While I was at a ladies gathering, I noticed that my girls loved this pork dish. Lily made this dish with a Chinese preserved vegetable and she told me it was very easy, just used the microwave or put it in the rice cooker 5 minutes before the rice is cooked. This is one familiar home cook dishes in Malaysian households as my mom used to make this dish too, along with the steamed eggs. You can also find it at the place where they sell porridge or economy rice. But for some reason, I just never make it, perhaps finding steaming takes too much time. Anyway, now I learned that it takes 4 minutes in a microwave, I have no reason not to make it anymore. Since I don't have the Chinese preserved vegetable, I substituted it with salted turnips/ "chai por" and used my seasonings since I couldn't remember what Lily told me already (she was busy cooking and spoke so fast that it just went in my right ear and came out my left ear, LOL!). Got to say, it turned out delicious and very flavorful. "Chai Por" is a very good substitute.
This dish is so simple yet delectable. Minimal seasonings required yet packed with flavors. I love to chew on the shell of these shrimps because that's the best part. Even my Evy who hardly eat shrimps asked for more. Edda who complaint too spicy finished her share after I told her to eat with white rice then it won't be too spicy anymore. :P If you have a bottle of Szechuan peppercorns at home, this will be a great way to use it. Can substitute the shrimps with chicken too.
This is a Nyonya style mixed vegetable which uses preserved bean paste. This dish is normally served during Chinese New Year and is associated with festive dishes. Since I have all the ingredients, I gave this dish a go (first time trying). My glass noodle disintegrated and almost melted following the recipe in the cook book (not sure brand of glass noodle plays a part or not). The taste did not come out well too and something was missing. In the end, I had to add a few more seasonings to bring out the taste and had to change the method in the cook book for my own record, so that one can still see the glass noodle once this dish is cooked. Believe it or not, I always refer back to my blog for my own recipes because most of the recipes I created out of the blue and often time I forgot what I put into the dish. So, these recipes are not only for my girls but for myself as well.
This is one of the common household dishes. Most Malaysian Chinese families should have their own version. I cooked this dish often for my family and I was surprised I haven't posted this recipe before. This is a good one dish meal too but often time I would serve it with another Asian green with or without a chicken herbal soup. I often cook a minimum of two dishes, one make up of protein/seafood and the other of fiber and about 2 soups in a week, one is herbal, and the other one can be of anything.
I love Kai Chai Beng or chicken biscuits, not sure why it is called that because no chicken is used in the recipe, but this cookie is crunchy and fulled of flavor. In Malaysia, we have two types of chicken biscuit, the fat variety (softer in texture) and the thin variety. Even though I like it but I never thought of making it myself because I don't buy Nam Yee. Then, on this recent trip to the Asian store, I spotted Nam Yee was on sales and it was placed in the front, so I just grabbed one, like it was calling me to pick it up. By the way, this chicken biscuit is different from the Western chicken biscuits that we see in the supermarkets.
Today, I am making the thin variety as I like it crunchy. I got the recipe from Lily's and I modified slightly to use what I have in the house. I cut down on the salt and added more dark soy sauce to compensate the honey that I substituted. The chicken biscuits turned out so crunchy and delicious, even my hubby could not stop snacking on it. Now I really have no reason to buy anymore since the homemade one is so good.
For some reason, Balado (an Indonesian sambal sauce) left an impression on me. I had some Chicken Bumbu Balado at a ladies gathering and I couldn't stop eating this dish. The sauce came in a bottle so it is on my next buying list. The next day, I saw Brinjal Balado at Gert's blog and she told me why buy when it is so easy to make at home. But you know me, I would still love to buy the sauce if I can but sadly I couldn't find it at my local Asian store. Frustrated, I IM Lily about it and she told it was like sambal tumis and asked me to make my own. I told her yeah it is like sambal tumis with added tomatoes but I don't buy tomatoes. But I know I can substitute it with ketchup, so here is my version of homemade chicken sambal balado with added red bell peppers, carrots and lemon grass. Next time I should add yellow onion or more shallots because it is so good with the sauce. Quite spicy too I might say!
