The attempted sticky ribs...

It is, so far, a relaxing week for many Malaysians as we only work 3 days! Well, that's because there's Diwali and Awal Muharram - both are national public holidays for all of us! Weee... so, without any hesitation, it is time to try out a new recipe which I was really excited.

After reading much recipes from the Internet, I've decided to simplify it. So here goes...

First things first, we must have THE ribs. TheLoyalFan and I headed to our nearby market to buy some pork ribs. The friendly butcher chopped the ribs into half... it wasn't baby ribs so have to chop lor... Then, it is marinate time!

Give the ribs a good rinse and drain well. Finely chop about 2 cloves of garlic and place into the bowl of ribs. Season it with salt, pepper, BBQ sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Massage these goodies on every surface of the ribs. Be generous on the seasoning but go easy on the BBQ sauce as this is a dry marinate.

Grilling in ze BBQ pit, with a LID! 

Now it is time to grill. You can either use an oven or on a BBQ pit. For this, I use a BBQ pit with a lid. I grilled the ribs for 2 hours. During the first hour, it was an indirect grilling and we flipped it about every 10 minutes to even out the cooking. For the last half hour, we basted the ribs with honey to get that 'sticky' effect.

Et voila! Moi attempted ribs. The chicken was part of dinner too!

Yum yum yum! I think it was a success on my simple marinate experiment. After having the ribs, I can't wait to have another round of this ribs again! Nonetheless, there are some tweaks need to be done in order to perfect my ribbies. TheLoyalFan and I thought that we should baste the ribs with a honey & BBQ sauce mixture instead of just honey. Also, I think we should cook it longer so that the meat would just fall off from the bones... *slurp slurp slurp*

TheLoyalFan says: 'Nom nom nom nom nom noms...slurp!I wish I could have this everyday!'

Mmm Mmm...

Something New and Something To Try Out Soon!

Look!

A gift from TSS when we met up the other day at her house for dinner. I was really happy and touched for this wonderful gift. : )

Looks like there are lots of recipes to try out and I shall pass on the food revolution to all of you ^_^ I hope my journey with this book will be fun and enjoyable. Stay tune for more posts on recipes from this book! : P

Happy Weekend everyone!

Yeong Tow Foo!

Can also be known as stuffed veggies or stuffed beancurd if translated directly from its Chinese name, it is a common food in Malaysia and a favourite among all races too! This food originated from the Hakka people but it has evolved to suit everyone's tastes and preferences. The stuffing is either made from fish paste, meat paste or a combination of mince pork and fish.

And here it goes...

First, you'll need fish and mince pork. I used Tenggiri fish or the Spanish Mackerel (Gao Yue in Cantonese). If you're not sure how the fish looks, feel free to ask your friendly fish monger in the market. The fish monger whom I bought from was very friendly and helpful. She gave great information about the fish and how to do it : ) OK OK... back to topic: Once the fish has been thawed completely, scrape the flesh from its skin. Be careful not to scrape out the bones as the bones near the fins are quite fine. You can ask your fish monger to 'butterfly' your fish, separating the flesh from its spinal bone. That way, you'll be able to scrape easily.

Scrape, scrape, scrape!

And mince mince mince!

Once the flesh has been scrapped out, sprinkle some salt and mince them. At the beginning, use the knife to mince it. Then as you continue to mince the fish into paste, use the blunt side of the knife.  After you mince it, fold the flesh towards the centre of the mince. It is as though you are folding a dough. Keep repeating these steps until the flesh becomes sticky. I think it took about 10 to 15 minutes for me but do take note that if there is alot of flesh, then it will take longer time.

When the paste is ready, mix together with your mince pork. Season it with sesame oil, pepper, salt, 2 to 3 tablespoons of corn flour and an egg to bind everything together. Give it a good mix and you are ready to stuff your veggies!

Now here comes the assembling part - I used brinjal and fried tofu. For the brinjal, cut it into chunks and slid in the middle of the brinjal pieces. You can use big chillis, lady's finger and even the white squared tofu to stuff the meat. For those, you'll just need to slid the veggie, and empty out the seeds inside it.

When all is done, fry them in hot oil. You can either deep fry or shallow fry them. Remember to fry all sides to ensure the meat is entirely cooked.

After much preparation, we can finally tuck into our home made Yeong Tow Foo! I must say, it is much more delicious than those in the shops. The texture of the meat was just right, it wasn't too meaty and neither was it too fishy as well. The flavours from the stuffing enhances the vegetables and the tofu. Hmmm, I must do this again! I think my smile was stretched from one eye to the other ^_^

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tastes like commercial Yeong Tow Foo. If only there were Sui Kows (Dumplings)...'

Well, with much sweat, blood and tears, I ate every bite with much appreciation for those Yeong Tow Foo sellers. It was a tedious process to prepare this, but I am really happy that I have learnt to make this : )

Till then, happy nomming and have a fantastic week ahead!

Shepherd's Pie

Aloha everyone!

I must apologize for the long silence. TheLoyalFan and I got back home about a month ago and we had to do some errands and adjustments back to the Malaysian lifestyle. Now that we're settling in, it is time to try new recipes again! This time, the location is back in KL... weee!

Shepherd's pie is something really English - *with English accent* typical English I must say. So here goes:

First, chop up some onions, carrots and celery. Then stir fry the onion with some cooking oil in a pan for about 2 minutes or until it is fragrant. Next, pour in a packet of mince beef and mix well. Season the mince with herbs, salt and pepper. When the mince is almost 90% cooked, pour in the chopped carrots, celery and a can of tomato puree. Season it with some sugar to counter the sourness of the tomatoes. Give it a good stir and let it simmer until the vegetables are soften. I made mine moderately soft because TheLoyalFan likes them crunchy ^_^

While waiting for the meat and veggies to be cooked thoroughly, you can start preparing your mash potatoes. Basically, just clean and cut them into chunky bits and boil them for about 10 minutes or until it is soft. Then drain the water and mash the potatoes!!! Remember to season them with butter and milk... it will be oh-so-delicious and fluffy!

Here comes the fun part - assembly time! (It is not the usual Monday assembly school time, folks : P)

Using a casserole dish, pour in the mince beef and flatten it out. Once that is done, pour the mash to cover the meat. Oh yes, before you do this, remember to heat up the oven at 190⁰c or gas mark 5. Decorate your mash with either some pepper seasoning or with twigs of rosemary. Place in the oven for 25 minutes or until the mash has become golden brown.

Et voila!

I think the preparation was quite easy. With some help from TheLoyalFan and CuteFuzzyBear, we managed to cook this really fast. The mash complements really well with the meat... Ooh La La!  One thing to note though, my meat mixture was a little wet. Perhaps the next round I will need to drain the sauce away.

TheLoyalFan says: 'The creamy mash matched the meaty filling very well! I had trouble stopping myself...'

Yum yum yum!!! I have to agree with TheLoyalFan... I had trouble too : P

Happy Weekend everyone! I am loving the weekends >_<

The things I will miss...

A year of adventure will be coming to an end. There were so many good memories that were created while we're here. And here goes... of the things I will miss in the UK:

Clockwise from top left: Nawaab (Indian buffet), Tops (Chinese / World buffet), a  variety of salads on a platter at Bem Brasil (Brazillian buffet)

Buffet in Manchester!
Known as THE 'Buffet Hub' in the UK, there are so many types of cuisine that one can choose from. From Chinese, Indian, Thai to Brazillian and 'World Buffet', ahhh... staying one year here is definitely not enough to try all of them! Furthermore, you can get a proper buffet meal under a tenner and stuffed yourself silly! I don't think I can ever get this price in Malaysia...

Dairy products
I am going to miss this real bad! Well mainly because where I come from, there are limited choices of cheeses and milks (whole, semi skimmed, skimmed). Plus most of it are imported and hence, the prices are quite expensive for us to buy and enjoy them. We still buy them nonetheless although it is pricey... we need our daily calcium intake ma! ^_^

In this year of adventure, I have learnt to cook dishes with double cream, crème fraîche and with cheese. Not only that, we drank milk every day too! I will remember the recipes I've learnt and cook them for my family when I'm back... the next time would be, spaghetti cabonara, made in Malaysia! ^_^

The stairs
The faithful flights of stairs that we use throughout our stay here in Manchester. Whenever we head out to the city, we'll use it to go downstairs instead of the lift. When it is cold and wet outside, it is our 'exercise apparatus' and we would go 2 to 3 laps a day. I think TheLoyalFan and I will surely miss our 'Stairs Master' exercise when we're home...

Clockwise from top left: The Great Orme, sheep on a meadow, piggies! and Tudor architectures in Chester

The UK itself
There are so many things that I have learnt to appreciate while I'm here and one of them is history. Everywhere we visted, there's always old buildings from the Victorian era, Georgian and even Medieval times. The city councils have preserved them really well and I have learnt and understand more about the history and how we have evolved to become a better civilization towards the 21st century. Not only that, I will miss those wide pavements for pedestrians to walk, to push their buggies and for their wheelchairs. Although the pavements are dirty and full of chewing gum residue, I enjoyed the walk very much. We still walk during the bitter cold winter and we've survived although we're from the tropical climate country : )

Last but it is definitely not the least, I'm gonna miss those cows, sheep and pigs whenever we travelled around the country. I love the view of the green plains with grazing cows and sheep. And during winter, it would be a snowy white plains to the end of the horizon. Brilliant view indeed!

As we'll be starting to pack up, go home and start new chapter of our lives, our adventure will always be a great memory to cherish and the UK has a special place in our hearts as well...

Till then, keep nomming!

Can Instant Food be home cooked?

Have you tried Macaroni & Cheese - the ones where you can buy from the supermarkets, just add water, milk & butter? I love eating Mac & Cheese! Ever since the day I tried it back home, I sort of fell in love with it.

Lately I was thinking whether this miracle instant food can be cooked from scratch. So I thought I would give it a try, using my own imagination on what ingredients manufacturers use. Hehe, a 'food factory' experiment!

And so it begins with these ingredients - macaroni, cheese, water, butter, salt & pepper.

Pour 1 cup of water and half cup of macaroni into a sauce pan. Let them simmer on medium heat and add in about 1/3 cup of milk, followed by the a good knob of butter. Stir up everything. I used the same cup for all measurements : )

While waiting for the macaronis to be cooked, season it with salt & pepper. I think the simmering will probably take about 6 - 10 minutes, depending on the quality of the macaroni.

Once the macaroni is thoroughly cooked, mix it grated cheese. I used cheddar cheese. While mixing the cheese, remove the pan from heat in order to avoid your sauce from splitting.

Finito!

I can't believe that my experiment actually worked! Hahahaha... So happy with the result. Some things to take note though: If I want to make the sauce dryer, I could reduce my water measurement. Perhaps the next time, adding another type of cheese (say, Mozarella) should take better. And, I think the next time I can add in some herbs. So far, I'm inclining to basil but I'll need to test it out the next time : P

So it turns out that we can actually cook Mac & Cheese on a hob too! Looks like a simple instant food can be home cooked and it takes the same amount of time to prepare as well : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'Ten times nicer than the instant version! The cheese tasted real, beacause it was! It didn't have an artifical taste and wasn't overly creamy. Just nice!'

Ooo... yes it was!

Till then, keep nomming : ) And have fun watching the opening ceremony for London Olympics!

Kiwi & Peach Crumble Crunch

What do you do when your kiwis are hard and still not ripen after a week? Well, I decided to chop them up and learn to make a compote out of it : )

Basically, compote is a mixture of fruits that were boiled in sugar syrup. This method was orginated from France some time in the 17th century. So I thought that perhaps this method can help make my kiwis edible : P

And here goes...

First, I sliced up the kiwi into small pieces and place them in a pan. Then I added in sugar and some water. This is the most basic compote. From what I've gathered via the Internet, you can add in vanilla pods and lemon juice to make it tastier. Let the mixture simmer on low heat and stir it occasionally to avoid the fruits getting burnt. This would take about 10 minutes, or depending on the amount of fruits.

When the kiwis are soften, pour in the sliced peaches. For the peaches, I cheated by using the canned ones. Hehe... Fresh ones will do just fine as well but you'll need to boil them together with the kiwis. When the compote is ready, remove the pan from the stove and let it cool down.

In a separate bowl, crunch some digestive biscuits into rough crunchy bits.

Next, whip up a tub of double cream until it creates medium peaks. Then fold in a tub of low fat yogurt and we are ready to assemble our crumble crunch.

Using some glasses (or bowls), place a layer of digestive biscuits. Then scoop up some compote and followed by a layer of the yogurt mixture. Keep repeating until you have reach to the brim. Place the glasses into the fridge to set for about 2 hours and it is ready to serve : )

Simmer simmer, pound and pound, let them set and ready to eat!

The outcome of this dessert was interesting and yummy. I mentioned interesting because while I was cooking the compote, the kiwis started to change colour and I panicked. Hahahaha, silly me! It is completely natural for fruits to change colour, more so for the kiwi. Thankfully I had TheLoyalFan to help out and calm me down. I really liked the combination of the crumble crunch. It is not too sweet and neither it was a heavy dessert. If you can't find double cream, I think vanilla ice cream would be splendid too! My sister made a dessert for my mum and myself once with ice cream, cornflakes and fruits. It was delicious too!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Very, very, very yummy! Tasted like cheesecake.'

Yummy indeed! Nom Nom Noms...

Steamed Ribs

This week it is back to Chinese food and while we were planning what to eat, we suddenly thought of steam ribs, those you'd eat at Dim Sum. The ribs would be steamed with ginger, black beans and finely sliced red chillis. And so, we decided to give it a try, with a twist : P

Because our stay in the UK is coming to an end soon, we didn't wanted to buy black beans. Instead, we modified our ingredients. First, marinate the ribs with pepper, Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce and corn flour. The corn flour will give a smooth texture on the rib when it is cooked. Leave the ribs to marinate for about 5 - 10 minutes. Then slice up some garlic and ginger and scatter on top of the ribs. Using a pair of scissors, finely cut the dried chillis and scatter all over the ribs too!

Once the garnishing is completed, steam the ribs for 30 to 45 minutes.

Ready to be served!

At first, I wasn't sure whether it would turn out nice as this is my first attempt at cooking pork ribs. To my surprise, it tasted quite nice actually. The dried chillis were replacement of the black beans and they complimented with the ribs rather nicely. Plus it gives you a slight spicy taste to it, and made the ribs more refreshing, leaving you wanting more. Sadly, we only had 8 pieces of ribs. We will definitely make this again and the next time, must remember to buy more ribs! Hahahaha...

TheLoyalFan says: 'Veli Veli Goods! Super good with rice, tasted super chinese! Got transported back home, for a short while, hehehehe.'

Till then, keep nomming!

The Western Week - Day 7 (Finale)

Asian Chicken (yep, you read that right : P) served with tomato & cucumber salad. Sorry folks, I can't think of a proper title for my chicken. Hehehe...

With limited ingredients at home, I was not sure what kind of flavour to prepare for dinner. Herbs were out, and the only ingredients available were my Chinese sauces. So, I marinated the chicken with pepper and a dash of fish sauce. While searing the chicken in a hot pan, I poured some Shao Xing wine and later on glazed the chicken with honey & soy sauce mixture.

For the salad, it was seasoned with pepper, salt, finely chopped garlic and some cooking oil.

The outcome for this round of dinner was nice. However, the chicken was a bit too salty. We suspected that TheLoyalFan dashed 'too much' of fish sauce. But I think if we remove the soy sauce from the honey mixture, it should turned out alright. I wanted to try to make a Char Siew glaze (watched it from "Gok cooks Chinese"), but it didn't tasted as I'd imagined. Nonetheless, the chicken was really juicy and tender. The salad was quite refreshing, wished I had some black pepper as that would create a different taste than the white pepper : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tasted very fushiony. It actually reminded me alot of our BBQ marinated chicken at home. It looked a little different at first, but it turned out pretty well and i enjoyed it very much!'

* * * * * * * 

Finally, our Western Week has come to an end. Reflecting back to the objectives that I've set out at the beginning of this, I think we managed to survive just western meals for dinners. To be honest, we cheated. We had Chinese food for lunch : P Guilty as charged! Ho Ho Ho. If we didn't have Chinese lunch, I think we would have died! Yup,  we're true Ching Chong Ling Longs! (hopeless!)

As for the budgeting, I think having Western meals can be cheaper if chosen the right ingredient. For example, if one were to buy chicken, the breast is usually the most expensive compared to thighs or drumsticks because it doesn't have any bones. So that would be a saving. Just to share with you, our usual weekly groceries are average of GBP20 which includes lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts after dinner. However, for our western week challenge, it was GBP 22.00. Not a very big variance mainly because we usually buy the 'in season' vegetables or those with promotion. The reason of the slight increase is the frozen breaded cod. That alone costed GBP 2.00.

Nonetheless, I had great fun with the challenge. I've learnt to appreciate and understand (roughly) a common Western food, at the same time, I also learn't not to take Chinese food for granted. Both are yummy and great!

Mmm... Time to treat ourselves with some Asian food. Hehehehe...

Till then, keep nomming!

The Western Week - Day 6

Phew... We're now at Day 6 and there's one more day to go for our Western Week Challenge. Yay! Am quite looking forward to the end of my self initiated challenge : P

Day 6 dinner was a simple one - Spaghetti Cabonara!

TheLoyalFan says: ' This cabonara was a little too cheesy for me. I also would have preferred smoky bacon. Other than that, it was very good. Noms!'

Yum yum yums... 6 days have came and gone. And the final day is coming soon too!

Cost for Day 6: GBP 1.20 for 2 pax.

The Western Week - Day 5

Sorry everyone for backlog post... Anyways, day 5's dinner is...

*Drum rolls*

Pan fried breaded cod served with chilled potato salad and fresh green vegetables. Plus a homemade tartar sauce.

We had a free drink too! Well, sort of - TheLoyalFan looted from our Hall's summer party. 

Another really simple dish. The breaded cod was bought in a box at the frozen section and just pan fried them. Wished I had an oven and that would be much easier... That way, I wouldn't be cleaning the newly 'decorated' kitchen with oil splatters : )

Other than that, the sides were repeats from previous dinners... hehehe. Fast and simple for me! ^_^

As for the tartar sauce, it was an attempt to finish up our big bottle of mayonnaise. I've added some finely chopped pickled gherkins in a bowl and squeeze a huge dollop of mayonnaise. Then I seasoned it with some salt and  pepper. I also poured a teaspoonful of juice from the pickled gherkins. Mixed them up, et voila!

The cod was erm... hmmm... quite okay... Well, it was like having fish & chips at our local western food stall back home. Very simple and edible lah! The tartar sauce was kinda chunky because I chopped too many gherkins... but I like it! Yum Yums! Perhaps I should squeeze some lemon juice the next time when I make tartar sauce.

TheLoyalFan says: 'I was slightly disappointed with the fish fillet, it tasted like a huge fish nugget.  As a result, it tasted really oily. The tartar sauce was great though... Never knew it was so easy to make.'


Cost for Day 5: GBP 3.00 for 2 pax.

The Western Week - Day 4

Spicy Garlic Mushroom Spaghetti! Finally, something different : )

This is a new recipe I found on the Internet and thought of giving it a try since it is quite easy. So here goes...

First, fry some garlic, onion, dried chilli and mushroom in a pan with some cooking oil. For budgetary experimental purposes, I bought sliced mushroom in a tin. Hahahahahah! Plus, this can save some slicing time for me too! Once the onion & garlic are fragrant, pour in carrots and other vegetables that you'd like it in your sauce. Celery and olives should taste great and add colour in it as well.

While frying these ingredients, remember to boil the spaghetti too!

After frying for about 5 minutes, pour a tin of chopped tomatoes and give it a good mix. Add in some herbs such as parsley or... mixed herbs. However, I'm out of mixed herbs so I used basil instead : P  Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Let the sauce simmer in low or medium heat until the sauce has been reduced and thicken. Pour in the drained spaghetti and give it a good toss!

Done!

Toss Toss Toss!

Ready to be eaten, with some cheese! Yummie!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tasted alot like Puttanesca. It has a more fusiony Asian twist though. I liked the spicyness... noms!'

"Fusiony Asian Twist"? o.O!!!

Well, I think it turned out quite nice. Wish there were more mushroom and more of it! Hehehehe.

Cost for Day 4: GBP 1.70 for 2 pax

The Western Week - Day 3

Better quality sausages served with home made sauce. Plus potato salad and fresh greens with home made honey & mustard dressing. Yums!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Much better sausages... I actually prefer the green salad as a side compared to the first time. Nonetheless, nom noms!'

And noms noms indeed! Weee! 3 days have passed and we're still going strong without rice! Hahahahahaha!

Cost for Day 3: GBP 2.50 for 2 pax

The Western Week - Day 2

Butter & Herb Chicken glazed with honey. Served with potato salad and refreshing cucumbers.

I used chicken thighs as they are much cheaper than breast. First, I removed the chicken skin and some fatties around the chicken. Then, using a knife, I gave some 'slits' onto the meat so that the marinate can seep into the meat and to ensure the meat is thoroughly cook too. Rub the meat with mixed herbs and season with salt and pepper, both the top part and the bottom part of the thigh.

Once the pan is hot, pour about a tablespoon of oil just to baste the base. Then place the thighs onto the pan, as flat as possible. Sear both sides for a couple of minutes and put a big knob of butter into the pan. Swirl the pan to ensure all meats have absorb the butter. Close the lid and cook it for 15 minutes.
Occasionally, turn the meat so that both sides are evenly brown. When the chicken meats are cooked, serve. With the remaining oil in the pan, melt a tablespoon of honey together with the oil and glaze the chicken.

The potato salad was made in advanced on Day 1. So we just took it out from the fridge - nice and cold! Yums!

It turned out quite nice, I must say : ) I think if I have an oven, it would probably turn out more moist and yummy too! Cooking with a pan can make the stove area quite messy though : P Nonetheless, it was yummy!!!

TheLoyalFan says: 'I love the chicken. Mmm... it has a very nice roasted herby flavour. Am very surprised that it tastes so good considering that it was pan grilled. Suggested to Souschef that the marinate to be used in barbeques in the future!'

Hmmm... that's a good idea! When we do our next barbeque lah ok?


Cost for Day 2: GBP2.50 for 2 pax

The Western Week - Day 1

This week, I'm taking on a new challenge for our dinner meals. I would like to find out a couple of things and have decided to write my experience thru my blog. Here are some of the things:

1. Can we (The Souschef and The LoyalFan) survive on western meals alone?

2. By preparing western dinners, how does it affect our budgeting? Will it be cheaper than usual, or, more expensive?

I know this sounds a little weird, but hey, let's bring some fun into this challenge, man! TheLoyalFan and myself are Malaysian Chinese, so let's see whether we can survive this... or not : P

Alrightie then, let the challenge begins!

*Drum roll begins, ends with a clash of cymbal*

Our first western dinner - Sausages with potato salad & stir fried sugar snaps

I have made the potato salad in advanced so that it will be chilled. Cut potatoes into little chunks and boil it until it is cooked. Drain the water and season the potatoes with mayonaise, salt, pepper and some mixed herbs (Chives would be lovely!).
If you have lemons, squeeze in  some lemon juice and it will give a refreshing taste!

For the sugar snaps, it was a chinese fusion... hehehe (Asian seasoning is considered as... seasoning, not as a meal ^_^). Stir fry the sugar snaps with or without oil, and season it with some soy sauce & fish sauce.

The sausages we've bought are one of the cheaper brands in the supermarket. It is very easy to cook, just fry it in a pan! Yippie! We also made sauce to compliment with our sausages. With the leftover oil from the sausages, stir fry sliced onions until fragrant. Then pour in some wine, we used our little bit of port and pour in half a bowl of corn flour water. Season it with some HP sauce and sugar. 


Done!

It does nice on the plate, eh? The sausages were... well, okay lah! Abit too salty and the meat was quite processed. Nonetheless, our 'experimented' sauce turned out quite nice!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tonight's sausages weren't as good as the premium ones we had the last time. Sauce was good though, the port gave it a very nice ehhh ermm... fruity flavour. Noms!'


Alright! Day One's complete and six more days to go...

Cost for Day 1 : GBP 3.30 for two pax

Lemon Chicken

When I decided that I wanted to try this recipe, I went straight to the Internet to find out how to go about it. After googling here and there, I can't seem to find the recipe that was done by the chefs in those Tai Chow restaurants. So, I resorted to the memories of my past experience and taste at New Paris Restaurant, where TheLoyalFan and I used to have our weekly dating meal there : )

First, cut the chicken meat into bite size piece and marinate with salt and pepper. Rub the seasoning onto the meat pieces before placing them into the batter. I used a dry batter for this round because 1) I wanted to re-use the oil after frying and 2) I'm lazy to clean off those sticky batter from the plate : P

Once that is done, they're ready to be fried. You can either shallow fry or deep fry - either method is A-okay!

Now let's move on to the most important part of this dish - the lemon sauce. Fairly simple I would say, you would need lemon juice, sugar, honey and corn flour. Squeeze out the juice of a lemon and add about 3 to 4 heap spoonfuls of sugar. The sugar is to 'neutralize' the sourness of the lemon. Adjust the amount of sugar based on the volume of the lemon juice. Make sure that the mixture is still a little bit sour, but too sour : ) If you find the sugar is difficult to dissolve, add in some warm water. In a separate bowl, prepare a teaspoon of corn flour mixed with some water. Perhaps 4 tablespoon of it.

Pour the lemon mixture in a pan on a low heat setting. Add in about 2 teaspoons of honey and mix evenly. Then slowly add in the corn flour water. As you add the corn flour mixture, keep stirring until the sauce thickens. Remember not to make it too sticky because when the sauce cools down, it might turn out to be lumpy. Taste the sauce. If it is still too sour, you can add in more honey. This part takes some trial and error, but don't worry, it turn out just fine.

Once the sauce is complete, drizzle onto the fried chicken.

With some time and patience, this dish turned out quite OK. The fried chicken was crispy and the sauce complimented well with the chicken. And along with rice too! But one thing to note for me was to make the sauce a little bit thicker. I'll need to work on the corn flour estimation... still bit rusty in this area : P  Other than that, I felt it was quite a successful experiment.. Yay! 

TheLoyalFan says: 'It tasted really yummy even though I had the flu: ( I really like the fried chicken coated with the light & sour sauce. I'm a very big fan of simple food.'

Thankfully it turned out fine : P I was worried that my experiment would fail... hehehehe.

Till then, keep nomming!

Porkie Porridge

I like porridge... do you like it? I remember whenever my mum made porridge, I would put a teaspoon full of marmite. My mum would always say, 'SO salty!!! Afterwards your hair will drop...' But I never listen. It's too good! Having too little of marmite, there's no kick in my porridge.

Anyways, I know that there are different kinds of texture one can make a porridge. Personally, I prefer the thicker version and the smooth version. Not really a fan of the Teo Chew version - watery kind (i think). But I still eat lah, if you serve it to me : P It is still food mah...

Ok ok back to topic... the thick ones tend to be 'chunky' and lots of condiments. I think most home cooking style is this version... or only my mother's : P The smooth version, if not mistaken, has been blended slightly such as those eaten at Dim Sum restaurants or those fancy Chinese restaurants.

So, I thought... 'Hmmm... let's try and make porridge for dinner.' In my mind, I thought, 'How hard can it be? It's just porridge...put rice, add meat / veggies, put more water in rice cooker... On it and done.' And so, I did that for the first time and it sort of worked. The porridge was cooked and it has the thick texture that I liked. However, the drawback was that the rice at the bottom was burnt and got stuck there. We scraped out a lot but the remainder of it was kinda wasted. Plus, the rice cooker was super dirty because the water overflowed from the container. The whole experience of porridge cooking was quite messy and I didn't like the mess (means need to clean more apart from washing the dishes & pots!)

To cut the long story short, I think I've figured out how to cook a porridge that is smooth and it doesn't overflow from the rice cooker. LOL! Probably it was the 5th or 6th attempt only I got it right : P

And so here it goes!

First, wash your rice as though you would normally wash them. If you want your porridge to have the less 'starchy' texture, then I suggest that you 'rub' the rice as you rinse them. When you 'rub' the rice, it removes the starch layer from the rice. Then fill water into the rice container, with double portion volume compared to boiling rice. Sounds a little German? OK, I shall try and break this down alittle bit...

Normally, when we boil rice, the water 'height' should be at the first 'column' of your middle finger. Yep, Chinese people use the agak-agak method, no proper metric measurements ^_^ So for porridge, just ensure the water 'height' is almost reaching to the 2nd column. Don't worry if the water is too much or too little, the solution is simple - Too little water = add more water later; too much water = boil longer : P

Wipe the outside part of the container dry and place it in the rice cooker. When the water starts to boil, place in your veggie. For this round, I use mince pork as meat for my porridge. Marinate the mince with a couple of dashes of white pepper and dollops of oyster sauce. Mix them well and flatten the meat out in a bowl or a plate. While the water is still boiling, use a spoon and gently scrape little chunks of meat into the water. Occasionally, stir the condiments so that they do not get stuck. While you're stirring it, make sure there is no grain of rice get stuck at the base.

Saw this 'method' at the local pork noodle stall : )

Keep repeating the occasional stir for about 20 minutes, with the lid open all the time. The rice should be cooked by that time. Once you're happy with the texture you desired, turn off the switch and close the lid to keep warm.

That's it!

Nice and clean rice cooker.. yes!!!

The outcome of this is that you'll have a smooth porridge. If you wish the texture to be even smoother, I supposed you can scoop some out and blend them in a food processor. Personally, I think the rice will be broken into small bits because of the constant stirring - au naturale! Another point to remember is not to over-marinate your meat, regardless it is chicken or mince pork. I notice that whenever there is 'marinate juice', it will sink underneath the rice and caused the rice to burnt and get stuck. That was my mistake in my first 2 attempts... hehehe. Last but not least, remember to reduce the rice portion when you want to make porridge. This is because the rice will expand due to more water and hence, the portion will be more than the normal rice portion.

TheLoyalFan says: 'This thick porridge was very good comfort food, especially on a cold night. I ate mine at lots of soya sauce. Nom nom nom...'

Mmm... Indeed a very good comfort good. We had this twice this week already : P Yum yums!

Till then, keep nomming!

Asparagus, in a stir-fry manner!

When I was younger, whenever there's bits of asparagus in those fancy sit-down Chinese dinners, my mother always tell me to 'have more' because it is an 'expensive' vegetable. In some sense, I supposed it is quite expensive back home because it cannot be planted in our tropical climate. Recently, I found out that asparagus is a spring vegetable and usually it would be cheaper to buy at that time. We managed to catch the asparagus 'boom' at our local supermarket last week and thought... try cooking it ala Chinese style!

First, chop up some garlic and the asparagus. Cut off about 1 inch off the bottom of the asparagus and cut them into smaller sections. 

When the preparation is done, stir fry the garlic with some cooking oil in a pan. Once the garlic is fragrant, pour in the asparagus. Season the asparagus with some cooking wine, about quarter to half a cap. Give it a quick fry and then pour in a little bit of water to soften the veggies. Let it simmer for about 1 minute (or 2, depending on the volume and size of the asparagus) and season it with some oyster sauce. Continue frying until the water has been completely evaporated. If you prefer some sauce, fry the veggies until it has become a darker green and it is ready to serve!

The asparagus was crunchy and it has a refreshing feel when you chew the stems. One thing to note is to choose thinner stems instead of the fat ones. The fatter stems tend to be more fibrous and one needs to chew little longer to soften it. Other than that, I really like it! Yum yums!

Another style that I tried today was I replaced the cooking wine with fish sauce instead. After adding the oyster sauce, give a good shake or drizzle of the fish sauce. It gives out a different taste than the cooking wine... simply delicious and both styles compliment very well with rice too!

TheLoyalFan says: 'I love it cooked this way, Ching style, pure & infused with garlic. Super good with rice!'

Yup, indeed. Somehow the rice in my plate disappeared really fast... I wish there were more rice though : P 

Chilli Pan Mee

Chilli Pan Mee is a modified version of a normal Pan Mee. However, this version is equally as yummy too! In an effort to finish up some of our ingredients at home, here's our take on a slight modification of this recipe...

Here goes...

Dried Chilli
The most important ingredient for this recipe I must say. Without it, this dish would be just an ordinary pan mee. Mince / Blend in a food processor some dried chilli, dried shrimps, fresh chilli, onion & garlic. My portion for these ingredients are 2 portions of dried shrimps, 1 portion of soaked dried chillis, 2 fresh chillis, an onion (a couple of shallots are fine too) and 3 cloves of garlic. If you want it more spicy, feel free to add a portion of dried chillis and perhaps reduce 1 portion of shrimps.

Starting with a high heat, fry the mixture with some oil. Once there's some fragrance, quickly turn to low heat and keep frying until mixture is dry or at least 30 minutes. This can be made in advance and you can eat this with other food too!

Ikan Billis (Anchovies)
Give a quick wash for the ikan billis and drain the water from a microwaveable plate. Glass or ceramic would be better than melamine plastic plate. Then placing it in a microwave, put in on a 3 minute timer to 'heat / cook' them up. Give a quick toss to even out the billis on the plate. Keep repeating this process until ALL the ikan billis are dry and crispy! Be patient as it may take a while, depending on the amount of ikan billis you place in the plate. This is another ingredient that you can do in advance!

Noodles
Ahhh... this is easy peasy! The ingredients for this is the same as my 'Ken Tiao Pan' post. Once the dough is ready, cut the dough into smaller chunks. Using a roling pin, flatten out the dough until it is really thin. Cover the dough sheet with lots of flour and lightly roll / coil up the dough as though you're rolling up a carpet.

Make sure it is not too tight. Then cut the dough sheet into thin slices and unravel each piece to get a strand of noodle! Well, if you have a pasta maker it would be WAY easier and faster to make them. ^_^

Meat Sauce
Dice up chicken meat and marinate with soy sauce and white pepper. Then in a pan with some hot oil, fry some diced onions until fragrant. Pour the diced chicken and its marinate into it and keep frying. Season with wine and oyster sauce. Add some water to let it simmer. As this will be sauce for the noodle, please season it saltier. Thicken the sauce with some corn flour mixed with some water but this is entirely optional.

Once all these ingredients are ready, you are ready to make your own chilli pan mee!

Cook some noodles in a boiling water. Remember to stir the noodles in order to separate them out. This is to make sure every strand is thoroughly cooked and not lump together. Once the noodles are cooked, take them out and place on a plate. Pour alittle bit of oil / sesame oil and give it a quick toss so that it doesn't stick together.

Now, Chilli Pan Mee is not complete without an egg, specifically poached egg. As this was my first time, I saw one of Jamie Oliver's show and he did this method. So I thought, try lah! Place cling film that is cut to a square shape in a bowl and beat an egg. Gather up the cling film starting from one corner until you reach the third corner. Twist the fourth corner until it looks like a string, then go around the gathered corners and tie it up. Place the egg in a pot of lightly simmer water (on a hob) for about 2 - 4 minutes, depending how firm you want to cook the egg yoke.

Once done, open the film and scrap the egg onto your noodle.

When your poached egg is ready, it's time to serve up! Tadaa!

Phews... The outcome of this dish was simply lovely! It just reminded us so much of the Super Kitchen or Kin Kin's version. Hence, we sort of concluded that it is very difficult to make but it does require alot of time and effort to make this dish... and manpower to fry those chillis! Hehehehehe... Nonetheless, we were very pleased with the outcome.

For this dish, there are a number of things that were my first time and I would like to note them here too... (Forgive me for 'extending' my post : P)

Dried Chili Paste
As I was frying this, the fragrant of the dried shrimps reminded me so much of those tiny spicy spring rolls that we get to eat during Chinese New Year. Perhaps with lesser chilli, we can try to make the tiny spring rolls? Mmm... thinking about it makes me excited already.

Poached Eggs
If one were to use the cling film method, remember to rub a thin layer of oil onto the cling film. Otherwise, egg would get stuck. Perhaps soft boiled egg method would be easier than this. Nonetheless, it is a new skill I've learnt and it was kinda fun although the eggs got stuck! : P

TheLoyalFan says: 'It's surprisingly easy to make! Just very tedious. The result was very satisfying... I love home made noodles!'

Yum yums indeed! But the thought to make it again sounds tiring... Nonetheless, it was great fun and now we'll appreciate those shops back in KL. Till then, keep nomming... and nomming away!

Char Kuay Teow

Char Kuay Teow which simply means fried kuay teow, is a famous Penang dish and it is available at almost all coffee shops in Malaysia. But, not every stall is yummy & tasty. We both love Char Kuay Teow very much and used to eat it almost every week! Well, sometimes, more than once in a week... hehehehe.

This dish is quite tricky because you'll need a very hot wok to fry your ingredients. Nonetheless, with a little patience and effort, I think everyone can cook it : )

So here goes the awesome Penang dish... slightly modified by yours truly, due to incomplete ingredients : P

Clockwise from top left: Ingredients are chopped nicely; Bean Sprouts;
Kuay Teow soaked and drained; Prawns soaked in sugar water.

First, fry some finely chopped garlic & some chopped dried chillis in a liquid of hot cooking oil. Then quickly put in your lap cheong and fry them until it is fairly crispy. Add in some prawns and sear it until it is almost 70% cooked. Once that is almost done, put in your kuay teow (or also known as rice sticks) and bean sprouts together. Give it a quick toss.

For the seasoning, you'll need to prepare this concoction before you start the cooking. In a bowl, pour in soya sauce, dark soya sauce, fish sauce, dashes of white pepper, salt and some sugar. However, I do not have dark soya sauce and hence, replace it with oyster sauce : ) Stir to mix well.

After you have toss your kuay teow and sprouts, pour in your seasoning mixture. Then the final ingredient, egg! Push your noodles aside and crack an egg. Once it is cook on the base, mix everything together and it is ready to serve!

Round 1: Fried by SousChef

Round 2: Fried by TheLoyalFan. Looks nicer than mine...mmmm! 

Our first attempt of this was quite good although we have missed out 2 important ingredients - cockles and chinese chives. Nonetheless, the sauce does make it taste like the hawker stall's version. The noodles were well coated with oil, making it looks so glossy and yummy too! I wished that the lap cheong was crispier but it can't be done because the garlic was going to be burnt. Hence, I think for my next attempt, I shall try to fry the lap cheong first, then only the garlic. Hopefully my theory works lah!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Oh Char Kuay Teow... how I love you so! Nom nom noms... I don't know what to say. I love Char Kuay Teow!!!'

The sauce mixture was referenced from Rasa Malaysia. Please feel free to check it out ^_^ Mine is sort of the simpler version.

Till then, keep nomming!

Ingredients: Garlic, Dried Chilli, Lap Cheong, Peeled Prawns, Kuay Teow (Rice Sticks), Bean Sprouts, Egg.

Marmite Chicken

Finally! After contemplating for a couple of months whether I should get a bottle of Marmite, we finally bought one! Yum yum YUMMMMY! I LOVE Marmite very much, especially when I mix it with a plate of porridge. Mmm... the aroma itself makes me drool too!

And since we have a bottle of it, we thought 'let's try to make the Tai Chow's Marmite Chicken!'
Tai Chow = Literally means big fry in cantonese. However in Malaysia, it means a Chinese restaurant that serves simple dishes at reasonable prices during lunch & dinner times.

We managed to google up some recipes that have been tried and tasted by other fellow bloggers. And we decided to try this simple recipe from Pig Pig's Corner...

First, chop up the chicken into bite size pieces. Then marinate with Marmite, honey, soya sauce, a dash of white pepper and some cooking wine. I've put 2 tablespoons of Marmite, 1.5 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon of soya sauce. If the honey that you're using is not a premium quality, like kinda diluted or less sweet, then I would recommend to add another tablespoon for good measure : ) Once marinate is complete, place the chicken back into the fridge for at least an hour.

Once you're hungry (hehehehe...) or ready to cook the chicken, heat up some cooking oil. Pour alittle bit more than your usual frying, perhaps another tablespoon will be OK. Fry some garlic until it is fragrant and then pour the chicken meat along with the marinate into the pan. Keep frying until the sauce has been reduced and you can feel that there is the sticky texture formed due to the caramelisation of the honey.
Taste the chicken and if you feel it is bland, add in some water and some marmite into it. Repeat the frying process until the sauce has been reduced.

Marmite Chicken! Wished it was on a bed of lettuce though...

Marmite Chicken with vegetables, on a bed of fragrant white rice! Yums!

My first attempt turned out quite OK (phew) although it has a stronger Marmite taste. One thing to note is that if you keep frying and not letting the chicken just sit and simmer away, it would give more Wok Hei : P Wok Hei = Translated directly as Wok Smell. A term the Chinese used to describe aroma of the dish.

TheLoyalFan says: 'The sauce was sooo good.Sticky and caramel-ey. My plate of rice disappeared in seconds!'

Mmmm! Marmite, you're the best!

Fried Rice

You might be thinking of the western version of this dish... rice fried with egg and some mixed vegetables and that's it. But it is not. You see, back in Malaysia, fried rice is considered as an individual meal. Not only it has egg and rice, it has other ingredients too! Prawns, Chinese sausages (lap cheong) and some even have proper chicken meat in it. Needless to say, it is definitely delicious and you'll want more!

Me heart fried rice and I thought of sharing this awesome and easy-to-prepare dish!

First, chop up some garlic and onion if you want some sweetness in it. I prefer garlic and I chopped quite a handful of it : P This dish is really a flexible dish. You can put in any vegetables and any meat as you like. For me, I've chopped up some carrots and french beans into small bite sizes. As for the meat, mmm... luncheon meat! Good and wholesome meat in a can! It is slightly salty and when you fry this together with your rice, it gives a wonderful fragrance that makes you drool... mmm! Boil your rice a couple of hours in advance and place them in the fridge.

Alright, heat up some oil in a pan. Be generous with your oil as you'll be frying lots of ingredients. When the oil is ready, fry your garlic until fragrant. Put in the luncheon meat and followed by the vegetables. Once they're quite properly cooked, push the condiments to one side of your pan. Then break an egg (or 2) onto the empty side. Let one side of egg to be slightly cooked and mix up all the ingredients together. At the same time, try to break up the egg into smaller pieces too.

Pour the rice into the pan and give it a good mix and fry. Season your fried rice with soya sauce, pepper and oyster sauce. For a different twist, you can add HP sauce too! It tastes good too! If you find it difficult to mix the sauces evenly, add in some water to ease it. Make sure all water is completely dried so that your rice will have the "fried" taste instead of the "boiled" texture.

Toss and toss. Fry and fry! Ooo... look so yummy!

Et voila! 

Ready to be eaten! 

Mmmm... the fried rice was really tasty and fragrant. Every grain of rice was coated with oil and somehow I felt the rice was so pretty... hehehe. Although the taste cannot compare with Brickfields Sin Kee's fried rice, this gives us a real homey taste. Really comfort our hearts and stomachs : P

TheLoyalFan says: 'Nom nom nom nom nom noms. Best fried rice I had since we came here.'

Well, that's because we don't eat fried rice from other shops mah! LOL!

Till then, keep nomming!

Fish Soup-Stew

You must be wondering... 'Fish soup? Er... wouldn't it be too overwhelming on the fishy taste and smell? Ugh' Well, I shall let you decide for yourself because everyone has different taste on fish : ) We were watching a TV program on BBC called 'Two Greedy Italians' and they cooked up this dish and it looked so yummy. And so, we've decided to give it a try... how bad can it be, right?

The ingredients are fairly simple and easy to get. And here goes the cooking part...

First, slice up some onion and garlic. Then fry them briefly in a pot with some cooking oil. Add in a can of chopped tomatoes (or equal amount of fresh tomatoes), some proper red wine and a fresh chilli into the pot. We didn't have fresh chilli, hence, used dried chilli as an alternative. Then for herbs, put in parlsey and fennel seeds. Well, I modified it and just poured in my handy bottle of mixed herbs : P
Last but not least, season with some pepper and salt, and then let it simmer for about 10 minutes. If you find that the soup texture is too thick, you can add in water.

As the soup is simmering away, we can start putting in the condiments. First, I put a proper fish - with head, tail and a skeleton... into the soup to boil. Hehe. You know lah, everything in the UK are all packed nicely with just meat only, rarely with bones : P Anyways...

Depending on the size of the fish, let it simmer for at least 10 minutes. Then take the fish out and remove the meat from its frame. The bones and head can be thrown away. Once this is done, you can start putting other seafood condiments such as mussels, prawns and other types of fish meat into your soup. Remember to put the meat that takes the longest time to cook first, followed by the shorter time. Prawns should be inserted last as it cooks very fast. For this attempt, I bought a sea bass and a tray of fish mix (used in fish pie)... Wished I've bought some prawns and mussels though : ( As you are putting in the seafood, season the soup with salt as the taste may start to become bland due to more ingredients in the soup.

Once the rest of the seafood is cooked, put the deboned fish back into the soup, give it a good stir to mix up everything proper and it is ready to serve!

We served it with pasta, but bread is fine too! 

The outcome of this dish was somewhat different than what we would have expected. There is a hint of spicyness and at the same time, it felt like we were having Assam Laksa all over again. Well, I guess it is like the Italian version of it : ) One thing to note is, do not put too much fish as what we did. Otherwise, it would be too fishy! Hahahahaha! And another point to remember is to have a moderate portion of seafood ingredients. We were stuffed after having a bowl of it. Oh yes, I would recommend to start the cooking with high heat and then change it to medium heat. Mine almost got burnt... that's because we changed our cooking hobs and I can't gauge the heat. Rosak liao! And and AND... always stir the soup too!

TheLoyalFan says: ' Tasted like the western version of Assam Laksa. Will need to use less fish the next time and make sure fishes are of the "fresh smelling" kind. Very filling...'

Seems like we're both agreeing on the same points. Will I try this again? Yea, I would but not so soon though. Maybe next month or later... If you want to find out who are the chefs in that TV program, please feel free to check it out from here!

Till then, keep nomming!

Maggi Goreng

Also known as Fried Maggi Noodles, this dish is a very common dish to all Malaysians. A casual trip to the Mamak Shop (a coffee shop business run by Indian Muslims), this is definitely one of the frequent orders made other than the famous Roti Canai.

As a special birthday treat, this dish was prepared by TheLoyalFan. ^_^ To be honest, his stir-frying skills are much better than mine and it's nice to take a break too!

So here goes...

First, chop up some onions and garlic (optional). For the ingredients of the noodle, it is really quite flexible. As long there's some meat, veggie and egg, it is A-okay!!! For ours, we always check what leftovers we have and just fry them up.

Slice up some lettuce and some meat. Place your instant noodles into a bowl with hot water and let it soak until it is semi-soft. Probably about 1 minute. The point here is to make it slightly softer but don't cook it completely. Otherwise, your noodle would be soggy at the end of the frying process.

Drizzle some cooking oil into your pan/wok and stir fry your onions. When they are fragrant, put in your meat and fry until it is almost completely cooked. Then beat an egg. Once the egg is cooked on one side, pour in the drained noodles and pour the curry flavour seasoning. Give it a good toss until all seasoning is evenly distributed. Last but not least, throw in your lettuce and give it a good stir. And finished!

As an alternative, you can try using similar ingredients as the Mamak chefs back home. If you plan to use cabbage, fry the cabbage before you fry the egg because it takes longer to cook the cabbage.

Souschef Su says: 'This always reminds me of home. Really yummy and I like the springy texture of the noodles. Would be great if there's some dahl (lentil) gravy served together. Mmmm!'

Well, since I was not the chef who prepared it, I thought for a change lah that I comment! Hehehehehe...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Spaghetti Cabonara

Back home, I always remember that we would order this at Italian restaurants to eat this creamy, fragrant and rich dish. The price of it is quite expensive and at times some restaurants doesn't do a good job. Hence, it either tasted too rich or too bland - not very balance.

During our stay here in Manchester, we decided to learn some simple western dishes in order to adapt to the local taste and cuisine. This is to keep our cost of living lower and at the same time, enjoying what the 'Gwei Lous' eat : )

One of the simple western dish was this - the Cabonara. Again, at first, we thought it was a difficult dish to prepare. But when we first tried it out, it was so simple that I remembered we made this twice a week. LOL!

So, here goes...

First, slice up some onions and 2 cloves of garlic. Then slice up smoked bacons and mushrooms. The reason of using smoked bacon is that it gives more flavour to the dish and your mushroom will be tastier too!

In a separate bowl, beat an egg and add equal portion of single cream. Add in some finely grated cheese into the bowl and give them all a good whisking to combine all goodies together!

Before you start frying the ingredients, boil your spaghetti - very important : P

Next, heat up your pan with a knob of butter. Cooking oil would be just fine too! Fry the onion and garlic until it is fragrant then pour in the bacons and mushrooms. Give it a good 3-5 minutes fry, until the bacons and mushrooms are thoroughly cooked. Season some pepper and salt during the stir-fry. Once your spaghetti is ready, drain the water and pour the spaghetti into the pan. Remove the pan from direct heat and pour in the creamy mixture into the pan. Give it a proper toss until everything is evenly mixed.

Et voila! C'est tout!

Spaghetti Cabonara with cream. The cream is starting to have tiny lumps.

Spaghetti Cabonara with milk.

Mmm... Cabonara... yum yum! The cream gives a very rich texture to the dish. However, I would prefer using milk instead because I like to enjoy my Cabonara without feeling all stuffed and bloated.

Oh yes, another thing I noticed is that when you use cream, one must toss it quickly and remove it from any heat! This is to avoid the cream mixture from splitting. When it splits, you'll notice that the egg is starting to cook and there would be lumps.

TheLoyalFan says: 'Cream makes all the difference! Silky and creamy, and aromatic from the smoked bacon... ooo yums! Made me remember why carbonara was among my favourites!'

Cabonara checked!!! Trust me, if I can do it, so can you!

Have fun!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Alrightie, time to try out some western recipes : )

We have decided to give this recipe a go because we were watching one of those cooking shows from the Internet and thought, 'Wow, doesn't seem too complicated for a mushroom soup, isn't it?' And so, mushroom soup we decided to try. LOL!

First, we diced up the mushrooms. We bought some chestnuts and some buttons for our simple soup. According to the recipe, you can use ceps and/or porcini as it gives a fuller flavor in the soup. Dice some onions as well. Once the dicing is completed, fry the onion and mushroom with a knob of butter! Mmm... very fragrant!

Remember to fry the mushroom until it is completely brown. I think about 5 minutes or more. Otherwise, you will get 'half cooked' taste mushroom which not many people like the funky taste, especially me - NO LIKES! When the mushrooms are ready, pour in your chicken stock into the mixture and let it simmer away! Oh yes! Herbs! You'll need some thyme (I think) for your soup. For me, I have a bottle of mix herbs so I just pour some in lah! : P

After 15 minutes of simmering, pour in some crème fraîche a.k.a. fresh cream. I would strongly recommend that you slowly scoop dollops by dollops to mix into your soup... Otherwise, your soup would taste very rich. And the final step - ready to serve!

The soup supposed to look a little more on the brown color side... hehe. For this dish, there were a couple of mishaps in the kitchen : ( First, I accidentally put in too much butter. Therefore, if you look closely at the photo above, you'll notice there's a lot yellow droplets. Secondly, I didn't fry my mushrooms long enough and so, it tasted a bit raw, in which I didn't like the taste of it. Thirdly, I put too much of cream!!! Aaarghh!!! I got a little bit over zealous when pouring the cream. Hence, I recommend the 'dollops by dollops' method.

With all these mishaps happened, the soup still tasted quite OK although it was rich with the cream. However, with a little tweak for the next round, I'm sure that it would turn out just fine and tasty!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Never knew it was so easy to make. First attempt was yums! But will need to go easy on the cream the next time though... hehe'


And there you have it... my first attempt of the Cream of Mushroom Soup : P

Till then, keep nomming!