Simple Egg Burger

One for me, one for Hubby..

Our dinner tonight is simple egg burger as I am rushing to finish up all the burger buns that is going to expire soon. Two buns down and two more to go.. Hope that we can finish it up soon. So the ingredients I had used for the burgers were eggs, cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce leaves. Simple and healthy since we had a very heavy lunch earlier in Ulu Yam.

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An Afternoon in Ulu Yam

On Sunday morning, we received a phone call from a friend CW asking us whether we will be interested to go for lunch in Ulu Yam to sample the famous Loh Mee in the area. His phone call came in just at the right time when there's a sudden electricity failure in our housing area. OMG, that's the third time this happens in our place. So we decided to join him and other friends for the makan trip.

After picking up another friend, we started our journey to Ulu Yam. It takes us about 45 minutes to reach the place. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was packed with customers even though the lunch time had passed. Hmm, I guessed there's no official lunch hour especially during weekend.. Hehe..

The name of the restaurant- Restoran Aik Khoon

Varieties of dishes available here..

Though there is a huge crowd in the restaurant, our food arrive at our table about 20 minutes later. Some of the food ordered during our visit there :

The famous Loh Mee

Fried Kuay Teow aka 'Kon Chau Hor'

Steamed La-la

Thai Style Crispy Tauhu

Stir Fry Vege

Overall, the food was good except the vegetables. It a bit too oily for my taste. Their signature Loh Mee was definately a killer and I love the way the way the prepared the tauhu, deep-fried to perfection; the tauhu was so cripsy.

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Fu Chuk Yee Mai (Barley with Beancurd)

Dessert time over the weekend. Since nowadays the weather are extremely hot, drinking barley would be good since it has cooling effect. Chinese love to boiled barley and rock sugar as drinks. Since it was suppose to be a dessert for us, I had added candied winter melon, beancurd sheets and eggs too. This type of dessert is called 'Fu Chuk Yee Mai' in chinese. We can actually add ginkgo and lotus seed as well.

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Beef and Cheese Burger

What is nicer than taking a huge bite of a yummylicious beef burger filled with oozing cheese during the weekend at comfort of our own home. I had bought a packet of beef steaks from Cold Storage few weeks back. Finally I had a chance to try them out. It was really worth every penny spent! I had used butter instead of oil when pan-frying the steaks. The meat was juicy and tender and of coz buttery flavour too.

Ingredients

2 beef steaks

2 eggs

1 tomatoes, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1/4 japanese cucumber, sliced

2 slices cheese

lettuce leaves

butter for pan-frying

2 burger buns

Methods

1. Poach eggs in microwave using egg poacher. Put aside.
2. Sautee onion in a little of the butter until soft but not brown. Put aside.
3. Heat butter in pan and fry patties for about three minutes on each side or until golden brown.
4. Place all the ingredients on the burger buns.
5. Serve with french fries.

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Shrimp and Belacan Fried Rice

Since we had leftover rice from yesterday's dinner. We had simple fried rice for dinner tonight. Last few weekend when I was back at hometown, I had tasted belacan fried rice. I can't stop thinking of that fried rice. So to satisfy my craving for it, I decided to try out making this belacan fried rice on my own. Sadly, the taste wasn't as great as the one I had in the restaurant. Nevertheless, it's still taste good but I think my fried rice lack of 'wok hei'.

Ingredients

3 cups of rice (preferably overnight)
6 prawns, shelled and deveined
2 crabsticks
3 tbsp green peas
3 tbsp corns
1 chinese sausage, sliced
1 tbsp garlic
2 tbsp of belacan granules
2 tbsp dried shrimps
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp chicken stock granules
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
oil for cooking
lettuce leaves for decoration


Methods

1. Heat one to two tablespoons oil in a wok, pour in eggs and fry until properly cooked. Dish out and put aside.
2. Add two more tablespoons of oil and saute garlic and dried shrimps till aromatic. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir-fry well. Pour rice and seasoning in and continue to stir-fry well. Add in the scrambled eggs.
3. Dish out and serve on lettuce leaves.

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Yambean and Corn Soup

A meal wouldn't be complete without a hot and hearty soup. I never taste yambean or popularly known as 'sengkuang' as one of the ingredients in soup so decided to be 'adventurous' to try this recipe out. The result were sweet and tasty soup.

Ingredients

300g chicken thigh/meat
300g yambean/sengkuang, peeled and cut into chunks
1 sweet corn, peeled and cut into chunks
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
4 black mushrooms, soaked
1000ml water
1 tbsp chicken stock
salt to taste

Methods

1. Place all the ingredients into a slow cooker overnight.
2. Add salt and chicken stock.
3. Serve hot.

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Bittergourd Omelette

Ingredients

(A)
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp garlic, chopped
salt to taste

(B)
6 eggs,
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp light soya sauce
dash of pepper and chicken stock
3 tbsp oil, for frying omelette

Methods

1. Heat up oil and saute chopped garlic until fragrant. Add in bittergourd and mix well. Add salt and continue to stir-fry until bittergourd is soft. Dish up.
2. Combine bittergourd, ingredients B in a mixing bowl and mix well.
3. Heat up 3 tbsp oil, pour in mixture (2) and pan-fry at medium heat until set. Turn it over and continue to fry until golden brown. Dish up and serve.

Note: Before cooking bittergourd, add salt to bittergourd and blanch with water for 2-3 minutes, wash and squeeze dry to reduce the bitter taste.

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Cabbage and Mushroom in Clay Pot

Cabbage is one of my favourite leafy vegetables when I was small. For the dinner tonight, I had prepared this dish to serve to my fellow guests. One comment from Hubby on this dish, 'The 'fu pei' @ fried bean curd sheet are not enough, should have put in more'. *Point taken Dear, will put more next time* ;)

I had added in lots of mushrooms!

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil

8 mushrooms, soaked

30g small black fungus, soaked

300g cabbage, cleaned and tear into pieces

1 piece fried bean curd sheet, tear into pieces

50g tunghoon, soaked until soft

Seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp chicken stock

dash of pepper and sesame oil to taste

750ml water

Methods

1. Heat up oil in a clay pot and stir-fry black mushrooms until fragrant. Add in all ingredients (except tunghoon), seasoning and bring to boil.
2. Lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add tunghoon and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve hot in clay pot.
   

Note: You can add in dried lily bulbs for the claypot too.

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Fish Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onion

Tonight we have a few friends that is coming over for dinner. Since I am bored of preparing chicken dishes, I had decided to prepare fish instead as a source of protein for our dinner. The fish fillets that I am using for this dish were dory fish fillets.

Ingredients

oil for deep frying

50g ginger, sliced

600g fish fillet, sliced

3 stalks spring onion, cut into 3cm length

Marinade
1 egg white
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soya sauce
dash of pepper and sesame oil
1 tsp corn flour



Seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 1/4 tsp light soya sauce
3/4 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp shaoxing wine
dash of pepper and chicken stock
2 tbsp corn flour water for thickening

Methods

1. Mix fish fillet with marinade and season for 30 minutes. Deep-fry in hot oil for 1 minute. Dish and drain.
2. Leave 1 tbsp oil in wok and saute ginger until fragrant. Add in fish fillet, spring onion, seasoning and stir-fry at high heat until well mixed. Thicken with corn flour and dish up.

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Nyonya Meat Dumpling

Rice Dumpling Festival or Duan Wu Jie is just around the corner; to be exact tomorrow will be D day. Initially this year I had decided not to make dumplings but after much thoughts of it, I decided to make the dumplings. How can we celebrate Duan Wu Jie without eating dumplings rite? So, after looking and browsing thru the recipe book, I had decided to try my hands on Nyonya Meat Dumpling. There's a significant difference between the Chinese Dumpling and Nyonya Dumpling where there is a striking blueish colour in the Nyonya Dumpling.

Nyonya Dumpling originated from the Baba Nyonya in Melaka. The Baba Nyonya are a group of minority Chinese in Malaysia where their origins can be traced back to centuries ago when the Chinese emigrated from China to the British Straits Settlement of Melaka, Singapore, Penang and also Java of Indonesia. The Chinese then married the local females and their distinct background, cultures and customs blended together harmoniously and became Baba Nyonya.

The dumplings need to be boiled for around 2 1/2 hours

Feasting time... Hot steamed dumplings are ready...

See the blue colour - so striking

The fillings inside - chunks of meats which are sweet and aromatic

Can you see how matching the dumpling colour with the background? Seeing rainbow here.. :)

Ingredients

(A)

1 kg glutinous rice - soaked overnight

1/2 tsp blue colouring

80ml oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper powder

2 tsp chicken stock

(B) Filling

500 g belly pork - cut into 1/2 inch cubes

100g candied winter melon - chopped coarsely

5 cloves garlic - chopped

5 shallots - chopped

3 tbsp coriander powder

1 1/2 tsp pepper powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

4 tbsp oil

pandan leaves - cut into 2 1/2 inch length

(C)

Bamboo leaves, boiled to soften

Hemp string, boiled to soften

Methods

1. Prepare rice: Take out 200g glutinous rice and mix with blue colouring. Mix the rest of the rice with oil, salt, pepper and chicken stock.
2. To prepare filling: Heat oil, fry chopped shallots and garlic till fragrant, add belly pork and chopped winter melon. Stir fry for 5 minutes, add seasoning and mix well.
3. To prepare dumpling: Fold 2 pieces bamboo leaves into cone shape, fill cone with 1 1/2 tbsp glutinous rice, 2 tbsp filling and top up with 1 tbsp glutinous rice and 1/2 tbsp blue rice, place 2 pieces pandan leaves on top. Wrap and secure with hemp string. Boil into plenty water over high heat for 1 hour, reduce heat and boil for further 1 1/2 hours.

Note:

1) The original recipes has used butterfly pea flower to prepare the blue colouring.
2) I will suggest to add an extra 1 tsp chicken stock and 1/4 tsp salt for the 800g rice coz I felt the taste of the rice is not flavourful enough.

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Birthday Dinner at Wong Poh Restaurant

After dozens of messages discussion over Facebook, we had finally decided on the venue for our 'makan' cum birthday celebrations gathering. It will be in Restoran Wong Poh in Bukit Mayang Mas, PJ. As per my earlier post, I'll bring over a cake as well for the gathering. As usual Malaysian style, everybody was late for the dinner except me and Hubby. Yeah! We are on time, sharp at 6pm!!! So guys, must be punctual ya next time especially to CW who said he won't be late since he stays the nearest.. :P *Just kidding*

So what's our menu for the day? Have a look yourself on the pictures posted below.

Stir fry vege

Steamed Salted Chicken

Salad Taufu - we love the way they presented it..

Salted egg crab - THUMBS UP!

Butter Crab - nice but lack of gravy

All the dishes we ordered except mantau that came late...

Birthday gal and boy of the month of May

Birthday boy cutting cake

My creation - banana cake with frosting.. Again it's too sweet even after I had reduced the amount...

All of us had great time during the gathering. Just imagine, we actually sat there for more than 3 hours chit chatting non-stop which proves that all us are really '8'. Hehe... Come to think of it, it's nice to have this kinda gathering once a while to catch up on each other lives. :)

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Banana Cake with Frosting

Tonight there will be a gathering for dinner among a few friends in conjunction with my birthday and another friend of mine YH. So since this will a DOUBLE celebration, I had decided to bake a cake to bring over during the dinner. The cake that I had decided to bake is banana cake using the recipe from Pillsbury since I have a box of butter cake mix sitting quietly on my kitchen cabinet waiting to be 'summoned'.

Ingredients

1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme butter cake mix

1 cup ripe banana, mashed

1 cup water

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

3 eggs

Frosting

1/2 cup butter

3 cups of icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3-5 tbsp milk

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Grease bottom only 9 inch pan with butter.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, mashed banana, water, oil and eggs; beat with electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at high speed. Pour batter into pan.
3. Bake at 180 Celsius for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely for about 1 hour.
4. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook 4 to 6 minutes, stirring constantly and watching closely; until butter just begins to turn golden (butter will get foamy and bubble). Remove from heat. Cool for 15 minutes.
5. With electric mixer on low speed; beat icing sugar, vanilla and enough milk until frosting is smooth and desired spreading consistency. Frost cooled cake.
6. Decorated the cake as you desired.

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Minced Pork Noodles

Since I have leftover of minced pork from making Roti Babi, our lunch today will be minced pork tossed with noodles. I am using instant noodles since there's no more noodles available in the kitchen. It's simple to prepare and to add more colours this dish, I have slices of tomatoes and spring onion on the plate. Time for lunch!!

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Roti Babi

I had first taste Roti Babi in Restoran Yut Kee in KL. Therefore when I saw this particular recipe, it really attracts me to try it. It is almost similar to the one in the restaurant, but it's more crunchy since breadcrumb was used to coat the bread before being deep fry. The verdict - I *heart* my own creation more than the one in the served in the restaurant.

Eat it while it's hot.. *Drools*...

Crispy outside, warm inside...

Ingredients

1 loaf of white bread

4 eggs, mixed with a little salt, pepper and lightly beaten

breadcrumbs

Filling

2 tbsp oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 tsp chopped garlic

4 black mushrooms, soaked and chopped

200 g minced pork

4 water chestnuts, peeled and chopped

2 tbsp spring onion, chopped

Seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

dash of sesame oil

dash of pepper

1/2 tsp five spice powder

1 tsp corn flour, mixed with 1 tbsp water (thickening)

Methods

1. Heat up oil. Saute chopped onion and garlic until fragrant.
2. Add in mushrooms, minced meat and stir-fry until aromatic.
3. Add in water chestnuts, seasoning and stir well. Add in chopped spring onion and thicken with corn flour water. Dish up and leave to cool.
4. Spread some filling onto a piece of white bread and sandwich with another piece of bread. Dip into beaten egg and coat with breadcrumbs.
5. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. Dish and drain. Cut into pieces and serve hot.

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My Birthday Celebration

Today is the time of the year again where I am officially older by one year. What's my age? For those who know me definately knew the answer, for those who don't, well just let it remain as a mystery ya. This year is rather a special year for me since this is my first birthday celebration with Hubby after our wedding last year. For this year, he actually gave me a surprise by sending flowers to me in the office. He told me initially he planned to send the flower on my birthday but changed his plan to send a day earlier since I decided to take the day off from work. So, my surprise came a day earlier. He really caught me off guard this year. Hmmm, maybe that is my hardwork too, years of pestering him of flowers ^evil grin^. 'Muacks muacks Dear! It's so sweet of you!'

Hehe.. Can't resist but snapped the lovely flower from Hubby...

So on the night sharp at 12 am midnight, we had a mini cake cutting celebration at home. Yum yum.. The Royal Chocolate Cake was so delicious and chocolatey. Here's some of the pictures taken during our mini celebration.

My birthday cake..

Me and Hubby together..

For this year birthday, I decided to take a day off work and lazying around the house and be a 'Queen' in the house - eat, sleep, internet and watching TVB series... All this actually equals of being a 'Piggy' at home.. Hehe.. So for the night, Hubby and I actually went to One Utama to have my birthday dinner and to catch a movie (Angels and Demons). We had our dinner in 'The Little Black Book' which offers American style food. All the portion of food was big. So we ended up stuffing ourselves full with food. So no popcorn for movie for us.. *Sob sob*

Birthday gal... :)

Of coz with Hubby...

Rootbeer with vanilla ice-cream

Oreo shake.. This drink can actually makes you full...


Smoky Cheesy Ball - GOOD!

Tagliatelle mushroom alfredo with crispy fish- my choice

Cheesy Chicken - Hubby's choice

Overall, the food was delicious except the pasta is a bit salty to my taste. Nevertheless, Hubby commented it tasted fine to him. After our dinner and movie, we headed home. Of ya, I can't resist snapping a picture together with my flower too when we were back home. Guessed what happened after that, the electricity was down for our housing area. What a memorable birthday for me, we ended up lighting candles at home and we found back our 'civilization' at around 3 am. Looking at the bright side, we managed to save on electricity bill for that nite.. *Kekeke*

Me before electricity was down..

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