FOODlog #226: New Year's Eve Dinner On New Year's Eve, a close friend of ours invites us for dinner at their home. We had a potluck and had lots of delicious food. One of our friends made a meatball and cheese bake and some fresh mushroom soup. The meatballs were pork meatballs and were super moist and flavorful. She baked it with tomato sauce made from scratch and topped the dish with some melt cheese. It was my favorite dish of the night. The mushroom soup could've been a…
FOODlog #227: Lemongrass & Tamarind Chicken Soup Some weeks ago I cooked one of my Mum's signature dishes for the staff at the cafe. It uses pork but I used chicken instead. I swapped the protein but every other ingredient I used what the dish uses. This dish is a stew that uses aromatics like lemongrass, garlic, dried chili, and dried tamarind slices. For the marinade of the chicken, it uses soy sauce, oyster sauce, and dark soy sauce. Marinade it for an hour or so or if…
FOODlog #228: Malaysian Ayam Masak Hitam Dish Cooked a Malay dish called - 'Ayam Masak Hitam' for the staff meal and its a really simple recipe that anyone can do at home too. Its a chicken dish which you can replace with beef if you'd like and uses South East Asian household pantry items like soy sauce and dark soy sauce. For the aromatics, I used cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, dried chili, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. I used chicken breast and sliced it up. You could use…
FOODlog #229: Nasi Lemak Ayam A friend of mine is opening a pizza place soon. He DIYed the whole place himself to save cost and he even built a woodfire dome pizza oven all by himself. Talk about resourceful. I dropped by to check the place out before it opens and its been looking really impressive especially since he built everything himself. We went nearby to have a bite and I ordered a takeaway of 'Nasi Lemak' with a side of fried chicken. It's a small stall run by an…
FOODlog #230: Artisanal Focaccia Chicken Sandwich Went to Duwa Artisanal Bakery again and this time I had to try something I haven't tried yet which is their Focaccia sandwich with roasted chicken and a side of truffle chips. I've tried everything there including all their pizzas and I've been wanting to try this Focaccia sandwich which didn't disappoint. It was super delicious and the Focaccia bread was so fluffy and you could smell the aroma and fragrance of the olive oil.…
FOODlog #231: Chicken Rendang & Fried Gobi Couple of Sundays ago I had lunch at a place that opened a couple of months back. It replaced a 'mamak' restaurant that has been in the neighborhood for 20 years. It was my first time trying their 'Nasi Kandar' which is rice that you get to choose some dishes to go with. I picked their deep fried cauliflower and their 'rendang' chicken to go with the rice and they were super good! The deep fried cauliflower was crispy on the outside…
FOODlog #232: Filipino Tuna Mackerel Fish Stew We don't often eat fish as our staff meal but the other day my Filipino colleague bought some 'Ikan Tongkol' (mackerel tuna) and cooked a delicious Filipino stew dish. This fish stew dish is called 'Ginataang Tambakol'. First the fish is cut into steaks and then fried in oil until golden brown. Its then removed from the oil to drain on some paper towels. Next, to make the sauce, slices of ginger, garlic, onions, and chili is…
FOODlog #233: Chicken Curry 'Kerutuk' A few weeks ago it was my turn to cook the staff meal. When I do have the energy and am well rested, I do enjoy cooking for the rest of the staff. I get to also cook things I like to eat or dishes that I want to explore cooking. I get to go shopping with the cafes budget for the meals and this round I got a whole chicken and a 'kerutuk' spice mix. It's a type of Malaysian curry that had coconut milk, tamarind, and 'gula Melaka'…
FOODlog #234: Kuey Teow T'ng Went out for breakfast with my parents on one of the days of Chinese New Year which was also my off day from work. A very rare occasion as I normally don't take breakfast and with my parents for that matter. So it was a nice time spent at a local hawker stall. They are popular there for their 'Char Kuey Teow' but this time I ordered their 'Kuey Teow T'ng' which is flat rice noodles in a pork stock soup with some pork slices, fish meatballs, and…
FOODlog #235: Amazing Chicken Chop There this place that opened recently that I've been wanting to try. It's a place called Checkpoint located at B. Base. They serve local cuisine food like Nasi Lemak, Assam Laksa, as well as pastries like croissant and also western hot foods like burgers and chicken chops. I tried their honey walnut pastry and it was quite good. The amount of walnut was very generous and the taste was nice. They gave our table a free almond tart to try…
FOODlog #236: Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup @ An Viet Went to this place with a friend that serves Vietnamese food at Gardens Midvalley called An Viet. The place was jam packed when I went at around 7pm on a Monday but managed to get a place for the 2 of us. A very cozy shoplot that was very vibrant with people and the staff were really nice and friendly. I ordered their pork rice noodle soup dish for myself and my friend ordered their lemongrass grill chicken buncha. My…
FOODlog #237: Stingray Curry with Roti Telur For our staff meal at the cafe, we normally eat rice and occasionally we have noodles for a change. This time, we wanted something besides rice and noodles so we ordered some 'roti' for our lunch. We got some 'roti telur' which is roti with egg. It came with dhall and some fish curry which I also got a portion of the fish. It was a stingray curry which was flavorful although the stingray itself was a little rubbery. I also got…
FOODlog #238: Chicken & Portobello Stroganoff Had a really delicious lunch the other day cooked by my Filipino colleague. He made - STROGANOFF! But instead of beef which is the authentic recipe, he used chicken instead. He also replaced the sour cream needed in a stroganoff recipe with cream instead. The flavor profile was as good as a stroganoff would be and we really enjoyed the lunch. Here's how he made it: First slice some mushrooms. We had Portobello mushrooms so we…
FOODlog #239: Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner 2023 Chinese New Year last month was really wonderful. I had around 5 days off from work and had a good time resting and relaxing after over 3 months of heavy physical work. My body is getting stronger and I feel less tired so I guess that's a good thing that I'm getting stronger physically being back in a kitchen. Anyway, we had our reunion dinner at my aunt's house which we always do every year. My brother bought some delicious…
FOODlog #240: Pandan Fried Chicken with Nasi Lemak Went to this place called 'Peranakan Place' that recently opened in Setapak Sentral mall. I've tried this 'Nyonya' restaurant chain before in Rawang and the quality and taste was at the same standard. I ordered their Ayam Rempah Nasi Lemak which comes with a quarter chicken and half a hard-boiled egg together with the usual Nasi Lemak condiments of cucumber, groundnuts and ikan bilis (fried anchovies). The portion is…
FOODlog #241: Malaysian Hokkien Food On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, Mr and my family went to my parents place for lunch. My mum cooked some of her signature dishes that she inherited the recipe from her mum and her mum's mum. She cooked pork trotters stew with mushrooms and soy sauce. As always it packed full of flavor, super rich in taste, and the fragrance from this dish will get your mouth watering. The mushrooms give it an earthy umami flavor and the fatty pork…
FOODlog 242: Dad's Dinner Treat My dad messaged us the other day to say that he wants to treat us a dinner meal. We went to a Chinese restaurant around the neighborhood for dinner and had a good time eating some yummy Chinese food. He ordered a steamed tilapia with garlic and soy sauce. It's topped with spring onions as well to give it some freshness and color. The fish was so delicious and tender. It was cooked to perfection and the sauce that came with it enhanced the…
FOODlog #243: Ramen with Smoked Bacon On Saturdays, we normally are a little tired of having rice as our staff meal lunch so we often try to eat something different. Our go to are instant noodles like instant soup ramen. My colleague bought a pork broth instant ramen from the clearance section that would otherwise cost double. It was still before the expiry and what better way to save money and have good tasting food. They cooked this for lunch together with meatballs, a…
FOODlog #244: Curry Barramundi After lunch on Sunday, we headed to a nearby supermarket to buy some groceries. I went to the fresh food section and got 2 fishes for one of the staff meals of the week. I got 2 barramundi at about RM10 each (<2.50 USD) which was quite a steal. I brought the fishes to work and made it for our lunch. I cooked a Nyonya fish curry with ladies fingers. For the curry paste I used a premix that I found to be quite tasty and super convenient to make.…
FOODlog #245: Beef Stew with Local Spices I cooked some beef stew for lunch the other using the leftover Brazilian striploin that the cafe had. I didn't really know what to cook so I improvised and made a spiced stew with local spices and some vegetables. I started off with some aromatics like ginger and garlic as well as some spices like cloves and star anise and toasted them in some oil in a pot. After they were fragrant I added in the beef and gave them a good sear to get…
FOODlog #246: Vietnamese Chicken Wraps A change up of a meal for lunch, we had wraps for lunch! After days of having our usual rice meals, my friend cooked for the staff meal at the cafe some Vietnamese style pan fried chicken. He seasoned the boneless chicken thighs with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce. He wanted to use lemongrass but we didn't have any so if you do have that in your pantry, do utilize it for more flavor and aroma. After about 15 minutes, the…
FOODlog #247: Drunken Chicken The other day my colleague cooked a Chinese dish called 'Drunken Chicken' for lunch. It was a dish that he remembered his mum cooked for him when he was young and he helped out making it. 20 years later he now tried to make it as how he remembered it. He marinated the chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and shaoxing wine which is a type of Chinese cooking wine. The dish starts with sauteing some sliced ginger in oil. Once it's…
FOODlog #248: Nyonya Chicken Curry Kapitan It was my turn to cook the staff meal for everyone so I made steamed rice together with 2 dishes to eat with it. I made a Nyonya curry chicken kapitan and a vegetable dish of stir fried baby kailan. For the chicken, I used boneless chicken thighs that I cut into cubes. I then prepared the ingredients for the sauce which were garlic and I used a curry premix for this dish. Super convenient and easy to make. I start with oil in a pan…
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