Laychoo and I ate at this Vietnamese restaurant at pyramid.. forgot its name but something like "O viet" or something to that effect. the summer rolls with shrimp, cooked meehoon, shredded carrot and lettuce leaves were tasty enough with a peanut dipping sauce. tasty..but not something i'd crave for in the middle of the night......... it was really just full of starch...

Her beef ball noodle soup had nice tender cuts of beef but the soup wasn't flavourful enough.


My spicy beef noodle soup was good however. the soup was indeed flavourful and spicy and the beef slices were tender and tasty. I liked the freshness from the mint leaves and raw beansprouts.

I love indian food but it always appeared to be so complicated and difficult to make. My few attempts turned out quite.... bad.
so mind boggling with 101 different ingredients just for ONE dish! for example... in my "indian food kit" i found these spices. I've no idea what they are so if anyone knows..please enlighten me? it appears to be a mix of 3 different types of...seeds? or pods?

I found this recipe for channa masala so I tried to cook it. first, I "whooshed" some onion and garlic and fresh chilli in my blender. however I may have whooshed it too much as it turned into sludge....

and cubed some potatoes..

a tin of chickpeas.

so I fried the "sludge" with some coriander seed, tumeric [kunyit], cumin powder and garam masala. it was getting burnt so i added some water. [not sure if i should have though....]

then some tomato paste..and more water.

then i simmered the potato cubes till soft.

then added the chickpeas. I may have done something wrong as the end result tasted quite... bland and slightly bitter! so I added more spices toward the end.

it didnt taste like anything yo'ud get from the shops. so sadly... i've to admit this time was a failed one.

I tried this chocolate chip banana bread recipe from Mrs Field's "crazy for chocolate" cookbook. it turned out really nice, flavourful and moist. I'd definitely make it again - it disappeared quite quickly! except that if i made it again, I'd put less sugar. somehow these American recipes are ALWAYS too sweet for my liking! anyhow, it had a very nice banana flavour since there were 8 bananas in this recipe [that makes 2 loaves] and the chocolate chip adds a nice touch. I wonder why it's called a bread though... coz it's not really bready.. but it's not a cake either. it's like..in between. it's denser than a bread..and no yeast is involved.. but not really like a cake either in texture...
I'd eat it for breakfast or as a snack. but not really for dessert like one would with a cake...then again..perhaps i might. after all it does satisfy a sweet tooth with its gooey, sticky consistency.
here's the recipe with my alternations, i reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread by mrs Fields - makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
170g butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
8 medium sized very ripe bananas, mashed
4 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C, grease 2 x 9 by 5 inch loaf pans. line with baking paper.
2. whisk flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
3. in another bowl, cream butter and sugar. add bananas and eggs, beating until well blended. beat in vanilla.
4. mix in the dry ingredients, add chocolate chips, fold in. do not overmix or they'll get tough.
5. pour into prepared pans, bake for 55 minutes or until golden brown or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. set the pans to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out of the pans to cool completely.

Quick Homemade "pizza"


Too lazy to make a proper pizza base, I just used store bought naan bread from carrefour, and used this "pizza fondant" powder from the baking shop to make the sauce. it was so easy, just mix with hot water and you instantly get a herbed tomato paste to spread on the bases. then I added sliced onion, fetta cheese, capsicum, mushrooms and sliced tomato. and topped it with shredded cheddar and some dried basil then baked it at 200C for 10 minutes.

of course it doesnt taste like real pizza but it's quite tasty.

Pancake day

Rach and Reb came over for brekkie on merdeka day so we made pancakes. unfortunately my pancake making skills had somewhat.. diminished ever since i got back from australia. used to be able to make perfectly round golden ones but this time they mostly went black before anything else!! but, i managed to at least make these ones without burning them. so rach decided to photograph the photogenic ones.
we concluded that the batter was fine, it was just the pan that was too hot. when i turned down the heat, they stopped going black. we had them with maple syrup, butter, jam and..fetta cheese. i know it's a weird combination but it actually tasted really good with the cheese.....



Pancakes

1/2 Cup SR flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 beaten egg

oil for frying

1. sift flours, make a well in centre. mix in milk, water and eggs till smooth.
2. let stand for 15 minutes
3. heat oil in medium heat in a nonstick pan, Drop teaspoons of the batter into the pan and cook until bubbles form.
4. turn over and cook till golden.
5. serve with honey, butter, jam, maple syrup or lemon juice and sugar.

variations:
add chocolate chips, vanilla essence or banana slices into the batter for a "different" take on these traditional pancakes

To make a sandwich..............

being typically chinese malaysian..I never really had a thing for sandwiches until I went to australia. suddenly... sandwiches were the thing to have for lunch instead of hot noodles in soup or rice with meat and veg. I suppose asians like their meals hot anytime of the day [like porridge for breakfast!]. I failed miserably in my first attempt to make sandwiches, they were soggy and gross by the time we unwrapped them for lunch [never put wet lettuce and mayo next to the bread...]

so, making a good sandwich does take some planning and finesse. first, get some yummy but healthy ingredients. they MUST be balanced. that means..some protein..and some veg.
here, some rotiserrie chicken... sliced lettuce, capsicum and cucumber.

and cheese! I love colby cheese.......

get some nice bread rolls..or buns.

put the dry ingredients on the bread first so that anything wet will not soak into the bread [that'll make it soggy]

I like spicy salami but it's really really fattening!

arrange it like so: and there you go! an easy sandwich that you can take along anywhere...

the leftover ingredients can be mixed up into a big salad.


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reminiscing about tassie [that means....2 years ago!]

At salamanca market one morning we went to have morning tea and Alix ordered the fried English breakfast. full of cholesterol but isnt it soooooooooo yummy........
bacon.. [saturated fat] egg [cholesterol] on toast, grilled tomato [the only healthy thing] and black pudding [gross!]
still....there're few things as beautiful as this.

Sarawak's yummilicious delights

the thing i love most about sarawak is their laksa. a breakfast favourite, this spicy soupy dish is different from mainland laksa in that it has a strong belacan flavour and its soup is greyish from all the spices. it comes with a bit of sambal for those who want it spicier [and I always do!] and a squeeze of lime. topped off with chicken and shrimp, this really is the best thing about sarawak! I've been wanting to have it ever since my trip to Kuching and thankfully there's a lady who sells it at "nam chun" kopitiam in bangsar's lucky garden. we bought some laksa paste in kuching and tried to replicate it but somehow it didnt taste even half as good.

belacan beehoon. I'd never seen such a thing until I came here. it's some thick beehoon [rice noodles] with a sweetish black sauce and boiled squid. unusual but tasty.

not to be missed also, is the kolo mee. this stuff is addictive because of the fragrant flavourful pork fat used to coat the ramen type noodles before being topped with char siew [roast pork], minced pork, fried shallots and some sprigs of choy sum.

tri coloured tea is really popular here too, with gula melaka as the sweetener, topped with evaporated milk. the 3 layers look quite intereresting together.

while walking along the streets in the "city" we came across some crispy "woo kok" [deep fried yam dumplings filled with minced pork]
this isnt specific to sarawak but they just looked so tempting in the window display that i couldnt resist.

and siew pau [pork buns]