~ Sandakan Seafood Bah Kut Teh ~

I know it has been a long time ago since I last updated this blog of mine. But what to do? I don't have time. First time involved in working life, some more it is a work that may take up 24 hours of your day. Sleep sometimes also becomes an issue. But nevertheless, I am still surviving hehehe.

Anyway, CNY it is now. I took leave from 3rd-9th February. And just for your information, I was oncall on the 2nd February, meaning I spent my CNY eve in the hospital, leaving hospital on 3rd February somewhere around 8am. I didn't fly back this CNY, call me stupid or whatever. I know it is my 7th consecutive year not celebrating CNY at home. But ... ...

Ok, back to the blog today. I am gonna tell you about food again. I know people are working, and yeah I am still on leave. So after helping some friend to post some mails today, I went to have brunch. Yes yes yes, by myself. Pity me? Nah, just accept it, enjoy life dude, especially when you still can. And one more thing, there is no water for 1+ week already, (despite the heavy rain that had even flood Sandakan!!!) because pipe burst!

I went to a shop somewhere on the way to Tanah Merah/Batu Sapi --- Nam Chai Restaurant Bah Kut Teh, in Bandar Nam Tung. Some colleagues told me it is famous. Finally I have the time to ... ... EAT it!!!

Yeah, they have also the typical pork ones. But since I am at the far East of the land below the wind, of course, I'd try their famous seafood version. And guess what, I am quite content. It comes with a little spicy taste (yes, I chose that) You my have a version of non-spicy one too. A small bowl with 6 prawns and some 4-5 slices of fish and some iceberg salad. Hmm, RM10 for that small bowl. And I chose a dried BeeHoon (RM1.50) which I enjoyed it, finally some real GonLow that taste better. A cup of herbal tea, which seems so tasteless (RM1.50). Ok, I admit, I need heavy taste.

RM10 per bowl

The shop opens 8am-2pm, then again 6pm till somewhere about 8.30pm (claims the LaoBanNiang) lah. So the next time I visit, I'm gonna try their porky version :P

Till the next time, byebye!

Longan Drink 龙眼水

Miss the longan drink in Malaysia very very much!!! Used to order this drink when I was in my secondary school, along those street, eating Economical Rice. Hehehe :)

So, summer is here, hot, hot, hot!!! Super duper frustrated that we didn't buy an air-cond in the first year (hahaha, as though we were allowed to have one!) Just wanna have this refreshing chilled drink. By the way, another main reason, I have extra dried longan!!! :P And another thing was inspired by my friend, Wanni, who did this longan water in a party. It's super easy. What you need is just to have : some good amount of dried longan, water and sufficient sugar supply :D

Yes, I used the slow cooker. You can use the stove :)

Boil the water, add the longan. When the longan "opens" up like a beautiful flower, add sugar (by your own sweetness level) and it's ready to be served hot. Chilled version, is of course, cooling it down, then adding ice. For me, who don't have ice supply (Yeah, poor me!) chilled it in the fridge after the cooling. Hmmm, yumyumyum!

Easy, cooling, refreshing especially in this hot summer weather. But, do bear in mind, according to Chinese Medicine point of view, Longan is heaty in nature. Although it's a cold drink, it still have this "heaty" effect. :D

Dried Longan 龙眼干

American Ginseng & Pear 泡参炖梨

Was browsing through my rack in the refrigerator (Yes, I'm staying in a 3-seater. And yes, we share the fridge :P), looking at what "leftovers" I may still have. I have roughly 2 months left, not deducting the 2-3 weeks traveling weeks yet. So, yeah, gotta clear stock!!!

So I saw 2 packets of American Ginseng, not sure whether it's 泡参 or 花旗参. But no big deal. I don't feel like doing the old way of making Ginseng tea with few pieces of Ginseng. Therefore, I'd figure how to clear a pack of them, and came out with this soup.

Judging from the ingredients I used, I would say it is definitely healthy and good, especially for the lungs (润肺)?! Hahaha. Ginseng for the energy (气) and 精神 (spirit?) and trust me, it is especially beneficial during the exam period (yeah, Tuesday, 1st June!!! And yet I am blogging?!) Red dates (红枣)for the circulation and I heard that pear when you cook with herbs is good for the lungs??? But, whatever, it is good for health, or at least, I convinced myself so :P

Ingredients :
American Ginseng 泡参 : 50g (But 25g should be enough)
Red Dates 红枣 : 10-15
Preserved Dates 蜜枣 : 3-6
Pear (Better to use 雪梨， but I used 鸭梨) : 2-3
Sugar (optional)

I think I used horribly lots of Ginseng here, so I ended up adding a lot of water later on, too bitter for me :P. I think half of my Ginseng will do. But preserved dates can be more, hehehe

Add everything and water into the slow-cooker and keep on high. Cook for about 4 hours. You may want to add the pear at the last hour (like me) or 2nd last :P
P/S : I know this isn't as healthy but I can't stand bitterness, so I added some sugar.

So, good luck, my friends (and myself :P)! Take good care of yourself especially health-wise when lots of midnight oil is to be burnt :D

Happy studying and all the best in the exams!!!

Chicken Congee with Rice Cooker

This is extremely easy (and healthy?), especially if you were a student.

All you need to have are :

1 cup of rice
200g Chicken Fillet
2 Leaves of Chinese Cabbage (cut thinly)
50g Ginger (sliced)
Some Shitake Mushroom (soaked and sliced)
100g Tofu (cut into thin strips)
Salt

Optional :
1 tablespoon Dong Cai (冬菜）
Sesame Oil
Oyster sauce
Soy Sauce
Pepper

Method :

1. Put rice into rice cooker, add lots of water (I used 1L then adding more as it dries up).
2. When the water boils, add in ginger and the chicken fillet (I love it especially when the rice is all crushed totally).
3. Cook the fillet in the rice cooker for about 20-30minutes.
4. Take out the fillet and "strip" it with a fork / hand (rinse with some cold water so that it will be easier to handle)
5. Add into the congee mushroom for about 15minutes, then add cabbage and tofu (fry them first if desired)
6. Lastly add in the chicken and Dong Cai.
7. Season with salt, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 0.5-1 tablespoon of sesame oil.
8. Bring to boil and it's ready to be served.
9. Sprinkle some fried shallot and spring onion/coriander on the congee.
10. Add soy sauce and pepper if desired.

You might also be interested in cooking congee with the slow cooker :)

Stew Pork With Shitake Mushroom

Have too much of Shitake mushroom, and don't know what to do with it in less than two months? This is what I have come out with. But of course if you don't have, Shitake mushroom, you can get it almost anywhere. For people in Simferopol, you can get them in the central market, some stalls selling "limited" Asian ingredients or in Metro occasionally.

Ingredients :
800g of Pork (In big pieces , preferably...and with some fats??)
10 small (5 if big) Shitake Mushroom (Soaked in hot water till soften)
5 cloves of Garlic (chopped)
100g of Ginger (Sliced)

Marinate pork for an hour or two with :
2 teaspoons Five Spice Powder
3 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
A dash of pepper
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil

Additional Seasoning :
a) 2 tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
b) 3 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
c) 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
d) 4 or 5 tablespoons Sugar
e) A pinch of Pepper
f) 1-1.5 teaspoons Salt

Method :
1. Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil in pan.
2. Sauté garlic , then add ginger.
3. Add sliced Shitake mushroom, continue to sauté (Pic D).
4. Add pork.
5. Add (a-c) then add (d).
6. Add hot water just like in picture F.
7. Transfer into a pot and add hot water to simmer with low fire until meat is tender (Pic G).
8. Stir once in a while and also add water if it dries up before meat is tender.
9. When meat is tender, add (e & f). Then, allow the water to thicken a bit into gravy-like.
10. Serve with rice and fresh sliced cucumber

P/S : Ah Bear (the super chef) said hor, that after I finish cooking and cleaning up, right, there is still trace of fragrance left in the kitchen. Not trying to show off...but I can't keep to be happy hehehe

Super Thickened gravy-like (Because I forgot to check on it :P)
I actually prefer it with a little bit more sauce

Kuih Lobak

Kuih Lobak a.k.a Lo Bak Ko is made of Daikon. I happened to have a small daikon in the fridge. And it has been staying in there for about 2 weeks. I gotta get an idea to clear it. And then sprang an idea of making Lo Bak Ko.

After browsing the net for quite some time, I reached upon this page of LilyWai's. I modified the recipe though. I omitted the Chinese sausage and tung min flour. And because of my small daikon, I recalculated the portions.

Ingredients :
300g daikon (shredded)
1 Onion (sliced)
30g Udang Kering
50g Shitake Mushroom
20g Corn Starch
100g Rice Flour (not glutinous rice flour!)
300ml Hot Water

Seasonings :
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
A dash of pepper

Method :

1. Soften the dried shrimps with some water in a bowl. Then slightly chop it.
2. Cut the Shitake mushrooms into cubes after softening it with hot water.
3. Place rice flour and corn starch in a bowl. Pour 300ml of hot water into the bowl and stir well. It will be glue-like.
4. Grease a pan with some oil.
5. Heat up small amount of oil in a pan fry onion (then set aside),
6. Fry the dried shrimp, then set aside again.
7. Followed by mushroom (set aside). Finally , the shredded radish and then set aside again.
8. Mix all the "set aside" ingredients (4 in total) and season with the seasoning ingredients.
9. Pour (8) in the pan and pour the flour mixture into the pan. Cook until the mixture thickens.
10. Place the thick batter into the greased pan prepared earlier.
11. Steam at high fire for about 1 hour.
12. Slice the Lo Bak Ko only when it is cooled down.

*You may fry it after it is cooled down too (picture below)*

Some mistakes I made:
My mistake in doing this is that I didn't set aside those ingredients, so you can see that mine turn out brownish instead of a whiter color. The second mistake is that my batter wasn't too thick, so it turn out a bit too soft. Third, I added too much of salt (miscalculated), but the recipe I wrote was corrected (I also forget that the dried shrimp is already quite salty :P ) Fourth, I thought my batter is thick enough, I should have waited it too be even thicker before steaming :(

Other than that, I think the taste of my Kuih Lobak is fine (except the salty part hahaha). One more thing, personally, I think if I changed my recipe with 500g Daikon, 150g rice flour and 500ml water, it should turn out even better.

Serve the Kuih Lobak with chilly sauce or maybe sambal :)

After frying

P/S :
This is what I did with the unfinished super duper salty Kuih Lobak ---> Fried Rice :D

TomYam Bihun Soup

*This is written while waiting for the bathroom for a bath hahahaha*

A lot of people might not know what 米粉/Bihun (or BeeHoon, Mee Hoon, Mee Hun, Mihun etc etc) is in English --- Rice Vermicelli. It is one of my favourite food. Here in Ukraine, you can get it with 350g for about 19uah, in Metro or Furshet. Haven't come across in Silpo though.

My friends usually asked me what do I do with radishes. Well, for the Ukrainians, only one word when you ask --- Salad. Me??? --- Soup

So for a simple dinner tonight, this is what I have done. Recipe to share is below. I know many of you know how to prepare this and cook even better than I do. But who knows, some new learner like me, out there might find this useful :P

From left : Radish, JiaoZi (available in Metro, uah28), Rice Vermicelli

Ingredients :
100g Rice Vermicelli
800L Water
1 Tomato --- cut into 8
5-8 Radishes --- Quartered/halved (without the red skin)
200g Chicken fillet --- Sliced
3 Chinese cabbage leaves ---Sliced
Tauhu --- Sliced into cubes
2 tablespoon of TomYam Paste / 1 TomYam cube
6-8 JiaoZi
Salt

Bihun after softening

Method :

1. Boil some water, place the Rice Vermicelli in a bowl, and pour the hot boiling water on it. And let the Bihun soften. Pour away the water when it is soft and leave aside.
2. Place tomato and radishes into the 800ml of boiling water in a pot.
3. When the soup boils again, put the sliced fillet.
4. Add the TomYam paste when the soup boils again.
5. Upon another boil, add cabbage and Tauhu, then let it boil. (You may want to add some water, if the water is lesser)
6. Finally at the last boil of the soup, put in the JiaoZi. Add salt for tasting if required.
7. Pour the TomYam Soup in your bowl of Bihun, and enjoy it :)

P/S : If you have shallot oil, it is even tastier. Sprinkle some cilantro, does well too.

* You may enjoy Bihun Soup with any type of soup of your choice, with any ingredients you want. Add seaweed, mushroom, crab stick ......whatever makes your appetite good*

~ Tiramisu Charlotte Cake Style ~

For Khiu Fu Lung's birthday party, we (group 628) decided to do cuisines of different nationalities. And we drew lots to decide the "chef" behind the cuisines. So this is the list :

Italian/USA/UK --- Mac and Cheese

Brandon/Kok Hon/Sook Sim


Mexican --- Barbecue Stick & Roll (?)
Brandon/Kok Hon/Sook Sim


Georgian --- Salad
Ann Feng


Cuban --- Mojito (Without Alcohol)
Yan Lee


Irish --- Irish Lamb Shank
Izman


Thai --- TomYam Seafood
Oo & Cyok Noy


German --- Pork Knuckles
Wei Min & Syih Ying


Chinese --- Herbal Duck Soup
Justin & See Yee


Italian --- Tiramisu
Jacklyn

As promised in the previous post, here is the better modified version. As the instructions are already written in the previous post, this would only include some additional instructions/details. Texture for this time is much better, I think. As it is not so soft and "watery" as the last one. At least you can see the "fence" still manage to stand "still" :P

Ingredients :
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

Coffee syrup (refer previous post)

500g Mascarpone Cheese
3 tablespoon coffee (strong and thick is preferable)

500ml Whipping cream

Lady Finger's biscuits
Cocoa Powder

25g Gelatin
50g hot water

Additional Details :
~ Steps are the same as previous.
~ But after you have fold in the Macarpone mixture and the whipping cream, assemble the lady finger's biscuits (without coffee) at the side of your tray.
~ Then take more lady finger's biscuits and dip them into the coffee mixture to make the first layer for the base of Tiramisu.
~ After this, only start to dissolve the gelatin in 50ml of hot water by double-boiling method.
~ Pour the dissolved Gelatin into your tiramisu cream portion by portion. Don't forget to stir/mix them evenly so that you won't get clumps of Gelatin in your cake later.
~ Then pour the mixture on the first base and proceed with the rest of the steps.
~ Chill the tiramisu for at least 4 hours.

Ingredients used

Left : Yolks + Sugar ~ Pale and frothy
Right : Gelatin + 50ml hot water ~ Double boiling method


Left upper corner: Assembling the cake, coffee-dipped biscuit at the base

--- HaPpY BirThDaY, Fu Lung! ---