After so long

After a long 2 months, our favourite coffee shop has finally opened for business. It opened during the CMCO period earlier this month. 

Hubby went over to buy kolo mee one Monday morning for breakfast at home. 

And on that same week, I went to buy lunch from the coffee shop. I wanted to try the nasi lemak with fried chicken before but didn't have the chance. 

So, after so long of wanting to try the nasi lemak stall, I finally tasted it. RM6.50 per pack. 

A big drumstick accompanied the mild fragrant rice. Some nuts, fried anchovies, hard-boiled egg, sliced cucumber and sambal.

Overall taste?? Okay to me. I like the most was the fried chicken drumstick. Crispy skin, juicy meat. The rice wasn't too 'lemak' but can detect the pandan fragrant. The sambal was spicy with a tinge of sweetness. 

My craving was satisfied that day.

Fyi, Y. Y. cafe in MJC is operating daily, no off day for time being. They had enough rest and loss of business during the MCO, I guess.

Some day

When I am bored or lazy to cook, I would order food delivery. After many weeks of cooking, this mummy needs to relax a bit and take a break once in a while. Trying to minimise the time of going out, I utilise the food delivery service.

For instance, I was craving for a good curry mixed rice one day. So I went through the outlet lists in FoodPanda and saw there was one shop selling it. Ah Seng Hainanese chicken. Ordered from the shop before, so I didn't mind reorder. I had its RM10 curry mixed rice. 

Curry gravy was thick and spicy, rice was quite a lot. Overall, it was good. Good enough to satisfy my craving. 

Of course, some day (or rather, most days) I would put more effort into cooking at home. 

Most days my lunch and dinner consist of same dishes, or I cook new vegetable dishes for dinner. 

Hubby brought 2 Kg of big prawns from a friend and I sorted and packed into few bags. I usually steam them but sometime it is nice to cook them differently. Like pan sear. This is a simple pan seared prawns recipe you may enjoy. 

Ingredients:
10 big prawns, cleaned, devein, threw away the heads
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
Few curry leaves
Salt
Pepper
Cooking oil

Methods:
1. Marinate the cleaned prawns with salt and pepper. Leave aside for few minutes.
2. Heat up a pan. Add in about 2 tbsp cooking oil.
3. Pan seared each prawns, few seconds on each side till they turned white. Dish out.
4. On same pan, add in a tbsp oil. Add in garlic and saute till fragrant.
5. Add back prawns, curry leaves and spring onion. Saute and mix well before dish out.

Optional : you can add a little bit of light soy sauce during cooking. 

Around the corner

Many years ago, hubby brought me here for kueh chap. Bintawa Kueh Chap in Jalan Keranji.

This afternoon, hubby and I were around the corner and hubby asked whether I wanted to have a stop and kueh chap. Well, since we were there, might as well.

This corner shop was still the same, as I could remembered it. Not much changes.

Posters hung on the wall.

We ordered small bowl of kueh chap without kueh (kosong) . Used to be RM4 then. Now small bowl costs RM6.

The soup had a sweetness taste to it. I prefer salty base, like most kueh chap shops in Kuching serve.

The chili dipping that accompanied our kueh chap kosong. We had this sweet sugar cane with chestnut drink to quench our thirst on the warm late afternoon.

Hubby spotted the poster with pork trotter vinegar so he asked the operator whether they had that on the menu. Luckily they had it so hubby bought a small pack of pork trotter vinegar to go with our late dinner. 

As you may wonder why we were in Tabuan Jaya as it was way, way far from our place. It happened hubby ordered 2 packets of homemade shepherd's pie from a friend who stayed in Avenue Park, a stone throw away from Bintawa Kueh Chap shop.

So we were there to collect our shepherd's pies. RM15 per pack. One was ready to eat, another pie was not baked so I kept it in freezer for another day.

Ages since I made shepherd's pie at home. A lot of works, so I rarely make. Now tasted this friend's homemade pie, it felt so good and tasty. Make me want to make it again. One day, maybe. When my mood comes. ^^

For my homemade shepherd pie recipe, click here.

In the mood

Once in a while my man would sneak out to buy groceries and beer in our neighbourhood supermarket or minimart. 

One Monday, he went to Choice Daily after did some works in office. I passed him a list of groceries to buy and as usual, he came home with more than necessary and bought something interesting from the place. 

Like for instance, few packs of Sarawak laksa. I guess I will be cooking Sarawak laksa one of these days. When I am in the mood, of course. 

The last time I had Sarawak laksa, I had stomach discomfort which led to gastric. Gosh! I hate gastric!! 

Rainbow olives. Ok, it was pickle. Not my cup of tea. But hubby likes to try new thing and he has impulse shopping syndrome. Lol. So a bottle of rainbow olive in his shopping cart. 

And a bottle of marinated asparagus. Hmm. He has hinted this to go with grilled lamb for the coming Father's Day. *hint hint*

That afternoon, he was suddenly in the mood to make something. Bao!! 

So he was busy looking through Youtube and get down with the making. I helped him with the measurement and kneading, most works were done by him. We ended up making xiao long bao. More or less there. 

More improvement needed. Skins needed to be thinner. Overall it was good. The dripping soup in the baos was good and delicious, must eat while they are warm. 

This reminded us of our China holiday last December. 

Blessed

This year's Mother's Day was spent at home.  No plan for any big celebration. 

On Saturday morning, I received a call from my insurance agent friend who delivered this big platter of Nyonya kuehs. Oh my!!! I've never received such Mother's Day gift before. 

Coincidently I was thinking about Nyonya kueh the day before as I saw few friends posted on their kueh making at homes. Envy them. 

So, what a pleasant surprise to receive such gift the next day from my friend. Thank you, my friend. I was blessed. My Nyonya kuehs craving was satisfied. 

It was Day 54 of MCO, and it was a lovely, sunny Sunday. Everyone woke up late, even me who usually an early bird, woke up after 8 that morning!

We had simple breakfast of chicken mee suah. For lunch, my man ordered food delivery from The Garden by Serapi. 

Theu had Nasi Ayam Penyet promotion, Buy 2 Free 1. Buy 2 packs of Nasi Ayam Penyet, you will get free 1 pack of fried rice. 

Our lunch arrived before 1pm. Took almost an hour after the delivery but I guess it was expected as it was a Sunday and peak hour. 

The nasi ayam penyet after I placed and rearranged on a plate. The best and my favourite has got to be 38 Food Court. 

This was their free fried rice.

Purple

I bought about half kilo of Japanese sweet potatoes from Chieng Pork when I went there to buy my meat supplies.

Their supplies now expanded not only on pork products but to and included vegetables, dried ingredients and canned food. So it is pretty convenient to shop and get most stuff there.

It was a Wednesday and hubby wasn't working. I drove myself to Chieng Pork to replenish my meat supplies. The shop opened at 830am. It allowed 6 customers during MCO in the air-conditioned shop. 

When I reached its fruit and vegetable section, I saw the staff was busy unpacked some purple sweet potatoes. Japanese and Vietnamese sweet potatoes. I never tasted Vietnamese sweet potatoes but it was much more expensive than Japanese sweet potatoes. The latter already sold at RM22 per kg!! 

I bought some Japanese sweet potatoes home as it has been a while since I had it and was craving for it when I saw them. These cost me slight over RM11. 

I took out 2 of them to steam that afternoon. Just washed the purple layer of the sweet potatoes and put in the steamer. Steamed for about 10 minutes and they were ready. Piping warm sweet potatoes. I loved it!! 

Different method

The last time I cooked claypot chicken rice was when I used flip pan method to cook this delicious and warming rice dish.

Few weeks ago, I was cooking it but different method. I used rice cooker, so the rice tended to be softer and fluffier.

Ingredients:
2 cups washed rice
2 pieces of chicken thighs, chopped into smaller bites
2 Chinese sausages, sliced thinly
Salted fishes, sliced into small pieces
4 Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced
3 garlic gloves, minced
Ginger, 1 inch, minced
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks of spring onions, sliced
Cooking oil

Marinade:
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Few slices of ginger

Methods:
1. Marinate the chicken pieces for few hours.
2. In a wok, heat up some cooking oil. Add in garlic and ginger till fragrant.
3. Add in the chicken pieces with marinade, Chinese sausage, salted fish and mushrooms. Stir fry till chicken turned white and then add rice.
4. Stir fry for few minutes. Then add sugar, salt and pepper. Mix everything well.
5. Transfer everything to rice cooker. Add in water and cook as normal in rice cooker.
6. Once cooked, let it stand for 15 minutes before adding spring onion and fluff the rice with rice paddle.

I ordered, he ordered

It was my man who did most of the grocery shopping. Only when he wasn't working, then I would took the time to go out and get some grocery. 

Emart Hypermarket was our choice because of varieties and location. I chose a Monday morning around 9am to go there. It opened 9am during MCO. Luckily the queue was fast and hassle-free although it was a long one. 

Holding my shopping list, I spent almost an hour there. Faster grab my stuff, faster queue up and pay. A cart full of stuff. 

There was one Malay stall (a stone throw away from KFC) that we used to patronise for its wrapped nasi lemak. 

It was opened that morning after I done my grocery shopping. It happened I parked my car in front of the stall so after I kept all the loots in the car, I went to buy its nasi lemak. RM3 per pack. It has been quite a long time we had the nasi lemak from this stall. 

The following Monday, hubby was working. Still on rotation basis but longer working time during MCO Phase 4. Suddenly he called me around 11. 30am, telling me to pick up his food at the gate. 

He ordered food from Grab during the MCO so he wouldn't need to go out to buy. It happened that on that day, he forgot to change his delivery address and ended up the Grab rider sent to our house instead of his office. 

So I ended up with this nasi kuning daging rendang, ordered from The Garden by Serapi. Nice, tender beef. 

As for my man, he re-ordered his lunch. Lol. 

Another day, I ordered food delivery from Sugarbun. It was busy morning as Jamie has few clips to watch and some school works to do. So I didn't have time to prepare lunch. 

From Sugarbun, I ordered their Ramadan Kabsah promotion. RM32.85 promotion consisted of 2 savoury rice, 2 broasted chocken, 1 fish fillet, pickles, french fries (not in photo) and 2 cups of soft drinks. 

Of course the kids enjoyed their lunch so much that day. No need for me to chase them to eat. Lol.

And side order of 5 pieces of broasted chicken to go with our dinner that day. Yes, I love its chicken.  Growing up eating this. 

Miscellaneous Picture #98: I cooked

Fried mee hoon with dried prawns and mani cai; and French toasts

Don't know how many plates of fried rice I cooked

Burgers

Healthy pork ramen

Steamboat dinner

On the 1st

It was 1st of May. Labour's Day.

I woke up late that morning, so I prepared burgers for breakfast. Finished up the frozen patties that hubby bought from supermarket and paired with buns, our breakfast was good and simple.

For lunch, I cooked this sticky pork belly. Recipe was from this website. Easy pan fried pork belly for lunch.

Just pan fried the meat on a hot pan. About 4 minutes on each side. Add in sauce mixture of 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce and 1 tsp minced garlic. Coat the pork belly well with the sauce and cook till thicken. When it cools down, chopped to smaller pieces. 

Late afternoon, a delivery car arrived at our gate. Hubby ordered this beer delivery in the morning.  Beers were directly pumped out from the barrel in the car. We were the last stop and the seller was so good to iffer us 1 free cup of stout before he called it a day!!

6+1 draught beer and stout plus side dishes.

I prefer beer so I took half pint of draught beer that evening.

Kompia!! The meat-stuffed kompia was nice. We had them for dinner. 

Hubby and I finished them up for supper. Kids didn't touch the spicy chicken wings and meats. Too spicy for them. 

My man? A happy man at home as long as he has his drink. Lol.

Hometown taste

My man missed his hometown sometime. Actually it has been a couple of years we went back to Kapit. 

One day, he wanted to make one of his childhood food. Fried shallots rice cake, as directly translated. 

It happened that one of his old classmates posted on the food and recipe in FB so my man suddenly craving for that hometown taste!! So on the day I went for grocery shopping, he asked me to buy some tapioca flour and rice flour. 

First time I tasted it. Not bad. Something like chee cheong fun but firmer texture. 

Easy to make and hassle-free recipe. 

Fried shallots rice cake

For rice cake:
220g rice flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour
800ml water
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 tsp salt or to taste

For sauce:
500ml water
60g fine sugar
2 to 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
Salt to taste

Fried shallots for topping


Methods:

1. Add all the rice cake ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Pour into steel containers. 

2. Place in a steamer and cook for 3 minutes under high heqt. Turn off the heat and take out the containers to cool down. 

3. The rice cake will cool down and harden. 

4. To prepare the sauce, mix all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pot. Cook and stir continuously until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and let the sauce cool down. 

5. Once rice cake has cool down, cut into smaller cubes. Pour the sauce all over. Add fried shallots (as much as you like!!) 

6. Serve and dig in.