Monday, February 28, 2011

Sayur Manis from my Garden – Simple Healthy Recipe

Sayur Manis (Sauropus Androgynus, Sayur Mani, Mani Cai, Katuk, star gooseberry) can be easily cultivated by just using the matured stems. They grow well under bright sunlit area with adequate water. Sayur manis is used to garnish Pan Mee and it is full of natural sweetness like its’ namesake! You can read about the chemical content in Sayur manis from my previous post, Edible Plants, Fruits and Herbs in a Foodie’s Garden. Anyway, the Sayur Manis in the photo above are produce from my little garden. It grows very well without much care needed. I would normally stir fry Sayur Manis with eggs. I think most families would cook it the same way too. Here is the simple recipe.

Ingredients
Sayur Manis, remove stems, just keep the leaves
Eggs, 1 pc, lightly beaten
Garlic, 3 pcs, chopped finely
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil, ½ tablespoon

Heat up wok and put in the vegetable oil. Saute garlic until fragrant and put in the sayur manis. Add a little water and slowly pour in the eggs. Add salt to taste. Serve with steamed rice.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

RM 2 Curry Mee at Loy Kee Restaurant (Kong Kee Roast Meat), Kepong Baru Wet Market

NOTE : Aug 2011, I noticed that the restaurant already closed down!



Sorry, photo not clear. It was taken using my lightweight Samsung Galaxy 5 mobile phone. I woke up early on Saturday and started my morning exercise routine at around 6.45am. After that I dropped by Kepong Baru wet market to have breakfast and also to buy some food stuff for the week. It has been a while since I last ate at Loy Kee Restaurant. So, I sat down and ordered my food right away. I decided to go for Curry Mee. When the waiter served the curry mee, he said, “RM2” (USD0.70) and I responded ‘Haaahh?”. Then I asked him again in Cantonese dialect, “How Much?”. He gave me back my RM5 and showed a peace sign with his fingers! Still couldn’t believe it, I proceeded to give him RM2 loose change. There are a few pieces of char siew and a piece of tofu pok in the curry mee. The gravy is thick and flavourful. For RM2, there is nothing to complain about! The serving is rather generous too! I thought of ordering a take away of Wanton mee for my son since the noodles are so cheap but when I wanted to order they told me that RM2 noodles are for dine in only! Ha ha ha! Actually I didn’t realize there is a sign at the entrance of the restaurant stating that they are having a promotion, RM2 for certain type of noodles, Monday to Saturday, from 6am to 10am only. I only saw this sign when I was leaving the restaurant. My morning coffee cost RM1.20 and Lemon Honey cold drink cost RM1.60. So, the total cost of this breakfast is only RM4.80!

Revised map of Kepong Baru Wet Market showing all the recommended food stalls and also location of Loy Kee Restaurant:-

Friday, February 25, 2011

Soon Hock Claypot Bak Kut Teh, Jalan Meru, Klang

It was already 3pm when my business partner and I finished our appointment in Setia Alam. We decided to check out the food stalls in Jalan Meru and found Soon Hock Claypot Bak Kut Teh in a row of shop lot, visible from the Jalan Meru main road. It seems that soon Hock Claypot Bak Kut Teh just moved to this new location and hence the owner hangs up large red banner that you couldn’t miss! This stall shares the same location as a Chinese Restaurant. The owner was preparing to close and we were his last customer. LOL! The friendly and accommodating owner told us not to worry and we can take our time to savour the food. We sat down and quickly ordered one bak kut teh and one hot pepper intestine soup. Nice aroma of the herbs in the Bak Kut Teh permeates the air when it was served. The soup is very tasty, thick and sweet. We asked for pai kuat(ribs) and lean meat. They were very tender and the meat actually soaked up all the nice herbal soup. There are fook chok (fried bean curd sheet) and tau pok in it as well. The hot pepper soup was still boiling when it arrived at our table. You can see all the bubbles in the photo I took. There are kam cham (dry lily flower) flower in the peppery intestine soup which I have not eaten for quite some time. The hot peppery soup sure makes us sweat right after we finished our first bowl. It was a sunny day and drinking this soup made us sweat profusely! LOL! The total bill for 2 person plus rice and 2 glasses of water came up to be RM18.50 (USD 5.60). I am dropping by again to try out the dry Bak Kut Teh!

Map, Address and Contact Number of Soon Hock Claypot Bak Kut Teh

 No. 70, Lebuh Merpati, Jalan Mery, Batu 1, 410050 Klang, Selangor Handphone 016 2886162 (Alex), HP 016 3420701 (Ming Tat)

Opening Hours, 7am to 3pm

Map

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Butter Bread Recipe - Home made for Breakfast

Nothing beats eating home made bread hot out from the oven. I have experimented with many types of flavour for bread but found that I still like Butter Bread more. Here is my recipe for home made Butter Bread. It is actually very easy to make you own bread. You just have to give the dough time to proof.

Ingredients
Flour, 4 cups
Sugar, 3 tablespoons
Butter, 2 tablespoons for dough and 4 tablespoons for folding into the dough
Dry Yeast, 1 teaspoon
Vegetable shortening, 2 tablespoon
Milk powder, 2 table spoons

Mix all the ingredients together except the 4 tablespoons of butter. Add water slowly and knead the bread thoroughly. Leave the dough aside for around 3 hours. Put the dough into the bread pan and put 4 table spoons of the butter randomly inside the dough. Let the bread proof for another 1 to 2 hours. Rub the top part of the bread with olive oil. Bake the bread in preheated oven at 200 Deg C for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve while still hot.

A Quickie Dinner at Tambun Chan Heng Restaurant, Sunway City Ipoh

It was around dinner time when we passed through Ipoh, on my way back to Penang during the recent Chinese New Year holidays. My wife suggested that we stopped by in Ipoh for a quick meal before continuing our journey. I took the first exit near Ipoh and ended up at Jalan (Road) Tambun. Actually I wanted to go to Bercham and should have driven further up north to the Bercham exit. Anyway, it was dark and I was not very familiar with the road around here. I missed the left turn to Jalan Perajurit, so I just stop by the next restaurant that I come across near Giant Hypermarket Tambun. Chan Heng is just a simple Kopitiam (coffee shop) type of restaurant and we sat down to order our meal. We requested for Ham Choy Thong(Salted Vegetable Soup), Orange Chicken, Homemade tofu with minced meat and Stir fried Cauliflower with Broccoli. The total bill plus drinks for 5 adults and one toddler came up to be RM49 (USD14). Here are the photos and review of the dishes we had.
I love the savoury and sour Ham Choy Thong. The serving is quite generous as well. The main ingredients are fish cake, parsley, fish ball, tomato, preserved plums and salted vegetable. A good way to get the stomach ‘engine’ started after a long journey from KL, so that I can eat more! LOL!
We decided to try Orange Chicken instead of the usual Lemon Chicken. The Orange Chicken is surprisingly tasty. My kids love it very much. The citrus orange aroma sure blend well with the crispy fried chicken and the sauce has a well balanced taste of sweetness with a little sourness of the orange juice.
These are homemade tofu. The texture is smooth and soft and I love the sauce that accompanied the tofu.
My kids love cauliflower and broccoli, so we ordered this dish for them. The crunchy vegetables are well fried with prawns and fresh too!

 Address and Map of Restoran Chan Heng

Address : 24, Persiaran Sunway City Ipoh 2/1, 31150, Ipoh, Perak

Friday, February 11, 2011

Pai Thnee Kong on the 9th Day of Chinese New Year (Jade Emperor of Heaven Prayers)

The prayers altar, decorated sugar cane and my home made mi ku (tortoise bun). I decided to make these mi ku when I couldn't get soft tortoise buns in Kuala Lumpur like those from Penang. Having grown up in a Chinese Baba and Nyonya (Straits born) family, I always looked forward to the 9th day of Chinese New Year. As a young lad growing up in Butterworth, I have many fond memories of the days we made offerings and prayers to The Jade Emperor of Heaven (Pai Thnee Kong). I really missed the taste of my grandma and mom’s home made bee koh (glutinous rice with coconut milk), huat kuih (rice flour cake with Toddy which is palm wine made from coconut flowers), ang ku (a type of nyonya kuih, glutinous rice flour with green beans filling) and mi ku (steamed tortoise buns). During that time, celebrating the 9th day of Chinese New Year was a grand family affair and it involves every family members. Everyone in our neighbourhood would be praying as well and I had a great time playing fireworks with my childhood friends. After the prayers, my mom would be chopping away the whole roast pig to share with our neighbours and we would have feast of roast pork meat as late supper (or maybe early breakfast because the prayers would only start at midnight). Ahhhhh, the good old days! Now, since my mom and dad are already in their eighties, I am taking over the reign from them in offering prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven and carry on this colourful family tradition. Before the prayers start, I drove my kids around my neighbourhood to show them how others celebrate this festival. Some houses are packed with guest and relatives; just like having a midnight party! LOL! My kids and wife helped out in preparing food and paraphernalia for the prayers. All of them, especially my daughter was every excited to participate in the prayers. As the clock struck twelve midnight, I woke up my little 3 year old boy so that he can join in to pray as well. He was equally excited as well to see the prayers altar and the decorated sugar cane which is a must have for the Hokkiens. Ok, got to go now…..to enjoy my roast pork with mi ku! LOL!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Happy Chinese New Year - The Importance of Filial Piety

Well, how time flies and it is Chinese New Year again! Everyone would be very busy preparing for this auspicious day. My mom, although already in her eighties would insist of preparing some food for Chinese New Year. Every year, I will try my best to be home early to help her out buying things at the market and also cooking in the kitchen. Luckilly everyone in my family would be there to help out as well. My mom would be the Chief Chef! LOL! She is always happy to see everyone in the family seated together to have a reunion dinner and enjoying the scrumptous food. The Petronas commercial in Hokkien dialects below really touches my heart. It reminds us of the importance of filial piety! We must always take a break from our busy schedule to spend some time with our parents. They would treasure these moments forever!
I wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year!