Images Food Discovery : Veg Fish Farm Thai Restaurant

I've been here only twice but I'm already convinced that this is my favourite eating place.

The Thai Veg Fish Farm Restaurant is all about fresh food. The only problem is that it's miles out of town and in some secluded hilly corner. I feel sorry for my little car. On our way out and heavier from a full stomach,  she just didn't have the power to take us up the hill. We had to reverse the car back down and accelerate forward. Vroommmmmm...! Phew...made it. Would probably never hear the end of "That's what you get for eatin' too much" if anyone at home knew about this! I've no regrets. If we drove THIS FAR to eat, we should satisfy ourselves thoroughly.

Anyway, back to our food adventure. This was one of the dishes we ordered, grilled salted fish stuffed with kaffir lime leaves and a stalk of lemongrass. Mmmm..this was to die for. The aroma and tender meat is etched in my memory.  To eat, simply peel off the heavily salted layer of skin.

Grilled Salted Fish

Grilled salted fish with skin peeled off

 This is another great dish, mantis prawn cooked in cheese sauce.

Mantis Prawn in Cheese Sauce

And finally, crispy fried vegetable. This is good snack food.

Batter Fried Vegetable

Have I gained anything from this trip? Besides a few kilos, yes. The Veg Fish Farm Thai Restaurant has inspired me to cook a little differently.These are easy methods to improve the taste of food. I'm also taken in by the way food is presented.

The fish, the farm, the fresh food!

Images Flatbreads

Flatbreads

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's flatbread recipe is amazing. I discovered it while exploring several cooking websites. Click here to view the recipe on Mean Mother Cooker's blog.

I not a big fan of breadmaking. It's because I'm too impatient to see the results. Waiting for dough to rise is akin to waiting for a snail to cross the finish line. But I love standing next to the oven just to watch food evolve. I enjoy watching cupcakes puff up and chicken sizzling to a nice brown. This, I can handle.

No yeast flatbreads is the answer to my dilemma. And Hugh's flatbread is fabulously quick and easy to do. Almost failproof! Just four basic ingredients and half an hour of our time. I tried the recipe out the other day. It was done in a flash. Nothing like soft, warm bread to dip in curry or thick stew whenever I fancy. It's as good as the naan bread I used to buy from local Indian-Muslim restaurants.

I have this recipe stuck on my refrigerator now but I hope to memorise it one day.

My flatbread adventure, in photos:

Flour, Olive Oil, Salt and Warm Water ~ Knead, knead, knead, wait!

Roll and divide into 8

Roll flat, heat pan and voila! Done in minutes.

Flatbread...I am torn

You are so good ~ Flatbreads

Images Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken

Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken

I ❤ roast chicken. You don't have to do too much to make it a delicious meal. It is soOooo convenient. For me, it's matter of spreading a few basic ingredients over the chicken and voila! Into the oven it goes. A couple of hours later, dinner is ready.

But I have a totally different take for festive occasions. Special occasions are seasons for complicated recipes. This feeling is not out of any need to impress friends. It's because of the excitement I feel from the positive energy that surrounds the special occasion. It just screams, "Churn out something magical for 'eat' gathering!".

Anyway, this is how I usually make roast chicken on normal days. It is lightly seasoned with salt, rubbed with butter, dried herbs and some sort of fruit like  oranges, mangoes, apples or lemons.

I chose to go with lemon this time. One can never go wrong with lemon. The aroma that wafts through the air in the midst of roasting is heavenly. Makes me drool thinking about it.

If you're wondering whether it tastes sour. It doesn't. It has this savoury lemon flavour without any of that 'sour' taste. Yum stuff. Check out the recipe below.

Ingredients:
- 1 small medium chicken
- 3 medium potatoes (quartered or smaller)
- 2 medium onions (cut into wedges)
- 100g butter more or less (softened)
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- ½ lemon 
- Salt, to taste

How-to:
1) Rub salt, rosemary and half of the butter all over the chicken. Stuff a wedge of onion into the chicken.

2) Line roasting tray with foil and brush on a bit of butter.

3) Place chicken onto the tray. Arrange potatoes and onions around the chicken.

4) Spread remaining butter over the potatoes and onion.

5) Squeeze lemon juice over it. Then, stuff the lemon into the chicken.

6) Roast at 185C for 1 hour 10 minutes or longer (depending on the size of your chicken). 
Note: I basted the chicken twice in between roasting time using the juices that had accumulated on the tray. This is to keep the chicken moist and to add a little more flavour to the skin. 

Butter it. Squeeze lemon juice all over.

 

Roast chicken underway

 

Fresh out of the oven ~ Lemon and rosemary roast chicken with a nice brown

I had mine with lettuce and dragon fruit.

Roast chicken with Dragon Fruit balls (used a melon baller) and lettuce. Yum!

Images Soup : For variety sake

Soup day in, day out. Don't you find it a challenge putting something fresh on the table daily. I do. It doesn't help when people go, "This soup again..?" *roll eyes*

I'm that ordinary cook who doesn't have a whole lot of fresh food ingredients stocked up in her little fridge, and cabinet space that will make most chefs cry. I'm that person who dream of having a Nigella Lawson kitchen one day. But for now, I make do.

One soup, one vegetable and one meat - That's my cooking rule. It's what I tell myself every time I plan the day's meal. Sometimes I make it a one-plate thing but mostly, it's two or three separate dishes with white rice.

Along the way, I've learned some simple tricks to deceive the fussy eater. It helps that I'm a genius...kidding.

This is what I do to clear the week's ingredients from my fridge especially when I have more than necessary the food items I need. I cook the same dish twice in  a week, one with a small twist to give the illusion that I'm making something totally different from yesterday.

I'm going to share with you how I handle soups. I often make clear soups intending to repeat the dish a couple of days later with only one difference. I stir in a tablespoon of evaporated milk.

Example: from clear fish ball soup, it becomes "milky" fish ball soup. Not ... same! *grin*

And that, ladies and gentleman, is my one-tip wonder. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. I bet you have something up your sleeves too when it comes to making daily meals a less boring affair.

Fish ball soup ~ from clear to milky

Images Slow Cooked Beef Goulash

Slow-Cooked Beef Goulash

It was the perennial question - "what to cook for dinner". I had fresh beef. That helped a lot. At least it narrowed down the recipe search. Eve suggested that I make Goulash out of it, a paprika based stew with spices.

G-o-u-l-a-s-h ....sounds exotic. Why not!

I was skeptical about having only paprika in the stew. It seemed ...harsh somehow. There were many tug-of-wars in my mind about adding tomato into the mix - pureed, mashed, chopped and more tomato related thoughts. But I stuck it out and stayed on the paprika course. I was trying to be as "Hungarian" as possible! There were no regrets. It turned out fabulous.

Who knew that paprika could be more than just a pinch on anything...

A lot of flavours went into this stew so it's hard to describe the taste. I'll try! It's a little spicy but not as hot as I'd imagined and not the curry kind I was used to. A cross between chilli and pepper spiciness. Am I making any sense? All I can say is that it's addictive and goes nicely with the likes of naan, flatbread and even rice.

The recipe.

Ingredients:
- 500g beef (for stews, cut into chunks)
- 3 medium potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1 cup diced pieces of pumpkin
- 1 red chili (halved and sliced into squares)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 tbsp paprika powder
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 stalks fresh coriander (chopped)
- 2-3 dried bay leaves
- Salt, to taste
- 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
- 3 cups hot water, or more

The ingredients

How-to:

1) Season beef with a bit of salt. Leave aside.

2) Heat oil in pan. Saute the onions and garlic.

3) Add the beef. Fry until it's browned a little. Then, add the potatoes, pumpkin and chilli. Stir well.

4) Add paprika and brown sugar into the mix and stir well. Transfer all the ingredients into a slow cooker.

5) Add 3 cups hot water or more, along with fresh coriander and bay leaves. Cook on high for 3½ hours or longer. Into the second hour, I mashed some of the pumpkin pieces in the slow cooker using a spoon.

6) Taste and season with more salt if necessary, in the last ½ hour of cooking

Note: 3½ hours was enough for me. Meat is tender, but not falling apart.

Paprika goes in. Mix it well.

Into the slow cooker it goes, along with some water, coriander and bay leaves

Beef goulash and flatbread! Yum!

Images Sweet Soy Sauce Herbal Chicken

Sweet Soy Sauce Herbal Chicken with Red Dates, Yu Zhu and Wolfberries

Just something I cooked the other day because I was itching to get away from my regular soy sauce chicken recipe, which typically involves only dousing light and dark soy sauce together for taste. It's my lazy-day favourite.

In this recipe though, several natural sweetish ingredients were included to enhance the flavour, like red dates, Yu Zhu (Solomon’s Seal Rhizome - Learn more about Yu Zhu here. ) and carrots. In short, I've complicated the recipe a little for something richer.

The end result is a yummy sweet-salty herbal chicken dish that compliments plain brown rice or yam rice.

This is the recipe. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Ingredients:
- 5 pcs chicken drumstick
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- ½ medium carrot (julienne)
- ½ small cabbage - just a handful (sliced)
- 1 tsp dried wolfberries (rinse and soak in water for 10 minutes)
- 6 slices of dried Yu Zhu (rinse and soak until tender, preferably overnight)
- 2 medium dried red dates (rinse and soak in water for 30 minutes, make a small cut before cooking)
- 1½ tbsp light sweet soy sauce
- 1½ tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp corn flour to thicken (diluted in a bit of water)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 2-3 cups water
- Spring onions (chopped) for garnishing

How-to:
1) Heat cooking pan with oil. Add garlic and fry until lightly browned.

2) Add chicken and carrots. While stirring, season with soy sauce and oyster sauce.

3) Add water, followed by red dates, cabbage and solomon's seal. Stir well and simmer until the chicken is cooked and slightly tender (about 45 minutes). Add more water if it gets too dry.

4) Taste and season with a pinch of salt (if necessary) and pepper. Stir the wolfberries in at the last five minutes of cooking.

5) Switch the fire off, add the corn flour while it's still hot and stir well. Serve garnished with spring onions.

Yummy Herbal Chicken

Serve garnished with spring onions!

Images Old Cucumber and Salted Kohlrabi Chicken Soup

Old Cucumber and Salted Kohlrabi Chicken Soup

 
It was in our Facebook group that I'd first heard of salted kohlrabi. Kohlrabi - what was it...german turnip, cultivar of cabbage ..according to Wikipedia.

Salted Kohlrabi

I've so far only included it in soups but I'm guessing it'll go great in braised dishes as well. 

It wasn't easy trying to find this ingredient. Partly because I had no idea how it would be packaged for the supermarket. I took some time reading the labels for each salted vegetable I picked up and it would have been easier to spot had it not all been compressed in little clear plastic packets. But joy, I found it!

AndDdDDdddd.. so was born this easy soup recipe.

Ingredients:
- 2 pcs whole chicken leg
- ½ medium old cucumber (remove seeds and slice)
- 1 medium red onion (quartered)
- 1 slice salted kohlrabi (rinsed and sliced into smaller pieces)
- 4 pcs dried black fungus (medium variety, soaked for 30 minutes, remove hard parts, slice into smaller pieces  if you wish)
- 1 medium carrot (cubed)
- 1- 1.5L water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 stalk spring onion (chopped, for garnishing)

The ingredients

How-to:
1) Lay all the ingredients in the pot. Pour water in.
2) Boil until chicken is tender. (One hour on medium heat did it for me.)
3) At the last stage of cooking, taste and season with salt (if necessary) and pepper. Cook for awhile longer.
4) Serve garnished with spring onions.

Slow boil

Tadaaa! Tender chicken with salted kohlrabi and old cucumber

Soup of the day..slurp!

Images Pork Apple Burger

Pork Apple Burger

I tried out this recipe from my favourite cook book ~ delicious, Frugal Feasts. ..only to discover that the same recipe could be found online. Oh, the unfairness of it all.

Link to the recipe:
Pork burgers with sweet potato wedges Recipe | delicious. Magazine free recipes

..still, I wouldn't trade my printed copy for anything in the world! I'm just someone who love flipping pages and bookmarking recipes with a pretty pin or coloured post-it notes.

Anyway, I didn't have all the ingredients. So I did the best I could and even tried something new, a little experiment involving tomatoes and strawberry jam :)

This is probably the best burger I've ever made. The meat patty was very juicy on the inside and has a light sweetish taste. Adding the apple certainly worked wonders.

Because it tasted so delicious, I will most likely include some sort of fruit into any meat patty I make in future. That's right, all patties will have f-r-u-i-t!

Here's the deets on how I did mine, but please do read the original recipe (shared above) because it is "tried, tested and tasted". That means it is finger-licking good.

Ingredients (for four small burgers):
For the meat patty
- 250g pork (minced)
- 1 red apple (grated, without skin)
- 2 small red onions (chopped, lightly fried and cooled)
- Pinch of paprika

For frying
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil

For serving
- 4 wholemeal rolls (sliced in half)
- Fresh baby romaine greens
- Grape cherry tomatoes cooked in strawberry jam
- Baked sweet potato wedges (Baked with a bit of butter)

Minced pork, grated apple, chopped onions and paprika

How-to:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the meat patty together. Shape into round patties (4 small patties for me).

2. Heat olive oil in pan. Fry patties until cooked, which took about 3 minutes on each side on medium heat.

3. Remove patties and place wholemeal rolls on pan, face down until lightly browned.

4. To serve, place greens on top of the bottom half of the bun, followed by one meat patty. Top with grape cherry tomatoes in strawberry jam. Eat with sweet potatoes on the side.

Patties being cooked

To assemble

Tadaaaa...! Delicious Pork Apple Burger ready to be served.

Images Grape Cherry Tomatoes with Strawberry Jam

Burger toppings ~ What we get in burger kiosks here typically includes slices of cheese, tomatoes and some greens. The meat patty is slathered with tomato ketchup and mayo. Ask for a 'special' and the patty comes wrapped in egg!

I just wanted something different for my homemade burger. This was the result : Grape Cherry Tomatoes with Strawberry Jam.

Grape Cherry Tomatoes cooked with Strawberry Jam

It's so easy to do and goes great with plain breads too. I've tried! Taste-wise, this is tangy sweet with a light burst of fresh tomato.

This is just a rough guide. I'm not including any measurements because it really doesn't matter much. The ingredients are cooked together to infuse the flavours.

Ingredients:
- Grape cherry tomatoes (halved)
- Strawberry jam
- 1 tbsp water or more to help dissolve the jam

Jamming with Tomatoes

How-to:
1) Heat pan, no oil required. Add tomatoes, strawberry jam and water.

2) Stir until jam is dissolved into a thick sauce and the tomatoes are slightly cooked. Add more water, if necessary, to keep it from drying out.

To eat, just top burger buns with lettuce, olive oil fried meat patties and this. It tasted so well together that I found no reason to add other condiments.

I'm already imagining the possibilities with other fruit jams...mmm..fresh mango with orange jam, anyone?

Strawberry Jam with a Burst of Fresh Tomato

Images Food Discovery : The Purple Burger

Purple? ... Think beetroot and blueberry.

Cafe Taka : Purple Burger (with grilled teriyaki chicken)

Hah! Now, doesn't that look amazing?

It was a Groupon offer we couldn't resist! Being 'us', my girlfriend and I needed no prodding to purchase a coupon for a taste of Cafe Taka's purple burger. That's right, we're easily taken in by beautiful food and can you blame us? We have only ever eaten 'brown' buns.

Here's a look inside:

The purple burger gets halved!

The burger was divine. The purple bun was paired with grilled teriyaki chicken, cheese and greens. For me, at least, any meat doused in teriyaki sauce never fails the taste test. I'm easy to please.

With all that said, this has given me an idea how I want my baked bread to look like once I get down to learning the ropes of bread-making. You could say it's my next goal in the culinary world.

Images Sweet Leaf (Sayur Manis)

Sweet Leaf, a popular leaf vegetable in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. We call it "Sayur Manis" or "Cekur Manis"  in Malay. To the local Chinese, it is known as"mani cai".

Sweet Leaf (Sayur Manis)

The great thing about this vegetable is that it is easy to grow in our climate, usually done via stem cuttings. It's a low maintenance plant that is trimmed regularly for it's leaves.

Cooking it
Only the leaves are used in cooking because the lower stemmed parts are hard to chew. It has a natural mild pleasant sweetish flavour. When cooking this, keep in mind that on its own, it doesn't require heavy seasoning. In Malaysia, it is typically stir-fried with egg or boiled in soups. It is also commonly served in Pan Mee , a local noodle soup dish usually sold by hawkers.

To remove the leaves from the stems, we place our thumb and index finger around the stem. Then, slide our fingers across. The leaves will come off as you slide. Rinse before cooking.

Eat the leaves, not the stem!

Where to buy
It can be found in most wet markets and supermarkets in Malaysia.

Storage

It doesn't keep long in the refrigerator. I clear it off within two days because the leaves begin to dry after that.

Check out: Sweet Leaf and Sweet Potatoes in Coconut Soup (Recipe)

Images "Seasoning" That Wooden Cutting Board

Wiping it clean before 'seasoning' with oil

There's nothing like using a wooden chopping board for cutting meat and vegetables. I like how it has 'character' - those shades of brown and crooked lines. It holds well and isn't slippery. Having a good grip on things when I'm doing some major chopping and slicing is important to me.

I also own a couple of white plastic cutting boards but don't feel the same exhilaration, and use it only to slice bread, cakes, fruit, the sort. This is just me.

When it comes to cutting boards, I believe it's always important to use what works for us because it makes us feel more confident with the knife.

A wooden cutting board requires some care. To keep it from cracking out of dryness and prevent it from mold, it is important to 'season' it with oil. Not just any oil though!

I learned from various articles on the net that regular cooking oil such as vegetable oils and olive oils are a no-no because it will turn rancid. Best to go for walnut oil or almond oil (if you're not allergic to nuts), or food grade coconut oil. Some recommend using food grade mineral oil with beeswax.

I'm more comfortable with something like coconut oil. So, that's what I'm going with.

There are various advice on how to oil a wooden cutting board. I like things simple so I go with rubbing oil all over the board with a clean cloth, waiting some hours and oiling it again. If I'm not satisfied with the results (say it looks too dry), I repeat the process. Then, I'm done.

However, if you prefer something more thorough, here are some articles you can read:

- How to care for a wooden cutting board | MNN - Mother Nature Network

- Cutting Boards - Chopping Blocks - Butcher Blocks | What's Cooking America

- How to Maintain a Wood Cutting Board: 5 Steps - wikiHow

Images Sweet Leaf and Sweet Potatoes in Coconut Soup

Sweet Leaf and Sweet Potatoes in Coconut Soup

I try to include greens on the menu daily. It's a habit that has been passed down from generations.

Gone are days when mom had to force us to "eat our vegetables!". I used to have a hard time swallowing it. More than once, I pretended to pile a hollow mountain of greens on my plate, fluffing it up to give the illusion that I was that obedient girl who had taken her share...more than.

Today, I chomp greens down wholeheartedly! I've often wondered why the experience was nightmarish before. Has this something to do with old age? Was it a case of 'mind over matter' or have I just lost my fussy side? Maybe.

I love Sweet Leaf (Sayur Manis) , a vegetable that isn't always available in the supermarket I regularly shop at. So, I get very excited when I do see it and I don't hesitate grabbing a bunch home.

Sweet Leaf

I made a coconut soup dish with the sweet leaf I purchased. Locals know this as "Masak Lemak"  style. Literally translated as "cooking fat" : Usually taken to mean that this dish will have a coconut milk based soup. It is usually eaten with rice.

But I was in the mood for something without rice, something soupy. So was born this lite version - less coconut milk in my recipe but just as yummy and delightful.

IF I'm having it with rice however, I would add in more coconut milk and make the gravy thicker. It gives the dish a richer taste, suitably complimenting bland carbs.

Ingredients:
- 2 handful sweet leaves (leaf only, remove stems)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 1 medium tomato (cut into 6)
- 2 red chili (cut into squares)
- 1 sweet potato - fist-sized (cut into bite sizes)
- 2 tbsp dried shrimps
- 1 stalk lemongrass (hammered)
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- 3-4 cups water
- 1 tbsp cooking oil 
- Salt to taste

Make into paste (add a bit of water)
- 1 tsp ground coriander (ketumbar)
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp shrimp paste (belacan)

The Ingredients

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Fry garlic, onion and lemongrass together.

2) Once lightly browned or fragrant, add coriander/turmeric paste and stir quickly.

3) Add dried shrimps, red chilis and sweet potatoes, followed by water. Season with a little salt. Boil until sweet potatoes are cooked.

4) Then, stir in the sweet leaves. Lower the heat and add the coconut milk. Simmer (don't let the coconut curdle) a minute or so and taste.  Season with more salt if necessary.

5) Finally, add the tomatoes and serve.

Sweet simmering surprise

Sweet Leaf, Sweet Potato Soup