furama and the banana leaf #bangsar #malaysia

raw. unedited.

of course i took a dip in this :)

and look what i found!

i love shopping in pantry magic.

window shopping.

i wouldn't be able to stop myself otherwise!

who needs plates when you have banana leaves. ;)

ayam goreng

kari tenggiri

sambal cumi goreng

cucumber and carrot in yoghurt, chopped spinach, tandoor deep fried bittergourd.

your choice of dhal, fish curry or chicken curry.

or all of that.

can you tell that i'm entirely contented with just a rice set?

my friends,

there's an arapaima in there!

these things should only exist in underwater world.

i know right?

it's massive.

and it snaps at the fish during feeding time.

scarymary.

murtabak ayam.

i love the onions and chicken filling.

from the ramadan bazzar just around the corner in subang.

what a pretty house.

and i'm glad we got to visit.

thanks dear :)

starting our long weekend with breakfast in petaling street #malaysia

massively big chwee kueh.

with preserved radish mixed with crunchy shallots.

yam cake to go.

comes with savoury shallots and spring onion.

chee cheong fun since 1943.

slippery rice noodles that went really well with the chilli/ sweet sauce.

there are also offerings of comforting porridge with sides of deep fried doughsticks.

but who needs -dough- sticks when you have...

fried food nation.

everything you could want.

fried.

this stall sold fried yong tau foo items just diagonally opposite.

and after all that,

I really needed a cold drink.

soy bean of course.

chilled.

drink it up on the spot :)

or dessert?

soya beancurd and you even get to opt for gula melaka.

oh Malaysia.

i'm glad the mad driving got us in at 7am on a Friday morning. :)

cafe 211 @ holland village shopping centre

so when's the last time

you had yourself a bowl of plain kelloggs with milk and sugar? :)

on a lazy sunday,

one of the boys made a reservation at cafe 211 in holland v.

it's been a while.

they have an outdoor seating area that's perfect for sunday brunch.

but my tandoori chicken with raita was dry.

too dry.

i had to ask for sour cream to make it edible.

after that ordeal.

i definitely needed a tiramisu pick me up.

light.

and just that perfect bit of alcohol for me. :)

while the ice cream was lacking,

everything else was awesome.

first time i've had apple crumble with crumble bits and roughly chopped walnuts.

be prepared to wait though.

20 minutes it states.

freshly baked!

and nothing says satisfaction like that.

cafe 211

level 4

holland village shopping centre

It's about comfort food #CookForFamily

It isn't rocket science to #CookForFamily.

But it might be rocket science for a possible followup on #WashForFamily :p

Cook and eat first.

Worry about the wash later.

So let's talk about what you need.
Just if you'd like to know, that's 22 small chinese black mushrooms, 150g of dried baby scallops, 10 leaves of lettuce, 3 bunches of parsley, 500g of minced pork.
Heavily dependent on the number of people you're feeding
and what you like.
Well what I like.
Mushrooms.
If you couldn't yet tell. :)

The minced pork is seasoned with oyster sauce, sesame oil and kikkoman light sauce.
And for that crunch,
Preserved vegetables.
Dong Cai. 

I couldn't find the rice cup that normally resides in the rice container so I used a jollibean container.

Washed and dried of course.

1.5 containers for 5 of us.

I left it to soak for just a half hour.

Makes it easier to break later with the stirring process. Skip that if you like porridge with whole rice grains.

Just a note:

These rice grains are thirsty hippos that drink up a lot more water than you'd expect.

If you dont want an overly thick and dry porridge,

go easy on the amounts of rice or please have a big pot!

Add in chicken soup stock or just one chicken stock cube.

Just keep stirring, just keep stirring.

And add on water throughout the bubbling process.

Add in roughly formed minced pork balls once it comes to a boil.

And you get lunch that looks like this.

Warm, comforting and nutritious porridge.

From our kitchen to yours. :)

swee choon @ jalan besar

Where would you go for supper at 3am after drinks at winecompany. 

Since dinner consisted of notsosatisfying tapas?

new items on the menu!

just too cute!

This was a glutinous rice ball (think of those sesame balls with a peanut filling) filled with warm flowing custard.

Ohmyyum.

I could be biased because I like taro.

But that aside, it was a light crispy exterior of batter that gave way to a delightful yam puff with small cubes of taro evident in between bites.

And the minced meat mixture was just the best savoury treat encased within.

and this. is.

a perennial favourite.

for this i would eat waxed meat.

and a whole load of mayo.

this is my idea of comfort food.

and a definite diet spoiler.

molten. flowy.

this was much more than I expected.

how -not- to eat a salted egg yolk custard bun

 positive demonstration.

how to eat a salted egg yolk custard bun.

they would murder me if they knew.

but they went home with happy tummies.

eat well boys!

random coffeeshop @ queen street

Dinner after classes at functional training institute.

Food for thought?

Nope.

Didn't feel like it.

So we walked a little farther down to a coffeeshop that only had one stall.

But that one stall had everything.

Roast meat rice, boiled soups, mixed vegetables rice and cze char.

I didn't harbour high hopes for just one stall that had such a mind boggling variety of food choices.

And boy was I right.

Flat rice noodles were stir fried in soy sauce for its black colour.

The gravy was thick and heavily laden with salt and seasoning.

The beef slices were tender though but there were only a few measly slices of it.

Check out that gloop they call gravy.

They totally ruined the dish.

And the fish wasn't fresh anyway.

this was the best dish of the night.

clear soup.

chewy squid rings.

and some other random seafood items.

and no it wasn't stellar.

just simple.

nursing a heartache.

Beating the heat with a bowl of ai yu jelly and fruit cocktail #Cookforfamily

Seeds.

Say what?

And thankfully before I buried them into soil,

I got a call to tell me about the seeds.

These were 愛玉 (aiyu) seeds!

Now if you've been to taiwan, or been to a bubble tea shop, you would've seen or heard of the existence of this jelly.

It's like konnyaku.

But.

Not quite.

It's softer than a konnyaku and firmer than jello.

And just a little bit about aiyu seeds.

Most that are produced in Kaoshiung are collected from wild plants which are actually a species of figs.

The harvest season runs from from September to February. 

After harvest, fruits are peeled, cut and sun-dried for 2 days.

The seeds are then pulled out from dried fruits afterwards.

The seeds can be consumed after another week of drying out in the sun.

And here at home, we're no stranger to the ice jelly dessert!

文头雪 (wen tou xue or wan tao long) 

To make Aiyu jelly,

Wrap the seeds in a piece of cheese cloth, immerse it in water and rub it using your hands.

You'll begin to see thick liquid released into water. After solidification, jelly is ready to serve.

Cut them into cubes.

Open up a can of Del Monte Tropical Fruit Mix.

Throw in some ice cubes and water to dilute the sugar syrup.

Squeeze in a lime or two.

And.

Serve CHILLED.

Enjoy. :)

victor's kitchen @ sunshine plaza

I really needed some comfort food.

Thankfully the queue moved quickly.

Seems the stall's operations have been condensed into just two shop spaces combined together.

No more outside seating available either.

The only reason why people would be here, would be the food.

There's no comfortable environment around here so to speak.

You share tables with other diners and eat shoulder to shoulder with them.

All conversations can be heard.

So grab a food and drink order ticket and quickly make your orders.

You might have to wait for a bit.

The outer layer of glutinous rice was too dry and hard.

Only the rice in contact with the ingredients was soft and chewy.

And if you can see,

The gravy from the ingredients was a coagulated jelly like substance

that really put me off this dish altogether.

Sigh.

The pau skin was soft but the proportions were perfect although skewed.

The char siew was sickeningly sweet and needed all of that pau skin and more to counter the effects.

Serve the sauce separately already?

Too salty.

The radish cake was soft.

Very soft.

And the XO sauce given was meagre- a teaspoon.

I kid you not.

Milk custard buns lived up to their namesake.

Lava buns that were flowy. Yay!

But I wanted my savoury.

Not milky sweet.

Prawns with major crunch.

And chopped spinach added to its unique taste.

The crystal skin was just enough to hold the ingredients together.

This was unexpectedly the best item on the order list for me.

Quail egg siew mai.

The quail egg made it hard to eat this in just one bite.

but this was packed full of meats. The egg helped with a perfect balance.

Well, Victor's kitchen is no longer like I remembered it to be.

It's not hearty dim sum at pocket friendly prices anymore.

People come by a word of mouth influence.

I'd suggest dim sum at many other places where you can dine in comfort and have dim sum of much higher standards.

And well, let's not even compare this to tim ho wan.

oh how i miss!