Infertile Tomato Plants

These tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants grew from the pulp that I that I used to make tomato juice. I put them in my flower pot as organic fertiliser and without knowing it they started to grow into tomato plants. Unfortunately, the flowers did not bear any tomato and I was forced to destroy the plants when disease started attacking them. Tomato belongs to the nightshade family of plants. Some of the well known nightshade family are potato, petunia, aubergine (egg plant) and bell pepper. The nightshade plants contain a range of toxic alkaloids and are poisonous to human. The leaves of tomato, stems and unripe tomato contain a small amount of tomatine which is a toxin but ripe tomato is safe for consumption. The level of tomatine is quite low but the leaves can be toxic for dogs. People with rheumatoid arthritis should avoid eating produce from nightshade family because the solanine inside it can cause pain. Anyway, there are also lots of good nutrients in tomato like lycopene and are also beneficial in preventing prostate cancer.

Kueh Teow Theng and Penang Curry Mee for Breakfast at Le Kwang Restaurant, USJ Subang Jaya

This is one of my favourite place for a good bowl of Penang style Curry Mee (noodles) and Penang Kuih Teow soup (Keow Teow Theng). I would drop by this place whenever I have appointments in USJ area. There is a Chap fan (economy rice) stall here that serves nice dishes and porridge. Overall, the food from the hawker stalls in Le Kwang is quite good. Le Kwang is normally packed with customers most of the time and it is quite hard to get a seat during peak hours. I was in Subang Jaya early last Saturday and decided to drop by Le Kwang for breakfast. I ordered the Curry mee and Kueh Teow Soup. The curry mee was served with a dollop of aromatic and spicy chilly paste. I added all the chilly paste to the soup for extra kick and flavours. The tofu pok (fried tofu) soaked up all the savoury and creamy curry mee soup which burst in you mouth as you put it in! Mmmmmm, nice and tasty. The kueh teow soup (keuh teow theng) is quite close to the one that you find in Penang. It is served with lettuce, spring onions, fish cake, fish ball and pieces of pork. Ask for extra crispy pork lard which would make the bowl of keuh teow soup tastier by ten fold! Ha ha ha, after that better do more exercise! LOL! After a nice hearty breakfast, I washed down all of the nice food with a cup of my favourite coffee!

Address, Restoran Le Kwang 1 Jln USJ 2/2C, Subang Jaya
(Opening hours 7.30am - 8.30pm)
Map to Restaurant Le Kwang

Grouper Fish with Sweet Soya Sauce and Garlic Recipe

This is a very simple home cook recipe. You have a choice of frying the fish till it turned crispy or just nicely cook. I would prefer to use thin grouper fish cut and fry it until crispy. The crispy grouper fish cut go along well with sweet soya sauce and crispy fried garlic. You can use sweet Japanese soya sauce or just use our normal light soya sauce and add in some sugar to it.

Ingredients
Grouper Cut, 3 pcs
Light Soya sauce, 2 tablespoons
Garlic, 3 pcs, chopped finely
Sugar, 1 teaspoon or to taste
Ginger (optional), cut into strips
Oil for deep frying
Spring onions for garnishing

Deep fry grouper cut in hot oil until crispy. Remove and put aside. Pour the deep frying oil in to a storage container but leave a little of it in the wok. Sauté garlic and ginger with the remaining oil until they turned golden brown. Pour in a little water and then add in the soya sauce. Bring to a boil and add in the sugar. Pour the sauce on the deep fried fish and garnish with spring onions.

Japanese Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), Yau Char Kwai (Chinese Cruller) and Turnips (Sengkuang) Salad Recipe

This salad has all the ingredients that I love. It has a good mix of crunchy turnips and Japanese cucumber. Instead of topping it with the usual croutons, I used some of the leftover Yau Char Kwai (Chinese crullers) that I bought for breakfast. The Yau Char Kwai has already turned soft, so I fried it without oil at low heat in my non-stick pan to make it crispy again.

Ingredients
Japanese Cucumber, 1 pc, cut into bite size
Turnips, 1 small, cut into bite size
Tomato, 1 pc, cut into cubes
Yau Char Kwai, 1 pc, cut into 1cm width
Salad Dressing Thousand Island Salad Dressing, 5 tablespoons
Extra Virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon
Cream Cheese (optional), 2 tablespoons, break into small pieces
A dash of pepper

Mix all the salad dressing ingredients thoroughly. Put Japanese cucumber, turnips and tomato in a salad bowl. Pour the dressing into the vegetables. Place the yau char kwai on top of the salad.

Walnut Bread Recipe - Good For the Brain Cells

I reserved a little dough to make these sausage bread for my kids.......looks like cat or mickey mouse? LOL! I love the crunchy texture of the walnut in bread. Walnuts are great source of Omega 3 fatty acid and are known to be beneficial for brain development. Apart from that walnuts are also good for the heart, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Ellagic acid, an antioxidant found in walnuts, helps to support the immune system and appears to have anticancer properties. Here is my walnut bread recipe.

Ingredients
Flour, 4 cups
Dry yeast, 1 teaspoon, add with a little water and sugar
Sugar, 2 tablespoons
Milk powder, 2 tablespoons
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Shortening, 2 tablespoons
Salt, ½ teaspoon
Walnut, ½ cup

Slowly pour the water dry yeast mixture on the flour. Add salt, butter, sugar and milk powder. Knead the dough thoroughly. Leave aside for around two hours. Put the dough in an oiled bread pan. Mix the walnut into the dough. Let it rise for around ½ hour. Bake in preheated oven at 180 Deg C for around 20 minutes.

Pou Lou Ngou, Opps! Pou Leng Ngou (Lotus Roots) Soup Recipe!

Everytime I thought about lotus roots soup or whenever I am cooking it, I would think of the Cantonese word that I learned from Smallkucing, Pou Lou Ngau, which means keeping an old mistress! Ha ha ha! Lotus roots are called Leng Ngou....sounds almost similar to Lou Ngou! LOL! Well, jokes aside, there are two different types of lotus roots being sold here. The large old roots are normally imported from China and those young thin ones are harvested locally, mostly from the lotus ponds in Perak. The young thin lotus roots are suitable for frying with vegetable and the old ones are good for making soup. In order to make the lotus roots soft and crunchy, you just have to marinate it with salt before cooking it.

Ingredients
Lotus roots, 1 large section, cut into rings and marinate with salt
Groundnuts, ½ cup
Chinese Dates (Ang Cho), 10 pcs
Pork Ribs, 500 gms or Chicken Carcass, 1 bird
Salt to taste
Water 7 bowls

Put water in pot and bring to a boil. Put in the pork ribs or chicken carcass, groundnuts and Chinese red dates. Add lotus roots and boil for around 1 ½ hours or more. Add salt to taste. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Cheese Basil Potato, Hampalang Masuk (Everything goes in) Omelette Recipe

Well there is nothing to shout about this simple recipe but it really taste good with steamed rice. Actually, my fridge was running low on ingredients so I have to settle for whatever I can get my hands on! I tried adding basil to the omelette and it turned out quite good! LOL!

Ingredients
Eggs, 3 pcs,
Potato, 1 medium, cut into small cubes (Use US Russet potato....easily soften)
Prawns Meat, 6 prawns, minced
Onions, 1 pc, cut into small pieces
Spring onions, 1 stalk, cut into small pieces
Light Soya sauce, to taste
Pepper, a dash
Cheese (optional), enough to cover the omelette
Basil, 10 leaves, chopped finely

Heat up non-stick pan and add in a little vegetable oil. Fry potato until it turned soft. Sauté onions until fragrant and add in the prawns. Beat eggs; add in light soya sauce, basil leaves, spring onions and a dash of pepper. Pour the eggs into the pan and lower down the heat to medium. Put the cheese on top of the egg. Cover the pan until the eggs are cooked.

Crab Crab Crab, Yummy Crab!

Papa took me to the morning wet market at Kepong and I saw someone selling live mud crabs. I was fascinated with the crabs which looks like some alien from outer space. Papa bought 1 kg of crab for RM12 from the vendor and I happily held on to my so called 'pets'. Yay!

I love looking at the crab crawling sideways. Papa put one in a clear container for me to look at.

Then, papa showed me the nasty pincers on the crab! According to papa, this is a male crab. Male crab has narrow abdomen or apron. Female crab has wider and round abdomen.

When I woke up from my afternoon nap, I found that papa has already cooked my 'pet crabs'! Waaaaaaaaa! They turned bright red! Actually, they tasted very nice! LOL!