keropok making

It was probably five or six years ago when I last made keropok (when I had a maid to peel the prawns). Yesterday at the market, we saw the prawns (not too small; so easy to peel) that is suitable for making keropok. The fishmonger said the magic words...it's good for making keropok. KC was nodding his head. I know I had to buy it and do something about it. So I bought one kilo of it...RM8.00. Then I bought tapioca flour. According to the recipe it is two kilos of prawns to a kilo of flour.

The stuff needed...I used to make two kilo of prawns but I only had a kilo yesterday (forgotten the recipe)...a kilo prawns, half kilo tapioca flour, two tsp fine salt and pepper.

Used my chopper to mash up the prawns till it is like a paste. Add seasoning to it.

Cleaned my marble top table...it's the best table for making keropok as it's solid. Pour out the flour next to the prawn paste so that it's easy to mix and knead in.

The first part of mixing is very messy as it's wet and gooey and sticky. Make sure all rings and bracelets are removed.

As it gets drier, the work gets easier.

The dough has to be kneaded till it doesn't stick to the hand. Then knead it well; like washing clothes.

There, the dough is ready. See how clean the table is now. As I kneaded, Kristen used the scraper to clean the table and I just rolled all that she scrapped into the dough. If the dough is still sticky, it won't be able to clean the table up like this. I did not use all the 500g flour...there was a little left.

Shape it into a log.

Before shaping the logs, need to slam the dough on the table many times to remove the air bubbles. Otherwise the keropok will have holes. That is why the marble top table is good.

A kilo prawns can make two logs. See the fly; hopefully my family members who see the fly will decide not to eat any of my keropok so I can have more share!!!

Line the steaming tray with aluminium foil. MIL uses banana leaves. Steam for 45 minutes and this is the result. This is the time when the kids will ask me to cut a slice for them to test; not just the kids...the worst culprit is the father.

The logs are wrapped in the foil and left in the fridge overnight. This morning I rushed home from church to slice the keropok. I use a slicer as above. Don't put too much pressure if you want the keropok to be thin but we like it thicker...there's more to bite.

This is how it looks like after slicing the log. The ends and bits here and there were eaten up by KC.

The keropok is laid out slice by slice under the sun. Thank God it's sunny today. It may take two to three days to dry. If it's not dry, it won't 'kembang' after frying and it may taste like 'masuk angin'.

KC putting the keropok under the sun. It's his mother's recipe and a must in his during CNY. Cookies are not popular but keropok will finish in no time. As it's his favourite, I learnt to make from MIL. Actually whatever I learnt from MIL are all his favourite. The way to a man't heart is through his stomach. You can see him grinning from ear to ear because next CNY he has his wife's home made keropok to eat. That amount of keropok in the picture is worth at least RM26 - 28 in the market. I spent at least RM100 this year buying keropok for CNY!!!! Every reason I should make my own. This is the first round...more rounds to come.