A Glutton’s Dinner

As Miss Cook Alot was exhausted from a day out of shopping, we decided to get some comfort food for dinner… And nothing says comfort food like “Bak Kut Teh”!!! So off to Klang we went with CK, SY and JY!!! The Bah Kut Teh at Centro was good as the meat was so juicy and tender it was practically falling from the bone!!! The soup was thick and full of flavour as well… The best thing about the dinner??? The price!!! Only RM 10.00 per head… Now if that isn’t value for such awesome Bak Kut Teh, I dunno what is…  

As we finished dinner @ 7.30pm and it was too early to go home, CK suggested that we go over to Kepong for dessert… So what if Kepong is on the other side of town, we are gluttons and we will go to the very ends of the Earth if we had to… As Kepong is Ed’s home turf, he joined in for dessert… As the list of items we had in total are too numerous to list, we will rely on the pictures to do the rest of the talking…

View Full Album

Hmm I wonder where we will go next week??? Hmmm…

3-Course Chinese Meal in under 30mins

 

So… It’s been a while since I last cooked a Chinese meal… If you think that cooking Chinese is time consuming for a small family, you’re not alone!!! I’d be happy to cook a one-pot meal everyday… However, I’ve found my way to go Chinese without too much hassle… Also saves my day if I reach home late and didn’t defrost any meat from the freezer… Key ingredients??? Eggs & veggie!!! Eggs are essential in a kitchen… They are great source of protein and you can cook eggs in 101 ways… steamed, fried, omelette, ‘dropped’ into soup… they are lazy cooks’ bff!!!

For dinner the other day, I cooked a sze chuan hot and sour pepper soup, silky steamed egg and stir-fry kailan with prawns… and of course I used organic veggie (RM1/serving) and eggs (Zenxin eggs RM0.50/pc)… Cost of meal??? Quick, healthy and cheap for only RM 3.80 per pax… Great alternative to MSG-laden chap fun…

10 Min Healthy Soup Noodles

10 mins??? Yup, that is all it takes to make a hearty bowl of soup noodles that tastes way better than its instant cousins… Not only that, this is healthier (and 80%  organic too)…

All you need are some:

1. Pork balls (if you don’t wanna shell out for organic pork you can try the cheaper additive free option)
2. Pork slices (as above)
3. Organic vege (Any that you have sitting in the fridge)
4. Chicken stock (home made from free range chicken)
5. Miso paste (Organic ones cost just about the same as the non organic ones)
6. Noodles (I like organic mee sua)
7. Fried shallots
8. Soy sauce (Organic ones cost just about the same as the non organic ones)

Here is a look at the end product…

And a close up to make you drool…

Now tell me that is not gonna taste better than your packet of instant noodles…

Hotpot Delight @ Xiao Fei Yang Restaurant

Miss Cook Alot loves a good hotpot treat and we were lucky to be introduced to a little gem in the heart of Pudu, The Xiao Fei Yang Restaurant…

The restaurant is extremely popular and we were advised to get there early to avoid disappointment… There is a mind boggling choice of combinations for the soup bases and rather than stress over the ordering, we left it to our trusty food guide, Deric…

Based upon the Deric’s recommendations, we  got a herbal soup base and a pepper soup base…

According to Deric, almost everything that they have for the hotpot is either made from scratch or cut up upon ordering… Therefore, we just had to get the following items!!!

 

 

While waiting for the food to cook in the hotpot, Deric guided us on how to mix the sauces for dipping and it was fabulous!!!

As you can see there are no pictures of any cooked food as it all disappeared too quickly for me to capture… Everything was fresh and seasoned well… Nothing stood out more than the other as everything was as good as the dish that preceded it…

Pricing wise, we paid RM 160.00 for a sumptuous meal for three… It may not be the cheapest hotpot meal around but its definitely one of the best you can get… Miss Cook Alot and I will surely go and visit this wonderful gem in Pudu again!!!

Braised Longevity Noodle with Egg Sauce

Wat-Tan-Hor (Kuey teow with creamy egg sauce) is a popular local ‘tai chow’ dish… The kuey teow is fried in oil and seasoning before topping it off with a thick egg-based gravy…  I made a dish similar to ‘Wat-Tan-Hor’ but with half the fat and made with homemade chicken stock… Since I don’t use MSG or similar seasonings, I always have real chicken stock in my kitchen to give flavour to my dishes… Every time I have extra chicken bones and carcasses, I will boil some stock for 3-4 hours and reduce it to a gelatinous consistency and freeze in ice cube trays…

Good thing about quick meals like the above is that we can throw in whatever we have in the fridge… I have some oyster mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, prawns and meat balls in my fridge… Great… We have a balanced diet!!!…

Cost/serving: RM 2.80

Potato and Leek Soup with Parmesan Garlic Croutons

What do you want for lunch?… “Something soupy”… That’s my standard answer to Sir Eat Alot every time he asked about my preference… More often than not, I will crave something soupy… Noodle soup, herbal soup, chicken soup, minestrone etc… You name it I’ll eat it… There’s something about the hot spoonfuls of soup that is so appetizing and satisfying…

Potatoes make really good soup… Potato soup is the perfect comfort food and makes a delicious compliment to any gourmet meal or served as the main dish… Sometimes, potatoes are added in a recipe and blended to thicken the soup…

Some people dislike the taste of leek… In this soup however, the leek taste is somewhat subtle… I used starchy Russet potatoes in this recipe… If you like, you can fry some bacon and crumble as topping for the soup instead of croutons…

The following recipe serves 4 hungry people and 6 as starters:

Potato and Leek Soup                  

Ingredients:

2 leek, cleaned, sliced (use white part only)

1 white onion, chopped

2 large Russet potatoes (about 160g), cubed

2-3 tblsp butter

1 tblsp olive oil (to prevent butter from burning)

1 tsp dried basil leaves

1200ml chicken or vegetable stock or water

salt and black pepper to taste

whipping cream

chopped parsley for garnishing

chicken stock granules ( optional)

Method:

Melt butter and olive oil in a heavy-based pot over medium fire. Sweat onions and leek for 5 mins. Add basil and potato and cook another 5 mins.

Add in stock/water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer for another 30 mins until potatoes are soft.

Blend the soup in a blender, return to pot and bring to a boil. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve in a bowl and drizzle a tblsp of cream and sprinkle some croutons on top.

Note: For a richer taste, you can add more cream and/or milk into the  soup. Chicken granules will make the soup taste better if you’re using water. I'm quite a health freak and I maintain a MSG- and chicken granules-free kitchen…

Parmesan Garlic Croutons

Cut 4 slices of thick French bread (or any bread that you have) into 1/2 inch cubes. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a pan. Remove from heat and stir in 3 tblsp parmesan and 1/8 tsp garlic powder (I used finely minced garlic). Add in bread cubes and stir until cubes are coated with butter mixture.

Spread cubes in a shallow baking pan and bake in the oven at 150 degrees C for 10 mins. Cool before use. Keeps for a week in an airtight container. Makes about 16 servings.

Cost/Serving: RM 1.50 (4-pax recipe), RM 1 (6-pax recipe)