Happy New Year

To all my blogger friends, sorry for not able to drop by and wish all of you one by one at your blog. I haven't read a single blog for the past 3 weeks grrrrr... Missing out a lot :( Life have been crazy at the moment! Happy new year to all of you ;-)

Persimmon Almond Cake

Urrghh been neglecting my blog... been running like crazy pre and post vacation! Anyway, let's close the year with something sweet. I hoarded loads of persimmons (in Malay they're known as Pisang Kaki) when the fruit sellers at my market nearby started to declare war with each other. Well as usual the advantage is to the consumers... with the price dropping like crazy by the day, naturally I had to hoard! :p *women - roll eyes* But then again we loved persimmons. I like mine ripe, a little soft where else Capt'n Hook preferred them crunchy.

Ermm I left loads of them in the fridge before I leave home and when I came back, they're nicely ripen. To finish them up quickly, I made a cake with them after I chanced upon Amy Beh's recipe last week. I modified the recipe (as shown below, click the link for original recipe) and the cake turned out to be lovely and moist!

Persimmon Almond Cake

200g persimmon
275g butter
160g castor sugar
¼ tsp salt
5 eggs
70g dried mixed fruits soaked in brandy overnight
250g self-raising flour, sifted
45g almond nibs

1. Skin persimmons and remove any seeds. Coarsely chop the persimmons.

2. Beat butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Stir in persimmon and fold in sifted flour, almonds and mixed fruits.

4. Transfer batter to a greased and lined 20cm round cake pan. (I've used 2 loaf pans, worked as well.) Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 1 hour 15 minutes.

5. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Ref: Amy Beh's Persimmon Almond Cake, The Star, Kuali.com

Blessed Christmas

Restoran Fung Seng Lao, Kuala Lipis, Pahang

**Non-Halal**

Note (23 Dec 2009): Sorry guys, technical error on the pics. Need to redo but no time now. The pics are available here http://www.flickr.com/photos/babeinthecitykl/sets/72157622841349075/ FIXED!!! Yay photos can be viewed now!

We hurried over to Restoran Fung Seng Lao at the appointed time. Lucky for the early birds as we managed to caught the full sized Capon chicken (yim kai). Eeeeek so hungry when I was taking the pics, the chicken broth smelt soooo nice! Yeah the skin is of natural yellow, I did not tweak the pics!!! Mr Ong urged us to try the chicken innards, he said they're safe to be eaten since no growth hormones, antibiotics or vaccines were used. Another must eat is the skin! Yeah I know, they're good stuff :p based on my Chef Tam experience!



When the rest arrived, so did the steamed yim kai (sorry no price as the chicken is courtesy of Sunhine). The texture is tougher than the one we tried at Chef Tam due to the different type of chicken. This one is the Ma Lai Kai (village free range chicken) variety which explained why it was tougher but still smooth. The skin texture is slightly different too.



There was a plate of taugeh that came with the chicken. Fat and crunchy.



The stir-fried sai to fish paste with ginger and spring onion (RM35) came next. No doubt the fish is fresh but we find them not as bouncy. Cumi and I suspected they've added too much flour in the fish paste.



We were served a rather special stir-fried wild boar with ginger and spring onion (RM12). Wild boar are usually stew ala curry with strong spices due to it gamey and tough texture. No wonder Gerald kept asking us if we want to buy any of the meat :p The wild boar meat here is uber tender! Superb when quickly stir fried. I would declare, this is the best dish of the day!



The next wild boar dish is of the curry variety (RM12). Didn't like this as I find the curry powder overwhelmed the dish. For this, I preferred the one at Keong Kei Poh Ban.



Steamed river patin was "sponsored" by Thule Leo. Thanks so much as the fish is sweet, no muddy taste at all and it's huge! Despite the size, the chef managed to steam this to perfection.



A plate of roast duck (RM20) arrived but not many takers as we were busy with the fish. I had one piece and it tasted like it was deep fried, can't beat KL's roast duck :p



Not one but two plates of green vegetables made it to the table. The stir fried sambal belachan sweet potato shoots (RM10) lacked the wok hei and ommph but the stir fried four angle beans were fantastic so much so that a lil monkey came over and finish off our plate. It's fried with dried shrimp bits, fantastic I tell ya.



A large plate of Jade tofu (RM25) was served. The block of tofu contained wheatgrass juice hence the greenish tinge. Hehe we thought it was pandan when it arrived :p In the middle of the tofu there is an egg cracked over and served with a light gravy with some carrots, snow peas and seafood. We were trying to decipher and describe the texture of the tofu but none of us came close until Lyrical Lemongrass mentioned pudding! Yeah that's the word.



The last that arrived was the butter ribs (RM22) which is tender but a bit jelak to me since I was very full already.

Whoa we ate an 11-course lunch!!! Very full filling. There were 17 adults in total and each of us just paid RM24, excluding the cost of fish and yim kai as we were charged the cooking fees only.



Lastly we would like to thank Mr Ong, Gerald, Chef Marinus, Thule Leo and everyone at Sunshine Farm for this wonderful trip and lunch!

Restoran Fung Seng Lao
5K, Bangunan Paradise, Jalan Pekeliling
27200 Kuala Lipis, Pahang Darul Makmur.
Tel: (609) 312 5072

Kuala Lipis, Pahang

After our trip to Sunshine Free Range Chicken Farm, we headed to Kuala Lipis town centre. We did a walk about and here are some interesting shots I took…

Ground Zero



At the square next to the milestone.



Do we have to walk on the track?



Well, looks like it…



Kuala Lipis Train Station







Wow, so happens the train arrived when we were there!





Ever wonder where all the dead telly went??? :D



Kuala Lipis town square is bustling.



Guess what’s famous here? Haha yeah river fishes!



Final destination… Restoran Fung Seng Lao which post will come up next.

Sunshine Free Range Chicken Farm @ Kuala Lipis, Pahang

By now, you would have heard a few of us stormed Kuala Lipis the previous weekend. Thanks to Cumi who initiated the trip to visit Sunshine Free Range Chicken Farm and also to Gerald and Mr Ong plus their staff for the hospitality.

Upon reaching Kampung Binjai, Thule Leo is already waiting in his truck and up we go thru the steep hilly terrain in 4x4s before hitting the farm entrance. When I got out of the truck, oh wow, the lush greenery and fresh air are so welcoming. No wonder the chickens thrived here as they are not cooped up and free to roam about the hilly terrain. Capt’n Hook mentioned that the chickens seems to have a great healthy life here with such nice view and fresh air :D



Gerald had gotten Chef Marinus of The Grand Life Sdn Bhd, a halal meat processing facility producing items like terrines, pates and sausages; to let us sample some of his products. There were 4 types of terrines and pates served with French loaves. Amongst them the Walnut Chicken and Duck terrine came out to be the top fave. The combination of chicken and duck is brilliant as the texture melded well against each other. I had to coax Boiboi to try some and ended up he loved the Chicken Pistachio terrine and even asked for seconds. Then we have the Duck Liver pate which is creamy and a bit too liverish for me, perhaps I’ve slathered too much on my slice of bread. We also tried the Farmer pate. You can find these items at the halal section of O Gourmet, Bangsar Shopping Complex. Thank you Chef Marinus for the wonderful breakfast.





Mr Ong then gave us a short talk on how the chickens in this farm are raised. Since I’ve tasted their ma cho kai (horse grass fed chicken) at Hakka Republic, I finally got to see how the horse grass looked like. I was surprised that they’ve long leaves with fat whitish stems. Mr Ong mentioned they’re from the family of Napier grass and these are usually eaten by horses. It was Mr Ong himself who discovered rearing chicken this way will result in a perfect chicken texture. We were told this grass can be made into a healthy juice which is great for diabetics. We tasted the grass… the leaves portion ermm tasted green, almost like wheatgrass but it’s the stem that yields a slight sweetish juice. The roughage is similar to of sugar cane.



Do note that the chicken in this farm are fed with ma cho and feeds that does not contain growth hormones, antibiotics nor any vaccines are used. These chickens are raised as naturally as possible so you can eat them tanpa was was (without any worries) heh. They can't brand them as organic though as the feed they used is not.



We proceeded to the farm to witness Master Fatt castrating the roosters usually at the age of 8 weeks. Add another 12 more weeks, these roosters can be dished out. Gosh he’s quick, almost like a chicken whisperer as the roosters hardly flinch an inch when he tuck their wings to lock them. His fingers then went on to check where is the area that he needs to “operate” on. The cut is about 1 cm, and then he inserted a metal device that keeps the cut opens. Using a rod he digs inside to look for the testicles. When he finds them, he inserts a hollow stem of a type of plant that contained a piece of string (not sure of what material). Master Fatt moves the string in a sawing motion and in no time he picks up the testicle with a tweezer before dropping them into a bowl of water. After removing the metal device he just pasted some feathers on the wound and that completed the operation! Little wonder that Master Fatt’s hands are deft as he has been doing this since he was 15 years of age and he’s now 58! He’s the 4^th generation in his family in this line and sadly he will be the last as none of his children took up the skill.

You can witness the video of the process over at A Lil Fat Monkey and Cumi dan Ciki but only if you have a strong stomach!

It seems like Capon chicken (yim kai) that came from here are of two different types. The one I had tasted at Chef Tam was of the Fah Loh Kai (colour bird) variety that yields a smooth and softer meat as compared to the Ma Lai Kai (free range kampong/village chicken) variety which is smooth but tougher. I still have one ma cho kai in the freezer which my mother is going to steam for the Winter solstice (Dong Zhi) feast which falls on 22^nd December oh yumyum.

It’s easier to reach for one of these ma cho kai or yim kai now as you can get them from the non-halal section of O Gourmet, Bangsar Shopping Complex and later on The Meat Experts (TME) in Hartamas Shopping Centre. Do check Sunshine Chicken website to keep a tab on where you can buy them. In there is also listed the restaurants where you can savour these lovely chicken.

More over here:
A Lil Fat Monkey
Cumi dan Ciki
A Whiff of Lemongrass

Sunshine Chicken (Sales & Marketing)
45-2, 2nd Floor,
Jalan Menara Gading 1,
Medan Connaught
56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 9102 3950

MAS Blogger Get Together at Restoran Rebung

**Halal**


As you're reading this, we're on our way Down Under on MAS of course (but NOT sponsored *hint hint Jonathan/Wai Fong!!! LOL*) for the entire week. We're there to attend the convocation of Capt'n Hook who recently completed his MBA programme. Since there will be a flurry of activities and uncertainties, I've not contacted anyone there to meet up, sorry ya. There will be scheduled post going up during this period but I won't be able to entertain any comments or emails unless I have access to the internet.

By now, MAS would have flymas.mobi, the world’s most comprehensive mobile booking system rolled out. You can book and pay your flight, check your flight status, check-in, yada yada including just show your boarding pass on your phone to board. How canggih eh?! Also check out MAS on Facebook for all the latest happenings, promos and contest! As if this is not enough, you can also check out the employees blog, how's that?

Back to the MAS get together, this event happened sometime back in late October. Just a gathering to catch up with each other. I was ecstatic as I sat next to my yoga idol, Ninie Ahmad! Was so star struck but I kept my composure :p stop short of giggling and biting my nails like high school girls! :p



Since I'm a food blogger, well I guess I'll just zoom down on Restoran Rebung which is of course own by Chef Ismail and Dr Sheikh Muszaphar (our angkasawan, in case you dunno).

This Malay restaurant is famous for it's buffet spread. There are a large varieties of appetisers, gulai, lauk, grilled fish, noodles dishes and of course lipsmacking desserts. The spread is quite large, just nice as I would say. I didn't manage to sample all, virtually just a bit of something that tickled my fancy. Loved all their gulai and curries especially the stuffed sotong.



Again, fell in love with serawa durian albeit a bit too sweet for me. They used gula melaka for this version which gave the extra caramel taste.



Just like Paya Serai, it's one of the better place to bring foreign guests to sample Malay food as oppose to Seri Melayu which the food is just so so. My only peeve here is parking, so just like most people, park by the roadside which is all right if there's space.


Restaurant Rebung Chef Ismail
No 4-2 Lorong Maarof
Bangsar Park
59000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 2283 2119

Review: Low Yau Kee Porridge

**Non-Halal**




I haven't touched Low Yau Kee Porridge for more than 10 years, no thanks to some road work back then along Jalan Silang that made Metro buses halt right in front of Low Yau Kee Porridge stall. It's no fun smelling in the black fumes, hence I abandoned any ideas of consuming one of the best porridge in town. My stomach is weak but thank goodness my nose was stronger, so no go!

I was glad though when I pass by Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodles one day recently and found a stall operating in front. Upon closer look, my tummy was jumping with joy! It was Low Yau Kee Porridge stall! I can now savour the porridge inside Soong Kee with the comfort of air-conditioning minus the bus soots and honks :p



I've asked for a bowl of plain porridge. The rice is boiled till "meen" (that's in Cantonese but not sure what's the proper word in English - perhaps disintegrated?) with chicken stock and they serve watery porridge here instead of thick version but of course you could request them for a thicker one. I loved how the chicken stock enhances the porridge flavour, not many stall does this.



I was very "tham jiak" (greedy) that evening, I asked for sliced fish which came in a plate topped with julienne ginger, spring onions and cilantro (yin sai) with a drizzle of sesame oil; and a serving of steamed chicken breast. I swirl the fish slices ala shabu shabu style in my bowl of porridge and slurp them down. Nice especially on a rainy evening.



The steamed chicken is smooth, well good enough. Can't compare with capon chicken though :p


Other than fish and chicken porridge, I also loved mixed pork innards (chu chap jook) especially the crispy deep fried intestine! Oh yum.

I was one very happy and satisfied person that evening indeed!


Low Yau Kee Porridge (Stall in front of Soong Kee)
3 Jalan Tun Siew Sin
Kuala Lumpur

Luxe Up Version of Potato Pie

Based on the Fish and Potato Pie recipe, I luxe up this version by using asparagus and salmon other than green peas and eggs. Needless to say, it's wolfed down in a jiffy!



Here are the other versions of potato pies that kids would love:
Chunky Chicken and Potato Pie
Another version of Chicken and Potato Pie
Fish and Potato Pie


Happy weekend!

Review: Hidden Porky Goodness at Kamimura Japanese Restaurant

**Non-Halal**




Drooling already???

These porky goodness of Pork Cutlet and Pork Belly Cutlet can be found at Kamimura Japanese Restaurant at The Weld. Well, we have been patronising this place for the longest ever but somehow never got round to blog about it. Perhaps in their earlier days, we thought they were a tad expensive hence the tag Kami"Tak"Murah LOL but of course there was a story behind it :p There are the usual Japanese dishes and prices here are not really that murah (cheap) but bearable once in a while.

Over the years my colleagues and I discovered these breadcrumb bejeweled cutlets that are crispy on the outside but tender and juicy on the inside - are utmost porkelicious! Definitely a must for babitarians!!! Miss Sweet 16, a member of Porketeers, discovered it only recently and she's totally hooked by it.



You can either picked pork or pork belly cutlet but I would advice to pay a few ringgit more and pick the Mix Katsu set lunch at RM26.00 to enjoy both at the same time.

Charge on, Babitarians!!!

Kamimura Japanese Restaurant

Lot 12-14, 2nd Floor

Menara The Weld

76 Jalan Raja Chulan

Kuala Lumpur

Tel: (603) 2166 8928

p/s: If you're going for lunch on a weekday, please remember to place a reservation or else you'll be deeply disappointed like we did once! Be warned!!!

Review: Capon Chicken & Seafood @ Jin Chwan Seafood & Chef Tam

**Non-Halal**

After our first taste of ma cho kai (horse grass chicken) at Hakka Republic, Gerald of Sunshine Chicken invited us and a group of bloggers, as promised, to taste the elusive capon chicken known as yim kai in Cantonese. I had never tasted yim kai in my life but listening to Capt'n Hook's description of how a man on his bicycle going round his kampung (which is now part of KL city) offering his service to castrate roosters is well... very interesting indeed.

This time round Gerald rounded up Kedai Makanan Chef Tam and Jin Chwan Seafood Garden in Taman Bidara, Selayang to offer us some fresh seafood off the tank and a few of Chef Tam's specialties. Jin Chwan is not a stranger to us as we have been visiting them during their early opening days. They're amongst the early "live" seafood provider where we could picked from their tank and they will send the seafood over to either Chef Tam or North Ocean (shifted to Bandar Menjalara and strangely wrapped up within months of shifting). I spied Chef Tam recently but I was skeptical thinking it could be an imitator since Chef Tam at one point had shifted to Bandar Sunway but has since sold his business to his friend and move to Indonesia for a few years before coming back to Selayang again! So it was the real Chef Tam indeed ;-)

First up was the visit to Jin Chwan Seafood Garden. Whoa, the place seems to be having more and more tanks. There are rows and rows of live seafood ranging from fishes, crabs and shellfish... lots of them are very exotic stuff, very educational indeed for boiboi. All one need to do is pick up the seafood and wine (if you forget to bring any) here, pay at the cashier and their staff will send over to your choice of restaurants of either Chef Tam or Bei Hai (in replace of North Ocean). The restaurants will prepare and cook your pick with some charges thrown in.




We walked back to the restaurant, a very cool reprieve indeed under the hot afternoon sun. We started off with very huge Canadian Pacific oysters, definitely bigger than my palm. Ben of Jin Chwan was around to explain to us about themselves and the oysters of course. Was surprised that these luscious babies costed only RM4.80 per oyster.



Next was the piece de resistance, the Steamed Yim Kai that came with a dip of chopped ginger and spring onions plus a type of rice from XinJiang. The rice was kinda glutinous and sticky, wonderfully fragrant as Chef Tam had used the broth from the chicken to cook the rice. As for the chicken, my first bite into the chewy meat was unforgettable. Since I've tasted ma cho kai before, this I tell ya, it's totally different. The texture is smooth but unlike normal chicken this is chewy and bouncy... very different indeed as compared with normal kampung chicken.

Since I was forbade from eating chicken skin since young, I never developed a liking for them well except when they're deep fried, even then I still just have a couple of bites and discard the rest, yes even with KFC :p Since Gerald said the skin is a must try, I soldiered on and surprisingly the skin texture is not soft and slimy but instead bouncy and crunchy, yeah crunchy! No wonder my boiboi kept asking his daddy to scoop for him the pieces with the skin on!!! *roll eyes*

The plate shown above is half a chicken errr 1 whole chicken was about 4.5kg up to 5kg and yes please call ahead to reserve one or half a yim kai. The price is around RM120++ for half and the price is seasonal.



A plate of sea snails buried in gratined creamy cheese sauce came next. Pure Glutton's boy loved this but I find it very jelak, perhaps it had turned cold and the sauce was just too cheesy. I've tasted similar style in Jun Kee where the sea snails were coated with a light cheese sauce instead of buried in one which is more agreeable. Sorry no picture cos it turned out terrible looking.

Our table got this Australian Jack Pearl fish which is lightly steamed and served with superior soy sauce. The flesh is firm and sweet, wished the fish was bigger in size though. We found out later that our neighbouring table had gotten a different type of fish - Sea Garoupa which is done in similar way, must be good since the entire fish has been deboned!



The obligatory tofu dish turned out to be superb. The chunks of tofu are deep fried placed on top of blanched baby kailan. A drizzle of light sauce complete the dish. The eggy tofu ought to be homemade and it was delish. I polished 2 chunks!

This time I tasted roasted ma cho kai which we all thought was roasted but in fact it's deep fried after the chicken is hung dry for many many hours. Hence, Chef Tam mentioned that this dish need pre-ordering if possible. Our table loved this chicken! It's so satisfying biting into the crispy skin amidst the bouncy meat.



It's my first time tasting this plate of super dark green vegetables. Pure Glutton explained that this is snow pea shoots (a type of dao miu). The shoots are plainly stir-fried with garlic, the flavours of the vege is intense, definitely does not have the greenish taste. I'm hooked.

Our meal ended with a refreshing gwai ling goe and mixed fruit cocktail and Chef Tam explaining the dishes cum answering questions fielded by us. We would like to thank Gerald, Jin Chwan and Chef Tam for the hospitality served.

In the meantime, if you're hankering for some ma cho kai or yim kai, do give Gerald a call as Sunshine Chicken do delivers to certain areas in the Klang Valley. Otherwise, click here to check where you can eat these yummy free range chickens.

Check out what the rest have to say about this:

Cumi dan Ciki
Eu Hooi Khaw (gosh I was so "star" struck having to finally meet Hooi Khaw in real after reading NST for yonks :p)

FBB

Pure Glutton

Jin Chwan Seafood Garden
9 Jalan 2/4,

Taman Bidara, Selayang
Tel: (603) 6138 2633
Business Hours:

Weekday 8:00am - 10:00pm

Public Holiday and Sundays 8:00am - 10:30pm

Kedai Makanan Chef Tam

6A Jalan Bidara 2/4,

Taman Bidara, Selayang.

Tel: (603) 6138 8751

Business Hours: 12:oopm - 3:oopm & 6:00pm - 11:00pm

Sunshine Chicken (Sales & Marketing)

45-2, 2nd Floor, Jalan Menara Gading 1,

Medan Connaught

56000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: (603) 9102 3950