Kiwifruit & Apple Breakfast Smoothie

A lot of times when you feel like having a quick breakfast but yet packing in loads of nutrients that can last through the entire morning, try this smoothie combination.



When you go through the steps, you'll notice that I blend the flaxseeds into powder like form. I've read somewhere (can't recall now) by using them in powder form, you will reap more fibre and nutrients from them as the smooth seeds may just pass out undigested. You may add in some yoghurt but I did not since I don't have any on hand :p If I have bananas on hand, I will add one in as well.


Kiwifruit & Apple Breakfast Smoothie
Serves 3 - 4

1 Tbsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp rolled oats
3 green kiwifruits, peeled and sliced
3 medium sized apples, peeled and sliced
120 ml milk
3 Tbsp honey
1 cup ice

Place flaxseeds in a blender and blend flaxseeds* into almost powder like. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend till smooth and serve immediately. If you let it rest for a longer period, somehow the flaxseeds will turn the smoothie a little jellied which may not go down well for everybody.

* If you use them often, you can blend them in a larger batch in a spice mill into powder form and store in air tight container in the freezer compartment.

Personal Tips:

I usually freeze fruits that I would use in any smoothies. I would remove them for about 15 minutes from the freezer before using. This way, I do not need to use any ice, hence the smoothie pack more punch.

It's a great way to store excessive fruits that threatened to ripen in the freezer. To prepare, just need to peel and slice the fruits up before placing them in air tight container or even zip lock bags. If they're fruits that tend to oxidise, I will squeeze a little lemon juice over and toss.

Coconut Grove Dessert Corner @ Bandar Utama

The current hot spell in Kuala Lumpur has been making us craving for cendols and ABC (Air Batu Campur aka Ice Kacang). We visited Gyuniku Signature at TTDI but somehow they do not have stock of cendol. Being the crazy craver, Capt'n Hook asked me where can we head next for cendol nearby. I replied him that there's a place that sells coconut jelly though and "ting" it went on his head... jelly (his fave) is a great alternative. And so off we went to Coconut Grove Dessert Corner which is located at the other quieter part of Bandar Utama in Oasis Business Centre. It's just a small cluster of shops here with ample free parking. A bonus indeed.

And how I got to know about this place? Of course from my fave kar jie ;-)

Capt'n Hook ordered this Coconut Jelly With Cendol (RM5.80).



Such a wonderful idea of melding cendol, gula melaka (palm sugar syrup) and coconut milk with the cold wobbly coconut jelly!!!

And so, one is not enough, Capt'n Hook proceeded with his second coconut jelly, a plain one (RM5.20). That's done to cool him down.



I was thirsty so went for Coconut Grove Signature Shake (RM7.50), an ice blended vanilla ice cream topped with coconut jelly and young coconut flesh. At the bottom, suck out the bouncy rainbow jelly. When it arrived, I thought this is going to be quite heavy tasting but surprisingly it's not. It's refreshing and I slurp down in a jiffy.



As for Boi Boi, he will zoom into anything chocolate. Coconut Grove here serves a rather moist and chocolaty steamed cake. Quite innovative to serve the vanilla ice cream inside the emptied core to prevent the ice cream from melting all over the plate.

The menu is not extensive but there are some light bites such as nasi lemak/mee siam packets; Nyonya kuih and tong sui (sweet soup) that changes daily. On Monday & Wednesday, you'll find Red Bean; Snow Fungus Longan on Wednesday; Mak Chuk (wheat/gandum) on Thursday & Saturday; Black Glutinous Rice on Friday & Sunday and Winter Melon Longan on everyday except Wednesday.

Just when we thought the place is very quiet and remote, in came a few families who almost occupied the entire shop which we happily vacate our table for them.


Coconut Grove Dessert Corner
C-B-02, BU 11,
Oasis Business Centre, PJU 6
Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

Opens from 11am till 9pm daily
(till 10pm on Friday and Sat)

Tel : 016-205 1121

Review: A&W's Root Beer Float & Waffles

If not mistaken, A&W Restaurant is the first fast food outlet in Malaysia. The first being at Batu Road (now known as Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman) which is still standing until today. This is the outlet my parents used to bring us for our dose of coney dogs, root beer in frosty glass mug and soft serve ice cream that came in a paper cup. Gosh I still remember the ice cream and the frosty mug! You can read more here.

I guess when you mention A&W, these few items will come to your mind "root beer", "coney dog", "waffle" and "Taman Jaya drive-in"! So much so that the url for Malaysia is http://www.rootbeer.com.my/!!! LOL

We haven't been to an A&W for a long long while, not sure why but it just doesn't appeal to us anymore when there are so many choices around. We so happen to pass by one outlet at Ikano Power Centre and Capt'n Hook said "Come, let's grab a root beer float". That is too after seeing the root beer served in glass mug :p We were aghast that some outlets uses paper cups for their root beer cos it's just not the same drinking from a frosted glass mug! (Before ordering, we usually check with them if they're serving their root beer in glass mug or paper cups.)



On top of the large root beer float with double scoop vanilla ice cream (RM4.90) we have a waffle with double scoop ice cream (RM6.70).



While the root beer float still holds but seriously the waffle we ingested gave us wasted bad calories. The waffle texture is totally different. It's no longer crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It's a soggy mess and the inside is not well cooked. This is entirely a bad waffle! I remember having one at Taman Jaya sometime last year and it's quite similar as this :( How sad! I think we will just stick with the root beer.



Prices shown above are before tax.


A&W Restaurants
Click here for outlets

Homemade Ginger Ale

I never knew one could make ginger ale at home, not after I read a post at Ping's Picking. Since I have all ingredients on hand, I set out to make it. Capt'n Hook asked me what am I doing and when I told him, he gave me a cynical smile! To rub in more salt, he mentioned how manufacturer used up millions in research to perfect the recipe and here I am brewing my own ginger ale at home! Hrrrmmpphhh...

Not to be defeated I continued following the recipe and tips diligently. After 2 days of fermentation and another day in the fridge, surprise surprise... I have one of the most delicious ginger ale in my glass! It's not sickly sweet as the commercial kind and the right ginger flavour for me. Capt'n Hook kept his mouth shut by drinking glasses of these :D



I've tweaked Ping's recipe a little and do check her original recipe and also another flavoured with lemongrass!

What I did was boil 1 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water (the basic syrup) together with 2.5 tbsp grated young ginger and 1.5 tbsp grated old ginger. You can adjust the ginger amount according to your liking. Once sugar is all dissolved, turn off fire and cool.

Strain the syrup and mix in juice from 1 lemon, 7 cups of cooled boiled water/filtered water and 1/4 tsp yeast. Mix thoroughly and pour mixture into plastic bottle. Those cleaned soda water bottles would be good and do not use glass as when fermentation occurs, gas will form and cause expansion which might cause glass bottle to explode. This mixture yielded one 1.5 litre bottle and another small 300ml bottle. Ping had mentioned she used a 2 litres bottle.

Screw on the cap tighly and let the bottle sit in a cool area at room temperature for 2-3 days. By then the concoction will be carbonated and you can store them in the fridge thereafter. Wooohoo you can start drinking your homemade ginger ale.

The glass shown in the picture is the top layer and looked clear which Capt'n Hook said it's not sweet enough and pretty mild. There is residue sitting at the bottom of the bottle so what I did was shake it a little and the concoction fires up. This one is cloudy looking like ginger beer.

So it doesn't cost millions to make your own ginger ale ;-) after all...

Roselle Syrup Drink

PureGlutton and I were at Bayan Indah. We both tasted a delish roselle drink that day. Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a species of Hibiscus which is Malaysia's national flower! PureGlutton enquired Rohani Jelani about it and was told the roselle flowers were harvested in the garden and turned into the drink. We asked if we can have some and was glad that we could harvest from her trees. PureGlutton even got some dried seeds since Rohani had mentioned it's very easy to grow and matured within 6 months!  I went to the patch with a pair of scissors and snipped down 2 bagsful of those huge bulbs of roselle flowers.



The next day, I quartered the flowers and wash the inner part. Dumped them all into a saucepan and fill them up with water. I added brown rock sugar but try not to do that cos it gives a heavy cane sugar taste to the roselle. I think white rock sugar or normal sugar would be better. I've added in too much water hence it's not a thick and syrupy but it was ok, just don't need to add so much water.



I strained the pulp and place them in a clean dry jar. Those are still in the fridge. I guess can use them in cheesecakes or cakes. I stored the syrup in the fridge and just add water to it to make a refreshing roselle syrup drink.



I've also tried adding alcohol to the syrup :p I've done with Malibu but since it's sweet, I added more sweetness and the Malibu rum kinda overpowered the roselle taste. Then I tried with some Absolut Citron and surprisingly it turned out fabulous. The citrus in vodka cuts down the sweetness!

I'm submitting this for Muhibbah Malaysian Monday blog event. This event is the brainchild of  Shaz (Test With A Skewer) and Suresh (3 Hungry Tummies). Read more here.

Sea Coconut, White Fungus, Dried Longan and Gingko Nut Tong Shui

I've posted this up before but this time I got a better pic to show.



Check my older posts about this tong shui.


Technorati Tags: tong shui

Cooling Drinks Series: Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

The weather in Kuala Lumpur has been tremendously hot. I guess it's time to continue my cooling drink series. I was meant to boil this Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit (loh horn guo in Cantonese) tong shui (sweet soup) featured in Amy Beh's cook book but I didn't realised I ran out of dried longan so I sub it with some white fungus instead just for some substance.

Anyway, I just boiled them in a pot for an hour plus instead of double-boiling. I added the rock sugar towards the end and I doubt I've used that much of sugar since Buddha's Fruit will sweeten the soup. So add little by little till you achieve the sweetness that you prefer. Best when eaten cold.

Sea Coconut With Buddha's Fruit

250g fresh sea coconut (to obtain toddy palm seed)
4 red dates, pitted and halved
25g dried longan
1 whole Buddha’s fruit, lightly cracked
150g rock sugar
500ml water

Remove the hard shells off the fresh sea coconut. Tear off the membrane and cut the toddy palm seed into thin slices.

Put rock sugar, red dates, longan, lo han kor and water into a double boiler. Cover and double boil for 1 hour over medium-low heat.

Add toddy palm seed slices and continue to double boil for another hour. Serve hot or cold.

Technorati Tags: tong shui

Cooling Drinks Series: Watermelon Skin Drink

Did you know that you can boil the skin of watermelon to produce a type of drink that will soothe your body system? Heh yes... you heard it right? It's watermelon skin!!!

Before cutting up a watermelon (red preferabily as it's sweeter, I've tried with yellow and it doesn't taste as fragrant and sweet) wash and scrub the skin clean of any dirt and grubs. Cut it up and reserve the red meat portion to be eaten as usual. It's ok to leave the white part together with the skin. Cut them into small pieces and place in a big pot. Fill up with water, doubled the height of the skins. Boil them in low heat for a couple of hours or even three. Sweeten with rock sugar if necessary. Discard the skins and drink the concoction warm or cold.

This drink has "yoon" (moistening/strengthening??) property. Trust me, this drink taste utmost fragrant and delicious!

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather IX - Double-boiled Pear and White Fungus With Red Dates

Continuing with my cooling drink series, this is the ninth installment. This double-boiled sweet soup was introduced by my sister-in-law and it's supposed to be "yoon" (in Cantonese but not sure of the English equivalent, moistening perhaps? It's cooling but not the "leung" type as certain people, they can't eat "leung" food/drink.) Could be categoried as Yin as it is a remedy for Yang conditions such as heatiness.

Anyway, to make this drink. Peel and core yellow pear (one pear for each person). You can use any yellow pear ranging from the common Ya Pear to Shandong Pear or Dangshan Pear. Soak some (about 2 - 3 small florets for each pear) white fungus with water for 15 minutes or so. Wash and rinse them a few times when they have soften. The white fungus given to me is the compact type (sorry I forgot the Chinese name for this species), not the usual crunchy ones. Allocate about 4 - 5 red dates for each pear. Wash, soak and remove the seeds.

Place the 3 ingredients in a double-boiler and pour in water enough to cover them. Double-boil for about 3 hours on slow fire. In the last 30 minutes, put in some rock sugar to taste.

There... a very clear (ching in Cantonese) and cooling (yoon) sweet soup for the soul.

Technorati Tags: yellow pear + sweet soup

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather VIII - Vegetables and Fruits Juice

Okay I know it's not exactly hot these days but since I've mentioned "juicing" a few times recently, I guess I'll write about what I usually juice about. Most weekend mornings I'll make some carrot and orange juice for my boiboi since I'm a bit worried to feed him raw vegetables juice. For hubby and I, the kinda stuff I've used in various combination usually consisted of carrot, celery, orange, apples, beetroot etc. The glass below has a bit of everything including beetroot that gave a deep red hue to the juice. If I have a lived-in helper, I'll definitely have some juice every morning otherwise it's pretty tedious to wash the juicer heh.

I've yet to use the small bittergourd cos I doubt hubby will like the bitterness but I've heard so much about its benefits. Anyone drink the juice? What other fruits or vegetables I can add to it to make it more palatable?

For my previous cooling drinks series, check them out here.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather VII - Apple With Honey Dates

Boil honey dates (mutt choe in Cantonese) and thinly sliced apples till they turn opaque. Add in rock sugar to taste. You can use a slow cooker and leave it on for about 4 - 6 hours. Super cooling (yoon in Cantonese) on hot hot days.

Try a different variation by adding white fungus, red dates, figs and so forth.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather VI

Stuff chilled, cleaned and cut carrot, cucumber and fuji apple thru your juicer and you'll get this delicious juice. Lovely as breakie on warm mornings.

I won't be able to access the net the next few days, will be back next week unless I have some time to spare.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather V

This is the simple drink to make... barley with dried candied winter melon. Crush the winter melon into smaller bits then boil together with the barley until the barley fluffed up. Add in rock sugar to taste. You may omit this altogether as the dried winter melon could have done the job. Drink it cold or warm.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather IV

Next up is something that my mom made... it's Sea Coconut, White Fungus, Dried Longan and Gingko Tong Shui (sweet soup in Cantonese). Quite a mouth full eh??

It's another great cooling drinks for our body. This is something yin I guess. The sea coconut is fresh which we can get them easily from the wet market or supermarkets here in Malaysia. Peel off the hard brownish outer layer, wash them up, then sliced them across. You'll get something that looked like and oval ring.

Soak the white fungus in water until it soften. Remove the hard bits. Wash them throughly as there can be bits and piece of UFO (Unidentified Floating Objects) hide in between them. This can be omitted though.

Crack the gingko shells and peel of the brown layer. Remove the bitter centre and wash. Quite tedious huh... but the outcome is well rewarded.

Dump all the ingredients in a pot of water. Boil for about an hour or so until the water in the pot has reduced about one quarter. Add in rock sugar to taste and serve it either hot or cold.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather III

Hehehe many many postings in one go since someone complained to me last nite "so boring, long time no updates" kekeke

Next installment on cooling drinks... Apple, Fig With Red Dates sweet soup (tong shui in Cantonese).



This one is very simple to prepare but just that need to boil them for a couple of hours. Sliced some apple (preferabily red sweet ones) thinly. You may cube or chop them too but I find that slicing them thinly cuts down the cooking time plus it looked a whole lot nicer. Apples can be substitute with pears too... so far I've only tried those yellow skinned variety (small and large types). Err sorry hor, I can't remember what's their name but they're from China. Will Google for the name later.

In a pot (about 4 litres) of water add the sliced apples (one small one is sufficient), about 7 - 9 dried figs and about the same amount of red dates. Simmer in slow fire till apples turn translucent. By then the water would have evaporated to at least half from the original amount. Add in rock sugar to taste. Once sugar is melted and taste ok, switch off the fire.

This portion serves 2 - 4 and can be serve hot or chilled.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather II

Freeze some grapes and pour pineapple juice over them. Voila, a quick and easy cold concoction minus the ice cubes which can dilute the juice.

Pardon the lousy photo quality... lack of lighting and I'm still learning how to capture good photos.

Cooling Drinks for Hot Weather I

Malaysia is experiencing hot weather at the moment especially states in the northern peninsula. We usually do not drink iced cold drinks but the past couple of months, the weather is extremely hot and humid. We have been drenching ourselves with iced lemon tea, Ribena (ooo I love this... now hubby got addicted too hehe) and the various concoctions that I've tried to make to cool us down.

There... I will be running a series of cooling drinks and it will keep on coming along the way.

I've gotten a bunch of fresh mint leaves from the market and been thinking what to do with them. So first up - iced mint tea!!! Nothing beats a nice cold refreshing mint tea. I've used Darjeeling tea leaves this round. Dump in some mint leaves. Pour in hot boiling water and infuse them for a few minutes.

Next pour into a glass and topped up with ice cubes followed by a twig of mint leaves. Hmmmm... so refreshing!