Making Top Hats Or Pie Tee Shells & Other Snacks For Chinese New Year.

Two days ago, I suddenly thought of frying Top Hats or Pie Tee shells. Pie Tee snack is one of our family's favourite snacks. It has been quite a while since I last made Pie Tee snacks for the family. I checked the ingredients and found everything I needed in the refrigerator. I also found the Pie Tee metal mould tucked away in the corner of my kitchen shelf. I planned to make it yesterday morning after breakfast but somehow it got delayed till later in the afternoon.

My Top Hats or Pie Tee shells project got started around 3 pm.

The recipe is simple but to fry the shells is not so easy, especially when I am doing it alone without any helper. Frying takes a long time but it takes a jiffy to finish eating these. Some refer to these shells as Top Hats because they do look like Top Hats.

• First, prepare and mix the ingredients together to get the batter ready. 
• Heat up the cooking oil in a pot or kuali. Make sure the depth of the oil should be more or preferably 1.5 times the height of the Pie Tee mould.

• Once the oil is heated up, lower the fire to medium and heat up the Pie Tee mould. Do not overheat the mould.
• Take out the mould from the oil, let the oil drip from the mould and lightly tap the bottom of the mould  onto the kitchen paper towel to remove excess oil.
• Then dip the mould into the batter, making sure the batter is about 0.5 cm below the top of the mould.
• Lift up the mould to check and make sure the bottom of the mould is covered with batter.
• Then dip the mould into the hot oil and jiggle lightly the mould in the oil with up and down movement. The top batter will come free from the mould and spread out.
• Let it remain in the oil till the batter is firm enough to retain its shape. Then lift the mould away from the shell.
• Use a pair of bamboo chopsticks to turn the shells in the oil till they are evenly fried golden brown.
• Lift them up from the oil to drain on a metal rack and later transferred to a tray lined with kitchen paper towel to absorb excess oil.

• When cooled, place the shells in air-tight containers lined with oil absorbent sheets. 
• These Top Hats or Pie Tee shells are then filled with stir-fried Chinese Turnips (Yam bean, Jicama, sengkuang or bangkuang). The filling can be substituted with diced fruits or veggie salads, etc.

Frying Top Hats / Pie Tee Shells Video

There are other better recipes out there but meanwhile I am still using this recipe which I copied from some online source few years ago and I can't remember where exactly. I like this recipe because the shells turned out like Top Hats and easier for holding the filling.

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I have been busy making homemade CNY snacks for these 2 weeks. Just a little bit of this and that. Homemade are way much cheaper and tastier too. The following are the snacks I have made.

Nga Koo Or Arrow Head Chips

Deep Fried Crispy Arrow Heads Chips (Nga Koo). This year I bought only about 7 kg of arrow heads. Last year I bought and fried about 13 plus kg. If you are interested in the simple steps of making these chips, you can click here to read.

Meat Floss Rolls

I bought 1/2 kg of meat floss to make these meat floss rolls. I bought the spring rolls skin (5 x 5 inch square) and further cut into 4 quarters to fold these meat rolls. I usually fold these after dinner and deep freeze them until I am ready to deep fry or bake them. If you are interested to know the simple steps of making these meat floss rolls, you can click here to read.

For the past years I have deep fried them but this year I tried baking them to cut down on oil usage. I haven't found the right temperature or how to get an even golden brown but taste wise, they are crispy. Suits me fine because these are for home consumption only.  The best part is that they are not oily.

Prawn Crackers From Teluk Intan

This was a last minute decision. A friend and I bought 1 packet each these dried prawn crackers few days ago from our regular rojak shop. I sun dried them, ready for deep frying.

I broke them into shorter length before deep frying. Once deep fried, the crackers will expand in size.

Once cooled, these are kept in air tight container ready for consumption. They are usually eaten by itself. Some likes to dip it in rojak sauce or some chili sauce. 

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The following flower photos are for joining Floral Passion/Floral Bliss.

 Red Trumpet Lily Bud.

 Red Trumpet Lily Flowers.

Purple Periwinkle Flowers.

Linking To Floral Passion/Floral Bliss.

I am told you can solve all kinds of mysteries.

If you can tell me the meaning of those words,

I will clothe you in purple robes, with a gold chain around your neck,

and make you the third ruler in the kingdom.

(Daniel 5:16, The Living Bible-TLB)