Sweet & Sour Pork Chop

Today is another "no rice" Sunday for us. Too bored of having dishes with brown rice. I want to cook something new but not so tedious. Finally, I made up my mind to cook Western food, the sweet & sour pork chop. I know, the cooking process will mess up my kitchen. What to do? Let it be!

I have no idea which type of pork meat I should use, so I just informed the butcher to cut me some soft lean meat for my pork chop dish. Then, my experiment started...

Sweet & Sour Pork Chop
Serves 2

Ingredients:

380gm of pork chop cutlets

1 small yellow onion, diced horizontally

1/2 yellow capsicum, diced

Canola oil to cook

Seasoning for pork chop cutlets

Sprinkling of salt and pepper

Sauce ingredients
4 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp chili sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup of water

Method

1. Marinate pork chop with seasoning for 1 hour.

Tips: Lightly chop the pork cutlets across the top & bottom surfaces with the back of knife.

2. In a non stick pan, fry the marinated pork chop until golden. Drain oil and set aside.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and saute onion until fragrant. Pour in the sauce ingredients. Bring to boil.

4. Return pork chop pieces to the pan and Add capsicum. Cook for 1–2 minutes.

5. Serve the pork chop with stir-fried cauliflower & broccoli and peach slices (from can).

Mom's Chili Flower Crabs

I was so happy last afternoon when I had my lunch at my parents place. Yuhoo!!! I spotted a mouth-watering dish! Mom cooked my favourite flower crabs. Yummy Yummy!

Now a days, flower crab is no longer cheap. 1kg of flower crab cost for RM19. Dad bought 4 big crabs from our nearby wet market for RM22. We normally buy our raw seafood directly from fishermen. But sometimes, you just can't find any supply of flower crab at all the stalls due to lack of harvest. But, if they have a good catch, they will offer better price.

Crab meat is an excellent source of high quality protein, vitamins, and minerals that are needed for good nutrition. Crab meat is an good source of phosphorus, zinc, copper, calcium, and iron and is very low in fat, especially saturated fat. However, it is also somewhat high in cholesterol which can also raise your blood cholesterol level. Ah.....forget about it la, I just enjoy it once in a blue moon, shouldn't have much issue.

When hubby studied in Perth, Australia, he stayed with his brother and sister in law. They used to have outings during the weekends. One of the activities was catching blue crabs (here we called flower crabs). However, only adult crabs were allowed to catch. If not, will be summoned by the rangers ha...I shall experience the crab catching when we visit there in future. :)

Compared to mud crab, flower crab has softer shell. It's easier to consume as the shell comes off easily. I don't know how to cook it, I just know how to eat, haha...My mom stir fried the crabs with ginger strips, lots of chopped garlic, chili paste, and seasoned with light soy sauce and sugar. It tasted so yummy. The flesh is fresh and sweet. Hmm...just that this time dad got all male crabs, so no roe lor.... If not, the dish will be more tastier. I don't mind to spend my time to slowly enjoy the crabs. Fingers licking good! :D

Chicken Stew With Carrot & Potato

Thanks to Ming & Ling for sharing their recipe with me. I requested for the recipe from Ling, and she passed the task to Ming to supply me the recipe. ",)

The main reason I asked for the recipe is that I've been wanting to cook something similar to this, but was not really sure the method. So for the first time, I followed the recipe but with the ingredients cut down for just 2 of us. The method is simple, and most importantly it won't mess up the kitchen. We love the taste of this dish, and I found that it is a suitable dish for toddlers.

Chicken Stew With Carrot & Potato
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 boneless whole chicken leg, cut into cubes

1 potato, cut into cubes
1 small carrot, cut into cubes
1 small onion, sliced

Seasoning:

2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
dash of sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Water
Corn starch

Instructions:

1. Marinate chicken cubes with sesame oil and light sauce and leave aside.

2. Boil carrot and potato until soft and leave aside.

3. Fried onion until slightly brown.

4. Stir in chicken and fry until half cooked.

5. Stir in potato and carrot and stir fry for 3 minutes.

6. Add in oyster sauce and dark soy sauce.

7. Add in water enough to fill dish.

8. Add in corn starch to thicken.

9. Add in salt to taste. (I skip this as I found with the soy sauce and oyster sauce, it was just nice)

10. Serve hot.

Fish Porridge and Noodle @ Restoran Her Pian

Last Saturday after our morning walk session, we went out for breakfast with FIL. Of course, he is very familiar on where to go for cheap and delicious local food. ;) This time he brought us to River Side for fish porridge.

There's only one stall operating in the morning. Fish porridge (RM4.50), fish vermicelli soup (RM4.50), pork porridge (RM3.50), and koay teow th'ng (RM2.50) are available.

FIL ordered his fried fish fillet porridge. Hmm...old folks really love porridge. :) But hubby and I quickly responded "no" when he invited us to order porridge. We prefer smooth and soft porridge, rather than "rice soaked in soup".


Hubby ordered fresh fish fillet bee hoon soup. I tried the fish fillet. It's very fresh. No fishy smell at all.

For me, I ordered bee hoon soup with fried fish fillet. The serving consisted very generous portion of fish fillets, chinese cabbage and celery. The soup base is not overly sweetened by Ajinomoto. I would say it is a good choice for breakfast.

Restaurant Her Pian (River Side) is located near the traffic light turning into Patani Jaya.

Japanese Tofu With Enokitake

Enokitake, the fungi in a sproutlike appearance with small caps and thin, long, stems. I personally like its crunchy mouthfeel. It is excellent when served raw in soups and salads. Also, cooked Enokitake is an excellent source of niacin ( vitamin B3, a water-soluble vitamin which prevents the deficiency disease pellagra) and riboflavin ( vitamin B2, an easily absorbed micronutrient with a key role in maintaining health in humans and animals).

I found that Enokitake goes well with Japanese tofu. Another fact that enlightens me is that the cooking process is very simple. Total preparation and cooking time just less than 20 minutes. :)

Japanese Tofu With Enokitake

Ingredients:
1 tube of Japanese tofu, cut into 1.5cm thickness
A packet of Enokitake, cut off the root, washed and drained
2 crab meat sticks, cut into strips
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp of corn flour mixed with 2 tbsp of water
Some water
Canola oil

Seasoning:
1.5 tbsp of oyster sauce

Instructions:
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Pan-fry the tofu slices till golden yellow. Arrange the tofu on a plate.
2. With the balance oil in the pan, stir fry the garlic till fragrant. Add in the Enokitake and stir fry for a while.
3. Add some water and oyster sauce. Leave it simmer for 30 seconds before add in the crab stick.
4. Pour in corn starch and mix well. Off the fire.
5. Pour the gravy over the tofu slices.

Note: Served hot to prevent the fishy smell when it’s cooled.

Dim Sum @ Yoke Fook Moon

On the 2nd day of Raya, we went down to Ikea to shop for some items. We dropped by Ipoh for dim sum breakfast. Initially we planned to try Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum. However, luck was not on our side. It was closed that day. So, we just dined in the other shop opposite to Ming Court, the Yoke Fook Moon. I heard this restaurant is also one of the famous in Ipoh.

Although it was still early at 7.30am, but the restaurant was already crowded. :( We were not the early birds. Almost all the tables were fully occupied. We waited for few minutes before we were seated.


Har Kao 虾饺. It looks so beautiful in its snow white crystal clear skin. This one tastes excellent.


Their Har Mai 虾卖 taste good too.

Ordering the Char Siew Pao 叉烧包 was a mistake. I just took a small bite and that's it! Any Char Siew Pao that I've tried in Penang hawker stalls are mostly better than this.

I can't remember what this is called. This was highly recommended by the waitress. Hmm...does it look like bird nest? LOL. It's the prawn rolled up in rice vermicelli and deep-fried till golden brown.

White radish cake 白萝卜糕 . This radish cake is fragrant and delicious, though it's a bit oily.

Prawns in poh piah skin. Of course it is crispy.

As you can see, almost all the dim sum that we ordered is porkless except the Char Siew Pao. Hmm...The fact is we don't like pork dim sum. Overall the dim sum at Yoke Fook Moon is okay, though we didn't got a chance to compare with Ming Court's. Hmmm...maybe we'll try our luck next time we travel down south.

Address: No. 67-69, Jalan Leong Sin Nam, 30300 Ipoh.

Tel: 05-2416589

White Fungus Dessert

White fungus or snow fungus is a kind of jelly fungus (kind of mushroom). Like its name, it is white in color. Normally we can get dried white fungus from traditional Chinese medicine shop, rather than fresh white fungus.

Of course, you'll need to soak the fungus. When it turned soft, I'll trim off its root portion and divide the big chunk of them into florets. If I want to get the fungus cooked into soft jelly-like texture which is similar to gelatin, I'll let the desert boiling in slow cooker. Put the slow cooker under high heat for 2 hours and followed by low heat for the last 1 hour. Or, when I want to taste its crunchiness, I'll leave it simmers in a pot for about one and a half hour.

Referring to a Chinese nutrition book, white fungus's medical properties includes soothing our lungs. Besides, it contains protein that will promote detoxification of our liver. Also, it contains high fiber which boosts in peristalsis to prevent constipation. Its gelatin plays an important role in reducing cholesterol absorption.

To cook the white fungus dessert, the ingredients I prepared includes white fungus, dried longan, red dates, rock sugar, hard boiled quail eggs and water. First, bring water to boil in a pot. Add in the soaked and cleaned white fungus florets and leave it simmer under low heat for half and hour. Then, add in washed longan and red dates, continue to boil under low heat for one hour. Add in the shelled quail eggs and rock sugar 15 minutes before the dessert is ready.

Stir Fry Angel Hair In Black Pepper Sauce

During this economic down turn period, what can we do to save cost? One way is to prepare our home-cooked meal rather than dining out. That's what I do at home. :) Recently I followed through a series of food nutrition seminar conducted by You Yong Jia, a Taiwanese. She highlighted that "your future health is determined by your current eating habit". That's what I highly agree! Why not? It's logic, right? Hence, I always emphasize on home-cooked meal. Not only for cost saving, but also it's the best way to control the intake of quality food. Quality food means fresh & healthy ingredients, and balanced diet according to the food pyramid.

Ok, I should back to my topic for this post on the Stir Fry Angel Hair In Black Pepper Sauce. Cooking this isn't complicated, and you'll just need 20 minutes or less to prepare the ingredients and to cook. Sounds great?

Stir Fry Angel Hair In Black Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:

Angel hair, qty for 2 person, boiled and drained
16 medium size prawns, shelled
half red capsicum, thinly slice
some cabbage, cut into bite size
2 chicken sausages, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp of Canola oil
Some water

Seasoning:
4 tbsp of black pepper sauce
2 tbsp of light soy sauce

Instructions:
1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok and stir-fry garlic till fragrant.

2. Add prawns and hot dog and stir fry for a while.

3. Pour in cabbage and red capsicum. Stir fry with other ingredients.

4. Put in angel hair and seasoning and stir-fry well. Add some water and mix well.

5. Dish out and serve.

Update: This post has been submitted to Presto Pasta Nights#91 organised by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast and hosted by Daphne from More Than Words .

Dome @ Queensbay Mall

We went to Queensbay Mall to shop for some clothes and before long, it's dinner time again! Where to go for dinner? We want to find a quiet place for our dinner as we are tired after our shopping session, so we chose DOME.

We were first served light refreshment before our main order....

First and foremost....drinks, we were very thirsty and the light refreshment won't help. Hubby ordered lemonade berry(left).... It's a combination of cranberry juice, lime juice and Sprite.

I ordered peach tea(right): cold , iced tea with peach flavour that makes a refreshing alternative to regular tea, especially when it comes served in a tall glass with lots of ice cubes.

Now for main course...hubby ordered Lot Burger while I ordered the REAL meal.

Lot Burger: Grilled 100% beef burger with egg, beef rasher, cos lettuce, tomato chutney, sliced cheddar, mustard mayonnaise, onion jam and fresh tomato in a toasted focaccia bun. Served with chips. It cost RM24.50.

Real Meal: Grilled Chicken In Creamy Turnmeric Sauce costs RM23.00. It consists of grilled chicken breast marinated with herbs, and served with creamy turmeric sauce, sauteed vegetables and buttered rice.

The dinner costs us a total of RM77.05. The price to pay for a quiet dinner. :P

Pan Fried Chicken Strips With Veggies

I've always wanted to try some kind of meal without rice nor noodle. I think I should cut down my carbohydrate intake. So I'm looking for a simple healthy meal some sort like Western food. Hence, I pop up an idea to come out with this, Pan Fried Chicken Strips with Veggies.

Ingredients for Chicken Strips:
500gms chicken breast, skinned, boned, and cut into 1 inch wide strips
2 tbsp olive oil
half tea spoon of salt
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
dash of pepper

Seasoning:
3 tbsp of black pepper sauce mix with 2 tbsp of water

Ingredients for Veggies:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
100gms cauliflower, cut into florets
120gms broccoli, cut into florets
1 tomato, thinly sliced
1 tbsp of olive oil
some water

Seasoning:
1 tbsp of light soy sauce

Instructions:

1. Marinate chicken strips with salt, light soy sauce and pepper for 20 minutes.

2. Heat a frying pan, add oil, and pan fry chicken strips over high heat until chicken lightly browned.

3. Add black pepper sauce and saute till the sauce is thickening. Remove from pan and serve on a plate.

4. On another pan, heat oil and saute garlic till fragrant. Add cauliflower and broccoli and saute for a while. Add some water and let it simmer till the veggies are cooked. Add light soy sauce to taste, and turn off the fire.

5. On a plate, arrange the chicken strips, follow by the veggies, and the tomato slices.

McDota Fried Chicken, SP

Last evening when we were on our way back from Sungai Petani, we dropped by this place called McDota for our quick dinner. Why must we have a quick dinner? Ahem, cuz we left our beloved Tiger Chihuahua in the car alone. Sorry lor, Tiger pup. :P

According to hubby, this outlet has been operating since 1978. Wow, that was 30 years ago. It was very popular last time when KFC did not open any outlet in Sungai Petani yet. Furthermore, the location was really strategic. It's near to Cathay Cinema (now no more), and hawker food street.

Like usual, I ordered their nasi lemak set. This place is now famous for its nasi lemak. I always benchmark nasi lemak from other places with McDota's, but so far it is still the best :). The rice is fragrant and lemak. The main dish sambal tumis anchovies is spicy and flavorful. The crunchy peanuts and sambal anchovies are kind of savory condiment to the coconut milk rice. Besides, a small bowl of chicken curry is served. Sometimes, you can find a piece of potato and one piece of chicken meat, but this time, I got 2 pcs of chicken meat instead. Also, this nasi lemak set is inclusive of a glass of Sarsi. The set just cost RM5.60. I couldn't finish the whole set. I left some for my hubby. :)

Hubby prefer their Hapiness Plate. It consists of 3 pcs of fried chicken, some fries and a piece of bun. They serve home cooked style fried chicken which you'll never find it in KFC. Unlike the KFC, their chicken are not coated with a thick layer of flour. And it's not too greasy. It only cost RM7.20, cheaper than KFC's dinner plate.

We also ordered their Banana Split for our dessert. Like its name, one banana is split into half to sandwich 3 scoops of chocolate, strawberry and vanila ice-cream. Topping includes mousse, chocolate and grounded peanut. This costs for only RM4.60.

Their menu covers both local delights and western food. Besides nasi lemak, other local delights available are curry mee, fried koay teow, Hai Lam noodle/koay teow, chicken porridge, etc. Their western food includes fish & chip, chicken chop, and some other side dishes like mashed potato and coleslaw.

Overall, the prices are very reasonable.

Their address: No 4, Jalan Bank, 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah.

Tel: 04-4215770.

It's is just next to the Muamalat Bank. Bangunan Keladi (the EPF office) is located at the other end of the road.

Chicken Rice

Yesterday afternoon while I was still at work, I was already started thinking what to cook for our dinner. Sigh... scratching my head and squeezing my brain hard. Hmm...something prompted. Err...I still have a chicken breast in my freezer, and not to forget the chicken rice chili paste that I'd made few days ago. Ok, so easiest way is to cook chicken rice lo, right? right?

This is how my chicken rice looks like. Does it look delicious? :)

A meal is not considered as a balance diet without vegetable. Don't you agree? So, I prepared another simple veggie dish, the "poh lei sang choy" in oyster sauce and garlic oil.

Here's the instruction for my home-cooked chicken rice:

Ingredients:

one chicken breast - cut into bite size, and season with salt

one cup of white rice - wash

3" length old ginger - cut into thin strips

2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

adequate water to cook one cup rice

2 tbsp of Canola oil

Seasoning:

half cube of Maggie chicken stock

Chili Sauce (just for reference):

fresh red chilies, seeded

garlics

ginger

lime juice

light soy sauce and sugar to taste

- mix & blend

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in the wok. Stir fry ginger strips and chopped garlic till fragrant.

2. Pour in rice and stir fry for about 1 minute, and transfer it into rice cooker.

3. Arrange the chicken cubes on top of the rice. Pour in water and add the chicken stock cube.

4. Cook in rice cooker like how you use to cook plain rice.

Dry Curry Mee @ BB Coffee Shop, Bayan Baru

One weekday morning, hubby and I went to BB Coffee Shop for our simple breakfast. Usually we ordered the same noodle dish, the wantan mee. But I'm getting bored with wantan mee recently, and the stall's wantan mee has been deteriorated over the past few years. So, ended up, I ordered a plate of dry curry mee.

The stall serve a wide variety of curry mee. Both dry and soup version are available. Furthermore, you can select any types of ingredients you like. I faced some difficulties to decide which type should I select. So, I just chose the one with common curry mee ingredients like cockles, tao pok, blood cubes, and cuttle fish.

This dry version of curry mee is a bit plain compared to the soup based curry mee. I couldn't taste fagrance of the coconut milk...only the curry paste smell. And it's too bland to my liking.

Err...after trying the dry version, I would say I prefer the normal soup based curry mee. :)

Sweet Potato With Sago

We went to Tesco Hypermarket and saw these orange potatoes from Australia. So, I just selected a packet and throw it into the shopping cart. I always like to keep some sweet potatoes at home, so that I can cook dessert whenever I like, especially on Sunday afternoon. I prefer orange sweet potatoes compared to Japanese sweet potatoes and yellow sweet potatoes, as it cooked the fastest, and with softer flesh.

And this time, I follow my mom's way to cook this sweet potato dessert.

Ingredients:

300gms of orange sweet potatoes

5 tbsp of sago

5 pandan leaves, tied into knobs

1200 ml water

Brown sugar to taste.

Instructions:

1. Peel the sweet potatoes. Use "cut & tear" method to get bite size of potatoes. This will create uneven surface to the potatoes which will increase its surface area and make it faster to cook.

2. Bring water to boil in a pot, and add in the pandan leaves to simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Pour in the potatoes and let it simmer under medium heat until it turns soft.

4. Add the sago and season with brown sugar about 15 minutes before the dessert is ready. Let the dessert cool down a bit in the wok (with cover). This will make the dessert turns syrupy.

5. Serve hot or chilled.

Japanese Tofu With Colorful Vegies

Japanese tofu is a good ingredient for my home-cooked dishes. I pan-fried the tofu slices rather than deep fried it. :) This is to simplified the process.

Here's another simple recipe for Japanese tofu which suits my requirement: simple ingredients and easy cooking method.

Ingredients:

1 roll Japanese tofu, cut into thick round slices
1 tbsp of chopped garlic
1 broccoli stem, cut into small cubes
1 small carrot, cut into cubes
half corn, cut off the kernels
1 tbsp cornflour diluted in 2 tbsp water
100 ml of water
some canola oil

Seasoning:
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 drops of sesame oil
half tbsp fermented beans

Method:
1. Heat some oil in a non stick pan. Pan fry the tofu until it turns into golden color. Arrange the tofu on a plate.

2. With the balance oil in the pan, stir fry the garlic till fragrant. Add in the carrot cubes, corn kernels, and broccoli stem cubes and stir fry until half cook.

3. Pour in the seasoning and and water. Let it simmer for few minutes.

4. When the vegies are cooked, pour in the cornflour mixture, simmer for a few seconds and off the fire.

5. Pour the gravy over the tofu and serve hot.

Noodle Stuffs @ Four Seasons Tea Restaurant

I've been asking around among my colleagues on where to find a good place to dine out for cheap and delicious Chinese cuisine. One of my colleague who stays at Sunway Tunas recommended Four Seasons Tea Restaurant. According to her, this outlet was been occupied by several restaurants before but all these while, but none of them can survived for long. It is only after Four Seasons Tea Restaurant took over the place as their branch, their business starts running pretty well. Mainly they serve "Choo Char", but some of their noodle stuffs are absolutely delicious.

It is located at the corner shop which is behind the Teow Chew Ming.

With only hubby and me, we decided to try their noodle stuffs. first "Wat Dan Hor" is the one highly recommended by my friend. Who knows "Hor Fun" were out of stock at that time, so we just order their fried glass noodle and "Hokkien Char".

The fried glass noodle turned out great. It's the best among all that I've tried at other hawker stalls. It looks simple but it tastes superb. Although the ingredients used are just the common stuffs like prawns, egg, bean sprouts, meat slices and choy sum, but all of them are fried to perfection with the glass noodle. The fragrant smell itself is already absolutely tempting. It's full of "wok hei". About the "Hokkien Char", the slightly sweet taste is not to my liking. It's not outstanding compared to the glass noodle.

We were not giving up our "tham chiak" spirit, we revisited this restaurant few days later. :) This time, we manage to taste the yummy hor fun 滑蛋河. Thanks to my friend! We like it so much. The gravy is just nice to bring out the taste. Good job! We even slurped all the gravy. :P *blush*

Address:
Main: 80-U, Jalan Trengganu, 10460 Penang.
Tel:04-2818193 & 016-4118193

Branch: 49, Persiaran Mahsuri 1/1, Sunway Tunas,11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang.
Tel: 04-6466193 & 016-4118193

Update: Revisited this place in May 2010 for the fried glass noodle. The food quality is deteriorated tremendously. The fried glass noodle turned out to be terribly salty.