Cauliflower Forests In Buttered Nestum

I'm addicted to cooking "buttered nestum food"! After the buttered pumpkin with nestum last night, i can't seem to stop. Actually, many kinds of ingredients can be used to replace the pumpkin. If you are not a fan of sweet pumpkin, u can use yam, cauliflower, prawns, cuttlefish, brinjals, prawns etc....

Ingredients;
Cauliflower, cut into small forests
Seasoned batter
Pinch of salt
Curry leaves
Butter
Oil for shallow frying

Method;
-Prepare seasoned batter by mixing flour, cornflour and garlic salt together.
-Add water, stir until it reaches your desire consistency.
-Dip little forests into batter, shallow fry in hot oil.
-Drained when they turn golden brown.
-Melt butter, fry curry leaves till fragrant.
-Add nestum and salt.
-Toss in cauliflower and mix well.
-Serve while hot.
-Enjoy!
A great afternoon snack!

梅菜焖烧猪腿

Uncle Hye ordered a huge suckling pig to make offerings to God. Oh well, this is a tradition for businessman whom seek prosperity and ask God to watch over them. B4 the lunar new year, they will "return" by making offerings.

Uncle Hye then distributed the suckling pig and mui chye to his friends and relatives. Eating the food which is being offered to God is believe to bring good luck and thus, we decided to cook a dish with these ingredients.

Ingredients;
1 bunch of dried mui chye (梅菜)
Suckling pig trotter
Garlic
Water
Oyster sauce
Salt

Method;
-Soak mui chye in water till expands, rub and rinse to remove sands.
-Cut into sections and drained.
-Gather all the ingredients and cook in pressure cooker till pig trotter is tender.
-Serve & enjoy!

Serve well with plain rice!

红豆黑芝麻汤圆糖水

A sweet and warm dessert for a cold rainy day! It's been raining for the whole day and Yes, as early as 4am, the clouds seems too heavy with the rain water and the rain only subside at around 6pm.
I'm sure the rain will continue throughout the day and thus cook some sweet dessert for the family.
Simple and easy!
-Soak red beans in water for a few hours, cook with pandan leaves in a air pressure cooker till soft, add sugar to taste.
-Bring 1/2 pot of water to boil, thrown in some frozen sesame tang yuan, drained and serve with red bean soup.
-Enjoy!
Ooh... look at the lovely black sesame tang yuan which are oozing out! The satisfaction is something to be compared to a hot coffee on a cold day! :-P

Paper Thosai

Aunty Sarah prepared some paper thosai with ginjelly oil for me this morning. Wow... using ginjelly oil in indian cooking is a healthier option. It is something like our olive oil, other than that it also enhanced the fragrance of the food.

Hot and crispy paper thosai, serve with pepper mint chutney.

What is Chutney?
Well, it is a class of spicy preparations used as an accompaniment for a main dish and they usually contains an idiosyncratic but complementary spice and vegetable mix.

Salted Pumpkin Seeds

Since i bought pumpkin and not wanting to waste the seeds, decided to fry my own pumpkin seeds as tidbits. Mum mentioned before that her colleague used to fry pumpkin seeds for her company staff when she was young and i decided to venture on my own.

Ingredients;
Fresh pumpkin seeds
Salt

Method;
-Wash and drained pumpkin seeds.
-Lay them on kitchen towel to dry.
-Warm a non-stick frying pan, fry the pumpkin seeds on super low heat.
-Fry till sides are lightly brown, about 20 mins.
-Season with pinch of salt.
-Cool and store in containers.
-Enjoy!

A great tidbits for good TV show tonight!

Buttered Pumpkin With Nestum

No one in my family eats pumpkin and my dad hates it. To him its nothing special but sweet and starchy. Hey, I'm gonna make everyone in my family love it just like i do. haha...Yes, we shall see after tonight's dinner ya!

Ingredients;
Pumpkin slices
Batter
Curry leaves
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp nestum
Oil for deep frying

Method;
-Cut pumpkin into thin slices, dip into flour batter and deep fried in hot oil till golden brown. Drained.
-On a greased wok, fry curry leaves till fragrant and add butter to melt.
-Toss in nestum, fry till lightly brown.
-Add crispy pumpkin and season with salt.
-Toss well and serve.
-Enjoy!

I'm quite surprise that mum love this dish. She been singing praises about how crispy and fragrant the pumpkins are and they are just the right taste for her. Oh well, Mum is never a fan of pumpkin.

Golden Honey Chicken Bites

I intended to cook this dish as 1 of the sides for my cold dish on Chinese New Year and even come up with an auspicious name call 金鸡报喜. But since i have the time to cook some dishes for dinner tonight, decided to proceed with this honey chicken bites and think of alternative for my CNY dishes.

Ingredients;
1 fillet chicken breast
Cornflour
Roasted sesame seeds
Oil for shallow frying

Marinate;
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Pinch of salt

Sauce:
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp honey
Pinch of brown sugar
20ml water

Method;
-Cut fillet into bite sizes, marinade for 2 hours.
-Dust with cornflour, shake off excess.
-Shallow fry in hot oil till golden brown. Drained & set aside.
-Bring sauce to boil, toss in crispy chicken and ensure it is evenly coated.
-Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds & serve.
Enjoy!

1 fillet of chicken breast is just nice for a dish. It's Dinner time! :-P

Bagedel (Healthy Cooking Method)

My enhanced healthier version of bagedel. Mum has a recent craze of eating bagedel with nasi lemak these 2 days. All these while she is never a fan of it, wonder what's wrong with her. Since she love it, i shall cook something healthier for her.

Ingredients;
2 medium potatoes, steamed and mashed
2 shallots, shred
1/4 tsp knors chicken powder
Potato starch, for dusting
1 small egg, beaten
1/2 tsp oil

Method,
-Fry shredded shallots in 1/2 tsp oil till lightly browned.
-Drained and add to the mashed potatoes.
-Season potato mixture with chicken powder.
-Dust hands with potato starch, shaped potatoes into small patties.
-Dip into egg mixture, pan fry on a non-stick frying pan over low flame till browned.
-Enjoy!
As compared to the normal bagedel, this method is less oily and less sinful. haha...

Cabbage & Mixed Peas Stir Fry

Less salt less oil is my motto in cooking always and seems like i'm gonna drive mum crazy. She like adding loads and loads of oil to greens and always the veggie would lose their colours and nutrients. Let me do all the cooking tonight for a healthier us. haha...

Ingredients;
4-5 leaves cabbage, cut into sections
A handful of holland peas, shred
2 baby carrots, cut into sticks
1 garlic, minced
Oyster sauce
Pinch of salt
Rojak flower sambal chili
Stock
Oil for frying

Method,
-Fry garlic in hot oil till fragrant, add carrots and fry for a min.
-Stir in cabbage, fry for a min, add stock and simmer till soften.
-Toss in holland peas.
-Season to taste, serve.
-Enjoy!

Light, simple, healthy green for our dinner.

清蒸红石班(潮州式)

Oh i missed out Chinese mushrooms for this steam fish! Do remember to add when you wanna prepare this dish. Dad loves steamed fish, especially promfet and garoupa. I know it is against moral ethics to eat red garoupa as they are soon becoming an endangered species and most restaurants had stop serving, just like sharks' fin. Therefore, please do not eat red garoupa, however if they are the man rear breed, it is ok.

Ingredients;
1 garoupa
1 tomato
2 leave salted veggie
Some slices pork belly
Some shredded ginger
Pinch of salt
1-2 drops cooking oil
2 tbsp water

Method,
-Lay clean garoupa on a greased dish.
-Top with all the ingredients and add water.
-Steam till fish is cook.
-Enjoy!

辣椒虾米帝皇苗

Today is the 1st time 帝皇苗 appear on our dining table. Yes, 1st time. Y? Well, becuz we seldom buy those veggie which we do not know how to cook nor no one in the family eats. This is Aunty Magaret's favorite veggie and she would always cook this dish. Occasionally when i was being invited for dinner, i get to savour this dish.

What i like about this dish is that it has a slimy texture, some sort like okra and these kinda slimy veggie fry well with chili. I decided to do some experiment to see how it goes, given my cooking skill, shouldn't turn out too bad ya!

Ingredients;
1 packet ti huang miao
Oil for frying
Spicy shrimp sambal
Pinch of salt
1 tsp homemade sambal chili

Method;
-Toss di huang miao in hot oil for a min, push to side of the wok.
-Fry spicy shrimp sambal for a min, add sambal chili and mix well.
-Season with salt, give it a quick stir and serve.
-Enjoy!
The veggie is best cook in spicy sambal. Ooh.... think i can have more than 2 serving of rice with this dish! :-P

Spicy Ikan Bilis Fried Rice

I'm the kind of person who must have veggie in my food. Be it noodle soup or rice. Even though i dun have any other veggie which is suitable for cooking fried rice, decided to toss in some chopped broccoli. Something new for me! :-P

Ingredients;
1 cup cooked rice
1 egg
Knors ikan bilis seasoning
Chopped broccoli
Chili paste
Oil for frying
Crispy fried ikan bilis for garnishing

Method;
-Scrambled egg in hot oil, push to side of wok.
-Fry broccoli for a min, toss in cooked rice.
-Add seasoning and chili paste.
-Mix well and serve.
-Garnish with crispy ikan bilis.
-Enjoy!
Quick and simple meal to ease mum's hunger! :-P

Meat Guo Tie

I was in time to stop mum from from cooking high calories and high fat food today. haha... Mum wanted to deep fried my ready wrapped wantons in hot oil! Gosh... despite my thousands and millions times of nagging and repeating the high fats from deep fried food, it turns on mum's deaf ears. Luckily, i was at home, in time to stop the tragedy!

Ingredients;
Round wanton skin
Potato starch
Water
Oil for pan frying
1 tsp homemade sambal chili
1 tsp thai sweet chili sauce

Wanton fillings;
Minced pork
Diced prawns
Water chestnut, chopped
Spring onions, chopped
Light soy sauce
Knors chicken seasoning
Sesame oil
Pepper
Cornflour

Method;
-Mix all the ingredients for wanton fillings together (except cornflour), let it marinate for at least an hour.
-Mix in the cornflour when about to wrap the wanton.
-Wrap 1 tsp of mixture in wanton skin, continue till finishes.
-To fry the guo tie, lay wantons onto a non-stick frying pan, drizzle some oil over.
-Cook on low flame till the bottom lightly browned, pour potato starch water over and cover with a glass cover.
-When potato starch dries up and a lightly burned smell given of, serve the guo tie with chili.
-Enjoy!
Mix chili sauce with homemade sambal chili paste, serve with warm guo tie. Enjoy!

Baked Fish With Shredded Ginger and Tau Cheow

When comes to baking fish, our family style is to bake them with our homemade sambal chili with lots of onions and serve with lime. This time round, i decided to try something different. Been craving for tau cheow for quite a while thus decided to come up with this spicy

Ingredients;
1 fish, remove head
1 pc old ginger, about 3 inch
2 chili padi, remove seed and shred
2 tsp tau cheow, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp tau cheow
3/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp stock
Chili oil
Oil for frying

Method,
-Prepare ginger sauce by frying ginger shreds in hot oil till lightly brown and crisp.
-Add tau cheow and fry for 30 secs.
-Add the sugar, oyster sauce, stock and chili padi.
-Off heat when gravy thicken.
-Wrap fish with ginger sauce, top with chili oil and bake until cooked.
-Enjoy!

What i like about baking fish is foil wrap is;
-able to maintain the nutrients of the fish
-lower in calories and fats
-safe from oil splattering
-save the hassle from cleaning up oily stains in the kitchen. Yeah!

Ekina's B'day Celebration~Teabreak & Dinner @ Eat Zone

We found a cosy little cafe to spend our lazy afternoon. What's beats being able to enjoy a wonderful cup of coffee and a slice of tiramisu? Not forgetting able to read some magazines and able to use wifi. Cool isn't it? That's my ideal way to spend a great afternoon, not having to worry about workloads.

Nice stickers on the windows..

Cosy area..

Nice and warmth deco..

Menu..

Wow... healthy drinks, they even have flower teas available.

And private ktv rooms for booking.

My 1st coffee..

Mushroom soup for Tabby

Cheezy chicken chop for tabby

Shepherds' pie for us to share

My favourite tiramisu!

My 2nd coffee for the nite :-P

Ekina's B'day Celebration~Lunch @ Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

We intend to try out the Japanese buffet during dinner time at Zon Regency Hotel but since we passed by Sapporo Japanese Restaurant near Leisure Mall, we decided to try out their buffet lunch promo.

Here we are @ Sapporo!

Nice decorations..

Fanciful menu..

Miso soup base hotpot..

Meat slices in foil soup..

Grill beef wrapped..

Grill Char Siew..

My favorite California maki..

Ramen..

Agedashi tofu..
Pumpkin croquette..

Fried fish sushi..

Kakiage..

Enoki tempura..

Tuna mayo inari..

Buttered grilled fish..

Tempura mix platter..

Pork katsu..

Chawamushi..

Super cheap buffet which cost only 76 ringgit for 2 pax! Yummy~licious!