On the Run - Have a Cuppa, Cappuccino!

I stopped by Esso petrol station, On the Run Shop for a coffee break during my recent trip to Kajang. This cup of Cappuccino cost me RM1.20 (USD0.40). I also noticed that they have several set meal like chicken with rice, hot dogs and chicken chop at very reasonable prices. Since I already had my breakfast, I didn't try out the food in this shop. Next round, maybe!

Cooking with Microwave Oven - Roasted Chicken Thigh

I am not familiar in cooking with a microwave oven. In fact this is the first time I used microwave oven to roast chicken. That explains the burnt part at the bottom of the chicken because I set the timer to 45 minutes under high heat. Actually 20 minutes are enough to cook this quarter chicken. It is real easy to cook with a microwave oven as it require less time than electric oven.

Since this was my first experiment and cooking adventure with microwave oven, I just used a simple marinate for the quarter chicken thigh. The meat is a little tougher compared with the ones I cooked using electric oven but the skin is crispy.

Ingredients
Quarter chicken, 1 pc
Light soya sauce, 1 tablespoon
Dark soya sauce, enough to rub the chicken skin
Lemon juice, 1 tablespoon
Salt, 1 teaspoons
Honey, for glazing

Marinade chicken with all the ingredients except the honey for around 3 hours. Roast chicken in microwave oven for around 20 minutes under high heat. Take the chicken out and glaze with honey. Roast for another 5 minutes.

Deep Fried Grouper Fish with Assam Jawa (Tamarind) and Turmeric Recipe

It is not advisable to marinade seafood, like fish too long or else you would end up with soggy flesh. Fish should only be marinated around 20 to 30 minutes before cooking. Furthermore, the texture of the fish flesh allows it to absorb the marinade easily as compared with meat..

I have these two medium table size Grouper and I was curious how they would taste liked with Assam Jawa (tamarind). I added some turmeric for additional flavour and colour. The deep fried Grouper with Tamarind & Turmeric taste good if eaten with Sambal Belachan (fermented shrimp paste chillies)

Ingredients
Grouper (garoupa) Fish, 2 medium table size
Turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon
Light soya sauce, 2 tablespoons
Tamarind (Assam Jawa), 1 tablespoon (without seeds)
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Marinade the fish with turmeric, light soya sauce, tamarind and salt to taste for around 20 minutes. Heat up wok and put in the vegetable oil. Deep fry fish until they crisp a little. Take out the fish and drain away excess oil. Serve with Sambal belachan!

PS : You can also barbecue, grill or bake the fish.

Early Morning Breakfast at Tin Hoe Hweeh, Jalan Ipoh, KL

 Tin Hoe Hweeh is located in busy Jalan Ipoh Road in KL. It is rather hard to find parking in this area and you can see many customers park their illegally by the road side during peak hours to dine here. Everytime, whenever I  passed by Tin Hoe Hweeh, I noticed that there is always a good crowd in it.

I happened to be in town rather early one Sunday morning and decided to try out the food in Restoran Tin Hoe Hweeh. The Si Tau Poh (lady boss) recomended the chiu pai (restaurant specialty), Hong Kong Noodle. It is actually flat noodle with a little gravy and taste a little like Singapore Heh Mee. The serving is rather generous but I paid around seven ringgit plus for it. The gravy is sweet and flavourful. It goes along well with the springy flat egg noodles. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the Hong Kong noodles.

 There are many patrons having their morning dim sum here, so it would be a shame if I did not try my favourite chicken feet dim sum! LOL! Taste really good! Ate the flesh and skins until clean.....only bones left! ha ha ha!

Address : Tin Hoe Hweeh Restaurant, Jalan Ipoh and Jalan Merak Junction

Google map coordinate : 3.18139,101.682372

Map to Tin Hoe Hweeh

Spicy Sour Fried Eggs with Udang Geragau (Dried Shrimps) Recipe

I missed the cincalok (fermented fresh shrimps) eggs that my late grandma used to cook. Since, I do not have any cincalok in stock, I just used udang geragau (dried shrimps) as replacement. Although the taste of this dish is way different from my grandma's cincalok eggs, it helps to remind me about all the nice food that she used to cook. LOL!

Ingredients
Onions, 1 pc, cut into slices
Udang geragau, 1/3 cup, soak in water
Lemon, 1 slice
Fresh chillies, 2 pcs, cut into slices (chilly padi, optional)
Light soya sauce to taste
Vegetable oil, enough to try the eggs
Eggs, 2 pcs, slightly beaten

Mix the soya sauce with eggs. Heat up wok, put in oil and saute the onions until fragrant. Add udang geragau and stir fry for a short while. Add in the chillies. Pour in the eggs mixture. Fry until eggs are cooked. Squeeze some lemon juice onto the Udang Geragau eggs before serving.

Tea Time- Chop chop, Time for Bihun (or Mee) Bandung

I know it is tea time, so I set this post to auto publish at this hour. Hi Yvonne, another tea time post leh......he he he.

Actually I normally cook Mee Bandung, or in this case Bihun Bandung for supper which happens to be my wife's favourite food.

As usual, I would have pre fried crispy shallots at home, so I can use it for my Mee Bandung. The addition of prawns in the soup would make it tastier but you can use any other type of sea food like squid or even fish fillet. As for me, I will use whatever suitable ingredients that I have in my fridge. Sometimes, I add in fish ball, fish cake, mushroom, celery, fu chuk (fried beancurd skins) and tofu as well.

You can click here for my Mee Bandung Recipe.

Happy Tea Time! LOL!

MCY Restaurant, Desa Aman Puri, Kepong

 I have passed by MCY restaurant many times and also noticed that they have a good crowd during peak hours. Last week I dropped by here to have dinner with my family. Sen Kee duck satay have a stall here as well. We had 2 plates of duck and chicken satay for starter while waiting for our ordred dishes to arrive. The duck satay taste real good and everyone loves the nutty satay sauce! The photo below shows the Sen Kee Duck Satay stall workers busy barbecuing satay.

 Instead of ordering curry fish head, we had this fish slices with ginger and spring onions so that the kids can enjoy it too! The fish slices are fresh and taste very delisious with the dry sauce that coated them. Thumbs up for this dish!

 We got this prawn dish for only RM5 for ordering food more than RM50. Can remember the name of this dish but prawns are fresh and you can taste the natural sweet flavours in them!

 I love this fresh, young and crunchy sweet potato leaves. Everyone commented that this simple stir fried vegetable with garlic taste yummy!

 Hah, another claypot tofu dish for the kids. This is one of the best I have tasted. Love the savoury roast pork in it! yum yum!

 Fried squid in flour batter. Really crunchy and taste good with the chilly sauce that accompanied it.

 Then my camera ran out of battery. But I managed to take this shoot after shutting it down for a short while and wait for it to recharge a little. So by the time I took this lemon chicken dish, only one piece is left.

The total bill for 5 adults and 3 kids came up to be RM97. We were very satisfied with the taste of the dishes served. All of them are nice!

Address, Map and Contact of MYC Restaurant, Desa Aman Puri, Kepong

Address:

19-A, Jalan Desa 2/8, Desa Aman Puri, 52100 Kepong,

Kuala Lumpur.

Contact Tel No: 6036276 3178



Braised Ee Mee (Fried Egg Noodles) Recipe

It is very easy to cook Ee Mee, therefore this is my usual family supper meal and everyone loves it! This is the same type of Ee mee that Steamboat restaurant serve with their dishes.

I would normally have some pre fried garlic in oil in my larder, so that I can use it as garnish whenever I cook Ee Mee at night.

I don't have any fixed recipe for Ee Mee because I would cook it with whatever ingredients that I have in my fridge.

Here is another simple version of my soupy Braised Ee Mee

Ingredients

Ee Mee, 1 pcs

Water, 2 bowls

Egg, 1 pc

Pork or chicken meat, 5 pcs

Prawns, 3 pcs

Sesame Oil, 1/2 teaspoon

Light Soya Sauce, 1 tablespoon

Corn Flour and water mixture

Prefried garlic for garnishing

Celery or Spring Onions for garnishing

Salt to taste

Pour water into pot and bring to a boil. A pork or chicken meat. Put in the light soya sauce and prawns.. Add in sesame oil. Pour in the corn flour and water mixture to thicken the soup. Beat egg slightly and pour into the boiling soup. Add salt to taste. Put in the Ee Mee. Stir and cook until the ee mee softhen. Garnish with prefried garlic, celery and spring onions before serving.

Simple Roasted Salted Egg Yolk Chicken with Turmeric Recipe

This another version of my salted egg fried chicken recipe. I added curry leaves and turmeric to give it an additional flavour. I did not add chilly powder or curry powder here, so that young children can also savour the fried chicken. You can roast or grill the chicken after marinating it. I used chunk of chopped chicken instead of whole chicken because I want the chicken to cover the meat evenly. It tastes very much better this way! I love the grainy texture and salty egg yolk on the chicken!

Ingredients
Chicken, 1/2 bird,  chop into chunks
Salted Egg Yolk, 2 pcs, crushed
Turmeric, 1 teaspoon
Light Soya sauce, 2 tablespoons
Brown sugar, 1 tablespoon
Lime juice, from 3 limes
Curry leaves, 3 sprigs
A little salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and put it aside for 1 to 2 hours. Heat up oven to 200 Deg C. Roast chicken for around 20 minutes, then turn the temperature to 180 Dec C. Continue roasting for around 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken turned golden brown.

Southern Indian Style Fresh Tomato Curry Chicken without Coconut Milk (Santan) Recipe

I made some changes to my usual curry chicken recipe by adding tomato, ginger and garlic to it. The addition of these ingredients infused some additional unique flavours to the dish. I love the nice natural sweetness from the tomatoes. Sometimes we need to make a little changes to our usual way of cooking a dish to stimulate our tastebuds or else everyone in the family would get bored with it. However, not everyone can accept new flavours and they missed out on the adventures of the culinary world has to offer.

Here is my Southern Indian Style Fresh Tomato Curry Chicken without Coconut Milk (santan) recipe

Ingredients

Chicken, 1/2 bird, cut into chunks

Potato, 3 pcs, cut into four

Tomato, 2 pcs

Onions, 2 pcs

Garlic, 5 cloves

Ginger, 5 slices

Curry powder, 5 tablespoons

Chilly powder, 2 tablespoons

Turmeric, 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala, 2 teaspoons

Cinnamon stick, 1 pc

Star anise, 2 pcs

Cloves, 2 pcs

Curry leaves, from 3 springs

Salt to taste

Blend tomato, onions, garlic and ginger. Saute the blended ingredients in around 4 tablespoons of oil until fragrant. Put in the cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves. Add water to curry powder, chilly powder, turmeric and garam masala to make a paste. Pour the mixture into the wok and stir fry with the rest of the ingredients. Add in the curry leaves and potato. Turn the heat to medium and keep on stiring until the potato is cooked. Add in the chicken and salt to taste. If the mixture is too thick, you can pour in a little water. Keep stiring until the chicken is cooked. Serve with roti or steamed rice. Enjoy!

STOLEN RECIPE Restaurant, Desa Aman Puri - Meal on BED?

I must admit that it is the name of the restaurant, Stolen Recipe that attracted me to try out the food here. Although this is a place that youngsters like to hangout, the food here also cater for everyone in the family. So, it is quite usual to see families with little children and elderlies dine here. They have western fare and also local food like fried rice & char kueh teow.

Anyway, Stolen Recipe is an interesting concept restaurant with unique setting!

Jail liked grills and large metal chain with padlocks at the entrance.

Notice the stage, bed, pillows and bolsters? You can have your meal served on bed! ha ha ha! There is unplugged performance by local artist at 9 pm.

Grilled chicken chop with Capsicum sauce (RM13.88). You can choose 2 choices of side dishes. My son says the grilled chicken taste quite good. I guess any meat would taste nice for him.

This is Jumbo Earthquake (RM19.88),  a large dish consist of deef fried green mussels, tiny calamari, sausage, prawns, potato wedges, fusion satay and chicken wings. The salsa sauce taste good! I ate the fried food with Tabasco sauce. The fusion satay taste a little weird to me. It was coated with flour and deep fried.

Caesar Salad (RM11.88) with a choice of chicken meat or salmon toppings. The bacon bits are too small. Salad tasted ok.

Since my daugther is below 12, she entiltled to order kiddies meal (RM10.88) which comes with salad starter with tartar sauce, 3 choices of Entrees and Ice Cream dessert.

They served the ice cream first! I thought it is supposed to be for dessert. Maybe they want to keep kids quite.....LOL!

Kiddies meal starters, salad with tarter sauce. Plate from IKEA?....he he he!

Kiddies meal Magherita Pizza.

The ice cream portion was quite small so my daughter's had another dessert, Tiramisu (RM3.88).

Address and Map to Stolen Recipe, Desa Aman Puri
3-23A, Ground Floor, Jalan Desa 2/2, Desa Aman Puri, 52200, Selangor
Contact number, Tel 03-62613683

How to Make a Good Pickled Mango - Recipe

The mango tree at my MIL house bears lots of fruits recently. This is common small size mango and many people do not eat it because it is very sour. I couldn't resist but to pluck some for making pickled mango.

You can make a good pickled mango using the procedure below!

First wash and cut the mango into bite sizes. I ate some with the homemade rojak sauce that I have in my fridge. Wow wee......very sour but nice.....spicy, sweet with the sauce.......saliva dropping! ha ha ha!

 Pour some salt onto the mango and drinking water to make a brine solution enough to cover them. The salt is for removing the sour taste of the mango. You must use boiled water (cooled down) or else the mango would turn bad. To be save, I put the whole container in the fridge for 2 days.

 After soaking the mango in brine solution for 2 days, pour the water away and add drinking water. Put it back into the fridge for one day to remove the salt. Pour away the water and add drinking water again to wash away the salt. Store in the fridge for another day.
When the mango are no longer salty, pour away the water and add sugar syrup. Leave the container in the fridge for one day before consuming to ensure that all the sugar are absorb by the mango.

The photo below shows the end result of my crunchy pickled mango!

Stuffed Tofu Pok Balls with Chicken and Water Chest Nut Recipe

Previously, I cooked Stuffed Tofu Pok Balls with prawn meat but this time I added in chicken meat and water chest nut to change the fillings texture a little bit.
To see how you can turn the tofu balls inside out, please refer to my previous post.
These tofu balls with stuffing are good as finger food for parties or picnic outings. They taste good if eaten with chilly sauce.

Ingredients
Tofu Pok, 10 pcs

Fillings
Onions, 1 pc, chopped finely
Water Chestnut, 2 pcs, chopped finely
Sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon
Light soya sauce, 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Corn flour, 3 teaspoon
Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon
Prawn meat, 100gms, minced
Chicken meat,  100 gms

Make a small cut on the tofu pok and turn it over. Mix all the filling ingredients together. Stuff the tofu with the fillings mixture. Deep fry the tofu pok balls in hot oil until they turned golden brown. Drain away excess oil. Serve with chilly sauce.

My First Attempt at Making Pop Corn!

 I always wanted to try my hands at making pop corn. Actually, it is rather interesting to hear the corn popping inside the hot pot.My kids listened patiently to the corn popping with funny expression on their face! LOL!
I did not control the gas stove fire very well, so I ended up with one bottom layer of burn out pop corn in my pot. I used the nice ones on the top part and threw away the burned ones.
The pop corn I made was not very crunchy, maybe because I washed the corn and did not dry them properly. I adapted this pop corn making technique from Simple Recipes.

Ingredients
Pop Corn, 1/3 cup
Butter, 1 tablespoon
Honey, 2 table spoons
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil, 3 tablespoons

Heat up a heavy lid pot. Put in the vegetable oil. Add a few corn and close the lid. When these few corns start to pop, add in the rest of the corn. Remove pot from heat and let all the corn pop. Then put the pot back on the stove and turn on the heat. Open the lid a little to release water vapour to make the pop corn crispy. Add salt, butter and honey. Remove from heat and stir to mix well.

Pop corn before adding honey, butter and salt

 Pop corn after adding honey, butter and salt

Chinese Herbal Black Chicken ( wu gu ji,烏骨雞), Soup Recipe

The black chicken or commonly known as silky (silkie) chicken have black skin, flesh and bones. This unique chicken also have only four toes as compared with other types of chicken. Scientist believe that silkies chicken originated from China as it was documented during Marco Polo time.
This black chicken flesh is very sweet and tender. I would normally cook this chicken with Chinese herbs like huaishan, kei chi, tong som,  tong kwai, yuk chok and hongzao. You can double boil, steam or just boil this chicken just like cooking soup.
Here is my Chinese Herbal Black Chicken Recipe

Ingredients
Black chicken (wu gu ji), 1 whole bird
Huaishan, 1 pc
Kei chi, 1 tablespoon
Tong Som, 1 stick
Tong Kwai, 1 or 2 pcs
Yuk Chok, 10 pcs
Hongzao (red dates), 5 pcs
Light Soya sauce, 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Put chicken, light soya sauce and all the Chinese herbs into a pot. Pour water enough to cover the chicken. Boil for around half an hour. Turn to low heat after 10 minutes of boiling. Add salt to taste.
Serve while still hot!


Benefits of Chinese Herbs
1) Huaishan (Discorea Yam, Dioscorea opposita) – Improve digestion, respiratory function, kidneys and increases vitality(Qi).
2) Hongzao (Red Dates, Ziziphus jujuba) – Improve Qi (vitality), nourishes the blood and reduces stress.
3) Yul Chuk (Polygonatum root, Polygonatum odoratum) – Moisturises our internal organ, balances Yin energy, clear wind and softens the sinews.
4) Tong Kwai (Angelica Sinensis Root, Radix Angelicae sinensis) – Stimulating effect on the uterus, tonic for blood and regulating menses, lubricate the bowels, improve immune system, antioxidant, protect digestion system and improve blood circulation.
5) Tong Som (Dang shen, Salvia Root, Dang Shen (Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae)) – Tonic for the blood, spleen, stomach, Qi, lungs and lowers blood pressure. It also can increase our white blood cells count.
6) Kei Chi (Lycium Berries, Lycium Barbarum) – Brighten the eyes, moistens the lungs and enriches Yin energy.

Salty Fried Chicken Wing Recipe

I soaked these chicken wing in brine solution for around 2 hours before frying them. Soaking chicken in brine solution would make the meat moist and salty. However, if you are worried about the chicken being too salty, then you can just rub them with salt. Actually brine solution is more suitable for whole chicken or whole turkey. If you are using whole chicken or turkey, then you can soak them overnight.
You can deep fry, roast or barbecue the marinated chicken. Since, it would be a hassle to start up my barbecue pit, I just fried the chicken wings in vegetable oil.

Here is my Ham Ham Kai (Salty Fried Chicken) Recipe.....not 'ham sup kai' lah......he he he!

Ingredients,
Chicken Wings, 10 pcs
Brine Solution, enough to cover the chicken
Dark Soya Sauce, 1/2 teaspoon
Honey, enough to glaze the chicken
Lemon Juice, from 1 lemon
Five spice powder, 1 teaspoon

Note : To make brine solution, add half cup of table salt to 1 gallon (around 3.7 liters) of water.

Soak chicken wings in brine solution for around 2 hours. Pour away the brine solution. Marinade the chicken with dark soya sauce, five spice powder and lemon juice. Deep fry the chicken wings until they turned golden brown. Remove chicken from the wok and drain away excess oil. Rub honey on the chicken while it is still hot before serving.

Nice Roast Duck - Stall Outside Wangsa Permai Ipoh Road Hakka Yong Tau Foo

 I would buy the roast duck from this small stall which is located just outside the Wangsa Permai  Ipoh Road Hakka Yong Tau Foo restaurant, whenever I am in this area. Half a bird cost me RM19. The meat is juicy, well marinated and tender. I love the nicely done duck skin as well. The husband and wife team would start selling the roast duck around lunch time and most of the roast duck would be sold out around 4pm.

Drive slowly as you pass the bridge towards the juntion of Wangsa Permai and Desa Aman Puri. The duck stall is on your left.

Map to Roast Duck stall outside Wangsa Permai Ipoh Road Yong Tau Foo restaurant.

Chinese Syle Curry Fish Head with Candle Nut & Okra(without Santan, coconut milk)

The Chinese Style Curry Fish Head that are normally served at restaurants don't use spices like mixed halba and the amount of curry powder is lesser compared to Indian curries. I have created this version without using coconut milk. In order to make the gravy creamy and rich, I used Candle nuts (buah keras, kemiri, kukui tree nut, Aleurites moluccana). This hard candle nuts have very high oil content and can be used to make candle. The nut contain saponin and phorbol which is a little toxic in uncooked (raw) state. However, you can also use Macadamia nut in replacement of candle nut if you worry about the toxicity..

Ingredients

Fish Head, Garoupa Fish or Red snapper, 1 pc, cut into small chunks

Squid,5 pcs, cut in to bite sizes

Curry Powder, 3 tablespoons

Turmeric, 1 teaspoon

Chilly Powder,  3 tablespoon

Candle nut, 2 pcs

Garlic, 5 cloves

Onions, 2 pcs

Belachan, 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves, 3 sprigs

Salt to taste

Okra, 6 pcs

Vegetable oil 5 tablespoons

Blend candle nut, garlic and onions. Mix curry powder, chilly powder, turmeric, belachan & blended mixture with water to make a paste. Saute this paste in hot oil until fragrant. Add curry leaves and a little water. Put in the fish head and close the wok lid. Let it simmer for around 20 minutes or until the fish head is cooked. Add in salt, okra and squid. Don't cook the squid too long.

Serve with steamed rice.

Various uses of Mulberries

 My sister in law cultivated this mulberries plant in her garden. Morus or more commonly known as Mulberries are native to subtropical countries and we can also grow them in Malaysia. The black mulberries plant in China are famous for silkworm cultivation. The mulberries can be used to make cakes, jam, drink and pies.

It can also be used as food colouring. Mulberries contain anthocyanins, water soluble pigment which a powerful antioxidants. It is also known to be beneficial for fighting cancer, slow down aging, fight neurological diseases, anti inflammation, fight diabetes problem and  has anti bacterial properties.

Some people believe that mulberries are good for the eyesight.

Mulberries taste a little sour and the ripe ones which are black in colour are slightly sweet.

My sister in law also planted other type of berries. Below is a photo showing the various type of berries I plucked from her garden. Can you identify them?