Kiddy Menu: Omelette

It has been a long while since I last shown my boiboi's face, so here's how he looked like now... Cheeky lil fella I have there, a bit fussy on the food he eats at times, hence I have to wave my wand to do some magic. Luckily it's pretty easy to please him since I have some tricks up my sleeves.

Since he doesn't like his meat in pieces, we feed him minced meat instead. In all sorts of way... in bolognaise sauce, meat patties, dumplings, pie, etc and recently I discovered a fantastic and easy way to feed him.

He's kinda funny cos doesn't like eggs in hard boiled or fried form. I think he find egg white icky. It is only recently he took on half boiled eggs. Even that he will only eat the eggs when he dip bread in them or break pieces of bread to soak in the eggs. He only likes omelette in terms of fried form. So that's where I got creative. Hid vegetables like carrots, long beans, french beans and onions in there; as for meat, minced meat or chopped prawns. He loves them with tomato ketchup.

This one is a simple carrot and french beans strips omelette. Easy peasy... just fry carrots and beans in oil. Season with salt and pepper before pouring beaten eggs over. Let set before flipping over.

An old time childhood favourite of prawns and onions omelette where I chopped up the prawns.

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + omelette

Review: Koon Kee's Wantan Noodles

**Non-Halal**

Edited 27 Oct 2007

Goshhh I was hankering for a good plate of wantan meen (noodles) for more than a week. The one I had last week, did not manage to satisfy my craving, in fact it was a total disappointment.

In my book, a good wantan noodles would mean... a plate of fresh noodles done kon low (dry) style where the sauce concoction have a hint of sweetness to it and not overly salty; the fresh noodles ought to be cooked al dente in order to have a springy texture; and must topped with slightly charred char siu (barbeque pork) slices with slight fatty streaks and a coating of sweetish and sticky caramel!!! The wantans (dumplings) that come with ikan bilis (anchovies) broth are secondary to me, darn, I wonder if they serve only char siu meen rather than char siu wantan meen that would come out of my mouth automatically?!!?

Thank goodness I managed to cure my cravings just now! Woottt!!! I had my fix at Koon Kee. Well, it's not as good as before but at least they met those points in my book of wantan meen. Boy, I was so glad and I'm still reeling in the happiness heh!

Koon Kee is located just beside Hon Kee Porridge along Jalan Hang Lekir (right smack in the middle of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown). Alternatively, they have a stall at Chinatown Hawker Center which is just opposite of their hole-in-the-wall shop. I think their opening hours are from late morning till late afternoon.


Koon Kee Wantan Meen
95 Jalan Hang Lekir
50000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 2078 6554
Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + wantan noodles + char siu

Review: Restoran Green View

**Non-Halal**

As a comparison with the fresh water prawn noodles at Soo Kee, let's check this favourite place of ours to have the same type of noodles but tastes tonnes better. This place, Restoran Green View, does not need much introduction as it's very popular indeed in Petaling Jaya. Located near the famous Rothman's roundabout, it's very easy to access. Parking in the evening is a breeze... psssttt you can park at Menara Merais for free!

As we have this dinner sometime back, it's hard to recall what is the name of this pork ribs dish (RM23.00). It came whole but luckily it was stewed until so tender that the meat literally falls off its bones. Tasted good and we lapped up the gravy with deep fried mantous (dumplings, RM4.00 a loaf and we have 2).

Next came a mediocre stir-fried fish slices with ginger and spring onion (RM25.00) that is nothing much to shout about.

We liked the stir-fried romaine lettuce with preserved beancurd (foo yue RM15.00) though with enough wok hei (breath of a wok) to play around with the tasty foo yue that thickly coats the vegetables.

Then came the 'piece de resistance' - fresh water prawns noodles (sang har meen RM70.00). If not mistaken we asked for 3 large prawns to be shared by 5 adults. Someone was lucky enough to have one whole prawn haha... well everyone was worried about their cholesterol level! Mei Yen, see these prawns... huge or not??? :p

The eggy gravy enveloped the crispy deep fried fresh noodles, not too starchy... just right I would say. Ohhh taste sooooo soooo good! We also like their Kong Nam Meen, also in similar eggy gravy but have loads of vegetables on it. Yum yum!

All the dishes above for 5 adults without any rice, a pot of Chinese tea (RM7.20), bucket of ice (RM1.50) costed RM157.19 inclusive of 5% Government Tax.


Restoran Green View
No. 6 & 8 Jalan 19/3
46300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: (603) 7958 1076 or 7954 9263
Opening Hours: 11.00am - 11.00pm

Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Mid-Week Updates

After taking the double-boiled pear concoction the second time round, it seems like I'm coughing less but not for XXL. He said he's having chesty cough. After dinner last night in Pudu, we spotted a couple of those leung char (cooling drinks??) stalls that serves wong lo kut (a type of super bitter leung char) which my parents have been urging XXL to visit one since he started coughing. XXL, as usual resisted as he liken them to saw dust! Nevertheless, he downed one bowl last night, hoping that it will bloody cure his irritating cough.

Now the original wong lo kut doesn't taste like saw dust, it only tasted so after various powders or rather herbs are added to the bowl! If one is feeling heaty, feverish or just under the weather... find one of these leung char stall and tell them your problem/ailment and the seller will mix in the types of herbs that will supposedly cure you. After drinking a bowl of these, they will give you some sweet leung char to counter the bitterness.

PabloPabla of HoChiak! sent me a tip via email of just double-boiling fuji apple with rock sugar without any water. Since I do not have any fuji apple, can only try later but thanks PabloPabla for the tip. Whilst he was at it, he informed me that he couldn't load my Comment pop-up box completely. Hence, he can't leave me any comments. I wonder who else is encountering this... If you do, could you please drop me a line. Thanks.

I know, I haven't fix everything on my template especially some of my links and labels cos I've tried everything and it's still not working. Dang weird. Will try again when I'm absolutely in the mood or when I can find a better template. *Ahem* Any volunteer out there would like to design me one in exchange for some cakes?

Silken Tofu Topped with Minced Meat & Prawn

This is an easy peasy dish but a firm favourite with the young. Silken tofu is a very versatile ingredient but it is mostly used in soup or simply just being drizzled with dark soy sauce and shallot oil. I normally make a minced meat sauce and pour all over lighlty steamed silken tofu.

Making the minced meat sauce is very simple indeed. One can use either minced chicken or pork meat and some cubed prawns (my boiboi don't take whole prawns, so I have to hide them this way). In hot oil, sweat some chopped onions. Next stir in the minced meat. Cook the meat till lightly browned before adding the prawns. Add some chopped garlic next. Keep stirring. Pour in some water and add in seasonings like oyster sauce, wee bit of dark soy sauce, little bit of sugar to balance out and pepper to taste. No salt is necessary since oyster sauce would be enough. Cover with a lid and simmer for a while to let the meat tenderise. Once the sauce is reduced to the amount you would prefer, thicken the sauce with cornstarch solution by pouring some cornflour mixed with water and keep on stirring the sauce. Remove from fire and pour sauce all over lightly steamed silken tofu. Top with some chopped spring onions (not shown in pic) and serve with rice.

Note: After steaming the tofu, remember to pour away the water collected on the plate. It's actually liquid that seeps out of the tofu.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + tofu

Meme: 5 Things

Fishman paged me last week and told me I got tagged. It took me almost a week before I scoot over to his diary to see which meme was this. Gosh... it's the 5 Things meme which isn't this has been in the blogsphere aeons ago but then it seems to have resurfaced recently seeing them in various blogs I've been visiting. Yeah I know I've mentioned earlier that I'm off memes and the last being A-Z About Me but since it was Fishman's virginal meme... I have to kasi support a bit.

So here goes...

5 things found in my room:
1) Wardrobes
2) A huge teak bed
3) Magazines, recipe print outs & cook books
4) Hand & body lotion
5) My bedmate

5 things I’ve always wanted to do:
1) Visit the long list of makan places that I've yet to go!!!
2) Experiment with Guiness in a cake and ice cream
3) Find time to sleep
4) Spend more time with my boiboi doing more useful stuff
5) Marry a rich man and become a tai tai! *evil grin* but alas...

5 things found in my bag:
1) Notepad with my makan list
2) Mobile phone
3) Purse
4) A cosmetic pouch that have everything imaginable in it, it's like a magic hat especially during kiddies emergencies
5) Keys

5 things found in my wallet:
1) Tengkee and driving licence
2) Credit Cards
3) Money and coins
4) Departmental stores/book shops/restaurant membership cards... you name it, I most prolly have it! Arrghhh...
5) Receipts

5 things I’m currently into:
1) Bread making & perfecting my bagels
2) Find creative stuff to do with my boiboi
3) Yoga
4) Making Arab Cookies colourful
5) Trying to cure our coughs

5 beautiful parent/s to tag:
As usual, no tagging but if you feel like doing this, please help yourself.

Double-boiled Pear With Chinese Almonds

The Three Musketeers at home have been sick! XS had been coughing on and off for 3 weeks, at times with phelgm... been on and off cough syrup until doc prescribed white, pink, red and blue pills for cough, cold, lungs etc last week. His pead said he could be allergic to the dusty environment! Thank goodness he had finally stopped coughing at least for these 2 days.

XXL have been down with high fever, cough with lots of phelgm and cold (full package!) since raya. Bed-ridden for 2 whole days with self prescribed meds. Not getting any better, XXL went to the clinic (finally) when he got back to work but how sad, no rest days were given to recuperate even with drowsy meds precribed. Boss worked him to the max too thinking he's on 2 weeks study break @$#*@. To date, still coughing and the flu bug is till hanging on!

XL finally joined the bandwagon, not sure who infected her! Other than sniffles and cough, she had gotten sore throat which made her lost her voice last Friday and luckily got a day off to sleep in. The meds made her feeling weak but had to skipped certain meds in order to watch over XXL and XS. Still coughing... *cough cough*

Come Sunday, staring at the about-to-rot pears in the fridge. We can't eat them since they're considered cooling stuff, believed could worsen a cough... Recalling somewhere I've read about double-boiling them with Chinese almonds, so I got on to make them. I do not have the actual recipe, so I don't really know if they work or not but nevermind lah, eat first, think later (sounds familiar?)! So please DO NOT TRY THIS as I'm only experimenting!!!!

BTW, Chinese almonds are actually apricot kernels and they come in 2 types, nam hung which come from Southern China which is considered the sweet type; and buk hung, the bitter one from Northen China. These almonds are supposedly meant to cure coughs. I have a bag of these in my fridge, funnily which I have no idea why?!??

Anyway, I've skinned, deseeded and quartered one and a half brown skinned pear (I think from Korea); and placed them in a glazed-clay double-boiler. Poured in 2 and a half bowl of water plus a handful of nam hung and buk hung. Double-boiled concoction for 3 hours on low heat. XXL and XL drank them warm whilst XS refused any as expected.

One day gone but still can't really tell any improvement, last night with the slow cooker free, I made another dosage with a yellow skinned pear instead. Cooked them overnight with the timer on for about 5 hours and we both have them before we left home. Let's just see if it will make us any better later today. *keep fingers crossed*

Think Pink, Cook Pink

Been sick, hence the lack of posts. Also busied with updating my index, didn't realised I did not do so for the past one year!!! It looked more organised now.

Anyway, today is Pink Ribbon Day! The Pink Ribbon is the symbol of support for women who have been affected by breast cancer globally. Ladies, it's high time to learn how to do Breast Self-Examination.

I was scouring thru my photos for pink food and found these...

Little Red Dragonfruit Tea Cake


Sliced Red Dragonfruit Cheesecake


Not-so-starry-after-all

Review: Soo Kee Restaurant

**Non-Halal**

Soo Kee Restaurant is one of the older institution in Kuala Lumpur. It's so famous in its hey days for beef noodles (ngau yuk hor) and fresh water prawns noodles (sang har meen) that Soo Kee is mentioned in many foreign travel guide books. Hence it's not surprising to find westerners, Koreans or Japanese looking for this place these days.

Our visits however have dwindled down over the years as we felt they're not as good as before. Anyhow, we decided to drop by again since we have no idea what to eat one evening.

We ordered the signature fresh prawn noodle (RM15/pax for medium sized prawn) which we find it's drier than the eggy gravy found in Green View's version. It's not something we would have prefered.

Hubby liked their paper wrapped chicken (RM4 per parcel) though since Soo Kee's version is the dry one and not laden with gravy unlike Leong Ya's. I had a small piece and found the meat flavourful from the marinade they've used.

We asked for a customary plate of vegetable which they recommended this choy yuen (a type of choy sum) stir-fried with garlic. This is a total disappointment for the vegetables are too OLD which are tough and fibrous!!!

Now that was my boring review about our latest Soo Kee makan trip but my main reason posting this up is that I have a huge nugget of information to share. I've obtained them from Friedchillies' Kopitiam. In one of the threads, there was a discussion on the origin of our food. Biingo had contributed quite a lot of interesting information that we never have known.

Check out what Biingo had to say about the origins of Sang Har Meen...

So we start with Sang Har Mee and with that usually come wat Tan Hor, Nagu Yoke (beef) Hor, Chow Yin Yeong, Kong Foo Mei (bee Hoon).

We all know that the best comes from the famous SOo Kee of Imbi. Some will say Life Centre, Imbi old Tai Tong, Pandan Indah, Behind Kotaraya etc...

The fact is all of them originated from Soo Kee (Tai Sue Tow - or big tree) Imbi. He was the one who founded cooking the noodles via toasting it over charcoal fire. Thus brings out the fragrance of the noodles. Works very well for bee hoon and Keow Teow. The Sauce has to be cooked with pork base stock whilst adding in Intestines, liver and sang har (river prwans) to bring out the sweet taste.

Both combine makes it a very good aromatic dish... That is why in those days the boss will scold u if you order yin yeong (mix of kt & BH). The beef keow teow is cooked differently esp the sauce which is cooked heavily with spring onions and good slices of beef premarinated.. the sauce is darker and has a heavier beef and ginger taste.

whislt the sang har noodles same style of cooking the gravy with the bigger prawns whilst the nooldes they go for yee mee (pre fired egg noodles). However, some ppl like the fresh egg noodle (wan tan mee noodles) fried and complimented with the Sang Har. The roe of the prwans complements with the eggy saucce.

Now Soo Kee had one disciple and his sons were learning too. That one discple deecided to try his luck on his own staring a stall under a big tree beind the lanes of kotaraya. Named his stall tai sue tow also... Both him and his apprentice (his brother no 2) mended the stall.

During the late 80s and early 90s this place is extremely popular... Big borther continued to cook and educated his other sblings. All in all there are 13 brothers and sisters.... All learned to cook this sang har mee.

Brothers number 4 Ah Keong and Ah Fook numebr 3 ventured on their own. Ah Keong started at the corssroads of Changkat BB and Nagasari... he then moved to Taman Tun and now he is in Imbi next to the old Tai Thong (Now its called Yujia). To me Ah Keong is the bestcompared to 1&2 but he is very inconsistent and shouts too much at the wife... so when goes gila the food too.

Ah Fook was more stready and had better location expertise. He started in Life centre smack right in the middle of the golden triangle... he got famous becos of locale and lotsa biz ppl. He used to own a porsche... But of the lot of the bros... he is the worse. but then the riches...

Then came Ah KOw (#9) he began in kotaraya in the morning... when nite came he moves the stall to the main road...thats during the ealry 90s... He then shifted to pasar road near the old ocbc.. and then vanished and reapered 6 mths later in Pandan Indah now known as Ah Kow Siew...

He cooks just as good as Ah Keong and is more consistent... the more drunk (due to guiness) he gets... the better the food is...His wife is equally as good assisting him when it is busy. Now his son learns from him and cooks during the day. Ah Sap Sam (#13) also learns from him.

#13 used to cook at Ah Kow Siew place.. but now the son is taking over the afternoon shift, sap sam is looking for a new place. I have treid #13 cooking... he is just as good and the most patient of the lot.

all 13 brothers are also noted for their chow intestines, chow intestines with prawn claws... fantastic.

Ok Soo Kee died and handed the biz to his eldest son (4 sons 1 daughter). Eldest son runs the current shop whislt # 2 runs the shop opposiate. Both these son prefer not to cook and hire assistance to do the biz... Sister opened a shop in PJ near fatty crab. She doesnt cook either.

So that ends the reign of cooks for Soo Kee but he did managed to have a few good apprentice thogh...

A good cantonese fired noodle must be cooked with patience.. Most places would fry (lietrally fry) the noodles or precook earlier in the day. As a result it becomes soggy or burnt and chewy. THE NODLES MUST BE TOASTED OVER CHARCOAL FIRE.

The gravy has to be served with generous amounts of egg, pork (or beef) and prawns..

So thats it.

Thanks Biingo for sharing such valuable and interesting information!

Soo Kee Restaurant
14, Medan Imbi
Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: (603)2148 1324
Closed on Mondays
Tue - Fri 12.00pm - 3.00pm; 5.30pm - 1.30am
Sat & Sun 12.00pm - 3.00pm; 5.30pm - 2.00am

Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Brandied Raisins Cupcakes

I've soaked some raisins with brandy for about 30 minutes before adding them into the basic cupcake recipe reserving the liquid/brandy. Drizzled them onto the cooled down cupcakes. Absolutely aromatic and definitely not for kids!



Technorati Tags: cupcake

Braised Pork Ribs With Deep Fried Beancurd Sheet

**Non-Halal**

I have a pack of deep fried beancurd sheet (foo chuk) which I've gotten from the market for my steamboat but I've totally forgotten to use them during the party back then. I've chucked them in my fridge and wasn't sure what to do with them until much later. Decided to add them into my usual braised pork ribs dish.

My usual braised pork dish would have garlic, ginger, preserved soy bean and preserved black bean; all chopped up together. Sear pork ribs till lightly browned before adding the chopped ingredients. Fry them till very fragrant before adding water enough to cover the ribs. Bring to a boil and season with a bit of salt if needed and some sugar to balance out the saltiness of the fermented beans. Lower the heat down, put on the lid and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add in the deep fried foo chuk and cover; further simmering for about 15 - 20 minutes or till ribs are tender.

Dish up and serve with plain rice. The gravy is superb to go with the plain rice that even my boiboi loved it.

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + pork rib

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

Review: Yin Futt Kuok Vegetarian Restaurant

A group of my friends have lunch at Yin Futt Kuok Vegetarian Restaurant recently. We opted for vegetarian since one of us is a full time vegetarian since young. Yin Futt Kuok rarely disappoints me with their yummy dishes, noodles and pastries. Yup, they do bake some lovely Wife’s Biscuit (loh por pheng), the bestest Almond Biscuit, mediocre Siew Bao and Walnut Biscuit (hup toe soe). Wife’s Biscuit and Siew Bao are available in the afternoon.

We picked a whole load of dishes with very “meaty” name but rest assured they’re all mock meats. Let’s walk thru what we ate…

First up was a Seaweed Soup. Basically a very simple soup that has seaweed, tofu, enoki and shitake mushrooms, carrots etc. Good to warm up our tummy but really nothing special about this soup.

This is Assam Fish. Mock fish slices were deep fried before a sweetish, sourish and spicy assam gravy is poured all over them. The gravy has lots of ladies fingers and tomatoes which lent a sweetish tang to this dish.



Floss Tofu (Yuk Zung aka meat floss) is one of their specialty which I totally loved. This was introduced to me by a vegetarian colleague. Deep fried silken tofu drizzled with light gravy and topped with meat floss made of mushroom stems. Such deep fried tofu is hard to replicate at home since one need a huge wok of oil to fry the tofu quickly without overfrying the tofu. Yin Futt Kuok’s ones are perfectly done. The floss tasted nice, almost if not nicer than the real thing.


Kangkung Belacan. I find them just ok only since I can’t compare this vegetarian version with the actual belacan that will give this dish the absolute aroma.



To pacify the meat lovers, we ordered a pig’s trotter for them haha… the trotter is actually yam wrapped with a type of beancurd sheet that acts as the skin. The deep fried trotter is served in a bed of gravy with baby bok choy on the sides. I tell you, the skin is sooo sooo crispy to emulate a trotter’s skin. The filling has a just nice hint of 5 spice powder. We polished this dish off in a jiffy.



Last came the Futt Putt (Yam Ring) which is a must order here. Steamed yam/taro are mashed and shaped into a ring before being deep fried. An assortment of ingredients ranging from a few types of mushrooms, baby corn, water chestnut, mock meat, carrots etc are cooked separately before placing them into the yam ring. This dish is finished up by some deep fried glass noodle.



We ended our scrumptious meal with some complimentary papaya. Yin Futt Kuok still stands as one of our favourite vegetarian restaurant in town. Can’t remember how much we’ve paid since I did not do the deed. I doubt if I ask Miss J, she would remember either hehe…

Do note that they do serve mixed rice during lunch except on Sundays. Ala carte includes individual rice meals and noodles.


Yin Futt Kuok Vegetarian Restaurant
52, Jalan Hang Lekiu
Kuala Lumpur (near Jalan Gereja)
Tel: 603-20707468
Opening hours: 10.00 am – 9.00 pm (last order 8:30)

Technorati Tags: vegetarian + malaysian food

Review: Restaurant Friendship Herbal Soup

**Non-Halal**

Dug these out from my photo archive. We went to tried this Restaurant Friendship Herbal Soup, the Kepong Branch when it was still new (that must have been many many months ago haha). My mother had heard from the neighbour that they were running some kind of promotion which I can't recall what was it now. Anyway, this place is located at the row behind KYS Restaurant (Carrefour side).

Four of us shared one Double-boiled Coconut Soup (RM6.00) and another soup which I did not manage to capture the picture, hence can't recall what it was, plus the receipt is in Chinese! Duh. This soup tasted clear (ching) and have hint of coconut.

I liked this Salted Egg Yolk Fish Slices (RM15). The crispy deep fried fish slices were coated with even amount of salted egg yolk which render them not overly salty and the fish have a very fragrant taste.

The benchmark of wok hei (breath of the wok) came out best with Stir Fried Romaine Lettuce with Fermented Beancurd (foo yue) dish. Glad to say Friendship Herbal Soup passed the test with the right amount of fermented beancurd used. I lapped up whatever little gravy on the plate.

We also have a small plate of Honeyed Pork Ribs (RM9). Can't go very wrong when the tender ribs with slight sweetish thick sauce.

One can have plain rice or yam/taro rice (RM1 per serving) to go with the dishes. We tried the yam rice which is nothing to shout about. The rice was a bit dry and not so flavourful. Could hardly ever trace yam pieces in it. I think mine is better :p

Restaurant Friendship Herbal Soup
12G & 14G Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 2
Taman Usahawan Kepong
52100 Kuala Lumpur

Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Friday is Pimping Day

(1) Remember this face!!!



This is a photo of the "apple medium" who is alleged to have raped a 10-year-old girl at least six times!!! Photos pinjamed from Shifting Sand since I was the other banana whom did not managed to grab these pics from SinChew, also read Reveal them.. these fiends, evil beasts! for we shared the same thoughts over this.

Those with information please call investigation officer Insp Hafisz Pirzada Samsudin at 012-7848416 or the Segamat police at 07-931 2222.

(2) Please sign Stand With Burma petition as things are still not as rosy as reported.

For the best local reporting on the situation in Burma, try this link: http://www.mizzima.com

(3) Go pledge your organ!!!

I can't help it but glad to know that Tee Hui Yi managed to get a heart transplanted not once but twice! Apparently her body rejected the first one and she underwent a second transplant last night. Thank goodness there was another donor came by last evening. Let's just pray her body will accept this one.

I have pledged my organs, have you? Read more at Gift of Life and download the form. Remember to send the form to the address stated in there AND also inform your next of kin of your intention. Otherwise, they'll protest and refused to have your organ harvested.

Have a happy weekend!