: : LittleYellowDifferent : :
I forgot to mention that I also got a lot of visitors from Little.Yellow.Different . An amusing blog and one that cheers me up when I’ve had a bad day or just feeling glum. His stories about his parents sort of remind me of mine. Not that it’s terrible but sure is funny when you look at it from an outside perspective. Ha!
Thanks again guys! Ernie, thanks for the link!
: : Granny’s Cooking : :
This is a dish called asam prawn. It’s a fried dish whereby the prawn is fried with a type of fruit called asam jawa. Asam jawa is both sweet and sour at the same time. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the seeds of the fruit. The asam used in this picture has already been preserved.
Great Nyonya dish. The shells of the prawn are left on so that the prawn itself doesn’t shrink.
: : Translation : :
I got a mention in a French (or is it a French-Canadian) website today. Or was it last nite? Anyway, found out how to use Google to translate the website into French, Spanish, Italian and German.
So, please enjoy the translated site. I bet it’s also going to be a funny read!!
To those who came from La Grange, thanks for the support! Karl, thanks for the link!
: :
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!