that bloody botak!

 A CALL TO THOSE WHO ARE STILL DOING OK Hello, everyone!  Hope everyone's doing fine! If you're expecting a recipe today, sorry to diasppoint. My guess is that most of us here are still doing ok. However, there are people out there in desperate need of daily necessities. Things are getting so bad that there are some who would contemplate on, or have already, taken their lives. Since there are many of us in need in these trying times, how about doing this? It's not easy to ask for help..... Some may be embrassed to do so..... These days most of us have resident's chat groups Facebook pages or some form of resident's commette. Take the first step to offer help on that platform. Ask those in need to pm u and see what u can do for them. This takes away the public embrassment of having a white flag hung outside their houses..... If each of us practice this concept and share it with your friends, soon the whole of Malaysia will be covered..... We don't need politician...

BRAISED PORK RICE / LOU RU FAN This is my take on the Taiwanese Lou Run Fan. The original recipe calls for pork belly to be cut into small cubes and braised. I love pork belly, but it'll take at least one and a half to 2 hours for it to be nice and tender, and on a normal working day I don't have the luxury of time to do that, so I use minced pork instead, where the cooking time only takes 10mins! All the taste of a good lou ru fan is there, without taking all that time!   Ingredients  200g minced pork  1 tablespoon dark soy sauce  1 tablespoon oyster sauce  1 tablespoon sesame oil  2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine  1 tablespoon sugar  2 pcs star anise  1 pce cinnamon stick  1 tablespoon minced garlic  4 slices of ginger Half teaspoon Chinese five spice powder  2 eggs  1 teaspoon corn flour Method  In a pot of boiling water, boil the eggs for 5mins, remove, put it in a bowl of iced water and set aside  Marina...

  BABI PONGTEH  If I walk into any Peranakan restaurant and see ayam pongteh on the menu, I'll walk out. Simple as that. Pongteh is usually made with the fat parts of the pig, like the belly and legs, not  chicken! And for pongteh, it is a must to have bamboo shoots besides potatoes and mushrooms, although most people can't take  the smell, that's what makes pongteh stand out for me. Although I sell chicken pongteh to my customers, when I make it at home, this is how I do it. The methods used may not be traditional, but when you've got a wobbly, tender piece of pork belly, all will be forgiven 😜😜😜 Ingredients 500g pork belly, cut into cubes  20pcs shallots, peeled 5 cloves of garlic, peeled  2 pcs cinnamon sticks  1 tablespoon gula melaka  1 tablespoon dark soy sauce  2 tablespoons salted soy bean paste  Some young bamboo shoots, boiled till the smell is not so strong Some dried mushrooms, rehydrated  Some potatoes, skinned and c...

  THAI STYLE TOUFU My first meat-free recipe on this blog! I love meat. Chances are that if there's no meat in a dish, I won't eat it........ Until I came across this! Toufu is a good source of protein. When fried till the outside is crispy, it's delicious! Add a good sauce on top with some shredded vegs, it tastes even better! That describes this dish to a T. This is how it's done. Ingredients  1 firm toufu, cut to bite sized pieces  Big onions, sliced  Carrots, finely sliced  Cucumber, finely sliced  Chilli, finely sliced  Toasted crushed peanuts  4 tablespoons that chilli sauce  2 teaspoons lime juice  Half a teaspoon corriander powder  2 tablespoons sugar  Some corn flour  Method  Coat the toufu pieces in corn flour and fry till crispy  Mix the chilli sauce, sugar, lime juice, most of the crushed peanuts and corriander powder to make the sauce  Toss the vegs into the sauce, making sure everything's prope...

  CHICKEN TEMPRA  I love tempra! U can use fish, pork or chicken. The Penang kias also use the tempra gravy with eggs and call it telur belanda! Fish tempra was something we used to have at home when my mom was cooking. Since I have one last piece of boneless chicken chop in the freezer, chicken tempra it is!  Ingredients  1 boneless chicken chop, cut to bite sized pieces  1 big onion, sliced  2 tablespoons light soy sauce  Half tablespoon lime juice  2 tablespoons sugar  1 tablespoon minced garlic  Some chilli, finely sliced  Half cup of water Some oil Method  In a pan, sauteed the onions till it's soft  Add the garlic in and sauteed until aromatic  Pour in the water, light soy sauce, lime juice and sugar and bring it to a boil. Now for a taste test. It's supposed to be salty, sour and sweet. Add whatever's short till the taste is right, turn off the flame and use it to marinade the chicken  When it's time to co...

  PANDAN NASI LEMAK  My pandan plant needed trimming, and although it's a very versatile plant, there are only so much drawers in the house that need the fresh smell of pandan, so since I'm making nasi lemak, why not make it with the beautiful green tinge. Even the sambal is made the traditional way while getting a Peranakan Workout 😜😜😜 This is how it's made  Ingredients For the nasi lemak 1 cup basmati rice  Half cup coconut milk  1 cup water  Half teaspoon salt Some pandan leaves, cleaned  For the sambal  10 dried chillis, soaked and deseeded  2 regular chillis, deseeded  10 shallots, peeled  4 cloves of garlic, peeled  3 tablespoons of balachan powder  1 teaspoon assam paste  Some lime leaves Sugar to taste For the rest of the dish  1 egg, boiled for 6 mins and put in a cold bath  Some anchovies, fried till crispy  A piece of luncheon meat, pan fried  Method  Using a blender, blend toget...

  SAM LOU HOR FUN Whenever I'm back in town one of the places I like to go to for good food is Hong Kong Street Chun Kee for the har cheong kai and the sam lou hor fun. It's been more than a year since I've had this, so I wanted to try to make it, as it's very easy to make. Ingredients 1 portion hor fun 200g sliced fish light soy sauce Chicken stock Chinese rice wine Sesame seed oil White pepper Corn flour 1 tablespoon minced garlic Bean sprouts, peeled Spring onions, finely sliced 1 cup water Oil Method Marinade the fish with 1 tablespoon of chinese wine, light soy sauce, sesame oil and corn starch. Leave it to marinade for at least 15mins. In a hot wok, add some water and cook the hor fun. This will take about 15secs. Remove, put it on a serving dish and dress it with a little pork oil to keep it from sticking together In the same wok, sautee some garlic till aromatic Add a cup of water, bring it to a boil and add the fish. Remove and place on top of the hor fun when ...

BABI SIO  I love this! When my late mom asked if there's anything I'd like to learn to cook from her before she's gone, this was it! But the lazy me, who hates peeling shallots, making this was a serious chore. But since the craving struck and her birthday's tomorrow, I'm making this in her memory. Ingredients 200g pork belly, silced 200g shallots, minced 2 teaspoons corriander powder 2 teaspoons assam paste 2 tablespoons sugar 3 cups of water 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce Corriander leaves Method In a hot pot with some oil, sear the pork belly Add the minced onions, corriander powder and assam paste and let it saute till aromatic Pour in the water and let it simmer till it's almost dry. This might take slightly more than an hour, during which the pork will be getting tender When it's almost dry, add the dark soy sauce and sugar and let it cook for about 30secs Now's the time to do a taste test. You want this dish to have a little sweet from the sugar, a li...

  FAKE SHARK'S FIN SOUP Want shark's fin soup but don't want to indisciminately kill sharks? This is as close as u can get! Not that difficult to make too. Just takes a little more time than usual. The fish maw takes about one and a half hours to become soft and after that, everything's a breeze! This is how it's done. Ingredients  A couple of pieces of dried fish maw  Some peeled crab meat  A tube of egg toufu  2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce 1 tablespoon rice wine  2 teaspoons sesame oil 2 tablespoons chicken stock  2 tablespoons potato starch  1 egg, lightly beaten  Some white pepper  Corriander leaves  Method  Put two big bowls of water in a pot and boil the fish maw till soft. This will take close to 2hrs When that's done, remove and cut the fish maw into small pieces. Keep the water, as it will be used for the soup Put it back into the pot of water and add the vegetarian oyster sauce, sesame seed oil, rice wine and ...

  THE PERFECT TOMATO SAUCE That simple jar right there contains what, to me, is the most versatile and tasty tomato sauce ever! And it's really easy to make too! Spread it on a burger bun and you'll have the best tasting tomato ketchup ever! Dip your fries in it. It even makes a good tomato base for my pizzas. Cook it with some minced meat, meatballs or seafood and it'll make a good pasta sauce too! And when portioned out, it can keep in the freezer frozen for months! That's why I usually make them in a big batch. This is how I make it..... Ingredients 1kg tomato puree 3 tablespoons thyme leaves 3 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped 3 tablespoons garlic, minced 1 big yellow onion, minced 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons Lea and Perrins sauce 2 ciannamon sticks Some olive oil Sugar, salt and pepper to taste  Method In a pot with some olive oil sautee the onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme and cinnamon sticks till aromatic Pour in the tomato puree and a little water Add the bay le...

  TELUR BELANDA This is something I can finish off a pot of rice with! Paired with sambal balachan, it's one of my versions of heaven! So easy to make, this is the best thing to have with a steaming hot plate of rice on a busy day when u really don't have the time to cook. I like my eggs with the yolk runny, u can do it whichever way u like.  Ingredients 2 eggs 1 teaspoon light soy sauce 1 teaspoon fish sauce Half a teaspoon assam paste 2 teaspoons sugar 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 big onion, sliced  Some sliced chillies Some oil Some water Method Fry up 2 eggs and put it on a dish In a hot pan, add some oil and saytee the garlic and onions When the onions are translucent, add all the sauces, assam paste, some water and sugar Taste when the sugar has melted. This dish has to be a little sweet, a little sour and a little salty. Adjust the rario accordingly When that's done, pour it over the eggs and garnish with some finely sliced chillis What more can i say about this di...

  ROTI BABI This is a favourite amongst the Penang Peranakan community. And this is my take on the dish. Purists will frown when they see how I do it. But me being me, and lazy too, I chose the easy way without much sacrifice in terms of flavours. Still taste pretty good, and here's how I did it. Ingredients  4 slices of bread 150g minced pork  2 eggs, beaten  Quarter teaspoon of white pepper A quarter teaspoon nutmeg powder  Half a teaspoon corriander powder  4 shallots, minced  3 cloves of garlic, minced  1.5 teaspoons salted soy bean paste  3 tablespoons Lea and Perrins sauce  Half a teaspoon mustard powder  5 chilli padi, finely chopped  2 tablespoons sugar  Some corriander leaves, finely chopped Method  Mix the pork with onions, garlic, nutmeg and corriander powder, salted soy bean paste, pepper and 2 tablespoons of egg Spread the pork mixture on a slice of bread and cut it into 4pcs Dunk the bread into the beate...

  HAR CHEONG GAI This is one of my dad's favorite! Whenever we're at a zhi char place, 9 out of 10 times we'll see this on the table. What can I say? It's really good! This is one of those things that u can make in bulk, use whatever u want and freeze the rest for another time! So here's how we make it. Ingredients 2 tablespoons prawn paste  1 tablespoon oyster sauce  1 tablespoon sesame seed oil  1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine  1 teaspoon white pepper  8 whole chicken wings, cut into two  6 tablespoons potato starch  6 tablespoons wheat flour  1 teaspoon baking powder  1 egg  Some oil for deep frying  Method  Marinade the chicken with prawn paste, oyster sauce, sesame seed oil, rice wine and white pepper for a minimum of 5hrs for all the goodness to get into the wings  Mix the flour, starch, baking powder and eggs with water to form a batter  Heat up a pot of oil  When the oil is hot, start frying the wings...

CHAR KWAY TEOW This is another of my favourites! So simple to make and yet a satisfying meal, anytime of the day. Some might say that it lacks wok hei when done at home, but keeping the stove on high heat and not stirring it too much gives it a little wok hei. Can't compare with those high pressure gas stoves hawkers use, but it's almost there. I love this spicy, so I use lots of chilli padi in this, but u can omit if u can't take the heat......... Ingredients 1 portion of kway teow 1 teaspoon of the following sauces   Light soy sauce Oyster sauce Dark soy sauce Fish sauce Some fishcake slices Some Chinese sausage slices Some prawns Pork oil Crispy pork lard 1 tablespoon minced garlic 5 chilli padi, minced 2 eggs Bean sprouts Chives Method Soak the kway teow to separate them Mix all the sauces in the kway teow In a hot pan, sauteed the garlic, chilli padi and Chinese sausage till aromatic Add the fishcake and prawns    When the prawns are half cooked, add the kway teow. K...

FISH AND CHIPS I've always loved fish and chips. When Long John Silver's was here, that was my go to fast food. Forget about burgers, fried chicken or pizza, fish and chips was a no brainer. Unfortunately, they're gone and good fish and chips is hard to come by, so I tried making it on my own. This is the one with the best crust, nice and crispy, even when it's been left out for about 30mins! So, less talk and let's make our own! Ingredients A piece of fish, I use tilapia, I can use any boneless fish fillet 3 tablespoons rice flour 3 tablespoons wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking powder Some pepper Some salt Some Cajun spice powder Some french fries Method Season the fish fillet with Cajun spice Coat it with flour, dust off all the  excess and let it sit for about 10mins or till the flour coating is dry like 👆👆👆 Mix both the flours, salt, pepper and baking powder and add water to it gradually, turning it into a batter. The better shouldn't be too runny, and not to...