Back to Basics

First things you always crave for after not cooking for ages are the ones you grew up eating... And for me its nothing more than simple homey styled dishes, improvised of course with what's available in Britain.

Spring onion and ginger is always a match made in heaven for Chinese cooking, it somehow gives a subtle invigorating flavor to meat dishes. Goes particularly well with white meat, e.g. fish, chicken and frog (yes, frog meat, which tastes something like poussin). However, nowadays its common with red meat like beef too, and can be pretty much found on the menu of any chinese hawker-style restaurants.

I'll stick with the classics for now, starting with Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion. Thighs/drumstick meat is preferable (chicken breast is ok but drier texture). So for a you'll need about 6-8 sprigs of spring onion, 2-3 inch ginger, 400g-500g chicken meat, dark and light soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, chilli (optional).

I used thigh meat, and de-boned about 8 thighs and cut into bitesize pieces. Spring onion stalks are chopped about 2 inch long, separating the white bit (at the bottom) and the 'leaves' (the green bits at the top). Slice the ginger thin, producing a size like your thumb print. For the garlic, I prefer to just skin them and crush the cloves with the back of the knife (yup, I'm one of those that actually love fried garlics, hehe), and we're ready to go!

So heat up a little bit of oil, and once hot, put the ginger and the white stalk of the spring onions in and stir quickly. About 2-3 minutes, the ginger should be brown and then add the garlic and chicken meat in whilst tossing as usual. The key point should be here, add a few drops of sesame oil for wonderful nutty aroma and flavor, then the usual light soy sauce for taste, dark soy sauce for a little bit of color... Do add a little bit of water if its too dry, and the meat should be roughly cooked in 5 minutes or so. Remember to add the green leave bits of the spring onions, and continue to stir fry for a minute or so, and its done! You can garnish with finely chopped red chillies on top for that extra spicy kick :)

The next vegetable dish is somewhat of an experiment, inspired by a dish in Chinatown recently. It was some sort of tofu dish with leafy vegetables stir fried in bean sauce. Here's my version of it with long beans instead.

It's just a 5 ingredient dish!! 1 carrot (sliced into matchsticks), fried hard tofu or taukwa (sliced lengthwise), long beans (sliced into 2 inch pieces), garlic (crushed cloves), and fermented soy bean sauce (tau chu). This sauce is available in many Asian grocery stores, and is basically soy beans fermented and tastes sweet and salty.

Heat some oil in the pan, and let the garlic sizzle in it till slightly brown-ish. Carrots in first, and 2 minutes later the long beans. Alternatively, you could actually pre-cook the long beans and carrots by steaming them for about 3 minutes before stir frying if you prefer. It's perhaps faster and healthier. For the former case, the stir frying time is longer, and adding some water helps. 5 minutes later, or whenever the vege are cooked till your preferred level of crunchiness, add in the tofu and half a tablespoon of the bean sauce, adjust to taste, and it's ready to be served with some rice!

Mee Goreng Mamak

Empty plate with a lime ... waiting in anticipation for the best dish of all time --> Mee Goreng Mamak! (fried noodles, Mamak style)

All you need is fresh yellow egg noodles, chinese greens (I used bok choy/pak choi), fish cakes, potatoes, chilli paste, tomato ketchup, firm (deep fried) tofu, dark soy sauce, garlic, lime juice and some chicken meat (drumstick/thighs are ideal). I had to do it twice, given the small wok, but personally feel that it produces a better result than mass production...

As usual, add in a bit of oil on the wok. When its hot enough, stir in the roughly chopped garlic and potato slices (or in thin wedges) for a minute or two. Next is the chili paste (lots of it!), where the heat starts to kick in. Add the chicken, fish cakes, tofu and bok choy next and stir fry quickly for another 3-4 minutes before adding in the noodles. Stir as quick as you can to evenly coat and mix. Finally season with dark soy sauce, tomato ketchup, a bit of salt to taste and its done!

Serve it on a nice hot plate with a wedge of lime. Always gives the dish an extra kick with a tangy aftertaste. Enjoy!

The Simple Life back Home

Yes, I'm back from beautiful Greece!

Not that I'm happy that my holidays are over, but its still feels great to come back to London. Yup, I actually missed the weather slightly, as it was just freaking 35C permanently in Athens and Santorini. One good thing about Greek summer is that clouds don't seem to exist there, which proved great for sunsets and spotting shooting stars in the starry starry nights! I'll leave the rambling of the trip to the next few posts as it's still work in progress as I've way to many pictures to consolidate :)

In the meantime, there are a few things about Greece that reminded me very much of home:
1) The obvious hot weather
2) Athens feels and looks like Klang/Petaling Street (no kidding here)
3) The slower pace of life in general

Which brings us to another episode of home cooked Malaysian food ...

This is something I whipped up during the weekend for the housemates since it's been a while I cooked something homey. The beauty about home cooked stuff is that it's simple, no fuss, yet delicious and generally healthier than eating out

This is Stir Fried Pork with Mushroom and Carrots, garnished with some chopped spring onions (could have named it some Dragon/Phoenix related/Funky-Pig-Jumping-Over-the-Carrots or whatever, but sod it, its midnight and it's been a hard week with not much brain juice to spare ...)

Seasoning is simple like the theme: marinade the pork for at least an hour in a bit of corn flour, light soy sauce, sesame oil (for extra oomph!) and dark soy sauce (for color, if you fancy). For the vegetables, just chopped them in whatever shape you like (I did a flower one for the carrots), and sliced the mushrooms thinly and you're pretty much done! Of course garlic is always your base for stir fries, and all you have to do is brown them in oil, and then add the carrots (they take a while to cook) first, and the pork 5 minutes later, and the mushrooms last, adding very tiny amount of water if necessary. Remember to test the flavor and add a pinch of salt if necessary (season to taste).

Bought a 400g loin of cod of the highest grade in the supermarket seafood counter for the classic Cantonese style steamed fish, which costed a tiny bomb, but well worth it as it was fresh and flaky when done. Lay the sprigs of spring onions below the cod pieces, and fine ginger slices on top, and then just add light soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil before steaming it for 10 minutes or less, depending on size/thickness of the fish.

If you squint your eyes properly you could probably see another dish in the top left of the picture that just looks brown. Forgot to take a picture of that, but it's a dish that I grew up with: Steamed egg with Chinese Mushroom and Dried Prawns topping. Judging from feedback, it was the most popular dish of them all that night :D Promise to do one special post on the steam egg dish as I recently learnt a secret to the perfect one from a friend.

Anyways, expect lots of delicious Greek foodie banter next!

Review: Awana at South Kensington

It's been 3 months since I've been home, but yet it somehow feels much, much longer than that ... It may be the working factor, which probably make the days feel more strenuous and long, or it might just be London itself, doing one thing to another non stop, and the only time you can slowdown is the weekend which is way too short to begin with :P

So with the taste of familiar dishes from home feeling ever so distant all of a sudden, P and I decided to go for some authentic Malaysian street food, albeit in a fine dining setting, at Awana Restaurant in Sloane Avenue, London.

Having been there once, I was pleasantly surprised as my initial doubts of losing the mamak stall atmosphere whilst having those street food wasn't really an issue after all. Awana proved that having authentic traditional Malaysian food in a classy setting is possible and the Malaysian cuisine is increasingly well known and accepted in London just like its other Asian cousins (Thai, Chinese, Indian etc). We had the Rewards Menu as P had enough points for redemption to get us both a 3 course meal free!

For starters, we had Chicken Satay with Homemade Spicy Peanut Sauce and Popiah Sayur Goreng, which are vegetable spring rolls served with sweet chilli sauce.

The Popiah/Spring rolls were fresh, crisp and piping hot when served, always a good sign. It was filled with minced carrots and chopped Chinese mushrooms, nevertheless I found it a little too salty for my taste, but the sweet tangy chili sauce balanced it out so it was okay.

Definitely preferred the chicken satay starter! Perhaps its the peanut sauce factor, but I found the succulent chicken pieces to be well marinated and grilled to perfection, slightly charred, just the way it is back home. Peanut sauce is delicious, I love the bits they sprinkle on which gives a chunkier texture so the sauce can hold better when you dip your satay into it. Would be more authentic if they had the rice squares (ketupat) to go with it as well! And of course, more peanut sauce, I could drink that thing :P

P ordered his favorite Bandung drink, which is a pink colored drink consisting of rose syrup with added milk, hence the color. A popular drink back home as its cold and sweet, Awana definitely created a classier version of this drink when served in cocktail style, with swirls of mango and raspberry puree, lychee juice, rose syrup, milk, brown sugar - Fruity Bandung. As you can see below, they've not mixed the drink entirely and the layers of red rose syrup and milk and clearly separated.

Definitely like the funky cocktail glass a lot ...

For mains, we chose Ayam goreng kacang gajus and Kari Ayam. The former is basically chicken fillets stir fried with peppers and cashew nuts, whilst the latter is good ol' comfort food of (corn fed) chicken curry served with coconut, potato and snake beans.

The dishes were served in a nice dark green/brown plate, giving the white rice a nice stark contrast. Somehow gives you an impression of the exotic tropical cuisine you're about to experience ...

All in all, I felt that they were presented well, nothing surprising or unexpected taste wise.. Perhaps its the choice of the dishes itself that is not too exciting, given that I had higher expectations from previous visit having things like Lobster Char Kuey Teow (Lobster Stir Fried Rice Noodles), so it's not comparable:) The only gripe I probably have, especially for P, is that the portions are too small, but then that serves as a great excuse to try out many other dishes in their menu, as we'll see later ...

Desserts was probably one of the more exciting courses given that I love and miss the kuih-muih (local Malay cakes/desserts) from home. We decided to go for Tiga Krim Chocolate - a trio of chocolate mousses, served on a crisp biscuit with raspberry sauce ...

and Dadar - a pandan flavored pancake with a sweet dessicated coconut filling, served with a scoop of coconut icecream! The coconut ice cream was Awana's own addition, but it matched the dadar perfectly as pancake and ice cream usually never go wrong together.

The chocolate mouse fits well into any chocoholic's dream, since it has white, milk and dark chocolate all in one plate. Being a dark chocolate fan, I was slightly disappointed as it was infused with Brandy or some sort of alchohol which distorts the bittersweet taste I was looking for... but that's just me :)

Feeling a bit underfed given the tiny portions, we decided to indulge in some extra Roti Canai goodness post desserts :) For those who are not familiar, Roti Canai is a type of local flatbread with many of its variations found mainly in Asia. It's a usual breakfast item or a great tea time snack. Definitely not the healthiest of all breakfast, but heck, its so GOOD!

We ordered a Garlic Roti Canai (£5.50) and it arrived on our table fresh and crisp 10 minutes later after witnessing the roti chef exhibiting his roti-flipping skills. Apparently they have a large flat screen LCD focusing on the chef and it seems to be quite a star attraction at Awana. And yes, I can feel all your wide gaping mouth at the price tag for this, especially when it's like 20 times cheaper in Malaysia, LOL. But rest assured, it's well worth every penny when its done to perfection as in Awana. The roti was garing (dry and crispy) outside, but soft inside and melts in your mouth instantly! The accompanying dhal curry was nice, mild and did not overpower the slight hint of garlic flavor in the roti. So they say leaving the best for last, in this case it was definitely accidental for us :)

Overall, Awana did Malaysian cuisine a great justice, providing creative improvisation of local dishes in a classy dining ambiance without losing the key authenticity features, very important in our increasingly globalised world of food.

A few words of wisdom to maximise your gastronomic and cultural experience at Awana: be brave, be adventurous in terms of trying out a variety of new dishes and definitely go for at least one Roti Canai!

Awana
85, Sloane Avenue,
London SW3 3DX
Nearest Tube: South Kensington

"Konlo" Noodles

Is my absolute favorite breakfast back home in Malaysia. I think you already know that by now, I've blogged about it twice previously :P Seems like it's an annual affair, lol, check out the ones in 2007 and 2006! The char siu recipe is in there and it has never failed so far :)

It's probably the char siu (BBQ pork) that I'm more keen in, but nothing beats having them tossed with fresh egg noodles! This time, I decided to make some potato wedges for starters since we've got some leftovers ...

Not to difficult to make good wedges, all you need is some olive oil, salt, and even paprika/herbs if you like for the extra kick. Scrub them well and make sure you dry them properly with a cloth or kitchen towels. Slice them into wedges, thickness wise you can refer to the picture below for a good gauge. Important as you don't want them too burnt or undercooked! I had about 6 baby potatoes, sliced and lightly tossed in olive oil and salt, and grilled in the oven along with the marinaded pork for about 40 minutes at 200C.

The pork is crackling well about 20 minutes into the cooking, don't worry too much as it's usually the honey caramelising into the fat and having the burnt edges! When I did it the first time I was always too worried that my dinner will be black charcoal and constantly open and close the oven to check the meat, but this does impact the heating and the finishing of the meat. If the thickness is about 1-2cm, 40 minutes you'll be fine. You can flip the meat halfway through if desired

And the rest was pretty quick to prepare, just steaming some green beans (didn't have the right vegetable at the time, i.e. pak choy or kai lan - chinese style vegetables). But wedges turned out great, brown and crispy skin, but still soft inside. Good with some dipping or finger food. Fresh noodles took a quick 2 minutes boiling and strained under cold water (makes it more chewy, more "bite" so they always say). Didn't toss it with dark/light soy sauce as its naturally slightly salty. One special tip: adding a hint of sesame oil to toss with the noodles does add an edge to the dish - you get an extra nutty aroma and smoother noodles too!

Doesn't it look beautiful?

Of Portobello Market and Permutation

Working life is miles different from being a student. Somehow part of me is really glad to move on and do something different instead of studying, yet there are perks of being a student in a beautiful place like Cambridge (except the silly workload). There are endless activities to get involved in, I definitely do miss the cookouts, formals, and the proximity of everything/friends whilst belonging in a quaint university town.

Working is not all bad either, you get to switch off after working, take a break/chill out, and finally make things happen and execute deals. But its a different ball game in a way that your colleagues are not really your real/close friends, so that takes time to get used to, although having fun/nice people to work with is one of the biggest plus point that'll probably make you hate/love your job :)

Anyways, you all probably know my fascination with markets whether its pasar pagi (morning markets) in Malaysia, or Christmas ones in Germany. All is good and I love it when people congregate in one place and display whatever random things they'd like to interest people to buy. I've been to Portobello Market (near Nottinghill Gate tube station) before, but it's nice to take a stroll in it on a Saturday as it has the widest array of stalls that day, despite being a bit too touristy.

I'd like to highlight this stall I spotted, unfortunately, after I had my lunch. Probably spotted it more through my nose that sight, but it has the most amazing looking/smelling Paella! The pan was lifesize too, and pretty good value for money too for the generous portions ...

Here's a close up of the Seafood Paella, I suspect that will trigger a Paella cooking session again pretty soon!

Meanwhile, I haven't forgot to cook, my dear readers :P Life's a bit too hectic at the moment settling down with so many changes and transition, but yeap, I haven't forgot about cooking for sure. This is what I conjured up in my kitchen, first cooked meal in the flat I must say. This is the time where you open your fridge and see what you've got, do some simple permutation and see what you can come up with.

So in my fridge I had some minced pork, chopped vegetables, eggs, noodles, garlic, soy sauce, chili sauce. Hence its fried noodles with those things, predictable. First, fried the chopped garlic, whilst boiling some water in a saucepan for the noodles. Then add the minced pork and fry till half cooked. The vegetables can be added then. By this time, the noodles should have been soft, drained, and add these to the wok. Finally, season with soy sauce to taste, then add the egg in the middle of the wok and let it set a little before scrambling it up with the noodles. The extra thing I added was a dash of sesame oil for a smoother, silkier taste, and of course a naughty scoop of chili to spice things up a little. Turns out pretty good, reminds me how long (2 months!) since I ate home cooked food :)

National Food

In conjunction with Malaysia's Independence Day the end of this month, I thought it'd be appropriate to list down my favourite food that I think represents Malaysia. But then due to the immense culinary diversity in Malaysia, I just have too many favourites (if that makes sense) across the different local cuisines.

Hence, if I just have to list down my absolute favourite which I think is uniquely Malaysian, it's gotta be Nasi Lemak and Ice Kacang.

Nasi Lemak typically comprises of some warm fragrant rice steamed with coconut milk, slices of cucumber, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, hardboiled egg, a good dash of sambal (a sweet and hot chili paste with caramelized onions) and chicken/beed rendang. The meat curry can vary from seafood (squid, prawn) to chicken and more usually beef. The preparation of each ingredient is rather simple, but it's slightly time consuming since there's so many ingredients needed for this dish. I'll post one in the future with my simpler version :)

In my opinion, Ice Kacang goes perfectly hand in hand with Nasi Lemak especially if the sambal is pungent and spicy! A standard ice kacang is made of shaved ice, dollops of Gula Melaka (a local brown sugar syrup), creamer, accompanied with some red beans, jelly, peanuts, sweet corn and canned fruits to form a gigantic snow mountain. It is a good drink/dessert on a hot summer's day, or for those craving for a good sugar high, hehe.

Currently in Princeton, US at the moment. First day of training is pretty hardcore. Hope to get some good posts in NYC next week then! Stay tuned :)

Bah Zhang (Savoury Dumplings) Round 2

This is the revenge of the Bah Zhang that I'd promised since the first attempt in May that went awry. Good and accurate control of the water level is key, turns out perfect after the porridge-y version episode :)! However, this time I was less ambitious and reduced my 'guinea pigs' by 33% (from 3 to 2) :P

Same recipe as before (check out the May 07 archive for details), here are some photos of my attempt. This is the lap cheong (chinese sausages), sliced and dry fried. The more observant ones will notice that there's a small piece of the fat casing that fell off the top layer of the sausage on the table.

This is the wok in action, a picture of stir fried pork loin pieces (I used this instead of chicken this time), dried prawns, and Chinese mushrooms with seasonings.

Adding the glutinous rice that were soaked overnight, there's loads of tossing and stirring to be done...
Adding some light and dark soy sauce (I'm not really an Oyster sauce person somehow) for color and taste ...
Yan kindly brought a special extra ingredient of chestnuts to add the authenticity of the dish. And to think that I even forgot about that! You can see them in the final result below :D


Another dish improved, thankfully :) Taste wise you'd better consult Yan and/or P about it for a more objective opinion, as it's the norm to love eating what you cook :P

Mapo Tofu

Tofu has always been one of my favourite dishes as it's pretty versatile and adds different texture to dishes. There are mainly the soft, silken tofu's that are very fragile and breaks easily, or the harder, firmer version which are usually deep fried. Yet both types can still be used in soups, stews and stir fry dishes.

So here's a recipe for a classic tofu dish for those who love a slightly spicier kick to the relatively bland tofu, it's called Mapo Tofu, quite standard in most Chinese restaurants I'd presume. Getting the sauce right with a good balance of sweet, salty and hot is the key to this dish. The version I present below is a quick and simple method, do try it out! And of course, let me know how it goes :)

Mapo Tofu

Ingredients

2 x 400g packs of firm white tofu (in water), slice into big cubes
100g of minced pork
Garlic, 1 bulb, skinned and chopped coarsely
Spring onions, sliced coarsely
Chilli, deseeded and sliced coarsely
4-5 bulbs of shallots, deep fried
2 table spoon of preserved bean paste (tau cheo)
1 table spoon of hot chilli paste or sambal (I used a mixture of grinded fresh chilli and garlic)
300ml water
1 tablespoon of cornflour, dissolved in 2 tea spoon of water
Sugar, to taste

Steps

First, heat up the wok and stir fry the chopped garlic till fragrant and add the minced pork.
Continue stir frying till slightly browned.
Then, gently put the tofu pieces in and stir carefully around the wok and try not to break them.
Add the sauce mixture of tau cheo and fresh chilli paste.
Continue stirring for a minute or two before adding the water and let the tofu simmer for 5 minutes or so.
Do give the sauce a taste and add some sugar accordingly. You wouldn't want it too sweet, salty nor too hot. The sugar should balance out some of the saltiness and spiciness.
When you're satisfied with the taste, then add the cornflour mixture and stir the tofu around for a few seconds till sauce thickens and turn off the heat.
While it's still hot, garnish with some chopped spring onions, chili and fried shallots before serving.

There you go :) Note that I was slightly unconventional in the version of this picture with added mushroom as well as a friend was a mushroom fanatic.

London Escapade

London was on the menu last week for a great break from Cambridge, tying it in with watching Les Miserables, the musical! The best part was getting center first row seats, as I booked it real in advance during the Easter term. 3 words, a must watch (!) and it's my favourite musical thus far :)

But before theater, a group of us paid a visit to C&R, the Malaysian restaurant in the heart of Chinatown for a quick bite. Brought R there as she has not been before and I was keen to introduce this place to her as the food there is quite authentic. This is the Kampung Nasi Goreng (Village Fried Rice) that P had. Nicely done with the rice dry and separated well, fried with chilli and seafood and some cabbage.

R and I had Wah Tan Hor, as you'd probably have guessed, since it's my favourite noodle dish when eating out back home. It is flat rice noodles (kuey teow) fried with vegetables, fish cakes, thin slices of pork and seafood, all covered in a starchy eggy sauce. MmmmM bliss :P

Unfortunately, I had food poisoning soon after dinner, and thankfully it was much better before the show start after spending some quality time in the loo. :S

Seems like this is a recurring theme as my brother had the same experience a few month ago after having dinner there. Sadly the food quality in terms of cleanliness has gone down tremendously, so do be careful if you are still going there for dinner. Food there is still great though.

C&R Cafe Restaurant
3 Rupert Court
Soho
London W1D

In the name of Cod

This is one of my favorite type of fish, simply because it's so versatile, with white flesh that flakes easily. You can steam, grill, pan fry and even deep fry it (for fish and chips) as is common in the UK. Back home in Malaysia, this fish is relatively expensive given that it's not local. So it's best to eat it at the region where it's freshest :)

In the UK, Atlantic cod is one of the most common kind of fish to be found in fish and chips, along with haddock and plaice. This time, I got 2 pieces of cod since I'm starting to miss the home style cooking a bit, hence the first was to steam it Cantonese style, with spring onions and LOADS of shredded ginger, with a table spoon of soy sauce and sesame oil ...

Perhaps slightly over steamed (should be done in 5 minutes) but still amazing nevertheless, especially with cravings satisfied :) Do remember to add a bit of sesame oil as it prevents the fish from sticking at the bottom of the metal plate.

Next up is another home favorite of mine, it's originally deep fried cod with caramelized onions and garlic topping. Since I can't be bothered to deep fry it and finished my corn flour stock, I decided to steam it again, but in a separate pan, heat up some oil and fry the onions and chopped garlic till super fragrant and brown. After adding a dash of light and dark soy sauce, simply just put it on top of the fish as a beautiful accompaniment. Best with deep fried fishes (or at least pan fry!), don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards though, the garlic breath should kill anything from miles away! :P

By the way, exams start tomorrow, fingers crossed, and hence the title of the post ... LOL Freedom in a week's time, and hope I survive through that with all the lastminute.com work -_-

Chicken round 3! --- Chicken Curry

Craving for the spicy kick and outcome was this :) Chicken curry with onions, long beans, mushroom and carrots, simmered till soft and thick, best served with a half bitten toast! :D

Chicken Porridge

Having bought a pack of 3-4 chicken breast meat, I foresee that it'll be a series of "Chicken dishes in 101 ways" LOL :P Well, probably in 3-4 ways in this case...

Hence, following up from the previous Wagamama inspired dish, Ginger Chicken Noodle (Udon), this is the 2nd recipe using chicken breast that I'd last night ... Cantonese style porridge with shredded chicken. It's really simple to make really, especially if you have a slow cooker (rice cooker will do too).

In a rice pot, put 1 cup of rice (depending on how many you are cooking for, this is for 1-2 person) with 7-8 cups of water. Add Chinese mushrooms, ginger slices (optional) and anything else you want really. But to stick to the authentic version, you can add a big chunk of unsliced chicken meat (breast meat is used here) to cook. It takes about an hour or you can boil it until you reach your desired consistency. You can add some chicken stock cubes as well for taste.

Make sure it doesn't burn though! Yes, porridge can actually get burnt and still looks normal (i.e white with a sticky consistency). You know you've made a blunder when you start smelling a burnt smell from your porridge. So remember to keep an eye on it and slow down the fire once it's boiling! For those who are using pressure cookers, I think it should not be a problem. For me, I have a smart rice cooker with a porridge function, hence it takes about an hour where it automatically keeps warm after that.

After it's all done, take the piece of meat out and flake/shred it with a fork. Scoop some porridge in a bowl, top it up with some chopped spring onions, shredded chicken and ginger slices with sesame oil, if desired. Simple and comforting on a rainy evening... I've also added loads of deep fried shallots for the extra 'oomph' :)

Loh Mai Kai/Bah Zhang?!

Man, the weather has been gloomy all these week with a bit of a spring rain session, better hope it'll be back to good ol' sunny Cam soon!

Meanwhile, this is what I did a month ago (delayed due to a long post), to celebrate the completion of my dissertation. Suits well with my dim sum craving too :) I had a bag of glutinous rice, mushroom, dried prawns, and lap cheong (chinese sausages), which easily equals Loh Mai Kai (Glutinous Chicken Rice)! This is not difficult to make, it's just lengthy with more steps, so don't be afraid to try it out! Note that I've done it impromptu and the ingredients and recipe may be unconventional, but it still tastes authentic :)

Ok, so here's what you need (tentatively) :

5 chicken drumsticks, deboned and meat sliced into bite size, reserve bones
3 cups of glutinous rice, washed & drained
2 tbsp oil
some chinese mushrooms, soaked & sliced
1-2 chinese sausages, thinly sliced
2 1/2 tbsp fried shallots
A handful of dried prawns, soaked, reserve the 'dried prawns water'

Seasonings A
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp ginger juice
1/4 sesame oil
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 corn flour
A dash of white pepper

Seasonings B
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp five spice powder

Step-by-Step (Oh Baby! LOL Anyone recall New Kids on the Block? :P)

1. Season chicken slices with Seasonings A for 1 hour
2. Make chicken soup stock by adding the bones into a pot of water with the reserved 'dried prawns water, put to boil or slow cook for 1 hour
3.Heat the wok, and dry fry (i.e. without oil) the chinese sausages till fragant and crispy, set aside
4. Heat (sesame) oil in a wok, and fry the shallots till crispy
5. Add the chicken and Chinese mushrooms, stir fry for a minute or two
6. Add in the glutinous rice and Seasoning B, mix and continue stir frying
7. Finally, use a ladle and scoop some of the homemade chicken stock into the wok, allow rice mixture to boil till cook. Do adjust the amount of liquid carefully that is required for cooking the rice and not add a lot of water in one go!
8. Remember to add the Chinese sausages before you serve!

Here are some illustrative pictures for guidance:

Homemade chicken stock

Dry-frying the chinese sausages (lap cheong)

Soaked and sliced dried mushrooms and dried prawns


Stirfrying the dried prawns in the beginning


Stirfrying the well marinated chi
Adding in the rice to the mixture and mixing them well ...


Add the delicious chicken stock and put to boil ...

A HUGE batch of cooked loh mai kai !

Unfortunately, I added too much water hence the porridge-like consistency :S But nevertheless, the authentic taste is there. In effect, some of my friends said it tastes like Bah Zhang (chinese dumplings), which is probably true, given that the ingredients I've listed is actually more towards the making of the dumplings, LOL. I guess I just improvised what my mom makes at home and didn't know that Loh Mai Kai doesn't come with Chinese sausages!

Note that due to the lack of steaming tools, I did not resort to the original way of steaming the glutinous rice for this dish. Be careful about water estimation, as you've seen how my experience went! I'll definitely make it again, and this time, it'll hopefully be more authentic :D

Bet that we all miss something fundamental at home that is never found overseas...

The ubiquitous stalls at night selling mamak street food with your all time local favourites: mamak mee, Ramlee burgers, indo mee, pasembur, nasi lemak ... and of course the kazillion different types of Roti from A-Z. You can read more about mamak here :)

So, this is the closest I could get to satisfy that random mamak craving of mine yesterday ... Thank god for the wisdom of buying a frozen pack of roti canai in Chinatown long ago, it certainly proved useful in "emergency" situations like this, hehe

The ready made ones are really easy to prepare, just dry pan fry them in a hot pan till fluffy and crispy ...

Accompanied by homemade 'dhal' which I substituted with chickpeas in kurma sauce, but that's just fine :D

Yummiest dinner ever ... I'm a happy bunny :P