A Short Break

Hi all, I'll take a short break from blogging and blog hopping until next week.

I was just blogged about grandma-in-law's recipe on stir-fried vermicelli in tomato sauce, but now she is no longer with us. She passed away on Wednesday evening. She could eat, story telling and walk just like usual before she suddenly felt weak.

Grandma, don't worry about us. Just rest in peace.

Stir-Fried Vermicelli With Tomato Sauce

Grandma-in-law used to prepare this dish for our breakfast when we traveled back to in law's place. She stopped cooking since a year ago. She's now 89 years old, wow! Before she retired, she passed on the recipe to me. :-)

I did't follow exactly what grandma-in-law did. In fact, I apply some shortcuts. For example, she used to fry egg, leave it cool, cut it into strips and used it for garnishing. But for me, I just make scrambled eggs to stir-fry with vermicelli. Either way, the noodles tastes good especially with the condiments of tomato ketchup.

Stir-Fried Vermicelli With Tomato Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:

Vermicelli, adequate amount for 2, soaked and drained
3 Omega 3 eggs
3 clove of garlic, chopped finely
12 prawns, shelled and de-veined
some cabbage, julienne
a handful of bean sprout
sunflower oil
water

Seasoning:

2 & 1/2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 & 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp chili paste

Garnishing:

1 stalk of scallion, chopped
some crispy fried shallot

Method:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok, add the eggs and scramble the eggs until cooked. Dish out and set aside.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in the wok and saute garlic until fragrant. Add the prawns, cabbage, bean sprout and stir fry.

3. Add seasoning. Stir fry for half a minute.

4. Pour in some water and bring to boil. Stir in vermicelli and mix well.

5. Add scrambled egg and stir fry well.

6. Serve on plate, garnish with fried shallots and scallion.

This dish is submitted to Presto Pasta Night #127. Katie is the host of the week.

Savoury Pumpkin Rice

During the time when I first started a job in Kulim Hi-Tech park, I stayed with my eldest sister in Butterworth. My sister cooked dinner almost every weekdays. One of the "one pot dish" that she cooked was the pumpkin rice. I didn't get the recipe from her, cuz I wanted to cook it my own way, which is the most convenient for me. Based on the photo above, you'll know I have succeeded in my first attempt. :P I will cook this dish more frequently in future.

Ingredients:

1 cup of rice (washed and soaked for 4 hours)
180 lean pork (cut into thin strips)
20 gm of dried shrimp (washed and de-shelled) Little Inbox: Don't be surprise, I used to deshell the dried shrimps
2 dried mushrooms (soaked, removed stalk and cut into thin strips)
300gm pumpkin (skinned, seeded, and cut into small cubes)
4 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
7 shallots (skinned and thinly sliced)
1 stalk of scallion (chopped)
chicken stock (adequate amount used to cook 1 cup of rice)
sunflower oil

Marinate the meat, mushroom and dried shrimps with:

1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
dash of white pepper

leave it in the fridge for 4 hours

Seasoning:

1 tbsp of oyster sauce
3 tbsp of light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp of dark soy sauce

Method:

1. Heat enough oil in a wok, fry shallots till golden brown and set aside.

2. Leave about 3 tbsp of oil in the wok, and saute garlic till fragrant. Pour in the marinated ingredients and stir fry till fragrant.

3. Add the pumpkin and rice to mix well.

4. Add seasonings and chicken stock. Bring it to a boil.

5. Pour everything into rice cooker. Set the rice cooker to slow cook mode, and cook it for 1 hour. If you are using the normal rice cooker, just cook it like normal.

6. Once cooked, serve it with scallions and fried shallots.

Harvest In Cafe @ Irrawady Road

It's been a very long time since our last trip to town. One evening, I decided to pamper myself to eat out rather than cooking at home. I need a break too occasionally. So, we stepped into the Harvest In Cafe located at Irrawaddy Road. This cafe has been highly recommended by Mr Auditor. He said the Western food there is cheap and delicious. It is situated at the corner lot, the junction between Irrawaddy Road and Chow Thye Road.

For the dinner, you'll just have to add RM4.90 to get a set meal with drinks, soup of the day and dessert. Of course we opted for it! He had a cup of peach tea, and I chose ice lemon tea.

Soup of the day that served with bun and butter. It's some sort like onion soup with lots of vegetable cubes.

My main course, the Bombay Chicken. The grilled boneless chicken thigh in Bambay sauce, a kind of fragrant spicy sauce. It was served on the bed of potato wedges, and some boiled veggies. I quite like the dish.

Despite a variety of fish, beef, lamb and pasta, hubby opted for chicken. His choice - Honey Mustard Chicken that served with mixed veggies and butter rice. It's best served with the mustard sauce, a very flavorful grilled chicken set.

Last but not least we had a small piece of cheese cake and a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream to end the scrumptious dinner.

Overall, the dining environment is cozy. It has a simple interior design with black, white and grey color tone. The food is flavorful with reasonable price. We just spend RM37.60 for the dinner. No service charge and government tax! If you are small eater like me, the set meal is quite fulfilling, otherwise you'll find the serving portion is rather small. That's what hubby mumbled to me. Haiz........

Address: 10, Irrawaddy Road, 10050, Penang.

Tel: 04-2261718

Operating hours: 11am to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm (closed on Sundays and dinner on Tuesday)

Prawn Noodles In Clear Soup

People usually have some ad-hoc task to do while working, but I have a sudden crave for something during working hours. Like last Wednesday afternoon, I was dying for prawn noodles. So, I immediately "IM" hubby to go to the seaside nearby to buy some medium sized fresh prawns directly from fisherman. I'm fortunate enough to have a work from home hubby to carry out the special orders for me. :) Not too bad right? Eventually I'm the one who prepare delicious meal for him. Ok, let's back to prawn noodles recipe. This is a simple and yet satisfying meal. We just spend less than RM8 to savor 2 bowls of prawn noodles with 12 medium prawns each.

Prawns Noodle in Clear Soup
serves 2

Ingredients:

2 pcs of organic wheat noodles
250gm medium size prawns (I have 24 prawns in total)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
some choy sum flower
3 tbsp of sun flower oil
water

Seasoning:

1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
salt to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Peel off the shells from prawn, except the head and tail. Cut off the 2 antenna from each prawns. Get all the prawns de-veined and washed.

2. To prepare the noodle, just add the organic noodle (x2 pcs) to salted boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes until soft. Then, rinse in fresh water and pour onto bowls.

3. Heat some oil in a wok. Saute garlic till fragrant. Stir in the prawns and saute till the prawns are half cooked. Add the seasoning and continue to stir fry for a while.

4. Add 2 x 3/4 bowl of water. The bowl size is the one that you will use it to serve prawn noodles afterwards.

5. Leave the soup to boil. Add a pinch of salt to taste.

6. Add in choy sum. Pour the soup over the noodles.

7. Serve hot with bird's eye chili.

This dish is submitted to Presto Pasta Night that hosted by Ruth.