Kaya

I have not been 'making' kaya for the last couple of years I think, wasn't too successful at all my previous ttempts. Then out of the blue, my sister asked me to 'make' kaya yesterday. I wasn't too keen but do it lah. I checked out the two recipes of kaya available and finally decided to use the one from the Nyonya Flavours - A complete guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine - the recipe book which I bought in 2004 from MPH bookstore. I was trying to get back that kind of kaya taste and look similar to the type from the old Indian man who used to sell nyonya kueh in Penang near my house when I was little. As I wanted to just make a small portion, I decided to half all the ingredients needed, for example I should need 10 eggs but cut down to 5 but at the end I used 6. Instead of 550 gm sugar I used only 250gm and for coconut milk I should use only 300 ml (half of 600ml) but when I measured the amount of coconut milk needed I poured 350 ml and later realised my mistake but it was too late!

It was not too difficult really but the non-stop stirring part needed 30 minutes. I am fine with this. And to my pleasant surprise the kaya turned out well. It was really that type that I wanted. It wasn't too sweet and even my sister gave me thumbs up!

Grilled Honey Chilli Sauce Chicken Wings

Today is my niece's birthday and I was called upon to make 'Grilled Honey Chilli Sauce Chicken Wings'. No problem at all, I've made this dish several times and it gets better each time. The recipe is from Amy Beh and is quite straight forward, and the ingredients are easily available. Just chicken wings, chilli sauce (I used Lingam's, it's good), honey, grated ginger, chopped garlic, soya sauce and cooking oil. Actually, the recipe says use Olive Oil but I used 'Knife' cooking oil. I guess Olive Oil is more healthy but I don't have that at home. 'Knife' cooking oil is a good substitute. Try it out, the recipe is available at http://kuali.com/recipes/

Perut Ikan

This is Nyonya restaurant in SS2. This restaurant has been around for almost 20 years serving nyonya dishes. One of the dishes served here is 'Perut Ikan' (fish intestines). I think only those from Penang, and the older ones only know of this dish. It's known to us as 'pulu ikan'. It is cooked with a variety of vegetables - pineapples, long beans, eggplant but the main one is 'lau heok' or daun kadok, which is called pepper leaves in English. This leaf is grown wild along fences and you can just go around and pluck them. But now with so many developments around, it's hard to find them any more. There is this small little shop in Chowrasta Market where you can go and buy the ingredients. I remembered my (late) mother brought me there before and just asked for ingredients to cook 'perut ikan' and the shopkeeper will just get them all and placed in a plastic bag. As for the fish intestines, I remembered we have to soak them in bottles and changed the water several times. It's real smelly mind you! Nowadays I think very few people cook this at home. You can get this in some Nyonya restaurants though. In 2008, I found the recipe published in the Star Papers.

The 'perut ikan' served at Nyonya Restaurant is not too bad but there is very little daun kadok in it and a bit too sourish. Nevertheless, the second or third best is still better than nothing! My (late) mother's 'pulu ikan' is still the best!

Sweet Potato Soup (Sweet)

Do you know that the rice cooker is so 'multi-purpose'? It's not just for cooking rice, you can use it for steamboat too. But today, first time ever, I used it to cook 'sweet potato' soup. Fill the rice cooker with water, switch on the power and wait for it to boil. Meanwhile, just prepare the ginger - you have to bruise it after removing the skin. For the sweet potatos - remove the skin and cut it into small cubes. Remember to place the potato in a bowl of water, with water covering it otherwise, it will turn black.

Ok, when water starts to boil, put in the ginger and let it boil for 5 minutes. Add rock sugar (amount depending how sweet you want the soup to be) to the boiling water and once the sugar is dissolved, you can then add the sweet potato. Depending on how you want the 'texture' of the sweet potato, I like it a bit hard but some prefers it to be cooked until very soft. So after about 5 minutes, remove one piece of the sweet potato and test the 'softness' using a fork. Remember that even after switching off the power, the cooker will remain hot for a little while and this heat will continue to cook the sweet potato.

It's very easy and simple. It takes less than 30 minutes to cook it. Try it some time!

And in case you don't know, sweet potato is a vegetable.

The Pasembur Man

This is the pasembur man in Penang, one of the rare ones left. There are 2 types of pasembur, which is also known as Indian Rojak - of course Indian and the other one - Chinese. The Chinese type of pasembur is also called "Chea Hu" in Hokkien and is of lighter 'version' in terms of the gravy, whereas the Indian type is 'heavier' in gravy and flavour, but nonetheless both equally mouth watering. It's a matter of preference. But they have one thing in common - very expensive. You pick the stuff - fried tauhu, prawn fritters, sotong, hard boiled egg, etc (all these stuff are pre-cooked or fried) that you want and they will cut them out in bite size and add in sliced cucumber and turnip and lastly, the gravy which we commonly called 'kuah'. If you want it more spicy, add chilli paste and yummy - you have your plate of pasembur!

KAU KEI

What is this Kau Kei? Well my late mother used to tell us that this vegetable is good for our eyes. At that time, we were not bothered to ask any questions. We do consume it once in a while but now that has changed.

A couple of weeks back, while doing her weekly marketing, my sister saw a young man buying this type of vegetable and overheard him telling the vegetable seller that his mom had problems with her eyesight and apparently after consuming several rounds of this vegetable, her eyesight has improved. Now this has prompted my sister to include this vegetable in her weekly 'must have'. I have no complaints and no problem eating this vegetable on a weekly basis because I want my eyesight to improve also.

The stem of this vegetable is very hard and full of thorns. So when plucking the leaves, one has to be very careful. The leaves can taste bitter and best to make a vegetable soup out of this with some minced meat to make it tasty.

I even went to check out what is the scientific name of this vegetable. This is the website http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/notes/horticulture/vegetables/ag1393-glossary-of-asian-vegetables I went to and it is very good. It shows you what is this called in other countries too.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop!

I found it! I found it! The counter foil of the Michael Jackson History World Tour 96 concert ticket. After so many years, the print has faded. It was on 29 October 1996 at Stadium Merdeka. The ticket was RM160-00, quite a lot of money at that time and the seat is the cement seat at the stands. Nevermind, as long as we can get to see the King of Pop, it was alright. I remember asking my boss for permission to leave early from work, just in case I got stuck in a jam and could not reach there in time! My boss was quite sporting, he let me go off early!

I also found another ticket counterfoil - Roman Tam Concert - 1998.

Year of the Tiger in Penang!

Went back to Penang on 11Feb 2010 for Chinese New Year celebrations. This year, the weather in Penang was simply unbearable. It was not just hot, but VERY the HOT! I was supposed to come back to KL on 19Feb Friday but decided to get back earlier instead. Though KL was also hot, it rained in the evenings so it was still bearable!

This time around, never got around Penang to taste all the good hawker stuff. Even the nasi kandar stall at Transfer Road which used to be opened on the first and second day of CNY was closed.

ANTS! ANTS! ANTS

Do you know what is this? ANTS! Yes, I've set a trap for them using the ant killer. This is the only way I can get rid of them without using Ridsect because my nose cannot take that stuff. You can get this ant killer from Ace Hardware. It's about RM10+.

Just place a few drops of the ant killer on a plastic sheet and place it in the path of the ants. I think it must be sweet and the ants will start sucking it. However, if you see the ants avoiding it, what you can do is to 'catch' a few ants and drop them around the ant killer to force them 'drink' it (which is a poison I think) and after a while, you can see other ants joining their 'friends' - see picture. Best is to leave it overnight. The next morning, you will notice that the ants are gone and the ant killer dried up - all sucked up by the ants! During this time, do not spray any Ridsect.

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger 2010!

It's another 2 weeks' more before the Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year falls on 14th February 2010 this year - it's the year of the TIGER! It's also Valentine's Day!

The decoration at Pavilion is nice. I like the hanging lanterns right at the entrance. It gives you the 'mood'. I like it!

You should see the entrance of Tangs too! Everything is red here and you can see many shoppers snapping photographs using the decoration here as the backdrop. But this purple lion caught my eye. I've never seen one in that color before.

Kong Hey Fatt Choy to all my friends! Wishing you happiness, great health and prosperity!

OIL PULLING

I started oil pulling late last month and couldn't stop since. I won't call it addictive but just that I want to do it every morning!

It started after I'd purchased a bottle of coconut oil from an organic shop back in Penang. It was supposed to be taken orally - one or two teaspoons daily in the morning, on an empty stomach. Of course this is for health reasons. But it's not easy to swallow the coconut oil on an empty stomach. No, its definitely not for the faint hearted.

After a few mornings, I decided to stop. But what am I going to do with this bottle of coconut oil? Then I remembered I read something about oil pulling in one of the many emails received. So I decided to check it out on the internet and found this website http://www.oilpulling.org/ Read quite extensively about oil pulling on the internet and decided to give it a try.

Apparently, oil pulling can heal headaches, ulcers, bronchitis, toothaches and many more illnesses. It's actually a very simple process, but you will a need to get up earlier in the morning to do it. It takes about 15-20 minutes to do it. You can go to the website to read more. I've finished using that first bottle of coconut oil and now I've bought another bottle of Sunflower oil, it's better to get the organic type.

After oil pulling for almost a month, I'd noticed that my mouth is not so dry. My sister has just started and she hopes it will cure her mouth ulcers.