Foodarrific

This is one of the dishes that I prepared for my son and stored in the fridge to be eaten later. It’s so easy and so healthy you’ve just got to try it.

I used:

• 2 heads of broccoli, cut into large florets
• 0.5 bag of baby carrots
• 1 clove garlic, finely diced
• 1 small slice of salmon
• mushroom/oyster sauce
• cooking oil
• salt and pepper to taste

First, I heated up some oil in a non-stick pan on medium to low heat.

Place the slice of salmon, lightly salted and peppered, in the pan and let it fry slowly first on one side, then flip over and allow to fry until cooked through and both sides are lightly brown. This should take roughly 10-12 minutes.

Remove the salmon to a plate. Using a fork, break up the salmon into flakes and remove the bones. Leave aside.

Add a bit more oil in the pan on medium heat and lightly fry the garlic for a 2-3 minutes till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter.

Throw in the carrots and add a splash of water and leave it for about 5 minutes to soften up.

Add the broccoli, a dash of mushroom/oyster sauce and a sprinkle of pepper. Stir-fry for approximately 5-7 minutes till the broccoli is cooked. Watch closely to ensure broccoli is not overcooked or it will turn yellow.

Serve on a plate (or in my case, I placed in a Rubbermaid container for refrigerating) and top with the salmon flakes.

And that’s all there really is to it. It’s really tasty and goes well with pasta, noodles or rice.

My son had some fruits left over from the fresh fruit baskets we got for Christmas and he ate those for dessert.

Filed under: AsianFoodlish TalkFor College KidsHealthy EatingKid-friendlyQuick & Easy CookingRecipesSeafoodVegetables by Chili Queen - No Comments →

Once in a while, my aunt would whip up our favorite steamed yam cake for us if we beg hard enough. I haven’t got a clue how it’s made. I really should learn the recipe from her one of these days since my kids love it so much and the ones sold outside are somewhat watered down and not as yammy.

This picture of this steamed yam cake was taken before she sprinkled the chopped spring onions on top. So it looks rather bland with only chopped peanuts and fried shallots. But trust me, once you drizzle on the accompanying chilly and brown sauces, it tastes like heaven!

Steamed yam cake is a great one-dish meal usually served at lunch. It’s usually eaten slightly warm or at room temperature. I’ve never tried to subject it to the coolness of refrigerator filters but I doubt it would taste good cold.

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As a kid following my grandmother to the Chinese medicine hall, I used to be fascinated by the endless rows of little square drawers on the wall behind the men who patiently listen to each customer’s problem and then proceed to put together a combination of Chinese herbs on a sheet of brown wrapping paper.

I used to wonder how the men can remember which herbs are in which drawer. I mean, there’s a whole wall of drawers and they’re not transparent and have no names written on them. Amazing.

Anyhow I’m no expert at Chinese medicine but I know there are some which have a cooling effect while doubling as natural eczema treatment. I’ve often heard mothers asking the man to put together something for them to boil at home. Interesting .

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On a whim, we decided to give the Little Dimsum Place in SS2 a try. This is our first time there. The restaurant is nice and clean, not too busy when we were there and the dimsum (little delicacies from the heart, in Chinese) is pretty good though some items were a little too salty for me.

We ordered ha gao (steamed shrimp dumplings), siew mai (steamed pork dumplings with roe), char siew pao (barbecued pork buns), woo kok (fried yam dumplings), lor mai kai (chicken in glutinous rice), ha lok (shrimp rolls with mayo), pork and century egg porridge, fried carrot cake, and a pot of hot Chinese tea.

That’s quite a lot of food and I’m sure some of us are going to need ab workouts afterwards. Have you tried the food there? What do you think?

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Although there’s a whole spread of eateries at the Midvalley walkway to the Gardens, there’s only one or two restaurants that we’re tried that appeal to us. One of them is Nyonya Colors which serves fairly decent nasi lemak (or coconut rice with condiments) but we’ve never tried their nyonya kuih (or cakes). There are certain prices I won’t just pay for certain food, period, especially if I know how easy and cheap they can be made at home.

This Nasi Lemak Pandan with Chicken Rendang is quite a decent portion of rice (the greenish color comes from the screwpine leaves used), fried anchovies and peanuts, half a hard-boiled egg, sliced cucumber and chicken rendang (dried curry sauce).

Another one of our favorites is Nasi Kunyit with Chicken Curry. The nasi kunyit, or turmeric rice, shaped like giant gold coins, may not look like a lot but eaten with the thick, coconuty chicken curry, this glutinous rice is very filling.

And if I’m not very hungry, I’ll order this basic, no-frills nasi lemak in a small portion that I can finish in a few scoops.

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