A fine savour on simple pleasures

My aim is to reduce the tension in my mind by sharing my thoughts and experiences in the things that I love; which I could not express openly due to circumstances. Be it in doing stupid things, experimenting on new recipes, failings in research work, writings..just some doodle ranting stuff

Friday, July 29, 2011

Super Easy Pan-baked black pepper Chicken XD

 Yum2! delicious baked chicken hoo~

Last weekend I went to Pulapol in Jalan Semarak to visit my ex-housemate cum ex-karaokemate cum ex-makan2-jalan2-mate, Wawa with her fiancee, another best buddy Betty, and the family members. No, she's not a detainee from the rally or something, she's actually undergoing a training to become a police officer (you go girl!). So, due to my love for her (cewah!), I went all out and cooked a number of dishes that I think she'd like (during the olden days, we're really kamceng one, we'll take turns to cook for each other each day).

This dish was taught by my mother-in-law, a very easy and quick dish which resulted in a decent meal. Very good as a dish with rice for lunch, or served as a main with some garden salad or something for dinner.

For 4 servings (main dish), or 8 - 10 servings (side dish)

Ingredients
  a wee bit of course salt (for rubbing the body of the chicken to make it sparkling clean, NOT for marination k) (optional)
1 whole chicken  (+- 1.5-2 kg) - cut to 4 main parts with diagonal incisions on the meaty parts
1 packet of Maggi black pepper mix (the yellow package)
sesame seeds and dried rosemary herbs (optional)

This is what the seasoning packet looks like, only MYR2.50/pckt/chicken huuu

Method

1. Clean the chicken by scrubbing it with course salt especially on the skin to remove dirt and grime prior to thorough rinsing with water. Well, if you don't want to, there's no problem as long as you wash it the way you always do. Trim off the unwanted fat and other stuff prior to making incision on the meaty surface, preferably the breast area.

2. Pour all of the powder from the packet and soil the whole surface of the chicken, remember to scrub some into the incision parts as well.

Marinated chicken

3. Leave it in the fridge for +- 8 hours at 4-8C (normal refrigeration area). I placed them in a big container together for the marination to enter the chicken. Normally I will prepare this the night before I bake em in the morning.

4. Arrange the chicken in a two-sided flipping pan. At medium low fire, keep of turning the pan after about 5 mins for a whole hour. With time, the juice will come out and it'll be kinda watery, that's pretty normal, no worries.

Chicken arranged in 2-sided flipping pan

Both side looks the same, my hubby purchased this for me for a gift (happy!), the handles are magnetic so it clips togather when closed and the pan has an o-ring encircling it to prevent leakage. There's a venting hole at the top most part for steam to be released.


5. Use a fork and pierce through the flesh to check, if its clean, than its cooked!

6. Take out the chicken and cook the gravy til thickens, and pour over the chicken, when serve, sprinkle some sesame seeds.

That's it! :)

 I leave some of the gravy coz I know there'll be leftovers. What I did was I shredded the chickens and simmer in the remaining sauce and use em for stuffin' sandwiches the next morning hoho

Shred2!

The goodies for a healthy yummy sandwich

Excuse the messy surroundings T__T that's why I darken it

Err..actually I forgot to photograph of the final result of the yummilicious chicken..was abit in a rush then hooo XDXD but i promise it'll look and taste good

p/s: if you would like the infusion of rosemary flavour to be strong, add in during the 8 h marination, if not, just add prior to pan-baking.

Simply delicious!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Future Malaysian Broilers: The beginning of "Chicken without Antibiotic"

The research group responsible for the potential application of feed additive for broilers (meat chicken) and layers (chicken reared for eggs) - a collaboration from the biotechnology group and agriculture group led by Dr Foo and Dr Loh

The last PRPI 2011 (19 - 21 Jul 2011) [Pameran Rekacipta dan Inovasi] by UPM showed a product launching of feed additive for chicken from probiotic metabolite which has the ability to replace the use of antibiotics in chicken feed with the smart collaboration from the industry with UPM researchers, Dr Foo Hooi Ling and Dr Loh Teck Chwen. Well, I was there, taking care of the booth and snap2 here and there for all 3 days. It was tiring, but full of flavours :D

Believe it or not, from all of the response, I can summed up that the Malaysian chicken eaters are concerned with the safety of the broilers consumed (Inject or not? medicated or not? halal or not ho? giggles) because in their minds and hearts has been ingrained with the fact that the current chickens or broilers with antibiotics aren't good for health (a.k.a. injected chicken), although they don't even know why. Price is placed second, although the price of chickens is definitely on the rise (right now is about +-MYR7.50/kg as compared to last year +- MYR 6.50/kg). This half literacy is acceptable, at least they know whats good and whats bad for them. That is why this product is viably marketable especially when the operational costs might be lower or similar to current conditions.






The big guys. From left, Dr Foo and Dr Loh (project leaders), Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum (deputy minister of agriculture, i think) and Datuk Paduka Andrew Lim (the director from the industry, Nutrino Synbio (M) Sdn Bhd)


 Nutrichicks. Not so chick-y ait? So big and scary XD Dr Loh told me the 'chicks' are crossbreeds of ayam kampung (village chicken) with oh i dont know which kind of chicken..hence its not that energetic..ayam kampung can fly you know..haha


It is important for the locals to know what izzit that make a chicken sooo expensive as well as unsafe.
Expensiveness comes from,
a) Imported chicken feed
b) Price of antibiotics (subjected to fluctuations)
c) others (not sure myself)

Unsafe is due to,
- uncontrolled application of antibiotics as growth promoters

I think, work has been done by many local researchers on finding a new type of feed to replace the current cornmeal feed imported (and I would not quote this due to lack of reading and references, and this is not even a scientific paper, just a humble personal opinion), either its ongoing or completed, I'm not sure myself. Hence there's no worries, solutions could be obtained, the problem is how long would it take to obtain viable results. And of course, when will it be commercialized.

About antibiotics..err..that is kind of a common thing right now for chicken rearers. Many misunderstandings about the meaning of antibiotic chickens can be heard especially during the ongoing of PRPI 2011. Let me clarify you folks with layman terms with some real hard facts;

a) The locals assume that antibiotic chicken, ubat, ayam cucuk or injected chickens are all in the same category. The answer is NO. Injection must be done to all chickens for immunization against easily occuring diseases with a substance that is not the antibiotic (forgive me, i cant remember what it is, my friend who's working on monogastric animals told me this..vaccine ke?) . Currently, this substance is inserted into the broilers or layers via their eyes through the usage of eyedrops to avoid stress to the animals. This process is a must to all chickens, only 2 times in their lives if I'm not mistaken.

b) Antibiotic is in injection form. NO, chicken rearers don't inject their chickens, everyday or whatever, it comes in a big fat 'happy meal'. Its in the food my dear. And they don't even have the power to segregate between the two coz its prepackaged by the chicken feed manufacturers.

c) Ei? I thought antibiotic is good one..I eat when I got fever one..why in chicken its bad haa? The question now is antibiotics has been given to chickens DAILY via their food, in high doses. Detection can be as high as 0.1% while the real need is only about +-0.02%. As what we know, antibiotics originates from fungi, which possessed the ability to eliminate all bacteria, not just harmful ones. Nonetheless, bacteria could develop resistance to it. When the residues of antibiotics enters a human body, the bacteria present will develop resistance towards this substance which in turns rendering the antibiotic useless when you're sick. Bear in mind, in present day, not many strong antibiotics present that could combat bacteria. This is in line with bacteria traits as they have the highest adaptive ability to survive. That is the reason why you're still sick even when you've taken antibiotics. And that is why Dr said you must finish it if you started to take it.



 During all 3 days, we provide free non antibiotic chickens to the participants for tasting just to let them know the tastes aren't compromised when you use this additive as compared to the norm. Everyone was happily eating especially when the chickens were cooked in ginger as well as fried (laughing).


We're frantically refilling the chicken coz it finished so fast O____O;; 


  Ginger chicken. Simply scrumptious.

In today's scientific scenario, it is clear that it doesn't favour the research fields as it supposed to be. The government supplied taxpayers money for research weather its in fundamental or application field in the forms of research grants, but follow up has not been done in terms of commercialization of those wondrous findings. Only recently (as in 1 week ago =___=) that the minute increase in commercializing research product is seen. The truth is, the process of securing an industrial partner has been painstakingly troublesome and was only realized within these 2 years. From consumers' feedback, it was pretty positive; asking, "Where can I buy the chicken". So the problem right now is how fast a product can reach its consumer right? That is why the product 'orang kampung' that has been repeatedly spoken by the TNC, Prof Ir Dr Mohd Saleh Jaafar were so successful. Think. Why is commercialization made so difficult? What do we lack? A govermental/private body who's ravaging enough to bridge the two? The lack of interest from the industry? Always, my ma would ask me to find the research product featured in local newspapers, saying its good for health and such. I tried my hardest, but its just not on the supermarket shelf. (sigh)

What I would like to address right now is that it took 12 years for the study to reach this level and at last by 1-2 years, marketable. Why is something good so slow?

This is what all of us in Malaysia can expect; a better healthier chickens for consumption in a few years ahead.  We should be more alert about the latest advancement of science since it could make us live a more livable life. Really.

More info can be read on Mosti's page, Utusan as well as Bernama, on 15th and 20th July on the land acquisition in negeri sembilan, the upacara pecah tanah officiated by N.9's MB and the latest PRPI exhibition. Have a go and read some to fill cha up :)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Nasi Ambeng, Pagoh, Muar, Johore

I've been waiting for the next day to arrive asap coz I can only get a delicious breakfast known as 'Nasi Ambeng' (Ambeng rice) from a roadside stall in Pagoh, Noly's hometown. Am a bit worried coz her ma told us that the stall hasn't been operating for a number of days T______T. Ambeng comes from the name of the tray used to serve this rice. Still being practiced by the Malaysian Javanese till today, the tradition of eating nasi ambeng came from serving a large amount of rice with the side dish topped directly on in in a big round tray where 4-5 person will share and eat together. It is said this will promote tighter kinship. However, Noly's pa told us that people usually will takeaway the rice  for their family after eating them a lil, for tradition's sake.


At about 8.30 or so my hubby and I has been given an L-size banana leaf fold each (to our merriement! yay!). Inside it was the most mouthwatering heart craving rice I've eaten in a while. Wow! I think the portion is as good as for 2 pax (tamak punye psl, amik gak sorang satu). There's sambal goreng made from tanghoon, taufoo sheets (fucuk) and tempeh, fried noodle in soy sauce and molasses and chicken ungkep cooked with generous local herbs and spices (will try to find this receipe soon!), and the best of all, the shaved coconut floss (6 o'clock, picture below); the definition of nasi ambeng. All these are the accompaniments to the cooked rice. Perfection, I would say.


Aerial view. I ate and ate and ate. Couldn't stop munching (crying with joy). I think its MYR 3.50/set. This delicacy is dry in nature, so foodie out there's who's not used to eat dry food will feel somewhat weird. This dry style is similar to a rice delicacy in East Malaysia, Kelantan, Nasi Kerabu.

Next, her ma coaxed us to try the 'Soto', a delish comprised of compressed rice with herbed chicken soup. And, its the best soto I've ever tasted in my life (crying, again, with joy). It is many times much better then my own rendition of soto. The chilli sauce was really hot! (made from a lot of chile de arbol with dark soy sauce and sugar + something else). The soup was not that heavily spiced as compared to certain shops around KL, it tasted refreshing, hot, and a wee bit salty; perfect with cubed rice. Some shredded chicken, beansprout, and some chopped coriander leaves. Delicious!



Lastly, didn't manage to taste this, cakoi..a kind of fried dough dipped in sauce. Ohh..how I wish I could take at least a bite. This snack can be obtained nearly anywhere in malaysia especially in morning or night market, depending on the region. It is a chinese delicacy originally; usually eaten with congee.


What I would like to point out is that the local Javanese choices of breakfast was a heavenly bliss, and to them its just another day, another meal. Usually they will go for satay (chicken skewers) and soto, besides ambeng rice, for breakfast. If like this I oso wanna stay in Muar TT___TT Even their roadside stalls taste fabulous! No need to pay alot to get a delightful meal.

Well, I manage to pinpoint the stall. It is located near a telephone booth in front of the Pos office of Pagoh.

Nasi Ambeng Stall
Also selling;
- fried noodle
- soto
-many others (not really sure)
Estimated time of selling: every morning of about 7.30 am - before 10 am (we went again to check at 10, its already closed)
Coordinates : N 02.14802 E 102.77031 (Note that this coordinate is across the road from the original location)

p/s: The road in front of the stall is an alternative road connecting Singapore to Melaka without toll.



Rating: 9/10


Connections;
Post 1 : Foodie Destinations: Muar, Johore (I)
Post 2 :   Foodie Destinations: Muar, Johore (II)

Am pleased to present a delightful Muhibbah Malaysian Monday for all :D (MMM). Check this blog as well, 3 Hungry Tummies :)

Foodie destinations: Muar, Johore (II)

Haaa..right now I'd say we're ready to present the saliva dripping yummieness of a foodholic me (tak sedar perot xmampu) eating what I can in this Empress town, Muar, Johore, Malaysia.

While we were walking, I neglected this one delicacy we're munching. It was a dry noodle soiled with delicious sweetish chili paste (I think this is just cayenne pepper). The crunchiness complements the sweet-salty-sourish sauce (known as sambal) that made me want more and more. I learned that this is a standard junkfood for a Muarian, be it your average school kids to teenagers. Oh and its only 70 cents. (OMG!!). Noly said at her time its only 20 cents (ExtraOMG!!). The name's 'Mee Pusing'.

Delicious Mee Pusing. It's deliciousness heavily dependent on the sambal used :)

We actually ate at the bus stop area, known as Bentayan. Just a few steps ahead from the parking lot. The open air eateries comprised of a number of stalls encircling a simple folded tables and plastic chairs. Its a order, get your food, and pay on the spot kinda thingy. All the food came about 5 - 10 mins or so.


Authentic Mee Bandung Muar (Bandung Noodle Muar style). The gravy is made of coursely blended dried shrimps with sweet potatoes with many congregations unknown to this humble me (ashamed to say I've tried making this but to no avail). There's noodles, chicken, eggs, veges, beansprouts...ahh..simply delish. How to describe the taste? A savoury somewhat hot taste with a sweet edge. I cannot classify it with savoury or sweet, it is a medley of both blossoming into a rich delectable with exploding emotions with just a single spoon. Don't be fooled by those Bandung noodles out there, it does not, and i repeat DOES NOT taste the same as this.


 Laksa Johore. I've post an entry of an Assam Laksa based from Ipoh, and this is the other variety of laksa in Malaysia. Its a first for me too. Unlike the sourish taste of mackerel congregations with a minty flavour of Laksa Ipoh, Laksa Johore has a unique spicy currylike flavour and texture; heavily laden with coconut milk. I felt like eating curry with rice fatty noodles (laughing) and the taste is simply exquisite! Its not as hot as mee bandung muar, yet has a creamy spicy feeling to it.

This looks like an everyday fried rice (nasi goreng) for you right? Tsk2!! no-no..this is Nasi Ayam Goreng, and you'd know the difference between nasi goreng ayam, coz its chicken rice being fried. This is something different for me oso. Wahlao..and I asked the kid who sent the food, "where's the chicken, kid? u said nasi goreng ayam?" He made a bewildered face and said, "Gali la akak, kat tengah2". Haha..the chicken was embedden inside the rice XDXD. I only tasted a spoonful of this heavenly bliss. And I am flying.


Tauhu Goreng (or izzit tauhu bakar?) Not sure, but this is made from soy bean tofu, cut and grilled, and topped with a delish gravy of sugar with molasses and shrimp paste, with a sprinkle of roasted crush peanuts,  blanched beansprout and fresh shredded cucumbers. The gravy is a popular fruit dunking sauce used by many in Malaysia. The taste is somewhat so-so. I think this is because the tofu used aren't as fresh as it should, and the frying/grilling was done poorly. Its a shame. I love tofu, and I would know the exact texture of a fine one when I munch into it. Taste, sweet with a tinge of hotness plus crunchiness.


Yong Tau Foo is a synonym one meal dish that we can get from any night market (pasar malam). The ones featured here are the ways a Muarian would eat; with soup ladled into a small bowl, where the goodies will be pick, dunk and eaten with a hot chili based sauce. To my surprise, the soup was rather sweetish, unsure either its the real taste or the taste from the sweet baby corn. Noly just told me that the soups were cooked with radish for flavour. All the goodies are the product of tofu, squid cuttings or meat balls. The cook will blanch all these with a bunch of water spinach, a different kind of vege from the normal spinach. Its my first time having a sweet soup, which I'm not really into..mybe with some practice.. (laughing)


The open space area for eating.

Medan Selera Bentayan (well, its the name I gave duh :P)
Near the, Bus station Muar,
Johore, Malaysia
Coordinates : N 02.05038 E 102.56993
Note : Food stalls are open starting from 7 pm, there are many ports, choose any.

Rating : 8/10

Continue
 Nasi Ambeng, Pagoh, Muar, Johore

Connection
Previous  -  Foodie destinations : Muar, Johore (I)

I've submitted this to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday (A joint blog event between Test with Skewer and 3 Hungry Tummies). I hope I'm doing things right lol

Foodie destinations : Muar, Johore (I)

The jaw dropping sight of Muar river haha. We got bewildered glances from the locals from all the photo taking XD

We spent our last two days eating till we drop. Yes, this place, Muar, is a beautiful old town, origin to many delightful delicacies propagated throughout Malaysia, without doing justice to the original taste and flavour. Have you heard about mee bandung Muar? or Laksa Johor? or kopi 434? Yeap, all comes from here. Tourists don't really come here, they'd rather go to Mont Ledang somewhere further ahead.

Reaching about 5-6 pm, we managed to observe a great view of the Muar river (above pic) at the parking lot of the bus station (and it was only 60 cents! that morning i was charged with MYR 11 at almoda parking >.< marah niiii). It is breathtaking. There's actually no real place of interest to be visited, but many eye catching sights can be seen here if a local would ever be so grateful to give you a tour guide haha.

 Beautiful sights of Muar town, all main roads are one-ways, hence the traffic was quite heavy. Really tired, havta the crossbridge (and climb stairs) T___T

First things first, my buddy Noly brought us to the ever popular grocery shop selling herbs and spices. This is what I really want coz I can get the real prepackaged spice made locally to achieve similar tastes bandung noodles. This is just the opposite of the bus station. We havta use our legs of coz, since the roads were quite small, so could not side park as we like.

 Adami's distributor (is it a sole distributor? didn't quite catch it)

Arrays of herbs and spices in their original dried forms.

Crushed herbs and spices in bulk. 


Mr. Lee told us their shop has been a one-stop-centre for selling these herbs and spices for a really long time. Its where all local cooks gotten their share of secret ingredients (wink!). I myself bought 9-10 assorted packets of prepackaged spice for cooking! weee~ shoo happy!! I think 1 packet is about MYR 3.5, for 7 pax hoo..wanna pick the per-kilo basis spice, this wannabe me couldn't take the risk ^o^||| There's masala, assorted curries, even the spices for the basic chicken rice and god knows what else. Talk about shortcut cooking!

The main store makin+selling the all famous 434 coffee was under maintainence, hence we couldn't get a cup there T____T (sad) what a shame..hmm...its just a couple of shops down from the herbs grocery shop..

 Next, there's a monkey territory, a wee bit further from the main town. It is much nearer to the park and jogging track of Muar. I can't remember the name. The monkeys here were really tame..we gave them some peanuts, and all came swarming around us and even climb on our car! really scary T___T||| I've never seen monkeys this many at one time.

 The lil monkey asking for the peanuts..


The park was a lil further from the monkey territory. Its really breathtaking and scenic, since its about 7 pm at that time. The riverside has been prettied really well..a really nice place for a stroll with benches and trees making it cool and windy..I can even see some young'uns breakdancing on the floor a lil further ahead.

The famous twin mosque situated at both opposite site of the river. Both are identical in shape and colour.

Next, we're going to eat2!

Continue
Foodie Destinations: Muar, Johore 

Other connection :)
Nasi Ambeng, Pagoh, Johore 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Chillied fried chicken/Ayam goreng berlada

Nice, and super hot! (i allow you to salivate right now)

This entry is my hubby's all time fave. He told me my receipe differ slightly from his ma, which gave quite a distinctive taste. I've cooked this receipe about 3 times in a month when it comes to rice days (THAT, is a quite a number when the total number of rice days are twice a week = 8 days). That's 37.5% frequency for you. Two other all time faves are Belacan dry stewed chicken and curry chicken (will be posted in the near future). These at least comprised of the other 30%. Hence I'm only allocated with about 30-40% chance to try new recipes each month, statistically saying. (sigh). He is just sooo cute! Like lil kiddie :D

Enough ramblings! I present you my authentic chillied fried chicken

For 2 persons (if they eat alot of chicken), or 3 (so-so lah)

Ingredients

For preparing and frying the chicken
1/2 or nearly half of the chicken, cut into bite size ( alil smaller then kfc) - wash, cut off all fat etc
1/2 tbs tumeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
enough vege oil to immerse or half immerse the chicken

combine all these with a sprinkle of water and let it sit like 15 mins

For the gravy
 1 large size yellow onion - julienne
3 cayenne chilli peppers
6 birds eye chilli peppers (chille de arbol)
1 tbs oyster sauce
1/2 piece asam keping (can be replaced with a sqeeze of lime)
 a dash of salt and white pepper
a pinch of chicken stock cube (i prefer maggi coz its dry and brittle as compared to knor, so can pinch how much want w/o hassle)
3 tbs oil

Method

 1. Fry the chicken at medium heat on the stove, make sure that the pieces aren't drippy with the marinade so that the oil wont pop. I prefer adding the chicken a wee earlier before the oil get hot. This way, it wont pop so bad, its really cool if i can purchase the oil cover for my pan (sigh). I wud usually put the bone side down first, it'll take longer to be properly cooked..I guess about 5-10 mins give and take. The indication would be when the blood oozing from the bone are cooked.


2. While letting the chicken became yummy and crispy, lets proceed to making the gravy. Dry blend/pulse half of the julienned onion with the rest of the chillies (cayenne and chile de arbol). Make it a somewhat course paste.
 

 3. Use oil to fry the remaining onion till really fragrant, this'll take like 2-3 mins. Then add the blend course paste into the wok. Stir summore until the oil cover the surface of the paste, i think about 5 mins or so. This step is important in order to give a nice hot texture to the chicken. If not cooked properly, your stomach will be upset due to large amount of chillies (searing pain or even acid reflux).

4. Add the oyster sauce, stir 1 min, then asam keping. Pour 1/4 cup of water in. Why? This is to facilitate the flavour from the asam keping to be harmonized with the rest of the ingredients (Do remember it is in a dry state previously). At this time, add all the seasonings; chicken stock, salt, pepper. Keep on stirring to avoid the gravy to stick to the wok. Taste and adjust.



This is what it looks like before adding water.

5. By now your chicken on the other stove should be ready. Close fire and toss em from all the oil. It'll be much finer with a kitchen towel.

6. Add the chicken in the gravy (the gravy shouldn't be too dry k) and stir until the paste dried up and stick to the chicken. This is very important in order to infuse the hot flavour to the chicken. Trust me, the chicken will still be crispy :)

Well, serves hot with warm rice and a vege dish! (saliva drooling....)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Loofah soup with dried shrimp and tanghoon


Veges..veges all the way..another entry about a delicious vege that we usually use to scrub our bodies during shower nyaaau~XD Loofah is oso my favourite, well, only when mi mama cooked it for me when im a lil toddler :) She usually will use an accompaniment of glass noodles (tanghoon) and dried shrimp yum2..

Tanghoon is a wee bit diff from from meehoon and korean glass noodle..these three are made of 3 diff ingredients..wheat flour, rice flour, and sweet potato flour..when you cook tanghoon and korean glass noodle, it'll become transparent, unlike meehoon where it'll became opaque huhu

We can make this done within 10 mins ait? :)

4 servings

Ingredients

a handful of tanghoon (soak in water until soft, estimated time about 10-15mins)
1.5 tbs dried shrimp (wash n soak in water like above)
1 long nice looking loofah..make sure to pick d sturdy one, if soft its a no-no
2 cloves garlic
2-4 cups water (depending on how watery you want it to be)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Peel off the hard part of the loofah skin, not nessasarily havta skin off everything yer know. Cut it diagonally.
2. Pour the oil in the wok and stir fry the chopped garlic till fragrant at medium fire.
3. Drain the dried prawns and add in to the fragrant garlic. Stir fry sumore nicely..it'll smell oh so good at this point hoho
4. Add the loofah pieces and drained tanghoon. Put in 2-3 cups water depending on the level of soup you'd like to have. Simmer like 5-7 mins :)






After 5 mins of simmering.. 

5. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Use yer chillies as garnish :)




p/s: you can add the chillies earlier if you want to make it a wee bit hot huhu..before the 5 min simmering ho

Stir fry Kailan with Salted Fish



Kailan is actually chinese cauliflower or kale..unlike cauliflower where we ate the flower part, we actually ate everything from the parts of kailan (of course not the roots XD). It has a glossy surface with a deep green colouration on the leafs..yum2, rich in vitamins! The thing is, the stem is pretty thick, and thats the part that i like the most..really crunchy and tasty when you ate it hooo

I learnt this from my housemate's cookbook when we're still bunking together about 2-3 years ago and has adapted it to my tastebud. Previously, I purchased bottled salted fish pieces from the supermarket, RM10/bottle for this. Pretty good and tasty! But right now I used the famous salted fish obtained from Sarawak, present from my mommy :) It tastes wayyyy better!

For 2-3 persons

Ingredients

For frying
1-2 pieces of salted fish (soaked for +-1/2hour) - cut to small cubes of 1-2mmsq

2 tbs vegetable oil

For the gravy
1 piece of chicken - the size of match box - cut to small cubes 
3 cloves of garlic - finely julienne
2 tbs oyster sauce
1-2 tbs light soy sauce
 a pinch of chicken stock
1/2 cup water
3-4 birds eye chilies - depending on how hot u'd like it - crushed slightly
1 cayenne pepper

Methods

Preparations

First things first, must take precautions about our kailan. The easiest way wud be to soak em up awhile and  drain, do this like 2-3times i guess? Then, go on with running water. This is to ensure any chemicals used to plant this vege to be washed off prior to cooking.

 Okeh, easy peasy methodology fer ya

1. Use the 2tbs oil and fry the salted fish after you pat it dry. Use a wok will makes things easier. I think it'll take about 3-5 mins fer that, depending on the size your cutting. This must be done so that the fish wont be mushy. Reaaaallly not nice if its  slimy and mushy, trust me..aiyoo..ive tried.

2. Take out the fish from the wok, fry yer garlic til fragrant using the same oil. Add in the chicken pieces. Add in the oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken stock, birds eye chilies, and lastly the fried salted fish. Stir for 2-3mins. Must make sure to taste it ya..it'll be a wee bit salty, but its ok.

What the gravy looks like

3. Add in the vege. Let it simmer while you prepare a quarter cup water with 1/2 tbs corn starch, then it add in together. Simmer about 1 - 2 more mins to make the gravy sticky and somewhat translucent, not the opaque white.



Tadah! look at +- 5.30 o'clock. That is the stem being  cut slanted. It's really crunchy and delicious! But the bottom line is must make sure to cook it as quickly as possible. It wont be nice if the vege wilted from all the cooking :)
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