Thursday, 30 April 2009
Scampi Dinner
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Dinner with Aa at Ashoka
Its nice having a flatmate who's working and likes to blanjah me. Maybe its because C is gone and I am his proxy "girlfriend" haha. Anyway, Aa's got a 50% off voucher that we decided should be put to good use before it went to waste.
TBBQ Sauce Chicken Wings
I got these huge chicken wings from Tesco. My GOODNESS was what I muttered when i saw these testosterone enhanced chicken wings. They were 1.5 x bigger than the morrison's chicken wings la..
Somehow, in the UK, chicken wings are one of the cheapest parts of the chicken. Breast is the most expensive (yucks, I don't like dry meat) My box contains 10 wings.. So it was 5 each between me and Aa.
Ingredients
------------------------
Box of chicken less than 2 pounds
50% Tomato ketchup
50% Smokey BBQ Sauce
4 Table spoon of Sugar.
Lemon Juice
Defrost Chicken from freezer if frozen. I normally take it out before i leave the house and it is thawed by the time i get home. Dejoint it if u prefer and its probably the best thing to do for finger food parties. Mix in the marinate. Let the "zhap" bath the wings for about 45 mins (For best effects leave overnight in fridge). Turn the over up to 220 degree celcius and bake for approximately 20 mins. Serve with mash or chips because this is my Ang moh Style chicken wings
*Aa's Tip - Pour some lemon juice over the wings before throwing them in the oven. This helps to make the skin crispier.
*Girls you can do it!!!!
Monday, 27 April 2009
A simple lunch
Wasn't as tasty as subway but it filled my stomach. Given a choice, I would choose mee pok ta or chicken rice anytime. I like things simple... Do you ?
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Melon with Raspberry Icecream
The dessert's simple to make, in fact you can even eat it deconstructed. All I did was cut the melon in half, skin it and started giving it edges (hehe part of my surgical skills training). Next put some ice cream on to it. I used Green and Black's Raspberry swirl vanilla ice cream (was on offer 2 pounds only from Tesco). Lastly, I slit 2 strips of honey dew skin for deco. Gordon Ramsey will definately disagree with this... why bother putting something on a plate that you can't eat.. Maybe next time I will use some lemon peels and grate some lemon zest over it.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Mei Cai Kou Rou
It took me about half an hour to get it all ready for the steamer but that time seemed so much longer when the kitchen's slightly messier than most days and I was feeling rather knackered.
The end result, well it tasted alright. The top layer was really nice as it absored all the "chap" (gravy) but the lower layers tasted a wee bit blend. At the end of the day, it fed me to the brim but the effort just wasn't worth as much as going to the restaurant to have it served and eaten.
As a consolation, I manged to take some pictures of it and am quite pleased to see the nice contrast between the green broccoli and the pork. Oh yah, the broccoli's helped to make me less guilty haha.
Ingredients
-----------------
1 Kg Pork belly or less (Rolled up)
MARINATE
4 Tbsp dark soy sauce
6 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp Rice wine
1 Tbsp Black bean sauce
6 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tbsp Sugar
1Tbsp Light Soy sauce
150g Preserved vegetables 梅菜
Marinate the belly with the sauces preferbly for 2hours or overnight for better taste. Remove the pork belly, and pat it dry with kitchen towels. Pan fry the pork till all sides are golden brown. Remove it and immerse in cold water. Next fry the garlic in some oil, add in the remaining marinate and the rest of the sauces plus the preserve vegetables. Fry till half of the water has evaporated. Slice the pork as thinly as you can and layer it in a bowl (suitable for steaming) Lastly, place the mei chai mixture over the pork. Steam for 1 hour at least. 2 hours if you got alot of gas (more tender meat). Serve with broccoli that has been par boiled for 2 mins.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Dinner at Asian Gourmet
When it first open, we were quite suprised to find out that they serve quite authentic Sichuan dishes and at really affordable prices of between 7 to 8 pounds per dish. I supposed with inflation, the prices have gone up but still, this dinner only cost each of us 10 pounds and we ate till we were stuffed. (10 pounds is cheap in a Chinese restaurant for 3 people when you jiao Chai)
The first dish that you see is something new for the 3 of us. I read from the menu that it is some beef dish in beef juice.. Well, I couldn't make alot out of the title and the waitress wasn't sure either but she assumed it was stir fried. To be honest, it does look extraordinary but it tasted uniquely ordinary. Confusing eh? yes.. becos it taste exactly confusing. I could taste the beefiness of it but I could not fully work out what sauce was used in it. It taste almost beefy with a hint of sourishness and a strong taste of parsley. Texture wise, it resemble sweet and sour pork but definately did not taste sweet nor as sour as it. Overall, all the guys favoured this dish.
Finally, there is always rice to fall back on. You literally get buckets of rice here haha and me being a typical teochew boy loves rice. I still find it difficult to feel full without having rice. Mum thinks that that is a bad habit haha Dad thinks there's nothing wrong with it. I just want to eat rice..
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Ba Chor Mee
Monday, 20 April 2009
Mince Pork with Ang Mor Eggplant
Interestingly, when i cooked the angmor version it turned green. Anyhow, I made this dish to complement a fish curry that din really turn out the way i expect although Aa said it tasted alright haha.
Here's a dish that is relatively cheap to make and pretty simple as well. Not only that, you can use the left overs for something else.
Ingredients
-----------------
750g mince pork (again buy from Chinese butcher, taste better with the extra fat)
1 Eggplant
2 Tbsp mince garlic
3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 Drizzles of Sesame Seed oil
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp Black bean sauce LKK
Stir fry garlic in oil, throw in the mince pork and stir fry till its cook. Throw in the eggplant (you can cube or slice them up to your own preference). MIx in the sauces. Garnish with spring onion and serve hot with rice.
*Read more about eggplants at ---------------> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Stewed Soy Sauce Pork Belly
As such, I haven't been able to get that familliar taste back home.
This time round however, I have decided to be a little research. Oh boy, what you see about has to be my most succesful pork belly. Its savoury and not overpowered by sweetness and the pork was of the right consistency. Also, I ve managed to stained the eggs a nice semi-dark brown colour. I strongly urge those of you who are interested to try out this recipe
Ingredients
-------------------------
500g Pork Belly
MARINATE
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp Oyster
1 Tbsp thick dark soy sauce (not the watery version)
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Five spice powder
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Whole Garlic
1 Tbsp thick dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup water
Hard Boild Eggs
Cut pork into 1 inch lengths/chunks, marinate with the sauces for half an hour preferbly. I did it for only 15mins. Hardboil some eggs to go along with the pork. Fry the pork with some oil. Add in half a cup of water. Stir the pork well till the water starts to boil. add in the garlic dark soy sauce, sugar and salt. Add the remaining water and eggs. Boil over low flame for half an hour. Serve with rice.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Vanilla Icecream with Rock Melon
We decided to open up a tub of B and J's Baked alaska today. This flavour is almost the exact opposite of phish food. Instead of chocolate ice cream, this flavour consists of vanilla icecream, marshmallow swirls and white chocolate polar bars. I thought why not turn this simple dessert into something more up class.
Luckily, Aa has one remaining rock melon in the fridge and "tink" an idea sprang to my mine.
So what I did was scoop out the ice cream and made a fan out of a half slice of melon and
TADA!... You've just made for yourself something that looks like it cost 4 pounds.
Friday, 17 April 2009
3 Cup Chicken
Hello All, was rather tired last night so I did not manage to get down to posting. I made this on Thursday for Aa and C. Poor C going on nights for the next week.
3 Cup chicken or san bei ji is quite a common dish in Singapore but somehow it is not as common here in Glasgow.
You can find lots more trivia on this dish on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanbeiji . Yes I actually bothered to wiki up on dishes that I cook haha. You got to know what you are eating right? lol..OK click on the link and have a read, they will probably do a better explainnation than I can.
Ingredients
-------------------------
3 Tbsp Dark Soy sauce
3 Tbsp Shaoxing Wine
3 Tbsp Sesame oil
8 Chicken thighs deboned
Spring onion
Ginger
Garlic
Pinch Salt and Sugar
Marinate the chicken with the 3 sauces. I like to use chicken thighs deboned and deskined. That way you get meat that is more succulent and less fatty. Stir fry the ginger and garlic. Mind you, ginger is quite important in this dish. Add in the chicken and stir fry for about 10 mins. Add some water if you find that the wok is starting to dry up. (you should get a semi liquid sticky sauce). Add a pinch of salt and sugar and a dash of shaoxing wine or sesame oil if you like. Lastly, throw in the spring onions and allow the heat to evaporate the spring onion oil.
*serve hot with rice. yum yum
*substitute chicken with pork, beef, lamb, or .............. frog ....
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Dinner at See Woo Restaurant - A special Treat
Aa and I have been thinking about lobster noodles ever since we sank our teeth into this heavenly creation in London. It was by chance that we saw this brochure featuring lobster noodles from See Woo.
So did this dish finally satisfy our craving?... well.... It was not too bad but the version in London was much better. Nevertheless, I would not be complaining about eating lobster especially when its free. The meat was succently and tasted of crustacean freshness, probably because it was still swiming before it finally landed up in the wok. THe noodles on the other hand were not very good. It lack the chewiness of that special london noodles and did not absorb much of the lobster juice.
Overall it was nice but not unmami nice. I will still come back some day to try if I have got a bit of spare cash.
Thank you WY for this meal
SeeWoo Restaurant
------------------------------
29 Saracen Street
Glasgow, Lanarkshire G22 5HT
0141 331 6105
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Guo Tie Japanese Style
Yup.. that's our style of eating guotie in this flat. I believe this dish is a creation by Aa and C. C's the resident guotie chef in the flat, the one person who has got the technique all right from the pan frying to the steaming. What you get is a nice crispy base and a succulent juicy meat filling oo yummy.
Somehow this conocotion probably derived from the tako pachi concept works really well. So well that it has become a lunctime favourite to pair with myojo mee or indo mee..
Gosh.. I am feeling hungry now..
Ingredients
------------------
Pork Guo Tie's 40 pieces for 6.95 approx
kewpee japanese mayo
bonito flakes
Heat a non-stick frying pan (strongly recommend investing in a good teflon pan) with oil in it. Pan fry one side of the guotie from frozen. Once its nicely brown. Add a suitable amount of water and cover with a lid. Steam until all the water has evaporated. Squeeze over the mayo and garnish with bonito flakes.
Unfortunately, I do not have the exact measurements and timings. According to C its all about agaration.
* Bonito flakes = flakes of dried, smoked bonito fish
* http://www.japancentre.com/ --> They do delivery for only 5 pounds.
Lunch at Loon Fung
The fun thing about eating dim sum is theres always the few dishes that you would order and the ones which you like to eat but don't know what it is called and start giving it names or describing the components of the dish and lastly the delicious looking ones on other tables that you point to and say "can i have a portion of that as well"
We started off the meal with a "pe dan" pork Cheok aka Century egg with pork congee. Century egg is not my favourite egg but I wouldn't mind having the congee. Mum always tells me that they blend the porridge to get the consistency that you find in congee. I find it hard to believe sometimes but she could be right.
We had noodles as well and this time it was something that we saw on another table that made us salivate. Its like a 2 Roast meat with Hor fun type of dish . Its delicious because the roast was nicely done but I found it a wee bit oily but that's probably what made it taste so yummy.
So this is our Dim sum Experience and the start of a Chinese food eating extravagenza that proved to be an overdose. Its not that I do not like Chinese food but its the home cook food that I miss more. Haha honestly, we grew up eating our mother's home cook food day after day, how to get bored. You tell me LOL.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Dinner at the Taymouth Restaurant, Kenmore Hotel
Kenmore Hotel
The Square, Kenmore,
PH15 2NU
Friday, 10 April 2009
SIsters
Overall, A nice meal but I was expecting more from an award winning restaurant. Will give it another chance someday.
The Sisters Kelvingrove
-------------------------------------------
36 Kelvingrove Street
Glasgow
G3 7RZ
0141 564 1157
http://www.thesisters.co.uk/
PS: will not be posting for the next 3 days as I will be up in the highlands. See you soon.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Sausages and Pasta
I was anticipating a simple meal today. something cheap for 3 pounds. Well Sainsbury has the answer with the sausages going for half price at 2 quid (shortform for pound) and the pasta going for 1 quid. Its easy to make and gives you free time to do other stuff while your water boils and cleaning up is easy as well.
Ingredients
-------------------
- Sainsbury's Ultimate Pork Sausages x6, Taste the Difference 400g
- Rana Bolognaise Tortellini 250g
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Bertolli Tomato Pesto
- Sprinkle of Italian herbs or dried basil
Bring to boil a pot of water. Boil the sausages according to instructions. Once done transfer to a frying pan and pan fry till its brown. In the same pot, add the pasta and boil according to instruction. Drain, stir in pesto over low heat. Sprinkle dried herbs. Serve with sauages.
Enough to feed one hungry puberty boy or 2 small little girls
*Increase the taste by adding pepper or some shaved cheese.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Dinner at China Blue
A little history on China Blue passed down through generations of seniors who have survived on it as a weekend staple. Originally known as Blue Ginger located along Sauchiehall street, this little restaurant famous for its Malacca Seafood (Ma Liu Jia hai xian) has undergone numerous changes to become known as China Blue on Renfrew Street today (Next to KFC).
So the first dish here is yam ring (Fad Pu or something along those lines in Cantonese) filled with the Malacca Seafood. Aa has been craving for this dish in a very long time and having been dissapointed umpteen times in other restaurants, he finally has his wish. I found the yam to be really nicely deepfried. It wasn't as salty as i hoped it to be, afterall yam is really bland. Maybe its because the saltiness from the malacca seafood was meant to compliment it but unfortunately it failed on its part. Overall I say this dish was a nice change from the usual dishes that we always order. I am looking forward to trying it again.
You must be wondering what is this bloody red dish. Well its sweet and sour pork. SSP here is not like what you can get in Singapore. I believe this is a bit of a HK and Glaswegian Fusion which is notoriously infused with malt vinegar (yucks). The souriness is meant to come from pineapple and some chinese vinegar not malt vinegar.... Fortunately, the chef probably knew we were chinese so he tuned his dish towards our palates. It was a pretty tasty dish despite its looks. The best part was the meat was tender and the sauce although qutie wet wasn't overpowering.
This is called Thai Shi Ji aka Thai Style Chiken. Haha quite a stylo name right but its basically KFC spice powdered chicken topped with cool cucumber and a sweet thai like sauce. Not too bad la, fried chicken always taste good. Definately recommend it to anyone who comes to China Blue.
Claypot Tofu with Mince Pork. Hmm yummy. Nice with a hot bowl of rice. Actually, this statement is so cliche but I doubt you can eat it on its own. Its just too salty. yeah... Best eaten with a bowl of Rice.
Besides these dishes we also had a starter soup and some red bean soup dessert complimentary of the restaurant. The best part was they gave us a 20% discount card that can be used till they decide it expires. Looks like we will be coming back soon.
Alright its really late now and i need to sleep. Please ignore my spelling errors for now.
HOpe you enjoyed the post. Good night
Monday, 6 April 2009
Roast Beef
Finally a Beef Dish. Big G 's been asking me why hasn't there been any beef dish yet. Well.... Hope this post will satisfy you : )
Aa made this for dinner tonight. Its absolutely delicious, succulent and full of flavour. I like my beef medium rare to medium. Aa on the other hand likes his still alive .. you know... when you cut the beef and you could still hear this mooing sound in your ear and all the bloody juices start flowing out. Yea thats how he likes his.
Along with it were some mashed potatos and huge carrots which tasted almost like sweet potato.
It was a "moo"varllous meal.
Roast Pork Chinese style
Aa does the English dishes and I normally do the Chinese versions. Roast pork is a nice representation of the differences in our culinary skills.
Been eating so much pork lately that I am starting to get tired of its taste. Looks like I'll have to source out some alternative pretty soon.
Ingredients
-----------------------
- Pork 2kg (Belly is nice what i have here is a shoulder which is pretty tough as there is very little fat content in the meat itself)
- 5 Tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 4 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp sesame seed oil
- 2 Tbsp five spice powder.
- Lotsa garlic (As much as your friends can tolerate wahaha)
Mix all the sauces together with 3 Tbsp of water. Rub it all over the meat. Marinate for at least an hour. Overnight works best. Preheat oven to 250 degrees C. Pop the pork into the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 170 degrees C. This will help you to achieve some crackling. Cater approx 25mins for every half kilo of meat.
*Rest your meat for 15mins before carving so that the juices are reabsorbed into the meat. Slice it thin when serving. Eat warm when it is moist.