Nasi Kerabu

Nasi Kerabu is from the state of Kelantan. Famous Famous!

Usually when it's sold not in the state itself... it always comes in blue. But if one were to eat it in Kelantan, it can come in yellow or even dark green, depending on what is used to tint the rice. It's like a salad rice, tossed together to be eaten, healthy, depending on which side dishes you take.

Fried Nasi Lemak

When I was teaching in Selancar, I have always wondered how come the breakfast fried rice in the canteen, sometimes taste awesome, sometimes just so so. Until one day, I fried some leftover nasi lemak with egg. My brain went “tink”, the bulb lit up. The fried rice tasted superb because it’s made with leftover nasi lemak.

And today I had some extra coconut milk from making coconut agar-agar and I was busy doing the cake, so I better cook something simple for dinner. And fried nasi lemak shall be it! I purposely made the seasonings as close as possible to the accompanying sambal, except, there’s no tamarind.

Nasi Liwet Solo Komplit

Nasi Liwet Solo is a famous coconut rice dish in Surakarta, Central Java, also known as Solo.

There are two types of nasi liwet in Indonesia, one is Nasi Liwet Solo and the other is Nasi Liwet Sunda, of which is popular in Bandung.

Nasi Liwet Solo Komplit is Nasi Liwet with all the works, namely Ingkung Ayam (Coconut Chicken Stew), Labu Siam (Chayote in Spicy Coconut Gravy), Telur Pindang (Stewed Eggs) and Areh Telur (Coconut custard). It's a very filling and rich meal, with lots of eggs and coconut.

Long Beans Braised Noodles 豆角焖面

*25/6/2019 Updated: Instructional Video beneath recipe

I first saw long bean braised noodles some time ago, and did more reading up on it. There are many versions online and finally I settled for this one. FYI, it's a popular noodle from Beijing 

The first time I cooked this, I used store bought wanton noodles and followed the recipe to put in the raw noodles straight into the wok. It became a lump of goo that made me feel aweful. I felt aweful because I wasted dinner, the pork, the organic beans, the noodles....it's all money. Local wanton noodles are heavily coated with starch to prevent them from sticking,and so, if we put them in..chances are the starch coating on it will cook and make everything lump together. Why didn't I think of that? I was angry with myself

Tomato Rice @ Nasi Tomato

In my school, the afternoon session teachers love to organise 'makan makan'. Makan means eat in Malay. Food makes conversation and brings relationships closer, and so, we who are in the afternoon session are a cooperative close bunch. Back in those days we will take turns to treat each other. I can't bring home cooked food, so, each time I will just buy KFC, hehehe, and everybody's happy.

Nowadays, the practice slightly changed, we organised potlucks or collect money to order food.

Potato Salad with Apple

It's a salad? Looks like mash... yeah... either way.
But it's not dressed with butter but mayonnaise, so I guess that makes it a salad.

Taro Porridge 芋头粥

I truly regretted not cooking more of this. It’s the absolute must try for taro cake lovers, or what you may call as yam cake lovers.

Peng is such a genius to think of transforming the taro cake into porridge form. Seriously! I love going to her blog to get inspirations for everyday dishes. She’s got lots of good recipes, with some combinations that I have never ever seen before and all her recipes that I've tried all taste good to me.
Well, I know that cooking is unlike baking, where one can just throw in whatever you like. But, it has to mingle well. Cooking is like wearing clothes, you need the right combination and pairing. Not all flavours work well together. Although edible, but it may not necessarily taste nice. But Peng’s ingenious pairing and combinations always brings the “ooo” and “ahh” out of me.

I may have changed the recipe, but all credits to her for the idea.

Herb Buttered Baby Potatoes

My potato monster calls these fishball potatoes :)

Lyanne loves potatoes, all sort of potatoes, while the eldest doesn't quite like it.
There was a time when she was around two, she was so picky, that all she eats is either white rice or potatoes.

When I made this, she ate a bowl of it. Sometimes, being a mother to a picky kid, I can't think much. As long as she's willing to eat anything but the usual white rice, I'll just let her eat.

Taiwanese Bamboo Rice 台湾竹筒饭 - AFF Taiwan Chewies #5

I have access to fresh bamboo. So, it's not an excuse not to try making this.
My husband's employee falls her bamboo bush every Eid and I must ask for it in advance as I won't know when will the bamboo be cut down. As bamboo dries up easily, I can not wait for long once I receive them.

I have never eaten this before, but our AFF Taiwan host, Alan did, many times.
So, he told me what is in those that he ate and with some reference pictures I saw online... I embarked on a mission to copycat the modern Taiwanese Bamboo Rice, the version that you could probably buy at night markets.

Taiwanese Hakka Tang Yuan - AFF Taiwan ~ Chewies #3

Tang Yuan, is usually eaten during the Winter Solstice Festival.
They are made with glutinous rice flour, round and chewy.
One can either make them plain, or filled with fillings like red bean, peanuts, or  black sesame paste.

For the Taiwanese Hakka, they will cook tang yuan in a savoury broth. They love to use aromatic vegetables in the broth. My family also cooks savoury tang yuan, but not in the same way.

Num Banh Chok @ Khmer Noodles - AFF Indochina~ Cambodian #1

Num Banh Chok is fresh rice noodles in Cambodia. Quite similar with Vietnamese bún. It can be served with many types of gravy and broth. This time, I want to try Samlor Khmer, the traditional version.
Because the fresh version isn't available here, I made do with dried bún.

After I cooked this.... it hit me that it has similarities with the local Kelantanese Laksae and Laksam. Aromatic coconutty fish broth with fresh noodles...what's not to love?

Khao Piak Sen @ Lao Tapioca Noodles in Chicken Broth - Indochina AFF~ Lao Food #3

Khao Piak or Ka'piek is a chewy noodle, almost similar to the texture of udon, of which is made with wheat instead. For locals, we will find it not too far off from the texture of Lai Fun (Assam Laksa noodles, but Lai Fun is less chewy. The Vietnamese has another noodle similar to this, called Bánh canh. But served in other ways.

Lao Khao Soi - Indochina AFF, Laotian Week #1

This is one noodle that I highly recommend if you are a busy person and love to prepare your meals in advance.

It feels like eating instant noodles, but the soup paste is homemade! Awesome!
Just blanch your noodles, top with the meat paste and pour hot water from the kettle and you're done. The meat slices are optional. Better than instant noodles from the packet. I love to keep my sliced coriander and spring onion is a covered container, kept chilled all the time, so that I can sprinkle them on whenever I like.

Kashmiri Pulao - AFF Indian Rice Dishes #2

I tried this recipe more than a year ago... been wanting to redo it, because I used too much saffron! The recipe called for 1/2 tsp. I should've followed the recipe with 2 pinches. The whole thing turned out too yellow and the smell was strong! But alas.... it never realized.

So, just let it be....

Mishti Pulao - AFF Indian Rice Dishes #1

Mishti is sweet is Bengali. Mishti Pulao simply meant, sweet rice.

It might sound funny to you to eat a sweet tasting rice.... but not really. The sugar here nicely offsets the pungency of the turmeric and it's just mildly sweet, like how we enjoy the taste of coconut rice. The list of spices is not long, and they are easily available.

String Hopper Biryani - AFF Indian Subcontinent #8

A biryani not made with rice..but a rice product, the delicious idiyappam or string hoppers or putu mayam.
It is a specialty from Sri Lanka, and no two recipes are the same.

Usually we see biryani that is made with rice... and takes a lot of ingredients, spices and time ..but not this special biryani. It's like cooking fried rice!

first attempt

I cooked this twice, because I wasn't happy with the first attempt's pictures. The morning sun was too bright on my patio. When I made it the second time, I ran out of carrots. Haha. So, you will see both plates of string hopper biryani looking slightly different.

You can make this with store bought idiyappam, but I used homemade ones, hence they look fatter, almost like broken bits of basmati rice.

I tried this recipe for breakfast and it was so yummy! If you don't want to use string hoppers, I think you can just usecooked rice. The texture will not the same, of course, but the taste of the ingredient combination is nice, and it won't be string hopper biryani anymore.

2nd attempt

String Hopper Biryani
Reference: Sarojini's Sri Lanka Food
Single portion

String hoppers for 1 person
2 Tbsp coconut milk

1 knob of butter ( around 20gm)
1 smallish piece of cinnamon
1 clove
1 cardamom, crushed until crack
1/2 sprig curry leaf
2 inches pandan leaf, torn into 4 pcs

1 tsp grated garlic
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 smallish red onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp carrots, cut into 1 inch thin matchsticks

10 small prawns, marinated with Pinch of salt + Pinch of chilli powder

Garnish
Omelette
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Coriander

1. Moisten string hoppers with coconut milk. Lightly break it up.
2. Heat a frying pan and fry the omelette. Let it cool down and slice.
3. With the same pan, add in 1 Tbsp oil and heat it up. Put in prawns and sear it until golden and curled up. Remove the prawns and keep the pan.
4. Lower the heat to medium and put in butter. Put in cinnamon, clove and cardamom and fry it for a few seconds until fragrant.
5. Add in ginger and and garlic and saute until fragrant, then add in onions and cook until translucent and very lightly browned. Add in carrots and cook until wilted.
6. Add in curry leaf and pandan leaf and cook for a few seconds, until you can smell the fragrance.
7. Pour in the moistened string hoppers, add salt to taste (I used 1/4 tsp). Toss the string hoppers around until well incorporated.
8. Dish up and garnish with the cooked prawns, omelette strips, cashew nuts, raisins and coriander.

I am submitting this to Asian Food Fest Indian Subcontinent Month, 

hosted by Alvin of Chef and Sommelier

Idiyappam @ Putu Mayam - AFF Indian Subcontinent #2

This week is all about breakfast..but you can eat these anytime of the day if you wish.

Idiyappam or String Hoppers is something like rice vermicelli that is made fresh for consumption. It is known in Malaysia as Putu Mayam. Idiyappam is a culinary specialty of Kerala,Tamil Nadu and southern areas of Karnataka. It is also a culinary staple in Sri Lanka.

It's a childhood favourite of mine, and still is one of my favourite things to eat. Being able to make this at home really makes my heart jump as I can have it as often as I like.

Japchae @ Korean Glass Noodle with Mixed Vegetables

I have a tongue that is usually adventurous and accepts a wide range of cuisine. But there is one, that my tongue has yet been tamed for it. I tried a few dishes before and I find it a bit hard to accept. Maybe I tried them at the wrong places and asking for the wrong food. And kimchi is one of my problem too.

But when I saw these dried noodles at Jusco, that were thicker and had a darker colour than our usual glass noodles, I turned to the back and saw a recipe. It sounds delicious.

I refered to the recipe on the back of the noodle pack and cooked this. Presentation wise.... not quite the usual way. Hahaha. Do you recognise the resemblance??

I am happy that I tried cooking this. And it was yummy!

Healthy noodle salad with lots of  vegetables.

So different than what I had at a so called Korean restaurant in Ipoh that later on folded. I am not surprised they didn't last long as the food was really not good. Their japchae was all soggy and mine tasted better, hahahaha!

I used less sesame oil than in the recipe as I worried about the 'heatiness'.
Feel free to use all sesame oil to saute the ingredients.

Japchae @ Korean Glass Noodles
Recipe source: CJ Noodle wrapper.

250gm Korean glass noodles
200gm onions (2 large), sliced
100gm carrots, julienned
200gm spinach, sectioned
2 eggs
150gm sliced pork/beef, marinated with 6tsp sugar+1.5Tsp light soy sauce+1tsp sesame oil
5 chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced

Few Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Seasoning
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp light soy sauce or as needed

1. Fry the egg into omelettes. Cool and thinly slice.
2. Add 1 Tbsp of oil and use high heat to saute the onions until softened. Remove and set aside.
3. In the same wok, put in little bit of oil and put in spinach. Toss it around and cook it until it wilts. Remove and set aside.
4. Make sure wok is dry with no leftover juices from cooking spinach. And in the same wok, put in little bit of oil and put in carrots. Toss it around and cook it until it wilts. Remove and set aside.
5. Add in 2 Tbsp of oil, wait until oil is very hot,then put in pork slices and give it a quick stir fry until it is cooked and fragrant. Remove and set aside.
6. With the wok dirty from cooking pork, add in mushrooms and deglaze with 1/s Tbsp soy sauce and ½ cup water. Let it cook until the mushrooms have no more visible liquid. Remove and set aside.
7. Cook noodles boil cook according to instruction
8. To serve, mix everything together with seasoning.

All tossed and ready to be served!

I am submitting this to Asian Food Fest Korean Month, 

hosted by Sharon of Feats of Feasts.

Khao Soi @ Northern Thai Curry Noodle - Thai Curries AFF #5

Khao Soi or sometimes written as Khao soy is a Burmese influenced dish that is  popular in northern Thailand.

I wasn't sure if the recipes in English were right on the internet...so I referred to one that made from scratch. I believed that the north and south's curries will be very different and hence refused to believe there will be any red curry paste. I also refused to believe that there is curry powder.,.. or maybe not the type of curry powder we have here that is Indian curry powder.

Kurigohan, Japanese Chestnut Rice - Simple Japanese Fare #1

My blogger friend cum old school mate Annie gave me some beautiful delicious koshikahari rice.
I want to make full use of it, and so, I tried cooking chestnut rice.

That time, I haven't bought my mirin, so I used rum to replace.
I'm not sure if I will submit this to AFF, haha, I used rum.