Foodarrific

This year, for our CNY reunion dinner, I decided to slave in the kitchen this year instead of subjecting ourselves to those rip-off festive restaurant prices. My dishes are very simple so it’s not too hard to whip up something pretty quickly.

Stirfried Kailan with Crispy Scallop Bits

Stir-fried Kai-lan (Chinese kale) is a common everyday dish. I merely funky-ed it up with a topping of crispy dried scallop bits. Surprisingly my say-no-to-veggie brood loved this .

Claypot Pork Ribs and Tofu

We’re big fans of Claypot Tofu (recipe here) and I cook this quite often for regular meals. Here I used pork ribs with carrot flowers and wolfberries and turned it into something special.

Spicy Thai-style Crispy Chicken

I topped my easy-peasy and very popular Thai-style Crispy Chicken (recipe here) with shredded carrots, cucumbers and onions.

Braised Mushrooms with Phoenix Claws

Don’t jump now. Phoenix claws are actually just plain old chicken feet.

Lotus Root Soup with Japanese Baby Scallops

This turned out so sweet and flavorful I surprised even myself .

You’ll agree there’s nothing very fattening here so no need for us to start reading phentermine reviews ! In fact, I cooked everything here with fresh ingredients and very little sodium, practically no sugar or added MSG.

Filed under: AsianMeatPoultrySeafoodSoupsSpecial OccasionsSpicyTofuVegetables by chili queen - No Comments →

Nothing perks up the appetite like a totally spicy dish. Like my Thai-style crispy chicken. When I tell my teens that’s one of the dishes I’m cooking for dinner, they jump for joy. It’s one of our favorite dishes to order at Chinese restaurants. It’s also a dish that’s so easy to prepare at home.

You need:

• 4 chicken thighs, chopped into chunky pieces
• 1 large cucumber, thinly shredded
• 1 large carrot, thinly shredded
• 1 medium onion, thinly shredded
• 1 cup cornflour
• I cup cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons Thai chilly sauce (I usually use Kimball)
• salt and sugar to taste

First I coat the chicken with cornflour, a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt, and leave aside to sit while I shred the veggies. Meantime, I heat up some oil in my wok. I’m not deepfrying the chicken here. There’s not enough oil to do that. I’m just shallow frying the chicken till it’s cooked and browned. Remove from oil and repeat with the next batch of chicken.

That done, it’s time to prepare the sauce. Drain the wok and pour in the Thai chilly sauce. I use 3 tablespoons or more. You decide how spicy you want yours to be. Add an equal amount of water, and salt and sugar to taste. Then I add the shredded veggies and stir. I add a bit of flour to thicken the sauce a little so it’ll stick to the chicken.

And that’s it. So easy. Cooked and ready to serve, faster than you can say “best prenatal multivitamins” (well, almost ). Try it this weekend.

Filed under: AsianCopycat RecipesPoultryRecipesSauces & Condiments by chili queen - 2 Comments →

Twas one night when my brain went into overdrive and kept me awake long enough to plan out my Chinese New Year reunion dinner menu. Last year, we dined out on Chinese New Year’s eve.

This year, I’ve decided to go back to my usual practice of cooking reunion dinner at home. I’m planning a simple menu of gourmet, restaurant-style dishes which can easily be whipped up at home.

• Claypot Tofu with Pork Ribs and Veggie Medley
• Fish Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onions
• Roast Chicken, Thai Style
• Stir-fried Kailan with Dried Scallop and Wolfberries
• Lotus Root Soup

Of course, this menu may change. It’s only the first draft. I might be tempted to tinker with it as CNY draws nearer, or if I let my kids have their say. Hopefully the final menu won’t make us so guilty that we’ll all go jump on an elliptical the next morning!

Filed under: AsianPoultrySeafoodSoupsSpecial OccasionsTofuVegetables by chili queen - No Comments →

One Sunday afternoon, we were in the vicinity of Sri Hartamas and ended up at Soho KL tucked away in a swanky part of town. After walking around undecided, we finally settled on Ole-Ole Bali, an Balinese (Indonesian) restaurant with both an indoor and an al fresco dining area. We chose to sit outside as only a couple of tables were occupied and there didn’t seem to be any smokers.

We ordered this Nasi Campur Ole Ole (Mixed Rice, literally) which comes with various accompaniments like shrimp, squid, chicken on a lemongrass stick, stir-fried veggie, salad and assorted sauces. Interesting and quite tasty.

The Ole-Ole Trio was also quite interesting with chicken on lemongrass sticks, crispy deep-fried shrimp, barbecued chicken wings, sliced cucumbers, tartar sauce and chilly sauces.

My son, who prefers Western food, ordered the next best thing, the BBQ Combo with chicken and lamb which turned out not to taste very Western after all. The lamb was tough and he didn’t like the taste of the sauce.

My other Western food lover decided the safest bet would be the more familiar-sounding Chicken and Chips. It tasted okay, just like any ordinary deep-fried chicken chop.

The food is interesting and presentation is great. The way we were eating, it was a good thing we decided to share our orders or we might’ve needed something akin to an rv towing service to get out of our seats. Indeed we would’ve been able to eat more if the food hadn’t been so overly greasy and salty. You know how I feel about that. I wouldn’t be in any hurry to go back again unless my bank account is overflowing .

Filed under: AsianMeatPoultryReviewsSauces & CondimentsSeafoodVegetables by chili queen - No Comments →

We were on vacation in Penang last week (read and see the photos here, here and here) and decided to check out Strada, a small restaurant tucked in a row of shophouses in busy Pulau Tikus. We’d read good online reviews about this place and thought, why not, since the set lunches seem reasonably priced.

The sets come with either soup of the day, which was Pumpkin Soup that day, or salad. Unfortunately the Pumpkin Soup was sweet and bland (if you can imagine that!) and none of us finished up our order, which is something we hardly ever do since my philosophy is not to waste food.

The salad came with the default dressing which means we didn’t get to choose our favorite dressing.

The Chicken Chop with Oriental Sauce was nothing to shout about either. The sauce was more like a pizza base.

I hate to say this but this Spaghetti alla Vongole was really hard to swallow. The presentation was great so I guess I set my expectations too high. It was bland (which is better than too salty, I guess) and the sauce was like some Chinese gravy?

The Salmon Fish and Chips was, by far, the best thing we had there though the portion was rather skimpy.

It’s a shame the quality of Strada’s food didn’t live up to the nice ambience of the restaurant. I guess if you don’t try it, you’ll never know, which also confirms my philosophy of not chasing down food no matter how good the reviews are made to sound.

On the day we were there for lunch, only a couple of other tables were occupied. There was a small family and 3 ladies discussing mortgage protection insurance rates.

Filed under: MeatPastaPoultryReviewsSeafoodVegetablesWestern by chili queen - No Comments →