: : Mum-Mum : : Eat-Eat : :

: : Healthy Sushi : :

What is a girl to do when she is dieting and still wants to enjoy a bit of Japanese cuisine? Remove the rice out of the sushi! I can hear a few people screaming ‘SACRILEGE!’ Well, what with rice having so much starch in it and not to mention carbohydrates, I did exactly that. Also, I didn’t do it using a rice mat but never mind. It’s me eating it, and not others.

Because of one pesky mosquitoe, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday morning wide-eyed and alert. So, as I had to go and help out at the PERKATA Charity Sale today, I decided to make some snacks. So, cut up some ham, celery and cucumber, I made some sushi. Not so symmetrical because I cut everything into short strips. You can see the bits and pieces of vegetables sticking out on one end because after I rolled them, I cut them into half so that it sits more easily in the container and smaller so that it’s manageable bite-sized portions.

Uncle Cyril : You didn’t make any for me to try ah?

So I made somemore sushi but time using capsicum and jicama/hikama as well as beer ham and fresh salmon. Beer Ham? Well, it says that one the label. Bought a packet of it at Choice Daily Supermarket and it looks to be made in Thailand. Has an interesting sourish taste that one can taste a litty itty bitty bit. Other than that, it’s pretty good. As for the salmon, made in Klang, believe it or not. Or so it says on the packet. Still, pretty expensive at RM15 per packet. Well, this batch of sushi will be my lunch for Monday.

On another note, the PERKATA Charity Sale went very well yesterday. How much did we make? Quite a fair bit. Cannot believe that between two of us doing the body painting, we did up above 41 pictures. Phew! By the time we left the place, our backs and necks were aching from being stuck in that position for such a long time. Anyway, everyone went off pretty satisfied with their pictures on their hands and arms.

: : ‘Onolicious eats from Hawaii and abroad! : :

Reid over at Hawaii is having a roll with blogging about Asian food. His blog is titled ‘Ono Kine Grindz. Err… not sure what that means but must be something related to everyone’s favourite topic : FOOD!

Enjoy reading his blog!

: : Assam Fish Head Curry ala Granny : :

It’s been a long time since I posted up any recipes of Granny’s. So, when my uncle came back today with quite a number of fish caught during his fishing trip, she decided to make Assam Fish Head Curry for dinner. And, I quickly ran upstairs to retrieve my camera for a spot of photo-taking.

One of the critical ingredients is lemongrass. Very fragrant and smells exactly like lemon although not as strong. Note that about one inch away from the top is thrown away as it is very hard and no fragrance there. Or so Granny says.

The lemongrass was cut as so.

Next is cutting up the chillis.

Put the lemongrass, chillis, some garlic, ginger and some belachan @ prawn paste into a mortar and start pounding away. Should be very coarse. Onions is usually added but as I’m on Atkins, Granny decided not to put any inside.

Now the tumis @ paste looks like this. Some stalks of lemongrass (that was whacked once with the cleaver to bring out the flavour more) is added into the paste. It enhances the flavour beautifully and provides an interesting dash of colour to an otherwise orangey soup.

Next, Granny took about a handful of assam jawa and rinse them in water to obtain the juice. She did this about three times before throwing the fruit pits away.

This is how the pits of the fruit looks like. Most of it ended up in the water.

The pot is starting to get full after pouring the assam water. The pot is then put onto the stove to boil.

The fish : a huge red snapper fish head. Granny sliced it into half so that it’s easier to eat and also easier to place it inside the pot.

The fish heads are added in once the soup is boiling. Granny mentioned if the eyes start to pop up, the fish is gone. Don’t forget to add some salt and a dash of bejeng @ MSG into it to give it a light sweetish taste.

As the rain had finally stopped (it was raining really hard when we started cooking), Granny went out and got some more assam from the garden. This one is called assam belimbing. Small no? Cannot put too much else the entire dish ends up too salty.

Granny also brought in some daun kesum from her garden. This will add an interesting but mild taste to the curry. She loves the stuff.

The assam belimbing is sliced and then later put into the curry with the daun kesum and left to boil for awhile.

And voila! Assam Fish Head Curry ala Granny. A low carbohydrate Asian dish. Not bad, eh?

: : Magenta : :

Finally! To wine and dine at Magenta, minus the wine, of course. Had to forego this luxury as watching my figure. This time, I went with Aline and Jonathan who were in town for their wedding reception in Kuching. So, it was the night after the reception that we went to have something at a quaint restaurant called Magenta.

Located in a very old house on stilts, we were greeted by the sight of candles and loads of interesting furniture.

At the foyer, we were greeted by Mr. Toad, although we only saw him on the way out. Poor Mr. Toad.

Aline and Jonathan ordered the fresh lime and soursop juice for their refreshments. As for yours truly, only iced water (how boring).

The garlic bread tasted great, according to the both of them. Me, I was trying to control my appetite and managed to win the battle against the bread. However, I lost to the next round.

Now who can resist the tempting fried calamari? I gave into my urge to eat it and had quite a few pieces. It’s not the squid that is bad for me but the batter.

Aline had the chicken peri-peri which came looking like a stupendous work of art. It was great! The entire dish looked so grand and the garnishings were tasty too! The chicken was done just nicely and the peri-peri chilli added a nice flavour to it all.

Jonathan had the salmon hollondaise which turned out to be this delicious cream sauce. Looks good, no? Not to mention the garnishings. Everything is so edible and so eye-catching.

This was my meal : teriyaki cod. I stayed away from the sweet popatoe EXCEPT for one small bite. The cod was a small thing but nevertheless juicy. The sauce was sweet so hidden carbohydrates there (probably one of the main reasons why I did not lose any weight today but gain 0.7 kg!!!). I also polished off this little fried thing. Yep, another carbo. Darn it. Ah well. Musn’t let the fact that I’ve accidently eaten carbohydrates wear me down. Must continue on to the goal of losing weight! I’m also puzzled as to why the cod dish is more expensive than the salmon. Hmmm…

So, that was our meal. It was a very lovely evening and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Magenta is located in an old house on stilts with a wide concrete entrance. There were beautiful decorations everywhere and the lights were spectacular. It’s just next to Garden Steamboat along Nenas Road but you’ll need to make a U-turn at the traffic lights to enter the compound. Parking is not a problem as the property is quite spacious.

Address Details :

Magenta Restaurant

32 Lot 141 Jalan Nenas

93400 Kuching

Sarawak

Malaysia

Tel : 082-237 878

Email : magenta_restaurant@yahoo.com

7 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Closed on Mondays

If you intend to eat at Magenta over the weekend, it’s better to make reservations as they can get pretty full. The staff are very friendly and will be around to assist you at all times.

Anyway, that’s all! Now back to eating my normal low carbo diet. Ah well.

: : PERKATA Charity Sales : :

Sorry about no updates. My streamyx connection is down (what else is new?) and been a bit tired lately.

On another note, I’m helping out at the PERKATA Charity Sale this Sunday 2nd May 2004 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Ironically, I’m not selling food but am doing Body/Face Painting. The sale is held at the PERKATA School opposite the Blind Center, along Jalan Ong Tiang Swee. The sale is in aid to raise funds for the school which is for handicapped/physically challenged children. PERKATA stands for the Sarawak Association for the Welfare of Intellectually Disabled Children, translated in Malay, of course. There will be a lot of food, drinks, souvenier and games stalls available.

On the 2nd of May, there will be another 3 more sales going on. Those are at St. Joseph, Chung Hua Middle School No. 3 and one more which slips my mind at the moment.

So, see you there then! After all, the PERKATA Charity Sale is for a good cause.

: : Ham, Cheese & Lettuce Roll : :

It is always a challenge to think of what to have for lunch everyday. Was thinking hard about it when I remember the roll that my sister mentioned. So, decided to do something similar : a ham, cheese and lettuce roll.

Wasn’t so hard to do. Just use a leaf of lettuce, put a slice of ham on and some cheese. Then, roll everything up.

Ta da! The finished product. Then again, it look like a snack. I made the mistake of putting in too much cheese that it became too salty. So, took 3 layers out and left only 1 in. Also, should have washed the ham a bit to reduced the saltiness. Think the next time I do this, I’ll use a less salty slice or more lettuce.

So, that was my lunch today. For tomorrow, there is a little crock pot bubbling in the kitchen this very moment. Bringing herbal chicken soup to work. Yum yum!