Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice)

Nasi lemak...oh...its one of my favourite food during my childhood year and its still is.  Nasi lemak is rice cooked with coconut milk, slices of ginger, screwpine leaves and a pinch of salt.  Nasi lemak can also be found in economical rice stalls where one can choose between plain white rice or nasi lemak rice and then we can pick whatever side dishes we want. Traditionally, nasi lemak is served on a banana leaf laid on top of a plate or if its a take-away, its wrapped with banana leaves.  For my family, this delicious rice is accompanied with deep fried tumeric chicken, deep fried fishballs, sambal prawns, deep fried anchovies, 2 types of eggs - hard boiled and fried eggs, cucumber and tomato slices. Of course, you can add in any side dishes you want...its really up to you.

Here's a photo of our nasi lemak...

This is just so sedap....

Not Forgotten...

It has been awhile since I last wrote in this blog. We had to move due to job commitments....and from there, it was busy, busy, busy, hunting, searching, looking, deciding, etc.. Now that we are more settled, I finally have time to blog again.

Its spring now but we still have a little winter now and then. Just this morning, the temperature dropped to 9 degrees C...good golly. To make matters worst, my other half has fallen sick. My 2 kiddos have been under the weather for a week now and now that they have recovered, its my poor other half who is sick..sigh!!!  So, what can I do? what can I do?  One thing that came into my mind - asian porridge. Too bad I don't have any salted eggs, preserved veggies (kiam chye) and other stuff which we could easily hunt in chinatown. However, now that we have moved, it will take us more than several hours to drive down to chinatown. So, I will just have to make do with what I have.

Here's a photo of my asian porridge.  When my other half is ready to have his lunch, I will heat-up the porridge and knock an egg in it.  I managed to find some preserved vegetables...wohoo!!!

I think its time for me to make my own "homemade salted eggs" for emergencies such as this.  I really wish I can find some duck eggs but alas, I am not able to find it here.  So, I will have to use chicken eggs instead.  I have never ever done this before though...will give you guys some feedback after 30 days. Here's what I did with my homemade salted eggs:

An empty clean glass bottle
Duck Eggs or Chicken Eggs
Salt
Water
Sichuan Peppercorns
Star Anise
Warm Water
A dash of chinese cooking wine

Here's a photo of my homemade salted eggs in progress.

I also made hou yau kai (oyster sauce chicken) for my kiddos. Here's a photo of one of our main dishes for dinner tonite.

I will post an update after 30 days for my homemade salted eggs. Fingers crossed...hopefully it will be a success.

Bak Kut Teh, Pig's Trotter in Sweetened Vinegar and Salted Vegetable

I remember those nights when DH and I went out and ate bak kut teh, chee keok chou, salted vegetables and yau char kway when we went back to our homeland.  These BKT stalls open till wee hours and as we were in a way "tourists"...we can neglect our sleeping time and makan all the way. When we got home, we missed those times as 99% of the shops close after 11pm.  Now and then, we will make our own version of bak kut teh  and chee keok chou. However, we never made 2 of the dishes together.

This week, we were talking about it and was thinking of whipping up these 2 dishes together...trying to re-capture those memories of the good old days. We made both...Chee Keok Chou and Bak Kut Teh.  Here's the 2 photos which I managed to take before a group of us (including our peng yu) ate it all up...ha!ha!

We also made steamed veggies with oyster sauce to go with our rice...must have our veggies!!!

Till our next food adventure....ta-daa!!!

Rice Cooker Chicken Rice with Veggies (new style of Claypot Chicken Rice)

I guess some of you know "Claypot Chicken Rice" very well.  This was one of my favourite dinner dish and I could only eat in on weekends as my family were free to bring me out and makan.  This 1-dish meal is normally served with lap cheong (chinese sausage) and vegetables like pak choy, dried mushrooms, etc. There will also be hum yu (salted fish) on the side. This dish is cooked in a claypot where the rice is cooked first.  Then, the marinated chicken, lap cheong and other ingredients are added in few minutes before the rice is cooked.  One thing I remembered...I had to wait very very long for this dish.

When I was younger, I often urged my Grandma to teach me how to cook this dish and when I grew older and were allowed to use the kitchen, I made this dish each week.  The "adults' always asked me if I jelak or not...since when will I be jelak of my own cooking...ha!ha!

When I got married, I still cooked this dish with a claypot. But, now, with my 2 precious, I take short-cuts. I also add in more vegetables...got to ensure they have their servings of veggies.  So, I ended up using my humble rice cooker.  So, here's my version of the this yummy dish that I don't get jelak with.

That's all for now...
Till my next cooking adventure....
Happy makan-ing!!!

Mun Yee Mee (Braised Yee Mee Noodles) & Rice Cooker Chicken Rice

Mun Yee Mee (Braised Yee Mee Noodles) is an all favourite 1-Dish Meal in my family.  Its a really easy dish to do. Firstly, I will just "mun" which is a Cantonese word for braised the dried mushrooms with a stock made of chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chinese cooking wine and seasonings. Once its ready, just add in the meat of your choice, fishcakes, fishballs, etc. Then add in the yee mee and vegetables. Lastly, break 1-2 eggs into the noodles and braise for another 1-2 mins. Voila...that's it! Lunch is ready!!!

Here's a photo of the Mun Yee Mee.

Hainanese Chicken Rice...this is another 1-Dish Meal which my family won't get jelak with. I can tell you this...they can eat chicken rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you allow them to.  Whenever I cook chicken rice for my friends, they will always associate it with Singapore. Hmm..I always wonder why they do that since there's also chicken rice in Malaysia and Thailand.
If you follow the old fashion way of preparing this dish, you will have to boil the whole chicken in a broth made from chicken bones and pork bones (optional).  After its cooked, it will be dipped into ice water and this type of chicken is known as "white chicken" (pak cham kai). According to my Grandma, to maximize the oil extraction, I should use old and fat (plump) chicken. This stock will be for the rice preparation besides garlic, ginger, lard (chee yau char) and pandan leaves. We also have to prepare the chicken rice chilli sauce which consists of red chilli, ginger and garlic with squeezes of lime juice. Some places will have cucumbers, tomatoes and even oyster sauce kai lan vegetable to complete the dish.  This is the method which I followed when I was younger. However, now, I will use any short-cut method I can find or come out with as I am always so busy with my DH and my 2 precious kids. It seems like 24 hours a day is just ain't enough.

How do I do it? Simple...just marinate the chicken with sesame oil and soy sauce for at least 1 hour. Prepare the rice like the old fashion way - fry garlic and ginger with oil and sesame oil. If you want to use lard, by all means. Then I will fry the chicken for a minute or two, scoop up the chicken and fry the washed rice till its coated with the oil in the pot. Pour in your chicken stock, some seasonings and place the chicken on top of the rice. Add in your pandan leaves and cook it in your rice cooker as normal. I am happy to say that this method works well for my family and my friends (they did try it at home and their families loved it).

Here's a photo of the rice cooker chicken rice:

Till next time, happy makan-ing!!!

Thai Fried Rice

My little Prince was asking why we don't go to any restaurants to eat like his friends in school. I guess at his little age, eating at home means eating healthier means nothing to him. So, DH decided to bring all of us to a chinese restaurant in Chinatown for some "restaurant" food. My little Prince fell in love with their Thai Fried Rice and was urging me to cook it again today. So, I came up with a version close enough for my prince to say "Mummy, Mummy! Its just like the one in the restaurant!!!"

Its a simple fried rice with garlic, onions, fishcake/fishballs, eggs, pineapple, kicap manis, Thai sweet chilli sauce and seasonings. Here's a photo of my version of Thai Fried Rice.

Laaeo phohp gan mai!!!!

Chinese Fried Rice & Beanshoots Fried Noodles

As its the holiday seasons, visitors do pop by now and then and the fastest way to whip up some tummy filling food is to fry some noodles or rice (that's if you are lucky enough to have overnight rice in your fridge).  I am also pretty happy when these 1-dish meal turns out to be yummylicious and my guests ask for seconds. Here's two photos which we took before we gobbled up these 1-dish meals.  I am trying to improve my photo taking and one of my friends suggested for me to have a red background....it looks pretty good, ya?!  *wink*

Simple Chinese Fried Rice

Beanshoots Fried Bee Hoon

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New Project - S E W I N G

Yup, you heard right. Besides cooking, I am going to start sewing. My other half bought me a Toyata Sewing Machine. He said that its time for both of us to start sewing....ha!ha! Well, I have sew a few simple clothes before...a recon of my other half's Polo Shirts to toddler's pants, onesies to dresses, etc. That really saved lots of money for me as kids' clothing is as and even more expensive than adult clothing.  So, what's on my sewing list so far:

a) Ben10 printed pants for my prince
b) Dora printed dress for my princess
c) Jeans pants for my prince and princess
d) Summer dress for little old me

Wish me luck!!!

Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice)

Nasi lemak is a dish which is another favourite in my family...even my prince and princess love eating nasi lemak ( of course with the sambal as its pretty hot).  Some of my friends eat nasi lemak for breakfast, other will eat it for lunch or dinner. For us, its normally dinner.  Yeah...I know, it pretty fattening....

When I was young, my Grandaunt would steam the rice on a layer of banana leaves in a steamer slowly and flake it with chopsticks. Today, I just boil the rice in the rice cooker....lazy, huh?!  However, I still do my own sambal (hot spicy sauce).  This is a MUST!!! With the sambal, nasi lemak is NOT nasi lemak.  I also fried some turmeric chicken, fried anchovies (ikan bilis), slice some cucumber, deep fry the egg, etc.  Here's a plate of nasi lemak which I plated for my other half...he ate 2 plates of it....its good that he loves it.  As everyone tells me...the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...is that really true?

Nasi Lemak....

Kara-age Bento @ Tokyo Maki

I seldom eat out as I tend to cook at home. However, Tokyo Maki is one place which I will love to go to. Its really a "value-for-money" place to eat. You can get a huge bento box at $10. This is one of the bento boxes which is served there and this box is called the kara-age bento. 

So what is kara-age? Its fried chicken is japanese. The kara-age which is at Tokyo Maki is a little spicy. Not to sure if I am correct but I do taste "Thai sweet chilli sauce" in their kara-age. Its just yummylicious.

I seriously need to DIY this at home....when? when? when?
Soon! Soon! Soon!

Asian Cabbage Rice

I love cabbage rice...its something which is so simple and yet delicious. Whenever I mentioned this 1-dish meal to my friends, they will refer it to a South Indian rice dish. I was also very interested to know what's the difference between my version and the South Indian's. From what I can see, the South Indian version uses green peas, tomatoes, green chilli, cumin seeds, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander leaves. Wow...sounds delicious!  My humble cabbage rice which was passed down from one generation to the next is very very simple. The ingredients are garlic, fried shallots (to sprinkle on top of the rice), cabbage, fish cake and seasonings. Just stir-fry it in a wok and mixed it with "just cooked" white rice.  If there's lap cheong (chinese sausage) in fridge, I will just slice the lap cheong into pieces and add as a topping. My aunt who loves mushrooms will julienne it and stir-fry it together with the cabbage. I guess this 1-dish meal is pretty versatile. When my other half cooks it, he will add chicken or pork slices.

Asian Carrot Cake (Chai Tow Kuay)

Asian carrot cake or better known as "chai tow kway" is one of our favourite one dish meal. However, this dish has not connection what-so-ever with the carrot cake which is baked by my Caucasian friends.  This dish is made of simple ingredients which is daikon and rice flour. The above photo is the chai tow kway which I have steamed and cut...all ready for frying.

In my household, we just fry the daikon cake with garlic, preserved raddish, egg, fish sauce, soya sauce and black caramel sauce. If its for the adults, a little chilli sauce will be added into it to make it more spicy.

This is one dish which we will make every single month without fail.... :)