Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Yong Tau Fu with Tnee Cheow (Sweet Bean Paste Sauce, Gochujang, Kochuchang, Hangul 고추장, Hanja 고추醬 )

Tnee Cheow (in Korean, Gochujang, Kochuchang, sweet bean sauce) is made from glutinous rice flour, red chili pepper and soya bean paste. Sugar is then added and the mixture is left for fermentation in earthen jar for a certain number of years. Thee cheow is also widely used in Korean cuisine and as a dipping sauce for Bulgogi or other Korean style barbecue meat. It contains Vitamin B2 and Beta Carotene. This versatile sauce is often mistakenly identified as the Sichuan spicy fermented red bean paste (Toubanjiang), which is virtually different in texture and taste! The Tnee Cheow is pungent but full of taste and it is one of the most important ingredients in Penang Chee Cheong Fun sauce beside the ‘heh ko’ (prawn paste) and ‘or cheow’ (black sauce). It is quite hard to find this type of sauce in KL. Most of the food vendors here made their own chee cheong fun sweet sauce. KL chee cheong fun vendors uses the brown coloured sweet sauce which is lack of the pungent and unique taste of the original Tnee Cheow (Sweet Bean Paste Sauce, Gochujang, Kochuchang, Hangul 고추장, Hanja 고추醬 ). There are a few factories in the northern states making thee cheow but you can hardly find one in KL. Anyway, I came across one old man in Kepong Baru market who sells a variety of sauces in his mini bicycle basket. He normally parks his bicycle in the alley next to an aquarium shop. I bought this container of Thee Cheow from him and happily took it home! I like to use it as a dipping sauce for my Yong Tau Fu and vegetables. The sauce is a little bit pungent and sweet but taste real good!

Tasteless Black Pepper Chicken from ‘a’ Hypermarket

It was about dinner time and I have just finished meeting my clients. So I just drop by a Hypermarket on the way home to buy a roast chicken. Bought one black pepper roast chicken for around RM7 plus. It is cheap but small in size. They need to teach their worker how to chop the chicken! They cut into large chunks which made it not very appetizing. Anyway, when I got home and ate dinner with my family, I found that the black pepper roast was a little tasteless and not nice at all. It they could just enhance the aroma and taste a little bit, I am sure their roast chicken would be a hit with consumers. They should sack their food technologist! We only managed to finish a quarter of the chicken and I put the leftover in the fridge. The following day, I was wondering what to do with it, whether to make soup, porridge or re marinate, then fry it? I used Penang five spice powders to enhance the aroma and a lemon to add a little tartness. Then I rub the chicken with some corn flour, light soya sauce and a little honey. I fried the chicken in the wok for a short while. At the end, I managed to get everyone to eat all the chicken. He he he, no more leftovers!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Pre Wedding Food Tasting at Golden Dragon Boat Restaurant, Jln Kg Pandan, KL

It was the first day of Raya and I was at Dragon Boat Restaurant for a pre tasting of wedding dinner food. The restaurant has a good crowd and most of them are actually there for the dim sum. I went to the old location in Jalan Imbi and found that it has actually moved to Kg Pandan near the roundabout. I think there used to be a restaurant named ‘CIAO’ in this location. The new building is really huge and I guess they built specially to cater for weddings! The grand ballroom on the first floor can hold 160 tables and there are also 9 VIPs rooms. Anyway, by the time I made a detour and reached the restaurant, I found that the table was already ready and my brother in law outside looking for me. He made the booking for his wedding this coming year end and the restaurant offered this food tasting for half the actual price.
The first dish was the Four Hot and Cold Combination Platter. This platter consists of fried sotong (squid or maybe fish ball) with mayonnaise (it taste like mayonnaise to me), fried vegetable/chicken in vermicelli basket, crispy fried bean curd wrap and baby octopus (chuka iidako) with preserved jelly fish. The crispy fried bean curd wrap is nice. My daughter likes the fish ball and I ate most of the chuka iidako with jelly fish!
The next dish served was the Braised Shark Fin Soup with Crab Meat Soup, which is simple and nice. The gooey starchy broth is smooth and full of flavours!
The Special Crispy Roasted Chicken is fried to perfection. The skin is very crispy and the chicken meat is tender. Taste real good with the plum sauce provided!
Prawn was served after the chicken. I think it was deep fried prawn with mayonnaise like sauce. The prawns are very succulent and sweet..........thumb up!
The white pomfret (bawal putih, tau teh) served was a medium large one. A table sized fish just nice for 10 persons. The pomfret goes down well with the soya sauce and cilantro. As usual, only the bones left! Yum Yum!
I sensed there was something not right when the Braised Mushroom and Broccoli dish came. My brother in law alerted the Captain and we found out that they missed out on the ‘tau kan’ ( wet bean curd blocks ). Wow, how can they miss out on the most important ingredients! Anyway, the gravy is good and broccoli is crunchy!
Then the fried rice with anchovies came. My tummy was already full but then a little helping of grainy aromatic fried rice won’t hurt! LOL!
Ahhhh, at last the dessert came. We were served Chilled Longan & Toddy Palm with light syrup and also Dragon Boat Sweet Fancy Dumpling. Nice sweet dessert to wrap up the sumptuous meal for the day!
Overall the food is nice except that the waitress were very slow in filling up our tea. The Captain promised that this won’t happen again during the actual day of the wedding dinner!
Here are some of the pictures I took at the seafood section outside the restaurant.
My types of lobster are stocked here. They have snow crab as well!
My favourite fish, the Soon Hock (Marble Goby) and Giant Crab!

Address
Golden Dragon Boat Restuarant Sdn Bhd 10, Jalan Kampung Pandan, 55100 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel : 03 92811313, 03 92816633, 03 92819933 Fax : 03 92826677
Email : golden_dragonboat@yahoo.com

Map To Golden Dragon Boat Restaurant, Jalan Kg Pandan, KL

Peteformation Bacon Pork Rolls with Lychee Sauce Recipe

I like to use bacon in my recipe because it is very flavourful. Pancetta would be a better alternative for this recipe but then, it is very hard to find a shop that sells this in KL. Pancetta is an Italian type of bacon but it has more spices like pepper, fennel, nutmeg and garlic added to it before being cured with salt. Pancetta is also a good choice of ingredient for pasta sauce. Since I cannot find pancetta, I have to use normal bacon for my Bacon Pork Rolls with Lychee Sauce.

Ingredients
Pork Belly (or you can use tender lean meat), 600gms
Bacon (or pancetta), 10 pcs
Pepper, ½ teaspoon
Thyme, 3 sprigs Salt to taste
Cumin, ½ teaspoon
Lemon juice, from 1 pc lemon,
Brown sugar, 1 table spoon

Sauce
Tomato sauce, 3 table spoon
Fresh lychee fruits, 5 pcs, remove seeds
Salt to taste
Pepper, a dash
Sugar, ½ teaspoon A little water.

Marinade the pork belly with pepper, thyme, salt, cumin, lemon juice and brown sugar. Wrap the bacon over the pork belly and tie with strings. Heat up oven to 120 Deg C and slow roast for 2 hours. To make the sauce, add some water in pan, add lychee and put in the tomato sauce. Add salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to a boil. You can use corn flour mixed with a little water to thicken the sauce.

Curry Assam Fish Head Recipe

Fish head is full of nutrients that are good for the skin. The best part is of course the lips and eyes which are full of collagen and Vitamin A. So, ladies if you want to have nice porcelain like complexion, then eat more fish head!.....especially curry fish head! LOL! I like to play around with the spices whenever I cook curry fish head. This is another version of curry fish head recipe. Check it out!

Ingredients
Kurau (Treadfin, Ma Yau) Fish Head (alternatively can use also Garoupa, Ikan Kerapu head), 1 pc
Shallots, 5 pcs
Curry powder, 5 table spoons
Turmeric Powder, 1 table spoon
Serai (lemon grass), 3 pcs
Assam Keping, 3 pcs
Lady Fingers, 5 pcs (Okra)
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Vegetable oil

Blend serai (lemon grass) and shallots together. Heat up wok and put in the vegetable oil. Sautéed serai and shallots mixture until fragrant, then add in the curry and turmeric powder. Put in the Assam Keping and add some water. Bring to a boil and add the Kurau Fish Head. Add in the okra (lady fingers), salt and sugar to taste.

Monday, September 28, 2009

My American Friend And Food Fight – Ah Lian and Ah Beng also want to Fight!

As the food fight of the origin of Hainanese Chicken rice and many other foods continues.......

John : Wow, this food fight is getting interesting. Now, Melaka is claiming that Hainanese Chicken Rice originated from their state and Penang is claiming Nasi Kandar as theirs.

Me : Yah John, I think things are going out of hand a little bit! But John, I am little sad that my favourite Penang Assam Laksa, Curry Mee and Hokkien mee are not included in our heritage list!

Ah Beng: I am claiming the Hainanese Chicken Rice as mine! My great grandparents were the first to introduce this food in Malaysia!

Ah Lian : What lah, Ah Beng. How can you claim the Chicken Rice belongs to your family!

Ah Beng : You don’t believe me ah? My Ah Kong (granddad) told me that my great grandpa boat capsized in the Straits of Melaka. Then he tied two chickens that he brought all the way from China on his back and swam to shore. Then ‘hor’ he started a chicken farm in KL. My one is real original Hainan Chicken Rice leh. Chicken also from Hainan province, China. Who want to challenge my claim?

Ah Lian : Chey! When the boat capsized, my great grandpa used ‘2 biji’ (2 loafs) of water proof Hainanese bread as floats to reach the shore. The bread was all wet, so he toasted them using a bon fire. All the locals were attracted by the nice aroma and came by to buy the toast from him!

John : Ha ha ha, your story is really amazing! Can I have one Hainanese waterproof toast and one kopi ‘kaw’ (thick) please!

Friday, September 25, 2009

A Birthday Dinner for Mom in Law at Wah Hong Restaurant, Chai Leng Park, Prai.

Wah Hong was just a corner coffee shop with very few stall more than 20 years ago. The owner made the right choice of turning it into an upper class restaurant and business has been good ever since. I was back in Butterworth recently and my sister in law suggested that we celebrate my mom in law birthday earlier. She ordered the 8 course meals! The price of an eight course meals like this are rather reasonable in Butterworth compared to KL.

As usual the first course is the cool platter (sorry, photo not very clear). The crispy fried special spring rolls are nice. I like the abalone like shell fish with chilli. I can really remember the rest of the dish in it, as you know normally whenever the first course arrived, everyone would quickly snapped up everything in it.

The shark fin soup has a good combination of natural sweetness and crabmeat flavours in it. Nice, but unfortunately the servings were just for 10 bowls only!

The cereal prawn was served with generous amount of cereal and butter in it. This dish is very aromatic and I just love the creamy taste. The prawn is fresh and has springy texture! Taste real good when eaten with a spoonful of cereals that comes with it.

Next was the yin yong chicken. One is crispy fried with belachan (fermented prawn paste) and the other one is marmite chicken. Both these dishes seem to be very popular in Butterworth. Damm tasty!

Sorry about this Assam Siakap Fish (Giant Sea perch) photo. I forgot to take before we started eating. I guess the picture paint a thousand words, everything gone except the bones! Thumbs up!

This is fried crispy longevity noodles, with Cantonese style gravy. The mee (noodle) is crispy and the starchy gravy is good. My kids love it so much! I went for second helpings! I missed out on some of the other dishes as I was busy catching up with my relatives and also eating at the same time. But overall it is a very satisfactory meal. Address Restoran Wah Hong 69, 71, 73, Lebuh Kurau Satu, Chai Leng Park, 13700, Prai, PW Mr. Tung Meng How, HP : 019 4758228, Tel : 04 3994017, 3976534, 3902943 Opening hours : 11 am to 2.30pm, 5pm to 10pm Map to Wah Hong, Chai Leng Park, Butterworth

Mr. Makario, My Daugher’s Pet Tilapia (St. Peter’s Fish, Tilapiine Cichlid)

This is my daughter’s pet fish. When I got it from the pet shop, it was about the size of a 20 cents coin. In fact it only cost me 20 sen each! I actually bought 10 red tilapias, but they fought among each other and this is the only one survive. Anglers would use small tilapia as bait fish. Since it is pinkish in colour, tilapia can attract the attention of predatory fishes like the Toman (Giant Snakehead). Tilapia (hong fei chow) is supposed to be a very hardy fish and they grow very fast. She named it ‘Makario’ (Male Greek name, for blessed). I am not sure whether the Mr. Makario is male or female. LOL! Makario would surface whenever it sees my daughter. When he is hungry he would push the bubble sinker against the wall to make some ‘tong tong’ sound. He reminds us of his feeding time! Smart fish! My little 22 months old toddler likes to put his hand in the water and play with Makario. Makario would not bite but I am worried that the sharp fins might poke his hands! Can you guess what my daughter’s response was when I said that since Makario has grown so big, it will make a good ‘Nyonya Assam Fish’ dish! He he he!

Chick Feet Kut Teh, Anyone Interested?

I would always ask for extra chicken feet from the chicken stall owner in Kepong Baru wet market whenever I buy chicken from him. The friendly boss would obliged by giving me whole bunch of them! It is real nice to chew on the tendons of the chicken feet. Chicken feet is a must have whenever I ate at dim sum restaurants. My friend told me that it is good for my joints but I am not really sure whether it is true or not. Hope that it can cure my knee injuries sustained during my half marathon running days! Anyway, I decided to throw in some of the chicken feet into my Chick Kut Teh. I had a nice meal of Chick Feet Kut Teh with cili padi (bird eye chili) in soya sauce!

My post on Bak Kut Teh recipe
1) Chick Kut Teh Recipe
2) Bak Kut Teh Recipe
3) Vegetarian Veg Kut Teh Recipe

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Penang Famous Hai Beng Coffee Shop Lor Mee

This famous Penang lor mee has been in business for more than 50 years. It is not only popular among the local Penangites but also with outstation visitors. I would drop by in Hai Beng whenever I go to Kuan Yin Teng Temple. Hai Beng is located just next to this famous Kuan Yin temple. The thick starchy soup is made from boiled pork bones, spices, dark soya sauce, light soya sauce and thicken with tapioca flour. The spice coated hard boil eggs that are served with the noodles are very tasty too. I normally order mee with bihun (rice vermicelli) combination. The lor mee is garnished with pork intestine taugeh (bean sprout) and some other pork innards. Pour all the chilli into the soup, oh la la la, nice until ‘mou tak teng’ (very good)! LOL! Address: 32, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (Pitt Street) Penang Tel: 04 2615730 Map to Hai Beng Coffee shop

Teow Chow Seafood Restaurant, Bukit Sri Bintang, Kepong

Teow Chow Restuarant............................................Special Soya sauce crab
Mantis prawn..............................................................White ham yee fah lam po!
Long beans........................................................................yummy lobster still alive!
This eatery is located on the same row of shop lots with other well known restaurants in Bukit Sri Bintang Kepong. The waiters are rather friendly. We ordered Special soya sauce crab, fried mantis prawn, long beans and ham yee fah lam po (salted fish with pork in claypot). The crab dish took some time to reach our table, maybe because of the dinner crowd. For those who like hot and spicy seafood will find this dish quite bland. But you can actually taste the natural sweetness of the crab. The flesh is firm and nice. The deep fried mantis prawn had butter added into it, which gave it an additional flavour and aroma. I just love the taste of the mantis prawn. There is nothing to shout about the long beans dish but the serving is rather big. We had a hard time finishing it. The ham yee fah lam po is quite different from the one that are served in other restaurant. They do not use dark soya sauce in it. It didn’t make a good first impression until you taste the food. It is actually quite tasty and full of flavours. So, don’t let the look fool you! The total bill plus drinks came up to be RM87.00 for 4 adults and 2 children. Reasonable? Address : Teow Chow Seafood Restaurant 17, Jalan 3/36, Bukit Sri Bintang, Kepong 52100, Kuala Lumpur HP : 012 2961124, 03 62758915 Opening hours : 11.30am to 3pm, 5.30pm to 12midnight Map to Teow Chow Restaurant

Kuan Nan Coffee Shop, Chai Leng Park, Butterworth (Fried Mamak Mee, Jawa Mee, Kueh Teow Soup, Fried Kueh Teow, Ais Kacang, Chai Kuih, Lobak, Hokkien M

This restaurant has been operating in Chai Leng Park for 20 over years and I like to eat here not because the food is the best in Butterworth but because of the wide variety of choices available. If you are staying in Pearl View Hotel, just walk straight down the road beside the hotel and you will see this place which is just after the old cinema. Kuan Nan stalls opens quite late in the morning and operates till evening but by then all the hawker stalls would normally be closed by then. The best time to visit this place is around 11am to 3 pm. If you want to eat the famous Chai Kueh, go early as it is normally sold out after lunch. The prices for the food here are a little bit more than the other hawkers around this area but you can still find a good crowd patronizing this restaurant everyday. Address Restoran Kuan Nan Lebuh Kurau 3, Chai Leng Park 13700, Prai, Butterworth Map to Kuan Nan, Chai Leng Park, Prai, Butterworth

Ais Kacang (Ice Dessert) The ais kacang here is really huge, with all sorts of ingredients added. Among the ingredients I can remember are leong fun, peanuts, dried nutmeg, sweet corn, red beans, chendol, lychee and red jelly. I had a hard time finishing it!

Chinese Fried Mamak Mee (yellow noodles) This is one of my favourite dishes here. The fried mamak mee is tastier than that you can find in normal mamak stall. I have brought my outstation friends to eat this mee and they agreed with mee. Highly recommended!

Jawa Mee The Jawa Mee is sold by the same stall that sells the fried mamak mee. It tastes so so only, nothing special but so much better than many jawa mee that in KL.

Curry Mee The serving is rather small. The white curry mee is my wife's favourite. The spicy, aromatic and creamy soup makes you crave for second helping. Highly recommended.

Wanton Mee My wife likes the wanton mee here but I prefer the one in the wet market. This one taste quite good!

Char Kueh Teow (Fried flat rice noodles) This is my daughter’s favourite. It meets all the requirement of a good plate of Penang Char Kueh Teow. I find the owner quite erratic, sometime it is tasty and sometime not so good!

Hokkien Mee Lean Gaik Hokkien mee (Har Mee, Prawn Mee) started from a small stall here. It became so popular that they moved in to their own shop lot, same row as Kuan Nan, opposite the wet market. Another hawker took over the Hokkien Mee stall. The Hokkien mee is full of prawn flavour and my son says he still likes the one in Bandar Sri Damansara more. LOL,can’t get him away from the BSD Har Mee!

Lobak I ordered a plate of lobak here to try it out. Tasted ok but still missing that little ‘zing’ of a good Penang lobak. Anyway, the platter of taukua and prawn fritters tasted quite good!

Kueh Teow Soup (Flat rice noodles soup) Actually, I ‘tar pau’ (take away) this kueh teow soup, so the presentation might look odd to you. The kueh teow soup taste quite ok but I still prefer the one from my ex neighbour in Heng Hoe Restaurant not far away from here.