Meat Patties In Mushroom Sauce

Patties made from grounded pork are not only for hamburgers. It can also served with salad in a satisfying Western style food. This is the idea that came across my mind. Here is a home cook meal that I made from scratch.

Meat Patties In Mushroom Sauce
serves 2
Ingredients:

(A) Meat Patties
400gm minced pork
half of medium size onion, chopped
an Omega-3 egg
dash of grounded black pepper
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
extra virgin olive oil

(B) Salad
4 asparagus
some cauliflower florets
some broccoli florets
4 green coral leaves
10 cherry tomatoes
half of Japanese cucumber, thinly sliced
3 tbsp of Thousand Island dressing

(C) Mushroom Sauce
2 dried mushrooms
1 tbsp of BBQ sauce
2 tbsp of Maggie oyster sauce
half tbsp of corn starch mix with 3tbsp of water
a small bowl of mushroom water (water used to boiled mushroom)

Methods:

1. Mix all ingredients (A) and marinate for at least half an hour.

2. Boil the asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower florets. Arrange with the other ingredients on 2 plates.

3. Wash and boil the dried mushroom for a bout 10 minute. Retain the water. Remove the stalk and thinly slice the mushrooms.

4. Divide the pork mixture into 4 portions. Gently shape each portion into ball. Flatten it into patties.

5. Heat enough oil in a non stick pan. Pan fry the pork chop until it turns golden brown. Let them rest on kitchen towel before serving.

6. Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Saute the mushroom till fragrant. Pour in the small bowl of mushroom water. Add the BBQ and oyster sauce. Let it simmer for a while. Add the corn starch for thickening. Off the fire and pour the sauce over the pork chop.

Restaurant Koek Kee @ Sungai Petani 國記茶樓

Last Saturday morning, we had our dim sum breakfast in Sungai Petani with father-in-law. Father-in-law gave us a treat at Koek Kee dim sum restaurant. Koek Kee dim sum has been there since long long time ago. It's a "lao zi hao" (老字号) in Sungai Petani. After so many years, the residents still go back to this restaurant. I overheard a conversation between a group of uncle, they prefer the dim sum here because the the dim sum is delicious and the price is reasonable.

This dim sum restaurant is located at Jalan Dewa. The people here call this area as "2nd Street" (二街). In the morning, the street is bustling with activity. It's like a street market. You can see the old style butcher shop, the famous roasted pork shop and few coffee shops around.


An assortment of dim sum that we had on that morning.


Clock wise: Siew Mai with crab Meat, Har Gao, Loh Mai Kai and Chinese chives kuih. Among all these, the Chinese chives kuih was the one which caught my attention. This is not the ordinary "Koo Chai kuih", it's an modified and improved version of chives kuih. It is delectable, tastier than the normal "Koo Chai kuih". It has the aromatic smell of garlic and dried shrimps. It tastes sweet.


Clock wise: Har Gao, Siew Mai, Fried Har Gao, Har Mai, Yam Kuih. The yam kuih looks exactly like "chai kuih" just that it has yam as filling. The skin is smooth and springy.

Overall, the meal cost for RM24 including a pot of tea for 3.

Address: 6 Jalan Dewa, 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia.

Uncle Tobys Muesli Bars

Nowadays, if you go shopping in Tesco, Giant or Jusco, you can't find Uncle Toby's anymore. We used to buy Uncle Toby's muesli bar for snack but for some reason, they are no longer selling here! We can only find limited variety of muesli bars like Quaker and Nature Valley. When my brother-in-law came back from Australia few weeks ago, we asked him to buy some muesli bars for us. So, he bought back a bunch of Uncle Toby's. Yoohoo!

We got muesli bars with chewy chocolate chip, honey appricot, yogurt topps, etc. Among all the flavors, we love the yoggurt topping the most. Take a look at the layer of yummy and creamy yogurt topping, isn't it mouth watering? Even our pet Tiger loves the muesli :P

Chicken & Fresh Veggies Pita Wraps

Instead of having high carbo food like rice and noodles, I'm looking for other alternatives which contain low carbo, but high in protein and vitamins. Pita wrap may be a good choice? I am practicing to include more fresh veggies rather than cooked veggies in our healthy daily diet. In this way, the nutrients and vitamins will be retained and will be easier to be absorbed by our body.

Pita wraps are easy to make with your favorite choice of fillings. I learned that Turkey breast contains the lowest fat in the Biggest Loser television program. Unfortunately I don't have Turkey breast, so I just substituted my pita with chicken breast. I also bought some green coral from Tesco as one of the ingredient. Unlike lettuce, coral veggie tastes sweeter and crunchier without a hint of bitterness.

The pita wraps taste like burger without cheese. It's definitely a healthier version with all the fresh ingredients. :)

Chicken & Fresh Veggies Pita Wrap

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 herbs pita (2 for him, and one for me)

3 Omega-3 eggs

1 tomato, washed and thinly sliced

half Japanese cucumber, skinned and thinly sliced

some green corals, washed and drained

1 chicken breast, skinned and fat removed

Seasoning:

dash of grounded black pepper

dash of sea salt

2 tbsp BBQ sauce

3 tbsp Thousand Island dressing

Methods:

1. Half the chicken breast. Thinly slice each of it into 2. You'll get 4 pieces of thin chicken breast pieces. Lay all of them on chopper board, and use the back of a knife to lightly chop across the chicken breast. Repeat for the bottom surface. Season the chicken with a dash of salt and black pepper. Marinate with BBQ sauce and left it for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a non stick pan and fry 3 eggs. Hold the egg into half.

3. In the same pan, heat some extra virgin olive oil. Pan fry the chicken breast until both sides turned golden brown.

4. Cut off 2 cm from the edge of each pita. Fill up each of them with pan fried chicken breast, an egg, some green corals, tomato and cucumber slices and top with Thousand Island dressing.

New Secret SP Restaurant 阿南砂煲活田鸡粥

After our visit to New Secret Restaurant at Jalan Ong Yi How, Butterworth, hubby always wanted to try the similar type of field frog porridge. Now, we have no worries, as New Secret SP Restaurant just started their business in March 2009. It's located at Lagenda Heights, Sungai Petani, which is at the same row as Old Town Kopitiam. It's directly opposite the Village Mall. It's very convenient for us to pay a visit on our weekly trip back to Sungai Petani. :)

A clay pot of plain porridge is a must to go with the field frog. You can also order the eel if you do not have an appetite for the field frogs. Compared to the previous one we had in Butterworth, this pot of porridge tastes much better. The previous one contained lightly burnt smell, while this one is just nice. Smooth and sticky. It costs RM2 (2 pax).

We tried their "ginger and spring onion" field frog (姜葱田鸡) per our last dine in, so this time we went for their "Kung Poh" field frog (宫保田鸡) instead. This is a good choice if you like spicy stuff. I like it very much, but hubby was sweating badly during the meal. Haha...Both of us like the tender and succulent field frog meat. A pot of medium serving field frog in clay pot costs for RM18.

We ordered an extra dish, the "ginger & spring onion" eel (姜葱鳗鱼). The meat is very smooth and juicy. I believe it contains collagen which is good for skin :D. This is another delicious dish to go with porridge. A small serving of eel is RM9 per pot.

How could we forget about the greens? We ordered a plate of lettuce garnished with meat floss and oyster sauce.

From our observation, there's still room for improvement. Perhaps if they reorganize the seating places, customers will feel more convenient as currently the spaces between tables are too small. We feel quite uneasy as our chairs seems touching other customer's.

Address: 145, Jalan Lagenda 5, Lagenda Heights, 08000 Sg Petani, Kedah.

Mobile Phone: 012-4430606 & 012-3458567

Cucumber & Pineapple In Sweet & Sour Sauce

This is my favorite dish. It's my mom's home cooked dish. We call it as Timun sui in Hokkien. It can be considered as a kind of appetizer due to its sweet and sour taste. Ladies like it.

I don't eat gizzards that serve at any restaurant or hawker stall. Mom's home cooked is an exception. According to mom, the pineapple, and cucumber are seasoned with a pinch of sea salt and sugar before marinating with rice vinegar together with onion and red chili. Next, all the ingredients are saute with chicken gizzards in tomato and chili sauce. Corn starch is added as the last step for sauce thickening.

The steps of preparing the chicken gizzards is "yucky". That's the gating factor for me to cook this dish on my own. :)

Super Duper Chef & Sweet Heart Awards

Thanks to Dora for passing these two awards to me.

The awards are dedicated to all fellow friends who loves cooking. Here, I would like to pass on the awards to foodbin's wife, More than Words, Elinluv's Tidbits Corner, Tigerfish and My Kitchen Snippets.

Shrimp Curry With Pineapples

Another mouthwatering dish from my mom, the shrimp curry with pineapple slices.

This curry is the sourish version. No coconut milk or cream is added. I just love this type of curry. Mom grounds the spices on her own. Grounded shallots and chilies, ginger flower, belacan, Kaffir lime leaves and tamarind juice play their very important role to the curry gravy.

The prawns are shelled halfway, left its tails. In this way, the cholesterol is reduced. Not only that, the prawns get a chance to absorb all the essence from the gravy. Thirdly, the prawns are more convenient for consuming. :) With the pineapple slices added, it give the curry an "Umphh".

Chuan Peng Heang 全平香

When we want to have some nice tambun biscuit, we always thought of Him Heang. But Him Heang is in Burma road, and we southerners (south of the island) rarely go up town for shopping, let alone for just a box of tambun biscuit. So, where can we get a decent tambun biscuit nearby?

We found out the Chuan Peng Heang opposite to Kompleks Bukit Jambul (same row as the SEC Electrical Shop) offer some nice tambun biscuit too. We always get freshly baked tambum biscuits from the shop. The price is about the same, and the taste is comparable to Him Heang's.

See the nice texture of the tambun biscuit? Looks tempting isn't it?

A box of regular tambun pia from Chuan Peng Heang.

Chuan Peng Heang is actually one of the local product center. A lots of local specialties can be found in their outlets. Their products include nutmeg, tambun biscuits, "heoh piah", "sak kei ma", banana chips, and the list goes on......

Address: 8-C-G, Jalan Rumbia, (Opposite BJ Complex), Sungai Nibong Kecil, Bayan Lepas,11900 Pulau Pinang.

Tel: 604-6428316

Their main biscuit retailer is located at: No. 412, Jalan Jelutong, Jelutong Barat, 11600, Pulau Pinang.
Tel: 604-2813522

Asparagus Roll

I found some big fat juicy organic asparagus from Jusco the other day. I bought a bunch of them for about RM4.80. Instead of stir fry it with sambal and shrimps as usual, I tried to make a simple dish. I stumbled upon one simple recipe from nibbledish, and I twisted the recipe based on the ingredients I had.

This is a type of finger food that taste good in Thousand Island sauce. Hubby & I gobbled up 2 rolls each as our dinner. We need to cut down the carbohydrate intake and substitute our diet with more fresh vegetables and fruits. :)

Asparagus Roll
Serves 2

Ingredients:

8 asparagus
extra virgin olive oil

For the egg wrap
3 eggs
2 tbsp cream
3 tbsp fresh milk
3 tbsp flour, sifted
half tbsp brown sugar
some chopped chives (optional)

Sauce
Thousand Island

Method:

1. Trim off the outer layer of the asparagus. Cut each asparagus into half. Cook for 2 minutes in the boiling salted water. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the egg wrap in a bowl.

3. Heat up the non stick pan, pour quarter of the egg mixture and swirl it around the pan to make a thin omelette. Repeat for the rest of three.

4. Arrange 4 asparagus on each of the egg wrap and roll it up nicely.

5. Serve it with Thousand Island sauce.

Home Made Garlic Bread With Pumpkin Soup

Garlic bread is a good accompaniment for all types of creamy soup and chowder. Yesterday we were not in mood to have rice stuff, so I just bake some garlic bread and cook some pumpkin soup for our dinner. This is the first time I make these two stuffs, and I decided to make from scratch. The garlic bread was great. It's crunchy and fragrant. However, the pumpkin soup turned out not so thick, due to too much fresh milk added. I should have cut down the milk portion into half.

See my nicely baked garlic bread? :)

Garlic Bread
Serves 2

Ingredients:

3/4 French loaf
3 tbsp salted butter
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Slice the French loaf to 2.5cm each.

2. Spread a layer of salted butter to each loaf slice.

3. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a pan, and lightly saute the chopped garlic. Off the fire.

4. Preheat the oven at 180C for 5 minutes.

5. Spread the garlic to each slice of loaf and arrange them on baking pan.

6. Bake the garlic bread for 8 minutes under 150 and finally 5 minutes under 180.

7. Serve hot with soup of your favorite.