Tuesday 31 July 2012

Bazaar Ramadhan Recipe Courtesy of Makan Kitchen: Sup Tulang Rawan

This recipe Sup Tulang Rawan by Chef Zul sounds absolutely of a very tummy warming dish to break fast with. I would like a piping hot soup to start off, in fact I would be happy with just a hearty soup with lots of flavours that pack a punch!

Sup Tulang Rawan
Resipi Oleh Chef Zul, Malay Sous Chef,
Makan Kitchen, Doubletree By Hilton Kuala Lumpur

Sup Tulang Rawan Berempah

Ramuan dan bahan-bahan:
400gm Tulang rawan (potong kecil)
250ml Air rebusan tulang
100gm Kentang
70gm Lobak merah
70gm Daun saderi
30ml Minyak masak
10gm Minyak sapi (Optional)
15gm Cili kering (Optional)
20gm Rempah kurma

Herba campuran:
5gm Jintan manis
5gm Bunga lawang
5gm Bunga cengkih
5gm Kayu manis
5gm Biji ketumbar
4nos Daun bay (optional)
1nos Sup bunjut (optional)

Bahan bahan dikisar:
15gm Bawang merah
12gm Bawang putih
10gm Halia
10gm Lengkuas
10gm Kunyit hidup

Rencah dan perasa (Secukup rasa):
Garam halus
Lada sulah
Serbuk perasa

Hirisan dan hiasan:
15gm Daun sup
10gm Bawang goreng

Cara cara memasak :-

Panaskan minyak di dalam periuk yang sederhana besar dan tumis herba campuran sehingga naik baunya. Campurkan bahan yang telah di kisar dan tumis sehingga garing bersama rempah kurma, masukan tulang rawan dan kacau sebati.

Tuangkan air rebusan tulang dan renih sehingga daging empuk. Masukan kentang, lobak merah, daun saderi dan bahan perasa dan renih sehingga masak kesemuanya sekali.

Hidangkan di dalam mangkuk dan hias bersama daun bawang dan bawang goreng.


Monday 30 July 2012

Bazaar Ramadhan Recipe Courtesy of Makan Kitchen: Kari Udang Mamak

The next Bazaar Ramadhan recipe by Chef Zul, Malay Sous Chef of Makan Kitchen, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur is Kari Udang Mamak.

Kari Udang Mamak
Resipi oleh Chef Zul, Malay Sous Chef, 
Makan Kitchen, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur 

Kari Udang Mamak

Ramuan dan bahan-bahan: 
100ml Minyak Masak
1kg Udang galah (dibelah tengah dan di bersihkan)
5gm Halba Biji
5gm Biji Sawi
5gm Daun kari
5gm Cili Kering
300gm Bawang (di hiris harus)
10gm Cili Hijau (di hiris halus)

Bahan-bahan dikisar:
15gm Bawang Putih – dikisar
15gm Halia - dikisar

10gm Tomato
30gm Serbuk Kunyit
20gm Serbuk ketumbar
20ml Air
15ml Yogurt
150ml Santan
5ml Minyak Kelapa
Daun Ketumbar
10gm Garam & Gula (secukup rasa)

Cara-cara memasak:

Panaskan minyak ke dalam periuk yang besar. Masukkan rempah (biji halba dan biji sawi) cili kering dan daun kari. Tumiskan.

Masukkan bawang, cili hijau, bawang putih dan halia yang dikisar. Kemudian masukkan tomato. Masukkan serbuk kunyit dan serbuk ketumbar. Tumiskan sehingga minyak pecah.

Tuangkan air and kacau. Setelah kari mendidih tuangkan santan beserta yogurt dan kacau. Selepas 30 saat masukkan kepala udang galah dan masak selama 10 minit.

Setelah itu, renjiskan sedikit minyak kelapa ke dalam kari dan bubuh garam secukup rasa. Akhir sekali setelah masak, hiaskan dengan daun ketumbar sebelum dihidang.



Friday 27 July 2012

Bazaar Ramadhan Recipe Courtesy of Makan Kitchen: Ikan Keli Salai Masak Lemak Cili Api

I've received 6 recipes each of Bazaar Ramadhan and Raya festive dishes courtesy of Makan Kitchen, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur. They were contributed by Chef Fazli Baharudin, Executive Junior Sous Chef; and Chef Mohd Zulkarnean, Malay Sous Chef.

I'll be sharing the recipes with you over the next few days and if I have the time, I'm going to cook up some of these dishes. *fingers crossed* Hope you'll like the recipes which I find are very traditional by nature.

First one up is Ikan Keli Salai Masak Lemak Cili Api which is essentially Smoked Catfish in Bird's Eye Chillies Creamy Coconut Gravy. I'm afraid that I won't be translating the recipe as errr my Malay kinda rusty but if you have any questions, I'll try to see if I can be of much help hahaha.


IKAN KELI SALAI MASAK LEMAK CILI API
Resipi oleh Chef Fazli, Executive Junior Sous Chef
Makan Kitchen, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur


Ikan salai masak lemak cili api

Ramuan dan bahan-bahan:
400gm Ikan keli salai (di potong kecil)
90ml Santan kelapa
40ml Air
15gm Daun kunyit (di hiris halus)
25gm Belimbing buluh (optional)
12gm Asam keping

Bahan bahan dikisar:
15gm Bawang merah
10gm Bawang putih
10gm Halia
10gm Lengkuas (optional)
10gm Serai
25gm Kunyit hidup
30gm Cili padi
10gm Cili hijau (optional)

Rencah dan perasa:
Garam halus (Secukup rasa)
Lada sulah (Secukup rasa)
Serbuk perasa (Secukup rasa)
Gula kabung (Optional) (Secukup rasa)


Hirisan dan hiasan:
1nos Tomato (di belah lapan)
1nos Cili merah (di hiris tebal)
10gm Hirisan daun kunyit goreng (Optional)

Cara cara memasak:

Masukan bahan yang telah di kisar kedalam periuk barsama air, daun kunyit dan asam keping ke dalam periuk dan renih seketika.

Masukan santan, ikan salai dan bahan perasa kedalam periuk. Kacau perlahan supaya tidak pecah minyak dan berbintil. Pastikan apinya sederhana besar.

Akhir sekali, masukan tomato yang di belah 8 kedalam gulai tadi sebelum di hidang di dalam mangkuk. Taburkan hirisan cili merah dan hirisan daun kunyit yang telah di goreng rangup.


Check out the Chefs bio here (click to enlarge):

Chef Fazli Baharudin Bio

Chef Mohd Zulkarnean Bio


Thank you to Chef Fazli and Chef Zul of Makan Kitchen, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur for sharing these deletable recipes with us ;-)

Sunday 22 July 2012

Yahoo! Malaysia's Ramadan Mubarak

In conjunction with the holy month of Ramadan, Yahoo! Malaysia had launched a dedicated microsite, Ramadan Mubarak, offering religious and lifestyle contents which includes waktu solat (prayer times) for the various states in Malaysia; articles by Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, recipes from Chef Wan, greetings from local celebrities, bazaar reviews and so forth.

Yahoo Ramadan Mubarak Page

Ramadan Mubarak will be presented in the Malay language to connect with the local community. We did ask if it will have an English equivalent but was told not at the moment. We thought that having them in English would enable foreigners and tourists to learn more about the religion and what fasting is all about. Hopefully by next year, this will materialise.

According to Marc Lourdes, Country Editor of Yahoo! Malaysia, the content for this special site was developed to satisfy the community's interest on Islamic values and at the same time satisfying the need of lifestyle contents. Hence, Ramadan Mubarak touches on varied contents around spirituality, entertainment, lifestyle and food.

Yahoo! Ramadan Mubarak Launch
Left to Right: Marc Lourdes, Uttam Chopra & Jon-Tjin Kee

Further to that, Uttam Chopra, Lead Product Manager, Custom Brand Experiences, Yahoo! SEA; showed us how to connect with family and friends by sharing the articles found in Ramadan Mubarak. If one has log on to their Facebook, the Share buttons are enabled to share the beautiful photos, interesting articles and recipes, so convenient eh? Yahoo! Malaysia has also made things easier by offering the contents on mobile devices and tablets on all platforms.

The Sales Director and Country Ambassador of Yahoo! Malaysia, Jon-Tjin Kee, mentioned that such Custom Branded Experiences offers a unique value proposition to various brands who wants to be publishers and generate social reactions online. So what Yahoo! Malaysia did was to partner with various establishments by providing them the environment to engage with consumers. Say for example with Dumex, a children milk products, they have a Parenting World page where Dumex supplied the relevant contents with regards to parenting with no direct mention to Dumex, well as in hard sales of the product. Then there's Vaseline on beauty and for now Listerine with Ramadan Mubarak.

For photo buffs, Yahoo! is running a special group on Flickr for you to share your Ramadan Memories in photos. Looks like I'll go round photo hunting and share my experience with the world as you know Ramadan here is uniquely Malaysian!

Just a note, all my photos on this blog is hosted on Flickr, you can check them out here.

To all our Muslim readers, Ramadan Al-Mubarak!


Wednesday 11 July 2012

Review: Little XiGong Restaurant (Sai Gong Tzai) @ Taman Kepong

**Non-Halal**


We have passed by this crowded restaurant a couple of times and was just wondering what's the fuss since the place was rather new. I just know why when the first review came in by Ivy. Her pictures really made me salivate and can't wait for the right occasion to bring my parents. We finally made it there and upon entering the restaurant, my mother declared "hey this is Sai Gong!".

The next thing we know, the guy who came to take our order was an all too familiar face. He confirmed that this shop belonged to the younger of 2 sons of Sai Kong (Kepong Baru). I guess the older son must be helming the wok at Sai Gong (Menjalara)! Knowing that we're in for a real treat!!!

Little XiGong

At 7.00pm, the corner lot restaurant which also uses the space of the chicken rice shop called Popeye o.O was filled to the brim. Luckily we managed to secure a table at the 5 foot way in front of Popeye. We put in our oder and sad to say we waited about 40 minutes before dinner was served. Shouldn't gripe since it's peak hour plus the place is full.

First dish recommended was 3 Cups Chicken (RM33) but Little XiGong's version is totally different. There weren't any Thai basil but instead curry leaves were used. Not the usual taste of 3 Cups Chicken but this was good though. Everyone dug into the claypot with gusto.

3 Cups Chicken

We next have a wok-hei (breath of the wok) full of 4 Heavenly King (RM12) which on that day consisted of four angle beans, brinjals, ladiesfingers and long beans fried in sambal belacan. Our main issue was how come there isn't any petai (stink beans)? :p

Four Heavenly King

The next order sighhh seems of be our standard order now to suit BoiBoi's love of Sweet & Sour Fish (RM33). Almost all our dai chow meals would have this dish >.< The garoupa was perfectly deep fried - crispy on the outside whilst the flesh inside remained moist and tender. Even though most places use not-so-fresh fish for deep frying but over here, it's fresh! The sweet and sour was balanced out all nicely in the tomato based gravy.

Sweet & Sour Garoupa

Can't resist to order the signature tofu dish (RM13) shown in the banner but not sure why they don't look the same when arrive on our table hehe. Anyway, everyone liked this... well cos it's deep fried obviously. The sifu chef in the family (the mother, not me!) claimed that the tofu was mashed up and mixed with meat, steamed before cutting into fingers. There are several uniqueness in this dish with one, the tofu fingers were dipped in a thickish batter before being deep fried. The batter was light and crispy... and one can hear the crunch as you bite onto them. Secondly, the sauce which made up of something lemony which I know it's not using fresh lemon but most likely prepared lemon sauce and the sauce was laid at the bottom of the plate instead of being poured all over the tofu. Thirdly, together with the sauce there's a mixture of raw onion slices and cucumber strips PLUS deep fried butterflied ermm some sort of ikan bilis. This was served with housemade chilli sauce on the side plates. Are you salivating yet?

Little XiGong Signature Tofu

We were keeping our fingers crossed when we ordered the crab dish as the man said not sure if the crabs have arrived urgggh and the thing is... he didn't come back to update us until we asked him after all our above dishes arrived. So happy when he said yes and the dish is coming soon!

Again we played safe by ordering the signature crab dish with a coconut milk gravy. We asked for 2 crabs (RM91). When it arrived on our table, everyone went oooo wahhhhh lol. Visually the crabs are very pleasing. Seems like a totally different interpretation of "lai yau" (buttermilk)... the gravy have a nice coconut milk fragrant where the curry leaves boosted it more. Then there's addition of onions and tomatoes which lighten up the gravy and giving it a slight tang. If you look at the plate closely, you'll noticed there's a small trail of chilli oil for the hot kick.

Little XiGong Crabs in Coconut Gravy

Everyone gave thumbs up to this crab dish. They have totally nailed it! There were ample gravy to be mopped up with mantou which we did not order as we're very full already by the time the crabs arrived. If we're returning, this would be on our must-have!

There were 6 adults plus BoiBoi, we have a pot of Chinese tea and 4 plates of rice and the total bill (shown below if you know how to read Mandarin) added up to RM177! Very reasonable I would say. I guess the next time, we are going to make our way here by 6.30pm and would keep our fingers crossed that food would arrive faster.

Little XiGong Bill


Little XiGong Restaurant
23, Jalan Development
Taman Kepong
52100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: +6 012-303 6645 or +6 012-303 4466

Monday 9 July 2012

Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy Version 2.0

**Non-Halal**


Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy

My first version of Mui Choy Munn Chue Yuk (Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Cabbage) was not really satisfactory. It took too long for the pork to become tender that I have to use pressure cooker after braising for 45 minutes. The taste wasn't that great as well, way too salty and watery. I tweaked the recipe and I managed to perfect this dish to our liking. However, there are some extra steps to make them this tasty :D

Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy Version 2.0

500g pork belly, with skin removed
6 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
2 Tbsp oil

150g preserved sweet mustard cabbage
150g preserved salted mustard cabbage
5 slices ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Gravy:
1 litre water (more when needed)
1 1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce, more if you like really dark (mine's 1 Tbsp :p)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
A good dash of white pepper
3 - 4 small pieces of rock sugar

Wash preserved mustard cabbage throughly, going thru the leaves as there plenty of grits in between. Soak for about 3 - 4 hours separately, changing water a couple of times. Squeeze out all the water and sliced into 1 - 1.5 cm length. Set aside.

Feel free to trim off more fats from the pork belly which I did. I've already asked my butcher for the leanest belly until to the point he said your mui choy dish won't taste nice like that!!! lol

Sliced pork belly strip into 3 large chunks. Boil water in a pan and cook the pork belly in rapid boiliing water for about 15 minutes. Remove from pan and rinse the pork belly under running tap water. Slice pork belly into 1 - 1.5 cm thick pieces. Set aside.

In a medium pan or wok, dry-fry (without oil) prepared preserved mustard cabbage, chopped garlic and ginger slices under medium heat until dry and fragrant. Dish up and set aside.

In the same pan, heat up the oil and fry the garlic cloves until fragrant before adding the pork belly slices. Stir and toss in the fried preserved mustard cabbage until well mixed.

Pour in the water and gravy ingredients. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Give it a taste and adjust the seasonings like oyster sauce or light soy sauce or rock sugar to your taste. Cover and simmer under low heat for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Check the pan in between, if needed add in some hot water when the water dries up too much. Preferably the meat ought to be covered with liquid.

It is done when the pork belly is tender and the flavour has been absorbed; and the gravy is thickened. If you find it has too much gravy, open the lid and let it braise. We like ours with loads of gravy, so yummy to go with rice!!!
Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Cabbage

Blog Revamping

Hello... I'm in the midst of revamping my blog to make my life a little easier. So do not be alarmed as work is still under construction.

Cheers,
Babe_KL
16 Oct 2012