Seafood Crispy Noodle 海鲜生面

Finally, a break from all the readings and writings! Well there isn't really a break, I am just declaring one myself lol. Here comes my next simple post (can't believe that it has been close to a month since the last!). The truth is, I had made this dish with all the pictures taken a long long while ago. Only, the writing part and the assembly of everything obviously did not happen until now.

This dish was a call I knew I had to make to answer my then serious cravings for wat tan hor 滑旦河 (a Cantonese style of pan fried kuey teow in egg gravy). Again, with what I can find rummaging through my fridge and pantry, this Seafood Crispy Noodle 海鲜生面 is the closest that I can get.

It was through my mom-in-law when I first learned how to cook the wat tan hor. She wasn't exactly making the wat tan hor (using kuey teow) then; it was the vermicelli version of wat tan hor 滑旦米粉 (using vermicelli). The vermicelli version of wat tan hor is better known as something else but oh well, my personal translator is off at work! lol. I shall be back and make amendments to that when I get the chance! Anyway, you can be using any kinds of these noodles - kuey teow 河粉, vermicelli 米粉, chow mein 广东幼炒面, or yee mein 伊面 even.

Oh, how I wish I can get the yee mein that we so commonly use for the Malaysian style of claypot yee mein 瓦煲伊面 here!

Ok, back to the reality. The concept to the making of this dish using any of those noodles is essentially the same. It is after all, the gravy that matters most. With the chow mein that I am using, I made it a point to deep fry the noodles in batches before pouring the gravy over it. This gives an extra crunch to the dish - a huge plus! That, of course, is optional. As with the gravy, it is really flexible in terms of the choice of ingredients you can use - seafood, any kind of meat or just vegetables and tofu - they all work great! Once you have got them all lined up ready for the wok, cooking this is just a breeze...

Tom Yum Fried Vermicelli 冬炎 炒米粉

Life is getting much more hectic! I started taking a writing class just recently and that has taken so much of my time! But as much as I find it hard to believe it myself, it has been fun so far! There is so much to learn, plenty to share and even more to brush up and work on. Anyway, that explained why I have been missing in action for such a good while. The bad news? Now that I have got the class rolling (despite just one single course), this rather messed-up routine of mine will be tagging me for now... at least until the class officially comes to an end.

The bad bad news? It has really siphoned almost all of my time and energy in me. I have less time for house chores, less time for grocery shopping and almost no time left for any action (big or small) in the kitchen. Baking has altogether ceased, the kitchen can go untouched for days at times and all that I have now is probably just enough time to make a quick bite on especially days with classes and others with a due date to meet. Lunch and dinner have become exceptionally simple - they are whatever that I can make out of the few ingredients that I can find sitting in the pantry and fridge.

This - the blogging - is one that I'm not entirely willing to forgo. In order to make this workable for me, I believe what's being blogged about from now will be a whole series of real simple cooking. It probably is time anyway to think and get serious about filing those 30-minute meals recipes that everyone can benefit from at some points or another (in my case, almost all the time now).

Here's the first one on the list! Tom yum fried vermicelli! It wasn't that long ago when I first had this. Mom was the first to discover it in the morning market that she frequented. It definitely was a love at first taste for her. Sure enough, she soon recommended that I tried that too and that was... WOW! Pretty unique, honestly! It is far different from the usual soup version of tom yum that we are so accustomed to. This is a real great variation to cooking using the tom yum paste. Words, however, won't do justice. You have to try it for yourself!

Here's a list to what I would think as essential to whipping up this dish - vermicelli, meat and/or seafood (any of your preferred choice), bean sprouts (that will be the main source of fiber!), a carrot (for an extra hue and crunch) and of most importance - the tom yum paste. Find a real good brand that you like because that ultimately will be the key that unlocks every potential this tom yum fried vermicelli has. Just one last thing capable of adding a little magic to the dish - a few leaves of kaffir lime. It always is a huge plus if you have them but worry not if you don't - it's still gonna be fine. You won't need a bunch, just a couple should suffice in giving you that hint of lime and fragrance.

the trusted brand

On a separate note, here's a totally random quote that so aptly describes what I have been feeling of late...

"The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”  

― Michel Legrand

Lets get cooking!

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Italian Sausage

Edited June 4th 2013 @ 10:15am
A friend left me an email late last night saying that I may have mistaken something else for the broccoli rabe in this post. Even as I clicked on the link within the mail and read the Wikipedia page on broccoli rabe (which I had read once before I actually set out to hunt for my first ever bundle of broccoli rabe or rapini), I was still pretty convinced (but very panicky) that I had got the right broccoli rabe. So I went through a quick mental checklist. The broccoli rabe has...

• a different appearance from the regular broccoli CHECK
• baby florets and long stalks  CHECK & CHECK
• a similarity in shape to the Chinese kailan CHECK
• ruffled, spiked leaves surrounding the florets Hmm, I don't remember seeing much of these in that bundle of greens that I bought...
• a delicate bitterness Erm... definitely not. Those of mine were actually sweet! Oopsssss

So I went on to check on something else - baby broccoli. Uh-oh... it was indeed baby broccoli or broccolini that I had gotten myself that day. Here's a link to a neat description of broccolini, a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese kailan. 

And here's a link to a page that compares all three - broccoli, broccolini and broccoli rabe; and another one here that does a real great job at clearing the air.

Here I am with a confession to make - I have got it all so wrong! It really should have been broccoli rabe in place of the broccolini used in this recipe. Pardon me, my huge mistake! 

And here's to you, Huey Fang! Thank you for pointing it out to me!

I recently added this book to my cookbook collection - the MasterChef Cookbook. Browsing the new and barely 2-month-old bookstore here in the neighborhood (which by the way, where have all the bookstores gone?), it didn't take me long to decide that I wanted this. Love at first sight? Pretty much yea! It features the recipes to the many winning dishes by the final 14 contestants and judges - Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot.

And what really caught my attention with just a very brief flip-through was how they each comes with neat instructions and real attractive photos - that even as an amateur, these are the scrumptious dishes that you can always try creating at home rather easily.

Even before I actually paid for the book and officially made it mine, I had already started bookmarking the pages mentally - "Woo, the Egg in Purgatory!", "Egg en Cocotte with Mushrooms and Brioche Toast!" (and there I gestured for my hubby to come over with a "psst" and we started salivating over the food photography together), pasta! (and you'll be surprised how even the simplest kind like the Linguini Aglio e Olio looks so much greater and made to sound totally doable in the book) and a whole range of seafood! The book is that good! Well at least it is at first glance...

This Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Italian Sausage marked the first recipe that I tried out of the book. I have never had anything close to this before, so what made me choose this over everything else in the book must have been its simplicity and how it looks so attractive despite having just three real simple ingredients - the pasta, broccoli rabe and the Italian sausage.

A recipe courtesy of Joe Bastianich, I would say that it is indeed a simple dish at its best! Quoting his actual words from the book -

"An outstanding dish shouldn't be overly complex. Often the best ones are made with only a handful of ingredients. For example, this pasta recipe contains little more than broccoli rabe and sausage. The delicious simplicity of authentic Italian food is what we are looking for. When you think you have enough ingredients, take two out!". 

And simple and outstanding this dish sure is!

Laksam Kelantan

It has been a real long while since I last had laksam. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"... there's so much truth in that saying when it comes to many aspects in life, but probably just not so much with food. It wasn't until I came across Gertrude's from My Kitchen Snippets on her post on the Malaysian Food Fest (MFF) Kelantan Month that had once again stirred all the memories of everything Kelantan-related food in me after all this while.

Browsing and reading through her post, it felt like a walk down the memory lane - of all the family gatherings my dad's side of the family had had in Kelantan back in my younger years and particularly of the many years dad spent working in the state up North along the Peninsular East Coast, away from home.

A sweet moment of reminiscence that sure is...

My appreciation (with some curiosity) for the diverse cuisines in Malaysia is one precious value I take after my dad. We share the same enjoyment trying different cuisines whether or not they are the familiar to us, checking out new places, exploring different cities like the locals, strolling at one local bazaar after another and especially getting spoilt for choice when it comes to food. It was during those trips of ours to Kelantan that I was briefly introduced to Kelantan culinary delights. And the rest of the story - they simply unfold and develop themselves there onward.

Of the extensive list within Gertrude's introduction post that reveals some the most famous dishes in Kelantan with good details, my attention kept getting diverted back to one single dish among them - the laksam. Oh, how I've missed it! Made famous in the East Coast particularly in (but certainly not limited to) Kelantan and Terengganu, it is a local favorite for many, even for a Kuantan folk like me.

The difference between the laksam of both states? Not much really... they closely resemble one another especially in term of appearance. The only difference (but maybe not so notable after all) is probably how the Kelantan laksam tends to be a little sweeter in taste whilst the Terengganu version - a little more savory in general.

I have not an exact recollection as to when and where I had first tried the laksam, but it has always been one of the few dishes in my "lookout" list especially during the Ramadhan months with food bazaars springing to life everywhere. Having not had it for so so long, that post was all needed to first get me so intrigued, and then all motivated to check the laksam out a little more. That, plus some extra  readings especially on its making and I'm all decided - this is it! I shall give it a try making my own at home!

Scouting out for a laksam recipe was not too difficult a task - thanks to its popularity! This is a recipe I adapted from Ita at Masam Manis in her post on Laksam which in turn has originated from Yani at Myresipi.com. My only setback in this laksam making - I did not manage to get hold of any asam gelugor (dried tamarind slices). So where it should be present, I substituted them with the tamarind juice instead (a suggestion brought forth by Chef Wan in his post on Tuna Curry featured on Asian Food Channel). It did concern me a little wondering if the lack of asam gelugor (and especially its natural fruity flavor) will affect the laksam much, but it was proven unwarranted in the end. There's the promised delightful tangy taste in the gravy nonetheless, and it's not at all disappointing. But should you have the asam gelugor readily available in your pantry, by all means please do use them...

Breaking the laksam down to its components, we have the laksam gravy, the noodle, the ulam (a mixture of fresh herbs and salad eaten raw) and the sambal. A brief look at it - it is generally a serving of rolled up flat rice noodles drenched in a rich and relatively thick white gravy, topped with a variety of ulam and finished with a huge dollop of sambal (and a squeeze of lime!).

 ikan kembung (Indian mackerel)

The rich and relatively thick white gravy - it is the centerpiece to a serving of laksam, pretty much defining the quality of the laksam in general. Made primarily with fish - first steamed, deboned and then pulsed into a paste, the gravy with a natural sweetness coming from the fish is then made creamy by adding in the coconut milk. Some of the choices of fish include the ikan kembung (Indian mackerel), ikan selar (yellowtail scad), ikan selayang or ikan tamban (both translated as sardine on the MalaysianFood.net in its glossary page). With some minimal spices adding in some aroma and tanginess to the gravy, its taste (and appearance) is accentuated and made even more unique with the use of black pepper powder and especially so when it is freshly and coarsely ground.

The laksam noodle is made with a mixture of rice flour and wheat flour. Slightly thicker than the usual flat rice noodle (kuey teow), making the laksam noodle has always been more like a homemade affair - they are almost never seen or sold readily made and packed in the market unlike all the other easily available types of noodle. From a smooth batter, a small amount is spread in a thin layer and steamed to set. As it cools, it is rolled up neatly and cut to bite sized right before serving. Soft with a tad of springiness, they should neither be too thin or too thick in texture.

The ulam made up of different types of vegetables and herbs makes a great source of fiber that completes the laksam in terms of its nutritional value. It is also the garnishing that does the rest - it adds color, complements the aroma and enhances the taste. Some commonly used greens that make great candidates for this ulam include the bean sprouts, cucumber, long beans, daun kesum (Vietnamese coriander) and bunga kantan (torch ginger bud). Served raw (some julienned, some thinly sliced, others serves as it is), the ulam adds a contrasting flavor and texture with an extra crunch to a serving of laksam.

And for the finishing touch - the sambal! Made with fresh red chilies and some birds eye chilies for an extra kick, it comes with a hint of piquancy from the shrimp paste (belacan) added in. A plate of laksam now completely transformed visually with the vibrant red of sambal - with a grandiose squeeze of the fresh quartered lime to wrap things up... the laksam's all done!

Now... to the recipe!

Economy Fried Vermicelli 经济炒米粉 (Updated)

Economy Fried Vermicelli 经济炒米粉 updated! With a couple more photos on the serving suggestions...

with the classic fried chicken

or sambal eggs!

Check out the Economy Fried Vermicelli 经济炒米粉 post for the recipe!

Pork Noodle 猪肉粉

Cravings alert! Yea, that's how bad it was! My craving for this pork noodle has always been there left unattended, well technically ever since I moved here. But each time it hit, I would usually manage to brush it off, distracting myself making do with plenty other options - settling especially on those that are not as much of a hassle in their making and of course a lot less time consuming too.

But having seen Sonia (Nasi Lemak Lover)'s post on her 新山粿條湯 Pork Kuey Teow Soup (Johor style), that craving couldn't be crushed any longer! So Sonia, thanks for the real good push! With streams of photos so attractive in her post, it's just hard to convince myself (and especially my tummy) that we can and should still wait until our next trip back to Malaysia for a bowl of this swine-centered goodness.

Pork noodle is especially my dad and my brother's all-time favorite. They just love everything with pork! Mom - she's the total opposite of them. She despises almost everything with pork! Me - I got a bit of both. My affinity for them does comes with a limitation though; anything beyond lean is a strict NO, and liver is the only innard that I tolerate pretty well.

Me and the liver - that story started when I was first told that I needed a boost in my iron consumption. So I started taking pork livers and cockles! Took me a couple of trials (and rejections), but eventually I have decided that the liver's not bad and cockles are amazing! So, some kinda acquired taste in both cases? Maybe...

A bowl of pork noodle usually comes with all the essential pork-based ingredients - there's the thinly sliced pork loins, minced pork and pork meat balls. A step up the adventure ladder and you get the liver slivers, intestines and kidneys. Of course, all these come tailored to your order; you can opt for some and exclude the rest. Served with some greens on the side [most of the time the Chinese mustard green (choy sum)], each bowl comes finished with some crispy fried garlic (essentially with their oil) and the crispy pork lards. So artery clogging! But still I can't help having a weak spot for them!

Having an extra egg is optional; but I certainly wouldn't object to having that beautifully poached egg topping a bowl of this pork noodle. And when you finally do breach the protective layer and get the runny yolk blended into the broth... gosh! A classic case of taste buds overloading!

Ultimately the broth that bathes all the ingredients in the bowl of pork noodle is what makes a stall selling this different from another selling exactly the same. Made with what must have been loads of pork bones simmered over a substantial amount of time, the resulting broth is one so flavorful it's just hard to miss the natural sweetness infused in it. And that is how the real good ones defined.

This homemade version incorporates the ribs and some vegetables that are sweet in nature in its broth making. It does come with a light difference compared to those 100% porcine-based broth, probably with an extra light hint of vegetables while missing the slight cloudiness and murkiness coming naturally from the heaps of pork bones. But this version inspired by Sonia is great nonetheless! Sweet (nothing artificial, of course) and flavorsome! And the good news? It has got my immense cravings for this pork noodle totally checked!

A mental note to myself - my next try would be a broth made with plenty of just the pork bones and nothing else and I'll see how that turns out... *evil grin*.

And now... let's get to the making!

Scrambled Egg with Glass Noodles 粉丝炒蛋

It all started with hubby's big craving for the four seasons Chinese cold platter 冷盘. Such an unusual huge craving he had! lol. Setting out to lay off a plan for the different small-portion dishes to fill the huge platter, this Scrambled Egg with Glass Noodles 粉丝炒蛋 came to my mind. It's more of a replica of the renowned scrambled egg with shark fin 炒桂花翅 commonly seen and served in these platters that always make it first to the table in Chinese banquets or multi-course meals.

But with the active anti-shark finning campaigns (oh yea, Say NO to Shark Fin! lol) going on especially over the past decade, what used to be the shark fin in the dish has gradually been substituted with the imitated shark fin instead. I think that is a real good call, well at least to me personally. And this version of scrambled egg with not at all a relation to the shark turns the dish up a notch further. With the glass noodles in replacement for the shark fin, this is one totally made simple and possible to be recreated easily at home. A way more modest version compared to its predecessor, it nevertheless makes an awesome dish still; it's a classic dish where simplicity meets elegance!

The credit goes to Wendy from Table For 2..... or More; this is a recipe adapted from a post of hers that goes by a real nice and fancy name Osmanthus Scrambled Egg 桂花炒蛋. And a last note - try serving it with leaves of fresh iceberg lettuce! Springy, fragrant and some flavorsome scrambled egg with glass noodle wrapped in crisp cold lettuce, REFRESHING is the word!

Somen in Pig Maw and Chicken Soup 猪肚鸡汤寿面 #2 - Chinese New Year Series

This is an extension to the previous post by the same name Somen in Pig Maw and Chicken Soup 猪肚鸡汤寿面, or an updated post on that specifically. A tradition of the Hokkien or Putien Henghua people 兴化人, this is what hubby grew up having at home, especially on the many auspicious days we Chinese do celebrate and plenty other normal days in between. A closely related version to the Mee Sua soup 面线汤 that I grew up having at home, the differences between the two lie mainly in the specific type of noodles used and the garnishing that comes with them.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year here in the States this year, I made it a point to bring this into the picture as part of our small celebration. The difference between this and the previous post on somen? Well this post will be an in-depth post on a more elaborated version of the somen, probably one that makes a better replica to my mom-in-law's version. It comes with a little more preparations yes, and a little more time needed for its making in general. Lets just say that the previous post will be what I call the simpler version to this. I'll still settle for that whenever I feel like having somen in a snap on some random days, and I'll go for this on days when I have the little extra time to spare for something a little fancier maybe. Specifically, they differ in terms of...

• The chicken breast Instead of serving the chicken breast as a whole, I have them out of the pot of soup about an hour before serving and shred them fine.  
• The greens Previously I had blanched the Chinese mustard green (choy sum) and served them plainly as it is. This time I have them stir fried with some fresh shiitake mushrooms and sliced fish cakes before topping them onto the bowl of somen.
• The garnishings Mom-in-law's version always come garnished with some crispy fried fried seaweed of some great quality. Not there in my previous post, but it is this time. And yes, it does make a whole lot of difference! lol.
• The soup In terms of the pig maw and chicken soup, apart from the different types of mushrooms I incorporated this time (button and straw mushrooms as opposed to the enoki previously), they are all otherwise the same. 

Quoting from my previous post on how to clean the pig maw:
1. Trim off any visible fat on the stomach lining.
2. Inverting the stomach cavity, scrape the lining with a butter knife, mainly to remove as much slimy impurities as possible. This is where it takes up most of the time with cleaning a pig maw. So do practice a little patience here, because once this is over, you are pretty much done. Keep the scraping going - rinse occasionally, and repeat all over again. My cue to stop? When you get less and less from scraping, you hold it better with hands (especially with the slime lessening over time) and the smell gets more tolerable.
3. It should be good to go now, but I usually do end mine with a bout of dry rubbing with corn flour in and out to remove whatever it is capable of removing, followed by a good rinse after.
4. Repeat the dry rubbing now with a good amount of sea salt. Rinse with warm water.
5. Blanch the pig maw in a pot of water for a minute or two. The pig maw will appear to set taking the shape of a pouch. Remove from heat and drain.
6. Bring a wok or skillet to heat on high heat. Bring in the pig maw and dry fry it against the wall of wok or skillet (my mom's golden piece of advice - it should further reduce the smell of the pig maw which I indeed find true!). Turn and keep moving the pig maw around the wok or skillet until it dries up and the skin gets slightly browned. Set aside and let cool. When cooled down enough, cut into pieces. Be sure not to slice them into pieces too small. Moderate size always gives better texture (I will recommend pieces measuring about 2"x1"). Set aside.

Homemade Mee Hoon Kueh (Hand-Torn Noodles) 面粉粿

A post rather similar to the Flour Noodle Soup (Pan Mee Soup) 清汤板面, this was made to satisfy my sudden craving for a bowl pan mee out of the blue. So sudden I hardly had all the ingredients I needed to make this our dinner that day. Yet I wasn't quite that keen on making a trip out to get them all. With some store bought flour noodles left barely enough for an individual serving, I resorted to making my own dough this time. Not my first time, but definitely one that I have not done for a while now. Probably so since I have found the commercial pan mee that I got so contented with, one that I still think is somewhat comparable to those home made ones as mentioned in my previous post.

The good thing about making my own? I guess rather than having the usual thin and round noodles 幼面 that I regularly made my pan mee with, I can opt for the hand torn version of pan mee this time around. mmMMmm, suddenly all my taste sensations just felt so awaken simply picturing a bowl of this mee hoon kueh lol. Not having the "manicai" with me, I have that green substituted with the Chinese mustard green (choy sum). And instead of the fried baby anchovies that I previously used, I made a batch for garnishing with the regular kinds of anchovies. Simple variations, minimal changes, huge satisfaction!

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Fried Tofu Puffs 香菇豆包焖鸡肉

This braised chicken with mushrooms and fried tofu puffs makes a classic home-cooked dish. So classic you can hardly see it printed in the menu, let alone served in most Chinese restaurants. But this is a dish commonly seen in typical Chinese homes. Probably not the exact version, but definitely one closely resembling this in one way or another. Simple ingredients with nothing much fancy, this makes a very appetizing dish that will definitely remind you of your childhood and all the home-cooked meals you used to have growing up at home.

There can be an endless variations to this. Apart from the fried tofu puffs and shiitake mushrooms, their places can be well taken by tofu, fried bean curd sticks or the wood ear fungus even . With the light soy sauce being the main ingredient constituting the gravy, it comes balanced with a tad of sweetness coming from the sugar and of course, the natural sweetness from the chicken. This dish goes exceptionally well with a bowl of rice. That tames the saltiness, counterbalancing the overall flavor. This is a case where simplicity is truly at its best! Whether to include a small bundle of the glass noodle is optional. But do try incorporating a small amount of these carbs into the dish. You will be amazed by how well they taste as they absorb the gravy so packed with flavor and taste. 

Japchae (Korean Stir Fried Noodles) 잡채

Japchae was one of the first few dishes that was introduced to me when I had my very first exposure to the Korean cuisine years ago. Despite its pure simplicity without anything really fancy in its making, this was one that had surprisingly left me with an exceptionally good impression - healthy, plain tasty, pleasant to the palate and very appealing to the eyes in fact. The delicate strands of sweet potato noodles come tender but not overly so, retaining its springy nature just so perfectly well. Tossed with a myriad of ingredients and some simple seasonings, the noodles adopt the richness of flavor coming from this whole combination. The end result - a plate of stir fried noodles with a distinctive pleasing texture and a touch of crunch plus the exotic combination of different tastes and colors, all in one. A light and nourishing dish to my personal definition, this is one in which a spoonful will always leave you wanting for more.

Bak Kut Teh (Spare Ribs Soup) 肉骨茶

Being my dad and brother's all-time favorite, we have plenty of bak kut teh growing up and dining out with never a specific time to having them - they never are confined to just breakfast or dinner in particular. Lunch and sometimes even supper, it has always fit so well like no others. Having different versions of bak kut teh from town to town whether they are of the same or different origins, this one featured here has got to be the one that I am most familiar with - Hokkien style? I am not exactly sure myself. Apart from this being one with a broth tinted with a touch of dark soy sauce, I have had others that come clearer in general - some taste more peppery than others, some come with ingredients all loaded within one same claypot, and some will have the different ingredients served in small, separate portions each. And in some later years was when I was introduced to yet another version with a totally different dimension from any aforementioned, nothing like the conventional bak kut teh in fact - the dry form of bak kut teh. Rather than being soupy, this is served in a caramelized thickened gravy usually loaded with dried chilies and heaps of garlic.

If I were to describe bak kut teh as per my very own experiences with them, it will have to be a claypot dish on its own in which the pork ribs are cooked in a herbal soup base infused with a concoction of herbs and spices. Savory in general, the pot of soup with such a herbal richness is made wholesome and complete with the addition of other simple ingredients - assorted mushrooms (shiitake, button and enoki to name a few), fried tofu puffs, deep fried bean curd sheets and some greens, among the common few. Great served with a bowl of plain white rice, yam rice or the fried shallot oil infused rice, they go exceptionally well with a side serving of crispy crullers with birds eye chilies and minced garlic in sweet dark soy sauce as the dipping sauce on the side. Too big a picture to take in? Maybe lol. But when you have found a good place serving bak kut teh that suits your very own taste according to your personal liking, having bak kut teh has got to be one of the few that always comes a maximum satisfaction guaranteed each time. 

Making this at home comes rather easily especially when you have managed to recognize and get hold of a spice mix meant for making a good serving of bak kut teh. With that in hand and those few essential ingredients to be incorporated together, time will be the remaining factor before you have a pot of bak kut teh simmering away within your very comfort zone, filling your home with a lingering robust and intense aroma as the cooking goes on. Moving here, it was months later before I spotted the first pack of bak kut teh spice mix with a brand most Malaysian will be familiar with - Yeo's. One single try and I have ended up going back to the same Chinese grocer to stock up on these spice mix since. They are in fact the best that I have come to try thus far, and never could I have been more satisfied with the pot of bak kut teh that we do get at home these days.

Making bak kut teh at home is one that I have always made sure that they come more than enough for just a meal or two. The fact that they never fail to taste better the longer they are left to simmer makes it a reason good enough to be having the same for the day or two after. So do aim a little more than what your tummy can accommodate - chances are they will always leave you wanting for more as soon as you are done with your first round of bak kut teh!

Somen in Pig Maw and Chicken Soup 猪肚鸡汤寿面

It officially marked the very first day to winter yesterday, so promptly greeted with the snowy weather that we had throughout the day yesterday. Returning from our anniversary trip to Las Vegas just the past weekend, hubby and I both are now again in our battle against the seasonal flu that we thought we had just recovered from not that long just prior to our trip - pretty much thanks to the sleepless nights and overindulging ourselves in the endless lines of great food, particularly the part on overdoing the liquor (oops). With our lifestyle going haywire in the sin city, the few crazy nights had surely knocked some consciousness into me at the end of the trip, something that I have to involuntarily accept now - that I probably am slightly beyond my age for those stuff ever again lol. Day 5 of feeling under the weather (and still counting), well this should prove that there must be some truth to that little fact check there, and that I should really be thinking twice before ever engaging myself in any of those again in the future. Sign of repentance? Oh yea, I bet it is lol.

We have an unusually cold weather here in Michigan yesterday, the lowest it has got thus far (but then again the tough days are just about to start! grrrrrrrrrrr). Feeling all so sulky on the whole, I guess it's a thing good enough that I have this little craving left stirring in me still - chicken soup! This somen in pig maw and chicken soup 猪肚鸡汤寿面 is pretty much a fusion of my mom's chicken soup and my mom-in-law's somen. Mom's chicken soup comes with a whole chicken cut into pieces, a variety of mushrooms, and dried scallops - clear and yet so very flavorful and nutritious it makes itself such a great comfort food on its own. Mom-in-law's somen on the other hand, has always been the iconic dish at home (in which the noodle represents longevity in general) especially to the many auspicious days Chinese do celebrate - Chinese New Year and birthdays among the few. Served with pig maw soup with some greens, crispy fried seaweed and deep fried shallots, this is a tradition of the Putian people, or Xinghua 兴化人, a Han ethnic group from Putian, Fujian - dad-in-law's origin.

Cleaning the pig maw is one that really only gets better with experience. I can never forget how my first experience with it turned out to be a real disaster. I spent some good four hours at it before I was convinced that they are good to be incorporated into my pot of simmering chicken soup back then. Your second try will naturally take a lot less time than the first and the next time you are at it again, you will then realize that you would have gotten the hang of it by then. But generally this is how I usually get mine done.

• Trim off any visible fat on the stomach lining. 
• Inverting the stomach cavity, scrape the lining with a butter knife, mainly to remove as much slimy impurities as possible. This is where it takes up most of the time with cleaning a pig maw. So do practice a little patience here, because once this is over, you are pretty much done. Keep the scraping going - rinse occasionally, and repeat all over again. My cue to stop? When you get less and less from scraping, you hold it better with hands (especially with the slime lessening over time) and the smell gets more tolerable.
• It should be good to go now, but I usually do end mine with a bout of dry rubbing with corn flour in and out to remove whatever it is capable of removing, followed by a good rinse after.
• Repeat the dry rubbing now with a good amount of sea salt. Finish with a good rinse using warm water. A little more boiling and dry frying (a little more elaborated in the recipe part as they come) and that is it! 

Tedious? Maybe, but practice really does make perfect. These days, it takes not much more than half an hour to get them squeaky clean. And the best part about it? Doing it yourself at home means you know exactly the quality of the pig maw you are getting into the pot of chicken soup and of utmost importance, what your family ingests as it gets served on the table later. So worth it!

Stir Fried Instant Noodles 炒即食面

Another weekend with not a particular craving in mind, just anything simple sounds and looks good enough to us as hubby and I are still coping with the overwhelming Thanksgiving dinner. Not keen on neither dining out nor getting myself busy in the kitchen as the weekend approaches its end, I resorted to what most students (despite me being a long gone one *blush*) turn to for an easy meal - instant noodles. My favorite version will be the Maggi mee goreng mamak (fried Maggi noodle à la mamak style) that I particularly loved having at mamak stalls in Malaysia. To catch sight of a packet of those curry flavored Maggi noodles is close to being impossible here where we live, but we have the Indomie instant noodle in abundance here instead. So different brand, different packaging, different taste but same cooking principles - they are basically the instant noodles stir fried using the noodles within the packet.

The Indomie instant noodles come in packages meant to be served as plain fried noodles - simply have them boiled and mixed with the seasonings and voilà - fried noodles delivered as instantly as promised. But while I am all leaning towards an easy night, I am still all in to make our dinner a proper wholesome meal still, or a rather balanced one at least. So with a little extra touch here and there, giving the final appearance a little color and extra flavor, you get a slightly more elaborated version of fried noodles that may leave your guests (in my case my hubby that is lol) not grasping even a trace of anything close to an instant quality after all.

Buddha's Delight - Luo Han Zai 罗汉斋

Luo Han Zai in Mandarin is basically the stir fried mixed vegetables in general, a well-known common vegetarian dish among the Chinese community. Known to some as the Buddha's delight, I think apart from Buddha himself, this probably is every vegetable lover's delight. Surely that makes me exactly one of those too. A vegetable lover I sure am, that I have always known, but to think that I have liked this plainly because it is a dish loaded with vegetables will be an understatement. All in all I think what really attracts me most about this dish is the well-elaborated presentation brought about by the many different ingredients found within the same one plate. No, this is not those 2 or 3 or 4-in-1 kind, but it is one of the few dishes that can easily manage to carry double the types of different ingredients used to say the least, yet not appearing to be too suffocating or complicated in the end. Personally, I think this is one of the few classic examples of how different ingredients when chosen right can really be mixed and matched in harmony - no one really stands out and no one really masks any others. And to top things off, a perfect serving of luo han zai requires only the minimal seasonings - the red fermented bean curd 南乳 and light soy sauce to taste.

napa cabbage, fried bean curd stick, glass noodle, wood ear fungus, fried tofu puff,
baby corn, enoki mushroom, shiitake mushroom, ginger, garlic and red fermented bean curd