Introducing Ibumie Instant Noodles & Update

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I stayed at my friend's house while people working on my hardwood floor. When I returned, I had to air my house plus lots of cleaning to do. My pantry needed a thorough cleaning, not helping with the amount of stuff I have in there. Then, I have to wash all my plates, utensil, pots & pans, containers, basically everything. Hence, I have not been really cooking.

Worst of all, my Edda got spoilt at my friend and Lily's house and have been clingy to me ever since we returned. She wanted me to carry her all the times, I put her down, she cried, I walked away, she cried and crawled to look for me. She didn't even want to open her eyes to see the treat I present in front of her, she just cried and cried. She only stop when I carried her. Thus, I need to re-train her to be independent again. If not I won't be able to do anything. Today is so much better, at least she started to play on her own again, crawling around and play with her sister instead of crying and looking for me to carry her.



I want to introduce this Indomie instant noodles to you readers (since I haven't been cooking and have been eating instant noodles), if you haven't tried it already. These Prawn noodle and Herbal Duck Flavour noodle are soooo good. I totally loved it and thought that it tasted better than Maggi mee. The Prawn noodle also comes with dried shallot bits and actually kinda spicy. The herbal duck flavour noodle has a subtle herbal taste in the soup. Furthermore, this brand is more affordable too. If you haven't tried this brand, go ahead and give it a try. For those that living in the States, you can buy it at MyTOA.

We really get lots of variety of instant noodles these days huh?

Merdeka Open House 2007: Murtabak Muhibbah

Babe in the city left an invitation at my comment box for this year Merdeka Open House 2007: Muhibbah. This year theme is to create a different ethnic group dish and explain how this dish has been known to me and why it has became my favorite. It was an honor to be invited and I am proud to present you my first participation in the Merdeka Open House.



Murtabak is a well-known Indian pancake stuffed with curry meat, onion and egg. It is also known as Martabak in Indonesia. This Indian Malaysian snack is commonly found in the mamak stall or pasar malam (night market). Mamak stall or hawker stall is very common in Malaysia and it usually filled with mouth-watering food and snacks.

While growing up in Malaysia, I love to go jalan-jalan (walk) in the night market. Since the night market is not only filled with food but also things to see and buy. I guess it is also one of Malaysian way of passing time or people watching. But these days, the youngsters might prefer the air-conditioned mega Mall instead of pasar malam. Haha! Anyway, that was how I discovered murtabak! While walking around the pasar malam searching for my dinner and got attracted by this Indian man making and cooking his murtabak for sales. He cooked his murtabak in a big rectangle griddle. First he spread the thin dough on the griddle and then he put in the filling, spread beaten egg on top, wrap it up and pan-fried until cooked and crispy on the outside. That's how I got introduced to Murtabak, by watching how the Indian man cooked his and bought some and tried it myself. Murtabak is delicious because it has the crispy exterior and thus crispy as you bite into it and then your mouth just filled with the delicious curry filling of meat and veggie. Who wouldn't love it? That's how it became one of my favorite snacks to eat.



I got my Murtabak making inspiration from Teczcape. T, thanks for providing me with this idea to fulfill my Muhibbah project. :)

Here's my adapted recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup green peas
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp. sugar
1 egg, beaten
5 Springs Home frozen plain roti paratha

Method:

Heat 2 Tbsp. canola oil in a non-stick pan and add in onion. Fry til soften, add in ground pork, separate and fry til cooked. Add in bell pepper and green peas and all the seasoning. Add a little water if needed. Mix well and pour the beaten egg on it. Fry til the egg is cooked. Dish out and set aside.

Let the roti paratha soften til foldable consistency, about 5 minutes. This can be quite a sticky job. Spread the filling in the center of the roti paratha and fold in on all edges to close. Put fold side down on a med. heat non-stick pan with a little oil and pan-fry until brown and crispy. Then, flip to the other side and do the same.

Serve warm! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.


Lastly, for all the Malaysian around the world, I would love to wish you a Happy Independence Day! Kepada semua rakyat-rakyat Malaysian, Selamak Hari Merdeka ya! :D

Tags: Merdeka Open House 2007

Nonya Assam Heh (Nyonya Tamarind Prawns)

One of the Penang Nyonya dishes is Assam Heh or Tamarind Prawns. I first learned about this dish from my mom. My mom was from Alor Star, Kedah and thus a lot of her cooking has been influenced by the Nyonya in Penang. I guess any dish that tasted good would be adapted in a family, and in this case my mom. It has became my favorite because of how delicious it is and how easy it is to cook. Tamarind is a common item used in a Malaysian household. And I would love to share with you this easy Tamarind Prawns recipe. The used of tamarind made this dish a Nyonya dish (incorporation of Malay ingredient into Chinese cuisine).

Banana Fritters/ Kuih Kodok

I finally found a quick and easy way to get rid of my ripen banana instead of use it for banana cake. That is to make banana fritters, it's easier, less thing for me to wash, and can use as little as one banana! I don't know about you, but I hardly left with 3 ripen bananas that nobody wants to eat. It will either be one or two and that was not enough to make banana cake or muffin. So, I adapted my recipe from Isha's kuih kodok. And since I only have two black banana looking at me instead of three, this is what I did,

BBQ Pork Noodle/ Char Siew Mee

Another one of my lazy dinner. Decided to make char siew because I saw this and also pork was on sale. So, I marinated my pork a day before with LKK char siew sauce, hoisin sauce, honey and dark soy sauce. Then, I baked in preheated 400'F oven for 20 minutes on one side, and then flip it over, brush with more marinade and baked 15 minutes more. After that broil for 3-5 minutes.



I added fish balls and cabbage. I can't eat a meal without a veggie and since I didn't go grocery shopping at the Asian store, I was left with green cabbage. I just blanched it in hot water (since cabbage can be eaten raw), but what a mistake! It didn't go well together at all because the cabbage was still kinda hard. As figure, my hubby didn't eat much of the cabbage. I myself couldn't finish all the cabbage too! :P What a mismatch!

Pad Thai/Phad Thai My Way

I bought a thin Thai rice stick noodle recently just because it caught my eyes. Was thinking to probably fry mee siam with it since it's very thin. Then, not sure what happen it became Pad Thai. I guess I needed to use the lime that I bought last week. I have the tendency to buy limes and then I have no idea what to do with it. Normally it just sat in my refrigerator and turned bad!

All I know was Pad Thai needed to have fish sauce, tamarind juice and sugar and I have all of those so I was all set for my Pad Thai experiment.
So here sharing with you my imprompto version. If you like your pad thai really sweet, just add more sugar. Drizzle more fresh lime juice for a more sour taste.

Golden Bread Shrimp Rolls

This recipe has been with me for 19 years. I was asked to prepare a dish in the final day of my secondary school cooking class. At that young age, I knew nothing about cooking, let alone came out with a recipe. Thus, this recipe was courtesy of my mom. I recalled I really enjoyed the cooking class but have completely no idea how I ended out in that class (Maybe we have an option of cooking or sewing?). Anyway, Janet, if you are reading this, do you still remember? I remembered we made yam ring together because you were my partner. I think you helped me cooked this dish too because I remembered you mixing the shrimps with curry powder? Correct me if I'm wrong! It is ages ago!

Recipe is posted at Allrecipes.com. I posted this recipe in 1999 when allrecipe.com was just launched. I received a very negative review in 2003 and I was telling myself, I can't believe she ruined this for me. Come on, who is going to try a recipe with a one star rating, at least I won't. Then, recently I found out I got another review and it was 5 stars!! How happy that made me and kudo to him to give this one star recipe a try and loved it! So, calling all readers, if you tried this recipe of mine and loved it and is a member of allrecipe.com, PLEASEEEE go and give me a good review okay? Preferably 4 stars and above lah....hahaha....show a little love or support for me leh. *so thick face*

Okay, I took the trouble to snap step-by-step pictures here. This recipe is very easy and you should have all the ingredients at home. I made this again because I want to post a picture at Allrecipe with the intention to entice or seduce more people to give this a try. :P Please do go to allrecipes for the complete recipe.

Click next for step-by-step pictures guide:

Har Mee / Prawn Noodle/ Hokkien Mee

Looks good or not? Want to eat or not? What if I tell you, you can make this too! Want to learn the secret or you already know?



I made my har mee with thinly sliced pork slices, tofu pok, shrimps of course, fish balls, kangkong, hard boiled egg and spaghetti noodle (if you look closer enough, you might spot it). Then top with crispy shallots and can I say it was super delicious!! The secret is the Delimas Prawn Noodle Paste! You got to try it to believe it! If you like the curry laksa, this is even better, very authentic, just like having a bowl at the hawker store, might even taste better than some. I made a mistake by adding a little of my super spicy chili because the broth is spicy in itself, so I was sweating while eating it, but so shiok man. This paste got the thumb up from me and even my high expectation hubby!

Note: If you try making the prawn mee before, you know it's pretty time consuming. But with this, your can have a delicious bowl of prawn mee in less than 30 minutes. One package yields about 4 bowls.

Dinner Aug 1, 2007

Featuring my home cook everyday dishes again. Usually it is just a meat and a veggie dish sometimes plus soup. But today I misunderstood the amount of pork I had, I thought it was only a bit of pork left so I took out another veggie. Hence, we ended out with three dishes. So, a lunchbox for each of us for the next day. :)


Simple stir-fry baby bok choy with garlic and oyster sauce. Then top with crispy shallots.


Stir-fry pork slices with scallion, ginger and dried red peppers in dark soy sauce.


Stir-fry Kang Kong in shrimp paste and chili sambal. Recipe is here. Same cooking style.

Stir-fried Tom Yam Chicken

Did you ever run out of brain juice as to what to cook for dinner? Every weekdays I have to think of something to cook so that I can prep them while Edda is taking her naps and ready to cook when hubby return from work.
Today when I opened my refrigerator, I saw a packet of sliced chicken breast. I have totally no clue of how to cook it but I needed to marinate my chicken first. So, I just simply marinated it with some soy sauce, shao xing cooking wine, white pepper, garlic powder and cornstarch, then in the fridge it went.
Then when Edda was taking her nap, I went to look at my fridge again. Saw some cilantro that was about to go bad, so I have to use this. Normally I would cook them in curry powder, but I wanted something different. Saw a bottle of Tom Yam paste sitting there and "light bulb", it should go well together. Saw some yellow bell pepper, used that as well and came out with my stir-fry tom yam chicken.



Thai basil will go very well with this dish too. This is a very simple dish to prepare and cook.

Goodies from Ipoh, Malaysia

My friend, M just got back from Malaysia and look what she brought me! The famous Ipoh biscuits, chicken biscuits and more. Needless to say I am in biscuit heaven right now, enjoying these delicious biscuits with my morning cup of coffee and later afternoon tea. Ahhh...bliss!

M, if you read this, thank you very much! It's really appreciated.

P/s: These are all so yummy! I'm such a glutton that I might finish all in a few days! *gulp*

Introducing: Uncle Ho Bak Kut Teh Instant Noodle

When I first saw this, my thought was, "Whao! Instant noodle also got bak kut teh flavor now!?" Then, "Hmm...not sure it's good or not since I never eaten or serve my bak kut teh with maggi mee before, a bit weird leh. How would it tasted like?" *Very curious & unsure* (BTW, we called all instant noodle, maggi mee here)

If you asked me, I probably wouldn't have gotten it because my taste bud is still very traditional or I love to stick to my familiar ground. Some how I received this from Ray and glad that I was given a chance to try it.



Verdict: I liked it! Evy loved it too and kept saying, "Mmm..hao zhi" (yummy) She even drank the soup and finished all the Goji/wolberries I put in there. So Ray, thanks for given me (a skeptic!) a chance to try this! :)

Note: Next time use less water than the amount called for since I found the flavor a bit diluted. Use 400ml instead or suit yourself. Then again, I love very strong BKT flavor.

For those who wants to give it a try, you can buy it here.

Edda Update

Little Edda is now crawling every where in the house. She loves to explore every thing by touching and tasting. Her current obsession is standing with the help of an object. Ever since she discovered that she could stand on her own with help, she has been standing up in her crib calling me to wake up. It is a sight to be seen every time I open my eyes to see her standing there with her head pop out looking at me. I caught her climbing up the stairs the other day, she was on the third stairs before I realized it and she just gave me a big wide smiles, like telling me, look mommy, look at what I have accomplished!

She now has three teeth on top and two teeth at the bottom, making it five. With the new found teeth, now she is eating cookie like a pro. She realized that she could actually bite the cookie into pieces as well as chocolate. I gave her some spaghetti with meat sauce the other day and she loved it. She just slurping the noodle away. She loves to eat by using her fingers, and yes she finally achieved pincher grasp and can pick up thing as little as a rice grain. What a mommy nightmare! She is drinking through her sippy cup, mommy glass and even surprised mommy the other day by drinking through a straw cup! *only happen once though*

She claps her hands when she is happy. She would lean on our shoulder when we asked her to. She also loves to sing along with mommy whenever she hears the alphabet song "ABC". It is too cute to hear her sing along with her baby voice because I never realize baby can sing too! Now I am teaching her how to wave bye-bye and can't wait to hear her utter her first word preferably "mama". ^0*

Look at her trying to play with her sister's notebook. LOL!