North Indian Cuisine @ Pakeeza Restaurant

Wild Boar and I had a simple lunch at Pakeeza Restaurant.  WB had a sudden craving for North Indian cuisine and thus he drove me to Pakeeza Restaurant and there we had a simple lunch but a satisfying one :)  I can never cook indian cuisine and it was a great idea to eat out at this place.  Love their Chicken Vandaloo and Brinjal Pajeri.  WB ordered their Plain Briyani Rice to go with the Chicken Vandaloo and Brinjal Pajeri while I ordered their Masala Kulcha which is actually Naan with chopped veggies in it.  Very satisfying lunch indeed :)   Read on to see the dishes that made WB so happy :p

Spicy Shiitake Mushroom Kimchiguk

As I mentioned in my previous post, I could not wait to cook the kimchi that I made a few weeks ago.  I have some fresh mushrooms available...enoki and shiitake and making kimchiguk  ( korean soup )with them would be great.   Simple yet deliciously appetizing and not forgetting to mention that this soup is so healthy that I don't mind having this kimchiguk everyday.  You can have this kimchiguk with noodles or rice.  Either one, it is delicious !   Read on to see how easy it is to prepare this kimchiguk.

Homemade Kimchi IV - Revisited But More Fiery

I love kimchi !  I started making kimchi a few years back in 2009 and since then I have improved by leaps and bound LOL! JUst kidding I know self praise is no praise but I can tell you that it tasted better each time I make them.  This is motivation for me.  I used the same recipe but improved on the hotness :p.  For this load, I added more korean chilli powder.  I made them for my colleagues for they are fiery angels * wink.  They love hot stuff therefore the call for more chilli powder :) I gave them each  a tub and I told them that these homemade ones can last a few months.  One of them have started cooking with the kimchi, so looks like her tub won't last a few weeks LOL!  Btw, I have starting cooking my share too :p who could resists it for kimchi lover like us !  

Stewed Chinese Mustard Green And Roast Pig Trotters - ' Cai Boey '

To me this is the most appetising dish in the chinese cuisine.  ' Cai Boey ' in Hokkien literally means ' leftover food '  During my grandmother's time, the leftover food from a feast ,will be put together and stewed in a big pot the next day. Apart from the leftovers, she will add roast pig trotter, kiam chai (salted vegetable ) and gai choy (chinese mustard green) . She will add asam jawa / tamarind juice, dried chillies and sometimes pickled plums to the pot to enhance the flavor of the stew.  It is spicy , sourish  and tasty at the same time.  This dish is the family favorite :)    Today, we don't have to wait to have leftovers to cook this dish.  I did it my way though and it turned out perfect....read on to see how this appetizing cuisine is being prepared :)

Blanched Bean Sprout With Flavored Light Soy Sauce

You know, Ipoh is famous for their bean sprout.  Fat and short and meaty :)  You can either stir fry it or blanched it .  For me, I prefer it blanched with flavored sauce and topped with a heavy dash of white pepper , like those sold at the famous Lou Wong Ipoh Ngah Choy Kai/ Kai Si Hor Fan.  A must order dish from this Lou Wong.  This is home prepared....may not taste as good as those from Lou Wong but for me and Wild Boar, this is considered good.  Light and easy and less washing.

Ingredients:

1 pkt of bean sprouts for two person - remove tails , washed and drained dry

flavored soy sauce

2 shallots- sliced and fried till crispy with  

2 tbsp of canola oil + 1/2 tsp of sesame oil

2 tbsp of light soy sauce

a dash of white pepper and sliced spring onion for garnishing

Method:

Blanched the bean sprouts in boiling water for 3 mins or till just cooked.  Quickly removed from heat and drain off excess water.  Keep aside.

Prepare the flavored soy sauce

Fry sliced shallots with canola and sesame oil till crispy in a wok.   Add in light soy sauce to the shallots and oil and let it sizzle for two seconds. Off heat.   Add in the blanched bean sprouts and mixed till well blended with the flavored soy sauce.  Dish up, sprinkle sliced spring onions and white pepper as garnishing.  Serve hot.

Quick , Easy And Delicious Steamed Red Snapper

After so many nights of eating out, it would be nice to have light meals at home.  Steamed fish would be ideal  and I took out a piece of red snapper and steamed it for 8 mins with just a tsp of canola oil.  After the fish is cooked, add sizzled shallots and soy sauce oil to the cooked fish and it is ready for garnishing and serving :)   All under 30 minutes.  Quick and easy and delicious !  With the arm still mending :p  light and easy meals would be a big welcome for me and WB. For WB it just means less washing for him LOL!

 

read on to see how quick and easy this can be done :)

Stir Fry Eryngii Mushrooms With Chestnuts And Browned Garlic

Of late, the price of Eryngii mushrooms have gone down from RM10 to RM8 per pack.  I took the opportunity to some back.  I like their springy texture . Slice them into 1/8 inch thick and stir fry with chestnuts...gosh , ONE word to describe this dish.  AWESOME  !  Simple yet deliciously tasty :)   I added deep fried cloves of garlic.  The garlic when lightly deep fried taste sweet..yea nice :)   This simple stir fry eryngii mushrooms with chestnuts and deep fried garlic is healthy yet delicious. Yum!  Click on for more :)

Ayam Percik Kelantan

I have a whole chicken in the fridge and tired of eating roasted chicken, I decided to try out my hands at making Ayam Percik Kelantan version for MFF.   To be frank, I am not good at cooking local Malaysian dishes :p   I told WB that I will try something different  this time with the chicken and he was a bit doubtful that I could whip out ayam percik for him.  He likes those sold at  'Ayamas ' though . I told him mine version would be better than Ayamas  LOL!    I cheated a bit here, instead of grilling over glowing charcoal , I grilled them in the oven :p   The weather was scorching hot and WB doesn't want to start the charcoal fire for me.  He said the neighbor will be jumping mad with the smoke !   But just the same, it tasted great despite being grilled in the oven .  It is quite easy to make this.  The recipe is taken from Betty Yew's Rasa Malaysia  

Braised Chicken With A Sweet Twist

I remember my grandma used to cook this for us when we were young . Love the way she cooked it, tasted good with Teochew porridge . No matter how many times I cook this dish,I can never get near to hers :p  I regretted not learning from her.  Anyway, I added rock sugar to the cooking this time beside the normal spice ingredients and it turned out great.   Slurrp slurrp LOL!  Serve this with piping hot rice or a bowl of hot Teochew porridge . Read on for the recipe if you are new to this dish.  A simple dish but full of flavor :) I love it.  

Aubergine Charlotte With Salmon

I saw some posts on aubergine charlottes and I am tempted to try them out using different fillings. Baking aubergine rather than frying them gives them the same melt in the mouth silky smooth texture but without absorbing much oil.  I find it so much healthier cooking aubergine/eggplant this way and you can have any fillings you like.  Great way of presenting an aubergine dish.  It is interesting to serve aubergine in little parcel to your guests.  You can have mushrooms and cheese as fillings or with salmon like I did.   This is so delicious and I will try the mushroom filling the next time I make this charlottes again. But for this time, I did it my way :p   Read on to see how this is being prepared.

Houston Cafe, Ipoh - Small Kucing In Town

I am blessed whenever the Kucings are in town :) Reason being ,it means good food !!!  They  stopped by Ipoh on their way to Penang last Wednesday and we, Claire and myself, met them for lunch.  Claire the hostess took us all to Houston Cafe and we had a scrumptious lunch.  Here are the dishes she ordered for lunch....she loved their signature dish , the Assam Fish Head Curry but she mistakenly ordered their Fish Head Curry  . I loved the Kerabu Mango ( Asian Mango Salad ) and the Bittergourd With Salted Yolk !  Like I said before, food brings people closer together ...don't you agree ?   :)   

Oven Baked Quail/ Burung Puyuh

It is not often that I see quails being sold in Jusco.  Last weekend, I happened to see so many freshly slaughtered ones sold at RM3 per bird.   They look huge and meaty too, I bought two birds home just to test them out. If they are good, then on my next trip to Jusco , I will buy more.   My colleague will normally deep fried them but I was thinking I wanted something more healthier, thus I oven baked them instead.    They turned out delicious and the quails looked like it has been deep fried :)    Read on to see how you can get the skin crispy and yet tender and juicy on the inside without having to deep fried them.