Ramadhan Recipe 5: Zespri Kiwifruit & Lychee Fruit Salad With Konyakku Jelly Cubes

We're down to the last Zespri's recipe for Ramadhan which I'm saving the sweet for last :D

The konyakku jelly that we are familiar with are usually firm and bouncy but now that I know with the addition of some citrus juice, in this case - lemon juice, made the konyakku jelly softer in texture to the extend of something like jello. A fairly simple dessert to concoct and a crowd favourite.

Just make sure your Zespri Green Kiwifruit is slightly chunky to match up with the size of lychees and jelly cubes ;-) I reckon the new variety of Zespri Sun Gold would match up greatly too for a sweet and tangy sensation.

Click on the recipe card above to view a larger version on my flickr album

Thank you Zespri Malaysia for allowing me to post up these beautiful recipes. Selamat berpuasa ;-)

Ramadhan Recipe 4: Zespri Kiwifruit With Sweet & Sour Fish

BoiBoi dislikes sour fruits, hence he won't even touch green kiwifruits with a ten feet pole! Because of this, he wouldn't even eat the Zespri Gold, well until recently... when I sort of force made him try some, otherwise he would have thought it's sour as well. I managed to have him to like the latest variety of Zespri Sun Gold heh... victory for the mommy! Loved his description "it's sweet with a teeny hint of sourness".

Since I know Zespri green kiwifruits have loads more Vitamin C than his fave orange, I have been devising plans to make him have his dose of kiwifruits. So far the easiest was to make iced lollies or smoothie or even "ice cream". For ice cream, I would freeze some sliced bananas, kiwifruits, pineapple etc. Leave it to thaw for about 3 - 5 minutes, then I blend them with a hand blender. If the concoction contains banana, it will turn out to be a creamy and fruity and creamy "ice cream". Without banana, it will become something like sorbet. I usually serve to him straight after blending and I would usually make more so that I can spoon the excess into ice lolly moulds and freeze them. A lot of times, I will stuff in some kiwifruits chunks. Both works fine for me. With the inclusion of other fruits, BoiBoi get to have his dose of green kiwifruits in such ways :D

Background: papaya, pineapple & yoghurt
Foreground: green kiwifruit, apples and chunks of kiwifruits & cherries

This kid of mine expects to have dessert after his meals, my father would just gave him fruits but whenever we're out, he will have his share of desserts of ice cream, cakes or whatever strikes his fancy in the menu. Since he's already on his growth spurt stage, I try to make him eat healthy. So the other way to make him eat fruits that he dislikes is to make a fruit salads hehehehe, yup evil mommy I am! I would just diced the fruits up and serve just like that or days when I have yoghurt, I will top up with a few spoonfuls of yoghurt and sprinkle with homemade granola. This way he will down all the fruits he disliked such as plums, green apples and pineapples.

The other thing is, he doesn't like fish except when the fish comes in the form of sweet and sour fish *roll eyes*. He can have that everyday and won't get fed up. So having Zespri Green Kiwifruits to be serve in a sweet and sour fish manner will do me lots of good. I think having kiwifruits pieces in this dish sort of like elevated it to the next level. Other than being a simple dish for breaking of fast with the family, it can be serve as a fancy dish to guests ;-) What say you?

Click on the recipe card above to view a larger version on my flickr album

Ramadhan Recipe 3: Zespri Kiwifruit & Lime Soda With Selasih (Basil) Seeds

The next recipe from Zespri's Ramadhan collection is this Zespri Kiwifruit and Lime Soda with Basil Seeds. Basil seeds is biji selasih in Malay and when soaked, it will plump up looking like frog eggs :p

When I was really young around 8 years of age, there's this junkfood stall outside my school gate. They usually have 2 variety of drinks each day and the multi colour drinks of pink, red, orangey etc fascinates me all the time. I would never know how they tasted like cos my parents who dislike us to eat junkfood never gave us any pocket money. The first time, I see these "frog eggs" floating in the drinks that my friends are drinking, I asked them what they were and they told me "frog eggs"!!! Being the naive one, I really do believe them, yes I do! They spun the story of the drink seller actually scoop up the eggs from the drain and the silly me actually did bought it! Why? Cos I used to climb inside that drain to catch fish and tadpoles hahaha plus it's not helping that we also learnt about the frog's life cycle at that age. In the diagram, there were picture of frog eggs :p

It was only much later in my early teens that my dad bought some of these basil seeds to make drinks for us. He told us to watch some magic show that he's going to perform lol where the seeds will transform into frog eggs! Hey by then, we're not that naive anymore hahahaha. So that was when I know they're known as biji selasih.

For this refreshing concoction, you can see in the photo that there were some kaffir lime (limau purut in Malay) slices as they did not just make the drink looked prettier but added some slight bitter citrusy flavour in this drink. It is advisable not to squeeze in the juice as it will make your drink taste bitter. Try it for breaking of fast to quench your thirst or serve it to your guests during Raya open house.

Click on the recipe card above to view a larger version on my flickr album

Babe in the City - KL is Nine This Year!!!

On Sunday, as I was staring at the date on the top right corner of my screen... hmmmmm July hmmmmm other than our wedding anniversary, there was another one but what it was? Upon checking the blog, true enough it's the blog's NINE anniversary. Omigosh, 9!!!! How did the time went? How on earth that I'm still blogging away? Ok I know, I'm one day late hahaha cos I was out the whole day since morning and no chance to sit down to turn on my lappie. Well at least I'm not one week late like last year :p

When I told Capt'n Hook about this, he replied rather cynically "Wow lasted so long arhhhh!?!". I would have never imagined it could last me this long. Pretty mind boggling I would say especially when we're known as the pioneer food blog in Malaysia. I guess the amount of support and readership do play some part to keep us going. Quite amazing to know that many out there still read blogs when attention span these days pointed to shorter reads (twitter: babe_kl) and eye catching plus mouth watering food photos (instagram: babe_kl). Then there's the interactive mode of being on Facebook.

It's one of the main reason why at times I write a post even at one in the morning like now, just to tell the world that I'm still here ;-)

So to another year of blogging... many cheers and thank you for all the support! May there be many more years of great tasting food serving your way from Babe in the City - KL!

Review: Mission Wraps - Chicken Wraps ala Fajita

A lot of times when it comes to meal times for Capt'n Hook and I, we would usually go simple especially when we're not fans of rice. We would opt for noodles, sandwiches, wraps or just salad.

I've discovered Mission Wraps some time back and seems like it is getting easier to get them these days. I've seen them at most supermarkets and hypermarkets. Retailing around RM7+ and there are promotions now where you'll get a bag of Mission Tortilla Chips with every 2 packets of wraps purchased. So I would look for such promos before I buy them :p and the last I saw such promo again was last week!

These wraps comes in a few flavours and I think I have tried Wholegrain, Potato, Garlic and Onion & Chive. The thing I like most about Mission wraps is it's resealable ziplock packets as we usually can't finish all 8 pieces in one go. So I'll just ziplock the bag and chuck it into the fridge. At times, when it comes out from the fridge, it can be quite dry. What I do is just sprinkle both sides with a little water and warm the wraps gently on a frying pan, a couple of minutes on both sides.

Another great tip I would like to share is... wash, dry and keep the resealable plastic bags! I know, sounds like a hoarder I am but I dislike wastage and being NOT environmental friendly. Since the bag is quite sturdy, I've used it to marinade meat. Other time, I've stored leftover homemade capatis in one, perfect size, I tell you. I can think of many other ways to reuse such bags :p perhaps I shall share that in another post.

Most times I will just sprinkle some salt & black pepper on a piece of chicken breast and grill it on a grill pan or simply fry it on a frying pan. Both work just as fine. Let the meat cool down a little before slicing into strips before using in my wraps or sandwiches.

After a while, I sort of like give a little variety on the marinade. This particular marinade is something like fajita and I've used chicken fillets hehehe yeah the lazy in me, don't even need to slice them up and use them whole in the wraps.



As for the accompaniments, you can use any combinations of fresh lettuce leaves, shredded carrot/jicama/cucumber, avocado slices, tomato or even kiwifruit salsa, etc; sour cream or yoghurt; at times I just squeeze Kewpie mayonnaise over the veggies; you got what I mean now... the combinations are endless, just use your imagination. Actually quite a good way to clear up the fridge.

Chicken Wraps ala Fajita(Enough for 4 wraps)

350 g chicken fillets (about 8 pieces), pat dry with paper towels

Marinade:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt (I've used Himalayan but you might need to adjust the amount as Himalayan is not as salty)

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a mixing bowl. Add in the chicken fillets and mix evenly. Cover and leave in the fridge to marinade, about 1 hour but longer is nicer.

Remove chicken from the fridge and let it get to room temperature. Pan fry fillets in frying pan with a little oil on both sides till cooked. Shouldn't take long... maybe around 6 - 8 minutes on medium heat.

Remove fillets to a plate and cool down a little before assembling the wraps.

Ramadhan Recipe 2: Zespri Kiwifruit & Green Chilli Sambal With Salad Platter

How did you enjoy the Zespri Kiwifruit & Prawn Tom Yum Soup? Yummy huh with the right tang and surprisingly the kiwifruit wedges worked so well in soup.

The next recipe is this Zespri Kiwifruit & Green Chilli Sambal with Salad Platter! I've made this entirely on my own for the shoot of this photo :p painstakingly pounded the green sambal with a mortar & pestle with lots of splatters and love. You can do this with a food processor or mini chopper, just pulse and don't let the blade run continuously as you would want some chunky bits.

Click on the recipe card above to view a larger version on my flickr album

On a side note, there is something very interesting to share here for fans of Rohani hehehe... you see the  platter in the picture? We actually arranged everything nicely and waiting to carry it out for the photographer. Rohani then started eating the extra veggies with the sambal. The next thing you know, all of us in the kitchen did the same hahaha... next, Rohani asked if we have any rice and suddenly it became our quick lunch break!

If you have followed me on Instagram (babe_kl), you should have seen the pic I've posted up in reference to the ultimate Malay comfort food of sambal, fried fish, ulam and masak lemak :D Guess whose hand that was?

Here's to another fabulous day of kiwifruit goodness to break fast with ;-)

Ramadhan Recipe 1: Zespri Kiwifruit & Prawn Tom Yum Soup

First of all, we would like to wish all our Muslim readers "Selamat Berpuasa" in this holy Ramadhan month. In conjunction with this, I've sought the permission from Zespri Malaysia to publish this set of recipes that Rohani Jelani had developed for this year. I've helped her out during the testing and photo shoot for these recipes developed specially for breaking of fast.

With that in mind, these recipes can be done in a jiffy ensuring that meals can be prepared and cooked without spending too much time in the kitchen after a long day at work. It is also to ensure one can fully enjoy the Vitamin C & E and nutrients such as folate, potassium and etc in the Zespri Kiwifruits after a day of fasting. Do check out the healthy information and contents of Zespri Kiwifruits in their website: http://www.zespri.com.my/.

Before I post up the recipe here, many complained that the green kiwifruits that they buy were just too sour or they do not know how to choose green kiwifruits. Since I was involved with Zespri's campaign, we were taught how to identify a ripe kiwifruit. As we know, Zespri Kiwifruits are sold in plastic containers to prevent them from being squashed. All you need to do is, open up the container and use your eyes to judge that the fruits are all nice without any blemished or squashed sign. Try not to poke or squeeze them as you wouldn't like other people to do the same to your fruits that you would want to purchase.

Once you're back home, open the container and place one kiwifruit on your palm. While cradling it, using gentle pressure, press the kiwifruit with your fingers. If they're rock hard, means it's not ripe yet. For the green kiwifruits, this stage would be suitable for salads or cooking as they could be hard and sour. As for the Gold and Sungold (a new variety this year which is sweet with a slight tang), it's still not suitable for eating yet.

If the kiwifruit is slightly soft, you could eat them but if kept for another day or two, you'll be able to taste the sweetness even though if it's a green kiwifruit but if they're Gold or Sungold, go for it!

To ripen kiwifruits, all you need to do is place them together with apples or bananas in a cool dry place (or in the fridge) and they'll ripen hastily. You would be surprised that in our Malaysian weather, read hot and humid, when left with bananas and apples, the ripening process is not as quick we thought it would be! Yup, tried and tested in the kitchen :D

So now that you know how to pick a kiwifruit and how to ripen them, go grab a few packs of them and start with these recipes. Lots of promotional price in the supermarkets I can see as the season has just started!

To start off, the first in the series is this ever popular Zespri Kiwifruit & Prawn Tom Yum Soup. Forget about using instant tom yum paste as it's soo sooo easy and quick to prepare a fresh tom yum soup. What more when it's packed with an unexpected ingredient like Green Kiwifruits!

Click on the recipe card above to view a larger version on my flickr album

Have a blessed Ramadhan filled with lots of kiwifruits nutrition ;-)

A Review By BoiBoi, Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf

**Non-Halal**


This is a first for Babe in the City - KL! This blog post is written by BoiBoi (who is turning 11 next month) after Capt'n Hook took BoiBoi for a burger dinner at Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf. It's their first time there and when I asked BoiBoi how was his dinner, he went on describing to me about the burger, the place, you get it? I asked him casually how about writing his experience down and he did just that. He ran into his room and grab his pencil and notepad. He scratched down the following in a mere 10 minutes! He has learnt well to KISS! Atta BoiBoi!!! I've gotten his permission to post up here and he has been asking when I'm going to do it.

Reproduced here with very minimal corrections and I've moved some of the sentences around to make it a bit more coherent plus the actual name and prices:

--------------------------------

Last night, Daddy and I went to Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf Restaurant in BVI. Both of us had a meaty burger (Big Bad Burger RM28 each) and it was worth it. The bun was bigger than Burger Junkyard's. It has bacon, cheese and a big pork patty. It comes served with fries.

Taken by BoiBoi using his Ipod

At about 7.45pm, the queue was really long. The table service was bad and was not set up properly even though customers were around. We had to ask for condiments like salt and ketchup.

Their dessert was not as great as I've expected as there were not much choices. Other than that, I have spied someone having lasagne (BoiBoi's fave) but someone next to us recommended the pesto pasta. But it was really really worth it.


Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf
Lot G1A, Ground Floor Bangsar Village
No 1 Jalan Telawi Satu,
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2283 2270
Business hours: 9.00am - 11.00pm daily

Lithuanian Cuisine, An Experience With Plate Culture

I've won a prize from BFM 89.9's Feeding Time with Fay Khoo recently via the Facebook page recently. I was excited as I've heard so much of Plate Culture in the past couple of weeks and never imagined that I was offered an experience to taste Lithuanian cuisine. The person Fay had interviewed was none other than Plate Culture's founder Audra Pakalnyte. If you wish, you can listen to the podcast here.

Plate Culture plays the match maker for diners and their hosts. You can find a variety of cuisines offered by different hosts as stated in the website ranging from Mauritian, Chinese, Malay, Indian and so forth. You can be a diner or a host at Plate Culture.

As a diner, you select which host you wish to visit on the dates the host is available. Plate Culture will give you the information and contact of your host. On the date, go to the host's home and enjoy the home cooked goodness. To be a host, just submit your request to Plate Culture. Eventually, the Plate Culture team will come by to check your place out, your cooking, making sure you're clean and tidy, dishes are delicious :p You'll noticed the words "Vouched by Plate Culture" if the host has been verified. Simple as that.

When I arrived, I was told that Audra is not around and had gone to a neighbouring country. So Vita & her brother entertained us instead. I made friends with the 3 other local diners and it was fun exchanging notes on the different cultures and customs.

We started off with carrot sticks served with a smooth Hummus dip. Not exactly Lithuanian but it's so good that the almost the entire bowl of Hummus is cleared off. Got a bit adventurous too as we tried it even on our mains.



Next we checked out how our first course is made in the kitchen. We saw a large bowl filled with pink liquid, hehe looked like strawberry milk but it's not. Got walked through the process of making the cold soup Saltibarsciai which is very popular during Summer. In the soup there are cubed beetroot, grated cucumber, chopped hard boiled eggs, spring onions and dill. The liquid part is usually made with sour cream but Vita said the supermarket they went to had ran out of it so yoghurt was used as a substitute. It was thinned down with a little milk.



Saltibarsciai is served with boiled potatoes and there's a ritual in serving this soup. We first squeeze in some lemon juice and was asked to give it a taste before adding some white vinegar. Mmmmm, my first spoonful was so delightful. The next spoonful with the added vinegar gave a different perspective to it. As we slurped through we were told that every Lithuanian family will serve this during Summer months even though Summer in Lithuania is rather short. I have so say, I really like this soup... seems refreshing but we were forewarned that it can be quite filling.



For our mains, out came the tummy warming parcels of goodness. We were introduced to Balandeliai (aka little pigeons) which are cabbage parcels filled with minced beef, chopped onion and carrots. The light gravy flavoured with tomato paste.

We topped our cabbage parcels with yoghurt and had more boiled potatoes. Vita informed us that they eat a lot of potatoes and there are many dishes are made out of potatoes. Not sure how they made the boiled potatoes but they're darn nice! One of the diner wiped out the entire bowl of potatoes cos it's just so good. Quite simple I would say to make this and I've told Vita that I will attempt it one day but it will be my own interpretation of this dish :p

Next, for dessert... a log of Tinginys (lazy pal). I can hear the mmmmm around the table as we bit into the slices. It was so delicious that everyone asked what it is! 

As Vita's brother (oops my bad, I'm not sure in spelling his name but it starts with O) explained that there are just 3 ingredients for this dessert. I managed to guess digestive biscuit first; after the second slice, out came condensed milk from my mouth. Somehow I just can't get the third ingredient!!! Nothing is impossible with the wonderful existence of the world wide web hahaha it was cocoa powder! Didn't taste much of cocoa but this reminds me of our kek batik made from Milo.

In the middle of our dessert, out came a bottle of Millers' Bitter which is a kind of herbal liquer. Someone commented tasted a little like Jägermeister. Wow this stuff is strong with 50% alcohol! We had little sips and seems like Tinginys tasted a little different after a sip of this.

I have enjoyed myself tremendously with this new dining experience that Plate Culture had offered. It's a great way to discover a new cuisine and it's wholesome since it's an intimate dinner together with the hosts. We get information of the new cuisine, culture, language, the country straight from the hosts. The plus point is, you can round up your friends to enjoy the dinner together taking it as a private dinner or on the other hand is meeting new people. Well you'll never know what's going to turn up after the dinner, perhaps it was a start of a beautiful friendship?

When you check out Plate Culture's website, don't be surprised to see our pretty Kelly Siew as one of the hosts. I know Swee San is planning to host too! My buddy blogger Chao Kar's Transparent Apron is listed too! I was asked when I'm going to host hahaha ok I did thought of it but it's kinda far now for diners to travel all the way to our home where my friends always teased they needed to bring their passports to visit us. Hopefully one day ok ;-) promised *fingers crossed*

If you're intrigued, please check out www.plateculture.com.

I would like to thank Audra & Fay for such a wonderful experience!

Thai Stir-Fried Pumpkin With Egg (Fuk-Tong Pad Khai)

I discovered this dish, Fuk-Tong Pad Khai, at one of the food stall in Chatuchak Market, Bangkok. As it was a short working trip, I had to grab a quick bite and nothing is faster than a mixed rice stall. I have to say, the 3 dishes that I took were all yummy but this one, Stir-Fried Pumpkin With Egg, was especially memorable.

So when I came back, I checked out the recipes online and found many versions to it but they uses Japanese pumpkin (kabocha). I guess the reason must be kabocha is much tender and has a crunchy texture. I managed to get a kabocha and I think I've nailed it on my first try testing out the recipe. If you love stir fry pumpkin, you'll love this.

Thai Stir-Fried Pumpkin With Egg (Fuk-Tong Pad Khai)

(A)
150 g minced meat (can be chicken or pork)
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch
A dash of ground white pepper

400 g Japanese pumkin (kabocha)
2 eggs
1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 - 2 Tbsp chopped spring onion

(B)
100 ml water
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
Dash of ground white pepper

Mix (A) evenly together to marinade the minced meat.

Mix (B) together and set aside as the sauce.

To prepare the pumpkin, remove the skin but you can keep some on as this variety of pumpkin is pretty young and tender. Should you use the local pumpkin, remove all the hardy skin. Cut into wedges and remove the seeds. Then slice diagonally into 1 - 1.5 cm thickness.

Heat oil and fry garlic till fragrant. Add in the minced meat and stir fry till cooked. Next, stir in the pumpkin slices.

Spread and leave a well in the centre of the pan. Crack in the eggs and break up the yolks. Leave it to cook, do not scramble the eggs. Once the eggs cooked up, stir in the pumpkin slices.

Stir mixture (B) before pouring into the pumpkin and egg. Cook until most of the liquid dries up. Scatter in some chopped spring onion and dish up. Serve with steamed white rice.

Review: Lai Foong Beef Noodles @ Taman Taynton View, Cheras

**Non-Halal**


This was the day where Malaysians went out in full force to vote for their government. Capt'n Hook have to take his mother to cast her vote in Cheras and after that I need to hurry to Kepong to do my duty. In between we need to have our lunch and off we went for Lai Foong Beef Noodles. I have only knew of this branch in Taman Taynton View last year but never got round to check it out until Edward's brother at the old Lai Foong urged us to come here to pay Edward a visit. He mentioned that it's air conditioned in Cheras so it's more comfortable however the prices are higher but compensated with larger portion.

You see, Edward was Capt'n Hook's colleague back in their banking days aeons ago. He quit his desk job five years ago to start this branch. His wife have learnt to cooked them beef dishes and is helping out in the kitchen. However on the day we were there, it was so jammed pack that Edward can't even take 5 to say hi. We managed to catch up though last Monday. He told us that when he first started out, the 2 years were very quiet until the newspapers highlighted Lai Foong existence in Cheras. Then business just went boom!

BoiBoi was having a grumpy time as he said he doesn't want to eat noodles but you know we don't always give in to him even though most times we'll oblige. So when he was given the menu, he gave me his grumpy look and pointed at this "What!!!??! You want me to eat this???" *chuckle* Yeah right!

We did asked Edward, what is their best seller and in a jest he pointed at the bull penis too!! Not sure if he was just pulling our legs but he said they got sold off quickly. Not that he makes a lot, just "punn thiu" (half a length) and based on my memory of a food show, bull penis can be quite long :p



Since we're not big fans of offal, it's always lean meat and beef balls for me and I like mine with lai fun (a type of rice noodles) (RM7.00 a bowl). We knew the broth was cooked for many hours in a huge tank (almost the height of my chest) at their KL HQ as Edward's brother was preparing them when we were there a couple of months ago. Forgot to ask if MSG is used but I dun really feel that thirsty even after downing the broth.



Since grumpy BoiBoi didn't want to have noodles, so he was happy to see his favourite fried rice on the menu. This Beef Fried Rice (RM8.00) was quite generous in portion and ingredients. Filled with wok hei too!



So was the Fried Beef Noodles (RM7.50) which Capt'n Hook ordered as an extra dish after seeing almost every other table have a plate of these.

Edward mentioned that they might have to close for a few days during Hari Raya Aidil Fitri as their beef supplier will be closed since many of their workers are Muslims. So do call up before turning up, but horrr we tried calling before and no one picked up the phone cos they were just too busy :p

It was sad to note that our other favourite noodles place Restoran 3U along the main road Jalan Dato Haji Harun had closed and replaced with another food place.

Restoran Lai Foong Beef Noodle

8 Jalan Nadchatiram, 

Taman Taynton View, 

Off Jalan Cheras, 

56000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +6012-2133 321
GPS Coordinates: 3.089158, 101.734214

Business hours: Daily 8.00am to 4.00pm. Closed on Tuesdays unless it falls on a public holiday.