Pasta With Red Wine

This is my first time trying out cooking spaghetti with red wine . Since I still have 1/2 bottle of red wine left in the fridge, I , being the creative one ( of course the family doesnt quite like to be the guinea pigs or my taster ) wanted to try this spaghetti with  red wine for our dinner  :p  Bought the red wine for cooking beef and when I saw this pasta with red wine recipe , I decided to try it out....

Yay! My Homemade Kimchi Is Ready For Consumption ^ *

Finally I get to savor my homemade kimchi !!!!..yum yum, salivating just thinking how I am going to use them in my cooking....a long list you can do with it . Jo and myself love Korean food ! :) I was down in KL to see her last Saturday...miss her badly and I bought a packet of readymade Kimchi imported from Korea for her . A packet of it costs RM18 ....but I know she love it so I bought one for her.....why I didnt take the homemade ones for her...well , first homemade ones are better stored in the fridge for Momsie consumption . Secondly, we will be out the whole day so homemade ones may not withstand the heat and can turn bad..who knows homemade ones - no preservative. Safer to buy her those vacumm packed ones :) but homemade one taste better though :p  Seriously , I am not joking :))

Simple yet delicious !

Red Snapper Baked En Papilote

I love fish cooked en papilote . It seals in the aroma and enhance flavor and at the same time keeps the fish moist and tender. Healthy way of cooking fish besides steaming them.  I bought a nice piece of red snapper for RM12.  The price of fish has gone up sky high but what to do , and it will be worse in the days to come, with the recent tsunami  and the nuclear catastrophe in Japan , it may not be even safe to eat sea fish :(  Do remember to pray for the people in Japan and places where earthquakes had caused destruction and taken many lives and thank God that we have so much food to eat . Dinner tonight was Red Snapper Baked En Papilote.

Braised Taro With Dried Shrimps

Taro is a root veggie that my family loves.  I will normally braised them with dried shrimps or with red fermented beancurd ( nam yue ) and pork belly . Or at times  , I cook them in soup orstir fry with baby  'kai lan ' . No matter how you cook them, they will turn out great. A versatile dish that most people loves .  Restaurant chefs can whip up great taro dishes and each time you ask them ..any new dishes and they will always have a new taro dish available .   Like taro in noodles , anyone ???  :p  I shall try that one one day . Taro can be cooked savoury or sweet . Either way ,it is good to eat  :)

Homemade Kimchi II

I have been wanting to make kimchi for the last couple of weeks and have kept postponing it till now and finally I had it done and it is now in the process of fermenting :) I love Kimchi and with this load that I made I can have my favorite Kimchi rice again and awwww my favorite kimchi stew - Kimchi Chigae !

Another little known fact about kimchi to westerners is that kimchi is a very healthy food. Because of the basic ingredients in kimchi, garlic, scallions and vegetables, kimchi helps to eliminate cholesterol and promotes intestinal health. so can you guess why this Momsie loves Kimchi and encourages her Piggies to love them too and I am glad that Piggy Jo loves it as much as I do. The other two are not so keen :P

Lollo Rosso Apple Salad

Salad is yummy and healthy to indulge in...you can have all fruits or all veggies or a mix and serve as a side  or you can add in some roast chicken meat in your salad and have it as a light lunch or dinner. It is healthy and it is nourishing too.  Eating a well toss salad is the most rewarding part of a meal :)  I made this Lollo Rosso Apple Salad  for my breakfast and gave some to Claire :)  Isn't she the blessed one ?  I gave her a loaf of my homemade Apricot & Raisins Bread too to eat with this salad and she loved them both...so she said :p

Cincalok Braised Chicken

The chicken pieces are braised in a thick gravy of  ' cincalok ' -  made of fermented small shrimps or krill. In Malacca , the shrimp is called ' udang geragau '. It is a pinkish coloured shrimps fermented in thick brine solutions and rice and the taste is very saltish. This shrimp is available in particular season in Pantai Klebang, Limbongan, Tanjung Kling and several coastal areas in Malaysia. It is usually served as a condiment together with chillis,shallots and lime juice.  My MIL used them to braise chicken pieces or pork slices.  A truly malaysian cuisine , its origin is debatable , and after first tasting this flavorful chicken dish , I knew I had to learn from her and today I can proudly say now my standard is as good as hers :p  for WB said :  "not bad , as good as mom's cooking "  a feather to my cap.....but thanks to MIL tutoring :)

Chicken Curry

This is the simple chicken curry with potatoes that I cooked to go with my homemade chapati.  This is just a normal malaysian chicken cooked in the home of the chinese communities here.  There are many types of curries - Indian , Malay and Thai. My mom used to cook this and since then I have been copying her style. A simple and easy to prepare curry that my Piggies love much.  And as promised, I am sharing this curry with you.  I am sure many of you will have a better version than mine :) but to a newbie, this would be a good curry to start with.

Homemade Chapati

When Cheah of No Frills Recipe made these and posted up on her blog, I told myself I want to make these unleavened flatbread for WB.  I have hung up my griddle and have not used it for many months already and it is time to take it out and use it :p and thus homemade chapati came into the scene in my kitchen...easy and healthy flatbread. Made from atta flour and olive oil, this flatbread is the staple food of the sikh community.

Chinese Herbal Wine Clam Soup

Saw these sea clams at the wet market last Sunday and bought home some , thinking of stir frying them with hot and spicy style ( Wild Boar's favourite )  but unfortunately, I have none of the ingredients at home for it...my fermented beans and chilli paste were out of stock..rummaged the fridge and could not find what I wanted except some chinese herbs. So this  dare to be adventurous  creative Momsie shrugged her shoulders and say " why not cook them in herbal wine soup ??? "  the Wild Boar can oinks all he wants  , who cares  ! :p  Just eat what is served at the table LOL! And surpringsly he slurped all the soup down for it was flavorful with the aromatic wine and the herbs plus the sweetness from the clams  :))  Simple to prepare and it tastes good too !

Tom Yum Soup With Coconut Milk

Every time I visit Angie's blog - Seasalt With Food  , I will be drooling over her bakes and also those delicious dishes she cooks for her family.  They always come simple and easy to prepare. And today I would like to share with you her delicious Tom Yum Soup Noodles With Coconut Milk  ( except I did not serve it with noodles but with hot steamed rice )  :)  It was slurpy  good that I have put it to my To Cook Again List :)

Savory Aubergine/Eggplant Slices

This is another grandma's dish....this sure brings back fond memories of my cute and petite grandma. She was a good cook and she doted on all her grandchildren. She cooked our meals and took care of us when my parents were out working and this is one of the aubergine dishes she cooked for us. My mom picked up her MIL's cooking skills and continued to serve us this savoury with a slight tangy-ness after taste aubergine dish after my grandma left us. And it is my turn to introduce this savoury aubergine slices to my children and it looks like my wish came true. Piggy Jo told me she cooked this dish yesterday for her dinner , the same time I cooked this for our dinner last night. Great minds think alike even though we are some distance apart :p

Ko Hyang Korean Country Delights @ The Gardens

I am a fan of this Korean food outlet at The Gardens (runs by a korean couple) I never fail to eat there each time I am there :) and I am looking forward to eating there again with Jo, she loves korean food just like me.  Korean country delights no doubt...they serve simple and authentic korean dishes ...though they do not have much choices , I still like the food served there. They give good service too and the prices are affordable.

Okra /Ladyfingers With Tangy And Hot Dried Shrimps Garnishing

This dish reminds me of my grandma...she used to make blanched okra/ladyfingers for us. The most special about this dish  is she will mix  pounded raw dried shrimps together with lots of bird's eye chillies , garlic and add squeeze garden grown calamasi juice over the lovely mixture and pour over the blanched okra.  This dish alone is a real appetizer and that was the only way my siblings and myself will eat okra  those days when we were younger!  As many of us know that okra has mucilage (    is a thick, gluey substance produced by most plants and some microorganisms. )   and not many people will love this green but if I tell you how great it is you will want to eat more of this green everyday :)

Bittergourd/Bitter Melon Omelette With 3 Types Of Egg

After church service last week, we went out to have lunch at Kok Thai Restaurant and this was one of the dishes we ordered. There were 11 of us . Every once a month , we will stay back for fellowship and some of us will have lunch together and this is one of the occasion whereby we fellowship at the restaurant over lunch and we love having lunch together...like a big family. After having eaten this simple yet delicious bittergourd dish , I could not sleep that night thinking how to recreate this dish for our dinner :p  Trying to figure out the cooking method in the mind and finally managed to get some sleep after some figuring out :p

Spring Roll With A Crunch

After making those delectable taro rolls two weeks ago, there is half a packet of the spring roll wrappers left in the fridge. Instead of wasting them, I decided to try making these mini spring rolls that give a little crunch . It serves as a light appetiser or finger food that will great before the main meal .  Wild Boar will devour these little rolls while waiting for me to cook the main dish :) So I will quickly wrap a few and deep fried them for him while I cook something elaborate for dinner and I am always the smart Momsie...keep him appease while I do the cooking and the photoshoot that takes almost half an hour before I serve dinner :p These rolls will keep his mouth sealed :p

Simple English Buttered Roast

I love roasting chicken the simple way..with just thick soy sauce , honey, pepper and sea salt…my MIL’s recipe. I remembered how I love this English buttered roast of hers..when Wild Boar and myself were courting 30 years ago ….whoa such a long time ago ! I used to self invite myself to dinner when I knew she was going to have English roast on that day….awwwww what to do….. :p