My Kitchen To Yours

Episode 705 - Funny Menu

2011-04-14T14:41:00.003+08:00

Wherever you guys go, if you guys come across a menu as shown below, do run away quick.. This is hilarious.. Taken by someone in China posted on engrish.com

If you can't read it, the Menu reads, from top to bottom: Rich & honored whole chickenses, Beer duck, Chicken fish rabbit, Broken tile fish, The adopted mother returns to a pot of fish, Tomato fillet, River water cooks river water fish, Ming Jiang's river fish, Lead river's chicken, Gingko smothered chicken, Graspses Mutton & The milk soup is Muttony.

However, "The adopted mother returns to a pot of fish" sounds really good!

Episdoe 704 - Mango Sambal

2011-02-24T12:39:00.001+08:00

This I got to share with all of you. My Dad brought it home from work and it is the Bomb! Basically, it's an appetizer enjoyed by most Malays and it has a sweet, sour and spicy taste to it. It's great with plain steamed rice, eaten as it is and also with fresh vegetables like Cucumber.

I don't know how to make it yet but for those 'sambal' (usually made of chillies, tons of red onions, garlic & belacan - fermented prawn paste) and mango fans, here's one to go crazy on!

Mango "Sambal"
A perfect Condiment of Mangoes & Spicy Thai Chillies

Episode 703 - New Year Treats : Prawn Crackers & Acar

2011-02-11T13:12:00.003+08:00

No Chinese New Year can live without the scrumptious deep fried prawn "klopok" & the sweet and sour "Aca" (pickled vege of cucumber, carrots, dried prawns, garlic, shallots etc sundried and pickled up with chillis, sugar and mostly vinegar).

Here's for you to drool on.

Prawn Crackers

"Acar"

Episode 702 - Crabstick Mango Salad

2011-02-11T12:42:00.004+08:00

There's just something about the goodness of Mayo! Although it can be a lil fattening but you just can't deny the taste it gives to compliment your salads or sushi rolls! I came up with this recipe when I ate this particular dish at Kaizen Restaurant (I don't remember the name of the dish but...). 4 simple ingredients with a totally delicious outcome.

Crabstick Mango Salad

Ingredients: 1 ripe Mango; flesh cut into small cubes, 1 packet of Crabsticks; defrosted, cooked for 3 minutes in hot boiling water; torn into strips, Half a carrot; shredded, 3 big blobs of Mayo

Method: Mix all ingredients well and refrigerate.

Serves : 3 and goes well with shredded Salad leaves.

Episode 701 - New Year Treats - The Greatness of Frozen Puff Pastry

2011-02-09T20:30:00.009+08:00

GONG XI FA CHAI! A Happy New Year 2011 and a Super Xin Nien Quai Le to all out there! It has been 4 months since I last blogged but I have great great new recipes to spice up your kitchen this year! I'll start of with a little new found glory called the 'puff pastry'! And have cooked up 2 very straight forward recipes for you all to try on!

Apple Cinnamon Puffs

Ingredients: 1 sheet of Pampas Puff Pastry; cut into 6 equal pieces, A few tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, 1 sweet Apple; sliced into wedges & core taken out, 2 tbspns of Cinnamon Powder, 1 1/2 cup of soft brown sugar, 1/2 juice of lemon, A pinch of nutmeg

Method:
Marinade the apples with the cinnamon, lemon, 1 cup of sugar & nutmeg. Set aside and ready the pastries.

Brush the melted butter onto 1 piece of the puff pastry and place another on top. Repeat with the other 2 so you have 3 pcs of puff pastries now. Place pastries on a baking tray (brushed base of tray with butter), 1 inch or more from another to allow space for puffing up. Place a few pieces of marinated apples onto the middle of the pastries and drizzle a tablespoon of sugar on top before putting in the preheated oven for around 25-30 minutes at gas no. 7. Puffs are ready when the pastries puffs up into a golden brown colour. Serves 3 with a scoop of Vanilla icecream and drizzle the leftover juice from the marinade!

Tuna & Spicy Sardine Stuffed Puffs

Ingredients: Pampas Puff Pastries (1 sheet makes 3 puffs); cut into 3 pieces 1 egg; beaten

For Tuna filling (All ingredients to be mixed well): 1 can Tuna Flakes; drained with a little left behind, 5 blobs of mayonnaise, A pinch of Pepper, 1 tbspn dried Parsley

For Spicy Sardine filling (All ingredients to be mixed well): 1 large can of Sardine in Tomato Sauce; drained with a little left behind & mashed ,1 large Onion; chopped ,1 tbspn dried Parsley, 1 Hot Chilli; chopped, 2 tbspns of Chilli Sauce/ A few dashes of Tobasco Sauce, A pinch of salt & Pepper, 1 teaspoon of soft brown sugar

Method: Mix each type of filling well and place around 2 tablespoons of filling onto the middle of one side of the pastry. Fold the other side on top and press the 3 sides down (it should look like a pillow now) and use a fork to crimp the sides. Brush the top with egg wash and bake in the over for 25 minutes at gas no. 7-8 until puffs turn golden. Make sure to butter up your baking tray. Serves: a party if you use up all pastries. Serves best warm with a lil mayo or chilli on the side.

Pampas' puff pastries come in 6 sheets per pack. It only takes 10 minutes to defrost and you can whip up your puffy goodness in no time! So get one at Supasave now at around $7.90 per pack.

Episode 612 - Break for the busy year end

2010-10-08T19:07:00.004+08:00

Hi guys! I'm so sorry for not updating my blog since a month plus ago. Super busy and tired since Ramadhan up till the end of Syawal. So I'm posting up my last "Episode" for the year or maybe I'll come back soon with more food mania! I'm taking a break for now and will definitely come back with something fresh and new and probably some of the old school stuff!

So thanks for your support and will definitely see you soon!

Take care.

And ya, the above pic is of my fav type of pizza. Quarterly Stagioni preferably with Salmon XoD

Much love,
NH
Food Enthusiast
My Kitchen To Yours

Episode 611 - MUST GET! Flava of the Century...

2010-08-31T19:22:00.002+08:00

BEN & JERRY's STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

Eat with fresh fruits or top your waffle with it, it's just as good if you it out from the tub! YUMS! TO DIE FOR!!

Episode 610 - Prawn & Vege Fritters

2010-08-16T20:15:00.003+08:00

Cucur udang with vegetables. This recipe I curi curi abit from the Cucur I bought at the tamu the other day which I mentioned in my previous post. Practically just dump all the ingredients in and deep fry until golden.

Ingredients: 15 prawns - deviened, shells off & cut into half or leave as it is (up to you) 1/4 cabbage - cut thinly 1/2 stick carrot - cut thinly in strips 1 large onion - sliced thinly 1 chilli - chopped 1 handful of fresh parsley - chopped 1 egg 1 1/2 cups Hong Kong flour Salt & Pepper 1 tbspn Chicken Stock powder 1 cup Water

Method: Mix everything in a large bowl. Batter should not be watery but slightly runny. Or you can swap the back of your spoon dipped in the batter and the batter should not come back together so quickly. Can add flour and water of it is not in a correct consistency. Heat up oil in a deep fryer and take a large spoon (use a ladder) and slowly slide in the batter in the fryer. Flip when its golden.

Serves around 6-8. Enjoy with sweet chilli sauce or mayonnaise. Serve while still warm!

Episode 609 - The Amazingness of the 'Kurma' or Dates

2010-08-16T19:52:00.005+08:00

This years Kurnia from HM was by far the best I've ever had. Every year during Ramadhan, Muslim families have the privilege to get Kurmas packed in containers. One for every member of the family. It is said that Kurmas have high energy content and is good for one who fasts during Ramadhan. And that is a fact! I had a few Kurmas and 2 cups of water for Sahur and it was a great miracle that I wasn't as hungry on days which I 'Sahur-ed' with rice or noodles! Plus, you won't have to go back to bed with a blotted stomach. And dates are actually one of the best food to take when breaking fast. It has several other benefits such as containing high dietary fibre and natural sugars, all the sweetness you need for the day. Reportedly, one kilogram of dates contains nearly 3,000 calories which enough to supply the minimum daily requirements of an active man for one full day. But seriously, don't take a kilo of dates. Just take a few and you can see and feel the difference!

So, go get a date!

Episode 608 - 'Bayam' Crisps

2010-08-14T19:34:00.004+08:00

Went to the gerai Ramadhan just now at Wisma Yakin and came across a lady who's selling crisps, acar and some other stuff which others don't usually sell then I saw this leafy like 'keropok' and asked what is it. She said that they're Keropok Bayam. Spinach leaves deep fried in a light batter and Viola! Bayam Crisps! So I tried it out just now and it's actually pretty tasty! Has a very unique taste to it, a greeny taste but surely crunchy and really good! If you do come across it, you should try it out. Or maybe try and experiment and deep fry some Spinach leaves if you do have a bunch at home. Rich in Vitamin A and I think if you eat a lot, you'd grow some muscles like Popeye ;oD

Here's how it looks like. I kinda broke it into smaller pieces because they couldn't fit the jar. They're quite huge actually.

Coming Soon In Kitchens Near You...

2010-08-14T12:54:00.005+08:00

Chicken Curry with Potatoes, Prawn
& Vege Fritters & Smoked Oysters with Scrambled Egg

Episode 607 - BBQ at Babe M/ MT's Advance B'day

2010-08-13T16:38:00.009+08:00

Had a ball for MT's B'day and a lil BBQ at Babe M's! They grilled King Prawns, Lamb, Sausages, Buffalo wings and also made Vege Egg rolls served with mayo! Yum berabis! I kinda regretted not eating the lamb!!!! Mannnnnn... I was so full with all the rolls.. But Happy Birthday MT (He's the one in blue!!) Great to catch up with you guys although a particular Babe SZ aeroplaned us! And oh ya, Babe M's parents make the best cheese cakes!! We had Boston Cheesecake that night and it was superfab!

From Top to Bottom: MT being Cool blowing his candle off the cake (Happy 1 Yr, dude LOL), BBQed Wings & Sausages & the super yummy popias!

Episode 606 - Choco & Sugar Snow Donuts

2010-08-13T14:50:00.010+08:00

This is a great treat for Sungkai or even just for parties. Children loves this! Well, actually the adults would love them too. Anyone whose got a sweet tooth sure would go crazy on these. It's really straight forward as I'm using the ready made Donut mix but just add a lil bit of magic and it'll just like be of your own creation!

Choco & Sugary Snow Donuts

Ingredients: 1 Packet of Ready Mix Donut Flour 1 cup Icing Sugar 1 Large Bar of Cadbury Milk Chocolate 1 tbspn Unsalted butter 1/3 cup of Hundreds & Thousands Cooking Oil

Method: Ready the donut dough as instructed on packet. Set aside and let the dough rise. After, knead and use a rolling pin and roll the dough and use a donut ring cutter to cut out as many donuts as you can. Deep fry until both sides are golden. Double broil Chocolate bar with the butter. Stir until melted. Dip one side of donuts with the chocolate and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands on top. As for Sugar Snow donuts. While donuts are still warm, place donuts in a bowl of icing sugar and make sure that all is covered.

Serve after cooled in room temperature.

*Tips*: You may also top your donuts with crushed nuts or sliced almonds with the chocolate. Or for a sugary glaze, mix some icing sugar with a lil bit of food colouring & warm water and drizzle all over the donuts. Left over donut dough can be rolled into small balls and made into little donut balls.

Episode 605 - 'Perayaan' In Conjunction of HM's 64th B'day

2010-08-12T12:39:00.011+08:00

Truthfully, I have been procrastinating on updating my blog. Mostly cos I've been tied up with work and been quite tired and mostly cos I'm lazy and that my social life has been quite active. But I have found my new glory! I got my hands on a Canon 550D! So all the pics on future posts including this one will be from the magic of my dear 550D! Still trying to work on how to use it. Alright, let's get back to food!! Past month has been makan only for me. That includes at the 'Perayaan' which happens yearly in celebration for HM's birthday. Took a few pics after work and just trying to show you this 'gerai' which sells very nice 'Cucur Sayur'!

From Top to Bottom: The really 'nyaman' Cucur Sayur, Different concoction of drinks ranging from ice Milo to chilled Coconut Juice, 'Salai' Fish & Chicken Wings, Stuffed Calamari & 'Sotong Tumbuk'

YuMsss~~

Episode 604 - Sweet Breadfruit Crisps

2010-06-28T20:18:00.005+08:00

Sugary Sukun Crisps

I think these just taste yummy! Babe LY gave me not 1 but 2 breadfruits! They're called 'Sukun' in Malay/Chinese btw. A very thick, starchy and powdery texture but it has a rich taste to it. Something similar to a potato. But the fruit actually looks like some sort of a Jackfruit only with a smoother skin.

Anyway, I cut the Sukun in half and strip down the skin and sliced the sukun thinly, pretty much around 2 inch of length and wide. I only cooked half of it as a whole sukun can practically feed the entire Jon and Kate Plus 8. See below for further instructions. And yes, be sure to cut the core out.

Ingredients: Half of a Sukun; cut thinly (should look like diamond shaped pieces), Lots of Sugar, Salt, 5 cups of Cooking Oil; to be heated in a deep fryer with a large fire

Method: Deep fry the breadfruit cuts for around 10 minutes or until light golden. Remove and place in a large bowl. Scatter sugar all over. The more sugar the better. I reckon I used around 1 1/2 cups of sugar and a tablespoon of salt. Use both hands to mix, make sure the sugar adheres to the fried pieces.

Heat a pan and place 2 tablespoons of oil and stir fry the breadfruit pieces with the sugar and salt together. Add more sugar. Make sure this is done on low heat as the sugar may start to caramelise. Keep on stirring until most parts of the breadfruit are covered with sugar syrup like texture.

Remove and place on a plate to cool. At this point you should also sprinkle some sugar on top and mix with your hands once more before letting it cool. The heat from the crisps would melt the sugar away.

Makes a large jar (Horlick one). Make sure to try this cos I can't stop munching on them! Oh ya, you might get sap from cutting the sukun skin and it may create a sticky like thingy on your knife. Don't panic, just rub some oil on the knife and sponge it off with washing detergent and you should be good! Also, use a thin knife as it cuts through the Sukun much easier.

Episode 603 - Cheesy Chicken Chop & Sweet Potato Soup

2010-06-27T17:09:00.009+08:00

Hi all, been so busy that I have no time to update but more like too tired to update. Two recipes that I've been meaning to put up. Pretty simple in preparation just takes a bit of time to cook and all. A great combination for a Western style dinner and a very delicious one too! Haven't been out and about to places, just went to Al Fresco, Miri to have the fish umai last Friday and it was still da Bomb! My egg Omellete came soooo late that by the time it came, I was pretty much full from the tit bits and munchies of Honey wings with sesame and the Umai. Oh well, regardless had great time with the girls and such a good laugh. Just the right thing to do after a real hectic week.

So here goes...

Cheesy Chicken Chop

Ingredients: Whole Chicken breast; cut into 4-6 pieces (thicker pieces to be sliced into the middle & half it) & marinated with salt & pepper (leave aside for 1/2 hour),
A: 150g of Bread Crumbs 50g of grated Parmesan Cheese 50g of Grated Romano Cheese,
1 egg; beaten

Method: Mix all of A up and place onto a dish. Place the beaten egg into a deep dish too and take a piece of the chicken breast and dip it into the egg. Make sure the meat is thoroughly covered with egg, then cover it up with ingredients in A. Should also make sure that it's nicely covered with the crumbs and cheese. Repeat until all chicken pieces are used up. Preheat a non-stick pan and place a few tablespoons of olive oil. Pan fry the chicken breasts until they turn golden brown and turn and do the same. Should take around 3 minutes on each side.

Serves: 5 - 6

Serve with fresh crunchy garden salad and a slice of lemon.

Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients: A: 1 litre of Water 200g of Chicken bones 150g of Sweet Potatoes; cut into cubes 1 medium sized carrot; cut into cubes 1 cube of Knorr Chicken Stock
B: 1/2 cup of cream or milk 3 tablespoons of Cream Cheese
C: 2 large Onions - sliced thinly & 1 Garlic - finely chopped

Method: Boil A up in a pot until potatoes & carrots are cooked through. While waiting for A to cook, soften the onions & garlic in a pan with a few tablespoon of olive oil. Should be done on low heat until onions becomes transparent. This will take a bit of time to be done. When both are done, sieve A up and place only the sweet potatoes and carrots in a blender and dump in the onions & garlic. In other words, remove the chicken bones. Put 2 cups of the chicken stock into the blender and blend everything up until smooth. Pour the blended ingredients back into the pot with the rest of the chicken stock. Pour in the milk or cream, cheese and some salt and pepper to taste. Stir and bring to boil. You can also add a few dashes of dried parsley.

Serves: 4

I hope that you try these out cos I bet they'll blow your mind off.
Cook with your heart. It tastes so much better!
See you in the next post :)

Episode 602 - Bobby Chinn @ HalalExpo & Chicken Wanton with Ginger Dip

2010-06-09T21:01:00.012+08:00

Definitely framing this up! I look Super Cina in this pic man. Apparently we are "enthusiastic" fans with Internationally renowned Celebrity Chef Bobby Chinn
-Borneo Bulletin, 5th June

I had a Super exciting weekend! I personally met Celebrity Chef Bobby Chinn last Friday at the HalalExpo, ICC , Berakas! It was surreal that he just stood right in front of me. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears when I approached him, shook his hand and asked for an autograph. That reminds me, still have my Wild Wild East book with Dina hmmm Hope she did'nt sell it on e-bay. Ok, back to the HalalExpo. This is his second time in Brunei doing a demo show for HalalExpo and it was actually abit disappointing at the beginning because he had to wait for people to crowd up and actually start the show. Finally after an hour or so, the room warmed up and the show started. He was really funny and sarcastic. Kept on teasing about the lousy knife they had for him and that dude from RBC in the crowd who had his own idea of cooking. But all in all it was such a great experience and I was so damn lucky to be part of that event. It even earned my friends and I the front page news on our local paper the following Saturday. Groupies for the Chef. Wait, correction, more like Supermodels for the Chef.

Next, a lil recipe my mum and I whipped up. We make this once a while as it needs quite abit of time to prepare. Just devote some time in the evening and you can enjoy this for breakfast the next day.

Chicken Wantons with Ginger Dipping Sauce

Ingredients: 1 packet Wanton Skin (Round or Square shaped) A: 400g of minced Chicken 50g of Carrot; diced 50g of Water Chestnut; diced 50 g of Shitake Mushrooms; diced 2 tbspns Sesame Oil 2 tbspns Light Soya Sauce A pinch of salt & pepper B: (Dipping Sauce) Ginger; thinly shredded 1/2 cup light soya sauce 1/4 cup of Rice Vinegar

Method: Mix all ingredients A well. Spread a Wanton skin on the palm of your hand, take a tablespoon of the meat filling and place it at one side of the Wanton skin. Fold the other side over and seal it by pinching the sides. Repeat until all skins are used up.

Boil a pot of water and place the wantons into the boiled water until they float up. using a strainer, pick up the cooked wantons and place it in a lightly oiled dish.

Mix ingredients B and serve with the Wantons.

Serves: 5

*Tip*: Do not place so much filling as it might not get cooked. You can also panfry the cooked wanton until it is a lil brown on the sides and serve with the same sauce. After boiling, drizzle a little more oil on top to avoid the Wantons from sticking with each other. Serves really well with Noodles and a hot bowl of soup.

Episode 601 - Happy Birthday Daddy & Dinner @ Charcoal, BBQ & Grill

2010-05-31T11:37:00.005+08:00

Happy Belated birthday, Daddy dearest! Celebrated his 54th birthday last Wednesday and we had Dim Sum from 11 Degrees Sports Cafe, Sutera Biru Hotel, Kuala Belait. They serve Halal Dimsum and they serve pretty good Dim Sum too! I mean, it's not as good as Dynasty's but can eat la~ Had the Siu Mai, Fried Carrot Cake (my favourite!), Prawn Salad, Yam Ko', Vege Popiahs, steamed chicken (supposedly with shark fin but I ain't seen any shark fin on that) and some fish balls. Pretty filling cos you know when you eat several small dishes, they just fill your tummy up easily but funny you can get hungry fast. Then we had cake from Mum Bakery. Chocolate Royale Cheesecake. I am very sure that this is one of the best cakes they have. Soft sponge chocolate cake layered with light cream cheese. Such a great combo! Mmmmm delish!

Fried Carrot Cake - Which part of it is carrot? hmmm..

Next, caught the Prince of Persia Sands of Time movie at the Empire. Pretty good movie as it was action packed and I love the effects where they kind of slow mo on some of the scenes when he jumps off from one building to another. Really great acting from Jake Gyllenhall though! Surprised me as he kinda gave me a stigma from the movie Brokeback Mountain! But seriously, anyone who could play out as a Homosexual lover can make any movie a hit! And the lines were pretty humorous too! A total must see movie of the year! Can't wait for all the upcoming Summer movies! Ok, enough about movies. After the movie, I went for steak at Charcoal BBQ & Grill. Asked the waiter what is the best lamb steak they have and he recommended the Mint & Pineapple Lamb. Cooked to perfection, I loved the taste. Complimented with the sizzling sauce and 2 side dishes. I couldn't finish the whole thing! My friends had the Piri-Piri Chicken, Sirloin Steak, Half a grilled Chicken and "appertisers" we all had Oyster mushrooms deep fried with a coating of batter, Mushroom soup, Calamari rings and the best one was the Salmon Crepe! - Sweet & salty sheets of Smoked Salmon wrapped in a thin crepe with some mayo/ creame freche! So freaking good! Didn't have my digi camera with me so I used my handphone. Blurry pics but better than nothing :) Which makes me think that I should get a bloody SLR!

From top to Bottom: My Mint & Pineapple Grilled Lamb, Half a grilled Chicken, Salmon with Mango Dressing Salad, d very nyaman/da-bomb four seasons (mixture of mango juice & several other fruit juices blended) & Salmon Crepe

Episode 521 - Two Delish Treats for the day! - Supasave's Beef Kebab & Bakerlyn's Caramel Sticks

2010-05-24T18:24:00.007+08:00

Energy day, have you done your part? Well, I didn't get to pledge online but I did try as hard to save lotsa energy today by switching off any unused electric things. But I did hear that we didn't do well to save energy! Only a somewhat 1+% lower than the average Monday! That is really sad though. However, I want to share with you all 2 treats I had today! First is the Serikandi Express Beef Kebab (basically half of a pita bread, stuffed with savoury cooked meat & vege in the mid) I bought from Supasave, Panaga. Best kebab I've tasted but I do wish they put a lil bit more mayo hehe. Costs at BND2.20 a piece, the price is so-so but wished it was a bit cheaper too. Then again, quality is more important right? Next are the Caramel Sticks (price unavailable) from Bakerlyn Bakery, Qlap, BSB. Practically these are just buttery puff pastry cut into strips, twisted and embellished with lots of sugar! They are so darn yummy!!!!

Beef Kebab @ Supasave, Panaga. Doesn't look as appealing but trust me, it is slurpies!

Caramel Sticks @ Bakerlyn, Qlap

Well, that's all. Just wanted to share a lil something-something for those of you who got the blues on Mondays *ergh*. Will be catering for Viv's birthday on Wednesday so I'm going to cook Nasi Briyani and make Potato Egg Salad. Wait for the Briyani recipe. An easy dish made out of instant packets.

See you then!

Episode 520 - The Perfect Egg Sandwich

2010-05-22T13:51:00.007+08:00

Eggs! Babe LY's favourite! I don't think anyone can hate eggs! Eat it with your Indomee or cook it with vege, dump it in your soup, make cakes with it, mash it, boil it, poach it, it all taste as good! You can never go wrong with eggs.

I discovered this recipe during my Uni days where Babe LY's mum would make a container of this egg sandwich mix and LY will be chomping her way to heaven. I knew it was really precious to her but regardless I didn't decline her offer! And my God, was it a damn good egg sandwich mix. Ok, not nearly the same but similarly close to the real recipe, this is my own blend of the perfect egg sandwich!

Ingredients: 3 hard boiled eggs - mashed 4 tablespoons of Mayonnaise 1 cup of shredded carrot 1 teaspoon of sweetened Condensed milk 1 tbspoon of Cream Cheese A dash of pepper & dried parsley 6 pieces German Bread - cut in halves

Method: Mix well all ingredients. Take the halved bread and make a pocket in the middle with a sharp knife and stuff 2 tablespoons of egg mix in it.
Serves: 6

*Tip*: Add some more mayonnaise for extra creamy egg mix. Serves well with fresh salad and fries on the side. Use Wholemeal bread for a healthier choice or a Crossaint if you like a little buttery flavour to your sandwich!

I added slices of chicken ham and fresh lettuce to my sandwich with this egg mix and it was absolutely tasty! Great dish for a breakfast meal!

Episode 519 - Thermomix a.k.a the machine which does anything (in the kitchen that is)!

2010-05-07T20:21:00.009+08:00

Thermomix - The Superman of Food Processors

I had a very interesting time one evening last week. My Supervisor invited me to some sort of a cooking demo. Apparently he said there's a very amazing machine which cooks for you with a touch of few buttons. I had a glimpse of it on a brochure he brought but had a first hand experience during the demo we had at a colleague's place. I was truly amazed because this magical machine is like all machines in one. More precisely its actually 8 types of machine in one. It can basically do around 14 things which other machines can prolly do only 3 and that is one thing at a time. But this machine does 3 things at a time! Steams, cooks & blends! The other 100 things it can do are : weigh, chop, emulsify, whip, grinds, knead and more! So I had a chance to see how the machine can make and then steam 'Man Tou' (best Man Tou I've tasted & the dough the machine kneaded was just super smooth & fine!) , cooks & blends pumpkin into a creamy soup, stir fried Spinach, cooked rice & steamed chicken at the same time. I was totally impressed by it. However it is like darn expensive man. Cost around BND 2,000. But I guess it is a good investment if 1. you have no other machines like food processors, blenders or mixers in your kitchen, 2. if you have a supperrr busy life as the machine can cook anything for you in just less than 20 minutes, 3. if you can afford a 2k food processor haha But regardless, it is surely something worth to look at because practically it cuts cooking and preparation time into half. I just have one negative thing about it. This machine cuts the joy of cooking entirely! And ya, it doesn't deep fry food too because it is a machine which supports healthy cooking!

Go to this website for more info: www.thermomix.com

Episode 518 - Steamboat @ IceBar & Cafe Shabu-Shabu, Fresh Coconut Water @ Shahbandar , Lorenz Potato Chips & Chaw Kue Tiaw @ Sg. Liang

2010-04-26T18:15:00.014+08:00

I tried something out today. Not food wise, but physicality wise. Karate! Haha, all I know is that the warming up session is wayyy intensive than hiking all the hills at Shahbandar. There was like coordination exercise, abs build-up and all the push ups and sit-ups. Walau. I tell you, don't play, play, I think after a few weeks of doing this I'll be having abs. Not too sure if I wana continue the next session as I'm pretty much having a hard time typing now. haha.

Noodles, slices of lamb meat & Large Seafood platter

The "buffet" of Sauces!

Your choice of soup in a hot pot waiting for you to dump in your meat slices

Ok, back to food. A few places I'd like to recomment in this episode, all gathered up from the past weekend. Saturday, jalan-jalan with the family in Bandar. Tried out Shabu-Shabu at IceBar & Cafe Shabu-Shabu at Qlap Plaza Hotel, Kiulap. Just opposite of Hua Ho Kiulap, 1st floor, straight up after the escalator. In other words it's actually just like Steamboat with lots of meat choices. They have several types of food sets that you can choose from large to mini sizes with a range of meat like seafood, beef, lamb & chicken. You can have them with either noodles or steamed rice. I'm not quite a steamboat fan but this was pretty exceptional. Prices weren't that bad either. Probably around BND 15 per head. They also have a buffet of sauces and free flow water. My mum actually went, "hah? water only free ah?". And I answered, got free water good already lor, other restaurants don't have. Haha. Anyway, if you haven't try it out, please do and I think bookings should be made cos it is always a full house there. Rate: 6.5/10.

So, I am a recent hiker at Shanbandar. Picked it up after so many years of not hiking. And I've pretty much gained my confidence in it after a few weeks of "training" as the first one, I was totally pucat and wanted to faint. What I'd like to recommend is to try out the SUPER COOLING fresh Coconut water (they actually cool the whole coconut in the fridge) at the stalls near the foot of Shahbandar. Cost at BND2 per coconut, it is such a thirst quencher after that exhausting hike. Plus, coconut water is a natural Isotonic drink and it seriously releases that heat from within your body! Totally natural detox drink!

Next, LORENZ brand crisps! They are really yummy! Comes in a few flavours (the Paprika one is the BOMB!) and types like chips, potato sticks and some others, get them from Supasave or Hua Ho at BND 3.60 for the large packet and the small ones for around BND1.80. I'm actually munching on em right now. Crazy, can't stop!

And lastly, my first taste of Fried Kue Tiaw at that Sungai Liang Kopitiam. I'll get the name of the place soon but it's just on your right after the junction to Labii (on your way up from KB-Bandar). It's a little blue wooden lot. Open-air concept , pure Kopitiam style but they have flat screen TV, man. I did find the side bench pretty interesting. Just a plank of wood nailed onto the side of the wall. Not forgetting the BANANAS! Din get a picture of that but they looked so huge as if they were gona explode anytime! LOL They did screw up our order but it was all good cos we were hungry.

I think I'll stop here. My arms are really killing me! See you in the next post!

Episode 517 - Thai Style Century Eggs , Mustard Wings & Fish Umai at Al Fresco, Miri

2010-04-23T12:47:00.008+08:00

Thai Style Century Eggs

I think that would be the longest title for a post! haha hi guys! I'm back, been so lazy to blog but good news is that I've gathered a few things, some recipes and some food which I've come acrossed for the past week or so. First up would be the Thai style Century Eggs. This would either make you want to puke the moment you hear century egg or will make you go OMG! I love century eggs. Yes, they might have the most unique taste in the history of Asian food but trust me, this is exotic and it has a strong taste to it. Something which will linger on your tongue for a few seconds once it hits that spot. However it may be eaten, I like it fried with a little bit of sweet and sour sauce. So here's a simple and easy recipe to follow:

Thai Style Century Eggs

Ingredients:
3 Century Eggs; Shelled off and cut into half

A (for the Sauce):
3 tbspns of Thai Chilli Sauce (get the extra spicy one!!!!)
1 tbspn brown sugar
1/4 of a lemon juice
1/4 cup of water
1 shallot; thinly sliced & diced
1 chilli; diced
1 tspn of dried parsley (or better, fresh one, finely chopped)

Method:
Fry the century eggs for 1-2 minutes each on both sides or until the outer part turns golden brown and crisps up. Take out & drain the oil on a plate with paper. Mix A in a bowl until sugar dissolves. Arrange eggs onto a plate and pour sauce all over.

Serves: 3-4

*Tip*: Serves really well with pickled onions and topshells (canned). YUMMY!!!!

Had these during a BBQ over the weekend. It was again at the Croc Haven at Teraban and was accompanied by a very small group. Slightly disappointed with the rest who didn't make it (YES, I am talking about you Shannon!) but yea, an intimate crowd with good food, nothing better than that. And I think babe M, we kinda overestimated the amount of wings needed haha. Btw Babe LY, the longan I always use is the HOSEN brand one. Don't get the lousy cheap one, so masam man.

BBQ Mustard Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
1/2 kg of Chicken wings

A (Marinade):
3 tbspns of Mustard
3 tbspns of Oyster Sauce
2 tbspns of light soya sauce
A tiny pinch of salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 Chillies; finely chopped
2 tbspns of brown sugar

Method:

Marinade chicken wings with A. Leave in fridge overnight or a few hours before heating up your grill or barbecuing them on medium fire for 8 minutes on each side or until meat can be easily poked through with a skewer (got this great tip from babe LY, thanks babe!!!!).

Serves: 2-3

Hmmm where is the fish?? - BUURRRPPPP

Guys, it was my first time at Al Fresco, Miri on a Wednesday night. It's just a kind of cafe slash bar if you want to have drinks and snacks kind of place. I did find the atmosphere nice, the lighting was good, a pool table inside, easy sofas on the sides with high raised table tops and played quite a selection of nice ballads. Even the washrooms were interesting, I really like the wooden doors where you need to slide a piece of wood to lock. Hmm, don't really know how to explain that but yea, a great place to go and they served a killer Fish 'Umai'. Umai is actually raw fish "cooked" in lots of lime juice or vinegar. Mixed with sliced of large onions, chillies and sweetened with a bit of sugar. This is the best appetizer I've tasted so far! But fresh fresh slices of fish meat is the key ingredient to this! I have a Filipino uncle who makes this really well and he actually puts peanuts or cashews in the mix. The pic may not look nice, as it was all kena 'sapu' by the after - work , stressed and very hungry people I was with. Ok, Ok I was one of them. Couldn't wait for another bite after the first explosion in my mouth! WOW!

Episode 516 - Food for Thought : You Are What You Eat

2010-04-12T20:59:00.016+08:00

I've been meaning to come up with something original in my blog and here it is. Food for thought! More like a small part of my blog which I write about what I feel about things like food, health or anything interconnected. This is much more personal as I'll be writing about my thoughts more and probably pick out something from a book, magazine or a website for you guys to read on similar topics.

For the first article on Food for Thought, I'd love to discuss about the theory of 'You are what you eat'. What do you think? Well, I definitely agree on this. When people say 'you are what you eat', sometimes they mean it as a sarcasm or a warning to someone who is binging or eating too much of something unhealthy like fried food and candies. In other terms, it is pretty much self explanatory, you will look like what you consume for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If you eat uncontrollably, you'll gain weight. If you eat too little, you'll be skinny. So with a well-balanced diet accompanied with regular exercise, you'll look healthy and feel healthy. Ever notice your friends or family members or some stranger at the food court eating a mountain of greasy fries when they are already heavy? I mean, people should realize the importance of staying healthy especially living in this much industrialised world where stress levels are high and the environment is deteriorating. It is sad to see that people get obese just because they don't care about their health and even much worse if their love ones do not tell them that they should start opting a better diet.

However the circumstance, I love good food. It makes me happy on a sad day. Even happier on a normal day. It's funny how good food usually pertains a giant cup of coke or a large bowl of deep fried chicken. I mean the fattier and higher in calories the food is, the better it tastes! Say, prawns. They are sweet and juicy no matter how you cook them but prawns are said to be one of the most high calorie type of seafood other than squid. Like desserts, usually creamy and sweet, is very much of a devil for the sweet tooths. A normal serving of a slice of cake usually contains 340 calories, 14 g of fat and 55mg of cholesterol. Imagine having 2 slices and in order to burn all the calories you have taken you would need to do running for around 40 minutes (burns 10-12 calories/minute). Now, isn't that just hard work?

And then there are certain people who are blessed with high metabolism rate which in other words mean that what they eat is pretty much broken down into their body faster than some others (like me). They will still be slim even if they eat double of a 'normal' person who has a 'normal' metabolism rate. This I guess is another theory because even if they don't have much fats stored around their body, it might not be the same for the calories that their body hold. So I think a regular check up would be advisable. Even better, go and get your butt shaking because exercising increases one's metabolism rate!

Conclusively, we are what we eat. Choosing the right food is good for your health but do indulge and pamper yourself with the lowest type of food in the Food Pyramid once in a while.

Go to this website where you can find which type of exercise burns the most calories:
http://stason.org/TULARC/health/diet/54-How-many-calories-do-different-types-of-exercise-burn.html

This website tells you the best type exercise for you to lose the weight you want:
http://www.weightlossforall.com/best_exercise_lose_weight.htm

Or even for a more life experience, watch 'Super Size Me' (2004). It is a movie made by a guy who thinks that Americans get fat because they eat too much fast food. So, he tested the theory out by eating ONLY fast food for 30 straight days! A very interesting movie to watch as the results of his theory were really crazy especially when he goes to the doctor! Check out the trailer on youtube for a quick preview.

Episode 515 - Parmesan Eggplant

2010-04-12T20:12:00.007+08:00

Parmesan Eggplant

Many of you might not be very fond of the taste of egg plants. But it's one of my favourite vegetable especially when cooked with anchovies and dark soya sauce or in curries. So I came up with this recipe when I was watching an episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' where Ted was having a 2 minute date with Stella in Season 3. They had Parmesan Eggplant and surprisingly when I got home I had Parmesan cheese and egg plants in the fridge so I tried this out and they were actually not bad. Well, they were abit salty cos I forgot that the butter I used was salted. So ya, be sure to check whether the butter you're using is salted or not because it can make a huge difference to your dish!

Ingredients:
Eggplants; cut 1/2 cm thick and 3 inch long and score one side with the tip of a knife
(Or if you have the round and stumpy type just cut 1/2 cm thick)
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salted Butter
Pepper to taste

Method:

Before the eggplants are cooked

On a lightly greased baking tray, place all the eggplants,s cored side up and place a pinch of butter on top of each eggplant. Sprinkle as much parmesan on top, around a teaspoon each eggplant would do and bake in oven for around 10 minutes or more at 220 degrees (Gas marked 7). The eggplants are cooked when they have shrunk and the skin turns into army green in colour. Pepper can be sprinkled before or after baking.

A fantastic dish as it is or accompanied by any other American or Italian maincourses. Tastes good with the skin on but if you do not like the bitterness of the baked skin, you can just scoop the meat out with your spoon.

Episode 514 - Tuna Roll-ups

2010-04-12T19:01:00.006+08:00

I was driving to Soon Lee to get some groceries for dinner and I was thinking how can I dish up something with tuna and bread. I love tuna and I was going to cook a Western dinner so I made this little roll-ups of bread filled with creamy tuna and crunchy cucumber. This is actually quite great as an appetizer or as finger food for your parties. Here's the recipe:

Tuna Roll-Ups -
Ok, so the pic may not look as appetizing as they are a little burnt (extra crunchy) but they seriously taste good ok? LOL

Ingredients:
8 pieces of bread; de-crusted & flattened with a rolling pin

Filling:
A can of tuna; drained dry
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
A few dashes of dried-rubbed parsley
3 inches of cucumber; seeds spooned out and diced
Salt & pepper to taste
A few tablespoons of Olive Oil

Method:
Mix all 'filling' ingredients in a bowl and put a spoon full of the tuna filling onto the bread. Leave just a cm off the top and the sides when you put the filling on the bread. Roll the bread and press it gently on a baking tray. Repeat the same for the rest of the bread until the filling is finished. Lightly brush the outer part of the rolled bread (all over) with the olive oil and bake the rolls in the oven for around 10 minutes at high heat (or gas 7) until bread turns light golden brown.

Serves: +- 8

*Tip*: Fasten the ends of the rolled bread with half of a toothpick so that it won't open up when it is baking in the oven. You should not put too much filling as it may ooze out of the bread during baking time. Smaller roll-ups can be made by cutting the bread into halves with a teaspoon of filling. Too add a bit of spiciness, add a little chili powder into the filling.

The outcome would be little bite sized roll-ups, smooth and creamy on the inside, crunchy on the outside. Try it!

Episode 513 - Malaysia Food Galore : 'Confirm' Must Try - Kuala Lumpur & Terengganu

2010-04-06T19:15:00.013+08:00

Cuti- Cuti Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

Hey all, seems like I've been having some bad reviews from my previous posts! Just haven't come across anything very interesting of everyone's liking I guess. Anyway, just got back from a self-rejuvenating vacation from K.L and Terengganu last weekend. Didn't really get to take any photos of the food I came across as the whole trip was really jet-set on the go. However, I'd like to recommend a few 'confirm', must-try places to eat and what to eat when you do go to Terengganu and KL.

'Keropok Lekor'
(Image from mesra.net)

2 top food you must try if you are to be in Terengganu are 'Keropok Lekor' and 'Nasi Dagang'. Keropok Lekor is basically some sort of meat sausage, except that it's made of fish! I've had my fair share of Lekor here in Brunei but it doesn't really taste as good as the ones in Terengganu because I think they have much more fish flavour in it. One of my friend did say that there is a type which is not the deep-fried one but is actually served in a sauce? We didn't come across that one but we did have the Lekor served alongside Chilli sauce. It's a pretty interesting and tasty type of snack especially when you eat it with hot sauce right after it has been deep-fried, warm and soft inside and a lil bit crunchy on the outside.

As for the Nasi Dagang, it is actually something like Nasi Lemak which is also a very famous local Malay dish around here. When we tried this at the Central Market in Terengganu, it didn't look very appealing. It just looked like a plate of steamed rice, with some pickle on the side and a side dish of Chicken cooked in Soya Sauce. Don't judge a book by it's cover they say because this Nasi dagang is darn nice! The rice was cooked into perfection, with traces of shallots and lemongrass and some other spice. It was simply aromatic as I know they've put some coconut milk in it and the side dish was just a compliment to the rice with it's sweet and savoury soya sauce with soft chicken meat. The sour taste of pickled vegetable made from cucumber added a "zang" to the whole dish. Simply irresistible!

Laguna Beach Resort, Redang Island, Terengganu

And then there was a heaven on earth called 'Pulau Redang' or Redang Island. Just East of the coast from Terengganu, this island is definitely a place for a get-away from that routine and demanding job of yours. The food was pretty much of fusion type. However, if you do go to Redang island, stay at the Laguna Beach Resort where the side beach bar serves a very cooling 'Ais Kacang' or Bean Ice (usually a concoction of mixed fruits, boiled red beans, sweet corn, 'cendol' topped with shaved ice and milk and syrup) which you can enjoy on a hot summer holiday outside! Not to mention the fantastic full-of-taste Coconut Water, fresh and sipped from the fruit itself. Truly a summer get away experience!

Confirm, Must- Go! - the interior of Jogoya Buffet Restaurant, Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

When we came back to Kuala Lumpur, the best place to go and not to miss is the Jogoya Buffet Restaurant at Starhill Gallery just across Pavillion. If you love food, you can eat your guts out at this restaurant where they serve all types of food from Japanese, Chinese, Western and of course Malay food up till 12 am! The chefs go all out by preparing all top notch dishes like Shark fin soup, Herbal soup, pasta, grilled food, seafood like King Crabs, hot pots and even the mouth watering deserts of macaroons, meringue, cakes and even waffles with ice cream (Haagen Daas!). For a RM51 buffet, I tell you it's so worth it, you feel like treating all your mates there! They do have a very special system though that each person gets to get 1 VIP pass meaning certain food will need a VIP pass to order it as they would be a bit costly such as Shark fin soup and Lobster. Guys, a definite place to go when you're in K.L. Plus it's a restaurant which serves no pork!

Other than that, I did go to Tin Dai Fung which is situated at the Gardens, Mid Valley Megamall, K.L. The dishes were pretty much the same. I had my favourite Beef 'La Mien' Soup and all the other tit bits. But I do feel that the one in Singapore was way better. But regardless I still enjoyed every single dish that they served such as the special fried creamy Mango, coated with bread crumbs and also the Prawns marinated in Salted egg! Yummy!

Alright, guys that's all for now. Do feedback on the CHATBOX you can find on the side of my blog or if you're too shy, you can always just tick the very convenient thumbs up or thumbs down box after every each post. Have a good evening all! :) Upcoming posts would be meaty lasagna and a hearty lamb chop recipe.

Episode 512 - Kitchen Info : 10 Futuristic Kitchen Products

2010-03-17T18:59:00.009+08:00

Every now and then you'd hear people talking about the latest innovations of the already high-teched mobile phones, laptops and even the television. Once a huge brick sized cordless phone is now a multi-functioning phone which is the size of your palm. Even the box tv which practically takes up 1/4 of your living room now hangs beautifully flat on your wall looking like a Van Gogh painting, only better, you can change the picture with a click on your remote. All of these goes the same for kitchenwares and kitchen products, from electrical ovens to cabinets, designers driven by technology has made everything impossible, possible. This link can prove you just that:

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=23553188&GT1=35000#3

The article "10 gee-whiz products that will rocket your kitchen in the future", written by Christopher Solomon on MSN Real Estate, covers the ten things that a modern kitchen would have or probably having one of this products will just make you want to cook in your kitchen! They have kitchen cabinets which open with a wave of your hand and even the very cool faucet which can be switched on by a single touch anywhere on it. What I really liked is the movable ventilation hood where you can put it in any height you need and rotate it to the left or right of your stove. And then they invented the oven which cooks with a call from your mobile phone! You can just leave the food in there before you go to work and with a click, you'd have dinner ready when you get home! However, I'm not really sure how safe this is. May cause a fire when no ones watching and what if the faucet gets busted? I bet it's really expensive to fix it.

Anyhow, the more sophisticated products are made, with their multi-purpose functions and attractive designs, they all come with a price. Like I always say, I really hope these things work as good as they look! So check out the link and have a good read! :0)

Episode 511 - Kitchen Essentials : Cool gadgets from Silicone Zone

2010-03-15T17:43:00.011+08:00

Hey guys! Found some interesting kitchenware in Bandar last weekend and thought I'd share them with you. Didn't buy any of it to test whether its of good use but I hope they will work as good as they look. I was walking around at Utama Grand, The Mall, Gadong and found these rubber looking kitchen aids by Silicone Zone (I can't get a hold of where they are from) which I think will look really cute in your kitchen. Comes in fancy colours of happy bright orange, red, blue and yellow, you can get these items at Utama Grand for the following prices below.

Grid Pot Holder (Duo Soft Cell) by Silicone Zone - B$ 28.99

Citrus Juice Extractor by Silicone Zone - B$18.99 (See how mess-free it works?)

Strainer (Only available in smallest size, Orange one in the pic) by Silicone Zone- B$12.99

Popsicle Ice/ Lolly Maker by Silicone Zone - Price unavailable (Sorry, I didn't get to check this one but they do sell it)

Ice Maker - Tube (to cool your drink in a bottle!!) by Silicone Zone - B$ 12.99

They also have Egg Poacher, designed in a way that you can just put the eggs into the basket like thing and poach your eggs in the pot. Also available is the Egg Yolk strainer and Cube Ice Maker. I did find out that Silicone Zone has a range of other kitchen ware such as bakeware and other kitchen essentials like pots and oven mits. I think they're quite an invention since they're made up of 100% silicone but I'm not too sure if they're environment friendly hehe and when I Googled for "Silicone", those fake silicone bra thing appeared instead haha. Anyhow, this is just something you can get in your neighbourhood, thought you might like it.

Episode 510 - Home & Decor - March 2010

2010-03-08T10:11:00.013+08:00

This month's Home & Decor magazine (Singapore) features one of the best things I've come acrossed in months! YOUR DREAM KITCHEN COME TRUE! Nearly 20 pages of guides, in-style kitchen gadgets and illustrations of beautiful, sophisticated & also classic kitchen assembles. The main article states 5 simple tips to plan and have your dream kitchen right at your doorstep! Planning to make your dream kitchen requires a lot of time and thought thus this article breaks it down for you and guides you step by step so you wouldn't miss the importance of making every angle of your kitchen spectacularly perfect. From choosing your kitchen theme to measuring your work space for you and your family or partner, this month's Home & Decor is a must get!

My fav will be on pages 94 - 99 which specially features all the assorted types of kitchen gadgets broken into 3 categories, for the Family, the Bachelors & bachelorettes and the Husband & Wife to-be. Great choices which I know you can't directly get them from here but I'll scout around and see where you can get similar gadgets with an affordable price. However, I've spotted that dream Mixer I would like to have by Kitchenaid which I know is available at Le Apple Bakery, Menglait, Gadong, Bandar Seri Begawan. I think it costs less than 1k. Yes it may seem very pricey but I bet you it's the best stand mixer you can have! So babes, I'm still waiting for the mixer ya! haha

Stand mixer by Kitchenaid - It's still not too late, guys... ;0)

So get the latest edition of Home & Decor because it also features other lovely reads and pics of the latest innovations from office chairs to that really cute OSIM massage chair which doesn't look awkward in your living room. This months edition also covers a few homes with really nice interiors, giving you great ideas on how to decorate and make use of presently available things around your house or reuse the old stuff such as on page 156 where a bamboo ladder is used as a magazine rack! So do get the March issue as it's one of the best I've ever gotten and read.

Episode 509 - D Gang's Laksa

2010-02-28T11:42:00.007+08:00

D gang's highest request when it comes to gathering time. Made this yesterday for an early 'Chap Go Meh' gathering. I kind of underestimated the amount I was suppose to cook but in the end I think everyone enjoyed it. It was a pretty "spicy" night as we also had 'Malap' or Hot Pot Steamboat. Wow! hot, spicy and sweaty but they were all real good to end the festive Chinese New Year Season. Accompanied by friends, games, drinks and fireworks, we had a ball!

This recipe takes quite a bit of time to prepare. The bits of ingredients take the most time. The broth can be done in ten to 15 minutes. It took me whole morning to prepare everything but I tell you, there's nothing like satisfaction to your heart's content when you get to taste this!

D Gang's Laksa

Ingredients:

A:
5 cups of Liza's Laksa paste
6-7 cups of Coconut Milk
1 litre of Chicken Stock
4 cups of water
200g of Prawns; preferably only the heads (cleaned thoroughly)
6 shallots; finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic; finely chopped
3 stalks of Lemongrass; take ends only (yellow part) & slightly pound them
4 Screw pine leaves; torn in d middle and tied into a knot
2 cups of sugar
2 tbspns of salt
1 cup of Kasturi juice

B:
4 packets of Meehon; cooked in boiling water & drained
10 eggs; fried into omellette & cut into strips
8 pcs of fishcakes; fried & thinly sliced
Chicken Breast; cooked in stock for 'A' & shred after the meat has cooled down
2 packets deep fried tofu; sliced thinly or in small cubes (usually available in Supermarkets)
3 handful of beansprouts; blanched
2 Cucumbers; thinly cut into strips

Method:
Add a few tablespoons of oil into a large pot. Caramelise the shallots and garlic alongside with the lemongrass and screwpine leaves and put in the prawns and stir under medium low heat until prawns turn light pink. Pour in the Laksa paste and cook paste until aromatic (or for a few minutes). Make sure to stir occasionally while cooking paste. Then pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add in the water and bring to a boil once again. Next, pour in the coconut milk and kasturi juice and let it boil for 4 minutes while stirring. Lower down the fire and let it simmer for 10 minutes after you have put in the sugar and salt.

Place an amount of meehoon in a bowl, topped with the shredded chicken, omellette, beansprouts, fishcakes, cucumber and tofu. Add the hot laksa broth into the bowl and serve with a slice of kasturi and a teaspoon of 'Sambal belacan'.

Serves: 20

*Tip*: The laksa paste is very spicy thus adding more sugar can lessen the spicyness. Add more coconut milk for a creamier taste and instead of adding water, you can also prepare more chicken stock and therefore need not add water.

To shred chicken, lay cooked breast meat on a chopping board and use a fork to shred out the meat. Use the fork backside up and scrap alongside the chicken veins.

Will post up the pic later on as I forgot to take my camera along with me lastnight.

Happy Chap Go Meh!

Episode 508 - Creamy Potato Gratin

2010-02-26T13:10:00.006+08:00

This is an absolute favourite when it comes to my gatherings. I recently learn how to make this and finds it rather easy. Just that the peeling of the potatoes can be a bit tiring though hehe. Anyway, you can just follow the following and try whether it works well and taste as good as it sounds!

Creamy Potato Gratin

Ingredients: 10 large Australian Washed Potatoes; peeled & sliced to 0.5 cm thick, 1 can of Nestle Cream or 225ml of Cream, 2 cloves of Garlic; crushed & chopped, 2 cups of milk Salt & Pepper to taste (around 1 tbspn of salt and 1 teaspoon pepper), 1 teaspoon of dried Parsley, 1 teaspoon of soft brown sugar, 1 tbspn of butter, 1 block of Cheddar Cheese (Kraft brand) ; grated

Method: Place the sliced potatoes in a huge cooking pot. Place all the ingredients except for the Cheddar cheese. Cook on medium low fire, stirring it from time to time so that the potatoes won't stick on the base of the pot. Switch to low fire after 5 minutes and cook for another few minutes until cream and milk comes together with the potatoes. Now, place everything into a large dish (Pyrex or a huge baking dish) and cover it with all the grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes at gas number 7.

Serves: 8

*Tip*: If you like it creamier, place around 20ml more of the cream and another half cup of milk into the pot. A great tip is to simmer the milk & cream with the bits of ingredients first before putting in the potatoes. A dash of grated nutmeg also adds sweetness into this dish. And taste before baking it as it may need a bit more salt than I have suggested. You can also add large onions which is usually what they put in a Gratin. All you need to do is thinly slice 1 large onion and saute under low heat it in a pan with butter till it is soft and then place it in the large pot with the potatoes.

To check if it is cooked, pierce a knife through the potatoes and if it feels like they are soft, it is good to go. Serve it as a side dish alongside your salad or with your favourite steak and some mushroom gravy.

Episode 507 - My Kitchen Bookclub : Jamie's America

2010-02-25T17:02:00.005+08:00

Didn't get to catch all those episodes of Jamie's American Road trip on Travel & Living? Fear no more because Jamie has always placed everything he documented on TV into books. This is a great book to get. It has all the recipes from all the places featured in the series, all written in detail and even bits of comments and Jamie's experience all in one book! In summary, he saw that America has more than the stigmatic food culture of fast food and super large portions of food. The trip made him realize that the US of A has more to offer than what it seemed. With 120 recipes in one book from LA to New York, this is definitely a trip you don't need to pay for - all packed into a book of American Foodie Dreams! And I must say that I love the pics that they take for all his books. This one in particular has so many pics which spoke of a thousand words! As delicious as they looked!

Jamie's America - A must- get book for all Jamie Oliver fans!

Got this in Singapore at BORDERS cost around S$74.00. Should be almost the same over here in Brunei or you might be able to get it cheaper in Miri.

Episode 506 - Singapore Food Galore : Day 2, 3 & 4

2010-02-24T18:17:00.019+08:00

And then Day 2 in Singapore came along... Another great foodie experience. My friends and I walked all the way from somewhere at Orchard Street and to Paragon to their food court and had breakfast at this restaurant called Tin Dai Fung. We had steamed Yam dumplings, Beef Noodle Soup and the Egg & prawn fried rice. Superb! However, we got separated during lunch onwards and had late tea at ION's food court. There we tried the barbecued Chicken Wings, Kueh Pai Ti, Char Kueh Tiaw with beef and Oyster fried Omellette. I must say that the wings were just Ok-la (convinced by the super friendly Chef that they were really good) but the Fried Kueh Tiaw was really good and the Omellette was not too bad. The Kueh Pai Tis were great. It's actually cooked shredded turnip placed in little deep fried baskets, adorned with bits of egg prawn and sweet sauce. Best thing about all the food courts were that they have open kitchens thus watching them cook your meal is just a great experience!

Dinner was just assorted buns from a bakery at ION enjoyed at the sidewalk of Orchard road! As the night descended, we strolled along the walkways of Clark Quay. My friends had the chance to enjoy the very cool and highly anticipated Bread Icecream! I didn't try it as I was having sorethroat. Sighs but I totally loved the way the Uncle made those icecreams. So full of passion and commitment!

Beef Noodle Soup - The best Beef broth I've ever tasted

Kueh Pie Ti

Oyster Omellette

Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream wrapped in Rainbow Bread

Braised Hard boiled Egg

Came across this at some sort of a Seven Eleven Store, Braised Chicken Egg, Vacuum Packed! - Very interesting as I've never seen this before and it costs S$0.90 each which you can have with your cup Noodles - heard it is actually tasty! I was skeptical to try it but kind of regret now.

Day 3 was just with babe LY. We went to Heeran to catch lunch at Waruka Restaurant. It's a Japanese Restaurant. No comparison with our Excapade Sushi in Brunei. The food weren't that bad and the portions were pretty much alright. I do like the set lunches and those tit bits of side orders you can have with your main dish with a special fixed price. And then came dinner time at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, Clark Quay. Best Chilli Crab ever! Served with sweet savoury buns called Man Tou. We had several main dishes including Deep fried egg tofu with creamy Mushroomy Sauce, Stir Fried Baby Kai Lan and Egg Fried rice. The hunger kind of made everything so much more than it looked. Definitely a must-try when you go to Clark Quay.

Chilli Crab at Jumbo Seafood, Clark Quay *mouth watering*

Duck & Mango Salad

The last day was more of a tit bits testing, literally from Bugis Street to just any place with interesting food we can get our hands on. We had Beard Papa's Cream Puff. Darn creamy and yummy for sure. We had those soft skin (Mochi) ice cream which were in so many flavours it was hard to choose and that they packed it in such a way that it only melts after an hour! We also had Satay with all sorts of meat. But we did catch lunch at Jumbo again. This time I tried the Mango and Duck Salad. One word - SUPERFABTASTIC!

Beard Papa's Cream Puff - Coming soon in Brunei (hopefully)

That is therefore my food conquest in Singapore. I'd defnitely go back there soon to explore some places I didn't get to go and try the many types of food available! Alright, enjoy the pics and see you in the next post >0,<

Episode 505 - Singapore Food Galore : Day 1

2010-02-05T10:46:00.025+08:00

I promised that I would post up my foodie experiences from my vacay in Singapore and this is what I encountered from the first day! I was really excited about this trip cos it has been a really long while that I haven't travelled to Singapore. Nearly 10 years I must say and Oh my has it developed so well with state of the Art architectural designed buildings to Merz taxis! The Airport was da bomb and the services were fantastico! Would definitely go back there sometime soon cos eating there is just one of the best experiences I had ever!

So as I arrived at Singapore Airport, I was abit hungry and thought that I'd grab some snacks over at the many standing kiosks selling coffee and sandwiches and tarts. My first food encounter would be this scrumptious Apple Puff. It was on promotion, hope it's not like old stock or something but regardless it was good, SGD2.90 for 2 puffs.

Apple Puff at the Singapore Airport

Lunch was at Bugis Street! We had 'otak-otak' (fish meat marinated in spices, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled), 'Nasi Lemak', Duck noodles and 'Laksa'. Pretty pure street food. The best is enjoying the food sitting at the street side, out in the open air. Love it!

Nasi Lemak & 'Otak-Otak' wrapped in banana leaves at Bugis Street

Next would be dinner at Marche situated at Somerset 313 mall. Now, that's an experience. We celebrated our friend Mei's birthday there and had such a great time trying out the many food they had! The restaurant had a real interesting environment to it. Pretty much a bit of European style. The interiors were of wooden furnishings decorated with fresh (very fresh and not the plastic ones) fruits and vegetables. It's really like market style at Marche. I must say that it's one of the best way to order your food, they have small stalls of variety of food like potatoes, pizza, grill, salad, soups and desert. And at each stall, you can tell them how you want your meat or potatoes or salad to be cooked & prepared. Very unique! Before you start ordering, they will give you a card where you can swap at each different counters you ordered and just accumulate and pay at the cashier once you're done! We had everything there. From the pizzas with our favourite toppings up till the grilled lamb ribs *yums*! The dinner finished off with the best ice cream by Movenpick (Swiss Ice cream). You should definitely try the Creme Brule flavour! It blew our minds off!

Creme Brule Ice cream by Movenpick at Marche, Somerset 313

Till the next post on Day 2 in Singapore Food Galore, eat right and stay healthy!

Episode 504 - My Kitchen Bookclub : Cook's Bible, The definitive cook's guide

2010-02-03T19:19:00.009+08:00

Cook's Bible - A MUST get!

Hi all! So great to be back online and blog! I just came back from a vacation at Singapore few weeks back and I must say that it was a really great and revitilising trip! Shopped a hell lot and the best thing was to try out all the different types of food! Can't wait to share with you everything that I tried and came across in Singapore! Food galore in the next few posts. For now, I'm introducing a new category for my blog which is 'My Kitchen Bookclub'. It features the different types of cookbooks which I have bought and I'll give several of my views on it so maybe you guys would be interested in getting them too! I came across this cookbook or more like a bible for cooks at BORDERS bookshop which I think is at Wheelock (groundfloor) along Orchard Road for SGD31.90 (with GST).

I think that this book is great especially if you need to know all the minor details on cooking and its definition. It has 2 parts namely, Part One : Introduction which includes the importance of healthy eating, safety in the kitchen, Equipments that you need around the kitchen and even down to the types of cooking techniques as well as preparation methods. This includes like what grind, caramelise or basting is. It's great that the author even provide pictures alongside the definition of each method. I can tell you that this is a great book to use if you need to explain something about cooking cos I've been having a lot of trouble trying to use the right term when I post the method for my recipes.

The second part features the Main Commodities and Recipes. Broken down into 9 chapters which are Chapter 1 - Eggs and Dairy, Chapter 2 - Fish & Shellfish, Chapter 3 - Meat, Chapter 4 - Poultry and Game, Chapter 5 - Vegetables and Salads, Chapter 7 - Rice, Pasta, Pulses and Grains, Chapter 8 - Fruit and lastly, Chapter 9 - Baking. All the chapters in the book do not go straight to the recipes but actually starts of with important info about the food on each featured chapter. Example, if they're talking about cooking meat, the chapter starts with how to buy and store different types of meat, how to choose the meat for the different types of cooking and even provides oven temperatures and roasting times. Similarly, the chapter on baking would include recipes from making bread to mouth watering deserts and also describes techniques to make a good dough and different types of pastries.

My favourite chapter would be the 5th one on vegetables and salads as the book really gave a great range of recipes from healthy soups to one of my very favourite type of vege to cook which is potatoes.

So if you love food and need a basic and thorough interpretation of the many types of gorgeous food, you should definitely get this book to be one of your humble collections of cookbooks.

Alright, do stay around as my foodie experience in Singapore will be on the next few posts with pics for you to drool on.

Episode 503 - Review for Tez Amore Cafe

2010-01-13T10:07:00.005+08:00

Hi guys! Hope you guys are doing better than me. I'm down with the flu. Don't even know where it came from. Hope it goes away before I go for vacay. More foodie exploration coming your way!! Anyway, this will be a short one. Me and my girlfriends checked out the new cafe at Wisma Yakin, Kuala Belait. It's a cafe opened by a very young chap. Kudos to him to even have the guts to open an eatery in KB. Honestly speaking, I think it's challenging to open a cafe here though that would be one of my dreams one day. A restaurant or a fusion of cafe and clothes. Two things I love most. Haha. Ok, back to the Cafe. Well, I went there with 3 of my other friends and we didn't order any dishes, just drinks and desert. I must say. I was very disappointed and still am. The drinks we ordered were simple drinks. Longan 'ping', Ice Lemon Tea , warm milk (yes, MILK!!! and they didn't have any cookies to go that with Haha but at least they frothed that up) and one more. I forgot. Then, we ordered Chocolate Soufle and their home made Green tea Ice cream. The Ice Longan was not sweet, the lemon tea just tasted like lemon drink and the Chocolate Soufle wasn't pleasing at all. Though eating with the Vanilla Ice cream tasted better. The Soufle was too firm I guess and somehow seemed like Chocolate 'agar-agar'. Then came the Green tea ice cream. It tasted good but the texture was all wrong for ice cream. It had icy particles in it. Think it wasn't smooth enough. However, presentation wise, the deserts looked good. Out of ten I'd give the cafe a 4 just because it had a nice interior with lotsa IKEA stuff and OMG I almost wanted to steal the Fondue thingy. Haha. But I think it was somehow of an insence burner.. Hmmm... I like the string curtains they put up and the comfortable sofas. But lastly, they really need to do something with the ventilation because they have an open kitchen concept. Leaving the cafe smelling like oil is just not that nice. One thing is for sure, there is lots of room for improvement! Hope they won't take my opinions the wrong way. Because lots of my other friends have the same thoughts as I do. Think I'll need to go and try their food next! Heard it's not that bad. Alright, if you want to try out Tez Amore Cafe, it is situated at Jalan Pandan 5, Wisma Yakin Building, next to the Chinese Restaurant.

Catch you in the next post! :o)

Episode 502 - Patola & Tanghoon with Prawns

2010-01-12T18:21:00.011+08:00

Patola & Tang hoon with Prawns

Another stir fried dish to kick start the year! If you guys are wondering what 'tang hoon' is, it's called Glass noodles, kind of like the transparent type of Vermicilli. Very famous type of noodle in Thai salad dishes. They usually come in bundles in small packets. It's a great water absorber so you need to serve this dish right away after it's prepared.

Ingredients:
1 patola; skin peeled off, sliced half & cut into 1 1/2 cm thick
2 bundles of 'Tanghoon'; pre-cooked in water for a few minutes & drained, set aside

2 1/2 inches of carrot; cut into strips

2 shallots, 2 cloves garlic & 5g of dried shrimps (soaked in hot water for 1 minute, take the legs off) - ALL pounded together

8 fresh prawns; deviened & shelled off

1 1/2 tbspns Light Soya Sauce

1 tbspn Fish sauce
1 1/2 tbspns Chicken flavoured Seasoning powder
5 tbspns Corn Oil

Method:

Heat up pan with oil and place all pounded ingredients. Leave to fry until dried shrimps starts to crisp up for abit and shallots & garlic becomes aromatic. Put in carrots and patola, stir till carrots limp and patola changes colour. Now, add in the prawns and cook till they curl up. Add in the 'tanghoon' and all the seasoning and stir thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Serves: 3-4

*Tip*: You might need to add abit more oil when putting the vege in as the dried shrimps tend to suck in the oil. You may add some more seasoning if it is not tasty enough for your liking.

In case you don't know how a patola (hard outer skin but very soft inner flesh) looks like, here is a pic :

Episode 501 - Fried Mamee Special

2010-01-12T17:56:00.003+08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!!! It was a great year last year and I hope that this year will be better! Great recipes ahead of you so please stick around.. I know it takes me ages to update my blog with the very busy schedule in the next few weeks but I will try my best to post some recipes up as soon as am free.. Here's another recipe to add on to my last post on Instant Noodles and how you can enhance the tastiness of em!

Fried Mee Special

Ingredients:

4 Pkts Mamee Vegetarian flavour

2 1/2 inch Carrot; cut to strips

1 fish cake; sliced thinly

1/4 Sweet China Cabbage; shredded

8-10 fresh prawns; deveined & shelled off

2 shallots; sliced thinly

1 garlic; diced

1 large onion; diced

1 tbspn light sauce

3 tbspns Oyster Sauce (Chicken Flavoured)

1 tbspn Chicken flavoured Seasoning Powder

1 packet Mamee Vegetarian Seasoning (from Mamee Instant Noodle Packet)

2 eggs; beaten with salt & pepper, fried into Omellette & cut into strips

Method:

Cook instant Mamee noodles in boiling water 80% done. Strain and put aside. Heat up wok or non-stick pan (large enough to cater 4 pkts of Mee) with 3 tbspns oil and put in diced shallots, garlic & large onion. Once aromatic, stir fry carrots, cabbage, prawn & fish cakes. Stir fry till cabbage turns brighter green and carrots soften. Now put in the 3/4 cooked noodles and the rest of ingredients (all the seasoning - in RED). Mix well and taste. If saltiness is not as desired, add abit of salt.

Garnish with the pre-made Omellette and serve while it's warm.

Serves: 5

Episode 412 - Instant Noodles (Mee) with Class

2009-12-23T20:18:00.012+08:00

Instant Noodles - Easy to cook, Delicious to eat

Instant Noodles. Practically a staple food amongst us Asians. Indomee Goreng, Maggi, Mamee or Myojo Instant Noodles can be extra special if you just spent more than 2 minutes and splash a lil creativity to the noodles. Here are two ways you can eat your Instant Noodles the 'Restaurant' way.

Fried Curry Maggi with Prawns

Ingredients: 1 packet Maggi Mee Curry Flavour; 1 egg; 1 shallot - thinly sliced; 3 prawns - shelled, deviened & halved; A handful of carrots - thinly stripped

Method:

Cook your Maggi Mee 80% done as instructed on the pack (less than 2 minutes). Drain the noodles and leave aside. Heat up a frying pan and add a table spoon of cooking oil and put in the shallots and prawn and stir till prawn turns a lil pinkish and the shallots caramelised. Put in the Maggi Mee, crack the egg in and toss the carrots in. Sprinkle the packet of seasoning from the Maggi packet and stir fry thoroughly. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of chives or cut chillies and half a slice of 'kasturi' lime. You can also add slices of 'Tofu Pok' (deep fried tofu usually ready sold in packets in the Supermarket).

Indomee Goreng Goreng

Ingredients: 1 packet of Indomee Goreng; 1 egg; A few leaves of 'Sawi Manis' or Choi Sum Vegetable; A few slices of Chicken meat or Chicken Ham (cut into strips)

Method:

Cook the Indomee Goreng as instructed on packet. Place aside after mixed with seasoning and sauces provided. Heat up a pan and stir fry the vege and chicken meat/ham till cooked. Next, add in the egg (stir it for a bit until nearly cooked) and the cooked Indomee and stir fry in medium high heat until everything is mixed thoroughly. Serve with a sprinkle of deep fried shallots or add the egg-iness by putting a sunny side up on top.

*Tips*: The noodles are best cooked 3/4 done as frying it later on finishes up the cooking process. You can go extra creative by adding other vege such as sweet cabbage or bean sprouts to Maggi and switch the carrots to your Indomee. Cooks better in a Wok with medium high fire where stir frying can be rapidly fast and the noodles will get a lil bit crunchy due to the heat. However, some may find it odd but I love eating my Indomee Goreng with canned tuna!

Instant noodles into fine cuisines. More restaurants should serve it this way because people won't be afraid to try what they know they're eating. :0D Happy trying!

Episode 411 - Kitchen Essentials - The Crab Eating Gadget & Fried Ambuyat at Jade Crystal Cafe

2009-12-21T19:23:00.006+08:00

These are the 2 basic gadgets you need to eat your crab or lobster with. Very useful to get the bits of meat out of the body and legs. The top one is actually a nut cracker so, if you have one, it works the same to crack the shells of the claws. The one below is a two ended gadget, one end with a narrow spoon to scoop meat out and the other end is a 2 teethed short fork, also to pick meat out of the narrow areas. You can get one which works well at any Supermarket, costing under B$ 5.00. A pretty branded one would probably cost more than B$20.

Seafood Cracker and Picks

Anyway, came across a pretty interesting dish. It's called fried 'Ambuyat'. First time I've heard of it and first time I've tasted it. Shockingly good! Pretty similar to the fried Carrot cake or Lobak/Char Kwey (one of the best Teochew dishes ever!) which is fried with egg, dried shrimps and bean sprouts. It's available at Jade Crystal Kopitiam & Cafe, Kampong Madang, BSB. Pretty secluded area but I think it's a real worth to go there and have a bite. I had my favourite drink with Soursop in it. I've really missed that because the last I had that was during my Uni years. The cafe also serve various dishes ranging from sandwiches to rice. I had the Nasi Goreng homestyle with crackers and chicken on the side. My friends tried the Ayam Penyet, Nasi Lemak and Fish and Chips. The portion of each dish was just nice for a person. Didn't get to try the Oreo Cheesecake. Heard that it is really good. And not regretting going there at all because we saw our Uni friends who were also dining to the good food.

So, do try the fried Ambuyat! I think some would really like the texture of it in their mouth. I will post a pic once I get hold of a clear one because the one I took was with my phone and it was pretty blur. Alright, see you in the next post!

Episode 410 - Rave comments about Episode 409

2009-12-21T17:49:00.004+08:00

If I knew that posting something about Chef Bobby Chinn was going to make my blog interesting, I would have posted it a long time ago!

Ok, first off. I will not deny I get much of my info from other places namely articles that I searched or books that I have. I do apologise if I did plagirise. I do make the effort for putting references at the end but sometimes I do forget to place them as I extract information from various places and heck, this is just a blog. Something I do as a hobby and not for a living. So, if I have posted something which have I made anyone uneasy, I apologise.

I am not going to remove any of my posts as, for me, it's just info & knowledge that I've learnt which I'd like to share with all of you.

Thank you for your kind comments and support.

Lessons learnt.

Episode 409 - About Celebrity Chef Bobby Chinn

2009-12-14T19:31:00.008+08:00

If you guys don't know who Chef Bobby Chinn is, then I guess you better read this! French- trained Chef Bobby Chinn came to Brunei not long ago and made an episode here for his show World Cafe Asia which plays on Discovery Travel & Living Channel. This show won him the Asia Television Award for Best Entertainment Presenter 2007 and he has pretty much appeared in several other shows (like BBC's Saturday Kitchen and Full on Food, as well as UKTV Food's Great Food Live) before his big break with his own series. Now, who doesn't find a guy who can cook you good food, HOT?

Half Chinese (yes! he is half Chinese!) and half Egyptian, he has been a chef for many years now venturing on diverse cultures and their authentic and unique cuisines.

As a viewer of World Cafe Asia on Discovery, I found that he's such a fun person. Never fail to put a smile on someone's face while cooking! And when he starts cooking, the ingredients will be as simple as possible, no hassle and the cooking will be downright the same - SIMPLE and EASY to follow.

Chinn was born in New Zealand, raised in England and actually has a BA in Finance and Economics (OMG, Right?), moved to New York City and began working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at 11 Wall Street. He came from a family of great cooks and while working in New York, there was where he found his passion for cooking! But before he discovered his love and talent for cooking, he actually attempted selling seafood to mob and even stand-up comedy!

To make ends meet, he waited tables in restaurants and later in San Francisco, a well-known chef called Huber Keller of Fleur De Lys (no, not the one at Qlap) took him in and trained him up. He also then worked with other cutting edge chefs like Jeffery IUnahara, Traci des Jardin, and Gary Danko.

It was when he was relocated to Vietnam that he thought that setting up a restaurant was a great potential for Vietnam's tourism as well as an opportunity to pour in some Western 'touch' into the country's culinary cuisines. And with that he opened some highly acclaimed restaurants such as Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Hanoi and several others including Camargue, Saigon Joe’s in Ho Chi Minh City, Miro and the Red Onion Bistro in the Hanoi Towers. He even wrote a cookbook out of his fusion Western & Vietnamnese inventions of recipes called Wild, Wild East. Lastly, not only he can cook, he can sing too! Last year in March, he actually performed while he launched Wild, Wild East at Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Pretty interesting eh? More about other Celebrity Chefs in my upcoming posts! XoD Till then, if you love food, dive into it, you might turn out to be a Chef afterall!

Episode 409 - Jamie's American Roadtrip

2009-12-12T20:41:00.004+08:00

This just in. Travel & Living just started playing the latest Jamie O's adventure food trips. Aired November 12th, it is showing at 7 pm local time on Sundays. I watched an episode whereby he was in a food competition somewhere in Georgia and he actually won and stated that he never won anything in a food competition before!

On JAMIE'S AMERICAN ROADTRIP, Jamie travels across the USA to parts of this huge continent that few tourists will ever see. In each episode, he delves into the underbelly of American society to discover fascinating stories of real American food and meets some of the country's most interesting but unknown food heroes.

The episodes will cover Jamie's roadtrip to the following places - alongside is the episode description:

New York
Even though Jamie has been visiting New York for over ten years, he has never ventured out of Manhattan. This trip takes him away from the high-end restaurants and five-star hotels he's used to and drops him in the middle of the world's most ethnically diverse area: Queens. On his forays into the city, he uncovers things he's never imagined: a restaurant run in a family's living room, another making home-cooked Colombian food for illegal immigrants and an anti-restaurant 'supper club' scene, hosted in people's homes and providing restaurant quality food for wallet-friendly prices. Jamie decides to host his own supper club, with a menu that pays homage to New York's eclectic mish mash of food cultures.

Louisiana
Jamie touches down in Louisiana just weeks after Hurricane Gustav has wrecked havoc in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Seeking to understand why people continue to live in a place that keeps getting battered by hurricanes, Jamie finds a state full of people who use food as a way to celebrate life and to keep the party going through adversity. Along the way, he meets authentic cooking experts from the region, New Orleans 'gumbo queen', Leah Chase, jazz star and BBQ expert Kermit Ruffins and alligator-hunting grandmother Sydney Mae Durand. As Jamie journeys deep into Louisiana, he finds himself in the company of Creole and Cajun comfort staples.

Los Angeles
Los Angeles is synonymous with glitz, glamour and the American dream. But just a few miles east of the Hollywood sign lives America's largest concentration of Mexican immigrants. Unsurprisingly, Jamie chooses to keep it real instead of living it up in Los Angeles. East LA is notorious for gangs, drugs and violence, but alongside these problems Jamie discovers a community that is proud of its food, committed to family and striving to make the American dream a reality.

Navajo Reservation
With no experience in backpacking or roughing it out, Jamie finds himself in unknown territory during the harsh Arizona Winter. He leaves the tourist trail to spend time with the Navajo Indians on the largest reservation in America. Staying with Mayor Elect Roy Kady, who also happens to be a sheep farmer, Jamie witnesses Navajo traditions up close from spending the night in a Hogan to cooking with elders and receiving a crash course in Navajo spirituality. It doesn't take long before Jamie realises that despite being the original American people, Native Americans are in danger of losing their food culture completely.

Georgia
As the global recession gains momentum, Jamie goes in search of the best cheap food in America. He starts his journey in Georgia, one of the country's poorest states and birthplace of the civil rights movement. Jamie finds a hopeful nation following the election of President Obama, and people determined to make the best food possible with limited finances and ingredients. His journey becomes an exploration of communal dining: pot-luck church dinners, street parties, ladies' tea parties and family roasts.

Wyoming
Jamie wants to see if clichés of Hollywood westerns are all they're cracked up to be. He's always wondered what life as a cowboy is like and in Wyoming, he finally gets to find out. His trip begins in Sheridan, where Annie Proulx conceived the idea for her novel, Brokeback Mountain. Jamie visits a rodeo before heading into the wilds upstate to see if he can cut it living and working on a real American ranch, and cooking for no-nonsense cowboys. (http://press.discovery.com)

A great series to watch! Loving the way he interacts with the people and shares recipes with them! I am yet to get the book :o)

Episode 408 - French Apple Flan

2009-12-12T20:09:00.006+08:00

French Apple Flan

Another recipe from my 'Desserts' recipe book I bought. Thought I'd share this with you because it turned out really good. Well, honestly, my sister was the one who tested it out. Though she made a mess out of the kitchen, the flan tasted great. However, a little tip, when we made it the second time round, we added a lil more caster sugar to the filling. (if you want it sweeter, otherwise neglect this) I am a lil bit of a sweet tooth! This flan, has a custardy filling with sweetness & a lil bit of sourness to the it. A great combination for a dessert! Also great for afternoon tea when it's warm out of the oven. Alright, this is surely worth a try! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

750 g apples (China Fuji Apples); 3 tbspns lemon juice; 4 tbspns warmed, sieved Apricot Jam; 175 ml (6 fl oz) single cream; 2 eggs beaten; 50 g (2 oz) caster sugar

For the pastry: 175 g (6 oz) plain flour; a pinch of salt; 75 g (3 oz) unsalted butter, slightly softened (or let out of the fridge and let it soften in room temperature); 2 egg yolks; 1 tbpsn cold water; 40 g (1 1/2 oz) caster sugar and some icing sugar - for dusting

Method:

To make pastry, sift the flour and salt into a pile on a cold surface and make a center well. Add butter, egg yolks, water and sugar to thw ell and use fingertips of one hand to work together into a mixture that resembles scrambled egg. Work in the flour gradually with your fingertips to bind the mixture into a smooth dough. Press together lightly and form into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the pastry out and line a 25 cm (10 inch) tart tin. Chill the pastry case for 30 min. Peel and core the apples. Slice them thinly into a bowl and toss with lemon juice. Drain the apples and arrange them in concentric circles over the base of the pastry case. brush the apricot jam over the apple slices and bake the tart in preheated oven, 220 degrees celcius (425 degreee Farenheit), Gas mark 7 for 10minutes. Whisk the cream, eggs and sugar in a bowl. Pour the mixture carefully over the apples. Return to the preheated oven and bake at 190 degrees celsius, gas Mark 5 for 30-35 minutes until pastry is golden and the filling is cooked. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Serves: 8 (1 slice per person)

*Tip*: Serves great with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel. Can also sprinkle with cinnamon powder. To make a speedy caramel sauce, get those caramel sweets and double broil it like you melt chocolate!

Episode 407 - Dinner at Marina Bay, Miri, Sarawak

2009-12-12T18:43:00.009+08:00

5 great dishes plus 3 types of soups , great company and a Wedding Anniversary, equals to a great dinner. We celebrated my parents' Wedding Anniversary at Marina Bay, a seafood restaurant at a spectacular location. Other than enjoying great food, you can also enjoy the great view of the sea especially during Sunset. I love the sounds of waves crashing against the rocks and the wind gushing through my hair, making it look like one of the Storm Riders Haha. Again, this place was introduced by a very handsome boss, who is one of my sidekicks who brought me and my gfs there for dinner a few months back.

We ordered the following: Steamed Philippine Crab with Egg White & Soya Sauce, Steamed Grouper with Soya Sauce, Spinach with Anchovies & Century Egg (I didn't put 's' cos there was seriously just half a century egg in this dish, karit eh), the very nyaman & crunchy Lotus Root with Salted Egg Yolk and my personal favourite with lots of meaning behind it stir fried Venison with Ginger and Chives!

My Dad LOVEd the lotus root! I tell you, it is finger licking good! I mean the idea of combining Salted Egg yolk and curry leaves with thinly sliced lotus root is just out of this world! Spectacular dish! It has the same recipe as the fried chicken at Chempaka, BSB. Will post that one up soon. As for the rest of the dishes, they were good. Very lightly dished out and not oily. The crab was great, the fact that it was humongous and 1 crab could feed 4 of us! I love the sweet succulent taste of crab meat but I really dislike the process of getting the meat out of the shell. Ngeh. Fingers smelled of crab after that. And yes, restaurants should provide that gadget to get the crab meat out of the shell. It's like a little tiny fork but with only 2 teeth. The Spinach was a disappointment. Compared to the one at Rocky Restaurant in Kuching, it wasn't as good. Then there were 3 types of soups we ordered out of hunger haha. We had the Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup, Fish Maw Soup & Mushroom with Sea cucumber soup. Out of all the soups, the fish Maw was the best but the cook kind of put a lil too much vinegar in the Sea cucumber one. All in all, I think they have other better and great dishes which I am yet to try out.

Out of 10, I'm giving this a 6.5! Definitely a place you should try out! How to go? It is at Miri, Tanjong Lobang. The junction to go in is just before the Park Everly Hotel and you can see a huge neon Marina Bay sign. Also, it has a huge seahorse structure at the side of the Restaurant. You might want to check that out too!

Here are the dishes! I kinda forgot to take pics of the soups! :(

In case you're wondering what that yellow hairy stuff on the fish's head is, it's deep fried thinly shredded ginger!

From Top to Bottom:

Spinach with Century Egg, Crispy Fried Lotus Root with Salted Egg Yolk, Steamed Crab with Soya Sauce & Egg White, Stir Fried Venison with Ginger & Chives & Steamed Grouper in Soya Sauce

Episode 406 - Movies for Food Lovers : Julie & Julia (2009)

2009-11-29T19:45:00.005+08:00

PASSION. AMBITION. BUTTER. Do you have what it takes?
Julie & Julia (2009)

What a Superb movie! I love the characters and the cast (Meryl Streep & Amy Adams)! Meryl Streep really played the character well, especially in mimic-ing Julia Child's voice! Two great true stories in one movie. One about a women who loves food, learnt how to cook French food and wrote a book of recipes out of her experience. The other, used Julia's recipe book, wrote a blog out of it and tried all her recipes in a year! Both with great passion for food and aimed to prove that they could do something by working really hard! Additionally, I found that they wouldn't have been so successful without support from their loved ones and friends! Such an inspiration for me! Love it! However, I thought that Julie would meet Julia in the end and that would just be a great happy ending but they didn't. But one true thing that I learnt from this movie is that you can be a great cook by learning to cook! So, guys and girls, put on your apron and start whipping up something!

FYI: It runs about 2 hours, 3 mins and it's rated PG-13 on Yahoo!

My Rate: 7.5 stars out of 10

The movie is available on DVD in a very clear version at stores near you!

Episode 405 - Pasta Salad with Tuna ,Apple & Raisins

2009-11-29T19:01:00.005+08:00

Delicious Bow Ties in Creamy Mayo with Tuna Chunks & Apple cuts

This is another quick recipe without much mess in the kitchen. All you need to do is to cook some pasta as directed on the packet and mix the pasta with anything that you like! As for me, I'm mixing it with some freshly cut apples, carrots and drizzle it with raisins, adding some colour to it. This is a great side dish. I used the bow tie Pasta. I think I've mentioned before that it can be quite hard in the centre so add another few more minutes when you boil them.

Ingredients:
4 cups of Bow tie Pasta; boiled as directed on packet (add 2 minutes more)
1 1/2 cups of apple; cut in cubes
1 handful of raisins
1/2 cup of carrot; cut in small cubes
1 can of Tuna flakes; drained
4 tbspns of Mayonnaise

Method:
Just dump everything in a mixing bowl and mix well.

Serves: 4

*Tip*: If the pasta looks a little but too dry, you can save some of the tuna flakes oil and drizzle a tablespoon in or add some more mayo to the mix.

Episode 404 - Sweet Pumpkin With Dried Shrimps

2009-10-30T16:39:00.007+08:00

My Aunt gave us some pumpkin the other day and my Mum asked me to cook it. It was my first time cooking pumpkin and I must say it came out pretty good though I just "hantam" the ingredients and how to cook it. It's really "lemak" because of the coconut milk but yet all the vege just blends well with the dried shrimps and sambal. This, you got to try. Great for "makan-makan" with the family.

Pumpkin with Dried Shrimps

Ingredients:

A:3/4 cup dried shrimps; soaked in hot water, drained & cleaned, 1 chilli; deseeded, 2 shallots, 1 garlic, 1 tspn ready made "Sambal Belachan" (get it from the Supermarket)

B: 3 cups of Pumpkin; cut into large cubes, 1/4 cabbage; cut into 2" x 2" size, A few strings of long beans; cut into 3" length, 1 tomato; quartered, 2 cups of Coconut Milk , 1 cup of Water or less

Method: Blend ingredients A or pound them using a Pastor & Mortar. Put 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a small deep pan and saute the blended/pounded ingredients until you can smell the aroma. Pour in the coconut milk and water and stir it. Let it simmer for a few minutes under medium heat and place the rest of the ingredients in and simmer for another 5 minutes or until the pumpkin and veges are tender. Add salt, sugar and stir. Switch off fire and cover with the lid. The trapped heat will let the vege continue cooking in the pan.

Serves: 4

*Tip*: Add fresh shrimps into this dish because it will just double the sweetness!

Btw I know the pic doesn't really look appealling but I promise you it really taste better than it looks. I just don't have the photography skills :p

Episode 403 - Potato & Egg Salad

2009-10-29T11:20:00.008+08:00

Hi guys! This is one of my favourites when it comes to gatherings and parties. It's also one of my friend's fav because he loves potatoes. It's a real filling Salad but taste really good as it's creamy and packed with goodness (Warning- high content of Carbs :0). You can go creative by adding other things in like Salami, tuna, leftover chicken chunks, macaroni, capsicum, strips of fried beef bacon or even fruits like cut apples! Regardless, this is a basic potato salad which you can improvise and add other ingredients as you like!

Potato & Egg Salad

Ingredients:

5 Medium sized Australian Washed Potatoes; boiled, skin peeled off & diced into 1-1.5 inch cubes

2 Hard- boiled eggs; sliced or diced

3-4 tbspns Mayonnaise

1 tbspn Cream Cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tspns each of dried Basil & Parsley

Method:

Mix all the ingredients gently and serve.

Serves: 3

*Tip*: To boil potatoes, place a teaspoon of salt in the water. To check if potatoes are cooked, use a bamboo skewer/ or "Satay" stick to poke through. If it the stick goes through easily, your potatoes are cooked! Medium sized potatoes should take around 15-20 minutes on medium low fire. Potatoes can also be peeled then boiled. For abit of heat, you can add a lil chilli powder and also Paprika for colour/ presentation. For a bit of a heavy taste, you can add chopped large onions, not too much as the taste can be overwhelming! For those who love abit of sourness in this salad, you can add a teaspoon of sourcream or a squeeze of lemon juice! SLuRpS

So remember, you can add anything into this recipe just as long as it suits your guests and your taste! More recipes to come,so don't barge! XO)

Episode 402 - "Bubur" Durian/ Durian Pudding

2009-10-27T17:35:00.008+08:00

NO DURIANS? Not in my life...

DURIANS! The King of fruits! Some may be disgusted by this pungeant smelling fruit but some can just eat one whole of it like there is no tomorrow! This recipe my friend, is something which my Dad loves to cook! It serves well as a desert or an afternoon snack but I love this and really don't mind having my durian cooked this way. Most importantly, you must get a darn good durian, those huge ones with small seeds and lots of flesh! And of course, the flesh must taste sweet and durian-y. haha. Mmmm.. Let's start!

"Bubur" Durian/ Durian Pudding

Ingredients:
6 strips of Pine/ "Pandan" leaves; tied together into a knot
15 cups of Coconut Milk
2 cups of sugar
600g of (ripe) Durian flesh
200g of Biscuit Osborne ("Cap Ayam")

Method:
Bring the coconut milk and pandan leaves to a boil. Lower the heat after putting the sugar in and let it simmer until you can smell the aroma of the pine leaves and coconut milk. Put the durian in and stir well. Lastly, put in the biscuits. Simmer for around 15-20 minutes (or longer) until the biscuits are soft and puffy.

Serves: 5-7 (in small portions)

*Tips*: The flesh of the durian can be taken off the seeds for a better presentation. More coconut milk and sugar shall be added during the simmering process especially when the biscuits are added as the biscuits tend to suck in the coconut milk. You must use this particular brand of biscuits as it is much more dry, less tasty and works really well in this recipe. And yes, it is exactly called "Biscuit Osborne"! :oD Serves great warm or cooled in the fridge.

For those durian lovers, this is one recipe worth trying!

Episode 401 - Squid Salad

2009-10-27T17:11:00.006+08:00

Welcome to the fourth installment of my-kitchen-2-yours! I apologise for not updating and posting for a month. But guess what? I'm back! :0) For this new season, I'm featuring some of the recipes which I have gathered throughout the past month. All ranging from local fruits to simple 5 minute dishes for the busy workaholics!

To start, the following recipe is for those who can make good food even if it's from a can! Well, I do this if my fridge is out of food. This is a very good dish if you are short of time to make a fully prepared meal. It has pretty much of a local taste to it. Try it out!

Squid Salad

Ingredients:
1 can - 175g "Sotong" or Squid in Soya Sauce (Rex Brand); shredded into rings & tentacles separated out. 1/4 of Large Onion; sliced. Half a shallot; sliced. Half an inch of Ginger; stripped. Half a Chilli; sliced. 1 1/2 tablespoon of Sweet Dark Soya Sauce. 2 "Limau Kasturi" or Local Lime; Juiced

Method: Drain the can of squid but leave a tablespoon of the sauce in. Place the shredded squid into a bowl and the rest of the ingredients together. Toast well and serve!

Serves: 2-3

Simple right? This dish taste good as it is but eating with steamed white rice compliments it well. It can be a very good starter to your meal as well as a side dish to add to your meal! Enjoy and I'll catch you in the next post very soon! XOXO

Episode 318 - Seaweed Crisps

2009-09-25T13:24:00.007+08:00

Eid Mubarak to all Muslims around the world! It's the festive season here in Brunei and usually during this time, there would be a lot of food involved! I've made several tit bits for the celebration. Amongst some of them are Almond cookies, Choco Chip Cookies and the very not successful Kek Batek. Haha. So definitely not serving that for Raya. It took me half a day to fry the "Keropok" and all but I manage to make some Homemade Seaweed Crisps! It's very laku I tell you, but most of the time I'll be the one munching on them while watching TV. Hehe. So I think there's going to be a bit of Festive weight gain this few weeks! *erks* Anyway, heres a very simple recipe for those who love eating these crisps!

Seaweed Crisps

Ingredients:

Seaweed Sheets (Roasted Nori Seaweed sheets)

Popia Skin/ Egg roll Skins

Egg; lightly beaten with a dash of salt

Cooking Oil

Method:

Lay a sheet of Popia skin on a flat, clean surface (you can use your chopping board). Then with a brush, lightly brush all the surface of the popia skin with the egg wash. Take a piece of Seaweed sheet and lay it ontop of the Popia Skin, press it down lightly with your hand. With a kitchen scissors, cut the seaweed/popia sheet into half and into small rectangles (3" x 2"). Repeat untill all skins are used up. In a deep fryer, heat oil until bubbles rise when dipped with a wooden chopstick. Place a handful of cut seaweed/popia sheet into hot oil. Fry until popia skin looks golden and lift the crisps with a strainer onto kitchen paper to strain access oil. Leave to cool and store in an airtight container for longer lasting freshness.

*Tip*: Buy the popia skin which is almost the same size as the seaweed sheets that you got. 1 packet (10 sheets) of seaweed sheets makes around 200g of crisps.

Episode 317 - White Turnip & Chicken Spring Rolls

2009-09-14T20:12:00.008+08:00

Crunchy Egg Rolls with Sweet Sauce

Egg rolls may sound a bit too standard but it's actually just simply Popia (Or is it Popiah?) or Spring Rolls. Egg rolls or spring rolls are usually made with Popia skin wrapped with a filling which may consist of meat, vegetables, potatoes or even vermicilli/mee hoon! The filling is usually cooked with lots of flavour and taste so that it can compliment the taste of the popia skin. My Mum is a huge fan of Popia so I made these for her on one fine afternoon for tea.

White Turnip & Chicken Spring Rolls

Ingredients:
6" X 6" Egg Roll/ Spring Roll Skin (Get them in any Supermarket)
600g White turnip; shredded or cut thinly into strips
400g carrots; shredded
400g Minced Chicken Meat (Marinated with light soya sauce and salt & pepper to taste)
1 egg; lightly beaten

A:
100g Dried Shrimps
5 Red Shallots;
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Large Onion

Method:
Blend ingredients A and saute in a non-stick pan with around 5 tablespoons of cooking oil. Stir until dried shrimps look abit golden and you can smell the aroma of the blended ingredients. Put in the minced meat and stir well so that it will not clump. Next, place in the shredded turnip and carrots. Stir fry until turnip is limp in texture. Place stir fried filling in a bowl and set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes. At the same time, defrost/ thaw Spring Roll Skins as directed.

To wrap your Spring rolls with filling:
Place a skin on a clean surface so that the points are up and down and left and right (should appear as a diamond, not a square). Place the filling (a tablespoon) onto the rolls and take the bottom point of your wrap and fold it over top of the filling. Fold the sides in towards the middle and roll the filling towards the top point of the wrapper. Brush abit of egg wash on the seams before rolling it completely. Repeat until filling is finished.

Preheat deep pan with oil on medium low heat and fry spring rolls until skin turns golden. Make sure to roll the egg rolls so that they are evenly cooked. Serve immediately with dipping sauce of your choice!

Serves: 7-8

*Tip*: The above makes around 30 rolls. Before deep frying the egg rolls, you can place the wrapped egg rolls in the freezer for at least an hour. They will be much crispier. Suggested dipping sauce can be sweet chilli sauce or plum sauce.

Episode 316 - Peanut Satay Sauce

2009-09-02T20:14:00.009+08:00

As promised, Satay Sauce recipe! You should know that Satay sauce taste really great with "Kelupis" or Steamed Glutionous Rice, "Ketupat" - usually served together with Satay and also "Lemang" which is Glutinious Rice cooked in Bamboo.

"Lemang"

"Ketupat"

Satay Sauce

Ingredients:

5 red chillies

5 dried chillies

7 shallots
5 cloves of garlic

4 tbspn cooking oil

3/4 cup Roasted peanuts, chopped finely

1/2 cup water (or less)
1/2 cup Coconut Cream
1/2 tbspn tamarind juice ("asam jawa" juice)

1 tbspn brown sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
Finely blended all ingredients of A and saute in a non stick pan for 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Add all ingredients in B and stir under medium-low heat for around 4 minutes or until sauce thickens and bubbles. Set aside to cool for abit before serving with those delicious Chicken Satay!

*Tip*: You can also substitute both the Coconut cream and water with Coconut Milk (3/4 cup will do). Those tin canned ones will do great. You can also squeeze your own coconut milk from fresh grated coconut meat of coconuts (those already have husk) or you can use instant coconut powder, 1/2 cup of powder diluted in 1/2 cup of water. While cooking ingredients A, you may need to put a bit of cooking oil in your pan.

Episode 315 - Chicken Satay

2009-09-01T16:19:00.008+08:00

Grilled Chicken Meat on Skewers

This is one of the most famous Malay food around SE Asia. You can have all sorts of "Satay". From chicken to beef to lamb and even rabbit meat! "Satay" is basically meat on a stick, enjoyed with a savoury peanut sauce but also taste great as it is. The first time I tried this recipe was for a BBQ I had a week ago. Recently, I cooked it for my family to break fast and they loved it! So, give this a try because you won't regret it!

Chicken Satay

Ingredients:
700g Chicken meat (boneless), cut into 1.5 cm cubes

For the Marinade:

2 Red Chilli, deseeded

2 cloves Garlic
4 shallots/ small red onions
1 tbsp anise/ "Jintan Manis"
1/2 tbsp Cumin / "Jintan Putih"
1 tbsp corriander seeds/ "Biji Ketumbar"
1/2 tbsp tumeric powder/ 1 cm fresh tumeric root
5 cm galangal root / "Lengkuas"
2-3 stalks of lemon grass/ "Serai"
2 tbspns brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste (Salt, around 1/2 tbspn & a pinch of pepper)
1/4 cup of water
1/2 juice of a lime/ Calamansi

Method:
Finely blend all the ingredients for the marinade. Then marinade the cut chicken meat with the blended ingredients for 3-4 hours or overnight in the fridge. Later, thread marinated meat onto "satay" sticks or bamboo skewers. Brush some oil on a heated grill (medium-low fire)and cook the chicken satay till meat is tender and done or until light golden brown.

Serves: 5-7

*Tip*: You can use either chicken breast for a healthier choice or boneless whole leg chicken meat. For this recipe, I pan-grilled (using a non-stick grill pan) the chicken satay for at least 7-8 minutes on each side. If you're using a BBQ grill, depending on how hot the charcoal is, it may take a shorter time.

Recipe for Satay sauce/ Peanut sauce next.. so, don't go away! ;o)

Episode 314 - Kuih Wajid / Sweet Glutinous Rice

2009-08-26T20:05:00.007+08:00

Kuih Wajid or Sweet Glutinous Rice

I got hold of that mini recipe books again! This time I bought the "Malay Kuih" by Norzailina Nordin. Inside, there are a variety of kuih Melayu to choose from and all are those down-to-earth balik kampung kuihs! Kuih Wajid is a very well-known Malay kuih. It's usually served during special occasions (Hari Raya, Puasa, Weddings etc) and you can usually get them from the gerai-gerai (ministalls) at the tamu. I myself really like Kuih Wajid and I'm putting this recipe up because last weekend my friend brought the Wajid Temburong (it's the BOMB!) to our BBQ but I didn't get to eat em! Anyway, this is a very simple kuih to make but its sugary taste is just ideal for the month of Ramadhan! And ya, not everyone would like the taste of the palm sugar (i.e. Babe LY *ahaks*) or the fact that the rice is sweet and sticky but it's worth a try, you might just enjoy it!

Sweet Glutinous Rice/ Kuih Wajid

Ingredients:

1 Banana Leaf, cut into 25 cm (10") square

500 g Glutinous rice, soaked for 8 hours & drained

500ml Coconut Cream

4 medium sized, Pandan/ Screwpine leaves, shredded & knotted

50g Rock Sugar, finely pounded

200g Palm Sugar/ Gula Melaka, crushed

80g Granulated Sugar

Method:

Line a 25-cm/10" square baking tin with banana leaf.

Steam drained glutinous rice for 20-25 minutes or until cooked. Transfer to a large tray and spread out thinly with a spoon or fork. Set aside to cool.

Combine coconut cream, pandan leaves and 3 types of sugar in a non-stick/Teflon pan. Stir continuously over medium heat until mixture is bubbly and thick.

Add cooked glutinous rice and stir until rice is well coated and has a shiny gloss. Discard pandan leaves and tip coated rice into tin. Press rice down with back of spoon or fork to level surface. Set aside to cool before cutting to serve.

*Tip*: Coconut cream can extracted from 800g of fresh grated coconut. If you can't get hold of the fresh grated coconut, use those canned ones will do! I recommend Ayam Brand.

Serves: 8

Image from thestar.com

Episode 313 - Deep Fried Satak

2009-08-23T11:20:00.008+08:00

Mantis Prawn? Prawn Mantis? Which is it?

You must be wondering what the heck is Satak? No, I did not mean Satay. It's actually that Mantis Prawn. My Gawd, it was such a great treat I had for dinner yesterday! It is so simple to cook but yet the results are just out of this world. There's not much preparation needed for this delish creature of the sea and it's really really simple to cook it! I must say that the meat is not that much so you got to really savour the taste once you get your hands on them!

To clean, just brush and wash the outer parts of the prawn, cut off some of the small legs (as they don't have meat so you can cook without those) and deveined them.

Deep Fried Satak

Ingredients:

500-600g of Mantis Prawn
1 tbspns salt
A few dashes of Pepper
1/2 cup Corn flour/ Self-Rising Flour

Method:
Marinade Mantis Prawn with salt and pepper. Set aside for a few hours in the fridge. Then toss and coat the mantis prawn before deep frying in hot cooking oil until they turn pinkish orange (similar like shrimps/prawns). Serve rightaway.

Serves: 2

Or..... Cook them with a Fragrant Sauce

Stir fried Mantis Prawn with Fragrant Sauce

Ingredients:

350-400g mantis prawns Seasoning (combined)
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
3-4 tbsp self-raising flour
1 tsp oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped cili padi
1 stalk spring onion, cut into 3cm lengths

Sauce:

1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1½ tsp sugar
1 tsp thick soy sauce
125ml fresh chicken stock

Method:

Rinse and de-vein the mantis prawns. Sprinkle combined seasoning ingredients on the prawns and toss well, then coat with self-raising flour. Deep-fry in hot oil until golden brown. Dish out and leave aside. Heat oil and sesame oil in a clean wok and fry garlic and cili padi until fragrant. Add sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until sauce is reduced. Return the fried mantis prawns to the wok. Stir and fry until well coated with the sauce. Add spring onion to mix. Dish out and serve.

Fragrant Sauce Recipe from kuali.com

*Tip*: The Mantis prawn can be cut into 2 parts but best to leave it as whole.

How to De-shell a cooked Prawn Mantis

1. Cut the head off.

2. Pry the top shell open from one side.

3. Gently scoop the meat out from the bottom bit with your spoon and enjoy!

Episode 312 - Litchi and Peach Agar-Agar

2009-08-22T14:03:00.006+08:00

Sugary chunks of Litchi and Peach Agar-Agar

To all the Muslims everywhere, Happy Ramadhan! The Ramadan month calls for special mouth-watering recipes especially for the "Sungkai" (breaking the fast) time. My family and I usually make this really simple dessert for special occasions. But it's also great for any other day!

Litchi and Peach Agar-Agar

Ingredients:

1 pkt Flying Swallow Brand Agar-Agar Powder (any colour desired)

5 strips of Pandan leaves

500g Sugar (+- depending on your desired sweetness)

1 ltr (or 900ml) water

1 can of Litchi (Lychee)

2 halves of Peach (from a can - Ligo brand)

Method:

Cook the agar-agar as instructed on the packet only to add the pandan leaves together. To prepare fruits, dice up litchi an peaches into small chunks and scatter cut fruits onto a 23cm by 2 inch deep round dish. Then, pour cooked agar-agar into dish and set it aside to cool before putting into the fridge to chill. Using a sharp pointed knife, cut into desired size and serve while it's cold.

*Tip*: This recipe makes 2 dishes of agar-agar. Use half can of Litchi and half of a peach for each dish. You may also use any other fruits such as Mixed Fruit cocktail, kiwi, rambutan etc. Remember, make sure to dissolve the agar powder in the water before bringing it up to a boil. You do not want the agar powder to clump and be wasted.

Will post some more Ramadhan recipes soon and i'll try to put up a pic of the cut agar-agar once it's set! Enjoy your weekend!

Episode 311 - Pamelo and Prawn Salad

2009-08-21T17:51:00.011+08:00

Scrumptious juicy sacs of sweetness

One of my babes gave me a pamelo the other day. Well, I'm not a really big fan of it but I must say her family grows really good pamelos! haha They're so sweet and juicy eaten just by itself. But you can also fancy it up with some fresh prawns and a tasty sweet and sour sauce. Here's a straight forward recipe which you can wip up as a starter for your meal! FYI: Pamelos are some sort of our local grapefruit.
First, you need to make this sauce then you can go for the salad recipe.

Sweet and Sour Fish Sauce

Ingredients:

2 red chillies, deseeded & chopped, 1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped, 60ml lemon juice/50ml vinegar, 60ml fish sauce, 3 tbspns soft brown sugar, 125ml water, boiled & cooled

Method:

Place all ingredients in a jar and shake well to mix.
*Tip*: This makes around 275ml. Refridgerate sauce in jar and use later for any other recipes. Keeps good in fridge around 2 weeks or less.

And for the recipe... A simple but yet a delish Thai delicacy...

Prawn & Pamelo Salad with Sweet and Sour Fish Sauce

Ingredients: 400g tiger prawns, skin peeled, The flesh of 1 medium size pamelo, peeled and segmented into small bite size pieces, 2 small red onions, thinly sliced/chopped ,1 small riped avocado, sliced thinly in wedges, 4 tbspns sweet and sour fish sauce, A handful of coriander leaves, chopped or lightly torn with fingers

Method:
To cook prawns, peel off skin and cook in boiling water for around 2 minutes till they turn pinkish orange in colour. Remove from water and leave to cool. Place the rest of the ingredients in a large salad bowl and lightly toss with the sauce drizzled on to it. To serve, place salad in a cocktail glass and drizzle a few teaspoons of sauce on top.

Visit link: http://www.ehow.com/video_2335026_cut-avocado.html for a video of how to cut avocado!

How to cut a pamelo~

First, cut the top and bottom bit of the pamelo. Then, with the tip of the knife, pierce through the skin (as close as you can get to the flesh but not through the flesh) from top to bottom. Repeat, making around 6-7 of these around the pamelo. Now you can easily peel of the outer skin of the pamelo with your fingers. Break open the pamelo by pressing your thumbs in the middle of the pamelo (feel the grooves of the segment of the pamelo) with the rest of your fingers on the side of the pamelo. Cut off the top of the segments and peel of the skin to get the flesh out!

Enjoy the recipe!

Recipe inspired and referred from Fresh Chinese by Wynnie Chan

Episode 310 - How To Joint A Whole Chicken

2009-08-20T20:37:00.006+08:00

Cutting up a whole chicken can be very tedious and tricky. Theres the drums, the wings, the breasts... And if you don't use the right gadget and right ways to cut it, the cut chicken can turn up really messy! So this is a very detailed guide on how to joint a whole chicken - properly :o) Firstly, there are 2 very basic things you need to have and know : 1 - To have a very sharp and good kitchen knife and 2 - locate the joints by feel before cutting to separate them. Then the following:

1. Chicken legs - Put the chicken breast side up on a chopping board. Pull one leg away from the body. Cut through the skin between the body and leg, cutting down through the meat, and then work it way down to the thigh joint. Bend the leg so that it eases the leg bone from its socket, then cut through the ball-and-socket joint. Repeat with the other leg.

2. Chicken wings - Press one wing against the body of the bird so that both parts of the shoulder are visible. Cut through the skin, then down thorugh the joint to sever. Tuck the wingtip under the shoulder to make a triangular shape joint. Repeat with the other wing.

3. Split the carcass by cutting down around and under both breasts with poultry shears or strong kitchen scissors. Cut through the rib cage, separating the backbone from the breasts. Repeat the other side.

4. Cut along the centre of the breast with poultry sheers or kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, slide a knife under the breats meat on each side of the bone to release 2 boneless breast joints or cut straight down between the breast bone with a large cook's knife to give two joints on the bone.

5. To separate the leg joint into a drumstick and thigh, put the joint skin side uppermost, then flex the drumstick slightly so that you can see where the central joint is. Cut through the ball and socket joint.

Now you have everything in a set of 2 except for a carcass (not in pic) to make your stock with! This can also be used to joint other poultry such as duck or turkey but for small birds, you can leave the thigh joint with the drumstick.

or you can go to this link for a video: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-joint-a-chicken-with-a-boning-knife-242088/

Episode 309 - Food Art: Coffee Art

2009-08-19T20:45:00.005+08:00

Coffee lover? I'm more of a tea person but I do like the boost you can get with a nice aromatic cup of coffee. Coffee Art is pretty famous nowadays. I think that there's a restaurant at Kiulap, BSB (Au Lait, Seri Qlap Mall) which serves its coffee with designs on the froth. There are so many designs you can place on your lattes. And here's some to prove to you!

Top to Bottom: Unicorn, Bruce Lee, Barrack Obama, Monkey face and Moon & Star.

Episode 308 - Food Art : Japanese Bento Sets

2009-08-19T19:59:00.007+08:00

Japanese Bento Lunch Box

I find these really amazing! How much fun and creativity you can get with food. There are so many things you can do with rice, vege and fruits! But there's definitely alot of patience and passion put into these fantastic yet yummy creations!

More cute Bento lunch sets

Kind of a little too hard to eat it right? They're just too pretty...

Episode 307 - Know your Lamb: Part 2

2009-08-19T12:57:00.007+08:00

I had a few complains regarding my recent post on the lamb. And yes I missed out on stating which part of the lamb is the best to cook. I must say, it actually depends on the individual. Some people prefer their meat to be a bit hard and chewy and some like them soft and tender. It also depends on how the meat is cooked. So, when cooking lamb, one must be very sure of how to cook it including the duration and the done-ness preferences you want i.e. rare (dark pink in the centre), medium-rare (light pink in the centre) or well-done (light brown colour througout).

Ok, cutting the suspense. The tender parts of the lamb would definitely be the parts where the muscles of the animal are used less frequently and that would be the ribs and the loin areas! Meat from the ribs and loin are best to cook using these methods: grill, pan broil/pan fry, broil and stir fry. These areas are usually cooked without much liquid as they are quite succulent in texture.

However, the less-tender cuts of the lamb would be those areas where the muscles are used very often, which include: the shoulder/ chuck, rump, round and legs. These meat may be less tender BUT they are very flavourful! The best ways to cook the less tender meat are by: braising, stewing and roasting! Because these meat are pretty tough, they are usually cooked with liquid.

Here's a simple picture of the main parts of the lamb

BAAa-AAaa

The best ingredients to marinade lamb meat for roasting or pan-grilled would be thyme, rosemary (best if the herbs are fresh but dried ones work well too), HP sauce, Worchestershire sauce (I always have to go look at the bottle to check how it's spelled! and pepper and salt to taste. If you want a sweeter taste, put a few teaspoons of brown sugar into your marinade and this will actually caramelise the outer part of your roast or steak! For more flavour and taste, the meat should be left marinated overnight in the fridge but a few hours of marination would be fine and you can always season them again while they are cooking.

Usually a 1-inch thickness steak would require 7-9 minutes on the first side and another 7 on the other side. And the best sauce to serve a lamb steak is non other than mint sauce or a sweet and sour raspberry sauce.

Try the marinade as mentioned above and I'll post something more interesting next, so stay put!

Episode 306 - Know your Lamb!

2009-08-17T20:04:00.009+08:00

A friend was asking what is lamb shank? I told him to Google it then he said that I was "handal" in all this cooking stuff and demanded a definition. Well, I Googled it (HAHA) and below is what I got. You should know your lamb because different parts will give you different types of meat to cook with. Personally, lamb is a very nice type of meat to cook, either with curry or roasted, it can be a very sweet and succulent meat if you know how to cook it right!

LAMB info 101:

Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget and later mutton.

There are five basic major cuts of lamb: leg, loin, shoulder, rack and shank/breast.

Lamb chops are cut from the shoulder, rib, loin and sirloin area. Loin chops and rib chops are the most tender. The less expensive shoulder chops (called blade and arm chops) and sirloin chops from the leg can be just as tender, but they are not as visually attractive because the meat is separated by bands of connective tissue.

The leg of lamb can be the whole leg including the sirloin, or the short cut leg, sirloin of. It is usually roasted, though it can be broiled, grilled and barbecued as well. Some find the rear of the lamb has bolder flavor, but retains the same juicy tenderness as the rib and loin portions.

The loin comprises the ribs between the forequarter and hindquarter (sirloin and leg).

Rack of Lamb

The rack is the unsplit rib of the carcass, which includes ribs 6 through 12 and the thick, meaty rib-eye muscle (the meat).

Lamb Shoulder

The shoulder of the lamb is less expensive than the rib, loin or leg. While the meat is well-marbled and full-flavored, there is more connective tissue. The shoulder yields the following cuts: cubes for kabobs; blade chips, boneless blade chops and arm chops and the boneless shoulder, cushion shoulder and square shoulder.

The sirloin is the section between the back of the loin and the hipbone. The boinless sirlon is the equivalent of the beef tenderloin, tender and flavorful.

Parts of the LAMB:

Please visit: http://www.tvsp.org/sheep/meat/retail-cuts-of-lamb.jpg

COOKING TIME ~ LAMB ROAST

Depending on the size of the roast, whether it is leg, rib or shoulder, and whether you want the meat rare, medium or well done, estimate 15 to 40 minutes per pound at 324°F. A meat thermometer will register 145°F for rare, 160°F for medium and 170°F for well-done. Cover to keep warm and allow the roast to stand for 15 minutes before serving so the juices will settle. Remember that during this time the temperature will continue to rise 5 to 10 degrees, so remove the lamb before the temperature reaches the desired degree of doneness.

Some text from http://www.thenibble.com/

Do check out my next post, it's a recipe and some tips for cooking lamb!

Episode 305 : Food Jokes

2009-08-06T09:58:00.006+08:00

Clean food jokes to lighten and brighten up your day!

I believe that there are 2 things which can really put off the stress out in a day's of work & tire, food and jokes! You know what they say, Laughter is the best medicine!

Pillsbury Dough Boy Dead At 71

Veteran Pillsbury spokesman, Pop N. Fresh, died yesterday of a severe yeast infection. He was 71. Fresh was buried in one of the largest funeral ceremonies in recent years. Dozens of celebrities turned out, including Mrs. Butterworth, The California Raisins, Hungry Jack, Betty Crocker, and The Hostess Twinkies.
The graveside was piled high with flours as longtime friend Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy, describing Fresh as a man who "never knew how much he was kneaded." Fresh rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with many turnovers.
He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Still, even as a crusty old man, he was a roll model for millions.
Fresh is survived by his second wife. They have two children and one in the oven. The funeral was held at 4:50 for about 20 minutes.

Elephant Stew
Serves: about 380 people. Ingredients: 1 large Elephant, Salt and pepper to taste, 2 medium Rabbits (optional). Preparation: Cut up Elephant into bite size pieces.(Takes about 2 Months). Add brown gravy to cover. Cook about four weeks at 465 degrees over a hot fire. Special Note: For larger groups, add 2 Rabbits, but only if necessary as most people don't like to find hare in their stew.
Flakey Murder
Two police officers respond to a crime scene behind a grocery store. The homicide detective is already there.
"What happened?" asks the first officer.
"Male, about twenty-five, covered in Raisin Bran and dead as a doornail."
"Good grief," says the second officer. "Didn't we have one covered in Frosted Flakes yesterday? And Captain Crunch last week?"
"You're right. I'm afraid," said the detective as he took a drag from his cigar, "this is the work of a cereal killer."

Subject: Security Notification to all recipehut.com Employee
We've just been notified by Security that there have been 6 suspected terrorists working out of our kitchen. Five of the six have been apprehended. Bin Sleepin', Bin Loafin', Bin Goofin', Bin Lunchin' and Bin Drinkin' have been taken into custody.
Security advised us that they could find no one fitting the description of the sixth cell member, Bin Workin', in our Kitchen. Security is confident that anyone who looks like he's Bin Workin' will be very easy to spot.
You are obviously not a suspect at this time.

How to Bake a Cake with a Baby in the House
·Preheat oven, get out utensils and ingredients. ·Remove blocks and toy autos from table. ·Grease pan, crack nuts. ·Measure two cups flour; ·Remove baby's hands from flour, wash flour off baby. ·Re-measure flour. ·Put flour, baking powder, salt in sifter. ·Get dustpan and brush up pieces of bowl baby knocked on floor. ·Get another bowl. ·Answer doorbell. ·Return to kitchen.·Remove baby's hands from bowl. ·Wash baby. ·Answer phone. ·Return. ·Remove 1/4 inch salt from greased pan. ·Look for baby. ·Grease another pan. ·Answer telephone. ·Return to kitchen and find baby. ·Remove baby's hands from bowl. ·Take up greased pan, find layer of nutshells in it. ·Head for baby, who flees, knocking bowl off table. ·Wash kitchen floor, table, wall, dishes. ·Call baker. ·Lie down.

Lame but some still tickled you, didn't they?

Have a smiley day! (>o,<)

Episode 304 - Barbeque & Grill: Part 1

2009-08-06T09:21:00.010+08:00

Charcoal Up & Let's Grill!!

One of my sidekicks is having a BBQ this weekend. Not so much of a good idea in this hazy weather we're having so I'm coming with a mask! haha (HAPPY B'DAY DUDEEEE!!) LOL To help, below are a few BBQ recipes!

Korean BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
4 teaspoons hot chile paste (optional)

20 Chicken Wings/ 1kg of Chicken Boneless meat (Sliced 3" x 6")

Method:

In a medium saucepan over high heat, whisk together the sugar, soy sauce, water, onion powder, and ground ginger. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 5 minutes.
Remove the mixture from heat, cool, and whisk in lemon juice and hot chile paste. Place chicken in the mixture. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 4 hours before preparing chicken as desired.

Marinated Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
skewers

Method:

In a large bowl, stir together the garlic, olive oil, tomato sauce, and red wine vinegar. Season with basil, salt, and cayenne pepper. Add shrimp to the bowl, and stir until evenly coated. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring once or twice.
Preheat grill for medium heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head. Discard marinade.
Lightly oil grill grate. Cook shrimp on preheated grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque.

*Tip*: Replace red wine vinegar with 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of grape juice.

Grilled Salmon

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
lemon pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Method:
Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and vegetable oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat grill for medium heat.
Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

*Tip*: If you can't find lemon pepper, substitute with fresh ground pepper, a tint of lemon juice and it's zest.

Images & recipes from allrecipes.com

Image of Coal in fire from flickr.com

Gotta try em!! Yummy... Enjoy!!!! XO)

Episode 303 - Antioxidants and Caramelised Banana Desert

2009-08-04T08:20:00.010+08:00

This is a recipe which not only will treat your sweet tooth after dinner but will also boost the antioxidants in your body. This can be prepared in 15 minutes or less and it is completely delicious, packed with fibre and sweetness!

But... Why are antioxidants important?

- Antioxidants helps to maintain the health and prevent diseases such cancer and coronary heart disease.

- Antioxidant -contained food are usually used in dietary supplements and also preservatives in food.

-Food such as fruits (E.g. Carrots, tomato, peaches, and apricot, orange, lime and strawberries), and vegetables (E.g. brocolli) are good sources of antioxidants.

- Other food like nuts, whole grains, meat, fish,eggs, tea, coffee, soy, olive oil, cinnamon, oregano and red wine (2 glasses taken daily) contain some antioxidant compounds vital for your health!

-The best antioxidant food that you will enjoy is DARK CHOCOLATE!

- Antioxidants are also found to be anti-aging, making skin appear younger with less wrinkles! They also aid in preventing the growth of pimples and will keep skin supple and glowing!

Caramelised Banana

Ingredients:

2 medium-small firm bananas, peeled

1/2 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup low-fat vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

Method:
Cut bananas in half lengthwise. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar and lay the banana slices on top, cut side up. Cook undisturbed for 20 seconds, then add orange juice and cinnamon. Cook for 10 seconds, then turn bananas carefully and cook for 45 to 60 seconds more, basting with the pan sauce. Divide the bananas between 2 dessert plates, drizzling the sauce on top. Serve immediately, with a scoop of ice cream (or frozen yogurt).

NUTRITION INFORMATION:

Per serving: 372 calories; 7 g fat (4 g sat, 1 g mono); 28 mg cholesterol; 61 g carbohydrate; 5 g protein; 3 g fiber; 58 mg sodium; 521 mg potassium. Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (15% daily value). 4 Carbohydrate Servings

Recipe and pic from: Eatingwell.com

*Tips*: Sprinkle some toasted almond nuts all over and enjoy the dessert. Or you can drizzle some melted dark chocolate on top of the ice cream.

So start taking your fruits and vegetables and you will look like an ageless Angel :0)

Episode 302 - Kitchen Info: How to buy fresh fish and seafood?

2009-08-03T18:04:00.009+08:00

Fresh Fish?

I came across an article on tips of buying fish and seafood. How can you know that what you bought at the market is fresh? Fresh seafood will only mean one thing, that your cooked meal will taste ten times more delicous! Unless you caught the fish yourself, you cannot really trust that fish monger at the market Hehe Follow these tips to choose your fresh seafood:
Whole Fish
Look for bright, clear eyes. The eyes are the window to a truly fresh fish, for they fade quickly into gray dullness. Dull-eyed fish may be safe to eat, but they are past their prime.
Next look at the fish. Does it shine? Does it look metallic and clean? Or has it dulled or has discolored patches on it? If so, it is marginal.

Smell it. A fresh fish should smell like clean water, or a touch briny or even like cucumbers. Under no circumstances should you buy a nasty smelling fish. Cooking won't improve it.
Look at the gills. They should be a rich red. If the fish is old, they will turn the color of faded brick.
Fish Fillets
Look for vibrant flesh. All fish fade as they age. If the fillet still has skin, that skin should look as pristine as the skin on an equally good whole fish – shiny and metallic.
Smell it. The smell test is especially important with fillets. They should have no pungent aromas.
Is there liquid on the meat? If so, that liquid should be clear, not milky. Milky liquid on a fillet is the first stage of rot.

If the fishmonger lets you, press the meat with your finger. It should be resilient enough so your indentation disappears. If your fingerprint remains, move on.
Live Things
The best way to choose a live fish or crab or lobster is to look for, well, life. Is it scampering around in its tank? Swimming happily? Or is it sulking in a corner or hanging motionless and panting? If so, don’t buy it. Lobsters and crabs starve themselves in tanks and often can be almost empty inside when you crack open one that’s been imprisoned in a tank for weeks.
Your best bet is to make friends with the fishmonger and find out when the new shipments arrive. Plan on being there to meet it and buy then. You will be rewarded for your extra effort.
Shellfish
Buy only at the finest fish markets. These are the places where turnover is so rapid you can be assured of fresh mussels, clams or oysters. You may still get a dead one, but the ratio will be far lower.

What is a dead one? Shellfish are sold alive, so they should react to you. Put them on the countertop and back away for a moment. Then tap the shell: It should close tighter than it was. Oysters are a little tough to do this with, but clams and mussels will definitely react. You can also tell a dead shellfish after you’ve cooked them all. Dead ones do not open after being cooked. Throw them away.
Scallops
Scallops are almost always sold shucked, so what you are looking for are “dry packed” scallops, meaning they are not shipped and stored in brine. Those scallops you see wallowing in milky ick? Leave them be. Better to buy frozen, vacuum-sealed scallops, which are perfectly good by the way, than an inferior wet-packed scallop.
Squid or Octopus
These are almost always sold to the wholesaler pre-frozen, so you should buy them frozen. Both squid, commonly known as calamari, and its more richly flavored cousin the octopus freeze exceptionally well.
Again, if you can buy squid and octopus – not to mention cuttlefish – fresh, do it! They are rare treats even at fine fish markets and should be appreciated as such. Like finfish, you should look first at their eyes, which should be clean and bright.
The Fish Market
Finally, a comment on the shop itself. The absolute bottom line is that a fish shop should not stink. I'll say it again: If you walk into a fish market and it reeks, turn around and leave. Fantastic fish can be had at a farmer’s market stall, a hole in the wall or in a flashy boutique, but none should smell like low tide. Ever.

Tips from About.com, "Before You Buy fish or Shell fish", by Hank Shaw.

Really good tips aren't they? So next time when you go to the market or buy your seafood, follow the above guide and you will have a simply delicious and nutritious cooked seafood!

Episode 301 - Kitchen Info : Microwave ovens & Food Safety

2009-08-03T15:30:00.006+08:00

Microwaved food - Safe to eat?

Hey guys, it's been a while since I updated my blog. Was gathering some info on some fresh ideas and interesting things to post. For the start of the new season, I'm posting something on Microwave ovens and how safe is it to use them. I think that Microwave ovens are one of the greatest inventions for aiding our cooking lifestyle. Other than its convenience of heating up our food or thawing the frozen chicken, we always wonder about the following:

Do microwaves cook food from the inside out?

No. Microwaves penetrate the food to a depth of 1 to 1½ inches. In thicker pieces of food, the microwaves don't reach the center. That area would cook by conduction of heat from the outer areas of the food into the middle. In a microwave oven, the air in the oven is at room temperature so the temperature of the food surface is cooler than food in a conventional oven where the food is heated by hot air. Therefore, food cooked in a microwave oven doesn't normally become brown and crispy.

What are the recommended temperatures for microwaving food safely?

Place the thermometer in the thickest area of the meat or poultry — not near fat or bone — and check the temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and in the thickest part of the breast of whole poultry. Cooking times may vary because ovens vary in power and efficiency.
Cook ground meats to 160 °F; ground poultry to 165 °F.
Beef, veal, and lamb steaks, roasts, and chops may be cooked to 145 °F; all cuts of fresh pork, 160 °F.
Poultry should reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.
Eggs and casseroles containing eggs, 160 °F.
Fish should reach 145 °F.
Always allow standing time, which completes the cooking, before checking the internal temperature with a food thermometer.

How do you safely reheat cooked food in a microwave oven?
Cover foods with a lid or a microwave-safe plastic wrap to hold in moisture and provide safe, even heating. Turn back a corner for the steam to vent.
Heat ready-to-eat foods such as hot dogs, luncheon meats, fully cooked ham, and leftovers until steaming hot.
After reheating foods in the microwave oven, allow standing time. Then, use a clean food thermometer to check that food has reached 165 °F.

What containers and wraps are safe to use in the microwave oven?

Only use cookware that is specially manufactured for use in the microwave oven. Glass, ceramic containers, and all plastics that are safe to use usually will be labeled for microwave oven use.

SAFE TO USE:
Any utensil labeled for microwave use.
Heatproof glass (such as Pyrex, Anchor Hocking, etc.).
Glass-ceramic (such as Corning Ware).
Oven cooking bags.
Baskets (straw and wood) for quick warm-ups of rolls or bread. Line the basket with napkins to absorb moisture from food.
Most paper plates, towels, napkins and bags. For optimal safety use white, unprinted materials.
Wax paper, parchment paper, heavy plastic wrap. Do not allow plastic wrap to touch food; vent it to allow a steam escape.
Heat-susceptor packaging.

NOT SAFE TO USE:
Cold storage containers: margarine tubs, cottage cheese and yogurt cartons, etc. These materials are not approved for cooking and chemicals can migrate into food.
Brown paper bags and newspapers.
Metal pans.
Foam-insulated cups, bowls, plates or trays.
China with metallic paint or trim.
Chinese "take-out" containers with metal handles.
Metal "twist ties" on package wrapping.
Food completely wrapped in aluminum foil.
Food cooked in any container or packaging that has warped or melted during heating.

Do microwaves make food "radioactive"?

No. Microwave energy uses a wave length similar to television, radio waves, electric shavers and radar. It does not make food "radioactive." X-rays and nuclear radiation are at the other end of the spectrum and are a million times more powerful.

For more info please visit: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Microwave_Ovens_and_Food_Safety/index.asp

The site provides info on how to thaw frozen food safely, whether it is safe to use aluminium foil & wraps to heat your food and all the other basic info you need to know about your microwave ovens!

Alright, enjoy the read and make sure you use a microwave safe products (e.g. Pyrex) when using the Microwave oven.

Episode 219 - Butter Jammed Cookies

2009-07-22T14:50:00.006+08:00

Rich Butter Jammed Filled Cookies

Another recipe from Betty Saw's Cookies by Marshall Cavendish Cuisine mini cookbooks collection! I tried this one out and was so satisfied with the results. My sis's frens just couldn't stop munching on them when they came to the house for tea! The cookies are really buttery and taste extra good with the jam in the center!

Butter-Jammed Cookies

Ingredients:

270 g All-purpose/ Plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
240g Butter
90g Icing Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
30 g sesame seeds (roasted)
Strawberry Jam or any other flavour Jam

Method:

Line baking trays with non stick baking paper. Sift together flour and baking powder. Mix butter, icing sugar, vanilla essence and sifted dry ingredients in an electric mixer. Beat on lowest speed for 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium and beat for 15 minutes until mixture is smooth and light.

Spoon mixture into a cookie press or an icing pipe fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe 2.5-cm (1 inch) diameter circles onto prepared trays, starting from the centre and leaving a 0.5cm (1/4 inch) hollow in the centre. Fill each hollow with 1/4 tsp jam.

Bake in preheated oven 175 Degrees Celsius (345 Degrees Farenhiet) oven for 12-15 minutes or until light golden. Leave, cookies on trays for 2 minutes before transferring them to wire racks and cool.

*Tip*: This recipe can do without the Sesame seeds. I prefer the cookies to be a lil bit crunchier and more golden brown so I used around 180 - 190 Degrees celsius for around 20 minutes. Trial and error would be the best to bake cookies. Baking trays can be lightly greased with butter instead of baking papers.

Episode 218 - Cream of Mushroom Soup

2009-07-17T19:32:00.005+08:00

This is one of my mum's favourites. Inspired by Jamie Oliver's Real Mushroom soup from Jamie's Dinner book, I whipped this up on my own and it taste rather yummy!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

200g fresh Button Mushrooms, sliced

200g fresh Portobello Mushrooms, sliced

200g fresh Shitake Mushrooms, sliced

1 cup of Cream

2 tablespoons of Cream Cheese

1 litre of Chicken Stock

2 cloves of Garlic, peeled and chopped

1 Red onion, peeled & chopped

Olive oil

2 tablespoons of butter

A handful of fresh thyme or 1 tablespoon of dried thyme

Pepper and salt

Method:

In a pan, place a few tablespoons of Olive oil and butter then saute your mushrooms for abit and put in the garlic, onion and thyme (also, some pepper and salt to taste). Stir until mushroom is soft and broth starts to ooze out. Put a few large spoons of chicken stock and stir and let it boil for awhile. After that, put the whole lot into the blender and blend it till creamy.

Pour it back into the pan and pour in the cream and cheese, while stirring under medium low heat. At this moment, you also add the remaining chicken stock and let it boil. Add some more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with toast and add a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of Olive oil with some parsley on top!

Serves: 5

*Tip* - To make Chicken stock:

Boil more than a litre of water with 600g of chicken bones or leftover Chicken roast with Carrots, Large Onion, pepper and salt. You can always make more Chicken stock and freeze it up and use it later for your dishes and soups!

Episode 217 - Home & Decor - July 2009

2009-07-17T18:41:00.006+08:00

Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of update. But here's what I promised in the last post, a summary of my several favourite reads on the July 2009 issue of Home & Decor Magazine (Singapore). This magazine has pretty much everything about interior decor for the home. From furniture to artworks for your living room, kitchen and many more, you can find it in this magazine. It features anything modern and even anything classic for your home.

Here are the highlights for this month's issue of Home and Decor:

Pg 62 & 68 - "Open to the Sun" features a couple's home rebuilt, inspired by their trips to the Mediterranean. Their home is rebuilt with open decks with light coloured themes and alot of glass windows for lots of light and warmth. Check out Pg 64 with the idea of their kitchen utensils being displayed outside under a piece of classic yet modern art piece.

Bread Toaster and Bun Warmer by BrAun

Page 80 - features 5 cool toasters and bun warmers for your breakfast. From Electrolux to BrAun, these steel coated toasters look rather stylish and yet works like a charm for your bread and buns!

Page 84 - "tray with a twist", a great innovative yet simple design of trays which are both practical and have non-slip surfaces.

The 3-tier Serving stand from IKEA

Page 86 - "get a grip" of these serving dishes. You can choose from one-handled to two handled serving dishes. Check out the 3-tier serving dish from IKEA. Great for serving finger food at parties and your Festive biscuits and cakes for Hari Raya or Chinese New Year!

Dish Drainer, ASKER from IKEA

Page 108 - 110 - Organise and characterise your kitchen with these industrialised- looking shelves. Great for those who like easy-to-reach and open style shelves. Also, don't waste the space of your kitchen walls. Fill it up with stacking and hanging racks to put up your kitchen utensils and your lil bottles of herbs & spices.

Page 140 - I lurve the Kitchen's concept of using glossy balck cabinets and a contrast colour for the kitchen countertop. Sophisticated and elegant!

And the best pages are 170 - 175 - "Good Morning" , a guide to dressing up your breakfast with simple deco and ideas. Ideas for your breakfast on the : 1. setting, 2. the tableware and 3. the food!

Page 180 - Tips for eliminating odour of deep-frying in your kitchen to removing foul-smelling spills in the fridge!

Alright, so these are some things that you can look out for in the July's issue of Home & Decor. Make sure to get one and read up and enjoy the illustrations!

You can also visit http://www.homeanddecor.com.sg/

Till my next post, Cheerios! xo

Episode 216 - Kitchen Essentials : Cool Gadgets For Your Food

2009-07-07T10:01:00.008+08:00

I came across some really cool stuff which compliments eating our food in a very cool and funny way! I was doing some research online and I came across a website called Paran.com which features innovative gadgets and appliances. These are what I found!

From Top to Bottom:

Motorised Ice-Cream Cone which can turn without you needing to turn the cone. You can just leave your tongue on it and let it turn by itself! *haha*

The very Innovative Twirling Spaghetti Fork, again, sweat no more while eating your spaghetti or Noodles, you can just let the fork twirl the noodles up for you!

This one is for those Cameramen/Women (which are very popular nowadays) - Camera Lens Coffee Cup. Drink your coffee stylishly with this camera lens looking cup.

And then there is the coolest toaster ever made. The Scanner Toaster by Electrolux. you can practically scan anything onto your toast, even pics and notes!

Last but not least, my favourite invention, the Butter - Stick Type! Isn't that just smart? You know your sticky glue in a stick, well, they used that idea and placed butter on a stick so you can just butter your bread mess-free! LOL

I hope you enjoyed these crazy but workable innovations. On my next post, I'm featuring some great stuff from the July Issue of Home&Decor.

Episode 215 - Asparagus with Fish Cake Strips

2009-07-05T12:48:00.006+08:00

White Asparagus

SUNDAY - a pretty SUNny day. A good day to have asparagus for lunch. Usually, I'll just stir fry it with some garlic and salt but today I added some fishcakes.

Asparagus are delicious and sweet and can be cooked simply by just grilling it or steamed and served with butter. They can be cooked with all sorts of meat and still taste as good. There are a few types of asparagus, some are white, some are green and there is a wild one called "Bath " asparagus.

Wild or "Bath" Asparagus

Green Asparagus, shooting out from the ground

Some facts about ASPARAGUS:

- Only the young shoots are eaten.

- In the early times, asparagus are eaten as vegetables and are also used as medicine.

- It is low in calories.

- It contains no fat or cholesterol.

- It is very low in Sodium.

- It is a very good source of folic acid and potassium.

- It is also a good source of dietary fibre.

Asparagus with Fish Cake Strips

Ingredients:

150 g of Asparagus (peeled)

50 g of Fish cake (cut in strips)

2 cloves of Garlic

1 tbsp of Oyster Sauce

1/4 cup of Chicken Stock

Method:

In a non-stick pan, place a 1 1/2 tablespoon of corn oil and put in the garlic. Saute the garlic till light golden brown and put in the fish cakes. Stir fry for abit and dump in the Asparagus. When the asparagus turns into a brighter green, pour in the oyster sauce & chicken stock at once and give it a good stir. Transfer to a plate and serve.

Serves: 3

Episode 214 - Butter Almond Crispies

2009-07-04T09:30:00.005+08:00

Butter Almond Crispies

I got this recipe from a mini cookbook series called "Cookies". It's by Betty Saw and it features 35 of the best and tastiest cookies ever. So, I tried them the other day and I must say I am very pleased with the outcome! They were spectacular as what she wrote saying....

"These simple cookies have a light, crisp texture..."

And they tasted exactly as she said. I'm posting this recipe up for you the readers to try it out. I had a lil problem making them though. I only had 1 plastic piping bag (thanks, babe M) and it kind of burst halfway through. So I had to use 2 teaspoons and spoon them onto the baking tray which I then flatten it a little with my finger Hehe. It kind of took me nearly 3 hours to finish the whole baking thing. By the end of the day I was exhausted but my family and friends found them really good and one even said that they're suitable for the elderly because they're light in texture.

Butter Almond Crispies

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Corn flour (Corn starch)

210 g (7.5 oz) Plain (all-purpose) flour

250 g (9 oz) Cold Butter, diced

100 g (3.5 oz) Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

100 g (3.5 oz) Ground Almonds

Multi - coloured sugar balls

Method:

Line Baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift together corn flour and plain flour. With and electric mixer, cream butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add sifted dry ingredients, then ground almonds, pulsing until evenly combined.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a medium 6-point star nozzle. Pipe S with the loops close together onto prepared trays. Sprinkle sugar balls over.

Bake in preheated 175 degrees Celsius (345 degrees Farrenheit) oven for 15 minutes, or until light golden. Remove and leave to cool on wire recks.

*Tip*: You can use other deco such as rainbow coloured rice or crushed bits of almonds. You can also pipe them into different shapes you like other than the S ones. Store your baked and cooled cookies in an air tight container to retain its crispiness. You can bake these for Celebrations like Hari Raya or Chinese New Year or Christmas or bake them and place in a jar tied with ribbon and present it as a gift for someone's B-day.

Hope you enjoyed this recipe. I will post the pic soon! Thanks for reading my first Cookie recipe!! XO

Episode 213 - Food for the Ill - Part 2 : Food you can eat during Sorethroat

2009-07-02T11:17:00.003+08:00

Now, for Part 2 of Food for the Ill, I'm posting on some food that you can consume when having a sorethroat. I was having porridge for a few days till I got bored of it and resorted to other food. (Pic on the left is Fettucine Carbonara, Yes! you can have that!, pic from flickr.com)

These are some of the Food you can have!

1. cooked cereals or dry cereals soaked in milk pancakes, french toast, pasta dishes foods cooked or simmered in sauces or liquids soft fruits, mashed or cut up such as bananas, canned peaches, pears and fruit cocktail, baby foods e.g. vegetables and fruits add butter, margarine or sauces to vegetables.

2. foods cooked or simmered in liquids (e.g. stews with ground or finely chopped meats, hearty soups), soft casseroles, egg macaroni and cheese, egg dishes, meats that have been chopped, ground or blenderized meats served with gravy, sauces or soups, baby foods e.g. meats, cookies dipped in drinks, crackers or bread soaked in soup, add butter margarine, mayonnaise or salad dressing to moisten foods, pour cream or custard sauce over cakes, puddings, jello and custards.

3. milk, milkshakes and food supplements, juices (except orange, grapefruit and lemonade), fruit nectars, flat soft drinks and non-alcoholic beer, add water or milk to drinks if you find them too strong.

4. canned peaches, pears, fruit cocktail, applesauce, fruit flavoured drinks (e.g. koolaid) or nectars, sauces made with milk, cream or cheese.

5. warm beverages or soups (let hot foods cool off to a temperature that is best for you), puddings, milkshakes or melted ice cream.

6. garlic, onion or herb seasonings, cream or cheese sauces.

Thus, in other words, take something soft and easy to swallow. Mostly boiled food or food with light sauces. Do avoid all the food I listed in the last post and when you do, you'll be able to heal faster and enjoy any types of food better!!!

Text in red for both posts from HealthCastle.com

Episode 212 - Food for the Ill - Part 1: Food to avoid during Sorethroat

2009-07-01T10:37:00.003+08:00

Sorethroat? Best to avoid Fast Food!

I have been having the worse sorethroat and cough for the last 3 weeks. Throughout those weeks I have tried so many types of medicines and avoided so many types of food which will make the sorethroat and cough slow to heal. There are a few types of food and drinks you should avoid when you are having a sorethroat. This is because food and drinks like this will make it hard for someone to swallow as well as hinders the healing process by worsening it or slowing it down.

If you have a sorethroat, AVOID:

1. Rough or Crunchy Foods: Like dry cereals, dry toast, popcorn, nuts, plain rice, fried foods, raw vegetables and hard fruits.

2. Dry Foods: E.g. baked or fried meats, chicken or fish, cookies, crackers, bread and buns and dry cakes.

3. Oily Foods: E.g. deep fried food, any types of dishes cooked in a lot of oil. (Sorry guys, you have to avoid the Char Kueh Tiaw and Fries)

4. Beverages: carbonated drinks and any type of alcoholic drinks.

5. Tart or Acidic Foods: foods made with citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, lemons and foods made with tomatoes ( e.g. juices and sauces).

6. Foods that are too Hot or too Cold: i.e. very hot beverages or soups and very cold beverages or foods.

7. Highly Seasoned Foods: E.g. Food with lots of pepper, curry, chili seasoned dishes, or salty snack foods.

It does sound like you can't eat anything at all right? You're wrong! In the next post, I'm putting up food you CAN EAT when you're having a sorethroat.

See you there!

Episode 211 - Water Chestnut Chicken Patties

2009-06-29T20:38:00.002+08:00

Hi guys! What's cooking? I made these for dinner today. They were really tasty. This patties have the sweetness and crunch to them, thanks to the water chestnuts! I got this recipe from 85 Popular Classic Dishes published by SEASHORE. You guys should get that book and be inspired by it for your meals. I'll just put up the exact recipe from the book for you guys to try it out!

Water Chestnut Chicken Patties

Ingredients:

200 g Chicken Meat (minced)

50 g Water Chestnuts (chopped)

some coriander (chopped)

10 g Chinese Mushrooms (cut into small dices)

1 stalk spring onion (chopped)

Seasonings A

1 tsp salt

some pepper

1 tsp potato starch

Seasonings B

100 ml water

1tsp sugar

1 tbsp oyster sauce

some pepper

Method:

1. Beat chicken meat, water chestnuts, coriander and 8g of Chinese mushrooms with Seasonings A vigorously. Mould into 12 small balls then flatten them into patties.

2. heat up a pan and pan-fry the patties till both sides turn golden brown.

3. Bring Beasonings B to boil before thickening it 1/2 teaspoon of potato starch. Put in 2g of Chinese Mushrooms and the chopped spring onion and stur into sauce.

4. Serve the meat patties with the sauce.

*Tip*: Based on my experience on tryng this recipe, I'd recommend adding some light soya sauce into the chicken meat batter. But remember to lessen the salt into half and put around 1 tbsp of soya sauce. Also, I didn't really like the dip for the patties. You can either use ready minced chicken meat which you can get at the Supermarket but it's a bit fatty. So, you can buy some meat (boneless whole leg/breast) and remove the fat and minced them with an electric mincer or using your cleaver knife and chop it till its minced! I think it's best to eat the patties with Sweet Chilli Sauce or the dip I created for the Fish Fritters in the past post.

Also, if there are leftovers you can cut them up and put them into your fried rice or eat them as snacks for the next day.

Alright, a cookie recipe next! See you there! Don't forget to try this recipe out!!! :oD

Episode 210 - Seafood at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

2009-06-28T21:00:00.002+08:00

I went to KK for the past weekend and I can tell you I had lots of seafood that weekend especially fish dishes!! There were fish and chips, sauted fish with tomato sauce, steamed fish and everything else in between. I think that you can get lots of fresh seafood in KK as they say the Port is near for fresh caught fish to come in. Anyway, my family and I went to a famous Seafood Restaurant situated in KK town, opposite to the Waterfront, beside Promenade Hotel. It's called Ocean's Seafood Restaurant (I hope that's right). They had a wedding dinner in one of their halls so it was pretty packed. Plus it was the School Holidays and there were lots of people on vacation. We had to wait and take a number for a table but it was pretty fast, while waiting we went to take a look at the fresh seafood available and picked what we wanted for dinner, and how we want it ot be cooked. The results were:

From Top to Bottom: Steamed Red Snapper - Traditional Chinese Style with Soya Sauce, Shellfish with Fermented Tofu sauce, Japanese Tofu with Seafood Claypot and the Famous "Sabah" Vegetable stir fried with dried shrimps.

I'd give an A to the Steamed fish. The rest I'd just give a strong B. The Shellfish (which I am not sure of the name) was just simply steamed and served with the fermented tofu sauce ("Huju") and it was really good! The Japanese tofu tasted like any other restaurant's cooking and the "Sabah" Vege was rather unique but it was pretty striingy to swallow. However, I forgot to take a pic of the deep fried Mantis Prawn we had and it was delicious, better than Lobster! If only there was more meat but you know what they say, Less is More!

The Aftermath: Empty Dishes = BURPPP

Notice that there were still some Shellfish left as the meat was pretty hard to be yanked out with the toothpicks! We just really gave up at this point hehe and ya the other empty dish at the top was another Vege dish we had, name unknown because they serve vegetables which I've never heard and seen of! Haha I'll update my food dictionary soon ya! Teehee

Alright, the next post would be on a Chicken recipe I tried from the "85 Popular Classic Dishes". Stay tuned and Don't miss any of your meals!!! XOXO

Episode 209 - Cheese Toast

2009-06-25T16:31:00.004+08:00

French Toast with Oozy Cheese in the Centre

You know how to make French Toast? Or have you ever eaten Cheese toast at Universal Cafe in Seria? Well, this recipe is simple but yet it tastes darn good!!! It's ideal especially for breakfast but I made these for tea yesterday afternoon. I think this goes well with a hot cup of tea or some juice by the side. And it doesn't take much time and ingredients to make. All you need are:

Cheese Toast

Ingredients:

8 pieces of White Bread

4 Eggs

2 tbsp of fine Sugar (add/lessen to suit taste)

4 pieces of Kraft's Cheese Singles

Butter

Method:

To prepare the Bread, you need to cut the crust of the sides. Then cut into half, diagonally(triangular shaped). Then in a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for a few minutes.

On a non-stick pan/ grill, under medium low heat, melt some butter and make sure that it covers all the surface of the pan/grill. With your fingers or a non-stick tong dip the bread in the egg mix till both sides are well covered. Then, fry the bread. Make sure to put even numbers of bread onto your pan. Once one side of the bread turns golden brown, flip it and place half of the cheese singles (cut th cheese diagonally into half) on top of the cooked side and place another cooked bread on top (the cooked side face down onto the cheese).

Repeat this until all breads are cooked.

Serve with non-sweetened Strawberry/ Raspberry jam.

Serves: 4 (Assuming each person eats 2)

*Tip*: Normal White bread is good for this recipe. However, you can use German bread (Get it from Mum Bakery) as they have much more taste and texture. Or, you can buy a loaf of uncut bread and cut it into the thickness you prefer. Other than cheese you can also place jam inside but you need to lessen the sugar. I recommend semi sweet jam such as those by IXL. It has natural sweetness as they don't have artificial ingredients and they have fresh lumps of fruits in it. This jam is also good with your cheese toast.

Ok, hope you like this post! More recipes on your way!!!! XO

Sorry for the delay of my Dad's Beef Curry. I kinda forgotten the recipe and method so I gotta ask him again. Just stay put, it'll be posted soon! Thanks!!

Episode 208 - The BEST Kitchen/ Eating Gadget of all times

2009-06-24T09:29:00.011+08:00

Now, what would be the BEST of the BEST Kitchen/ Eating gadget of all? For me, it would be the CHOPSTICKS!!! I just can't leave without them! I've been using it since the tender age of 5, I assume. I was brought up with a lot of Chinese influence and one of the biggest influence is the use of Chopsticks for my meals. I can tell you honestly that I wouldn't feel comfortable using a fork to eat my noodles and sometimes to cook my meals!

For some, it is pretty hard to use. Especially when you need to kind of balance and hold 2 slim sticks with your fingers but once you get a hang of it, it would be very much fun and you can actually find the benefits of using them instead of the normal eating utensils, the fork and spoon.

Background on Chopsticks

Chopsticks consist of 2 equal-length sticks, which are small and tapered at the end.

Traditionally, they are used in most Asian countries especially among the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese and the Vietnamnese.

They are believed to be originated in Ancient China and can be made of different types of materials such as Stainless steel/Metal, Wood, Ivory, Plastic and also Bones.

Why are they called "Chopsticks"?

The word was derived from Chinese pidgin English, a pidgin in which "chop, chop" means quickly. Hence, people can use these sticks to quickly pick up pieces of food.

How to use Chopsticks?

The pair of sticks are usually maneuvered with one hand in between the thumb and fingers.

This links to a Video which shows you HOW TO USE CHOPSTICKS:

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-use-chopsticks-5

Some facts on the Oh-SO-Cool-Chopsticks:

- Chopsticks are usually used (except in Korea) as means for sweeping rice and other pieces of food into the mouth directly from the bowl. Koreans consider it uncultured and rude to eat rice with chopsticks by picking up the rice bowl and bringing it closer to one's mouth. Dishes are to be left on the table and a spoon and chopsticks used accordingly.
- Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand only, even by lefthanded people. Some consider left-handed chopstick use as improper etiquette!

- Some chopstick designs have carved rings encircling the tips to help in grasping larger pieces of food.

- Very long chopsticks, usually about 30 or 40 centimeters, tend to be used for cooking, especially for deep frying foods.

- Blunt tapered chopsticks provide more surface area for holding food and for pushing rice into the mouth. Pointed tapered chopsticks allow for easier manipulation of food and for picking out bones from whole cooked fish.

- Chopsticks are not used to make noise, to draw attention, or to gesticulate. Playing with chopsticks is considered bad mannered and vulgar.

- Traditionally, Chopsticks shall not be used to pierce or stab food.

Chopsticks for "Dummies"

Disposable Bamboo Chopsticks

The Malays also have a "Chopstick" - like gadget used to enjoy their traditional food "Ambuyat". "Ambuyat" is a sticky and starchy glue like food eaten with dips during meals for the Malays. The stick is usually made of Bamboo and are only split at one end where it is used to roll up the starchy "Ambuyat" and attached or not cut through at the other end.

Malay "Chopsticks" for "Ambuyat"

However, Chopsticks are also found to have some Environmental and Health impacts to our society. It was found that 45 billion of pairs of disposable chopsticks are disposed annually in China alone. This equals to around 25 million fully grown trees in a year. Thus, it's best to use non-disposable chopsticks such as the metal types which are easily washed and sterilised with hot water without ruining them. It is also said that people can be prone to get osteoarthritis in the hand for prolonged usage of chopsticks. '

Depite all that, I still feel that Chopsticks are a very unique and intelligent invention as an eating or cooking utensil!

So, the next time you cook or eat , use chopsticks! It's a challenge but you can see and feel the difference! :oD

Some text are from WIkipedia.com and Images are from Various Sites Searched on Google Images. Image of Ambuyat Chopsticks adapted from 1.bp.blogspot.com (hope he/she doesn't mind).

Episode 207 - Kitchen Essentials - Pots and Pans You Should Have : Part 3

2009-06-23T18:53:00.006+08:00

Hey all!! Part 3 of Pots and Pans you should have in your kitchen features some pots and saucepans. There are basically 4 types of different pots and saucepans you need. All of different sizes and shapes and for different purposes for your cooking.

You should know that any pots and saucepans should be non-reactive i.e. stainless steel and anodized aluminum are often the best. Your kitchen should contain the following pots and saucepans:

Yi': 3- to 4-quart saucepan -

A squat pan with a long handle. The 3- or 4-quart size is perfect for most single people: it lets you boil pasta, cook rice, simmer soup, steam vegetables, and reheat foods, among many other tasks. Families or individuals who cook frequently for guests should own several saucepans, both larger and smaller than 3 quarts. Choose models that have lids and ovenproof handles.

E'r: 8- to 12-quart stockpot -

Also called a saucepot or soup pot, a tall, high-volume pot used to make stocks or extra-large batches of soup or pasta. Make sure the model you choose comes with a lid. If you’ll be making pasta frequently, consider purchasing a stockpot with a built-in strainer.

San: 6- to 8-quart Dutch oven -

A short, round or oval pot that can be used both on the stovetop and in the oven. Dutch ovens are generally made of cast iron or enameled cast iron. They’re heavy, sturdy pots that last for decades if properly maintained (read the manufacturer’s instructions carefully before using) and are great for many cooking methods: sautéing, deep-frying, braising, stewing, and even baking.Se: Roasting pan -

An essential tool for roasting chicken, turkey, or other large cuts of meat. Roasting pans come in a variety of sizes. Select the largest pan that will fit in your oven and make sure it has sturdy, fixed handles. If the pan doesn’t come with a roasting rack for holding poultry or roasts, buy one that fits snugly in the pan.

I think it's common that you all would have the first 2 which is the little saucepan and the huge soup pot. As for the latter, the Dutch Oven would most probably more often found in Westerner's Kitchens as well as the Roasting Pan. However, if you could get them and store it in your kitchen, it will be better because you might not know when you might need them!

Ok, the next post will be a recipe on beef and probably my Seafood experience in K.K which I went last weekend!

Till then, Cook Safely! Make sure you have a fire blanket in your kitchen! XOXO

Text in Blue from Quamut.com

Images from Random Sites searched in Google

Episode 206 - Kitchen Essentials - Pots and Pans You Should Have : Part 2

2009-06-22T18:25:00.007+08:00

Part 2 of Pots and Pans you should have in your kitchen. This is quite straight forward. There are basically 4 types of Skillets and Saute pans that you need for your cooking. They come in different sizes. Some are deep and some are small. All for different types of usage when you cook your meals or just a packet of Indomee. FYI Skillets are pans with sloped sides to make it easier to turn food while Saute pans have straight sides and usually come with lids/covers to allow for stovetop braising.

Alright, here are the 4 TYPES OF SKILLETS AND SAUTE PANS YOU SHOULD HAVE:

Uno: 8" to 12" stainless steel sauté pan-
A versatile pan that allows you to cook food quickly over high heat and to add liquid for braising or sauce-making. Since it’s stainless steel, it won’t react with acidic foods. Choose a model that comes with a lid.
Dos: 8" or 10" nonstick aluminum skillet-
An all-purpose skillet that handles sautéing and cooking eggs with equal ease. If your budget allows, consider purchasing an anodized aluminum skillet.
Tres: 12" cast-iron skillet-
A heavy, dense pan that is an excellent conductor of heat. Once hot, it retains its heat even after you place cold items (such as large cuts of meat) in it. This quality makes it a great tool for searing and caramelizing (adding a brown crust to the surfaces of foods).
Quadro: 14" steel or cast-iron wok-
A pan used for stir-frying. Only copper, steel, and cast-iron woks are capable of maintaining the very high temperatures required to stir-fry foods properly. If you have an electric stovetop, you’ll need a flat-bottomed wok. If you have a gas stovetop, a round-bottomed wok is preferable because it allows for better heat distribution. However, it’s always wise to place a wok ring around your stovetop burner and rest the wok on top of the ring to keep the wok stable while you cook.

The last bit of this 3 Part Kitchen Essentials on different type sof Pots and Saucepans you should have will come next. I hope you enjoyed these Kitchen Essentials posts!!

Text on the different types of Skillets and Saute Pans are from Quamut.com

Episode 205 - KItchen Essentials - Pots and Pans You Should Have : Part 1

2009-06-21T17:45:00.004+08:00

Hi all! Sorry for not being able to update lately. Was vacay-ing with the family during the weekend and have just been really caught up with work and life. Anyway, in this post I'm sharing with you guys the essential pots and pans that you should own in your kitchen so that you can basically cook anything you want at anytime!! Pots and pans come in different sizes and materials. And they are different for different types of cooking. The first part of this 3- part Kitchen Essentials - Pots and Pans You Should Have will be knowing what type of materials your pots and pans are and what difference do they make to own different types. This is because, different types of materials can affect how much they cost, how they hold heat, how easy they are to clean, etc. Here are the five most common materials for pots and pans.

The 5 Common Materials of Pots and Pans

1. Cast iron: Affordable and a terrific conductor of heat, but very heavy. Cast iron also reacts with acidic foods and can sometimes impart a metallic taste (though for more money you can avoid this problem by buying cast-iron pots and pans lined with an enamel surface). If properly seasoned, cast iron actually improves with age, becoming increasingly nonstick. To season a cast-iron pan:

- Coat any new pan with a very thin layer of animal fat, such as bacon grease.
- Bake the coated pan at 250–300°F for 1–2 hours.
- Never wash a cast-iron pan with detergent or scouring pads. Instead, scrub the pan clean while it’s still warm.

2. Stainless steel: Sturdy, nonreactive, and pleasing to the eye, but expensive and a relatively poor conductor of heat. Cladded stainless steel costs more but improves heat conduction by sandwiching a layer of aluminum between layers of stainless steel.

3. Copper: Very study and a great conductor of heat, but reactive with acidic foods and very expensive—even more expensive than stainless steel.

4. Aluminum: Light and relatively inexpensive, but weak and easily warped, and also reactive with acidic foods. Some aluminum pans are anodized, which renders them nonreactive, strengthens them, and extends their life significantly.

5. Nonstick or Teflon®: Coated with Teflon®, a surface material added to pots and pans to prevent most food from sticking. Though these pans make cleanup easier, there is substantial evidence suggesting that the chemicals used to make nonstick or Teflon pans may be carcinogenic. If you do buy nonstick pots and pans, use only plastic or wooden utensils on them—metal utensils will damage the coating.

Amazing how different materials of those pots and pans you own have a huge difference in price and maintaining them is quite different for each of them isn't it?

Do stay tune for the next post as part 2 consists of the different types of SKILLETS and SAUTE PANS you should have in your kitchen!!

More recipes on your way after these Kitchen Essentials posts!!

Picture from hollandhouseware.co.uk and text (blue) from Quamut.com

Episode 204 - "Chai Po" Egg Omelette or Preserved Radish Omelette

2009-06-12T13:41:00.001+08:00

I can tell you one thing. This is one of the best dish to go along with your porridge. It was Friday. Fridays for my family are usually Porridge day for lunch . So, my mum whipped this up and it's so darn delicious although there's nothing but egg and the preserved radish in it. The Radish usually come in packets and you can find anywhere in the Supermarket. They are light brown in colour and are usually in long crinkly strips around 4 inches long. I couldn't get a pic of it online but funny story. I was searching a Chai Po pic in Google Images and I came across a picture of a guy, giving the peace sign with the caption below saying ..."I love you, Lo Chai Por". Ok, no offense but it was really funny. *LOL* But anyhow, I'll try to take a pic of the Radish soon and post it up.

"Chai Po" Egg Omelette

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of Preserved Radish/"Chai Po"- minced

3 Eggs

A few tablespoons of Cooking Oil

Pepper

Method:

Beat the eggs with the Chai Po together. Add a pinch of pepper. In a large hot wok or non-stick pan, place the oil and pour in the egg mixture. Once the top bit is a little dry on the sides and browned, flip it till boths sides are cooked. Garnish with Chives and serve it with a bowl of porridge.

*Tip: The more Oil you use to fry the egg mix, the fluffier your omelette will be. Make sure that the Oil is hot before you put in the beaten eggs mix.

Alright, it's just a simple recipe for today. I have in store for you my Dad's Beef Curry and also some gadgets for your kitchen.

Till the next post, Adios! :0D

Episode 203 - Peachy Rocky Road Pudding

2009-06-12T04:46:00.003+08:00

RrrrrrRRrrrocky Road with Peaches in between

My friends love this desert. Usually when we have a gathering I'd make it and they would be asking for more. The recipe actually originated from a good friend of mine but I added abit more love to it and decided that OREOs would taste really good together with the rest of the ingredients. Trust me, your friends and family would love this! Here goes:

Ingredients:

18 pieces of McVitie's Digestive Biscuits

10 pieces of Oreo Cookies

Half cup of Sweetened Condensed Milk

3 boxes of 250ml Paul's Thickened Cream

1 tin of Sliced Peaches

Method:

Step A:
1. Whip all the cream in a bowl with a whisk until it has a thick consistency (whip around a few minutes should do the trick). Put in the condensed milk and whip around abit to make sure they are nicely combined.

2. Drain the peaches till dry.

3. Roughly crush the Oreo biscuits. Make sure to remove the cream centre of the Oreos.

Step B:
Next, in a 10" by 6" Pyrex or any square tin/ plastic container, lay the Digestives till it covers the bottom. Then, spoon the whipped cream onto the digestives and make sure they are spread nicely and cover the digestives, then place the sliced peaches in rows. Lastly, sprinkle a few tablespoons of Oreo crumbs on top.

Repeat Step B until all the peaches and biscuits are used up. You may need to use more ingredients. All depending on how big and deep your tray or Pyrex is. The last layer on top shall be cream and topped with the Oreos or diced peaches.

Cling wrap the top or cover the tin and put in the fridge for a few hours and serve while it's cold.

Serves: 6-8

*Tip: Do NOT use Rodeo Biscuits. They don't taste as good. Digestives can also be crushed and place some salted melted butter in it. The removed cream centre of the oreos can be used as deco on top of the pudding or can be use to sweeten the cream, so you can lessen the condensed milk. You can also use fresh fruits like Kiwi or Cocktail.

SLURPIN-LICIOUS.. xoxo