Pasta Zanmai

I was out with a friend at 1 Utama last weekend, wanting to do some shopping. Needless to say, as with most of my shopping experiences, I didn't get my shirt but strolled through a myriad of exhibitions and deviated off-course.

But sometimes it's good to explore, as we discovered this gem of a restaurant. Discreetly tucked behind a small Japanese snack store, it's next to Carl's Jr. It was a Sunday night and the place was packed. We had to put our names down on the waiting list, but it wasn't too long a wait.

Once we got cosy we had a huge challenge. Almost everything on the menu looked so good! It was quite difficult to narrow it down, but we decided to share on a few dishes. We didn't order much as we weren't sure how big the portions were. Plus we wanted to leave space for dessert, hehe.

We started off with the miso soup. It had lots of vegetables and mushrooms, so it wasn't your normal tofu-seaweed staple. The soup had good flavour and it went down very well. It was clear and light on the palate.

Next we had this creamy japanese pasta with prawns and squid. The waiter grates parmesan cheese on top of the pasta upon your request and he'll keep going until you stop :) I smile because I love parmesan, hehe. This dish was delicious, though the cream was a bit sweet and it might not appeal to everyone. I found it special because there's actually three different flavours in that plate. I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into the prawn. You know how most seafood in a seafood pasta are just cooked together with the sauce, and they all have the same taste, i.e. the sauce? Well at Pasta Zanmai, the prawns and squid have their own flavours! I think the chefs marinated and cooked the ingredients beforehand and put it into the pasta before serving. This is brilliant as it keeps the dish interesting with every bite. Very nice :)

ekisaitingu!

The second entree for the night was the teriyaki chicken and hot spring egg pizza. This is different from western pizzas as it had no cheese. It's a flatbread topped with teriyaki chicken, mayo, shredded seaweed, spring onions and a wobbly half-cooked egg in the middle. It looked really appetizing.




The trick to eating this (I think), is to break the egg and let it spill over the pizza. This will make it like a sauce for you. In our case, I just used the chopstick and swivelled it all over. It looked even better than before! The teriyaki chicken was succulent and sweet, balanced by the combination of the rest of the toppings. The spring onions gave a fresh taste to the pizza too. Of course, the best moments were scooping/wiping up the egg with the bread! Delicious :)

Boom!!

By this time we were kind of full, but the dessert menu looked so tantalizing we had to give it a try. We decided on something called Macha Cha on the menu, but Macha Macha on the receipt. Weird. But definitely nothing to do with your Indian brother though. It's this tower of green tea jelly in milk, topped with cornflakes, green tea ice cream, red bean paste and whipped cream. I was a bit skeptical about the cornflakes at first (har, so cheap ah?), but it turned out surprisingly well. You get very different textures and tastes as you work your way down the glass.

We also had hot chocolate, which was again different from what you get at other establishments. It was slightly bitter and not loaded with milk/cream. So you have a lighter drink that is still flavourful, and it leaves a dry finish on your tongue. Not bad huh?

aphrodisiac?

oishii...

So in summary - I Like. Very Much :) What they serve is really different and refreshing from the plethora of western, Italian, and oriental joints out there that offer mostly similar fare. The quality of the food is good, the service is quite nice, and price is reasonable. This is east-meets-west done really well. Fusion is fun. I have a feeling I will be back there again very soon!

Parpadelle with Prawns & Basil

I was contemplating something light for a late lunch last Sunday, but was too lazy to line up in the heat to take away at my local joint. So I dug up stuff from the kitchen and came up with this:

Ingredients:

4-5 bundles of parpadelle (you can get a box of Barilla's from Carrefour or other hypermarts)

1 clove garlic

As many prawns as you like

Some basil leaves

1 heaped tbsp of tomato puree

Salt & pepper to taste

Put the parpadelle in boiling salted water for about 4-5 minutes. In the meantime, clean and remove the shells from the prawns and chop up the garlic. Heat up a pan with some olive oil (or if you're lazy like me, drain the pasta and reuse the pot). Keep some of the pasta water for making the sauce. Fry the garlic until fragrant and throw in the prawns. I threw in some basil leaves too. Once the prawns start to turn colour as they cook, put in the tomato puree and some of the pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Give it a minute and then put in the pasta. Stir to coat the pasta with sauce. Plate, garnish with a few basil leaves and serve.

This dish took just 10 minutes to prepare, and the best thing about it is that I'm already reaping the rewards of having my own basil pot! :)

Herb Project: Basil

I've been trying to experiment with growing my own herbs from those sold in small packs at the supermarket. I heard that you can root them by just cutting and putting the herbs in some water, not unlike how you'd put your flowers in a vase. Sadly, both my naive attempts ended in clumps of dead leaves.

So I started looking for potted herbs, but they were quite hard to find. I finally got my hands on some basil last weekend at a higher-end supermarket chain. Whee!

It's quite small and fragile at the moment, but I'm hoping it will grow and be the first nice plant in my planned herb garden!

If anyone knows where to get other types of potted herbs please let me know! :)

Roast Pork (Siew Yuk)

Tried experimenting with siew yuk yesterday with a recipe I found on the net. I'm a bit lazy to jot down the recipe, except to say that the ingredients are so simple. All you need is good pork belly, five-spice powder, quite a bit of salt and vinegar.

The recipe first called for scalding the skin with a boiling vinegar and water mixture. I don't know why this needs to be done, but it did firm up the skin and seemed to help remove the moisture together with the salt.

Marinade the meat with the five-spice powder and salt for at least 2 hours. Score or pierce the skin and rub a generous amount of salt on it to remove moisture. This will help make the skin into crackling. Pop it into a 180°C oven about 1/2 hour and you'll see the salt crystallize. Remove them and roast for a further 1/2 hr or until the skin bubbles up and turn crispy. Rest and serve.

Fresh from the oven, resting...



After some deft knifework and a bit of garnish...

Nice and juicy...

Crispy pork!

The best part was cutting the meat. A good measure of siew yuk is how crispy the skin gets, and it was such a nice 'shyok, shyok' sound that reached my ears while I was chopping it into bite-sized pieces. Ahh..heavenly!

p/s: If anyone can explain about the vinegar, please let me know!

Char Siew Pork Ribs

I made some char siew a couple of weeks ago, and last week I tried using the same recipe to do pork ribs.

The ingredients are simple, but the roasting takes some time, effort and vigilance to ensure a nice shiny, sticky glaze when it's done.

Ingredients:

About 800g - 1kg of ribs, or about 5-6 ribs

2 1/2 tbsp of Hoisin sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

250g - 300g sugar, or to your preference (you need loads)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Shiao Shing wine, or rose wine

Method:

Mix all the seasoning together to make the marinade. It should be a bit thick so that it will stick to the meat. Rub marinade all over the ribs and put the ribs together with the remaining marinade into a freezer/storage bag. Leave the ribs in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight if possible.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Put the ribs onto a roasting rack/pan and into the oven. Turn down the temperature to about 150-160°C for a slow roast. After 30 minutes, glaze the ribs with the marinade from the freezer bag and put it back into the oven. Turn up the heat back to 180°C. Repeat the glazing about every 10-15 minutes for about another hour. The glaze will become sticky and give a nice caramelized colour to the ribs. Rest for about 10 minutes and serve.

Note: Line the bottom of the roasting rack/pan aluminium foil to avoid a messy and painful cleanup job. Burnt sugar is a b*tch to remove.

The meat was juicy and fall-off-the-bone tender, and the marinade was sweet, sticky and delicious. Really enjoyed the meal. :)

Char Siew @ Overseas, Jalan Imbi, KL

I had one the best char siew ever at Overseas last weekend. The few of us wanted to have lunch but we arrived too early and the restaurant wasn't opened yet, so we popped to a coffee shop nearby to have some great pork noodles first. Truly focused on our mission, we then headed back to Overseas just for the char siew. My cousin said it would make me happy.

We had to wait for about 15 minutes for the meat to be ready as it was still in the oven.

Captain: Char siew ah...have to wait a bit loh...12:15 lah...

Then we saw it; large strips of glistening, dripping, blackish pork...beautiful like you've just met your first love. The caramelized glaze around the meat was thick and dripping down slowly, like stalactites forming at the bottom. We got all dreamy as the chef started chopping up our order.

The meat was warm, juicy and tender; full of flavour and bite. The marinade stuck to the barbequed pork so well, and the caramel stuck to our teeth as we chewed. Ah...heaven.

Mmm...slurp

Needless to say, the whole plate was gone in less than 10 minutes. :)

It's a bit pricey at RM30 for a portion of 4 pax, but I guess it's worth it because it really does make you happy!

Kin Kin Spicy Pan Mee

This is for the chilli and pan mee lovers out there. If you're one of those who are already immune to the hot-bum afterburn that accompanies every spicy meal, then this is definitely the place for you.

The place: Restoran Kin Kin
The location: 40, Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1, Off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, KL.
The food: Pan mee and kick-ass (or burn-ass) chilli.

I was introduced to this place a few months back by a buddy who assured me that I'll enjoy and boy was he right. I've been back every so often since for the pan mee that it has become a bit of an addiction.

The restaurant serves pan mee, in both dry and soup versions. The pan mee itself isn't much to shout about, with lashings of the normal minced pork, ikan bilis and greens. It does however come with a poached egg. At Rm4.80 a bowl, it's not the cheapest grub in town too especially when the portion isn't very big. I personal polish off two bowls everytime I'm there.

What's special and separates this restaurant from the rest is the chilli. It is oh-my-gawd so good. I'm not sure what they put into it, but I've seen pieces of fried lard (chu yau char) and I think that's what makes it so fragrant. Served in containers, the chilli concoction is a bit flaky and sticky, waiting to knock your socks off. You decide how much you want to put into your pan mee. I started with 2-3 spoonfuls, but nowadays I tend to put 4-5 heaped spoons into my bowl.


How to eat chilli pan mee 101:

Step 1: Look at your bowl and decide how much chilli you want to put in.

Step 2: Load the chilli in and delight in how beautiful it now looks. The colours...ahh..

Step 3: Mix all of it up and be prepared for the fire that is about to burn you into a sniffling, sweating mess.

Step 4: Finish everything up, including all the tissues you can find, and enjoy the light-headed sensation from the fiery torture you just went through. Smile. You survived. :)

Sounds a bit freakish to enjoy such torture for only a bowl of pan mee? Not at all for a chilli lover. The enjoyment and pleasure of getting new levels of chilli-pain can only be understood by fellow enthusiasts. If you're one, try this establishment out. You won't regret it.

Kebab Komfort

There are few things as comforting and satisfying than a warm, packed to the brim doner kebab. Especially when you're hungry at 12.30am in the UK and there are no machas bringing you that teh tarik and mee goreng telur mata kerbau to your plastic table. You'd have a better chance bumping into Jennifer Aniston on the streets.

I'd just watched The Lion King with Chia Hui and was on my way back to Reading. By the way, it was an awesome show. But that's another story. The train was unusually slow tonight and so I had some time to think. And what I thought was...I haven't had dinner. The thing was, I wasn't actually that hungry. But the body is a funny temple and it sometimes affirms and reinforces automatically what you think. Well, at least mine does and if yours doesn't then there's sometime wrong with you. And the YY temple of good eats ALWAYS reaafirms thoughts about food. The temple told me I was hungry.

So, that's why I got a chicken and lamb kebab la. With extra chilli sauce. :)

The kebabs here are big. Really big. HUGE. A small one can feed two girls. A large one can feed two guys, unless one is a real fat-ass glutton. Not only are they packed to the brim with meat, the matey boy at the counter will then stuff the bejesus out of that limited pita bread estate with loads of lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes and pickled chillies into any available space he can find. And then still manage to stick a wedge of lemon in there somewhere. It's really an amazing meal.

Plus, it costs less than a Mcds meal AND is in my opinion a much healthier option.

Tucking into that on a cold night is damn satisfying and really hits the spot. It's like having that first bite into your favourite Ramly's burger when you've got a craving. Great comfort food.

When you're in the UK and without much choice, a kebab's the best late night snack you can get.

Gluttony

Gluttony. One of the deadly sins. By definition of dictionary.com - 'Excessive eating and drinking'.

Q: How much does it take to feed 3 guys?

1. One whole baked/roast chicken.

2. One whole cabbage. Half of it boiled with chicken bones for a big portion of soup. Another half fried with chillies and spices as a vegetable side dish.


3. One bowl of chilli and herb sauce.



4. Bowls of bubur cha cha for dessert. Contains coconut milk, sugar, sweet potatoes, bananas and sago/tapioca.

5. A final round of belacan (shrimp paste) flavoured fried chicken with sweet chilli dip.

A: Damn a lot.

Gluttony? What gluttony? I don't geel guilty at all. *BURP*

Linguini Loving

You know how almost pasta has been and always will be the student's choice of meals when they're studying overseas? I for one totally agree with them. I mean, coming from an Asian country, pasta such as spaghetti, tagliatelle and linguini are the closest you can get to noodles; something which we've grown up with. Plus, they're just so easy to cook!

The thing that I don't agree about is to just have the same old boring tomato sauce and mince meat with pasta ALL the time. Now don't get me wrong. Cooked properly, the traditional bolognese is absolutely delicious and is arguably the easiest pasta sauce to prepare. However, with just a little tinkering and experimentation you can easily dress up hundreds of different sexy numbers to accompany those long stringy carbo bad boys.

I've recently taken a liking to linguini, mainly because they're so easy to cook. The typical spaghetti takes about 10-12 minutes to get ready, but linguini is all ready to please in just 6 minutes. I like. :) Toss them with some olive oil or flavoured oil, salt and pepper and you already have a good base to start with. In fact, toss in some canned tuna, tomatoes and herbs and it already is a great meal.

See how easy it is? Less than 20 minutes to prepare.

I made a Thai-oriental style topping a few weeks ago to put on top of some linguini that has been tossed with sesame oil, salt and pepper. This was very, very hot and spicy so adjust the chillies to your own taste ok?

Fry some garlic and onions until fragrant. Add in some mince meat (it can be pork, beef or even lamb), lots of chopped birds' eye chillies and basil. Basil is important to give the dish its distinct flavour and fragrance. Stir fry until the meat is almost cooked. Then, put in some fish sauce, soy sauce and ground black pepper to taste. I also dropped in some mushrooms as I had some left in the fridge. Let it all simmer for about 10-12 minutes to let the meat absorb all the funky mojo and get a bit tender. Toss in some chopped peppers (capsicum) and spring onions. Stir fry for probably another 2-3 minutes and then just serve on top of the linguini. If the sauce is too watery just simmer until it gets thicker before adding in the peppers.

Come to think of it, you can actually use any type of noodles - yellow, egg, rice, udon, flat, kuey teow. I think they will all work with the oriental flavour.

Another recipe I tried was a seafood marinara sauce. In contrast to the exotic East, this sauce is relatively simple and basic but equally delicious. While the fiery and strong oriental flavours are exciting, this western version has a subtle, quiet elegance.

For this dish, just get a can of chopped tomatoes in their own juice, some garlic, onions and some seafood. I just got a pack of mixed seafood from the supermarket; it had mussels, prawns and squid.

Heat up some olive oil and fry the onions until fragrant and soft. Toss in the garlic and stir until you can smell them. Put in freshly ground black pepper and salt. I'd recommend using sea salt. Normal table salt can taste bitter and doesn't have any fragrance and taste to it. It's just...salty. Sea salt, on the other hand, has a nice flavour depending on what type of salt you get. It also tastes kind of sweet. This will make a lot of difference in your cooking, especially if its a simple dish.

Pour in the can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for a bit until the sauce get a bit thick. You want it to have a thick consistency because seafood has a lot of water content. If your sauce is not thick before you put the critters in, you'll end up drinking seafood tomato soup instead (Hey! That's another dish! Hehe).

Anyway, put the seafood in and cook for about 3-4 minutes and your sauce has a nice consistency. Serve it on top of the linguini and garnish with parsley or coriander.

Finally, take a picture of the dish, pull out your fork and spoon, and tuck in! :)

Tri-Nation Salad

A really delicious salad made a couple of weeks ago. It's so simple and yet so yummily good. I think its a great example of how fresh, quality ingredients can make all the difference in the world.

Ingredients:

• Pungent Greek goats' cheese that was soaked in olive oil. Chuan smuggled it from Greece. Really.
• Superb extra virgin olive oil that Kit bought for me from Padova, Italy. It's so good I can't describe it.
• Super-sweet cheery tomatoes and Mediterranean salad mix. From, erm...Sainsburys supermarket near Shawn's love shack, hehe.
• Some sea salt and lemon juice.

Looks damn good right? :) I'm getting hungry dy.

Pork Chops

Sometimes when I buy pork chops I like to pre-marinade them and leave the lot sitting comfy in the freezer. It saves me the trouble of scratching my head for what to cook on nights when I feel a bit tired or lazy and can't be bothered to experiment.

A good marinade I learned from Saturday Cooks (ITV1, 11.30am, Saturdays...duh) is an oriental style flavouring that is really easy to prepare. Get some ginger, coriander (or cilantro as the Americans call it), basil and chop them up very finely, almost into a paste. Get a blender to do the job if you have one lying around screaming for attention. Then get a slosh of fish sauce, soy sauce, tsiao tsing wine (or any chinese cooking rice wine), sesame oil and some sugar. Mix everything in a bowl to blend all the flavours together. Add more herbs if you like, or some chopped chillies if you feel like you lack fire in your soul. Cover the pork chops with the marinade and you're ready to go after leaving it for about 10 minutes. It will taste better if you leave it overnight though.




An even simpler marinade I frequently use is simply powdered 'char siew' flavouring. Its available in most oriental supermarkets and tastes quite good. Just sprinkle the red powder generously over the meat and let the two have some quality bonding time together.

No oven? No problem. A hot frying pan or a barbecue pit will do the job nicely. However, I do love my oven. :)

Pre-heated to about 220 Celcius, I just pop the meat in for about 30 minutes before switching to grill mode for a further 10 minutes to get a nice crispy outside and juicy, tender flesh inside. Sometimes I cut the skin away, sprinkle on some salt, dry it on some paper towels and pop it in too to make crackling.

To balance the meal I usually just clobber something together from whatever veggies I have in the fridge at that moment. A simple stir fry with garlic and onions and my meal is complete.

Simple and delicious. :)

Glenmorangie

I got another free bottle of alchy today :) The God Of Alcohol must really like me nowadays. Thanks goodness I didn't have to get injured to get this!

The trilogy is now complete. Three bottles. 1st bottle when I learned a new skill. 2nd one when I went to war. 3rd one is a happy ending, I'm happy to say. Ahh....

Glenmorangie single malt Scottish whisky. Aged 10 years in Bourbon oak barrels. Full-bodied, aromatic, smooth...and making me very, very red right now. *hic*

In the harsh coldness of winter, I think whisky is a damn fine tonic to warm one up. You can feel the warmth flowing right down the moment you take a sip, and it spreads very comfortably all over. Very nice.

The Five Steps To Appreciating Scotch Whisky (from my whisky glass box)

Colour
Is your whisky light gold, bright copper or rich amber in colour?

Body
Does your whisky have a light, medium or full body?

Nose
What aromas do you recognize when you nose your whisky - is it malty, smoky, fruity, chocolatey?

Palate
What characteristics do you notice on the palate - is it softly sweet, rich and fruity, or peppery and spicy?

Finish
Does the flavour remain for a long time or doest it disappear quickly?

My verdict on Glenmorangie - light gold, full bodied, fruity and slightly chocolatey, peppery and spicy with a long finish.

Now, time for another sip. I'm gonna sleep really well tonight, hehe.

Porkie Paradise

Last weekend, I was over at Shawn's place for some cooking and beer. It turned out to be a good one and I've actually posted a guest entry in his blog. There's some recipes there so check it out.

There are a couple more simple recipes from that day that I'll mention here. But before that, here's what we had for the main course:

Bak kut teh! Yummsss!

We also made a side dish of brinjals/aubergines with minced pork and a sexy chilli dipping sauce, hehe.

This brinjal dish for two is really simple, easy and quick to prepare. All you need is:

2 brinjals, sliced
Minced pork

1 onion, quartered
Garlic (if you wish)

Lee Kum Kee Spicy Garlic Egg Plant sauce packet (or any other substitute you feel like)

Boil or fry the brinjals until soft then put them aside. I'd recommend boiling for the health conscious, as brinjals are notorious for sucking up oil like a sponge. Heat up some oil in a wok or pan and saute the onions and/or garlic until fragrant before tossing in the minced meat. Keep stirring to separate the meat and avoid it clumping into a big chunk as it cooks. After maybe 3 minutes or once the meat is almost cooked, pour in the sauce from the packet. Once the sauce heats up, put in the brinjals and stir fry, coating everything with the sauce. Let it simmer for a few minutes and it is done.

Plate it and add a few sprigs of coriander or spring onions for garnish.

The chilli dip is an experimental take on something traditional. Trust me it tastes damn good! :)

Lots of ginger, very finely minced
Garlic and shallots or onions, finely chopped

Bird's eye chillies (lots of them!)

Spring onions and coriander, finely chopped (you can add more herbs, e.g. parsley, basil)

Fish sauce

Soy sauce

Sesame oil

Dark soy sauce

If you have a pestle and mortar, you can pound the ginger into a paste first (or just use a blender). Put all the ingredients into a bowl and stir to mix all the flavours together. Put as much or as little of each ingredient to your taste. The sauces can be omitted altogether too, and it will still taste great with some garlic/onion oil. Let the sauce sit for a while to let all the flavours get jiggy with it. It will taste really groovy soon after.

Sexy, no? And fiery too!

Munch Munch

I'd like to think of myself as a foodie. I love food, and I really enjoy eating and the whole gathering, camaraderie and laughter that comes with enjoying good grub.

For me, it's not just about eating for the sake of sustenance. Meals have always been more that. It's always been about the socializing, the company of loved ones and good friends, the merriment and laughter, the tears and heartaches, and the enjoyment of everything that is good about living. Whether its celebrating something with a lavish dinner, gathering and catching up at the mamak, or pouring the heart's deepest feelings out on the table with a cup of coffee/ hot chocolate, food has a powerful influence in my life.

I also like to cook. I'm not a great cook, but I find the act of cooking very fulfiling and satisfying. It allows me to get my creative juices flowing, it's fun, and it has a calming effect. I can happily spend the whole day planning and executing dishes for a dinner set. There's just something very satisfying about using great meat, vegetables, raw ingredients and putting in your best effort to tranform them into delicious, heart-warming food for people.

Not surprisingly, I'm also a huge fan of cooking shows and foodie programs. :)

What I've found out is that cooking is not hard. You don't have to rip your hair out trying to make coq au vin or spend hours roasting bones and bent over the stove boiling down demi glace for that special oven roasted pigeon dish. Nor do you have to toil with hundred of herbs, braising, steaming, frying and baking that 10-course feast fit for chinese emperors.

Any dish, prepared with genuine heart and soul, is a beautiful thing. It is the culmination of all your warmth, respect and care for the person that will be enjoying the meal. It expresses the want of giving the best to that person. That, I feel, is the most important thing. Not the dish. Even a simple fried egg can feel like a giant hug sometimes.

Of course, good food tastes better when shared (eating alone is never fun), and cooking is more fun when ideas are exchanged and tips are discussed.

Hence, I'm setting up this section for my foodie adventures, cooking experiments and recipes. I'm always on the lookout for new places and new cuisine, so hopefully this will lead me to exciting munchies. And if I am able to help just one person cook and eat better along the way, then I'll be very happy. :)