Kiddy Craft: Boat

Some simple crafts that my friend had requested me to post up for him to have some fun with his son.

Here's one simple boat made from recycled materials.

Materials:

Styrofoam tray (those that came with the meat you buy from supermarkets)
Thick paper, I find those promotional flyers or catalogues from departmental store are great for this
Straw
A blob of playdough/plasticine
Some cellophane tape



Steps:

1. Draw a triangle shaped sail on the catalogue. Let kid cut it with a pair of child-scissors.

2. Assist kid to stick the sail to the straw with some cellophane tapes.

3. Have kid stick on the straw on the blob of playdough.

4. Help kid to stick the playdough onto the bottom of the tray. Voila... a boat with very simple effort.

Have a basin of water to float the boat or let kid play in the bath tub. Ensure you're around to supervise when your child is playing with water. Even a few inches of water in a pail could drown a child!!!!

Chicken Varuval, the Modern Way

My colleague gave me this recipe... a very simple or rather modern way of making Chicken Varuval. Chicken Varuval is one of our must order dish whenever we eat Banana Leaf Rice. This version is slighly different and very easy to cook. Great with beer! Even though the recipe suggested it is best with some chilli sauce but seriously the chicken is best on its own.

New Chicken Varuval

Ingredient
1 chicken, deboned and cut into small chunks
4 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
10 dried chillies (cut into pieces)
10 shallots (shredded)
2 pc cinnamon stick
4 pc cardamoms
2 pc star anise
black pepper and salt
oil for frying

Method
1. Clean the chicken and cut into small cubes. Add ginger-garlic paste, curry powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.

2. Fry the chicken till golden brown and set aside.

3. In another wok, add a little oil. Sauté the onion, spices and dried chilli until onion turns light brown.

4. Add the chicken and stir well. Add black pepper and salt, if needed.

5. Best eaten with rice or as evening snacks with chilli sauce.

Technorati Tags: poultry + malaysian food

Carrot Cheesecake

I've gotten hold of Yum Yum Publications' latest Chinese-English bi-lingual cookbook - Yummy Cheesecakes by Kelly Tang. It contains mostly baked cheesecakes recipes. Since I was too lazy to do anything heavy over the holiday period, I picked this Carrot Cheesecake from this cookbook to experiment.

When I was going thru the recipe, it really struck me that the recipe looked more like a butter cake instead of a cheesecake and I didn't bothered to add more cream cheese knowing very well 125g of them is seriously very little to impart much cheese taste. So much so that my hubby proclaimed that I thau kung karm liew (Cantonese for stinge on work and ingredients) after tasting one piece of it!!! Grrr... all right lah actually if you really want more cheese flavour, I suggest you use more cream cheese and a little more carrots if you want extra bites. This cake need to be baked in a water bath, so remember to boil some water before hand.

Check out my cake surface... its very dark cos my oven temperature had gone bonkers and I need to get the technician to come and adjust the oven. Apart from the darkened surface, the centre of the cake is not fully cooked too (I managed to hide that part in the shadow in my pic haha), funny though that the skewer came out clean when I checked for doneness. So this means no baking will be done the next couple of weeks, must get the oven done up before Chinese New Year. I have been dragging my feet since a few months back...

Carrot Cheesecake

Ingredients A:
125g softened cream cheese
150g softened unsalted butter
230g castor sugar
5 eggs

Ingredients B (sifted together):
230g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Ingredients C:
50g grated carrot, squeeze out the juice
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in sugar and beat till creamy and pale.

2. Add in eggs one at a time and stir well. Slowly fold in B.

3. Lastly mix in ingredients C. Pour mixture into a lined 8"/20cm round cake pan and place onto a baking tray filled with water and steam bake at 180C for 40-60 minutes or until well cooked. Remove and leave to cool. Serve.

Ref: Yummy Cheesecakes, Kelly Tang, Yum Yum Publications Sdn Bhd first published in Sept 2006

There were some extra batter which was enough for a few cupcakes. They really looked good here.



Technorati Tags: cheesecake

Review: Nihon Kai Japanese Restaurant

Nihon Kai, ring a bell anyone? Haha I doubt so cos this is a hidden gem to me but who knows you might have been a regular here. Seriously the location of this Japanese restaurant is so obscure but yet this place could really fill up especially on weekends. My brother took us here once and we have returned because the food is good, comparable to many Japanese places we have been. Best of all the price is so reasonable without compromising on its quality.

Below are the upstairs dining area where there are about 3 tatami or private dining rooms and a sample of their offerings. Look at the price... what do you think?

We had a portion of Sake Sashimi (RM20.00) and it's fresh. Absolutely yummy.



I ordered the Beef Sukiyaki (RM19.00) dinner set that came with rice, miso soup and chawan mushi. The price here definitely beat those fast food sushi joints in terms of quality and service!



I've got loads of thinly sliced beef which cooked just right. I slurped the slippery slices up after dipping into the raw egg. In the pot has slices of mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and mung bean noodles (fun si in Cantonese). I wiped up every single morsels that were served to me *wide grin* which is bad cos there is no more room left for dessert. Grrrr...



Hubby ordered Salmon Shioyaki (RM17.00) dinner set which he complained not up to mark. He said that there isn't enough salt being rubbed over the salmon before grilling, hence the fish was rather bland. When he commented to the waitress whilst paying the bill, she told him it was supposed to be dipped in the soy sauce. We took a look and there isn't any sauce served in the platter. Ahhhh so they have forgotten to serve the accompanying sauce but then again from our experience, shioyaki style would have enough salt on it to render it tasty even on its own. Okie so far this is the only boo-boo we have experienced here. Anyway this set also came with the same accompanying condiments, miso soup, rice and chawan mushi like mine.



On other occasions, we absolutely loved their potato salad and the various sushi offered on their menu. At times there are some promotional item where the price could be a steal, so do check out with the waitress.

It's pretty easy to locate Nihon Kai, coming from KL (Mid Valley) side, go towards Old Klang Road. After the underpass, keep left, look out for the Kee Hing Tyre with big Michelin Tyre logo on signage and turn left right there (which is the road just before Shell). You should be able to see Nihon Kai at the double-storey shoplots. Parking is a breeze too unless you come on weekends.

Happy eating folks!





Technorati Tags: japanese

Braised Chicken With Fresh Mushrooms

I found these lovely fresh shiitake mushrooms also known as Chinese black mushrooms in the market one morning. Can't resist, I bought a bunch of them. Back home, I cleaned them using some paper towels.



Since the flavour of shiitake mushrooms is slightly on the strong side, I decided to braise them with chicken in some oyster sauce. Marinade the chicken pieces with some oyster sauce, pepper and a dash of sesame oil. Heat up some oil and put some chopped ginger and garlic. Once its fragrant, add in the chicken and fry till slightly browned before adding the shiitake mushrooms. Pour in enough water to cover the chicken, then add in some oyster sauce and dark soy sauce (also known as black soy sauce) to taste. Stir before adding some fresh enoki mushrooms. Cover and simmer till chicken is tender and the water had reduced.

Dish up and serve with plain white rice. It's sooo sooo sooo delicious except that some of the mushroom pieces are bitter! Any idea why they're bitter?



Technorati Tags: malaysian food + poultry + mushroom

Stir Fried Loh Shue Fun With Fish Fillet

It has been a very busy year end indeed, for me at least and it seems to have carried on at the start of the new year. I've been yearning for a few things to happen and I hope they can be materialise this year, so looks like it's going to be a busy and challenging year ahead. Will try to update as much as I could here. I've dropping by your blogs, skimming thru all those delicious posts, but not as often as I wished I could and I hardly comment these days, well just to save me some time to cover all my favourite blogs. Thousands of apologies ok. So to get on... check out this loh shue fun (a type of rice noodles) dish.



Very delicious rice noodle dish for all ages. First marinate fish fillet with some salt, pepper, cooking wine and a bit of cornflour. Pan fry fish fillet in some oil using non-stick pan and set aside.

Blanched the loh shue fun (a type of rice noodle) in a pot of boiling water, drain and set aside.

Place chopped garlic in oil, fry till fragrant. Add in strips of carrots, green and red capsicum, onions and whatever you fancy. Stir for a while then add in the choy sum. Stir then add in some water. Pour in oyster sauce and thick soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper but you can omit salt since oyster sauce is salty enough.

Place in the blanched loh shue fun and mix well. Ensure there is enough water to cover at least 3/4 of the noodles. Let the water dry off before quickly stirring in the fish fillet gently. Dish up and serve.

Technorati Tags: noodles

Happy New Year 2007

Goshh time flies... as we usher in the new year, give thanks to what we have. May the new year brings you and your loved ones; lots of joy, peace and in pink of health always. Have a blessed new year.

To my friends whom have donated generously to the Orang Asli, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Also thanks to those of you whom have helped spreading the words around. Your kindness is much appreciated.