Deep Fried Nam Yue Chicken Wings on Venusbuzz.com

My mother is a Hakka descendant, so is my husband. Since young I’ve been fed with all sorts of delicious food cooked by my maternal grandmother ranging from salted chicken, braised pork belly with black fungus, braised duck in soy bean paste sauce, braised pork belly with yam or sometimes preserved mustard cabbage, and deep fried pork belly. I guess now I know why how I got to become a foodie and grew up being a chubby little girl.

At that time I’ve no idea they are Hakka food in particular but as I grew up, I have learnt the various cooking style and dishes from various Chinese clans. My grandmother has long gone and my mother had sort of retired from cooking labourious dishes. It is also not helping that the hubby reminisces and described the dishes his late father conjured for them. Looks like I have no choice but to slowly learn up some Hakka dishes as the craving for such dishes with the authentic taste as how I remember them is getting strong.

The family used to frequent a restaurant that serves this crispy and salty deep fried chicken wings but sadly this restaurant has closed down. So the better bet now is to make them myself! I’ve asked my mother how to make them, sighhhh just like a typical Chinese housewife, all she could contribute was a little this and a pinch of that. I know I cook like that too but somehow there must be a formula to get things right in the kitchen and to pass on the recipes so that the legacy can carry on.

So here I am, sharing my Deep Fried Nam Yue Chicken Wings recipe on Venusbuzz.com, tried and tested, with the feedback from the husband that they are tasty with the right amount of seasonings. On it’s own, red fermented beancurd (nam yue) can smell and taste rather off-putting but with the right combination of ingredients, it can turn dishes out beautifully.

Review: Gardenia Sommerset Cottage From European Cottage Style Bread Range

If you're a long follower of this blog, you would know that I'm a bread lover. It always excites me when I can get nice & healthy multi-grains  loaves other than those standard stuff I get off the shelves. I used to buy discounted gourmet breads in a hotel after 6.00pm near my workplace but since I've stopped working there... our bread loaves are limited to Adventist loaves and we're also loving Massimo Wheat Germ as I can get them easily here. I know how to bake bread, just that I'm so lazy to bake a batch. Moreover freezer space is rather limited. It just not worth baking a loaf or two as the time and work involved is just isn't worth it unless I make a bigger batch.

I loved the range of bread available in Singapore. You can find gourmet loaves easily on supermarket shelves. Whenever Capt'n Hook goes to Singapore for meetings or my aunt come visiting, I'll ask them to get my fave Gardenia's Banana Walnut Loaf. 3 years have gone by and Gardenia has yet to launch similar loaf in Malaysia :( and I doubt they'll sell it here. It's also sad to note that the Butterscotch Toast'em has became a rather sad loaf with very few blotches of butterscotch in a loaf.

When I pass by the mini market last week, I was surprised to see Gardenia has a range of new bread on the shelves. Labelled as European Cottage Style Bread, I noted there are 3 in this range namely - Sommerset Cottage, Passione Italiana and Bonjour. Sommerset Cottage is an English loaf that has 12 multi grains & seeds.



Passione Italiana is the Italian loaf that oooo surprise surprise sundried tomato, olives and a blend of Italian herbs. Not many Malaysian know what is sundried tomato let alone has tasted them! I held on to one loaf to read the ingredients and I can certainly smell the herbs!

Lastly, there's the French style bread named Bonjour. This one is basically a white bread coated with white and black sesame seeds.



I grabbed the Sommerset Cottage since I like multi-grains bread to test out first. I had them with plain butter, butter with strawberry jam and of course not to be missed out peanut butter! Although I loved the idea of a multi-grains and seeds bread but the texture somehow it's a little too soft to my liking as you can see in the pic below. I supposed Malaysians are not used to dense loaf. Other than this, I'm pretty sure Malaysians would be quite receptive to this range of bread as quite a number of people is turning to eat healthily. Price wise, I would think it's a little steep for such kinda loaf size. The price range is in between RM4 - RM5. With about RM2 more, I could get a bigger and denser Adventist loaves... no choice for the comparison as I'm really a frugal housewife lol.



I ate 2 slices for breakfast at around 9.00am and it lasted me to about 12.30pm before my stomach starts to growl which is not too bad for 2 slices of Adventist bread could last me to about 1.00pm :D

I might just get the Passione Italiana and try it with sundried tomato cream cheese spread or even make a bruschetta out of them... let's just see then ;-)

You can find these European loaves at these locations.

Ah Yee Curry Mee @ Kepong Baru

**Non-Halal**


One of our friend posted a photo of a plate of delicious looking curry chee cheung fun (flat rice noodles) not long ago and we asked him where that plate of chee cheung fun came from. He then described to us and since I'm familiar with Kepong Baru, it's quite easy for us to locate this Ah Yee Curry Mee. You can access this row of hawkers either on Jalan Kepong Baru (the main road) or Jalan Ambong Kiri 1. It's just next to Hoo Yee Kee Prawn Noodles. It's the same row as KTZ and Onn Kee Roast Duck just that Ah Yee Curry Mee is on the other side after the traffic light (coming from Kepong Baru side towards exit to Jalan Kepong).

Look for this signage... it's rather big facing the main road but there's a smaller one on Jalan Ambong Kiri 1 where parking is ample.



The place seems airy and bright, maybe because we were there very early before 8am hence the lights were all still switched on. Quite clean for hawker stalls standard. On the white board, there's a long list of offerings here ranging from chee cheung fun, curry noodles, prawn noodles, yong tau foo (stuffed beancurd & vegetables) etc together with the prices.



The small portion Curry Chee Cheung Fun is RM3.30 swimming on a light curry broth topped with pork meat and shitake mushroom strips in a brown sauce that I think is made from oyster sauce and soy sauce. I supposed this is the meat sauce you'll be given when one order the normal chee cheung fun. A sprinkling of chopped scallion/spring onions and deep fried shallots slices complete the dish.

Mine is a small portion with fu pei (deep fried beancurd sheet) costed RM4.10. The curry broth is light and not overly greasy with a nice subtle curry flavour. The meat sauce luckily melded well. Our only gripe is the smooth & slippery chee cheung fun is sliced a bit too wide.



Someone at the table had a bowl of Prawn Noodles (RM4.00 sorry no pic) which is rather lackluster when I tried a sip. There were only 2 medium sized prawn in there lamented that someone! So skip this.

I took a peek at our next table and saw that the Curry Noodles seems yummy, I guess that will have to wait till our next visit. We also found out that they used to operate from a corner coffee shop near by and shifted to the current location 2 years ago. Ahhh that explains why we can't find them at the coffee shop anymore :p


Ah Yee Curry Mee
Jalan Kepong Baru/Jalan Ambong Kiri 1
Kepong Baru
Opens for breakfast & lunch
Click here for map

Have A Lovely Valentine's Day

Capt'n Hook and I are not the lovey dovey romantic kind, hence you hardly find posts on romantic dinners nor much on fine dining places. I guess it just doesn't really matter as long as one get to spends time with each other round the clock and not just on today but always.

Wishing everyone a lovely Valentine's Day!

Review: Tiger Jit Singh Chapati @ Jalan San Peng

**Pork Free**


With the Chinese New Year celebration all over... I guess we're a bit overwhelmed with the amount of Chinese food we have been feasting. How about going for some Indian food instead?

I've been coming to Tiger Jit Singh Chapati for more than 15 years ever since my colleague brought me here. We loved the fact the chapatis (wholemeal flat bread) are made on the spot but over the years due to high amount of patrons, the Indonesian helpers made them in batches and kept them warm inside a plastic warmer. However, they'll cater to your request for freshly made ones IF they're free to make them sighhhh...

Chapati is made out of atta flour (a type of wholemeal flour) mixed with water to form into a dough. The dough is kneaded until it's firm and a bit like elastic before resting it for a while. A small amount of dough is pinch off, shaped into a ball and roll out into a flat disc with a rolling pin. In between, atta flour is dusted to prevent sticking. The chapati disc is placed on a hot skillet without any oil, hence chapati would be a healthier alternative to roti canai. The chapati disc will slowly puff up and a muslin cloth bag filled with flour will be used to flatten the disc down. Once the disc is filled with brownish spots, it's cooked!



My apologies for the name of dishes as I'm not so familiar with Sikh's dishes, my Sikh friend cannot help me too! He's really hopeless even when his mom made him these dishes everyday! *roll eyes*

We have this thickish chicken curry which has strong spices flavours but not that hot. Nice to go with the chapati.



This mutton curry is da bomb here! They just have a way to kill of the gamey smell of mutton here with the use of spices. The meat is fork tender which helps a lot when savouring them with my fingers. The vegetables dhal (shown in the background below) is my utmost favourite as I prefer my dhal thick and filled with big pieces of vegetables and chickpeas.



Since we were there past lunch time, not much vegetable choices so I picked these sambal stuffed baby bitter gourd. They look fiery, don't they? Actually the sambal stuffing is not as hot as it look and usually baby bitter gourd can be pretty bitter but not these though. We were also served a plate of mung beans dhal (with skin, as seen at the background below) which tasted totally different from a normal dhal. Perhaps dhal might not even be a correct name for it. So sorry, next time if I bump into Uncle Tiger Jit, I'll ask him for the proper names.



We both have a glass of mango lassi each which washed down our hot and spicy meal pretty well. I can't remember how much is a glass but it's not super cheap at around RM5 or so. Worth the money though as the mango flavour is fresh and strong, plus plus point - the lassi is thick!

To locate this place, look for Telecom Malaysia exchange building. Opposite this building has a row of hawker stalls. They do not have signages but you can look out for Tiger Jit Chapati scribbled on paint on one part of the stall. Parking can be quite horrendous here during lunch hour, so be warned.

If you're interested to make your own chapati and vegetables dhal, check the recipes here.


Tiger Jit Singh Chapati
Jalan San Peng
Kuala Lumpur
Closed on Sundays

Review: Eat Food Village @ Publika

**Non-Halal**




Following the heels of Lot 10's Hutong, a non-halal food court that houses a host of famous street food stalls around Kuala Lumpur, Publika, the "mall" located at Solaris Dutamas did the same by hosting a different selections of popular hawkers at their Eat Food Village. It's a rejoice for non-Muslims to be able to enjoy quite a number of famous stalls within a clean and comfortable environment. Not only that, being able to savour different items all under one roof instead of driving all over town just to taste one by one!

Eat Food Village has lesser stalls as compared to Hutong BUT there's one thing I enjoy very much here is the great ventilation system. In Hutong, even though it's air-conditioned but when I emerged out of there, the smell of the fumes actually cling on to by clothes and hair. There is an advantage though... I could actually smell the nice aroma of the stir-frying and deep fried lard :p in Hutong, pretty authentic element of a normal food court.

On the Saturday afternoon we were there, it was packed! A good sign indeed to keep the food court going.

I ordered a single serving of hokkien mee (fried thick noodles RM7.90) from Sentul Ah Yap. I was given a beeper which will beep when my noodles are ready. No wonder there isn't long queue here :D Loved the super dark noodles from this stall that maintained the wok hei (breath of the wok). There were bits of crispy lard peppered the dish. No regrets and the person who helmed the wok when I was there was a Chinese man. As for the price, just a little higher from normal coffee shops pricing between RM4.50 to RM6.00 but the portion is pretty huge.



Given every opportunity that he can, BoiBoi will order Char Koay Teow (RM9.90) and I did just that at Lorong Seratus Tahun Authentic Penang Cuisine. I also ordered Penang Chee Cheong Fun (RM6.90) from here. Pricing here is pretty high IMHO but if they tastes good in such a comfortable ambiance, why not?

The Char Koay Teow (stir-fried flat rice noodles) really fall short of my expectation. It did looked good but the wok hei is just not there. Since I'm used to low sodium diet... this plate of noodles are really bland. Just a note though, this version is without chilli. Also noted that the cooks and handlers are all foreigners. Authentic taste lost in transition?



The uniqueness of Penang Chee Cheung Fun (rice noodles) is instead of the normal bean paste sauce, hae koh (har koe in Cantonese or known as shrimp paste) is used together with chilli sauce. This is not too bad but got a little jelak as we delved further. Pricy in my opinion for plain chee cheung fun.



As for drinks, we just can't get enough of ChaTime (a popular bubble tea outlet) which has an outlet inside Eat Food Village! The queue wasn't long here which is a great point. This time round I tried the wintermelon tea with pearls whilst BoiBoi had mango smoothies. I loved the pearl milk tea but now trying to cut down by asking for non-dairy tea with zero or less sugar. I tend to forget to ask them to cut down or omit the sugar... would love to see that the person who is taking the order to ask customers of their liking.



Other than these 3, you can find the yummy chilli pan mee from Kin Kin; BM Yam Rice; Fishing Village Yong Tau Foo; Hoong Kee Wan Tan Mee; Lorong Seratus Tahun; Yeoh's Bak Kut Teh and so forth. Check out the list here.

I'm so in loved with Publika for the art pieces all around, quaint cafes and shops, plus every food lover's supermarket - Ben's Independent Grocer. In there, it houses a number of small sections of cafes and outlets under BIG umbrella. We did have a meal in there and will blog about it in another post.


Publika
No 1, Jalan Dutamas 1
Solaris Dutamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Map