Homecooked Food in Kajang

Finally went home in July after years of absence. My younger sis showed how much she missed me, by cooking up delicious food. Actually, this is my conjecture only. Haha! Truth is, she has always been the better cook since, I don't know... forever, I think. At the moment, she is the only family member that cooks on a daily basis. Eternally grateful to her for being there with and for our elderly parents.

Here's a collection of the good stuffs I had for that few days when I was at home recently.

Day One (Dinner)

fried rice

radish pork ribs soup

The grains of the fried rice were well defined, and texture of the rice was good. Diced french beans and carrots gave it a crunchy texture and some colour. Of course, must have egg. Pair this with a hearty bowl of soup. Chunky radish and carrots as the base, meaty flavours from the pork ribs and a tad of umami-ness from the dried oysters. Throw in one or two honey dates for the natural sweetness.

We have some homegrown chili padi, so cut chilies was a must for my meals.

Day 2 (Breakfast)

Penang-styled char kway teow with clams

Impressive plate that had legit awesome flavours. The generous amount of small clams and chinese sausage provided savoury-sweetness to the plate. Kway teow was bouncy and each strand was well coated with the dark sauce. Sprouts were juicy and the chives 韭菜) added authenticity to the plate. My sis said she use special sauce and sambal meant for ckt for this.

Day 2 (Dinner)

three dishes (三菜)

brinjal petai in bean sauce

turmeric baked drumlets and wings

steamed white pomfret in soy sauce

All these dishes actually made me wanted to have more rice. But, need to control... 

Day 3 (Breakfast)

chicken feet wanton noodles with char siew

Day 3 (Dinner)

stir fried lettuce with garlic

simple panfried fish

Hakka zhar yoke with black fungus (客家黑木耳炸肉) 

This meal was double wow! The zhar yoke was lovely as the pork belly was tender and so easy to (over)eat. No funky porky smell. The black fungus is one of my favourite foods and it pairs well with the zhar yoke (Cantonese) or zhar bak (Mandarin).

Panfried fish is a simple delicacy that I had always enjoyed. Just rub some salt all over the fish and panfry each side till cook. Take extra care for the head and usually need to baste it for it to be a little bit crunchy. The drizzle lightly with soy sauce and drop some chopped spring onions to garnish. Pour over a bit of the hot oil over the spring onions.

My sis said we have some white chili padi and asked if I'd like to try. Ok, although I've never heard of it before.

white chili padi

Turned out that it was not exactly white, just a very very pale shade of green. But it was indeed more spicy and more fragrant than the normal birds eye chili. Hmm, 1.5 times more spicy I'd say.

Day 4 (Breakfast)

Taiwanese-styled breakfast of shou zhua bing (手抓并)

I think my sis missed travelling and this breakfast was reminiscent of Taipei. Home version means you could add more greens (shredded lettuce) and a thicker piece of spam. Yums!

Thank you sis!

Pork Belly Kare 豚の脇腹肉カレー - The Simplest Version

Had this idea of having Japanese curry at home for the longest time. Finally gotten around to do it, so went shopping for ingredients. The vegetables were pretty simple. Had wanted to do a variety with lots of colours just like those soup curry in Hokkaido where they had potato, grilled pumpkin, green pepper, broccoli etc. But, not really cost effective. So settled with just the basic two; carrots and onions. Didn't get potato because the rice would provide enough carbs.

Then, of course, the curry itself. The curry pack is easily available in any supermarket. Just need to choose either 'mild' or 'hot'. Knowing that Japanese curry is more likely to be sweet than spcy, I got a box of 'hot' curry. Picked one that yields 5 servings for less than $5. One serving of 2 squares, was enough to make a semi thick curry for 2 pax.

Next, must have meat. Wanted to do beef curry with beef tendons. But in the end, went for the economical route instead. So, ended up with pork belly instead.

ingredients

Ingredients for Pork Belly Kare (feeds 2-3 pax)

• 2 carrots
• 2 large onions
• some  garlic cloves
• 1 block of pork belly

Steps

1. Peel, cut and wash the carrots, onions and garlic
2. Remove skin from pork belly
3. Cut into large chunks and wash
4. Drain off excess water from vegetables and pork belly
5. Season the meat with salt and pepper
6. Powder the meat with corn flour
7. Heat up some oil and brown the pork belly
8. Remove pork belly and set aside. Remove excess oil from pan.
9. Sauté the garlic cloves in the pan, then add vegetables and fry for a while
10. Add some water to the vegetables, add pork belly and let it boil
11. Transfer all to a pot, add enough water and let it boil further. 
12. Cook till meat is soft before turning off the heat
13. Add the curry cubes into the soup. Stir well to let it mix
14. When curry is dissolved evenly, turn on the heat and let it simmer further
15. Turn off the heat when meat is soft enough

boil the meat and vegetables, just like boiling soup

meat ought to be browned more

The desired outcome would be wobbly soft belly meat, flavourful curry and steaming hot fragrant rice (香米).

pork belly kare with a side serving of stir fried dou miao

The cost of the meal would be about $5 per pax.

Home Cooked Porridge

How do you prefer your porridge or congee to be done? My preference is towards smooth congee but not till its so gooey that it looked like glue.

My mom and sis prefers to have it with lots of garnishes including fried taukwa dices, chopped spring onions, deep fried bee hoon and the fragrant fried onion oil.

At home, we called this type of porridge as "有味粥" in Cantonese as it has been adequately seasoned and flavoured, usually by the pork and chicken that is cooked together with the rice.

tasty smooth chicken and pork porridge without garnishes

plenty of side-kicks to choose from

Voila! Yummy, tasty congee

Usually, I'll have the 有味粥 plain, with chopped spring onions. Comfort food.

Home Cooked

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Wishing you a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year~

Here's a couple of pictures of the food when am at home with family.

good 'ol bread, kaya and margerine

soy sauce chicken, fish head curry and stir fried greens

wobbly chicken feet with radish soup

the spread

hotpot

homemade pork balls

all in a pot

sweet sour fish, roast pork, steamed chicken, fried beehoon for lunch

Shandy - the must have drink for CNY

vegetarian on 1st day of Lunar New Year

tea

Keep safe, be healthy and have a good year ahead. Meh the force be with you.

It's 端午节, 粽子 time!

It's 5th day of the 5th month. So, happy 端午节 (Duan Wu Jie) everyone. Have you eaten bak zhang (肉粽) yet?

Bro brought some back from home. He made some too.

wrapped with love

left-side made either by sis or bro, and right-side was from aunt

yummy with chestnuts, pork and mushrooms