Let's Party with Pie Tee...and Satay Sauce!

We were supposed to attend a New Year's Eve party couple days ago. Alas! D came down with flu and although was in both good spirits and physical condition, we didn't think the flu virus would be a welcomed New Year's gift to our hosts and their friends. So much for sharing these great party h'or d'oeuvres that I had painstakingly prepped the day before. The bright side of it was of course, there's plenty more for both of us!


Pie Tee, or Top Hats, a type of Peranakan/Nyonya cuisine, are petite cups of fried batter - little morsels of crispy, crunchy goodness that hold, typically, stir-fried vegetables or fresh mixed salad of jicama, carrots, beansprouts and cucumber, topped with little bits of fried eggs and finished with a dollop of great home-made satay sauce. To me, the texture you get from each bite is reminiscent of a taco salad bowl, a real tiny one at that. Come to think of it, there're endless variety of fillings that you can use for a Pie Tee. Here's some that comes to mind: tabouleh, Aztec 3-bean salad, cous-cous & berries salad or even BBQ pulled-pork salad or Chinese Chicken salad. The crispy little cups are good complement to almost anything flavorful that you'd like to add an extra crunch to. The key is to eat it fresh, almost immediately once you add the filling to avoid it from becoming soggy.

The pie tee cups I made turned out beautifully. Batter consistency was perfect but I'm afraid to say, it was more of a trial-and-error method. I started by following a standard recipe which I got here, but didn't like the way the first few turned out. They were somewhat too "doughy" for me so after frying about 4-5 of those, I discarded them. I like my pie tee cups to be thin and crispy; intuitively, this meant increasing the rice flour to regular flour ratio. Whilst most recipes I came across seem to prescribe a higher amount of regular flour to rice flour, I found that a 50-50 ratio worked best for my taste. I started playing around with the ratio of the wet vs. dry ingredients until I got a batter consistency that could coat the mould on first dip, wasn't overly runny yet not too thick which would mean a less crispy shell. Unlike baking, I personally think the batter for the pie-tee shells can be rather forgiving. Apart from seasoning, there're just 3 key ingredients: all-purpose flour, rice flour and liquids. Test it by frying one or two shells first, let cool and then taste for flavor and texture. Too watery? Add more flour. Too thick? Add more liquid.

Ingredients for Pie-Tee Shells (makes ~ 60+ shells)
1 cup + 1 tbs all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tbs rice flour
1/2 cup milk (water is typically used in most recipes but I just wanted a richer flavor; you can substitute this with just water)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Vegetable oil - enough to cover the entire mould (roughly ~ 2" height)

For the filling - I opted for a fresh mix of jicama, cucumber and beansprouts
1 cucumber, skin removed and shredded thinly into ~ 1/2" long strips (a mandoline slicer Oxo Good Grips Hand-Held Mandoline Slicer
works best)
1 small jicama (I bought one that was slightly larger than the size of a grapefruit) - skin removed and shredded into ~1/2" long strips
1 1/2 cups of beansprouts, washed and scalded in hot water (~ 5 mins)
2 eggs - fried and sliced into fine, 1/2" long strips


For the home-made simple Satay Sauce:
5 shallots
1/4 of a red onion
7-8 combo of fresh red jalapenos and dried chillies (if using dried red chillies, soak in hot water for ~ 15 mins to plumb them up before using)
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 Tbs tamarind juice
2 1/2 Tbs sugar
1 cup water
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup peanuts, toasted, then ground
Optional: 1 tsp belachan (dried shrimp paste)
Oil for stir-frying

Method for the shells:
Line a flat tray with paper towels. Heat the oil in heavy-base pan
1. Whisk dry ingredients for the pie tee shells together
2. Lightly whisk the eggs with fork and add to the dry mixture
3. Add the remaining liquids and mix well until combined. The batter consistency is close to that of crepes - watery, but not overly runny and you should be able to coat the mould at first dip. This is an important detail as I learnt that double or triple-dipping the mould in the batter adds additional layers that don't contribute to a crispy shell and worse, makes it difficult to release the shell from the mould later. The batter should coat the mould evenly, slightly transparent but not to the extent of seeing through to the mould (as in holes) but it should certainly not be thick like pancake batter.



4. For the first fry, warm up the pie tee mould by dipping it into the hot oil to heat, then immediately dip into the batter to coat evenly and right back into the hot oil
5. Leave in the oil for ~ 10 seconds, then slowly, with the aid of a chopstick, dislodge the shell from the mould into the oil.

You should only need to do this for the first few fries. Once the mould is at the right temp, just a little jiggle and shake would release the moulded batter into the oil (fingers crossed!)


Another important detail: the consistency of the batter, to me, is just part of the key success factor. The oil temperature and the method by which you dip the batter are equally important!
6. Fry until the shells are golden, then remove from the frying pan into a flat tray lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil
7. Allow the shells to cool, then store in air-tight containers.

To cook the satay sauce:
Heat up oil
1. Using an electric blender or food processor, puree the shallots, onion, red chillies and garlic (plus dried shrimp paste, optional)
2. Add tamarind juice, then sugar, salt and pepper to taste
3. Stir-fry the blended mixture in the hot oil until you get a reddish, golden hue; monitor the heat level so as to avoid burning (shallots burn rather easily). This should take ~ 20-25 mins on medium to medium-low heat.
4. Add in water, stir for another 3 mins.
5. Add in the toasted peanuts, stir. Give it a taste and see if needs anymore sugar or salt.
6. Remove from heat and set aside to cool

To assemble the Pie Tee:
Start with a pie tee shell
Using a pair of chopsticks, place some shredded jicama and cucumber into the shell
Layer with some cooked beansprouts
Add a generous spoon of simple satay sauce
Top with finely sliced fried eggs
Pop the whole thing into your mouth, then enjoy the wonderful burst of flavors and texture! Personally, I love how the satay sauce provides the nutty depth and rounds up the entire bite beautifully.

Oh, another possibility - how about buttery, caramelized cinnamon apples in pie tee shells topped with fresh whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce? I think I might just try that!
Pie Tees are quite an elegant and celebratory dish. Happy Partying with Pie Tees!