Fried Shark (Ikan Yu) with Tamarind Recipe

Shark meat has nice texture and is very tasty although sometimes it tends to have a little fishy smell. The meat is almost the same as that of a stingray. Therefore to avoid this, a shark meat dish should be eaten while still hot. Sharks have very tiny scales and they are aligned in such manner that allows them to have aerodynamics features which make them able to swim at high speed. It is not easy to remove this tiny sand like scales using the normal scraping method. The trick is to use boiling hot water to pour it on the fish and the scales would come out easily when you scrape it with a knife. Another easier way is to just remove the leather like skin all together. I bought these whole sharks from the wet market, already cleaned and with all the skins removed. They only have one long cartilage back bone in the middle and there are no other small bones at all. Therefore, it is very easy to eat this small whole shark. Sometimes I would fry them with Chinese salted vegetables (kiam chye) but this time around I just marinated the sharks with tamarind and deep fried them in hot oil. When I was a kid, my mom used to cook shark this way for me and shark meat used to be one of my favourite. Luckily I didn’t grow and become a loan shark (Ah Long), ha ha ha! To all the shark fins critics and environmentalists out there, we do eat the shark meat and nothing goes to waste!

Ingredients
Sharks, (ikan yu, whole fish or cuts), 7pcs
Tamarind, 1 tablespoon Dark Soya sauce, ½ teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Marinade the shark meat with tamarind, dark soya sauce, salt and sugar. Heat up wok and put in some vegetable oil. Deep fry the shark until it turn slightly dark in colour. Serve while still hot.

Chicken Lobak (Five Spice Meat Rolls) Recipe

If you visit Penang during Chinese Gods festivals, you will see lobak or Five Spice Meat rolls being sold near the temple areas along side Leng Chi Kang dessert. Apart from these stalls there are sometimes popiah, laksa, kueh kark and ban jian kuih stalls too. I love to eat the lobak from these stalls while enjoying the live Chinese Opera show at the same time. The lobak would be served with two sauces; chilly and cinnamon based starchy sauce. After eating the lobak, I would wash it down with a bowl of icy leng chi kang dessert. Very satisfying indeed! Anyway, pork is normally used to make lobak but last weekend I tried to make it using chicken meat. Although I still like the original ones using Pork but then the chicken lobak turned out quite good as well minus all the sweet flavours from pork fat! LOL! For lobak recipe please click this link http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/authentic-penang-lobak-5-spice-meat.html Chinese Opera show and friendly Mr. Loh who runs a lobak stall in Raja Uda, Butterworth from my previous post http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/01/lobak-and-leng-chee-kang-stall-sin-tat.html

A Friendly Gift - Mother Brand Sesame Oil, Soya Sauce and Oyster Sauce

A few weeks ago, while waiting to pickup my son from school, I met a friendly elderly man who was there to pick up his grandsons. This down to earth elderly man started a conversation with me and we began chit chatting away. We started talking about children’s schooling, current issues and shared a little each about our life. When we exchanged business card, I found out that he is the owner of a Chinese sauce factory and he came to Malaysia before World War II to look for his dad when he was a young boy. It is very inspiring to know that someone who came all the way from China without anything on his back can become a successful owner of a sauce manufacturing factory. I went over to the website written on his card, Eng Hup Seng, and it was written on the main page that they are also bulk food manufacturer for top brands like Lam Soon, Yee Lee, Nestle and etc. Wow, I am speechless! Before we part, he opened his car boot to pack a bottle of Mother Brand’s Sesame oil, oyster sauce and light soya sauce in his company give away bag for me. At first I declined his generous offer but he insisted that I take it. So, I happily took the free sauces home. LOL!

Sour Plum Ginger Chicken with Tau Cheo (preserved soya bean) Recipe

This is another recipe that I adapted from the original which uses duck instead of chicken. However, duck meat would be rather tough if we deep fried it and it is also not easily available at the market. Deep frying the chicken would give it the crispy texture which would help enhance the taste of the dish. For the sauce I used preserved sour plums with the seeds removed. If you don’t like ginger, you can refrain from using it in this recipe.

Ingredients Chicken Marinade
Chicken, ½ bird, cut into small pieces
Flour Mixture consisting of rice flour, wheat flour, corn flour in equal portion
Salt to taste
Pepper, ½ teaspoon
Cumin powder, ½ teaspoon
Coriander powder, ½ teaspoon
 Lea and Perrines Worcestershire Sauce, a dash

Sauce
Ginger, 1”x1”x1” cut (optional)
Garlic, 3 cloves
Pickled sour plums, 5 pcs, remove seeds
Preserved soya bean (tau cheo), 1 teaspoon
Sugar to taste

Mix the chicken with the marinade ingredients. Deep fry the chicken in hot oil until golden brown. Arrange the chicken in a serving plate and put it aside. Blend ginger, sour plum, preserved soya bean and sugar. Sautéed the garlic with a little oil until fragrant and then add in a little water. Put in the blended ingredients and bring to a boil. You can thicken the sauce a little with corn flour and water mixture. Pour the sauce over the fried chicken and serve.

Dim Sum Snacks from Yi Hao after a meal of Teowchew Porridge

After having our satisfying Teowchew porridge lunch at Sun Fatt Kee, we noticed this Dim Sum restaurant while walking back to the car. My wife suggested that we buy some snacks for the kids, especially my eldest son who is in his teenage years; he gets hungry real fast! LOL! Restaurant Yi Hao looks quite new to us and the boss promptly introduce some the signature dim sum to us. My wife bought Har Kin (fried beancurd rolled prawns) and egg tarts which are my son’s favourite. The boss told us that we must try the fried prawns with mango. This is a rather new to me. It tastes rather unique; salty with a tinge of fruitiness and sweetness from the fresh mango. Anyway, all the dim sum snacks that we bought from this shop taste quite good! Address Yi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant Jln 21/11b Sea Park, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Map to Yi Hao Dim Sum Restaurant.

Teowchew Porridge at Sun Fatt Kee, Seapark, Petaling Jaya

I have been patronising this restaurant for the last 15 years. The economy style Teowchew porridge and rice (chap fan) kept me going back to this coffee shop again and again. I took my family there for a simple Teowchew porridge lunch after a visit to the Section 14 Digital Mall recently. The porridge stall is operated by a friendly husband and wife team. Whenever the Uncle is not so busy, he would comment on how tall my eldest son has grown. I brought him here to eat a few times when he was a little toddler. That time I was still staying in Ulu Klang. Sometimes I would tar pau (takeaway) some of the dishes for my family. LOL! Anyway, this stall offers quite a wide range of mouth watering dishes at reasonable price. I would normally order the lobak (5 spiced rolls), braised meat with pork intestines, salted vegetable, fish, curry stingray, steamed minced pork and long beans. Apart from these there are other delicious dishes too. It is normal to see a long queue during lunch time but service is rather quick. You just have to pick the dishes and tell them the number of bowls of porridge required; you will be served in jiffy. Sometimes I would just eat chap fan (economy rice) style with all the dishes and rice together in one plate. The signature dish is the lobak which is quite popular among the customers. I love the Nyonya style curry stingray too and I would take this with steamed rice instead of porridge. My wife loves the steamed minced pork with tung choi (preserved vegetable). Sun Fat Kee restaurant is nice place for a family meal and simple Teowchew porridge at a reasonable price.

Address: Restoran Sun Fatt Kee 2, Jalan 21/11 B, Sea Park, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor (Directly at the back of Maybank Seapark and opposite the wet market)
Coordinates: Latitude 3.109909, Longitude101.622376

Map to Sun Fatt Kee, Seapark

Super Fast Baked Long Beans with Brinjals (Egg plants) Recipe

Merryn’s son Ethan loves brinjals (eggplant) and she wanted to try out some new brinjal recipes. So I am posting this recipe on her request. This is super fast and non hassle way of cooking brinjals. The best thing is you won’t get oil all over your kitchen and you can do something else while the brinjals are cooking in your oven. Basically the ingredients are the same as the fried augergine recipe that I posted some time ago but this is a quicker way of cooking it. Instead of frying the brinjals and long beans, I just wrapped the up using aluminium foil and bake it in the oven!

Ingredients
Brinjals (eggplants), 2 pcs, cut into bite size
Long Beans, 3 pcs, cut into one inch length
Oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
Dark soya sauce, 1 teaspoon
Light soya sauce, 1 teaspoon
Sugar, a dash
Salt to taste
Dried prawns, 1 tablespoon or minced meat with a little fat, 100 gms
Garlic, 5 cloves, chopped finely
Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
(You can throw in some sambal belachan into the dish too!)

 Put all the ingredients in an aluminium foil and add a little water. Seal up the aluminium foil tightly so that the steam would not escape. Bake the brinjals in oven at 200 Dec C for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with white rice.

Salted Fish with Chicken and Celery Recipe

Most of the Chinese restaurants in KL would have Salted fish with Pork Belly (ham yee fah lam po) in their menu. The combination of the fat in the pork belly and crispy aromatic fried salted fish is heavenly! Instead of using pork belly to I used chicken meat with a little skin intact for this dish. The fat from the chicken skin gives the dish additional flavour just like the fat in the pork belly. I also added crispy cashew nuts to give the dish a little character of its’ own. Here is my Salted fish with chicken recipe.

Ingredients
Chicken Meat, 500 gms
Dark Soya sauce, 1 teaspoon
Dried chillies, 6 pcs, soaked in water and remove seeds
Celery, 2 stalks, cut into bite size
Carrots, 1 pc, cut into bite size
Onions, 1 pc, cut into four
Garlic, 4 cloves, remove skins
Cashew nuts (toasted), ½ cup
Oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
Salted fish meat (preferably kurau), 2 pcs, deep fried until crispy and cut into small pieces
Salt to taste, (use sparingly because you have salted fish in this dish)
Corn Flour, 2 teaspoons mixed with water

Heat up wok and put in a little vegetable oil. Sautéed garlic, dried chillies and onions until fragrant. Put in the chicken meat and fry until it is cooked. Add oyster sauce and dark soya sauce. Put in the celery, carrots and casher nuts. Add salt to taste and pour in the corn flour water mixture. Add a little salt and put in the salted fish. Serve with steamed rice!

Chinaman Flat Cinnamon Bread – Recipe

I used the same cinnamon bread recipe that I posted recently to make these flat cinnamon bread. Instead of baking the dough using a bread pan to form the normal bread shape, I flatten the dough to increase the surface area. When the flat cinnamon bread was hot out from the oven, I brush some butter on the top and then sprinkled castor sugar on it. I gave one of the bread to my sister in law. My kids love the flat cinnamon bread, maybe because it is sweeter due to the addition of castor sugar. However my sister in law prefers the normal cinnamon bread that I made for her which has a softer texture. My post title can be made into a new tongue twister, ‘Chinaman Flat Cinnamon Bread’. LOL!

Sin Teo Hiang Pandan Flavour Tambun Biscuit (green bean filled biscuit, Tau Sar Peah), Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth

Look at the product list written on the box. I don't know that there is 'Teochew Sushi', ha ha ha! Must be those soft gooey type of candies.

My Father in Law gave me this nice Tambun Biscuit when he came to my house for a visit. He bought it fresh from the biscuit factory in Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth. This box of tambun biscuit came in two flavours; original and pandan (screwpine). I love all types of tambun biscuit including these greenish little ones which have pandan (screw pine) flavours added. There is also a tinge of sesame oil aroma and the sweetness of the biscuit is just right. These biscuits sure taste good a cup of hot Chinese tea! This is the address that was written on the box. Chop Sin Teo Hiang No. 2941, Jalan Berjaya, Taman Berjaya Indah 14000, Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia (Opposite SMK school) Tel: +604 538 3414

Good Old Yut Kee Restaurant, Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur

I guess everyone knows about this restaurant which has been operating since 1928. Yut Kee is probably one of the oldest Hainanese restaurants in Kuala Lumpur that still survive up to this day. The dishes that they serve ranges from local noodles like Hokkien fried bihun to semi western fares such has Hainanese pork chop. They also offer other dishes like roti babi, kaya toast, beef stew, rolled pork roast, beef noodles, fried misua, belachan fried rice, Hainanese Chicken Chop, Lam Mee, Lamb chop, Fried Hokkien mee and many more which I could not remember. The setting inside is nothing fancy but every time I walked into this restaurant, I felt like going back into the pre war era. They still have all the old furniture like tables with marble tops and old wooden antique counter. Recently, I went to Yut Kee with my buddy for lunch. He ordered Roti Babi (RM7.50) which is actually fried bread with pork fillings inside; while I ordered the Hainanese chicken chop (RM8.00). The chicken chop comes with some gravy and condiments like potatoes. The meals here might look simple but they are quite delicious. I wash down the chicken chop with a good hot cup of coffee (RM1.30). Address and telephone number Kedai Makanan Yut Kee 35, Jln Dang Wangi 50100 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03 26988108 Open daily (8 am – 5 pm) & closed on Mondays Latitude 3.156157 Longitude 101.700203 Map to Yut Kee Restaurant

Simple Sweet and Sour Black Pomfret (Bawal Hitam, Parastromateus niger) Recipe

Sweet and sour fish is a simple dish that my kids love and is rather common in Chinese restaurants. Most of the eating outlets use Grouper but I found that Black Pomfret also taste nice when cooked this way. Sometimes I would cook black pomfret with tau cheo (fermented soya bean) with lots of ginger in it. However, both method of cooking brings out the flavours in this tasty fish. Anyway, I bought a fresh table size black pomfret(Bawal Hitam, Parastromateus niger) from my fishmonger at the wet market and decide to cook it in sweet and sour gravy. I did not use pineapple here because I do not have it in stock when I cook this.

Ingredients
Black pomfret, 1pc
Tomato sauce, 5 table spoons
Chilly sauce (optional), 1 table spoon
Tomato, 1 pc, cut into four
Garlic, 3 pcs, chopped finely
Onions, 1pc, cut into four
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Deep fry pomfret until it turns golden brown and then put it aside. Heat up wok and put in around 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Fry garlic until fragrant and add in the onions. Add a little water to prevent burning the tomato sauce. Put in the tomato sauce, chilly sauce, salt and sugar to taste. Bring to a boil and add in the fresh tomato. Pour the gravy over the fried black pomfret. Serve with steamed rice.

Authentic Mamak Curry Chicken to go with Roti Chanai (Pratha) Recipe

When Suhaina requested for a Mamak (Indian Muslim) style curry chicken recipe in one of her comment, I remembered that I have tried cooking this type of curry chicken some time back. So, I dug out some of my old recipes and photos of the curry chicken and posted this. This mamak style curry chicken goes along well with roti pratha (fried flat bread) or better known locally as roti chanai.

Ingredients
Chicken, 1 whole bird, cut into small pieces
Coconut milk, from 1 coconut
Chicken Curry powder, 5 tablespoons (less if you prefer it to be less spicy), add water to make a paste Coriander powder (serbuk ketumbar), 2 tablespoons, add water to make a paste
Cardamoms (buah pelaga), 1 teaspoon
Cloves, 5 pcs
Cinnamon, 1 pc
Star Anise, 2 pcs
Onions, 3 large, blended
Lemongrass, 2 pcs, blended
Garlic, 3 pcs, blended Ginger, 1/2”x1/2”x1/2”, blended
Curry Leaves, 3 sprigs
Potato, 4 pcs, cut into four each, deep fried until golden brown in hot oil
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil

Put vegetable oil in wok. Add in the blended mixture of onions, lemongrass, garlic and ginger. Fry until the mixture emits nice aroma. Add in the star anise, cardamom, cloves, curry leaves and cinnamon. Stir fry for a short while; add in the curry powder and coriander paste. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add a little water if the curry is too thick. Keep on stirring the curry to prevent it from being burned. Put in the chicken and stir the mixture until the chicken is cooked. Add in the fried potatoes and salt to taste.

Exam Week - Toddler Day Out at One Utama Shopping Complex

Ko ko (elder brother) and cheh cheh (elder sister) are preparing for their examination and I got kicked out from the house for disturbing them. Hooray, daddy brought me to 1Utama for kai kai (sightseeing).

Wah, MKA (Malaysian Kennel Association) dog show is on at the park opposite 1U new wing! But unfortunately the show was over by the time daddy parked the car and walked me over there. Daddy managed to snap some photos of some of the dogs and owners who were still hanging around the park after the show. A full grown German Shepherd and an active Spitz Ahhh, get to see cute little girls' fashion show....... Daddy's turn, to see some leggy models!

Pretty girls, I am not interested, I only want this, my dream sports car, BMW Z4 sDrive 35i.

I was very hungry after walking all over 1U shopping complex. Daddy bought me a Teriyaki burger but it tasted lousy so I ate daddy's Wantan Mee (Egg noodles) at the Jaya Jusco food court. The halal chicken char siew (bbq meat) was very nice! Daddy ended up eating the teriyaki burger for supper! LOL!

Making Makisushi with leftover Fried Eggs with French Beans and Onions – Recipe

Sushi rolling mat and sushi vinegar

When I had some leftover fried eggs with beans and onions, I know it is time for me to take out my makisu (巻簾, bamboo rolling mat) to make some sushi rolls (makisushi). It has been quite some time ago since I last made sushi for my eldest son. He loves sushi and this is a good way for me to make good use of the leftover food I have. I did not use the short grain Calrose rice but just improvise with some leftover rice from dinner. Generally you just need rice, condiments, nori (seaweed sheets), a dash of vinegar (normal or sushi vinegar) and a little salt to make Makizushi (巻寿司, rolled sushi) or makimono (巻物, variety of rolls).

Ingredients

Calrose rice (or normal rice), steamed or cooked

Sushi Vinegar (or normal vinegar), a few drops

Salt, to taste

Nori (seaweed wrappers)

Fried Eggs with French Beans and onions

Put a few drops of vinegar into the rice and stir it until well mixed. Add salt to taste. Put nori on the makisu (bamboo rolling mat). Put the fried eggs on the nori. Add rice and roll the nori to compress the rice so that it will not all off when you cut the makisushi. Cut the sushi and eat with a little wasabi (horseradish with mustard powder) with soya sauce or shoyu.