Ginseng Chicken Soup

These are the ingredients I use for soup – one packet mixed herb spices, some red dates, some wolfberries (or ‘kei zhi’ in chinese), one or two ginseng roots and 4 or 5 pieces chicken wings/drumsticks. I am not sure what type of ginseng I used…but they were the ones my late Mom loves to keep and use for soup. She was an expert in chinese herbs… ( how I missed her cooking…:( )

Wash herbs and chicken. Put to boil with water over low heat for half an hour to 45 minutes. Boil at a gentle pace to bring out the ginseng taste. When chicken is cooked, throw in the wolfberries. Add salt  and a little light soya sauce to taste. Serve soup hot…mmm..it’s my favorite nourishing soup.

Sphagetti – Malaysian style

Sphagetti, an easy favourite meal for any dinner or the weekend! – that’s when Richard and I feel lazy to eat out, where our legs would not go. Here’s how you prepare the beef sauce. Fry minced beef, onions and mushrooms (sliced) with mixed herbs and pepper. Add 1/2 can of Campbell cream of mushroom or chicken soup (my favorite) and some water. Add a little milk if desired. Simmer over low heat till cook .

Pour sauce over the cooked (and buttered) sphagetti and serve with any salads…

My favourite salads…of sliced Japanese cucumber, big onions, small tomatoes, chili padi and sweet pineapples (cut to cubes). Sprinkle with some lime and sugar.Chill before serve.MMm…the salads are spicy, fresh and crunchy.  Penang-Thai style ?…whatever you name! it’s yummmy

Choc Muffins

Here are some muffins I made and brought for the kiddies at the KVA (Klang Valley Alliance) Leaders & Families Retreat, Port Dickson in June. Sorry!…no specific recipes or instructions. They can be found on the leaflet in the pack when you purchase these all-mixed flour from Bake With Yen shop. They have a branch in Puchong. It’s quick and easy – that’s what I like ! Beat up the eggs with milk and oil. Add the mixed flour into the wet ingredients. Spoon the batter into lovely paper muffin cups if you have. Fill up 2/3 of the cup and bake for 20 mins at 180 degrees. Hooray!….your moist muffins are ready for the kiddies and choc lovers. Yummmmmy! 

Penang famous Sos Ulam

The Penang famous sos ulam is a sweet sour spicy sauce. This is the first time I tried this sauce. I had wanted the Thai tomyam paste which is also packed in the same kind of bottle. I happened to pick up the wrong sos while marketing in Giant last week. Anyway, with this sos ulam now in my fridge ( I had no choice ) but to use it, I tried to marinate my chicken pieces with it. Here’s what I produced  :

Steam Chicken (with Sos Ulam)

Marinate chicken pieces with the sos for an hour. Add sliced ginger, onions and chili padi if you prefer it to be more spicy. Steam for half an hour till chicken pieces are cooked. Sprinkle with sping onions.  Chicken’s so sweet and tasty and ready to be served!

Another experiment with the Penang famous sos :
My Favorite Fried Meehoon

Ingredients for the meehoon :
2 teaspoon chicken stock, 3 tablespoon sos ulam, salmon or chicken ball (cut into pieces), dried prawns, daun limau ( lime leaves), sping onions, lots of shallots and onions & cut limes.
For the meehoon, I prefer the Thai brand which is shown in the photo. They do not become soggy or lumpy after fried. I normally soak the meehoon for 15 minutes. Drain off water and then throw them into hot boiling water for 5 mins. Pour water away and drain meehoon dry.

Fry 3 or 4 tablespoon of the sos in a little hot oil. Add chicken stock dissolved in a little water. Add in dried prawns, salmon pieces, cut daun limau and fry. When ingredients are ready, switch off fire, add in the cooked meehoon to mix. Serve hot with sprinkled onions and chili . Squeeze some limes.

Quick Chicken Curry

I always like quick easy methods. Here’s my recipe for chicken curry. There is the favorite fresh (wet) curry spices from SS2 market which Richard recommends. It’s his favorite stall for getting any spices for curry or rendang.  Saves you the trouble of pounding and grinding…everything’s in and it’s nice and spicy hot. Just add some chili padi if you prefer curry to be hotter.

Ingredients :
* 1 pack curry spices (wet) from SS2 market
* 1 small chicken – cut into pieces
* 2 or 3 potatoes
* 3 tablespoons Campbell cream of chicken soup (dissolved in half cup water)
* 1 teaspoon chicken stock
* half packet of Dutch lady milk (low fat) or you can use yogurt.

Marinate the chicken with chicken stock. Fry the curry spices and chili padi (add a few serai if you wish). Add the cut chicken pieces and potatoes, cover with spices and continue to fry chicken till they are half cooked. Pour in a little milk and add cream of chicken. Transfer into a pot and pour in the remainder milk or yogurt. Simmer over low fire until chicken is cooked and potatoes are soft.
And hooray..my chicken curry is ready to be served.

This is what I had for lunch today…curry to go with brown rice and some leftover salads and tomatoes. Plus a cup of my favorite Japanese green tea. Healthy lunch?

Nga Ku Chips

Nga Ku ( in cantonese) or what we called the ‘arrowhead’ or arrow roots made into chips will be one of favorite snacks come this Chinese New Year. Some people will use these to fry and simmer with duck meat or roasted pork. Today I had some ‘hot’ moments in the kitchen of Kenosis Home helping the ‘Phase 2′ residents to produce nga ku chips. Nga Ku can be bought in bulks from the wet market or hypermarkets like Giant or Tesco stores . They are imported from China and are usually available during the chinese festive season. 
Nga Ku chips taste like potato chips and you can be quite addictive to them once the bottle cap is opened.

‘nga-ku’ or arrowheads. Peel the skin and slice them thinly for deep fry.

richard busy frying the sliced nga-ku

This is how they should look-crispy and lightly brown after fry. Lift them up from the oil .Toss, drain and cool over a basket laid with some serviettes to soak up any oil.

Bottle of nga-ku ready for sale at RM16.00 per bottle.
This is one of Kenosis Home project to help generate funds for the Home.
Contact Richard Lee 016-6115129 and give your support if you can.

Sweet passions of the Lee Clan

 

“Oh! eee liiiii…..ciou…ss.” exclaimed one year-old Lu Anne Lee (richard’s grandniece).
“Mmmmm, it’s good…” Richard mumbled as he slowly savours the cream and waffle.
It was an evening out with the Lee family when Mathew (richard’s nephew from Singapore) was here for his Master project with UM. We headed to One Utama after dinner and set foot at Waffle World (2nd floor, new wing) for some coffee and desserts. Here’s what we ordered :

dark chocolate waffle with rich chocolate ice-cream

vanilla waffle top with blueberry ice-cream

and see the ‘waffle war’……..  

“that’s my waffle!”

‘Gone!’

Besides the famous waffles from Waffle World, there are also hotdogs,pancakes and light western meals and salads. If you have sweet cravings like the Lee’s, delicious waffles top with various flavors of ice-cream will be just right for you… 

meat-lovers

If you love meats, check out this Brazillian restaurant @ Damansara Jaya. It’s called Carnaval Churrascaria. We were there in July to celebrate 2 birthdays with a lively bunch of church folks. My young handsome friend, Max, has posted a food review. Check out his blog to see what’s in there.

Nyonya Cravings

    
Nyonya Colors is one of our favourite place for lunch or snack whenever we are in 1 Utama shopping mall. We discovered this “little cravings” stall last year. My sister recommended and it was good. Especially if there’s any  sweet delicacies, we must stop to explore for Richard’s sake. Nyonya Colors specializes quality nyonya cakes and delights. The stall is located at 1st floor of One Utama Shopping Complex (Old Wing), Kuala Lumpur where customers can find also light meals like Mee Rebus (my favorite), Nasi Lemak, MeeSiam, Curry Laksa and desserts besides the nyonya kueh. If you like nyonya food, this is the place..
We were there today and tried nasi lemak, mee rebus, mee curry, pulut inti, pulut tai tai….
Good place for snack or brunch