Thursday, 7 October 2010

Day 97 ... Pan Fried Pomfret With Shoyu

PAN FRIED POMFRET WITH SHOYU 

This evening, I am planning to ask Bryan to fry the angel fish that I had brought out to thaw. Frying fish is a bit too advance for the likes of me, I'm sorry to say. The hot oil splattering and stinging my exposed hands is what puts me off it. Not only that, but the sizzling sound of fish frying in the pan can sometimes be intimidating, have You noticed? I'm not totally convinced that every amateur cook in the kitchen must at least learn how to fry a fish. That is so not basic, for me.

Anyway, the best I can do when frying a fish is to, accidentally, turn it into Scramble Fish or Fish Crumble. Apart from that, believe me when I say that, this is actually a very, very easy dish to prepare, once You get the frying out of the way. Don't let that put You off. Oh, get your husbands to do the frying bit then, and You, You just insist on holding the camera. :D
1. The Fish
Score the Fish. Pat dry with a kitchen tissue.
Sprinkle seasalt and rub in. 
Bryan says, the secret to frying fish is to have 
the pan hot, the oil hot and the fish dry. 
Just observe those 3 commandments, he says. 
Try it and let me know. :D
The fire by the way, should be at medium to low.
Meanwhile, I'm just gonna stick to the things that I can do,
and that is to uhh, prepare a bed of fresh lettuce 
for the fish to rest on.
Would You look at that perfect frying?
2. The Fish Sauce
Saute garlic, onions, ginger and cili padi (chopped finely) 
in sesame seed oil.
Add mixture pre-mixed in a bowl of water : 
shoyu, seasalt, pepper and a light sprinkle of brown sugar.
Bring to boil and say hello to your fish sauce. :D
Pour the sauce over the fish.
Now, inhale deeeeep-ly. Hmmmm ...
3. Sambal Bitter Gourd Dish
Cut the bitter gourd lenghwise and scoop the white insides out. 
Cut into thin slices. Blanch quickly in boiling salted water 
to remove the bitterness. Put aside.

Saute garlic and onions in sesame seed oil.
When fragrant, add the carrots and the bitter gourd.
Keep stir-frying. Add sambal. Stir-fry. 
Add shoyu. Stir-fry. Add water. Stir-fry.
Just keep stir-frying until done.
(That's the last of my sambal from the stuffed sambal fish)
SAMBAL BITTER GOURD
Garnish with red and yellow bell pepper strips. 
Scatter sunflower seeds and black sesame seeds.
Ooohhh ... Yummy for the tummy!
We are having our dinner with brown rice.
The fish is fresh and succulent, 
the sauce amazingly sweet and spicy hot 
at the same time. 
The sambal bitter gourd is just superb.
I'm enjoying my dinner eating with my fingers. :D
I had my shake of The Green Drink this morning, 
fried noodles for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up
1 shake & 2 meals
Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Milk Tea

Time of Posting : 9:03am (Friday)

Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Day 96 ... Spicy Chicken Dish

SPICY CHICKEN DISH
WITH BROWN RICE

I am preparing a simple chicken dish this evening. 

Bryan wants it spicy, so I'm gonna be adding some tom yum paste and chillies in this otherwise non-spicy dish. This is another very easy recipe. Anyone can cook this. Back to kindergarten. :D
1. Stir Fry 
garlic, onions, chillies (roughly chopped) 
and ginger (one large slice) in sesame seed oil.
When fragrant, add the chicken (bite size).
Add potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. 
Add water. Put to boil. Then lower flame to simmer.

Sauce : vegetarian tom yum paste, organic oyster sauce, basil herbs and seasalt.

2. Toss In
When the chicken and potatoes are cooked,
toss in french beans, yellow bell peppers and tomatoes. 
Close lid and count to 10. Quickly. :D
Dish out and serve with brown rice.
A fusion of spicy tom yum and oriental oyster sauce. 
Our family likes to banjir (flood) the rice with gravy 
so I'm making sure we have plenty of gravy. :D
Simply delicious. :D And spicy hot!
Close Up.
Naturally, I ate with my fingers.  :D
How else can I have a finger-lickin' experience? 
3. The Soup
Boil some water in a small pot.
Add 2 ice-cubes of chicken stock, onions, goji seeds, 
carrots and wakame seaweeds.
Add seasalt. Serve piping hot!
A delicious soup that requires hardly 
any effort to prepare. :D


Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink, 
roast chicken rice for brunch, rice noodles (dry) for lunch 
and the above for dinner. 

To Sum Up
1 shake & 3 meals  
(Oh my, THREE meals again!)
Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water.

Time of Posting : 8:13 am (Thursday)

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

Day 95 ... Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

 SPAGHETTI AGLIO e OLIO

This evening, I am preparing spaghetti aglio e olio. One of our family's favourite pasta and probably the easiest Italian dish to prepare. By the way, aglio e olio means garlic and oil. Yeah, I've checked. Confirmed, it's garlic and oil. :D
 1. The Pasta
Boil the spaghetti pasta in salted water until half-done. 
Drain and set aside.

2. The Ingredients
Saute a handful of garlic, ginger and fresh chillies in olive oil. 
All finely chopped and minced on the chopping board. 
I don't have dried chilly flakes as required by this dish, 
so I'm gonna use the next better thing. Fresh chilly bits.
Add seasalt, pepper, basil herbs and 1/3 mushroom stock (no preservatives) for better flavour.

3. Toss In
When the pan ingredients are releasing a nice aroma, 
toss in shitake mushrooms. 
Then, the pasta. Add some water.
Simmer for just a bit to allow the noodles 
to SOAK UP the wonderful flavour. 
The pasta is ready when the liquid is all soaked up.
Dish out and serve with a side salad.

Ooooh Yummy! 
You could taste every single strand of 
delightfully-flavoured spaghetti noodle.
Justine commented, and I too agree, 
that it wasn't chilly-hot and SPICY enough. 
The cili-padi KiCK is not there, if You know what I mean.
Next time, I will have to use cili padi (bird's eye chilly).

 
Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink 
in the morning, sanwiches for lunch and pasta for dinner. 
I also had SuPPeR tonight with Bryan when I picked him up 
from the PJ center at 9pm. Char Kuey Teow Tambah Chilly 
(Fried Rice Noodles with extra chilly).




To Sum Up
1 shake & 3 meals (Yikes!)
Juice. Fruit. BioFruity.Water. Milk Tea.

Time of Posting : 8am (Wednesday)

ONE TON TISSUES


Monday, 4 October 2010

Day 94 : Grilled Red Snapper Steak With Sambal

GRILLED RED SNAPPER STEAK 
WITH SAMBAL

This evening, I am preparing dinner for Justine and myself. 

Bryan is away in Penang for 2 days. So, not a time to mess the kitchen. There is some sambal left from that day we made sambal-stuffed fish and just enough soup for 2 small bowls. Decided to just do a simple grilling and add some tofu into the soup.
1.  The Fish
Seasoning : seasalt and pepper.
Top with a generous amount of sambal,
squeeze lemon juice and drizzle garlic/shallot oil on top.
Mini Oven : 180 degrees celcius for 20 minutes.

2. The Soup
The remaining soup from the noodle dinner is standing in the pot. Turn on flame to heat up. Add tofu.

At the same time, steam some leftover brown rice
in a separate pot. 

3. The Salad
Fresh salad : romaine lettuce, carrots and red bell peppers.
Garnish : sunflower seeds and a slice of lemon.
Drizzle flaxseed oil and squeeze lemon juice over.
Dinner is ready when the timer for the oven goes off. 
In 20 minutes. :D  Very simple to do.
Hmmm - mmm ... Yum!
The soup is by now totally concentrated with flavor.
Unbelievably delicious!


I had my one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, noodle soup for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up
1 shake & 2 meals
Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Milk Tea.

Time of Posting : 8:15am (Tuesday)


Sunday, 3 October 2010

Day 93 ... Noodle Soup WIth Abalone And Prawns

MEE NOODLE SOUP 
WITH ABALONE AND PRAWNS

This evening, Aunty Hayley and Aunty Pauline will be joining us for dinner. We still have plenty of soup and fresh prawns left from the night before, so we only have to get some more noodles. This time, we bought yellow mee noodles apart from kuey teow.
Here's Mama and Aunty Hayley
Aunty Pauline
They bring some mooncakes over.
We are opening up a can of abalone that Aunty Iris gave us. 
Bryan blanches and cut them into thin slices.
This is my bowl. 
The soup today is unbelievable. :D
Bryan's bowl. 
He says the soup is a bit different 
because of the abalone juice. 
The taste is simply exquisite!
My second bowl. :D
Once again, we are having 2 bowls, 
except for Hayley and myself. We are, uh, having 3! 
In our defence, I believe our bowls 
are a bit smaller than the rest. :D
Look at those piercing green emerald eyes. O.O
Relaxing after dinner. 
So Kish is starting on her diet today. 
She is having lean meat with the fats all trimmed off.
She's gonna be all curvy and slim soon.

Dinner tonight is just great. 
I don't normally take yellow mee, 
but hey, the one tonight is pretty fantastic!


Time of Posting : 4:47pm (Monday)

Saturday, 2 October 2010

Day 92 : Kuey Teow Thng Birthday Dinner

KUEY TEOW THNG 
BIRTHDAY DINNER :D

This evening, Bryan's Mother will be with us. She is from Kuantan, and is here in Kuala Lumpur to attend a meeting with her MCA members tomorrow. Her birthday has just passed on Sept 27th, so we thought of cooking something special for her tonight. :D

Something easy that cannot go wrong. My mother-in-law is coming. Of course nothing must go wrong. And nothing did, thankfully ... for those of You don't like suspense. Bryan's Mother likes noodles, so we decided to do kuey teow thng for dinner tonight.
1. The Soup
Chicken thigh-drumsticks, garlic (whole) 
and filtered water.
We are using a larger pressure cooker pot this evening.
Boil, turn off flame, and let the pressure cooker do its job.
2. The Condiments
I am frying the garlic first, and then the shallots.
Garlic Oil
Shallot Oil
Spring Onions
3a. Debone Chicken
About an hour before dinner, remove the chicken from the soup.
Slide the flesh off and keep the bones aside.
Add seasalt and one cube of mushroom stock 
(no preservatives) to the soup.
3b. Deshell Prawns
Dip prawns into the boiling soup for a few seconds
using a metal net strainer.
Oooohhh ... What an awesome orange sight! :D
Bryan is peeling the prawns and 
keeping the heads and shells aside.
3c. Enhance Soup
Transfer the chicken bones, the prawn shells and head into the metal net and leave them in the soup to further add more flavor to the soup that is now simmering and releasing the most heavenly aroma You can possibly imagine. :D
The chicken strips are absolutely tender and soft.
The prawns are fresh and wholesome in taste.
Bryan's Mother brings some 
honey roasted meat from Kuantan.
My mother and my sister Carol are here.
We sing the birthday song, give thanks to the LORD 
and eagerly tuck into dinner. :D 
To serve the noodles, dip a portion of kuey teow noodles in a separate pot of boiling water, to rinse them, in a quick up-down motion, before popping onto individual bowls. 

Pour the delicious soup over, and allow the guests to help themselves to the condiments as they desire. Oh yes, we also had some chopped cili padi with shoyu. Typical hawker style. :D
The noodles are Oh My GaWD totally unbelievable!
This photo is Bryan's second bowl. 
My first bowl is sitting at the top of the page. 
All of us had two helpings. :D
My Mother made her famous Thai mango pudding for dessert.  
We are having that without the usual coconut milk topping.
Saving some space for Justine's cake. <3 
 
Cinnamon-Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-Cream

After dinner, we are gonna rest a bit before having the cake. Bryan is washing up, I am clearing the table, Carol and Justine are watching FRIENDS on DVD, and our mothers are catching up on politics and updating each other on the latest horror issues on maids. 

Half an hour passes by quickly.
Time for Coffee and Cakes! :D
We are having Justine's cake with vanilla ice-cream. 
Man, what a perfect way to end a perfect evening.

Bryan's Mother : "Wah Justine, very nice cake!"

My mother : "Better than Secret Recipe!"

Carol : "O - M - G Jusss!"

Bryan : HmmMmmMmmMmm ...

Me : Out of this world! :D

Time of Posting : 1:32 pm (Sunday)