: :

Need to sober up a bit after Friday’s nite outing. However, a quick note on the pub we went too. It’s called Monsoon which is actually a nice place to sit and chitchat. If you like to play snooker, they have a table but still need to pay RM2. The staff are friendly and very helpful. Drinks are cheap. Very scenic as it’s by the river. On the other side of the river, you can see the houses in the villages along the river. Very picturesque.

Monsoon is a pub that plays oldies as well as 80s and latest music. Nice place to hang out. Ask for Kantau, the waiter. Also a friendly chap.

Will be updating the blog tomorrow morning i.e. another 8-10 hours from now. When I wake up. With interesting food as we went to eat seafood at Topspot.

: : Burnt Curry : :

Pillow : Your recipe doesn’t work.

Pillow : Main point : I burnt the curry.

Didn’t ask you to burn the thing lar. Then again, brought up a very good point. The secret ingredient of making a really good curry is the curry powder and spices. Using the ketumbar(curry paste) is a lot tastier than curry powder.

Will have a fire-fighting session with Granny to help save beginners to curry cooking!!

: : Mangkuang = Hikama : :

Had a chat with Mum. She mentioned that in the USA, mangkuang is known as hikama. Imported from Mexico. So, here’s a really quick recipe. Apologies that I didn’t put in the weight as I might get it wrong. Anyway, Chinese cooking is never identical and don’t worry about mistakes.

Ingredients

A plate of mangkuang strips

Mangkuang is generally very big over here. I’m not sure how big it gets in the USA but a rough gauge is the plate. Remove the skin using a peeler. Or you can do it the Chinese way, use the knife to strip the skin. Be careful when using any sharp objects. :p. Anyway, cut it into small strips as seen in the previous post. Use a dessert plate! Do not use the big big plates for steaks.

100-200 g of pork

Cut the pork into small thin strips. If it’s very small, it’s okay. Do not chopped it all up or mince it. The pork is only a side ingredient so shouldn’t be that much. But if you want to add more, that’s okay as well. Granny use belly pork for this. Can substitute this with chicken.

50-100 g of prawn

No need to slice the prawn smaller. Just shell it. It’ll shrink ever more after cooking.

10-50 g of dried cuttlefish

Cuttlefish is similar to squid except that the skin colour is brown instead of white. Dried cuttlefish can be bought any Chinese grocery shop but if you’re a first-timer, do not put in too much. The taste is extremely strong. Cut it into small trips.

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

A teaspoon of cooking oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat up the oil until it’s hot. To check, stick your spatula into the oil. If bubbles form, it’s hot. Turn down the fire a bit.

Cook the garlic until it’s soft, not burnt. A bit brown is okay. If it’s getting brown too fast, turn down the fire. You can always turn up the fire later.

Add in the chicken and prawn. Keep stirring until chicken just turns white and prawn orange.

Add in the mangkuang. Keep stirring until the water comes out of the strips.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Start by adding 1/2 teaspoon of salt and quickly stir it together to get it mixed into the veggie. If not enough, can always add more. Pepper is about 2-3 pinch.

After that, let it cook for about 1-3 minutes until the veggie strips turn an off-white colour and is now soft. It’s done.

Bon appetit!

Bon appetit!

: : Granny’s Cooking : :

Bad day at work. Still, bright side was that Granny made one of my favourite veggie dish : fried mangkuang with strips of dried cuttlefish and pork. She didn’t add the small prawns or the black mushrooms inside but it still tasted good. The pork can be subtituted with chicken or just use prawn. Beef is a bit too strong for this dish Mangkuang is like a really really big turnip. It’s crunchy and juicy at the same time. It’s practically made up of mostly water but it’s a very sweet veggie. The dish that she cooked originated from Penang, or so she says. The mangkuang is cut into really think strips for frying but it can also be eaten raw. It’s one of the main ingredients to rojak and springrolls (otherwise known as egg rolls).

: : Birthday : :

Forgot to mention that collegues at work celebrated my bday with me. Sponsored a tiramisu cake! Feel very special. Pity that there weren’t any alcohol in it. Auntie M’s tiramisu does and it’s absolutely marvellous! *Dreamy sigh*.

: : Granny’s Cooking : :

Dinner always look good when one is hungry after a long day at work, even if it’s a no frills dinner.

Stir-fried Ketola

Stir-fried Mushroom Chicken

Stif-fried Tom Yau

Stir-fried Ketola

The uncooked veggie looks a bit peculiar. Very hard to describe. A picture tells a million stories but yours truly hasn’t yet begun to dig through the fridge to take pictures of vegetables yet. It’s a very soft veggie but very sweet. Always cook with egg. Very watery though. Comes from the veggie alone.

Stir-fried Mushroom Chicken

The stir-fried version of chicken with mushrooms. A bit oily from the cooking oil. Granny just stir-fried with onions. A pity that no straw mushrooms were added in. Or the black mushrooms. Oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Stir-fried Tom Yau

Granny : English name? Soya bean plant.

Uncle Cyril : No lah! Another version of alfafa sprout!

Granny : No lah! Bean plant! Looks like green bean plant!

Uncle Cyril : Hmm… more like soya bean plant.

Oh well. Local name is tom yau. Slightly crunchy and very chewy. Good for digestion, etc., etc.,etc. Sometimes cook with white rice wine (Chinese version). My favourite.