CRIZ BON APPETITE

It was another birthday gathering in my family recently and this time it was my brother’s which fell a day before Valentine’s Day. Instead of cooking in, I introduced them to Chin Bee Tea Café which I had fallen in love with their food. Sifu Malai Chong sure knew how to cook up something different. Other than the delicious food that everyone loved a lot, he made us a Birthday Ee Foo Noodles which had so much of ingredients such fried fish fillet, prawns, Chinese cabbage, mushroom and egg slices on it. You be surprised on how many bowls my niece had consumed into her little tummy. LOL!

Well, a birthday without a cake would not be a birthday at all. Somehow my brother decided against the idea of having a cake as all of us had consumed too many cakes and cookies during the recent Chinese New Year celebration. I personally find that a Chinese meal should end with a dessert which I find the café could not provide me with. In the end, I had decided to create a healthy dessert which would suit all ages to surprise them. I came up with my healthy recipe for CHRYSANTHEMUM GINSENG WOLFBERRY JELLY WITH RAW HONEY.

I had used quality chrysanthemum flowers as these are believed to fight against flu related viruses. I had also used ginseng roots to alleviate fatigue, headache, amnesia and weakness and dried Chinese wolfberries to enhance the general health of the body system. The above mentioned two ingredients would be brewed for hours and sweetened with rock sugar and made into jelly. This bitter sweet dessert would then be served with some diluted raw honey. It would be better if you could get hold of one of my most trusted brands of jelly powder, imported from Thailand as this brand had never failed me in giving the jelly a firmer texture.

Won’t it be great if you could come out with this great recipe to serve your guests? Let me share with you the recipe here.

INGREDIENTS:
80gms first grade dried chrysanthemum (???)
15gms ginseng roots (???)
15gms Chinese wolfberry (?? – 5gms to reserve for garnishing)
250gms rock sugar (??)
4.5 liters water ???

GARNISHING:
6 Tbsp raw honey (diluted with 6 tbsp of the brewed potion)
5gms of the Chinese wolfberry above (soak and drain)

OPTIONAL:
Flowers and herbs for decoration.

PREPARATION:
1. Wash the chrysanthemum, ginseng root and Chinese wolfberry clean from dirt.
2. Bring the water to boil in a large pot.
3. When boil, put in the chrysanthemum and ginseng root and let it brew in medium fire for 30-40 minutes.
4. Sieve the concentrated brewed potion. You would get about 3.5L left. (You can retain and boil the brewed ingredients by adding in more water for more cooling beverage as it would be a waste to throw them away. Sieve and add in sugar to taste)
5. Pour 2.5L of the brew into another pot and slowly stir in the jelly powder.
6. Heat up the brew in medium fire and add in the rock sugar. Stir until the rock sugar dissolves.
7. Add in the Chinese wolfberry (10gms only. Balance for garnishing) and let it brew in low fire for another 10-15minutes.
8. Scoop the potion into selected jelly moulds and let it cool. Chill immediately when hardened.
9. Serve the jelly chilled with some diluted raw honey and soaked wolfberry.

Note: Since there is no preservative in this brew, you can keep it fresh if well refrigerated for 3-4 days.

(Serves: 8-10)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 2% [?]

So what’s your plan for desserts during this coming Chinese New Year reunion dinner? Well, I’m not planning to have more of those normal cans of longan, lychee or maybe a combination of both with some leong fun grass jelly/cincau) this year. All the preservatives in there could be rather unhealthy. Instead, I would be cooking up something fresh this festive season. Would you like to try out a simple and delicious fruity delight instead? Let me share with you the recipe for my BUTTER SAUTEED ASIAN PEARS (??????).

INGREDIENTS:
3 Asian Pears (3” diameter)
1 tablespoon fine sugar
1 tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger (ginger candy)
1 teaspoon grated lemon skin
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon yellow raisins
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (depending on your preference)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds (toasted)
2 tablespoon walnut (slightly crushed)
Pinch of salt

OPTIONAL:
Margarine with pinch of salt (to replace butter)

PREPARATION:
1. Peel and core the pears. Cut a pear into 4 quarters. From each quarter, cut the piece into another 4 slices. You would get a total of 16 thin slices. Remember to soak the pears and cut slices in a bowl of water mixed with one teaspoon of salt to avoid them turning brown when exposed to the air.
2. Heat the butter in a wok and pour in the pear slices. Saute for about 5 minutes on medium fire.
3. Add in the lemon juice, chopped ginger candy, grated lemon skin, sugar, ground cinnamon and sauté until the pear slices are translucent and tender. That would take about 10-15 minutes. You can add in more sugar if you like the dessert to be sweeter and also a pinch of salt if you are using margarine instead.
4. Fold in the yellow raisins, 3/4 of the walnuts and 3/4 of the toasted sesame seeds. Cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Scoop onto a dessert plate and garnish with the remaining walnuts and toasted sesame seeds.
6. You can serve it hot or room temperature cold.

(Serves: 4-5)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Sometimes after a dinner, I would love to drive around and hunt for some desserts to fill up the remaining of my tummy. I have been passing through the Jelutong area quite often and had seen this auntie selling sweet peanut soup for quite awhile but did not manage to try her dessert out. It was only last night that I was on a bike and was able to pop by there as it has always been hard to find a parking space for cars there.

To my surprise, the stall has more add-ons than any regular stall for their sweet peanut soup. Instead of serving the dessert with Chinese crullers (you tiao), they even have steamed sweet potatoes and yam to add in the peanut soup.

Well, I ordered one each with a bowl of Chinese crullers. The look on the Peanut Soup with Sweet Potatoes (RM1.50) was impressive but the taste was very disappointing. The soup tasted bland with no peanut flavors at all and was rather diluted with hardly any sweetness in it. Moreover, I do not think that sweet potatoes can combine well with the peanut soup. The combination was rather out.

Again, the same combination problem goes for the Peanut Soup with Yam (RM1.50). The taste was totally out. I still think that yam should always be cook in a creamier soup based desserts such as the Bubur Cha Cha (Nyonya Pengat) with thick coconut milk and Malaccan palm sugar. Somehow, the powdery texture of the yam just tasted so out with clear soup based desserts.

The only thing that I enjoyed was their bowl of Chinese Crullers (You Tiao – RM1).

If you are coming from the Jelutong Expressway into Jalan Jelutong, just drive forward until the next traffic lights (You will see a lot of hawker stalls there). Turn right and you will see the stall along the road side of Lorong Perak.

Name: PERAK LANE PEANUT SOUP
Address: Lorong Perak, 11600 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 6.00pm-11.00pm (Closed Monday/Tuesday)
GPS: 5.399363, 100.320430

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Today is the celebration of the Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival. It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. This year, it’s celebrated a day earlier due to being a leap year. This is the time when family members would gather, making and eating of colored balls of glutinous rice which symbolize reunion. Normally, the Tang Yuan would be taken in a sweet soup broth (plain or brown sugar) with or without a touch of ginger flavor.

What I’m going to share today is the recipe for making this wonderful Tang Yuan in a savory soup version. This is normally home cook in some of the Hokkien families in China and would not be easily obtained in any of the local restaurants. I called the dish the SAVORY TANG YUAN.

INGREDIENTS:
250gms glutinous rice flour
250gms minced pork
250gms lean pork
1 small jicama (yam bean/sengkuang)
1 carrot
1 stalk Chinese celery
4 pips garlic (chopped)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tbsp salt
Some pepper
3 liter water

GARNISH:
Fried garlic oil
Chopped Chinese celery

OPTIONAL:
Pork Liver
Pork Kidney
Pork Intestine

PREPARATION:
1. Heat up the wok. Add in 3 tablespoon of oil and sauté the chopped garlic until golden brown. Scoop and leave aside to cool.
2. Put the minced meat into a mixing bowl. Add in some pepper, 2 tablespoon each of chopped Chinese celery, chopped carrot, sesame oil, light soy sauce, corn/tapioca starch, and one tablespoon each of oyster sauce and fried garlic. Mix evenly.
3. Oil a metal plate and lay the rolled meat balls and steam for 5 minutes. Leave aside to cool.
4. Cut the remaining carrot, jicama and lean pork into slices.
5. Bring 3 liter pot of water to boil. Add in Item 4.
6. Add in 1/2 tablespoon salt, some pepper, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce and sesame oil and boil until left 2/3 pot.
7. Fold in some water, pinch of salt into the glutinous rice flour until dough like. (Note: sprinkle some more water if it’s too dry or lay the dough onto a towel if it’s too wet)
8. Take some dough and roll into a ball. Flatten it with your palm and fill it with a meat ball. Slowly roll it back into a ball. Repeat the same step until you used up all the dough. (Note: Lay a tray and place a towel on it. Place the rolled glutinous rice balls on it)
9. Bring a pot of water to boil and slowly put in all the glutinous rice balls. Cooked glutinous rice ball will float up.
10. Put whatever quantity of cooked glutinous rice balls into a bowl and scoop some soup onto it.
11. Garnish with some fried garlic oil and chopped Chinese celery.

(Serves: 4-6)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 4% [?]

When we talk about sago, these uncooked pearl-like 2mm in diameter white balls are usually presented in some of the South Asian cuisine desserts. Being a multi-racial country like Malaysia, we have so many desserts that have cooked sago as one of the ingredients, namely the Abok-Abok, Steamed Sago with Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk, Chilled Blended Honeydew with Sago or even the Mixed Leng Chee Kang with bigger and colorful sago pearls.

Did you notice a similarity in all these desserts? They are all served as sweet desserts. There is one sago dessert in the Teochew community which is fast becoming extinct and it is served salty but spicy. I’m going to share with you the recipe today on how to make this dessert. I call it the FRIED SPICY SAGO CAKE.

INGREDIENTS:
250gms pearl sago (soak for 10-15 minutes and drain)
1-2 Tspn chili boh/paste (according to your acceptance of spiciness)
200gms bean sprout (peel off roots if possible)
1 Tspn chopped salted turnip (Chai Po)
1 Tspn dark soy sauce
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Oil
Pepper
Salt
Sugar

GARNISH:
100gms of dried shrimps (flat type – fried and drain excess oil)
Some fried shallots
1 stalk spring onions (chopped)
Chillies (remove seed and cut in strips – optional)

OPTIONAL:
Prawns
Squids

PREPARATION:

(Serves: 5-6)

USEFUL TIPS: Do not worry about some tiny white spots left in the center. Leave it awhile as the heat itself would make them translucent. Depending on the freshness of the sago pearls, you might sometimes get 5% of the sago still with spots. You can ignore these as they are still edible.

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Some of the shoppers might not know that there is a Thai restaurant hidden in the more low traffic area of Prangin Mall, Penang. The restaurant, Thai Station Café & Restaurant at Atrium A of Prangin Mall is actually a subsidiary company of the HK Wong Kok Group of Restaurants. There’s a branch of HK Wong Kok at Level 3, Atrium B, Prangin Mall too.

Whenever I’m in Prangin Mall, I would drop by for some food or just savor some of their Thai desserts. Although this is not the best Thai restaurant in town due to their fusion way of preparing some of the dishes, this could be a great place for a quiet discussion. I have tried out a large number of their dishes even before I started my flood blogging such as their Kway Teow Nger (Beef Koay Teow Soup – RM7.30), Khow Phad Krapi (Shrimp Paste aka Belacan Fried Rice – RM7.50), Phad Thai (Thai Fried Koay Teow – RM7.50) and so on.

The recent one I had was their Phad See Eu (Stir Fried Hor Fun with Kailan aka mustard greens – RM7.50). The noodle was smooth but the mustard greens were a bit too old and fibrous. Luckily with a big serving and lots of pork slices make the overall taste quite passable.

My friend ordered the Khow Phad Subprarod (Pineapple Fried Rice – RM6). It has a slightly spicy look compared to those we get from the local hawker stalls. I guessed they might have added some turmeric powder to make it so yellowish. As for taste, it’s just slightly above average although it had quite a lot of raisins, pineapples and chick chunks in the dish.

We also tried out their Hor Mouk (Fish Mousse aka Fish Otak Otak – RM3.50). The fresh piece of fish fillet and the combination of spices were great. The only hiccup is that they did not use any wild betel leaves (daun kaduk) at the base, instead they used lots of Thai basil leaves (daun selasih). To me it’s fine as I love the unique taste of green curry. It might not be suitable for some.

For dessert, my friend ordered the Tub Tim Krob (diced water chestnuts coated with red starch jellies, somewhat like the seeds of a pomegranate, diced jack fruits and served with sweetened coconut milk – RM3.90). The taste was great as it’s not too sweet as those I had taken in Thailand.

I ordered their Ruam Mid (diced water chestnuts coated with red starch jellies, diced glass jellies aka leong fun, attap seeds in syrup – RM3.90). The taste is just mediocre.

Overall, the food there is just slightly above average to my liking as I had got my taste bud accustomed to somewhat more authentic Thai cuisines. By the way, they do charge a 5% service tax. If you are in Prangin Mall, Penang, walk towards the entrance of the Parkson Grand Supermarket at Level 1, Atrium A. There are actually two entrances at each floor. If you cannot see the restaurant, it means you are at the wrong entrance. Try moving to the next entrance.

Name: THAI STATION @ PRANGIN MALL
Address:
33-01-118A, 1st Floor, Prangin Mall, Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong, 10100 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours:
12.00pm – 9.00pm
Contact: 604-262 8080
GPS: 5.414464, 100.331683

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 4% [?]