Foodarrific

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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Guess what I had for lunch (and dinner) last weekend? I can’t believe it myself because it’s been ages since I’ve even thought to cook my favorite loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodles.

The name sounds horrifying, I know. I’m not only a Chili Queen, I’m also a Drama Queen ! I translated and spiced up this name for special effects and if all goes well, I might even copyright the name and make a movie about it, heh!

Loh shee fun is not really rat’s tails, of course, they just look like rat’s tails . You can either eat it in a soup, just like any other kind of noodle. But I prefer it dry as in sans soup. Very simple to whip this up at home. You ready?

I cooked 1kg of loh shee fun and 1kg of kuay teow, or flat rice noodles to feed my troops, but you can use any amount depending on the number of people you’re feeding. Place the noodles in a colander and run it through your Grohe faucet to rinse if you like. Then bring a pot of water to boil and use it for blanching the rat’s tail noodle and choy sum, or mustard green.

I’m not going to list actual measurements for the sauce since that depends on how much noodle you’re cooking. Just adjust the sauce ingredients to your own taste. For the sauce, you need:

• dark, thick soy sauce
• oil
• sesame oil
• oyster sauce
• soy sauce (in place of salt) and white pepper to taste

Have all of these ingredients in a large bowl. I also stir-fried some minced pork with some oil and chopped garlic which I added into the bowl. Lastly, add the blanched loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodle, to this and mix well.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and cilantro (I didn’t have any handy). Serve piping hot with shredded fresh chillies. I prefer bird’s eye chillies for that added oomph! Simple, ya, just a one-dish meal and so so delish. And less of a choking hazard for younger kids than the regular mile-long noodles.

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Whenever we eat out, the kids always seem to order Sesame Chicken, if it’s on the menu, that is. As is usually the case, when we order one plate, it’s not enough for my Sesame Chicken lovers. If we order two plates, I’ll start thinking how many plates of it I can cook at home for the same price !

So the next best thing is to cook this at home where I can make a big enough portion without worrying about the bill. I mean, this is so simple and inexpensive to make at home.

I usually use boneless chicken fillet or deboned drumsticks for this, just like the restaurant. The pieces should be cut fairly large, then drenched in a mixture of flour, pepper and salt.

There’s two steps to cooking this. First I deepfry the chicken pieces on high heat till lightly brown. I know what you’re thinking. That we probably have to jump on our ellipticals and peddle like crazy afterwards to work off the weight gain .

Remove chicken and pour away the oil from the wok. I add some hoisin, or sweet and sour plum sauce and a little water and let it come to a boil. Then return the chicken to the wok and mix to coat with the sauce. Just before serving, sprinkle sesame seeds on top and garnish with fresh cilantro. And you’re ready to dig in.

My Sesame Chicken is a bit saucy because the kids like to spoon it over their rice. It’s the perfect wholesome and yummy dish if you have young kids because the chicken is boneless and the sauce is sweet with a light tang and kids are fascinated by the speckled look of the sesame seeds. Try it !

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