Stir-fried Beansprout With Salted Fish

Another easy peasy dish and a favourite amongst harm yue (salted fish) lovers. The only hard bit is to tail the mung bean sprouts (taugeh)! Lots of work there.

Fry chopped pieces of salted fish in some oil till crispy. Dish up and set aside. Fry some chopped garlic in some oil (I've used the remainder oil used to fry the salted fish for added flavour) till fragrant before adding the bean sprouts. You can add red chilli strips in as well. Stir and sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and dish up. Sprinkle the salted fish all over. Alternatively, you could also add in the fish after seasoning, stir well before dishing up. Serve immediately.


Technorati Tags: bean sprout

Wong Tong Koh (Gula Melaka Sponge)

After making my first Pak Tong Koh (white sugar sponge), I decided to try a gula melaka version with the remaining flour. I doubled the recipe since the flour was just nice for it. So did my amount of gula melaka I found in my larder. This time I steamed the batter when I see lots of bubbles formed but I under steamed it a little, hence it was a bit sticky in the centre and less honeycomb texture too.

Tastewise, it's very fragrant and the sweetness was just right too. I liked this more than the plain sugar version.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + kuih

Kiddy Menu: Tomato Based Vegetables Stew

Found this in my Draft folder. My boiboi was having mild fever last weekend and I made the same dish for him which he ate up with 2 slices of bread. Somehow this slight tangy soup seems to be able to open up his appetite.



When my boiboi was having fever, I made him this Vegetable Stew since I'm sure he will get sick (pun intended) by just eating bread. Moreover, he doesn't seems to have an appetite. This dish just came up in my head in the morning when I was pondering what to feed him during such time.

All I did was just diced up potatoes, carrots and onions. Fry the onions in olive oil till translucent before adding some chopped garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, add in potatoes, carrots and a bay leaf. Pour in a can of whole tomatoes and break them up into smaller pieces. Add some water to cover up the vegetables. Cover with the lid and simmer for 15 - 20 mins. Sprinkle in some dried oregano, salt and wee bit of black pepper. Give it a stir and serve this with bread.

I gave a bowl to my boiboi and surprisingly he ate them all up with a slice of bread. Not only that! He asked for another slice of bread. He loved it!

Come dinner time, I just cooked up some macaroni and spooned some heated stew over them. Voila, a pasta dish! My boiboi lapped it all up.



He liked this stew a lot cos he simply loved tomato based food. He even asked for this the next day *roll eyes*


Technorati Tags: pasta + kiddy menu

Hands of Hope

Note: I've received quite a lot of emails enquiries but I won't be able to reply them at the moment since access to the net is limited at the moment. The streamyx line is fine but the PC is not and was sent to the clinic for the past few days but it seems that it's still not very stable. So I won't be able to reply your emails. I'm doing the best that I could at the moment, so please bear with me for the time being. Thanks.

I've promised the good people at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to highlight about this on World Refugee Day on 20 June 2008 but since I did not have access, this will have to make do.



This June for World Refugee Day, be part of the Hands of Hope movement in support of refugees.

It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be a refugee. To see your village torn apart by war. To escape under horrific conditions to an unfamiliar land where you don’t speak the language. To be alone, surrounded by strangers, not knowing who you can trust, not knowing what tomorrow will bring.



Yet for thousands of refugees in Malaysia and millions more worldwide, this is the story of their lives. But you can help bring happy endings to these tragic stories. There are so many things you can do, and one of them is by learning more about refugees.



You can start by viewing the Hands of Hope video clip (at YouTube http://youtube.com/watch?v=d9yTcRm99_A or at the UNHCR Malaysia website www.unhcr.org.my). This video clip blends powerful narration and music with beautifully-rendered graphics to tell a compelling tale of a refugee girl’s flight of terror from war and separation from her family, only to find greater uncertainty and danger while in exile. It was produced pro bono for the UN Refugee Agency by advertising agency EURO RSCG Kuala Lumpur, and has now been circulated worldwide.



It doesn’t take much to restore hope to refugees today. You’ve taken the first step by reading this and by wanting to learn more.



Go to www.unhcr.org.my to learn more about World Refugee Day and refugees, or send an email to infomalaysia@unhcr.org to receive updates from us on refugees in Malaysia. Pass this message on to a friend and get the word out.

You can help turn their tragic endings into stories of hope.

Vegetarian Fried Bee Hoon

I wish to thank everyone who left their kind comforting words for us. It touches me to know there are so many caring people around us. I'm getting on fine, getting lots of rest at the moment. Appreciate all the well wishes too.

Since today is Wesak Day for some Buddhist countries, I guess it's appropriate for me to post this up. I have several posts in my draft folder, I guess this will tide me over until I get proper stuff up for postings.



Made a simple stir-fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli), vegetarian style on Wesak Day. This time I've used mock char siu; bean sprout (taugeh); cabbage; strips of carrots, yellow and red capsicum, red chillies, and black fungus (mook yue) for the ingredients.

The method I've referred to Amy Beh's recipe in her book. You can check the recipe here but she have used noodles instead and I've omitted MSG. For non-vegetarian version, you can try this or this.


Technorati Tags: vegetarian + bee hoon

And I Thought I Would Have One of the Greatest Bake...

...later this year but it seems I've been unsuccessful indeed.

'Twas a harrowing week for us, I was 18 weeks pregnant but I was spotting and leaking liquid (definitely not urine) so I went to see my doctor on Monday morning. I was ordered to check into the hospital immediately for an emergency operation that very noon. I had a cervical circulage performed to hold my womb and ordered to be bed bound. I was told that the procedure need to be observed for the next 48 hours.

Darn!!! Hubby and I was all geared up to attend the Kylie Kwong dinner on Tuesday which hubby had won via the Astro contest! Sighhh so I asked him to go alone that evening instead after calling several friends who can't make it. Whilst hubby was checking with a friend if she can go with him, I experienced a gush a water leaked out. I frantically signalled for him and the nurse rushed in to check. Judging from her face and the midwife's, things doesn't look very rosy. We waited for doc to arrive.

Whilst waiting, since I've experienced a water bag burst scenario during giving birth to boiboi, I knew deeply inside that nothing can be done to save the baby. I grieved and prepared myself for the bad news to come but poor hubby, he was not. True enough, it seems that the fluid in my womb had already been infected.

I was sent to the delivery room by late afternoon. I was given drips to induce the fetus. Since doc said it will be like about a 2 hours thingy, I decided to be a heroine and did not opt for any pain killer. The contractions were frequent and was getting painful by the minutes. My mom and aunt came to the room to check on me. I knew they were pained from seeing me in that kinda condition. They were busy praying for a smooth and fast one. My boiboi was at my room thinking he can visit me but we disallowed him to come over to the delivery room. I don't want him to see me in that kinda trauma. I soooo missed him at that moment.

We sent the family back since we are not sure how long the wait will be. One of the midwives said there was one case few days back where the lady actually waited 2 days to deliver the fetus!!! OMG that really zonked me out... 2 blardy days? I can't be in pain for 2 days plus hubby's reiki wasn't so effective as the night wore on, so I ordered for the pethidine jab. Boy, am so glad. At least the pain was gone for 2 hours and I managed to rest whilst drifting in and out of drowsiness.

It was quite close to midnite when I started to feel some kinda contraction at my lower ab. I thought my pethidine is wearing out but somehow I wasn't just sure. I felt something is poking out down there. Got in the midwife and she checked... hurrah it's time.

The next thing I knew, the 2 midwives and a nurse on duty came in to help out. Later we found out we were the only case that night, hence full attention were given by the 3 of them. Doc is on the way. I think fetus was fully delivered by 11.53pm on 10 June 2008. Thank goodness it was nothing like giving birth to a full term baby. It was smooth and fast. Thank you Lord Buddha.

Doc came and managed to get the placenta out within the next 15-20 mins. It was all over...

I had a glance at the fetus and said bye bye in my heart before hubby pushed me down. Hubby spent some time reciting prayers and chanted Om Mani Padme Hum many times over to the fetus. He told me baby looked like boiboi and it was hard for him to have the image out until even the next couple of days. Yes yes, boiboi was going to have a little brother but boiboi told me don't worry, and ask me make another one for him after we broke him the news yesterday. He ordered me to make him a mei mei next time hehe... but that's another story.

I'm documenting this, well not to scare those who wants to conceive. I hope this is part of our closure in having tee tee with us for 18 weeks... all those initial fear, anxiety, joy, pain and hope. Well, I did not broke the news earlier about my pregnancy here since it wasn't an easy start after all. We're all coping well but it would be a lie if I were to say it's going to be easy for me, hubby, boiboi (I doubt he would have understand much about life and death but it's good to know there were some good questions from him) and the rest of the family. I guess time will heal us all unlike the previous occassion.

With this we bid tee tee farewell. May he be blessed with compassion, love and a brighter future.

Note: I thank in advance for all your well wishes for I may not be accessing the net on a daily basis. It's a pain to surf at my parents but I hope their streamyx line won't conk out whilst I'm there. I'm on semi confinement thingy at the moment, drinking in all those urrghhh hot soup with pepper/ginger/herbs. It's not a pleasant experience in this sweltering weather, oh please help! Can someone please perform rain dance or something on a daily basis for the next few weeks?

Mango and Peach Yoghurt Cake

I've made this non-baked Mango and Peach Yoghurt Cake for my brother's birthday. I did not get to taste it but feedback was the cake is too soft and wobbles after cutting into slices. Hmmmm... need to fine tune since I did not really stick to the actual amount of the ingredients. There are mango pieces in the yoghurt layer and the peaches were merely placed on top as decor. However, I tasted Yozora's and it was good. Very refreshing and light. Something different.

I first saw this recipe at Happy Home Baking. I've used dairy cream and Dutch Lady mango yoghurt which I suspected now those are the reasons why my cake is soft. This brand of yoghurt is more watery than the others. Will have to use another brand next time but I will stick to dairy cream.

Review: Restoran 3U @ Taman Tayton View, Cheras

**Non-Halal**

Update 27 June 2013

Sad to say this place had since closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I read the recent article on Restoran 3U in The Star recently. I was so glad that they have changed their operation hours! They're now open from 8am till 8pm. We checked them out one Sunday and was glad they were opened.

Hubby ordered the Prawn Noodle (RM6.80) which came topped with huge prawns (I think got 3), fish cake and pork slices. He said it was nice but there were nicer ones out there like Champs or San Peng hawker. I took a bit of the soup and agreed with him too.



I shared this bowl of Prawn Wantan Hor Fun (rice noodles) with boiboi. There were 6 prawns wantan in there, of which 4 went to boiboi since he loves it so much. The hor fun is slippery and smooth. The soup base tasted naturally sweet, I guess must be from the stock that they usually made using prawn shells.



We ordered a small bowl of Beef Tendon Balls (ngau kan yuen in Cantonese). I tell you, no wonder WMW, BBO and Boo_licious came all the way to Cheras to devour the beef noodles. The soup was fantastic, very very flavourful. The three of us drank up the soup till the very last drop! As for the tendon balls, they're very springy and I'm sure would have bounced very far if I were to drop one on the floor. I'm gonna just eat their beef noodles the next time!!!



As we've watched an episode of Ho Chak featuring their prawn noodles, we're aware that they do use MSG in their soup, hence I did feel thirsty later on. Otherwise, everything is a OK.


Restoran 3U
25 Jalan Dato Haji Harun
Taman Taynton View, Cheras
Opening Hours: Daily, 8am to 8pm, except Wednesdays. Opens on public holidays.
Tel: 012-3161189 / 016-6500609


Technorati Tags: Malaysian Food + Beef Noodles + Prawn Wantan Noodles

Minced Pork With Preserved Olive Leaves

**Non-Halal**

Late last year I discovered this Preserved Olive Leaves from my tealady as she was passing one bottle to a colleague. Being curious, I asked her what was it and she told me its "kanna" leaves, kanna being olives in Chinese. Ahhhh so this was it!!!! I've been reading about this kanna leaves in Chinese magazines ie YumYum and Famous Cuisine but I've no idea how they look like or come about. She told me I can buy them from vegetarian supply shops which I did that very weekend!



This is how the leaves looked like out of the bottle. It's saltish and soaked in oil.



Best eaten right out of the bottle with plain porridge!!! I really like them even though I tried not to take so much preserved or canned stuff from China. I guess once in a long while won't harm though.



I decided to make use of these leaves to cook up a simple dish recently to go with plain porridge. This recipe I've obtained from Famous Cuisine. It's very easy to cook and seriously went well with plain porridge. Give it a try.

Minced Pork With Preserved (Pickled) Olive Leaves

Ingredients:
200g minced pork
2 red chillies, chopped (you can adjust the amount according to your taste)
3 tbsp preserved olive leaves
2 stalks corriander, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, chopped

Marinade:
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cornflour
4 tbsp water

Method:
1. Mix minced pork with marinade and keep aside.

2. Heat up 2 tbsp oil and saute garlic till fragrant. Add in marinaded minced pork, stirring constantly in high heat till aromatic and cooked through.

3. Add olive leaves, stir well and lastly add in chillies and corriander. Stir to mix well.
Dish up and serve at once.

Ref: Famous Cuisine, Issue No. 47, Page 69

Technorati Tags: pork