Episode 412 - Instant Noodles (Mee) with Class

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

A:

5 red chillies

5 dried chillies

7 shallots
5 cloves of garlic

4 tbspn cooking oil

B:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!