Lobak (Five-Spice Meat Rolls)

This Lobak dish, which is a popular Nyonya Dish in Penang, is also a very popular Chinese dish throughout Malaysia. In Kuching, it is popularly known as 'Ngo Hiang.'  I master this favorite dish from my late mother-in-law, and my children loves it very much, with flavors of childhood.  However, today I am trying out this Nyonya recipe as it is much simpler, and with just a few ingredients, me and my hubby gets to enjoy these five-spice meat rolls for dinner.

Ingredients: (makes 6 rolls)

225g. pork tenderloin (cut into 1" thin strips)

7 medium prawns (peeled, deveined and roughly cut)

1/2 tsp. five-spice powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Dashes of ground white pepper

1/2 tsp. sweet dark soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1 sprig spring onions (finely sliced)

1/2 egg

1 beancurd sheet (cut into 7"x7" squares, wipe with damp cloth before wrapping)

Enough cooking oil (for deep-frying)

Methods:

• Combine pork with prawns and all the other ingredients, except beancurd sheet and cooking oil.
• Spoon generous amount of marinated meat mixture onto a piece of beancurd sheet, leaving an inch uncovered on each side.  Roll neatly into a cylinder.  Place seam side down onto a plate.  Repeat until all the meat is used up.  

• In a heated pot add enough cooking oil.  Once the oil is hot enough, add the meat rolls, turning while frying until golden brown.  If the oil is too hot, reduce the heat a bit as we don't want to burn the outside while the inside is still uncooked.
• Remove the cooked meat rolls and drain on kitchen paper.
• To serve, slice diagonally and place them on a serving plate.
• Serve with sweet chili sauce.

This recipe is adapted from 'Malaysian Chinese Kitchen' with slight adjustment to suit my cooking preference.