Food Archives - Page 3 of 9 - As Suanie Sees It

Food in Singapore: Kuey Chap & Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

January 19, 2015 By Suanie Leave a Comment

When in Singapore, the first thing my friends and I MUST eat is kuey chap, a Teochew Chinese dish of noodles, soup and supreme porky bits.

You may recognise it as kway zhap, koay chap, kuey zap, etc. However the spelling, they mean the same thing: smooth kuey teow; flat, broad rice noodles in broth, served with braised pork meat, offal, beancurd and eggs.

The broth is made with the same braising sauce for the meats and offal. A blend of 5-spice powder, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, soy sauce and sugar; aromatic and insanely delicious if done right.

They do it very right at Ah Keat Pig’s Organ Soup & Kway Chap, a hawker stall belonging to Luckystar Eating House in Marsiling. The broth is flavourful without being overpowering. The pork meat is tender, the intestines clean (higher hygiene standards in Singapore) and tasty; each offal has its correct texture, and the accompanying deep-fried beancurd, braised egg and salted vegetables worthy on their own.

Two things about kuey chap in Singapore:

1) No coagulated pig’s blood. I don’t eat this but a lot of people do. But you can’t get it in Singapore anymore, their government has deemed it unhygienic.
2) Fishcakes. They add fishcakes to the braised dish. I don’t quite get it.

Ah Keat Pig’s Organ Soup & Kway Chap
Luckystar Eating House
Blk 211 Marsiling Crescent
Singapore 730211

Opens daily from 7am – 8pm or 9pm. Or whenever the owners are not off holidaying, enjoying their well-deserved breaks.

— *** —

If there is a single local food that Singapore is best known for, it must be the Hainanese chicken rice. Steamed chicken and rice cooked in chicken broth, served with a spicy sauce made of chilli, ginger and lime, yum!

You may be amused to know that there is no such thing as Hainanese chicken rice in Hainan, China. What we know as Hainanese chicken rice today, is an immigrant’s variation of the Wenchang chicken.

Perhaps the most famous chicken rice in Singapore is Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, favoured by Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay and Tetsuya Wakuda.

Smooth steamed, tender ‘white’ chicken cooked beautifully, retaining its juiciness. Eat with hot, fluffy rice and spicy, zesty chilli sauce.

A basic chicken rice plate costs S$3.50, and a whole chicken is S$24. Get some beansprouts, they go down very well together.

I read that their grain-fed chicken is sourced from farms in Batu Pahat. No wonder so delicious lah 😉

So was it good? Yes. Worth the hype? Not bad. Can you get equivalent or better in Malaysia? Yes.

There is one Tian Tian at Joo Chiat, and one at Maxwell food court. Either one, be prepared to queue in line during peak hours.

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
#01-10/11 Maxwell Road Food Centre
No. 1 Kadayanallur St,
Singapore 069184.

Opens Tues to Sun, 11am -8pm.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Eating Out, Travel + Trips Tagged With: famous food singapore, hawker food singapore, Singapore 2014, what to eat in singapore

IPPUDO Malaysia: Spicy Black Ramen

January 12, 2015 By Suanie 3 Comments

Ramen addicts! Looking for a new ramen taste? Kickstart the new year with Spicy Black, an IPPUDO special only available in Singapore and now, Malaysia!

IPPUDO’s Spicy Black

Spicy Black, a blend specially concocted for our fiery palates, is a combination of IPPUDO’s original pork broth with spicy nikumiso (miso-flavored ground pork). A mix of black pepper, shansho (Japanese pepper), various spices, and IPPUDO’s new spicy fragrant oil come together to challenge your taste buds.

IPPUDO’s signature ramen

This unique explosive soup is served with thin noodles, melt-in-your-mouth chashu, minced meat, bitter spicy salad and coriander. It smells absolutely delicious; the fragrant oil with its accompanying spices teases all your senses. The first bite is a familiar taste of IPPUDO’s signature pork bone broth, then the chili hits.

IPPUDO’s new Spicy Black is priced at RM26++, is available at all IPPUDO Malaysia outlets from now until 31 March 2015.

Hakata IPPUDO @ Pavilion KL

As part of the same Chef Special menu for this period, the IPPUDO outlets in Pavilion KL and The Gardens Mall feature the same seasonal menu. At a food tasting session, Japanese Chef Yosuke Nishiguchi was on hand (with a translator) to describe and explain each menu item.

IPPUDO’s Chef Yosuke Nishiguchi

Spider Roll (RM18++) is as straightforward as they come. Pieces of maki sushi with deep-fried softshell crab, avocado, lettuce, seaweed and roe, served with IPPUDO’s own blend of spicy mayo and teriyaki sauce. Enjoyable, especially as it is covered with a thin layer of panko for a surprising crunch.

Spider Roll

Next, teppan dishes that go GREAT with Japanese beer.

Buta Kimuchi Teppan (RM16++), thin strips of pork belly fried with kimchi and bean sprouts. Surprisingly it was not very spicy, given the kimchi base. I was told that the Japanese do not take to spiciness like us, and this is an acceptable level for most of their customers.

Buta Kimuchi Teppan

Pork Ginger Teppan (RM18++). Thinly sliced pork belly in a sweet sauce, with very mild ginger paste. It’s the perfect dish to go with cold sake.

Pork Ginger Teppan

These Seasonal Chef Specials are available at IPPUDO Pavilion KL and The Gardens Mall from now until 31 March 2015.

Extra note: The special menu is different at the BSC outlet, which has roasted pork loin and beef tataki.

Joyce said, I MUST HAVE A PHOTO WITH THE CHEF!

Itadakimasu!

IPPUDO Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
Lot C4.07.00, Level 4.
Opens daily: 11am – 10pm

IPPUDO The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur
Lot No. T-218, Third Floor.
Opens daily: 10.30am – 10pm

IPPUDO Website || Facebook || Instagram

3 Comments Filed Under: Eating Out Tagged With: ippudo spicy black, japanese ramen, non halal ramen malaysia

Recipe: Chinese ABC Soup

December 3, 2014 By Suanie 13 Comments

In my increasingly limited spare time, I find myself wondering: who first made ABC soup, and why the heck did they call it the ABC soup??

A typical Chinese ABC soup contains meat (either pork or chicken), onions, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes. The recipe is flexible so you can add an assortment of ‘related’ goodies – sweetcorn, dried scallops, dried oysters, red dates, goji berries, Chinese (napa) cabbage, meatballs etc. All these extra ingredients are to encourage the natural sweetening and flavouring of the soup.

So where’s the A, B and C?

On the Internet, some people claim that it’s called ABC soup due to vitamins A, B and C from the vegetables. Others say because it’s easy to make, as easy as ABC.

So no one knows. Fine, I guess it doesn’t really matter, so long we can keep making and enjoying this light, nutritious deliciousness. I also need to think about other things in my spare time.

By the way the first vitamin was discovered in the year 1910. This means vitamins aren’t part of traditional Chinese medicinal and healing concepts. Okay I’ll stop now!!

Indeed, the Chinese ABC soup is ridiculously easy to make. So long you have the ingredients, a stove and 3 hours to spare, you are in for a treat!

Chinese ABC soup with a lot of ingredients, because I can.

Here’s how you do it the extravagant, Suanie-way in the following order:

Core Stuff:
– 3 litres water
– 300-400g pork/chicken bones/meat
Optional:
– 6-8 dried red dates
– 6-8 dried scallops
– 6-8 dried oysters

Blanch bone/meat in boiling water to remove scum. Remove, and place in 3 litre water along with the optional ingredients. Let boil then simmer for 30 minutes.

Main Vege:
– 2 carrots, peeled and cut into rough chunks
– 1 potato, peeled and cut to chunks
– 2 tomatoes, quartered
– 1 large onion, quartered
– 1 sweet corn, cut to chunks
– 1/2 of a whole garlic bulb
– some whole white peppercorn
Optional:
– a handful of goji berries, mmmm

Dump into pot and let simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Secret Kicks:
– Some Chinese napa cabage, cut to chunks
– Fuzhou meatballs, yummmmm!

Put in Chinese napa cabbage in the final 30 minutes, and the meatballs in the final 5-10 minutes. Add salt to taste, but we don’t usually do that as the soup is so flavourful by now.

This recipe serves 4 – 6 people. If you’ve made too much ABC soup and are bored by it, try this trick that my grandmother taught me:

Blended Chinese ABC Soup

Remove all meats. Don’t want them by now. Strip corn from cob (if there are any left), and together with the rest of the remaining vegetables and soup, BLEND!

… in a blender, of course…

Then add salt and black pepper, and you have Chinese ABC Soup with a twist!

Enjois.

13 Comments Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Chinese bone broth, chinese soup recipe, easy chinese soup

Passage Thru India, Kuala Lumpur

December 1, 2014 By Suanie 5 Comments

Step into Passage Thru India in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and be transported to a world reminiscent of India’s bold colours, whimsical music and magical ambiance.

It was my first time to the up-market award-winning Indian themed restaurant, and I was not expecting such interior design excessiveness. Certainly not tacky; rather it felt like attending an intimate Indian wedding with such details in their decor and vibrance in the air.

This family-run business started in 1994 and is still going strong, a testament to the quality of their food. It is popular among tourists and locals who appreciate dining on delicious Indian cuisine in a stimulating thematic restaurant.

Take your time to walk around the restaurant, fill your senses, explore. As the name implies, it’s akin to going on a mini journey through India. Every section with its own theme, colours and paintings brings you a slice of the owners’ interpretation of their ancestors’ homeland.

Indian artifacts of bricks, pots and pans. Walls and ceilings draped with colourful curtains and fabrics; an entrancing sight. Elaborate oil paintings, patterned lamps, tantalising live music… you’re in a Mahajarah’s tent!

I took more photos of Passage Thru India (couldn’t resist!), you can view them at my Facebook album *click*

What of the food? Does it live up to its promising environment? I certainly thought so! Every dish that we tried was flavourful, loaded with spices, validation that good and plentiful of ingredients are used in the cooking.

Start off with complimentary crispy papadum served with tomato and light mint yoghurt chutney.

The papadums are refillable, but I recommend not wolfing down too many in favour of your main feast!

Jon’s dining humour: “Do you want all or naan?”

The menu at Passage Thru India is extensive, covering favourite dishes from North to South India. Vegetables, samosas, chicken, fish, prawns, lamb, curries and kurma, briyani and naan, tandoori, kebabs, Indian sweets…

Jon’s dining humour: “We’re going to have alot of masala… “

My favourite was the Murgh Tikka Butter Masala (RM22), pictured above. Boneless, superbly tender chicken roasted in the tandoor (traditional clay oven using coal) then cooked in butter masala. The result: a rich, velvety, tasty curry that goes down perfect with naan.

Another clear favourite is the Tandoori Chicken (RM16); chicken leg marinated in yoghurt and spices then cooked in the coal-powered clay oven. One thing about meats at Passage Thru India – all of their meats are so tender and almost falls apart at the bite.

Jon’s dining humour: “Those curries were quite hard to make… Cos they have to follow a curry-culum… “

Tawa Masala – marinated tiger prawns cooked on a hot plate was a pleasant change from the meat-based dishes that we had.

Their version of Rogan Josh (RM22) – mutton pieces cooked in a curry of 16 spices was bold, yet without an overpowering mutton smell that puts off some people. Recommended with rice or naan.

The Grilled Juicy Lamb came with a bit of a story. When we asked the waiter what it was and he replied, “juicy lamb..”, we snickered because… well it’s a bit of a claim, isn’t it?

… until we took a bite and involuntarily spurted out, “wow… it’s REALLY juicy…”

Go for it!

Jon’s dining humour: “OMG this is so dhall….”

Other classics that we had were Tadka Dhall (RM15), plenty of ingredients but I thought it could do with just a bit more flavour. Palak Paneer (RM16) – cottage cheese and blended spinach could do no wrong.

To soak up all the curry goodness, we had naan (RM4 onwards) – plain, garlic and butter, pratha (RM6) and saffron-infused briyani (RM8).

This is Jon.

Of course, the only way to enjoy a wonderful Indian feast is by using your hands.

We had a great time at Passage Thru’ India, so much so that I returned to their sister outlet in Bukit Damansara the next day for takeaways.

If it’s your first visit, I recommend that you dine at the Kuala Lumpur outlet to get the full Indian theme and decor experience.

Go hungry!

Passage Thru’ India
No.4, Jalan Delima,
Off Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-2145 0366

Opens daily. Lunch: 11.30am – 3pm, Dinner: 6.30pm – 11pm.

Website: www.passagethruindia.com
Facebook: PassageThruIndia

Check out more photos of Passage Thru’ India on my Facebook page’s album: *click*

5 Comments Filed Under: Eating Out Tagged With: indian food kuala lumpur, passage thru india malaysia, where to eat indian food kuala lumpur

Recipe: Old Cucumber Soup

November 25, 2014 By Suanie 5 Comments

The saying “Old is Gold” is exemplified in a hearty pot of Chinese-style old cucumber soup. This humble vegetable with its seemingly dried-out, dark yellow/brown wrinkly skin (like how mine will be when I’m 80) is a secret Chinese cooling weapon. It’s a Yin ingredient, used to help cool down your body when it’s ‘heaty’.

Yes I know cucumbers are categorically fruits. There are more interesting things to argue about.

More importantly, this soup reminds me of home – warm, nourishing and loving. Hold on, I’m feeling my Mom bursting with pride here… 😛

My Mom doesn’t skimp on soup ingredients. She uses good stuff and would put in more than necessary (e.g. more pork bones for a really rich, filling soup flavour). The end result is very telling, and I’ve learned from my Mom to go all out for a bowl of good soup.

Here’s my Mom’s recipe for Old Cucumber soup with pork ribs. For halal-friendly friends, substitute with chicken bones and bits. Full recipe at the bottom of the post.

Have these dry ingredients ready: a whole bulb of garlic, a handful of dried scallops, a few red dates, a few pieces of dried oyster, and a piece of dried cuttlefish (optional).

Get a medium-sized old cucumber. Wash and scrub the skin clean. Cut into half, remove the seeds, cut into smaller slices.

I use about 300g to 400g of pork bone + soft ribs (yun guat). Even though the pork ribs would have not much flavour left, I still enjoy gnawing on the soft bones. You can use any types of pork bone for soup.

To clean the pork bone+ribs and scum, put them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Remove the bones, put aside, and throw out the water.

Fill a pot with water, dump in all your ingredients: dry ingredients, pork bone and old cucumber. How much water? Enough to fill your pot, not too much that it’d overflow.

Okay, slightly more than 2 litres of water.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 2 hours. If I have the time, I’d leave it on for 3.

When it’s ready to be served, the soup is thick, hearty and slightly mushy from the flesh of old cucumber. We don’t usually add in salt as the ingredients give so much flavour to the soup. If you’d like to add a bit of salt, do it before serving.

And… nom!

Recipe: Old Cucumber Soup + Ribs Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Yield: 4 to 6

Recipe: Old Cucumber Soup + Ribs Soup

Ingredients

1 old cucumber, medium size

300g to 400g pork bones/ ribs/ chicken bones (more for chicken)

2 to 2.5 litres of water

1 whole garlic bulb

6 - 8 dried oysters

6 - 8 dried scallops

6 - 8 red dates

1 piece dried cuttlefish (optional)

Salt to taste (optional)

Instructions

Clean old cucumber, remove seeds. Slice half, length-wise. Cut into smaller slices.
In a small pot of boiling water, put in pork bones for a few minutes. Remove and put aside, discard water.
In a pot of water, put in all ingredients (except for salt). Bring to boil and simmer for at least 2 hours.
Add salt to taste, if necessary.
Serve with a side of Zhang Yimou.

http://www.suanie.net/2014/11/recipe-old-cucumber-soup/

5 Comments Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Chinese bone broth, chinese soup recipe, recipe lao huang gua

Crispy Air-Fried Ikan Bilis (anchovies)

November 12, 2014 By Suanie 9 Comments

Do you own an air-fryer? If not, you should seriously consider getting one! There are many upsides to having an air-fryer in your kitchen, but my favourite is this: NO MORE SPLATTERING OIL EVERYWHERE!

That’s right! Whether you’re ‘frying’ fries, nuggets, fish, meat or whatever that you’d like to cook, you can say goodbye to two things:

1) Wastage of cooking oil. With the air-fryer, you only need minimal oil to lightly coat your ingredients.
2) DID I MENTION NO MORE SPLATTERING OF OIL IN YOUR KITCHEN?

One of the first things I tried with my Phillips AirFryer is frying ‘ikan bilis’ (anchovies). Those little delicious morsels that we add on to fried rice, nasi lemak, soup noodles… everything! Normally I hate to deep-fry anything, because see above (1) and (2).

Here’s how you can get crispy ikan bilis using the air fryer in less than 30 minutes!

1) Have anchovies. If you’re eating them and not making stock out of ’em, get the better grade, cleaned ones. Unless you have plenty of time to remove the head and insides of the fish.

2) Wash ikan bilis, twice. For the super kitchen noobs (like how I used to be), this means: in a bowl of water, put in the ikan bilis. Wash it around a bit. Pour out dirty water, refresh with new clean water. Wash the ikan bilis a second time.

3) Remove the ikan bilis, spread out on paper towels to dry. Either leave it there for it to dry naturally, or use more paper towels to hasten the drying process. Slightly damp is acceptable. But no dry, no crispy.

4) Use a wee bit of cooking oil, just enough to coat the ikan bilis on the surface.

5) Pre-heat the air-fryer for 3mins at 200°C. Then dump the ikan bilis into the air-fryer net.

6) Cook for 10 minutes. Somewhere at the 7min mark, take out the net and give it a quick good stir, then put it back in to cook.

7) Congratulations, you now have crispy air-fried ikan bilis! Consume immediately nom nom nom nom nom nom… or store in an air-tight container for up to 2 months.

Actually I’m not VERY sure how long it keeps for; I kept mine for 3 months, then took it out and ate a few, still crispy and I’m still alive. So there.

Enjois!

9 Comments Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: airfryer ikan bilis, airfryer recipe

Maruhi Sakaba, Taman Desa

October 24, 2014 By Suanie 8 Comments

Hot on my kushiyaki phase, my friends decided that we’d celebrate my birthday at Maruhi Sakaba, first introduced by Fiona upon my waxing lyrical about Wakon.

Maruhi Sakaba is the youngest of Seiji Fujimoto’s Japanese outlet empire in Taman Desa. Mr Fujimoto who came to Malaysia a decade ago is also proprietor of Sanuki Udon and Taishú Yakiniku, the latter commonly known as the back alley Japanese BBQ.

It’s not difficult to locate Maruhi Sakaba. What to look out for: Taman Desa, Faber Plaza, Public Bank, inconspicuous signboard in Japanese. The place itself is friendly, casual with no air-conditioning. Sweat in your yakitori, people.

A single page menu offers limited variety of food items. Specials could be found written on a whiteboard, or recommended by your helpful waiters. Prices seemed inexpensive, reasonable. Food came out from the kitchen at top speed, quality consistent for every order.

What to start with? Japanese beer, of course! Choose Asahi (RM11), Sapporo (RM13) or Kirin. Ozeki Sake (RM16) available, great for birthday shots (thanks Maruhi Sakaba!)

Nothing more pleasurable than cold Japanese beer paired with freshly grilled non-halal pork belly still dripping in its own oil.

The meat grilled items are most pleasurable. As we were a large group, we tried almost every item on the menu. You can’t go wrong giving all of them a go!

Recommended: Chicken Skin (RM4) – crispy, crunchy, not soggy: perfection on a stick!

The Pork Belly (RM4) is a must-eat item here. They do it well here – nicely salted, a delicate combination of meat and fat.

Some delicious lamb, some thin pork wrapped around mushrooms, some delicious chicken skin, some potentially life changing pork belly

I don’t know how they manage to slice their pork so thin to wrap tomatoes, enoki, asparagus (RM5) etc. For the pork wrapped tomatoes, I would have enjoyed it more if it was saltier, or bacon.

More kushi? Vegetable options such as Shiitake mushrooms (RM3), Okra (RM3) and Eggplant (RM3) could turn unapologetic meat eaters to the green side.

Chicken Wings (RM5), decent. They were cooked well, I take them as stomach fillers (chicken meat), great with beer. My lack of interest in these wings is because I’ve had fish eggs and gyoza stuffed in chicken wings elsewhere, and maybe gimmicky, works to excite one on chicken wings.

If you enjoy pig offal, you cannot miss out on the Organ Meat Stew (RM10)! Generous pieces of pig intestine covered in hot, spiced broth that makes the coldest of evenings embraceable.

I can easily eat 3 bowls of this. And maybe more.

Order salads and tofu to ease the guilt of indulgence. Most go for RM5 each. There’s an item called, Cabbage Salad that is just… raw cabbage pieces with sauce. Ingenius, reminds you of the simplicity and straightforwardness of the menu and descriptions.

For the adventure seekers, try the Chicken Sashimi (RM15). What, raw chicken? I’m unsure how this works, but my friends ate it and they’re still with us today, with no extreme output stories to share.

Maruhi Sakaba also serves rice with egg, soup etc. Logical if you have gone through all the grilled items, and are still hungry for more.

You can do it!

Thanks, my dear favoured friends. You guys make life’s journey fantastic. The best part about this birthday surprise was that AhFa invited my mother to join the dinner, as I usually spend most weekends with my family. That was really nice.

My mother couldn’t make it, being the traveling junkie that she was. The other part of this story was that she kept this secret from me for over a week. I don’t think mothers are supposed to lie to you, I want my money back!

😛

Birthdays are fun!