Introducing: King Oyster Mushroom

Have you seen this in the Asian market and wondering what it is? It is called king oyster mushroom which is also referring to as almond abalone mushroom in China as when it is cooked, the texture is similar to that of abalone. I was told of this mushroom when shopping with Lily (she introduced me to a lot of things eh...hehe). She told me this is the fresh abalone mushroom (instead of canned) that we read about in the forum. I was like really and quickly grabbed one to try. Since that day, I have been buying this mushroom every time I was in an Asian market. I really like the meaty white steam as well as the cap as this mushroom really soaked up the flavor of the broth you cooked it in.



This is what I came out with. Just a simply stir-fry and then cooked it in a oyster sauce flavored broth and top on green veggie. So good man, even my hubby finished it all. I also stir-fry this mushroom with sliced chicken breasts for variation. If you spot this mushroom in the store next time, do give it a try ya! :)

Ground Pork & Mushroom Dried Noodle

I organized an annual potluck picnic in the park this past Saturday. It's an event where we meet and eat in the park where the kids can enjoy some outdoor play time. The weather turned out to be so cooperating and nice, and we had a fun time eating a variety of food. Too bad, I don't have a picture of the spread because I didn't bring my camera out. But I did take a picture of what I brought to the picnic before we left the house.

Moist Chocolate Cake

I wanted to try this Moist Chocolate Cake because it looked so good and easy. This cake indeed turned out very soft, moist and delicious. Thanks Pupsha! :o) I have tried several recipes from her blog and it all turned out great. I simply love her easy recipes!



I made a mistake though. Can you spot it?

Don't think you can since I bury my mistake from your eyes. LOL! Anyway, I made a mistake by baking it in a bundt pan since I thought it would make a prettier cake. What a disaster!!! My cake got stucked on the pan again and turned out broken. The picture above is the only piece that was presentable. I purposely bought PAM for baking with flour and thought this would solve my problem. Since I also saw a review of this item at American Test Kitchen the other day with colorful result. They tested it with bundt pan and said all their cake turned out non-stick and beautiful. So, I quickly went out and bought one (even paid more to get the exact same brand). However, not in my case though. *sob sob* Pam, why you let me down? Do you think I should let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes first before I invert it on a cooling rack to cool completely? I inverted mine while the cake first out of the oven and it literally got broken into half. Aiyaya.... just horrible!

Anyway, this cake is simply delicious, so soft and moist and now it's my keeper recipe. Next time I would bake it in a square/round pan and lined with parchment paper and greased it, just for precaution. Oh, for my bundt pan, I only need to bake it for 30 minutes.

Japanese Seaweed Salad

I bought myself a packet of dried seaweed (Dolkak-Cham Miyuk) at H-Mart while shopping with Lily the other day. She told me a little bit would do because it expands a lot. So, I just used a scissor to cut a small corner off and soaked it in hot water. After 30 minutes, when I opened the cover, whoa! it really EXPAND A LOT and thus I left with extra seaweed. I only need about 1/2 cup for my Gochujang tofu soup. So, what about the rest of the seaweed? I need to do something with it and thus turned it into the seaweed salad that I concocted myself.

Green Tea Daifuku/ Mochi

Daifuku is a Japanese sweet consisting of a small round glutinous rice cake/mochi stuffed with sweet filling. Most Daifuku are covered in a fine layer of corn or taro starch to prevent them from sticking to each other, believe me this is one sticky dessert without the flour. I adapted my Green Tea Daifuku from Hugbear aka LeeLee and used the basic red bean paste as filling. I have tried it plain with toasted ground peanuts before and it was yummy as well.

Chocolate Swiss Roll

What can I say, after seeing the Swiss roll one after another popping up at East Meets West Kitchen, I got motivated. I adapted this easy Swiss roll recipe from my previous Pandan Kaya Jelly Roll . I wanted to use this recipe again because (1) I wanted to proof that I can still make a Swiss roll without the 1 Tbsp. of hot water (as in the original recipe). (2) No butter or oil was used in this recipe, thus a healthier version.

I turned this into Chocolate Swiss Roll because I wanted to use Nutella as filling. Little did I know this combination can hardly see the swirling effect of Swiss roll. In addition, I didn't roll it once out of the oven and thus the top got cracks. :( Anyway, as long as it still tasted good right? ;)

Look what I found

Ooh...ooh...got caught!


Mom, I'm just tasting sister's cookie.


It's yummy, mommy! Sorry for the mess ya!

This is what happen when her sister lay her cookie around and she found it. Often time she would knock over her sister cup of water/juice/Milo too! What a "tham jiak" little girl I have! :) She just want a taste of everything.

Tagged: 12 Layers

Layer One : On the outside
Name : Ching
DOB : Prefer not to tell, but a LEO here.
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Hair Colour: Black
Righty or Lefty: Righty

Layer Two : On the Inside
Your Heritage: Hokkein lang here.
Your Fears : Death of loved ones.
Your Weaknesses: Can't swim and gullible.
Your Perfect Pizza: Pizza Hut's pan pizza.

Layer Three: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your Thoughts First Waking Up: Need to bring my girls to the Zoo.
Your Bedtime: Around 10-11pm. Hard to stay up with little one since my schedule catered around her.
Your Most Missed Memory: Travelling overseas with my parents.

Layer Four: Your pick
Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi.
McDonald's or Burger King: Burger King.
Single or group dates : Both. I value family time but once in awhile I like group dates.
Adidas or Nike: Don't really care.
Tea or Nestea: Tea.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate always.
Cappuccino or Coffee: Cappuccino.

Layer Five: Do You
Smoke: Never, don't like people who smoke either.
Curse: No.
Have a crush: No, how can I? LOL!
Think you've been in love: Definitely.
Go to school: Graduated. Horray, finally no more exams!!
Want to get married: Already.
Think you're a health freak: Not really, believe everything in moderation.

Layer Six: In The Past Month Have you...
Drank alcohol: Not a alcohol person.
Gone to the mall: Nope, I should!
Eaten sushi: Yes.
Dyed your hair: Nope.

Layer Seven: Have You Ever...
Played A Stripping Game: Never, are you kidding?
Changed Who You Were To Fit In: Never, if you want to be my friend, love me for who I am or get lost! :P

Layer Eight: You're Hoping
To Be Married: Done that!
For a: Long and healthy life with my hubby and two daughters.

Layer Nine: In a Boy (For guys, In a Gal)
Best Eye + Best Hair Color Combination: Who cares?
Short Hair or Long Hair: Short of course!

Layer Ten: What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago: Doing this.
1 Hour Ago: Eating breakfast.
4.5 Hours Ago: Sleeping.
1 month Ago: Donno leh.
1 Year Ago: 9 months pregnant and wondering who's my 2nd daughter was going to look like.

Layer Eleven: Finish The Sentence
I Love: My little family, parents & siblings.
I Feel: Happy and fulfilled.
I Hate: Hypocrites.
I Hide: When I need time to be alone and think.
I Miss: Being around my parents and siblings.

Layer Twelve: Tag Five People
Anyone who hasn't done this, feel free to do it.

Stir-Fried Rice Macaroni

I was introduced to this rice macaroni by Lily while we shopped together at the Asian store. She told me this dried noodle resembled the "lor see fun" and since I have been wanting to eat "lor see fun", I quickly grabbed it and put in my cart. Sorry for the empty packet because I only remembered to take a picture after I done cooking it. Lily, thanks for the recommendation! :)

This is what I came out with. Stir-fry rice macaroni with "chai hsin" and fish cakes. The sauce I used were oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and sesame paste. It tasted pretty good along with some cut chili padi. But I don't think it really resemble the "lor see fun" leh. Man, I miss eating "lor see fun" with ground pork.

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!

Dak Gochujang Bulgogi (Korean Spicy Chicken Dish)

Gochujang is a spicy Korean hot chili paste that used widely in Korean cooking. While paying for the smallest tub I could find, I saw the lady behind me with her two giant size Gochujang tubs, I mean GIANT tubs, man. I was wondering whether she open a Korean restaurant?

After seeing Cooking Ninja's Gochujang Bulgogi, I told her I need to buy myself Gochujang so that I can try this dish of hers. I made a little twist and made mine into dak gochujang bulgogi ~ Korean spicy chicken dish. This was the first time I cooked a dish using this method. Frying without oil and with all the marinade until the chicken was cooked. This dish was sweet and spicy and tasted pretty good. However, my hubby took a tiny bite and won't touch the dish again. I wonder whether the color put him off or what? I asked him why he didn't like this dish and I received a silent respond. So, until now I am still clueless. Well, nevermind, more for me! ;)

My Simple Rojak

Rojak is a Malaysian salad. The sauce is mainly made of shrimp paste, chili and belacan. I named it my simple rojak because of the limited ingredients, I only had jicama and seedless cucumber. I used the ready-made rojak sauce from CKC and it was delicious as it tasted very authentic and a wee bit spicy. I topped mine with extra ground peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.

Want a bite of my jicama?

P/s It definitely need "grilled you char kway", fried tofu, mango, pineapple and green papaya to make it more "shiok"! But I have none yet very tham jiak (glutton) and thus this "bor liao" (simple) version. :P

Bean Threads Noodle

I would love to introduce my readers to this bean threads noodle. It was made with mung bean starch, potato starch and water. It tasted a lot like the Korean Jap Chai noodle (made with sweet potato starch) with the chewy texture and transparent look. This noodle was introduced to me by my Chinese neighbor and I have since hooked. This is good serving it cold, in soup or stir-fry. I haven't tried it in soup yet because I like to serve it cold with fresh vegetable.



Method:

1) You need to boil the noodle until cooked. Set aside.

2) Then, stir-fry the chicken or pork (marinated with soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil) with garlic & carrots until cooked, dish out and set aside.

3) Thinly sliced the seedless cucumber, lettuce and prepared the cilantro.

4) In a big bowl, add in noodle, fresh veggies (3) and (2), mix well. Then seasoned to taste with soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, salt, sugar and sesame oil. Toast well.

5) Garnished with toasted sesame seeds. Serve as is.


This is how the package looks like. Of course other brand works fine too.

Sundubu Jjgae (Korean Spicy Bean Curd Stew)

Sundubu Jjgae is a Korean thick and spicy bean curd stew. Traditionally people crack an egg on top of the stew before serving, many still do it now. Some serve this stew with clams, clam juice, seafood, onion, enoki mushroom and other vegetable. This stew is normally served boiling on the table over a hot fire in a Korean pot.

I came to love this soup while dining in a Korean restaurant. I just love the spiciness of this soup and the flavor of Gochujang. The silken soft tofu with the Gochujang made me want to drink this stew non-stop. This stew is especially good while eaten during the cold winter days because it will just warm up your body instantly. Therefore, it will be my favorite soup to cook during winter. What a surprise, my hubby loves this soup too!

Product Review: Delimas Stir Fry Sauce

I have been invited by Ray, the founder of mytasteofasia.com to do product review on Delimas brand. I gladly accepted his offer because as a Malaysian, I love to help out a fellow Malaysian and to introduce delicious and easy to prepare Malaysian food to other Asians around the world. This paste is handy for a busy mother who just doesn't have time to do it from scratch. Or for working parents who just dead tired from a day work. Even for a novice cook who wants to impress her friends.



I was cooking for a friend who is moving to Boston and she requested a spicy Malaysian dish. What a better way to try my Delimas stir-fry sauce on the shrimps that I was intended to cook.



This is how the package looks like. It tasted like the authentic Malaysian Sambal Prawns and quite spicy.

Below is what I did:
Ingredients:

16 extra large prawns
6 cuttlefish balls, cut each into 3 slices (or you can use cuttlefish or squids)
A handful of green peas
1/2 small yellow onion, sliced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1/4 orange bell pepper, sliced (or red/green bell pepper for colors contrast)
1 package of Delimas Stir Fry Sauce

Method:

Heat oil in a wok. When heated, add in prawns and cuttlefish balls, stir well. Then, add in the stir-fry sauce and the rest of the ingredients except peas. Stir to mix well, add a little water if need to. Lastly add in the green peas, give it a quick stir and serve hot.


Another way of cooking it:



One packet of sauce is a lot and thus I saved some to make this Sambal Green Beans. I added dried shrimps, sliced shallots and a wee bit of fish sauce. This sauce will be good for shrimps and petai too! Kind of a all-purpose stir fry sauce.

Chai Tau Kuih My Way

Blur_mommy, you got it right! :) Great guess!

Even though I called this dish Chai Tau Kuih but there is no Chai Tau (radish) in this. I used my leftover rice pudding from the wah kuih, cut it into cubes, added some scallion, bean sprouts, chai por, shrimps, garlic, eggs and some of the leftover topping for the wah kuih to come out with this. The sauce for this dish is simple, just dark soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar, chili paste and white pepper.

Haven't had this for a long time, so this dish was very satisfying. As you can see, I made it quite spicy too! Next time I can probably just make the rice cake to make this dish. Since it has wheat starch in it, the shape holds up really well during stir-frying, it won't turn mushy and soft. One thing though, I need to do better with my eggs, should have stir-fry the eggs first, take it out and add in later since my eggs seem to be missing from all the stir-frying (and I want to see big pieces of fried eggs!).

Chinese Rice Bowl Pudding

A good friend of ours came by on Saturday and I decided to make him a treat. I made this Chinese rice bowl pudding that looks like chwee kuih but actually it's a wah kuih. First time trying this and glad that it turned out well and my guest said it's very good. :)



I used Gina's Wah Kuih recipe. The differences I noticed between wah kuih and chwee kuih are for the pudding, wah kuih has wheat starch in it and thus making it more chewy/bouncy in texture as opposed to soft. Also, wah kuih has more ingredients in filling as opposed to just chai por. Before this, I have not heard of wah kuih.



As for my filling, I added dark soy sauce and sugar when stir-frying. Also drizzled some Sriracha hot sauce for extra spiciness. I didn't bother to steam the filling with the rice pudding together (lazy me as you know!), therefore it might look more like a chwee kuih.

Stay tuned for what I did with the extra rice cake. ;) Or you would love a guess?

Thai Green Chicken Curry the Short-cut Way

I love Thai green curry because I find it to be more versatile. I can use it to make seafood curry, meat curry or simply a vegetarian curry and all will turn out delicious. I also used it to fry rice or stir-fry my chicken.

I called it short-cut because I used the ready made paste by Mae Ploy. You can find it in any Asian supermarket these days, this brand is quite popular. Once opened, you can keep the paste in the freezer. What's great about this is you don't even have to defrost it, just take it out and use it straight from the freezer, very convenient.

All you need to make a good Thai green curry is a little Thai palm sugar (1tsp.), fish sauce and coconut milk (or milk) and above 2-3 Tbsp. of green curry paste. For the above curry, I used skinless and boneless chicken thighs, sliced yellow onion, sliced kinda thick carrots and frozen green beans. This curry is spicy as it is but if you really can take the heat, you can add Thai bird eye chili as well.