Ingredients

2 cans of razor clams or pacific clams, cut into smaller pieces
1 big white onion, minced
1 pack of celery, diced (500g)
1 pack of potatoes, diced (1kg)
1 pack of carrots, diced (500g)
1 pack of bacon, diced
170g butter
95g plain flour
200ml of cooking cream and 800ml of milk (basically 1L of half and half)
salt and pepper to taste
(Canned clams are easily found at Sheng Siong Supermarket)

Method

1. Throw the bacon bits into a really hot pan and fry for about 3 minutes, constantly stirring and mixing it.

2. Then throw in the onion, celery, potato and carrots and stir fry for about 10 minutes, until the ingredients are partially cooked.

3. Pour in only the juice of the 2 cans of clams, and add in another can of plain water into this pot of vegetables. Let it cook until the vegetables are tender, this will take about 15-20 minutes.

4. In another pot, melt the butter over a low heat, take note to stir constantly so that the butter will not burn. With a whisk, whisk in the flour until it is smooth. Next, whisk in the cream and milk. Continue to whisk over a low heat until it is very smooth. The longer you cook this mixture, the thicker your chowder will be in the end. But do be careful because if you cook this for too long, it can become a paste. So constantly stir and stop when you like the consistency.

5. Finally, add the creamy mixture to the ingredients which are cooking in the other pot. Mix them together and let it simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

What’s on my mind…

This clam chowder is really simple to make and it easily serves more than 10. It is a complete meal on its own and is simply so rich and tasty. You can replace the clams with minced chicken or meats or even other forms of seafood for variation. If you realise, in my ingredients list, I stated 1 pack for most of the ingredients and all these are the standard small packs you can easily get from the supermarkets here, so you do not have to measure out small portions, just use the complete pack for the chowder and nothing goes to waste (except the onions, you just need 1 large one). Canned clams are really hard to find when it is not the Chinese New Year period but I discovered that Sheng Siong Supermarkets stock them all year long. The razor clams cost about $7 a can and pacific clams are about $10 a can and I honestly do not taste any difference from using either one of these. Just a reminder, the thickness of your chowder would be determined by how thick you make the cream mixture from the recipe. 🙂

Ingredients

150g glutinous rice flour
225ml water
2 teaspoons of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
ground peanuts and sugar according to your taste

Method

1 . Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth and then place in a steamer.

2. Steam for about 15 minutes.

3. Cut up the cooked muah chee and mix it in the peanut and sugar mixture.

What’s On My Mind…

This is another personal favourite snack I had as a kid. It cost $1 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just had the mood to try making my own one day and I think that was the best muah chee I have ever had in my life so far. The consistency you get is so soft and perfectly chewy that you can’t stop eating it. Try it and share it with your friends and family.