Cup Julienne (Pie Tee)

Traditionally, this recipe is to make Pie Tee (top hats). The ingredients usually calls for Yam bean but I have altered the recipe with ingredients that are easily available in the supermarket here. So yam bean has been substituted with swede. Of course, you can use the original ingredient of Yam bean if you can get it at your nearest supermarket.

Photo via Hanamemories

The traditional case can be easily bought in Malaysia but there isn't any available here so instead of making the traditional cups from scratch which I deem tedious, I have created an alternative way of making a cup / top hat to stuff the fillings. Wonton skin was used and it only takes a couple of minutes to make it so nothing as complicated as making mixture and deep frying each and every case.

Cup Julienne / Pie Tee Recipe

serves 6

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil
• 20 wonton skin / wrapper
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 300g yam bean / jicamma (julienne) *I used swede
• 2 large carrots (julienne)
• 1/2 caup water
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce to taste
• ground white pepper to taste

• spring onion (thinly sliced)
• fried shallots

Methods:

1.  Preheat oven at 180^oC. Brush some oil on a mini cupcake tray. Place a square piece of wonton skin. wrapper in each cupcake mould. Brush with more oil over the wanton skin so it takes the shape of the cup. Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for a few minutes until golden brown. Repeat. Be careful not to bake for too long as it turns golden really quickly. When the cups are ready, remove the wonton skin cups and place on a wire rack to cool.

2.  Heat some oil on the wok and sauté garlic, then add yam bean and carrots, and fry for 1 minute. Add water and cook until water is reduced and absorbed. Then add soy sauce to taste. Cook until moisture is reduced so it will not make the casing soggy when assembled.

3.  Scoop a spoonful of cooked yam bean and carrots into the baked wonton skin cup. Make sure to squeeze out any moisture if any. Serve with some sprinkling of spring onions and fried shallots.

Tips:

• Yam bean / jicama is a little difficult to get in London so if you are unable to get it near you, substitute with swede. It tastes as good.
• Wonton skin can also be substituted with filo pastry. 

    

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Salad with tomatoes from the garden

Just as we left P's home in France, his parents gave us a whole box of fruits and vegetables from their garden. Fresh prunes, apricots, nectarines, courgettes, lavender and tomatoes. They gave us too much that we had to freeze some of those fruits up for when we make smoothies. 

So here we are, back in London with overload of fruits and tomatoes. I love it that I know who grew these babies. As these are such good tomatoes, they are best eaten just as, or slightly enhanced with a little sprinkle of sea salt and extra virgin olive oil. With some black pepper if you like. It's really up to you but keep them as close to its original state as possible.

Tomato salad

You won't believe how tomatoes organically grown on the garden differs from those mass produced for supermarkets. It is meaty in flesh and is packed with all its original flavour and juiciness. This is when you realise that supermarket tomatoes won't cut it. 

Maybe it is time to be living in a space with garden. Do you grown your own tomatoes? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
  

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Steamed Cabbage and Carrots

The last recipe I posted was the ‘Tau Eu Bak’ (Soy SauceBraised Pork) recipe. Along with it, I also made this steamed cabbage to make the meal complete with some vegetables. So if you are also making the soy sauce braised pork, this can be made a few minutes before the braised pork is ready. As cabbage and carrots are naturally sweet vegetables, only minimal seasoning was needed to enhance it so its natural flavour could shine on its own. 

Steamed Cabbage and Carrots

Ingredients:

• ½ head of cabbage
• 2 small carrots (sliced)
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 3 tbs water (or more)
• Dash of soy sauce and sesame oil to taste

Method:

1.  Wash and roughly cut the cabbage into big chunks.

2.  On a hot pan of medium heat, pour a little oil and sauté the garlic until fragrant.

3.  Place the carrots and cabbage into the pan then add about 3 tbs of water, cover and let them steam until  vegetables are slightly softened.

6.  Add a small dash of soy sauce and sesame oil to taste and stir to combine. 

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Halloween Black and Orange Pasta

Scary costumes, gory looking food, horror movie and all that is spooky is what Halloween's usually about. But Instead of making bloody looking cupcakes or food that looks like eye that just popped out from someone's head, I am making something simply black and orange themed, inspired by Gourmet's Halloween pasta.



Halloween Black and Orange Pasta

Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 head of garlic
• 2 sweet potatoes (2cm cubes)
• 1 small onion (sliced)
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 sprigs of lemon thyme
• Extra virgin olive oil
• half red pepper
• half orange pepper
• 12 medium sized prawns
• lemon
• 120g black spaghetti or enough for two
• 1 chilli finely diced
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Methods:

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Cut the top of the garlic off, rub with olive oil and wrap in an aluminium foil.
3. Wrap both halfs of the peppers in an aluminium foil, separate from the garlic. Set aside
4. Cube the sweet potatoes and slice the onions and place them in a baking dish.
5. Pour a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over the potatoes and onions.
6. Pluck the little leaves from two sprigs of thyme and sprinkle over the sweet potatoes and onions.
7. Season with paprika, zest of half a lemon, salt and pepper.
8. Mix with your hands to make sure the sweet potatoes and onions are coated with oil and the seasoning.
9. Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil then place it in the oven.
10. Place the wrapped garlic and peppers in the oven together with the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.
11. Once the time is up, remove the aluminium cover of the sweet potatoes and put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
12. In the mean time, boil a pot of water with salt and cook the pasta until al dente then drain the water.
13. Season the prawns with salt and pepper and heat a tablespoon of oil on a hot pan. Pan fry the prawns for about a minute on each side or until just cooked. Set prawns aside.
14. Remove vegetables from oven. Remove the garlic from the aluminium wrap and squeeze the soft roasted garlic on to the pasta.
15. Season pasta with salt, pepper and the finely chopped chillies. Mix until well incorporated.
16. Plate the pasta on two clean plates then the sweet potatoes, pepper and prawns. Serve.

Note:

• For a vegetarian version, simply omit the prawns.

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Halloumi, Fig and Pomegranate Salad

Fresh figs has slowly become one of my favourite fruits. It's easy to eat, with no seeds and no peeling. Since figs are still in season, why not make full use of it to make a refreshing and easy to make salad. There's nothing complicated about this dish. The only cooking involved is grilling or pan-frying the halloumi slices. So if you are too busy at work and have no mood to cook a full on hot meal, this will be a good option. Cut, grill, toss, plate and eat. Simple.

Halloumi, Fig and Pomegranate Salad 

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 125g haloumi (sliced)
• 2 figs (quartered)
• 1/2 orange
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• pomegranate
• salad leaves
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 handful of mint leaves
• honey

Methods:

1. Segment half of an orange and reserve its juice in a bowl.
2. Quarter the figs and remove the pomegranate seeds from the fruit.
3. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the bowl with orange juice.
4. Pour a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and mix.
5. Slice the mint leaves and save some whole leaves for garnish.
6. Grill the halloumi slices and set aside.
7. Place the sliced mint leaves and salad into the bowl with dressing.
8. Toss until salad leaves are coated with dressing.
9. Transfer dressed salad on to a plate, arrange the quartered figs and segments of oranges on the plate.
10. Drizzle some honey over the salad.
11. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds over the salad and garnish with a few mint leaves.

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Zhong-Xi Omelette for a brighter morning

There is something about eggs that makes breakfast complete. And if you have been having the same ol' fried eggs, soft boiled eggs or cheese and ham omelette, this fusion omelette might become your new morning favourite. It is a slightly different and refreshing omelette that will almost definitely make your morning brighter, through taste and colour. Of course, your morning cuppa comes with it too. If you want a more filling breakfast, serve it with some toasts. This omelette is fast and easy, and is here to impress. Try it and let me know how you you like it.

The East meets West omelette

ZHONG-XI OMELETTE

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen
Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbs peanut / vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic,  minced
• 1/2 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tsp palm sugar
• 3 whole red cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 whole yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• juice of 1/4 lemon
• 1 tbs chopped coriander leaves

Methods:

1. Start off by beating the eggs with a pinch of salt.
2. Heat the pan on medium low heat with peanut oil and pour in the whisked eggs into the pan once oil is hot.
3. Pull the cooked edge of the omelette into the middle and let the uncooked mixture run to the side. This will enable a more consistent cooking of the egg. Cook for a bout a minute or until the middle is almost cooked and soft.
4. Fold the eggs in half and place omelette on a plate. The omelette is still cooking at this moment because the it is still hot so it is vital to not cook the eggs fully on the pan. Otherwise, the eggs will be overcooked while on the plate.
5. With the same pan without washing, heat some oil and saute the garlic and ginger.
6. Once garlic and ginger are fragrant, add in the sugar and let it melt.
7. Next, add the halved tomatoes and cook for about 1 minute or until slightly soft.
8. Pour in the sesame oil, soy sauce and lemon. Mix them well and remove from heat.
9. Pour the tomatoes and sauce over the omelette and garnish with coriander leaves.

Tips:

• If you are making more than one omelette, repeat steps 1 to 4 before step 5. When continuing with step 5, double or triple the ingredients (depending on how many people you are cooking for) and cook accordingly to instructions. Portion the tomato and sauce on to each plate.

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Banana leaf rice at Passions of Kerala | Penang

When it comes to banana leaf rice in Penang, the first place that comes to mind is the original Passions of Kerala located at Taman Brown in Gelugor. They have expanded throughout the years and now they have opened one at New World Park along with many other restaurants.

Entrance to Passions of Kerala at New World Park

Banana leaf rice set (RM 5.50) - vegetarian

It is all about banana leaf rice at Passions of Kerala. Everyone orders this when they come here. The banana leaf rice set is vegetarian. It comes with rice, five types of vegetables, rassam and papadoms; all free flow. After ordering, everyone will be given a clean banana leaf as your plate and some cutleries but traditionally, it is eaten with hands. Then the staff will come round with the choice of plain steamed rice or tomato rice. Another guy will come with the different types of curries and vegetables, all will be lined up above your rice. You will also be given some free bowls of curry on the side to have some on your rice. Don't be shy to ask for more vegetables, rice, curry, or papadoms. Remember, it is free flow. Of course, it is not polite to to ask for more than you can consume. Be moderate about it.

Very crispy deep fried spiced bitter gourd, which I order every time I have banana leaf rice

There are lots of extra dishes you can order to add on to the already pretty complete vegetarian banana leaf set. Lots of other delicious non-vegetarian dishes are on offer for those who needs some meat to fill them up.

Deep fried fish

Masala Chicken

At the end of the meal, it is nice to fold the banana leaf inwards towards you (like above). This means you are you are satisfied and liked the meal. If folded outwards. it means you did not like the food. And if left open, it means you want more.

PASSIONS OF KERALA

Passions of Kerala (New World Park Outlet)
102 Lot C3, New World Park
Jalan Burma
10050 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 04-2272550
Operating Hours: Open Daily 11:30am-3:30pm; 6pm-10pm

5 Lorong Endah 4
Taman Brown, Gelugor
Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 04-6578850
Operating Hours:

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Kerabu Bihun (Vermicelli Salad)

While I am on my way to Penang, my home sweet home, thought I shall share this Nyonya recipe with you. Something quick, light and gets your taste buds ticking. I will be sure to post some updates about the heavenly food we get here, and probably get you salivating looking at the screen. :p

This salad is dead easy. The most time consuming part is shredding the vegetables. The rest of the work is just mixing and placing them nicely on a plate to make it presentable. Then comes the best part; eat! Hope you like this salad, to add on to a quick and tasty meal.

Kerabu Bihun (Vermicelli Salad) 

adapted from Nyonya Flavours

Ingredients:

• 200g fresh rice vermicelli
• 200g prawns (shelled, devein & steamed)
• 100g shredded cooked chicken
• 100g bean sprout
• 80g cucumber (shredded)
• 1 carrot (shredded)
• 8 shallots (sliced)
• 1 ginger flower (thinly sliced)
• 3 stalks lemongrass (thinly sliced)
• 4 tbs toasted desiccated coconut
• 3 tbs sambal belacan
• salt & sugar to taste

Garnish:

• 3 pcs hard bean curd (deep fried & cut into strips)
• 50g mint leaves

Method:

1. Blanch the fresh vermicelli and bean sprouts separately, in boiling water and run through cold water.
2. Drain and set aside.
3. Toss all ingredients together in a mixing bowl until well combined.
4. Add salt and sugar to taste, then toss again.
5. Garnish with mint leaves and fried bean curd, and it is ready to be served.

Tips:

• If using dried vermicelli, soak until soft and boil for 2 minutes. Drain and run through cold water to prevent sticking.
• The quality of the sambal belacan is very important as that gives it the core flavour so make with good ingredients and season well.

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Ricotta Crostini, a quick and fresh snack

Some easy to make appetizers or snacks that look and taste fresh. The only cooking involved is to toast the bread. The rest is down to the good quality and fresh ingredients, and your dainty hands to make them look pretty.

I made these for a light breakfast one Saturday morning and M was not happy. He expected our usual yummy breakfast that involves eggs and probably ham and vegetables. Vegetarian breakfast is not his thing. Although he finished the healthy crostini and agreeing that it tasted nice, he was still left slightly unsatisfied. I can't blame him cause I expected the reaction I got. So if like me, you have a meat eater partner or family member, please don't make the same mistake. Feed him the ham or salmon he so badly needs in the morning. You can always replace the vegetables with ham, cooked chicken, prawns or smoked salmon and dill. A smile is all we need to start the day.

In actual fact, I made these as they are beautiful in pictures, risking a baby frown from my grown man. He knew what I was up to :p

Ricotta Crostini

Ingredients:

• 1/2 baguette
• butter to spread
• 120g ricotta
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tbs orange juice
• 1/2 cucumber (sliced)
• 3 large Pecorino tomatoes (or any tomato)
• Handful of toasted hazelnuts
• Mint
• Basil
• Honey
• Balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt & black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 on grill setting.
2. Slice up the baguette and spread some butter. Place them on a baking tray and toast for about 7 minutes or until slightly crisp.
3. Place ricotta in bowl, add orange zest, orange juice and a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper, and mix well.
4. Spread them on the toasted baguettes.
5. Neatly place some sliced cucumber and mint on slices of toasted baguette.
6. For the tomato crostini, place a few drops of balsamic vinegar on a toast with ricotta spread and top with basil and tomato.
7. For the hazelnut crostini, spoon some honey on top of the ricotta and top with hazelnuts.
8. Sprinkle some sea salt over the crostinis and serve.

Tips:

• The key to good crostini is to let the ingredients speak for themselves so use good quality and fresh ingredients.
• You can use salmon with dill or any other ingredients you prefer. Be creative.

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Cock-a-leekie soup

When I saw Local Kitchen's post about 'Cock-a-leekie soup', I thought she made up the name. But it turns out that this is a Scottish soup dish with leeks and chicken stock. I find the name really amusing. The traditional version of this soup uses prunes but Kaela from Local Kitchen does not seem to be a fan of prunes so she swapped with preserved lemons instead which again, intrigued me. This was my first encounter of pickled lemon and was really not sure what it will taste like but it surprised me.

This soup reminds me of the chinese version of rice porridge or rice in broth which I absolutely love as the rice becomes soft, slightly broken and fluffy.The leeks in this chicken broth enhance the depth of flavour of the soup and the lemons lift it into a different dimension. I recommend you try this soon. You'll be surprised.

Cock-a-leekie Soup

adapted from Local Kitchen
serves 2

Ingredients:

• 20g butter
• 2 large leeks, thinly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 chicken bouillon cube (vegetable cube if vegetarian)
• 1 litre water
• 50g white rice
• 200g cooked chicken meat (omit if vegetarian)
• 1/2 preserved lemon, use the rind only, chopped
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 red chilli, chopped (optional)
• big handful of parsley, coarsely chopped
• salt & pepper to tast

Method:

1. Heat a pot with butter and cook the leeks until slightly softened then add the carrots and saute for a minute.
2. Add rice into the pot and stir for a minute on medium heat.
3. Add in water and chicken bouillon. Let boil and simmer for about 15 minutes or until rice becomes tender.
4. Add chicken, lemon and paprika. Bring to boil and simmer again, for about 15 minutes so the chicken warms through and the flavours develop.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve while hot and garnish with chopped chillies and parsley.

Assemble:

1. For a vegetarian version, use vegetable bouillon instead and omit the chicken meat.
2. If you have homemade chicken or vegetable stock, use them instead.

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Marbled Tea Eggs for Chinese New Year

I am very excited to share this post with you as this is a symbolic recipe for the very important Chinese New Year festival (10^th Feb this year), which is like Christmas for us. The same for any race or religion, a celebration always means mountains of food. With so many varieties of food, it is impossible to share all of them with you so I have picked one of my personal favourite.

Marbled tea eggs are commonly sold in Chinese herbal shops or in tea shops in Malaysia and is more often eaten as a snack as it is very portable and convenient. There is a particular shop that I go to every time I am home. The tea shop where my dad is a regular at, will have a mountain of cracked eggs boiling away in the slow cooker, placed at the entrance. The lovely aroma fills the whole space. I normally go on the escalator and naturally follow the smell. The eggs miraculously appear in front of me, with a girl smiling away recognizing this very frequent face.

Eggs symbolise new life and rebirth, and is an ancient symbol of fertility. They also represent fertility and wealth in the Chinese culture. Some refer eggs to golden nuggets mainly because of the golden yellow yolk. This tea egg is special and beautiful with its marbled effect created from the cracked shells simmered and marinated in spiced tea for hours to flavour the egg. Eat this if you would like to be blessed with wealth and fertility this New Year. Hope you like it and Happy Chinese New Year!

How to crack the eggs

 Cracked eggs

 Marble tea egg shells

Marbled Tea Eggs

Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs

adapted from Saveur
makes 8 eggs

Ingredients:

• 8 eggs
• 3 cups water

• 2 black tea bags
• 5 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs dark soy sauce
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• ½ tsp five-spice powder
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper corn
• 2 strips dried mandarin peel (optional)
• 1 tsp sugar

Method:

1. Wash the eggs and place them in a pot.
2. Cover eggs with water then bring to boil for about 10 minutes or until eggs are fully cooked.
3. Pour the hot water out and rinse eggs with cold water.
4. Tap gently on shell of each egg with the back of a spoon. Make sure the shells are cracked all around. Do not peel the eggs.
5. The cracks will let the spiced tea seep through the shells and flavour the eggs. This will also create the marble effect.
6. Slowly place the cracked eggs and all marinade ingredients into the slow cooker pot. Let it slow cook for 8 hours or overnight. If you do not have a slow cooker, put the marinade ingredients, cracked eggs and water enough to cover eggs into a regular pot. Boil and turn heat to low. Let simmer for about 2 hours or longer.
7. Serve warm or let eggs sit in marinade for a few more hours or overnight to develop a darker marble effect and deeper flavour.

Tips:

• The longer you leave the eggs in the spiced tea, the more flavourful the eggs become.
• Eggs can be left to sit in the marinade for 24 - 48 hours in the fridge.

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Shiv Sagar Vegetarian Restaurant

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After a long day of shopping for Indian clothes for the wedding, we finally got to sit down to some good vegetarian fast food. They even do delivery! This might be the Indian version of McDonalds. Certainly, there is a different vibe to it. It did not have the assembly line in preparing the food in the kitchen nor the very specific guidelines the American fast food giant has. This was straight forward quick vegetarian food.

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It was the first time I have seen so many variations of dosa. The spinach version was one of my favourites. 

Pav bhaji is a popular Maharashtra fast food. It consists of mashed potato with thick tomato based sauce and spice served with pav (bread), and onions. There are different variations, for example the above that is garnished with cheese. Some can also be made with paneer, mushroom or dry fruits.

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Saffron and almond milkshake sounds like a weird combination but I ordered it anyhow, even with high possibility of disliking it. There is always risk ordering something unusual but sometimes, it can be rewarding. Turns out, the milkshake was actually good the only downside was it being very filling so it was hard to eat the many different types of food and finish the glass of thick milkshake.

Shiv Sagar Restaurant (Veg.)

Shop No.4, Shyam Kunj Building,
16th Road, Pali Naka, Bandra West,
Mumbai, Maharastra, 400050
Tel: +91 22 2600 6318

**Other related posts about India

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Popette D'uova

It has been a busy week but the weekend was pretty chilled out and lovely. It all started off great with friday night of non stop salsa and bachata, followed by thick hot chocolate the next morning. What's even better, we went to Borough Market! You cannot imagine how happy I was when M suggested we go to the market for lunch. It has been a pain trying to drag him to the market and finally, we went there together! It would have been much more fun if I could eat those fresh and succulent scallops, and ostrich steak burger with cranberry sauce. Not long and I will be able to eat anything I want again. Only two more days!! Coming back to the chilled weekend, we went for a swim, sauna and hot shower. When we came out, it started snowing!! The tropical kid in me was pretty excited for it finally snowed!

Snow in London

The very excited me in the snow

Now that it is sunday night and the final weekend of me being a vegetarian, I shall share this delicious and simple to make cheese balls. This will keep you smiling for whenever you need to be a temporary vegetarian, missing your meatballs ever so badly. Popette D'uova is the closest you could get to meatballs. Even the meat eater liked these 'vegetarian meatballs'!

Freshly fried cheese balls.

Popette D'uova a success!

POPETTE D'OUVA RECIPE

adapted from Massimo Bruno's recipe via Eat Live Travel Write

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 140g freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
  
  • for vegetarians, please use an alternative cheese
• 115g breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
• parsley (they were out of parsley while I was shopping for ingredients so it was omitted)

• olive oil
• garlic cloves
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• basil
• black pepper (to taste)

Method:

1. Beat the eggs, add in the grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Add in the bicarbonate soda and mix well.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan while you divide the mixture into balls. This recipe yields about 14 balls.
3. Make sure the oil is hot. Check the temperature by putting a chopstick through the oil and on the base of the pan. There will be bubbles when the temperature is right. Another way of checking is by tossing some flour on to the oil and it sizzles.
4. Fry the balls until golden brown. When ready, let them sit on some kitchen towels to soak the oil.
5. On another pan, stir fry the garlic until fragrant.
6. Pour in the can of chopped tomatoes and basil. Add some water and stir.
7. Cook the sauce with the cheese balls for 30 minutes until they soak in the tomato juice.

Tips:

• No salt was added in this recipe as the Romano cheese was salty enough for my liking. Please add a little seasalt to your taste if preferred.
• According to 'Eat.Live.Travel.Write', it tastes better the next day, and I agree with her.

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