or blend chillies, garlic, shallots, ginger, turmeric, lemon grass and shrimp paste. Add coconut and continue blending till mixture is fine.

Heat oil in a wok over medium fire and fry the blended ingredients for five minutes or until fragrant. Season with the salt, sugar and calamansi juice. Cook another one minute and transfer mixture to a plate to cool completely. Combine mixture with minced seafood. Take about 2 tablespoons of mixture and wrap around the base of the lemongrass stalk. Make about 20 stalks this way. Just before serving, brush with oil and grill on fire or pan fry till golden brown.

Thanks to Stephanie for hosting and do check Dispensing Happiness this weekend for the Blog Party round-up.