Mee Bandung

I love Mee Bandung but I always find the ones in eateries a tad too sweet for my liking. So decided to try my own. My....didn't realize Mee Bandung can taste this good. I'll be making this more often from now on.

Kerabu Bean Sprouts

This is the first of a series of "kerabu" that I intend to try in my bid to go healthy with raw stuff.

Mexican Sausage Potato

This is a dish that is very simple to make and gets gobbled up within minutes. I just found myself the "must have" dish for the week!

Home Made Lo Mai Kai

Lo Mai Kai is a favorite with my hubby. He never misses ordering this whenever we have our weekend dim sum. So it was a must try for Kitchen Trails. Last weekend, I carried out the experiment amidst a lot of reservations. Used my pie foils to do them. Wanted to add some chinese sausages but ran out of it. So ended up with just mushrooms and chicken. For the first time, the kids did not refuse Lo Mai Kai. How satisfying.

A Hearty Nasi Briyani Meal

My sons have all followed after my husband and I in their taste for food...we are all very much into spicy food. Needless to say, Indian rice and curries rank very high on our list of food preferences. For a change, I decided to forget about eating out this weekend and decided to cook us all a hearty nasi briyani meal. I just used normal rice, which turned out quite okay. The second helpings made the work done today all the more satisfying.

Kueh Kochi Santan

Used to love this when I was small. Stopped eating this for a while and recently started patronizing a stall in USJ 2 which sells very good ones. Since my eldest son loved this very much, I decided to give it a try. It didnt turn out as soft as I wanted it too although the taste was just as good. May have gone a little wrong with the water concentration. This one is earmarked for another try some other time.

Home Made Snowskin Mooncake

Moon cake prices - do a survey and you'll find the prices exorbitant to the point of being ridiculous. Much as I think they are overpriced (say what you want about fantastic packaging and creative flavours), it is hard not to get some as the kids really love this annual delicacy. However, after some success in making my own moon cakes yesterday, I think I can forget about paying through my nose for moon cakes now. Plus the kids can have their fill of moon cakes anytime they like.

I brought a recipe book which is dedicated entirely to moon cakes just yesterday. It has five sections ranging from baked moon cakes, to jelly mooncakes, pastry mooncake, shanghai mooncakes and the snowskin variety. I knew well not to be over ambitious and started off with what I believed would be the simplest to pull off, this being my very first try - I settled on making snowskin with red bean filling. I was hesitant to buy the wooden mould which was quite pricey at the baking ingredients shop, so settled on getting a plastic mould (the one used for jelly moon cakes). As you can see, the flower motif didnt come out too well. I can imagine how nice it would turn out had I used the real wooden moulds. I used pandan juice as coloring and flavouring (never like the essence taste used on those that are on sale). The moon cakes turned out a nice light green shade. The snowskin was a great success - smooth and soft as it should be even after refridgeration. Next step is to do the traditional baked mooncakes and if that turns out well too, I'll be ready to get the wooden moulds.

Home Made Ang Koo

I love Ang Koo fried with egg. But when you do it yourself and straight off the steamer, I really don't mind having it fresh as it is. Mum used to have the wooden Ang Koo mould but as with many other things, she had given away to a relative years back. Much as I love this nyonya kueh, I have procrastinated on making it because of the lack of appropriate tools. However, I wasnt about to let that deter me this time, so I went ahead. As you can see, it doesn't look too great but tasted really smooth and soft. Used natural pandan coloring and flavour and grean pea filling for this one.

Carrot n Seafood in Seaweed

So colorful and most aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Raisin and Cranberry Scones

Ever since we tasted the scones at Teapot Cafe, scones have become a favorite tea time snack for the kids and we always benchmark all other scones to the ones sold there. Eaten with lots of butter and a some good quality jam (try the one at Harrods), this is one heavenly tea time treat. I've almost perfected the recipe and can proudly boast that mine taste even better than Teapot Cafe now. Goes to show what a little determination in the kitchen can do. This time round I tried including some cranberries as well.

Home Made Sausage Buns

I guess everyone realises that the cost of breads and buns have been escalating consistently for the last year or so. Bakeries such as Bread Story do come out with rather unique creations and tastes but they can cost more than RM3 each. For a large household, getting buns for school or teatime snacks can be an ill-afford luxury. My kids seem to just love sausage buns so when I decided to try baking some buns lately, it was an easy decision as to what I should bake. Aside from not being able to adjust the heat for a nice finish (you can see it is a little burnt!), I wouldnt term this a "kitchen spill" as it tasted really soft and tasty, especially when eaten piping hot and straight out from the oven. I used sausages filled with cheeze for this one so it was extra scrumptious. Thinking of the first bite with cheeze oozing out at the sides makes me want to give this one another go.

Roti Jala

I saw a plastic roti jala sieve in the Jusco sale recently and because it was cheap, I bought it just to give roti jala a try. If it is successful, I will then get the authentic metal one. I added a touch of kunyit for color but the plastic sieve was a let down (kind of expected it). The holes were far too small and the batter wouldnt flow out. In the end, had to improvise and cut through to make the holes larger. After that the batter flowed through nicely and Fats had a great time helping to make the net-like roti jala and rolled them up. The holes ended up actually a tad too large so the batter flowed out more than I wanted them too resulting in the net being not as fine. But other than that, it tasted just right. Yay!

Chee Cheong Fun (Penang Style) with Sweet Sauce

Successful on my first try...and I thought it was difficult. I resorted to using my pizza pan to lay the rice flour mix and the thickness was just right. Tasted nice, springy and smooth and similar to the ones you would buy. I made my own concoction of the sweet sauce with hoi sin sauce which hubby brought back from Penang. The kids loved it!!! I was afraid it might be a disaster and made just a small portion. So I had a hard time pacifying the kids that I'll make more the next time. If only all my kitchen experiments can achieve this kind of success every time. Sigh!

Another go at Pizza

The last time I made this, it disappeared way too fast. Dad didn't even have a chance to sample it. So, I decided to have another go at it yesterday. I was exceptionally generous with the cheese toppings this time round. Added lots of garlic to the delight of the kids...they are all garlic lovers. I think I have perfected the pizza base and the sauce....YAAAAAAY!

Chilli Con Carne

Wendy's came along and the kids are going ga-ga over Jacket Potatoes...So I decided to get my hand at doing Jacket Potatoes with some Chilli Con Carne two days ago. I managed to get the red kidney beans to go with it but didn't have time to find the large-sized potatoes. So had to settle for the normal ones. As you can see, the chilli topping was way too much for the pint-sized potatoes. Still, since the kids are big on sauce, this suits them just fine. The little one didnt enjoy this too much as it was a tad too spicy for his taste. But other than that, everyone thought it was yummy. Another one conquered, another bit of savings!

Stuffed Ladies Fingers in Black Bean Sauce

Mamak Mee Goreng

Do you know that peanut butter is one of the key ingredients in a good mamak mee goreng? Try it and you will taste the difference...and of course lots of crushed peanuts and crispy shallots to top it off. Believe it or not, the kids can have three helpings whenever I make this.

Mua Chee

Glutinous rice flour coated with peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar. Tastes even better if topped with some shallot crisps. Not many people sell them nowadays.

Roti Mum

My kids can never resist the wonderful smells that trail from a Roti Boy stall. They love this to bits so I decided to try my hand at making them. Tough part is getting the coffee flavored icing on top of the bun. I added chunky slices of butter inside each bun and that really enhances the taste. Not quite Roti Boy in terms of looks but not too far off as far as taste is concerned. So yes, I am quite happy with Roti Mum!

Babble Breads and Buns

Who would have thought that I would end up making breads and buns myself? Not in my wildest dreams but I did...only because I know how much the kids would relish them...plus I sense that they were getting bored of stuff from the neighborhood bakery.

Making bread without a bread machine isn't quite as difficult as I thought. I made three varieties. A plain variety with just a couple of cheese strips on top for hubby and me, a raisin and cheese variety for Fats and Alien and a hot dog variety for Korean boy since that is his favourite. Wow piping hot breads and buns straight out from the oven really taste so much nicer and add them with a chunky slice of butter.....out of this world!!!

Cooking and baking new stuff for the family is soooo satisfying because they really know how to pile on the compliments and just seeing them devour the food so heartily is enough motivation for me to try anything.

Auntie Alice's Pretzels

Can't quite give Auntie Anne's a run for her money, but I'm quite happy with my first try. Well, may not look exactly authentic but taste quite authentic if I may say so. In fact, the kids thought the texture and softness of the pretzels were better than Auntie Anne's. (ahem! so perasan!). I made the cinnamon sugar variety. Wanted to have them in sour onion coating too but didn't managed to. Instead just made some cheese dips to go with the original pretzels just in case the kids wanted a savoury variety. Personally, I preferred the pretzels with cinammon.

Home-made Thin Crust Pizza

I had so much fun making pizza for the first time. I always thought that making pizza would be quite difficult and tedious but it turned out fairly easy. First time lucky, maybe but the dough and the pizza base turned out very nice and crusty...the way the kids like it. I experimented a little with the pizza sauce and toppings, opting to make my own tomato paste and using toppings that are favorites with the kids such as salami, ham, garlic, oregano, onions, green peppers, pineapple cubes and a generous amount of mozzarella and cheddar cheeze. I made two 10inch pizzas and it was so satisfying to see it disappear with lots of appreciative "hmmmm sooooo delicious" from the kids!

Minced Seafood in Beancurd

Thai Style Fish in Sour Plum Sauce

Review: Logenhaus Restaurant, Taipan

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Logenhaus located in Taipan has been around for many years now. I remembered this to be our favorite neighborhood restaurant when we feel like a western meal. We have not been there for many years now ever since we moved out of USJ and so for old time's sake decided to patronise the place last week. I tried their signature dish which was their half-grilled chicken while Kaemon tried their mixed grill comprising lamb steak, beef, chicken, bacon and sausages. I didn't think that their signature dish was as good as I once thought (maybe my expectations have gone up over the years) but Kaemon's grill was quite good actually and value for money at RM25. The escargots which they recommended was a total letdown though. Just so-so for me ...go only if you are hard up for western and its the only restaurant in the vicinity.

Steamed Beancurd

Chicken and Egg

Vegetable Curry

Seri Muka

Not many people know how to make this nyonya kueh called seri muka and I just had to give it a try since one of my sons love this very much. I reduced the sugar quite a bit and used pandanus juice for the coloring. It's healthier plus very fragrant too.

Bubur Cha-Cha

A favorite desert for my entire family. I was introduced to this from an very early age when my mum and god-aunt made this as an offering to our ancestors. Now, we make this just for fun as a desert. This time round, I used Japanese sweet potato which explains the dark purple you see here. Very rich food, high in cholesterol so we try to eat this in moderation.

Some party goers at Blogdumps were given a glimpse of this and thought they might want to try it. So here's the recipe...Trina this is for you.

Ingredients

300g yam, diced 300g sweet potatoes (choose the yellow and orange variety), diced 75g black-eyed beans, soaked for 2–3 hours 75g pearl sago A few drops pink colouring 450g grated coconut 1.2 litres water 1/2 tsp salt Syrup: 125g sugar 3–4 pandan leaves, shredded and knotted 1 cup water Method Steam sweet potatoes and yam separately for 10–15 minutes or until soft. Set aside. Boil soaked black-eyed beans until soft. Drain and set aside. Put sago in a sieve then place sieve in a large bowl. Rinse sago under running tap water then cook the sago in a pot of hot water until transparent. Remove and rinse under cold water and drain. Add colouring to sago and coat with 2 tablespoons tapioca flour. Squeeze and strain grated coconut to obtain thick coconut milk. Add salt to the thick coconut milk and keep refrigerated. Add 1.2l water to the coconut residue and squeeze to obtain thin coconut milk. Boil sugar, water and pandan leaves until sugar dissolves. Add thin coconut milk and continue to boil for 5–6 minutes. Add yam, sweet potatoes, black-eyed beans and sago. Stir evenly. Add thick coconut milk and at the first sign of boiling, immediately remove the pot from the heat. Remove the pandan leaves and serve either hot or cold.

Note: For my version, I added bananas (u can soak this in sugar syrup and add them in only when you want to serve). Also I dispensed with the black-eyed peas and sago as I find that the effort is too tedious and does not enhance the taste that much more for the effort put in. However, screw pine leaves or pandan leaves is required and if you are finding it hard to get this where you are, you can replace with pandan essence.

Hope you have time to try this out and let me know if you do.