Stir Fry Water Convolvulus , Long Beans, Stink. Beans With Dried Shrimps

I had this at the restaurant and I tried to replicate it from my kitchen.  Water Convolvulus with long beans and stink beans ....stir fry with dried shrimps and shrimp paste.  A wonderful combination! Love it and I will surely cook this again.  The flavor is exactly like Sambal Belacan Kangkong except that it has stink beans and long beans in it.  Thumbs up ! WB loves it coz he loves the stink beans. It is his favorite and you can imagine how much rice he took with this dish .  I want to encourage him to eat more fish and veggies...so I will be cooking more veggie dishes from now on :)

Stir Fry Water Convolvulus , Long Beans,  Stink. Beans With Dried Shrimps

- from WB's Kitchen

Ingredients:

300 gm water convolvulus -  use only the young leaves and stems

10 strings of  long beans - cut into 1" length

100 gm stink beans- halved

3 tbsp of dried shrimps - soak , rinsed and chopped fine

3 cloves of garlic - crushed

1/2 thumb size shrimp paste mixed with 3 tbsp of water- into a paste

3 to 4 bird's eyes chillies - deseed and chopped fine

2 tbsp of vegetable cooking oil

Method:

Heat up oil in wok till smoking hot, add in garlic, chillies and sauteed till fragrant , add in the dried shrimp and continue to stir fry till the dried shrimps till fragrant.  Add in the shrimp paste , long beans, water convolvulus and stink beans . Stir fry till the vegetables has soften. Cover lid for 5 minutes. Open lid and dish out the vegetable and serve hot with rice.

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Ayam Goreng Berempah / Spiced Deep Fried Chicken

I was browsing through all my old food magazine and I saw this recipe from an old issue of Famous Cuisine. It was something I dreamt of most of the time after having eaten it at Mamayu. I just do not know what to do with the chicken meat in the freezer and I told WB I will cook this for him.  At first he was not too keen coz he has to do the pounding and washing of the mortar and pestle which is heavy :p  and knowing I can't help him much except to direct him what to add into the mortar and pestle LOL!  So ,very reluctantly, he pounded all the marinade ingredients for me hahaha...and guessed what after tucking in this crispy and flavorful chicken pieces, he asked to make more this coming  weekend !!! That is why a person must never say no when he or she has not tried it out :p   It is finger licking good...just don't think of the calories...one can sweat it out after consumption :)

it is aromatic and crispy....just love the crispy marinade that drops off

Ayam Goreng Berempah/Spiced Deep Fried Chicken - adapted from Famous Cuisine with some changes

Ingredients
:
500g chicken meat
2.5  tbsp chicken curry powder
1 tbsp sea salt
2 stalk curry leaf ( leaves only)

Marinade
100 g shallots
4 cloves of garlic
120 g fresh ginger
2 cm fresh galangal
3 stems lemon grass
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin

3 tbsp cooking oil


Method:
1. Place entire marinade ingredients into a mortar and pestle and pound it into smooth paste, dish out and leave aside.

2. Cut chicken into convenient pieces, season with the pounded marinade, curry powder, and curry leaves, mix well and marinate for 2-3 hours. *  I leave it overnight in fridge.

3.Deep fry the marinated chicken pieces into hot oil over high heat until golden in color, remove from heat and drain well. Serve it at once.

Enjoy!

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Cilantro And Lemon Zest Cauliflower Rice

Cauliflower rice !!!  Well , when I first heard about cauliflower rice, I was not sold by the fact that it is low in carbohydrates but it  was  curiosity  that made me try this recipe out. And guess what, it does resemble rice/ coucous .  I am glad that I am the curious type or I would have missed out this healthy and delicious cauliflower rice.  It is a nutritionally packed food which is high in fiber, folate, vitamin C, and water - yet low in fat and carbohydrates.  It can be prepared a variety of ways - stir fry chinese style, steamed, roasted, boiled, broiled, or eaten raw.  With the cilantro and lemon zest added to it, the cauliflower rice is truly delicious and I have the whole bowl all to myself.  It can be served with fish curry or as a fried rice with chopped bacons and egg for the children.  I will definitely be making this more often and cut down on the real rice.

it is easy to prepare and it does resemble coucous /rice

with the cilantro and lemon zest added to it,

it is delicious and flavorful :)

Cilantro And Lemon Zest Cauliflower Rice 

Ingredients (3 servings)

• 1 medium head of cauliflower
• 3-4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Wash and dry a small head of cauliflower. Cut off the florets (you don't need much stem). Pulse in your food processor for about 30 seconds, until you get rice shaped pieces.

2. In a medium skillet add 3 teaspoons olive oil and heat on medium. Once heated add Cauliflower and cook for 3-5 minutes until hot (stir frequently).

3. Add chopped cilantro , remaining oil, and and lemon zest  over rice. Stir well.

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Chinese Eggplant With Spicy Garlic Sauce

I love eggplant/aubergine and if you ask me what vegetable plant I want to plant most in my garden , it will be eggplant :) I love the soft tender pulp of the veggie that absorbs flavors easily after cooking.  It is a versatile vegetable that you can have them in your salad and curry  .There are many ways to cook them especially in Sichuanese cooking . I will be experimenting them in the days to come.  I have a few great recipes using eggplant  which I will want to try out.  For today, I will share this simple to prepare and yet appetizing eggplant dish.  I got this recipe from Steamy Kitchen's blog .  I like the fact that she used black vinegar and she said that we can substitute black vinegar with balsamic vinegar....gosh , I love balsamic vinegar so I am going to use balsamic instead of black vinegar :)  It comprises of chillies, garlic, soy sauce and a touch of black vinegar to balance the flavors out. After reading the ingredients used, I knew I had to try it out for I have never try adding black vinegar to eggplant and I am curious to know how it would taste out.  I normally add lime to my eggplant but this uses black vinegar or balsamic...a must try of course!

love the Sichuan eggplant dish...

it not only smell good but the sauce ingredients

is a wonderful flavor party, the balsamic vinegar balance the flavor out

a delicious dish !  

Chinese Eggplant With Spicy Garlic Sauce - adapted from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients:-

2 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
3 small eggplants cut into long strips
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 red chile pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced
1 stalk green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon black vinegar * replace with balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Method:

In a wok or saucepan over high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat wok. When wok is hot, add eggplant in a single layer. Cook 1 minute and flip over each piece so they cook evenly. Cook another 2-3 minutes, flipping occasionally.

Push eggplant aside in wok and add 1 tablespoon cooking oil. Add garlic, red chile peppers, ginger and green onion. Stir these aromatics until they become fragrant. Combine aromatics with eggplant and stir fry for one minute. Add soy sauce, black vinegar ( balsamic vinegar ) and sugar and stir to combine all. Serve immediately.

You may like these eggplant recipes that I have tried out :)

1.  Aubergine Charlotte With Salmon

2.  Aubergine Omelette

3. Crispy And Spicy Salty Egg Yolk Aubergine Cubes

4. Stir Fry Diced Eggplant/Aubergine With Shrimps

5. Spicy Sesame Eggplant

6. Curtis Stone- Deep Fried Aubergine And Mozzarella With Basil

7. Crispy Panko Crusted Aubergine Slices

8. Pan Grilled And Portobello And Aubergine Puffs

9.Savory Aubergine/Eggplant Slices

10. Baked Aubergine With Corned Beef Toppings

Farewell Lunch @ Restaurant Mandarin Kitchen - Taman Mas, Perak

red wine pork rib

Finally today we are free to give our colleague her farewell lunch . We wanted to give her earlier when she retired on 1st March,2014 but because some of us are busy travelling and could not make it so we defer it indefinitely till everyone is able to attend and that is today :p   Sorry pal. We had a good fellowship and as you can see the food is big portion too.  I was so sleepy after that sumptious lunch. I ate a big portion ( and everyone started teasing ...saying that I am a growing teenager so need to eat more.  I told them nope...I am eating for dinner too as I have a two cakes to bake that night and do not have the time to eat dinner. LOL! 

We tried a new place and the food comes out in big portion.  The whole lunch costs us only $183.90 for 10 of us. Cheap right?

Stir fry kangkung , french bean and stinky beans sambal

Spicy Hot Mud Creepers aka Balitung

Balitong/The Obtuse Horn Shell aka as Mud Creeper is a relatively common snail found in the muddy coastal river mouth in Malaysia and is known as ‘ siput sedut ‘ in the Malay language. It grows to around 5-6 cm. and it is one of the favourite seafood item that can found in most seafood restaurant in Malaysia. I normally buy them from the wet market in kilos and clean them myself.  They are not appetizing before clean them...covered in coastal grey mud.  After washing them clean, I have to chop off their end part so that one can suck back and front in order to suck out the mud creeper out of their shell :p   To me, this is a delicacy that I don't cooking even though it entailed a lot of work.  It is worth the effort when you bite into their juicy sweet and crunchy meat...chut chut chut and nom nom  :p  I like it cooked this way. Spicy hot with the spice mixture coating  the shell.  You can check this out too...Hot Spicy Balitung cooked with tom yam paste. 

Spicy Hot Mud Creepers aka Balitung

Ingredients:

500 gm sea snails/ balitong- washed , cleaned and chop off the end part
2 tbsp of olive oil/ vegetable oil

Spice ingredients:
1.5 tbsp chilli paste
4 shallots
4 garlic
2 tbsp of fermented bean paste/ tau cheong

Seasoning
2 tsp of sugar
¼ tsp salt

1/4 cup of water

Method:

Blend the spice ingredients in a food processor into a fine paste.

Heat oil in a wok and put in the blended spice ingredients and stir fry till fragrant.

Add the balitong and fry till well coated with the spice paste Add in the water and cover with the lid and cook for 20 mins.  Add in the seasoning and bring to a quick rolling boil. Dish out to serve.

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Braised Chinese Cabbage With Chinese Mushrooms - Teochew Style

My grandma used to cook this dish for my dad.  She will cook this the night before and served as breakfast for  my dad. This dish goes with teochew porridge.  I tried to replicate it by remembering the taste . I added chilli flakes to it. Basically , this dish is cooked with lots of garlic and fermented bean paste.  She used cabbage , but I used chinese cabbage ( wong ah pak ) I have left over from making kimchi, thus I used them for this dish.  So flavorful as the flavors of garlic , mushrooms and bean paste has been absorbed into the leafy cabbage.  This dish can be served with rice or porridge.

Braised Chinese Cabbage With Chinese Mushrooms - Teochew Style

Ingredients:

1/2 chinese cabbage - soaked , rinsed and cut into 1/4 and drain dry
8 pieces of chinese mushroom - soaked till soft and cut off stem and squeeze dry

2 tbsp of vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic - crushed
2 heaped tbsp of  fermented bean paste/ tau cheong
1 tsp of chilli flakes
1/2 cup water
*  sea salt to taste

Method:

Heat up wok , add oil and when oil is hot, put in the garlic, fermented bean paste and chilli flakes, Saute till fragrant.  Slowly add in the cabbage and mushrooms. Lower heat to medium low heat . Add water and cover with a lid.  Simmer till the cabbage is soft and tender.  * Add sea salt to taste.  Dish up and serve with rice or porridge.

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Healthy And Delicious Salad

I will be happy if I can keep to my diet of just salad and oats but the trouble is I am not a disciplined person. I love food too much to keep just to salad and oats :p  I am a glutton too when it comes to food in general LOL! I will be snacking on salad but my eyes will be feasting on delicious and sinfully decadent stuff on food magazine and the mind will go I want to cook this and that :p  Ok, yesterday I was good. I have just this salad with hard boiled egg and I throw in some homemade Japanese pickled ginger and a simple french salad dressing of olive oil and herbs.  Lovely salad !

my salad consists of hard boiled egg, french beans, cherry tomatoes and

japanese pickled ginger

this is healthy and delicious

Salmon Flakes And Chinese Cabbage Fried Rice With Crispy Ginger Shreds

Simple fried rice for dinner when the lazy mode is on :p  I have some pan seared salmon left after lunch,I decided to fry rice for dinner.  WB cooked extra rice for fried rice later in the night when we are hungry.  There is no time fixed for dinner when it comes to weekend.  Dinner can be any time after 8pm :p reason being we had tea break at 3.30pm .  Fried rice is the most versatile rice dish .  You can add in anything you want and it will taste good.  I have tried frying rice with homemade kimchi and even tried frying rice with salted fish and dried shriHmps.  But for this time, I fried rice with salmon flakes ( from the leftover pan seared salmon ) and lots of crispy ginger shreds.  This is what makes the rice so delicious...it is not just the salmon flakes but the golden shreds of fried ginger!  And I added chinese cabbage to make it a well balanced meal.  Veggies and fish would be a healthy meal for dinner.  Easy to whip up and most important it taste good too !

Salmon Flakes And Chinese Cabbage Fried Rice

Ingredients:-


3 cups of cooked rice

2 cloves of garlic- chopped finely
1 cup of salmon flakes
1 egg- beaten
3 leaves of chinese cabbage - cut into shreds
2 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of freshly ground white pepper
(A) 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1/2 tsp of sesame oil

1 thumb sized ginger- julienned fine
some cut spring onions

Method:

Heat up wok , add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and fry the julienned ginger until golden brown and crispy. Dish up and leave aside.

Remove the oil from wok after frying the ginger.  Add in the oil (A) into the wok and on high heat, saute the garlic till fragrant add in the chinese cabbage shreds and stir fry for 3 mins. Add in the cooked rice and stir till well combined.  Push the rice aside . Add in the beaten egg and when it is about to set push back the rice and stir fry till the egg is well combined.  Add in the salmon flakes and sea salt and pepper and stir fry till all the ingredients are well combined.   Off the heat and dish up. Garnish each plate of fried rice with the cut spring onions and lots of crispy ginger shreds.

Enjoy !

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Thai Food - AWet Restaurant

This Thai restaurant is a hidden treasure in Kajang.  The name of this Thai restaurant is AWet Thai Garden My Piggy Jo took me there when I was down in Kajang to pay her a visit.  Situated in Sungai Chua, Kajang and is built in a rustic setting surrounded by scenic lake. Tucked in a tranquil location , this restaurant also features a floating platform where you can dine in comfort.

I do miss my baby very much and I hope to make more frequent trips to visit her before she graduates, so that I get to eat here more often too...hint hint to Piggy Jo :p  This Thai restaurants offers a wide range of thai food.  Quite authentic I would say.  I like the food they served there, especially their famous thai mango salad which has crispy anchovies as garnishing.  I will share here some of the dishes we ordered and their pandan chicken is really delicious. Looking at the photos makes me drool away....awwww...* wipe wipe away the drools . Continue to read on to see our meals there :)

Bryan And His Dim Sum Rendezvous@ China Chuan Kwong , Greentown Business Centre,Ipoh

Today post will be a short one.  My brother from NJ came back for a short break and brought his godson Bryan with him.  I like watching Bryan eat .  So heartily and happy LOL!  I gave my brother and Bryan a treat at this quaint chinese dim sum restaurant - China Chuan Kwong in Greentown Business Centre.  Read on to see the dim sum we ordered that morning :)

slurp.............he was slurping  the  

"siu loong bao"  - Shanghai Steamed Soup Dumpling