Childhood Fave - Potato Minced Meat in Bean Paste Sauce

I'm not sure about you but potatoes are my absolute favourite "vegetable" (in my context lah as a child hehe). I can eat them any style, well, not exactly any since those days we don't get fries. The most is mom would deep fry them before cooking them in sauces.

I'm glad, my next generation is carrying on this spud thingy in him as well. He adores my mother who diligently cook him potato dishes for his lunch and dinner a couple of times a week. I think he's the only one in the entire family appreciated her cooking openly cos he's the only one who will THANK his granma for cooking his favourite dishes. Sometimes she gets bonus kisses for that! The rest of us, like me - yes I'm guilty, would the most, praise how yummy her dishes were :p

Most times I usually braise chicken with potatoes in soy bean paste (mien si), sometimes I uses minced chicken meat, like this one - just to cheat the little fart to eat some meat.

Method is still about the same, fry some garlic in hot oil before adding bean paste. You may add preserved black beans as well. Next add in the minced chicken (pork also will come out well) meat that has been marinaded with some soy sauce, white pepper and a little corn flour (to make the meat smoother). Stir till browned before adding sliced potatoes. You can cut them into chunks too, deep fry them before adding in. Makes the potatoes tastier but I was too healthy lazy to do so. Keep stirring then add some water. Adjust seasoning, adding salt if not salty enough and a little bit of sugar to bring out the flavour. Put the lid on and simmer on low heat till potatoes are tender and the sauce is reduced.

Dish up and serve hot with rice.


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + poultry + potato

Stir-Fried SoyBean Sprouts with Prawns

Ok back to something nice and safe today hehe...

Just a simple stir fry dish. I loved soybean sprouts!!! The size and crunch... I don't know what but I had liked them since I was young. First, tail the sprouts. My aunt's style includes removing the top portion but I think it's such a waste hehe. Then wash and soak them for a while before draining on a colander.

Heat up a wok and pour in some oil. Add in shelled prawns and fry till pink. Stir in chopped garlic and fry till fragrant. Next, put in the sprouts and stir. Sprinkle a bit of salt to taste and also some water to help them to cook along. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes and dish up to serve.

Simple, easy, healthy and delish...

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + sprouts

Review: Webbed Feet Delight

Can you guess what is this???

Sorry, I know it looked very gross especially under such lousy lighting with my camphone. Hehehe... it's actually Ngap Keuk Pau, literally translated as duck feet wrap. Hahaha sounded grosser huh??? I doubt the younger generations would have any inklings to this item which is usually found at roast duck stalls in Petaling Street.

Last Friday, I went along with Yozora to Petaling Street. She wanted to grab some char siew (bbq pork) to make loh mai kai for her miow-miow. Whilst waiting for the Auntie to chop up the char siew and siew yuk, I can't help but salivate over the string of the webbed feet. The wraps practically glistened under the sunlight! I haven't eaten this delicacy for more than 15 years! I still remember how my mom would packed them back whenever she goes to Petaling Street.

Since I was scheduled to go back to my parents that evening, I packed 10 pieces home at RM2.00 each. My mom said it's expensive recollecting that it only costed RM1 for 3 back then but she said these are much bigger in size.

I'm not sure how these wrapped duck feet are made, could be marinaded in the same char siew sauce before grilling. Wrapped on the outter layer is the duck's intestine. Then, there is a piece of duck feet and few pieces of lean char siew. Nestled on the feet is a piece of duck liver and gizzard.

Tasted good but not as succulent as I could remember. Maybe because the usage of lean meat. I remember back then, it's usually a large piece of fatty char siew. The gizzard is very very hard that I threw them away after one bite hehe. Best part is the chewing and suckling up the webbed feet. That's the most fragrant bit.

The piece that my dad took has no duck feet inside which my mom said it's pretty normal. In place of the feet, they have more char siew pieces. If you have some fear factor blood in you and decided to give this delicacy a try, head on to Petaling Street, this stall is located at the entrance to the wet market next to Pak Peng Building or alternatively you can find them at Sei Ngan Chai or roast duck stalls along here.

Good luck and enjoy!

Technorati Tags: malaysian food + duck

Speedy Minestrone

Speedy Minestrone

30g butter
1 medium brown onions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 bacon rashers, chopped coarsely
1 medium carrot, chopped coarsely
400g can chopped tomatoes
310g can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup spiral pasta
1/4 cup flaked parmesan
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat butter in large saucepan, add onion, garlic and bacon; stir over medium heat until onion is soft. Add celery and carrot; stir over heat 2 minutes.

Stir in undrained tomatoes, beans, stock and pasta. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; simmer covered for 30 minutes. Serve topped with cheese and parsley.

Minestrone can be made up to two days ahead; keep covered in fridge or freeze for up to 2 months.

Ref: Food We Love by The Australian Women's Weekly, page 26

My version is adapted from this recipe basically. Just as simple... I've used chopped chorizo instead of bacon. Dumped into some olive oil and stir till fragrant before adding onions. Once the onions turned translucent, I added in the garlic. Next, I chucked in celery, carrots and asparagus. Since I could only see kidney beans in syrup on supermarket shelves, I have to opt the beans out. Poured in the tomatoes and water (worked as well). Adjust the taste with salt and some sugar if necessary to balance out the acidic tomatoes. Pour in the pasta and cook for 30 minutes. Served with flaked parmesan with freshly grounded black pepper.

This recipe is SUPERB and a must keep. It's so simple and hearty; best of all it tasted absolutely delish. Do give it a try!


Technorati Tags: minestrone

Review: Restoran Good Friends Express, Genting Highlands

**Non-Halal**

In between our rides at the theme park, we hurried off for a quick dinner instead of going to our regular place. Not so sure what to have we decided to head over to Highlands Hotel to check out the eating places since hubby didn't want to walk so far to First World. Found this Restoran Good Friends Express since I didn't want to wait and order dishes from the restaurant under the same name next door.

This Good Friends Express is a self-service fast food restaurant ala Chinese. All you need to do is place your order and pay at the cashier. Then you move down the line to collect your order. The menu is not super extensive but good enough to satisfy everyone in the family if they do not want to eat the same dishes. There are noodles, rice and porridge (congee) accompanied with roast chicken, roast duck, bbq pork (char siew), roast pork (siew yuk), dumplings (sui kow), or wanton. Also in the offering are sizzling noodles, porridge and etc.

I've asked for the Pork Rib Rice (RM12.00) which came like this...

I had as shocked when I look at it hahaha... look darn pathetic huh? I dug the ribs a bit and had a taste. Hey, not bad actually!!! I must remind myself not to judge a book by its cover. The ribs are steamed with fermented yellow bean sauce and fermented black bean with bits of tomatoes in there. The slight tang from the tomatoes lend a nice flavour to the ribs.

Boiboi had a bowl of Wanton Soup (RM8.00). Nothing spectacular here cos the daddy actually ordered the wrong thing for him. I've asked him to get Dumplings Soup, well... anyway he ate them up but can't finish since his heart longed to get back to the theme park ASAP.

The daddy gotten himself Claypot Chicken Rice (RM14.00) which took 10 mins to cook up. I didn't try any but he said its edible, nothing great.

I checked around the neighbouring patrons, seems like their fresh noodles (sang meen) in dry style looked good and smell like any delicious wanton mee in town. I won't say the food is fantastic cos it's expected in such kind of place but it's great for something quick. Quite pricey too. By the way, order of noodles and rice will come with a drink which I think it's not too bad.


Restoran Good Friends Express
Level 2, Highlands Hotel
Tel: 603-6101 1118
Operation Hours: 6.30am - 11.00pm (extended to 1.45am on Saturdays)


Technorati Tags: malaysian food

Review: Pastries from Yik Kee Restaurant

**Non-Halal**

Last weekend I had to FFK the JFKA session cos we decided to drive up the hill for some, well I won't say it's relaxing, perhaps... fun? Hubby and I were happy cos boiboi said he was super duper happy. I'm sure he does but seriously it's not that fun anymore, for me at least, going round and round on children rides... quite harrowing when you have a crazy little terrorist that spin the bloody teacup in detrimental speed!!! We were glad to see him smiling ear-to-ear bumping around in the children bumper car ride. He did that 3 rounds before we dragged him away for dinner (more on that later). Being the kiasu parent, we maximised our money by going for more rides after out dinner since the park opens till 10.00pm these days, making sure we don't picked those that can churn our tummy and say hello to the trash can at the end of the ride. Boy, I was glad that there wasn't that many people at the park after 7.00pm. We practically occupied most of the rides all by ourselves! Shiok hahaha... no queue and don't even need to get our butt off and the attendants willingly set another round for us. So I guess that must be the tip to avoid crowds plus the admission is cheaper after 7.00pm.

Anyway, this post is not about the park definitely, this is a food blog afterall hehe. Most times on our way up to Genting Highlands, we will drop by at Yik Kee at Gohtong Jaya to grab some pastries. Our first visit to Yik Kee, aeons ago was on our way to Cherating in the little Karak town. That was when we tasted our very first durian tart, fell in love with them over and over again. The proprietor's son had informed us that the durian used are from their own durian orchard and they are of D24 variety. You can get durian tarts 365 days here cos they freeze their supplies for the pastries.

Last weekend, we were surprised to see a soft-served ice-cream machine up front of the shop. There were 2 flavours available, chocolate and of course durian. My boiboi opted for chocolate which is good and hubby of course got the durian one. I forgot how much but the durian alone is RM2.40 which came in a huge blob on top of the cone unlike the tiny little blob at Ikea's. I have to say the durian ice-cream is very very yummy, full of REAL durian flavour. Much better than New Zealand Ice-cream's Durian Flo!!! You can opt to have a mixture of the 2 flavours.

The star attraction are of course these babies... durian tarts.

Please excuse for the cracks hahaha the result of swinging and swaying going up the hill. The custard is incredibily creamy and rich with durian flesh. I didn't like the pastry though, it's of the shortcrust kind and I can taste the margarine in them. If I can have my way, I would have just scoop out the durian custard and eat them like it is but I won't of course as it's sinful to waste food :p I've tasted Happy Meal version but still I find Yik Kee's better.

Had wanted to try the durian bombs but so far haven't got the chance. They're always sold out! No durian cake available either. Got a kaya swiss roll instead which I had always liked. The cake texture is finer than Yut Kee's and looks better too but Yut Kee won in terms of fragrant for cake.

I remember Miss Sweet 16 had told me many times that Yik Kee is famous for their siew bao (baked bun) but not sure why we never bothered with them. Karak is her dad's hometown, so she should know better huh??? I gotten a couple each of the chicken (with sesame seeds topping) and pork siew baos. Hubby had the pork one there and then... aiks the pastry is too thick and has very little filling. I tried one chicken siew bao in the car which had very thick pastry as well but I have to say the filling was tasty.

Are you drooling over the durian tarts? With 2 branches in the Klang Valley, you need not go Karak nor Gohtong Jaya for them. Head over to their PJ or TTDI branch to check them out. However, please call them first cos I was told the TTDI branch doesn't have these tarts but have durian pancake instead, not sure what's the latest happening.

Yik Kee Restaurant
HQ:
29 Jalan Besar
28600 Karak
Pahang
Tel: 609-231 1240

Gohtong Jaya Branch:
22 & 23 Jalan Jati 1
Gohtong Jaya
69000 Genting Highlands
Pahang
Tel: 603-6100 3240

Restaurant Sri Karak, Petaling Jaya Branch
17 Jalan 52/8
Section 52
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 603-7958 3240

Taman Tun Dr Ismail Branch
(Sorry, I've tried to search for the addy but couldn't find but managed to get the coordinates haha, so you gotta whip out your GPS! If not mistaken it's behind Shakey's.)
Location: N3.142092 E101.629692


Technorati Tags: malaysian food + durian

Egg-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Remember my hot date with Paprika? The one I received a hot-off the oven, yummilicious chocolate cupcake from her??? Anyway, I did get the 500 Cupcakes & Muffins not long after and yes I've tried that recipe earlier but failed tremendously. I followed the recipe and my cupcakes came out tasting like cocoa powder instead of fudgey and goey. I've over baked them as I followed the recipe to the T!

I got round to make them again and this time I only baked them for about 12 mins. They came out perfectly chocolatey, fudgey and moist! No doubt they don't contain eggs or sugar but don't think of them as healthy alternative as the amount of butter and condensed milk used are very high. The usage of cola is of no help either hehehe. This time, I've used vanilla coke so I omitted vanilla essence. Strangely I did not taste the coke this time as compared to the last one when I made with the usual flavour. Other than cola, you can practically uses anything sparkling like water or apple juice. Just experiment there a bit. Also, remember to leave them to cool in the muffin tray for 5 mins before removing else the cake will leave the casing.

All my taste bunnies gave thumbs up except for one who is not a chocolate lover. My boiboi had a whale of time licking the batter off the beater, the only time I allowed him to since this doesn't contain eggs. He always ask to lick the batter which I won't let him as most cake batters contains raw eggs. I think he watched too much telly!

Egg-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

225g unsalted butter, softened
400g tin condensed milk
225g self raising flour
115g Dutch-process cocoa powder (I've used the normal ones)
2 tsp baking powder
100 g plain chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla essence
340ml cherry cola

Preheat oven to 175C. Place 12 baking cases into muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, cream butter with electric whisk until light and fluffy about 2-3 mins. Add condensed milk and beat until combined. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder into wet mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, vanilla and cola.

Spoon batter into cases. Bake for 20 mins. Remove tin from oven and cool for 5 mins. Then remove cupcakes and cook on rack.

Store in airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Ref: 500 Cupcakes & Muffins, By Fergal Connolly book (published by PageOne Publishing)

Technorati Tags: cupcake + chocolate