Local Barley

Look what I found at the "tamu" (local market) recently.... Barley!!! Grown just outside Miri! Fancy THAT! Well, doesn't look like the usual barley that I get from the grocery store though. But it has a slightly fragrant smell and tastes.... odd, but in a good way. I like that it is not starchy like the normal barley. This is going to go real nice with 'leng chee kang' I think.

Dinner A Week Ago: Easiest Roast Chicken Ever!

After too much time spent in front of the AsianFoodChannel watching chefs effortlessly create roasts for Christmas luncheons, I decided to give one recipe a try - Jamie Oliver's Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon. My experiences with roasts have been less than perfect... usually they didn't brown nicely enough. But this time, I thought, I should give it another go. I shocked both myself and hubby with the final result - fantabulous!! And the best thing about it was - it was so darn easy to make!!

P/S. Since it was only the two of us, I used two chicken thighs instead of roasting a whole chicken. Worked well too!Jamie Oliver's Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon Ingredients
1 whole free range chicken (abt 1-1.5kg)
1 lemon
5-10 cloves of garlic
A bunch of fresh rosemary or thyme
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1-2 kg peeled potatoes, cut into golf-ball sizes
Other vegetables - carrots, onions etc.

Method
Rub chicken inside out with salt and pepper. Season for at least half a day, if possible.
Preheat oven to 190 deg C
Bring a pot of salt water to boil. Boil potatoes with the whole lemon and garlic cloves for 12 mins. Drain and leave to steam for 1 min.
Remove lemon and garlic. Prick the lemon with a fork all over.
While the potatoes are still hot, toss them around in the pot until the surface gets chaffed. This will make them crispy when roasted.
Rub the chicken all over with olive oil. Push the lemon, garlic and herbs into the cavity of the chicken.
Roast the chicken for 45mins.
Remove the chicken after 45mins. Toss the vegetables in the fat that has collected in the baking tray. This will be used as the oil to roast the veges and give them a crisp skin later.
Put the chicken back onto the tray and arrange the vege all around the chicken. Roast for a further 45 mins.
When cooked, remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 1-2 minutes before serving.

Dinner Tonight - Sauteed Mushrooms and Stir Fry Fish

So what does one do when there's nothing else in the fridge but a pack of mushrooms and frozen fish meat in the freezer? Chop up some garlic and toss them in the pan with seasoning, of course!

Sauteed Mushrooms
- Stir fry fresh mushrooms with garlic and seasoning

Stir Fry Fish
- Cut fish meat into bite-sized pieces, season with black pepper, a dash of chinese cooking wine, soya sauce and fish sauce. Add a tsp or two of corn flour.
- Fry garlic and pieces sliced ginger till fragrant. Add in fish meat and fry for a few minutes till partially cooked on medium heat. Add a small amount of water to make a sauce. Bring to boil.
- Finally, toss in some chopped chives or spring onion, stir through to heat and serve.

So... what is the deal with me blogging about my dinner? Well, the real reason is, I am just noting down somewhere recipes that I might recycle later on. I am much too lazy to actually write them down in a book!

Dinner Tonight - Roast Pork w/ Chives

I had a bunch of chives left over from dinner yesterday, so lunchtime today I dropped by the neighbourhood chicken rice shop to get some roast pork (Sio bak). Fry that with some garlic and toss in the chives...voila! Dinner in a jiffy. Yummy too.... not on top of the list for healthy but hey... for all the wholegrain bread and bunches of vege I take, a serving of roasted meat can't be too bad.

Dinner Tonight - Steamed Fish w/ Nyonya Sauce

With hubby back at home, dinners at home are now longer and less lonely :P. While for two weeks, whenever I ate at home, those were quickie dinners and quieter too. But for the next 3 weeks we can have dinner as a family - just the 2 of us. Tonight, I decided to steam the 'ikan merah' that I bought last week from the market. On work days, nothing beats pre-packed sauces; and tonight I feel like some spicy sour nyonya curry sauce. You can get those from any supermarket and grocery shops, my favorite brands are Uncle Sun's and Good Mum. For that little extra touch of home, I simmered the sauce for a little while with onion wedges, one diced tomato and a stick of lemon grass. Plus, a side vege dish sauteed with garlic and 'ikan bilis' (anchovies). Eating at home sure saves you some money...RM3 for the sauce, RM4 for the fish, RM2 for the vegetables...not even ten bucks!

Dinner Tonight - Instant Penang Prawn Mee

By the time I was done feeding the dogs, watering the garden (it didn't rain all 4 days when I was away) and showering, it was close to 7.30pm. My first thought of dinner was pizza delivery, but only to be disappointed when Pizza Hut said they do not deliver to my area. Hmmph!

Already clad in my 'been-through-100-cycles-in-the-machine' pyjamas, I wasn't in a mood to go change into 'fit-for-public-appearance' clothes. So that leaves what's left in the kitchen larder, which turned out to be instant noodles of some sort. I decided to cook myself instant Penang Prawn Mee from a packet. Relatively good on its own, but better if one makes a little extra effort. For tonight, a fistful of spring onions would do.

To add the extra ummph! to this instant noodles:

Boil some prawns with water. Drain cooked prawns and maintain the prawn stock.

Prepare a stock with pork/chicken ribs and the prawn stock. Better still if you have leftover bak-kut-teh soup.

With stock: Use the stock in place of water to cook the soup (add the seasonings from the instant noodles in the stock)

With bak-kut-teh: Use half portion of bak-kut-teh soup with another half portion of prawn stock. Boil together with the seasoning from the instant noodles.

Serve with cooked kangkung, shelled boiled prawns, sliced meat (pork/chicken) and fried onions. If you get the seasoning right, it tastes almost like the penang prawn noodles (hokkien mee) you get in Penang.

Durian Season is Here!....at the Office ! HA!

I just had to sneak a quick one in here while I am lunching at my desk in the office. While walking to my car to pick up some things earlier, I saw a pick-up truck parked in our office lots and a whole lot of people crowding around the back. Someone was selling durians at the office carpark! OMG! I suspect that someone is an office staff with an orchard or something...

I thought it was hilarious...! This multinational company... and someone selling fruit in its carpark. Priceless !

Well, I could not snap a pic... for obvious reasons..... Ha ha ha!

Dinner Tonight - Tofu w/ Minced Meat Sauce

Dinner at home again tonight. This time it is tofu with a sauce of minced meat, mushrooms, carrots, onion and garlic. Oh, and topped with home grown spring onions. Yummmmm!


Minced Meat Sauce:
Minced meat (chicken, pork or beef)
Dried shitake mushrooms - soaked
Carrots - diced
Onion and garlic - minced

- Fry onion and garlic until brown, add minced meat and stir fry till half liquid evaporates. Add a dash of fish sauce, oyster sauce, chinese cooking wine, pepper and a pinch of brown sugar. Thicken the sauce with corn starch and pour hot mixture over steamed tofu. Garnish with freshly chopped spring onions.

Dinner Tonight - Ladies Fingers and Pak Cheng Soup

It hasn't stop raining since early afternoon, so I decided to stay home and cook myself dinner instead of going out. Besides, my pot of 'pak cheng' soup had been brewing in the slow cooker since last night.I seem to recall reading somewhere and also heard from a friend that this soup of mixed chinese herbs (Dang Gui included) is good for strengthening the body after illness, particularly for women after losing iron in blood from menstruation or childbirth (or miscarriages for this case). So dinner tonight was 'pak cheng' soup with chicken, ladies finger stir-fried with garlic and dried shrimp and rice.Bon Apetit to me!