Guilty Meal

I could not imagine that I am going to blog this one day. I know there is a lot of instant noodles fans out there. But for me, I never have instant noodles stock in my kitchen. Long story to tell, but in short it is mainly for health reason.

I bought XO Sauce Seafood and Kobe Beef flavour Nissin Instant Noodles(出前一丁) from Hong Kong. The one in the photo was XO Sauce Seafood flavour. For more balance diet, I had added pan fried egg, sausage, crab filamen and some lettuce. Arhhh! I was so full!

Note to myself. No more instant noodles again, at least for year 2009.

pizza

I was celebrating Winter Solstice Festival with a group of colleagues last night even tough it was supposed to be on Sunday. Anyway, it was fun cooking and finishing the food together. Besides glutinous rice ball, the main dish of the night was pizza. We made the dough, baked it and topped with our favourite food and baked it again. Thin crust pizza base spread with tomato paste, topped with salami, sausage, mushroom, black olive, capsicum, sprinkled with some herbs and black pepper, not to forget the most important mozzarella cheese. So, we had yummy pizza fresh from the oven!

Kaya 2nd Attempt

Not long after I made my 1st double boil kaya(before that I always boil directly), I made my 2nd bowl of kaya. This time it was thicker. But when I started the double boil, I didn't turn the fire small enough. The kaya was boiling when I checked it half an hour later. Sob. When can I get it right?

Btw, the photo was taken with LX3.

Coconut jam(Kaya)

In just a few year of time, Old Town kopitiam and the same concept of cafes have been expanding rapidly and spread around every corners in Malaysia. Since then, toast bread and coffee are not only for breakfast, but also lunch, dinner and tea break. So, I was tempted to make my own kaya, to be served with bread or glutinious rice.

I did it together with my mum last Sunday. We planned to make more so that my mum could bring some home. But the 10-egg recipe turned out to be a lot. Really a lot. It was like 7 times of what is in the photo. :p

Since it was a lot, I had a hard time looking for suitable cookwares to do the double boiling. All the pots had been taken out. In the middle of changing pot, we accidentally added some water to the mixture. :( Anyway, we moved on and this is the outcome.

Comment that I received was the taste and fragrant were all right, but the texture could be smoother. Not sure if it is caused by the extra water or my techniques need to be improved. :p Will make it again.

Steamboat

This will be the first post blogged from my handphone. Finally, i can blog from home, after owning a 3g phone for more than a year. My parents are here for the weekend and we just had steamboat dinner together. I didn't prepare a lot of food, fish, prawn, fish paste, crab filamen, mushrooms, bean curb, pork, chicken, vegetables and noodles. Food was good and the group was perfect. Will be going out tomorrow, so better sleep now. Good night.

Hakka Yong Tau Fu

The last time I made yong tau foo was years back when I was still in Uni. I think this dish started with bean curd stuffed with fish and pork paste. Later, it was expanded to fish ball, brinjal, lettuce, chili, lady finger, bitterground and the list goes on.

So last Saturday, I decided to have yong tau foo feast. First photo was the yong tau foo before cooked and second photo was the cooked yong tau fu in soup. The serving was for 2 person. For home made yong tau foo, I didn't need to care about the cost. So, I filled them with big spoons of paste. Satisfying...

Turkey Sandwich

I was curious what is the cost for a home made sandwich.

Continental Bakery Grain Bread RM5.50 2 pieces --> RM1.10
Turkey Breast one piece --> RM3.00
Cheese one piece --> RM1.00
Onion --> RM0.10
Boiled Egg 1/2 --> RM0.20
Lettuce --> RM0.60
Butter

RM6.00 for sandwich breakfast. Expensive or cheap?

Fish Noddles Soup

Last night, my dad suggested to have dinner at Sauk, Perak(a small village not far Kuala Kangsar) which is famous for freshwater fish. view map The freshwater fish and other dishes were great. But I am not going to blog about the dinner.

Instead, I bought some fish balls and fish paste from the same restaurant we had dinner. According to the restaurant owner, the fish balls and fish paste were preservative free and therefore could not last long. So this morning, I boiled them in anchovies soup and topped with some garlic oil. The egg noodles was from Ho To Tai, Hong Kong.

It cheered up my day! :)

Golden Crispy Fish

For many years, I had the wrong perception that only big fish(more than 1/2kg) taste good. In my memory, small fish had less meat and lots of bone. And I was wrong, so wrong! It was one day when I had the opportunity to try this dish. And, it had totally changed my perception! The fish was so crispy outside, the meat was so sweet and the texture was indescribable good!

Two nights ago, I wiped the fish with some sea salt and fried it for my 3-dishes dinner. This dish was so simple but then it was the most outstanding dish. By then, I know I will cook this dish again and again.

Btw, anyone recognise the fish? Please tell me if you know the name of the fish.

Ginger Milk Curd 姜汁撞奶

I was always curious how did the ginger milk curd theory work. When hot milk was poured into ginger juice, the mixture solidified in minutes. Later I found out that it was the protease in the ginger reacted with the protein in the milk and formed the milk curd. I adjusted the recipe a few times and this is my version:

1. Prepare 1 tbsp of OLD ginger juice in a bowl.
2. Slowly heat up 150ml HIGH PROTEIN fresh milk with 1 tsp of sugar until bubbles aside.
3. Pour the milk into the ginger at certain height.
4. Leave aside for 5 minutes and it is ready to be served.

It is considered success if you place a spoon on it and the spoon stay on top.

Prawn Fritter

There was this Yonex Japan Open, followed by Macau Open last weekend.
Live started from 2pm and ended around 5pm.
I do not have a habit of enjoying snack in front of the TV.
Of course, I won't say no to it.
Another reason was I wanted to clear my refrigerator stocks before my trip.
I had a small box of prawn, half chicken, fish and etc.
A plate of all-time favourite prawn fritter and a pot of chinese tea would be a good choice.

I bought this tempura flour from Tesco.
Mixed with water and added in some salt and pepper, and the batter was ready.
Wasn't it simple?



Finished it in no time as it was so crispy, hot and nice.

Red Bean Soup

A breakthrough for me.

Before this, my red bean will be slightly mushy after slow cook for just 1.5 hours. Until one day I bought the red bean from one of the shop near my house. I used to buy from Jusco. The red bean was still hard after 1.5 hours. So, I let it continue for another 1.5 hours. It turned out to be perfect. The red bean was very soft but still in good shape.

And, I received comment saying that it was the best red bean soup that I had ever cooked. I think it was the different type of red bean. I must go and buy more stock from that shop.

Steamed Crab

What is the advantage of having crabs at home? Cracking and peeling off the crab shells is challenging task and it might make you look clumsy. So, by having it on your own dining table, you can take your own sweet time to finish the whole crab.

This time I did not cook my usual Sweet and Sour Crab, instead I steamed the Crabs with ginger and ShaoXing Wine.

Taiwan Egg Pancake

As promised, I will post about my second breakfast learnt from 小小米桶.

Not bad. The taste was similar to local pancake and a bit like roti telur.
But I think the pancake was way too thick though I used a lot of pork floss to compensate it.
Drink suggestion is soya bean.

I still have half pack of pork floss left. Will make improvement next time.

Updated:
I made this breakfast again this morning, pork floss and cheese pancake. This round, I made a thinner pancake skin. Taste a lot better than last time! :)

Banana Toast

First, I had to admit that I got this breakfast recipe from 小小米桶. She posted 25 selected breakfasts and they are very tempting. I marked down 2 recipes to be tried last weekend.

The good thing about this recipe is the ingredients can be easily found.
And, I do not need to wake up early as it is very simple to prepare this breakfast.
The bread was pan-fried with eggs and milk while the banana was pan-fried with sugar and butter. Drink suggestion is orange juice.

If you like banana, you will like this banana toast.

Will post the other one tomorrow.

Curry Pork Rib with Potato

I was craving for curry last Sunday.
So, I cooked this curry pork rib with potato and served with fried bihun.
When I called my mum and told her about my delicious curry, she commented.
"I think no one add potato in curry pork rib."
Oh ya, then suddenly I recalled.
Only have curry chicken with potato, but there is no curry pork rib with potato.
But why?

Resident Inn's breakfast

When I wanted to take out my camera from my hand bag, it was not there.
Again, I left it on my office desk.
So, I had no choice but to take photos with my handphone.

I learnt to eat Quaker Oatmeal during my stay in Resident Inn, US.
It is a very healthy breakfast that I want to share with everyone.
Oats contain soluble fiber that binds with and helps remove some of the cholesterol which can clog your arteries and lead to heart disease.
So, why are you still waiting?
Hurry to the hypermarket nearby and grab yourself a pack of Quaker Oatmeal. :)

I prefer the Quaker QuickCook compare to the Quaker Instant even though I need to spend more time cooking the oat.
And, I like to prepare it the way I had it in US.
Fresh milk, brown sugar, raisin, walnut and banana.

Ginger Chicken Misua Soup

(It was a rainy night.)
Handmade misua + farm chicken + ginger + farm egg = D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S

Happy Mooncake Festival to everyone

I will keep this at the first page until Mooncake Festival.
Any updates from now until then will be posted before this post.
....if there is any.
Tied up with works now.

I love baby

This is a dish with baby potato. I am always tempted to buy anything start with baby, baby carot, baby spinach and now baby potato. To me, baby means more tender and soft.

A simple pan-fried baby potato with garlic and fresh white button mushroom. No special seasoning was required, just some sea salt and freshly grounded black pepper. Suitable as side dish, appetizer or standalone dish.

Marie Biscuit Chocolate Cake

Can you make a cake without a mixer and an oven?
Here is an example, Marie Biscuit Chocolate Cake, also known as Batik Cake.
There is no beating or baking needed in making this cake.
So you do not need to invest a mixer/oven if you do not have one.

Ingredients:
500g Marie Biscuit(break into half piece)
250g Butter
1/2 cup condensed milk
4 spoons of Cocoa/Milo powder
4 eggs

Directions:
1. Melt and Stir all the ingredients except Marie Biscuit over slow heat.
2. When it becomes thick, mix well with Marie Biscuit.
3. Pour into a 9' square cake tray and press down firmly.
4. Refrigerate for more than 4 hours.

You definitely can make the batik pattern better than me. :)

Celebrating Merdeka

Last Sunday was Malaysia National Day and the holiday replacement was on Monday. I was lazy to cook when it came to holiday.
Imagine you need to spend hours in the kitchen while the rest is having fun in the living room. Or imagine after one whole day of outing, you still need to drag your tired body to the kitchen.
So, I bought a big piece of unagi from jusco, Qb. Steamed it and served it with japanese rice.

Since it didn't take me long to prepare the dinner, I had also prepared this delicious ice-cream dessert.
Nothing rounds off a good meal better than dessert.
2 big scoops of ice-cream in espresso and Sheridan's Original Irish Coffee Liquor.

Happy Merdeka!

Fried Bread with Egg

One of my simple but delicious breakfast.
Spread Golden Churn butter on both side of the bread.
Then dip the bread with egg and pan-fry it.
Serve with St Dalfour Fruit Spread.
Salty, Sweet and Sour. Just nice.

Mum's Carrot Cake

I can still remember that my mum likes to make this carrot cake for me to bring back to KL years ago. And now that I am in Penang, my mum still like to have me bringing back her home made carrot cake.

The carrot cake, with lots of peeled carot and chopped walnut does not taste as sweet as other cakes. My mum also stress that this recipe uses only 3 eggs, which mean less cholesterol. But don't think that it is healthy then it does not taste good. I love it! It is very moist and flavorful.

Thank you, Mum!

Bird's Nest Soup

Few years ago, I had received this forwarded email saying that we might be eating bleached bird's nest. It is definitely not very smart to pay for bird's nest that comes with extra chemicals. Therefore, I had stopped eating bird's nest.

Recently, one of my friend has started the bird's nest business. She is selling the processed house bird's nest with no addictive or bleaching. Since now I can get it from a reliable source, I decided to give it a try.

Nest piece before cooked


First, soak the bird's nest with warm water for half an hour. Then simmer the bird's nest with water in a ceramic pot for one and a half hour. Add rock sugar to taste. Take it right before sleep with empty stomach to get the best result.

my bowl of bird's nest

Steamed Rice Roll with mushroom sauce

I am getting more and more demanding for breakfast.
For a working day breakfast, I had steamed rice roll aka chee cheong fun or 猪肠粉.(If you still do not understand, I give up. Please refer to the photo below).
Steamed rice roll with mushroom sauce, sprinkled with some fried shallots and sesame.
Consequence was I rushed to work with a full stomach that morning.

Longan Walnut Muffin

Last Jusco Day, I finally bought a new Kenwood Oven MO690 for myself. Since then, i always get concerns from colleagues and friends on what I am going to make with the oven.

After 20 days of brainstorming, I decided to start my first experiment with muffin. I like muffin, or to be more precise muffin size. The size of a muffin is just nice for one person's breakfast or tea break. But the real reason is muffin can be easily made in 3 simple steps, mix, pour and bake. Just that simple!

So, this morning I was having something different for breakfast, a freshly baked Longan Walnut Muffin. I had passed to a few colleagues thus will leave for them to comment if they want to.

I am so sorry if you read this and you didn't get it from me. I only managed to make one tray before I came to work. Please leave me a comment and I shall put you in my next list.

Black Pomfret and Eggplant

Spent an hour to cook a 3 dishes dinner and pretty happy with the result.
pretty happy with the result = nothing went wrong
I noticed that my dining area is too dim for taking photos.
So, this time I opened all the curtains and switched on all the lights when I took the photo. Any better?


Eggplant in Fish Sauce



black pomfret in 3 sauces

I didn't capture the other dish which was just an ordinary stir fry vege.

Croissant Sandwich

When the first Delifrance opened in Kinta City Ipoh years ago, that was my first time tasting a croissant sandwich. I love buttered layers of yeast dough and croissant is one of them. You can have a wide variety of fillings for selection. And, most important you can easily make a balance diet combination.

My version of Croissant Sandwich: vege, ham and cheese. But I don't like the mustard that I bought last night. Anyone has any good recipe with mustard?

Olympics Fever

I have become a couch potato since the olympics opening.
So I have to cook with minimum time.
Was having prawn fried rice while watching women volleyball game china vs holland last night.



Dessert for the night was white gourd and longan dessert.
Good for olympics time when you don't get enough sleep.

Chinese Spinach in Superior Stock

My favourite order when I dine in a chinese restaurant.

Get the baby spinach if available, don't use the normal one. I bought the wrong one at first, when I saw the baby spinach at the next stall, I bought it again.

First, fry the garlic slices until it is fragrant. Then, pour in 1-2 cups of chicken stock(slow cook 1/2 chicken with 1.5 litres of water for 2 hours). When the chicken stock is boiled, put in the spinach and cook for a while. Finally, add in the century egg cubes. Top with some fried white bait when served.

**You can keep the remaining chicken stock in freezer and it can last for weeks.***

Century Egg and Lean Pork Congee

I am sick and congee is the best choice.

Black Glutinuos Rice Porridge

Chinese food therapy believes that black glutinuos rice(or black sticky rice) is good for kidney. In fact, most of the cantonese tong sui is believed to have certain medicinal effects. But unlike some of the bitter chinese medicines, these desserts are so sweet and nourishing that it's hard for me I to link them together with medicine. I always like to have one bowl for evening break or supper.

How can one resist a bowl of black glutinuos rice porridge served with thick coconut milk?

When Taiwan and Hong Kong meet

This is a very famous snack in taiwan night market. The chicken cube was marinated overnight, coated with cream crackers and then fried together with fresh Sweet Basil leaves. Yes, the secret of this dish were the Basil leaves. It gave a very unique fragrant to the fried chicken.





What about a cup of hong kong honey lemon drink after the fried chicken? Lemon has vitamin C and honey has many benefits! First, I started with hot honey lemon drink. When I was left with half cup, I added some ice and enjoyed the iced honey lemon drink. And, it was not the end yet. Can you see the lemon slice? I poured some water and had lemon water, few rounds.

Taiwan Fried Chicken with Herb and Hong Kong Honey Lemon drink. Happy gathering.

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage

Announcement: This is not another dish cooked with left-over ingredients, ok. Even tough it could be, but this time it was my plan. I missed fried rice.

Cooking a plate of fried rice is not difficult, but then cooking a plate of tasty fried rice is not easy too. Most challenging part is the fried rice must be dry but not hard, aromatic but not oily. Serve when it is still piping hot.

Hong Kong Style Steamed Pomfret

This is a very common dish in chinese restaurants. Whenever I serve this steamed fish, I will get very good feedbacks.

Tips sharing:
1. A fresh and fully defrosted fish is a must.
2. Marinate the fish with 1 tbsp of garlic oil and 2 tbsp of soya sauce.
3. Only place the fish after the water is boiled.
4. Do not overcook the fish. Steam it with maximum fire for 8 mins.
5. Garnish with chinese parsley and carot
**** Adjust the seasoning quantity and cooking time according the fish size****

Give it a try and tell me how you like it!

Tuna Mayo Sandwich

I woke up unusually early this morning.
So, I had enough time to make this tuna mayo sandwich.
It is so simple. There is no way one can fail in making this sandwich.
Be it a triangle sandwich or finger sandwich, it tastes as good as it looks.

Stir Fried Noodles

when you have left-over ingredients in refrigerator......
I had button mushroom, ham, cabbage, bell pepper and egg.

Durian Rice

I didn't believe that durian and rice are good combination until I tried it.
The best rice is glutinuos rice that mixed with fresh coconut milk and pinch of salt.

Penang Sytle Braised Pork

Bought a nice, big piece of 3-layered pork from the market.
It was turned into penang style braised pork that night.
The two other less oily dishes are blanched vege and steamed fish.

Hot Dog Breakfast Set

Hot Dog bun, crispy hash brown, mashed potatoes,vege and tomato for a Sunday Brunch
Served together with hot mocha drink.