FOODlog #268: New Orleans BBQ Wings There was an event that the cafe I work at were participating at and they hired 2 part timers for the week. It was nice seeing new faces around the cafe although we didn't get to interact with them as we're busy with our work as always. We had to prepare more lunch on those days as there were more mouths to feed. 1 of my colleague made some New Orleans wings that he oven roasted with some premix barbecue hot sauce. It had the word 'HOT'…
FOODlog #269: Ginger Soy Chicken 2nd day of the part timers working at the event and after their first meal the previous day that was super spicy, I decided to cook something much milder with 0 chilies or even pepper in sight. I made something my Mum makes which is a simple chicken dish with ginger and soy sauce. I used chicken tenders that I sliced up then marinated for about 15-20 minutes with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and dark soy sauce. The ginger is sliced up roughly and…
FOODlog #270: Malaysian Thai Fusion Food at 'Seria' It's been 4 months since our last team calibration meeting and this time after the session, we went for dinner at a restaurant called 'Serai'. They have various cuisines on their menu like Malaysian cuisine, Thai cuisine, and some western food like fish & chips. Since there were over 20 of us there, we ordered a variety of dishes from the menu but some highlights to mention were the Tomyam which was really nice. Its on the…
FOODlog #271: Thai 'Pad Kra Pao' nother day of the event and it was my Filipino colleague's turn to cook. After having some Thai food the other day, he was craving for more so he made some 'Pad Kra Pao' for our staff meal. Instead of using minced pork, he used pieces of boneless chicken instead but every other ingredient was as authentic as it gets. Fish sauce, fresh chilies, garlic and Thai basil went in to stir fry with the chicken. Season to taste with some salt and a…
FOODlog #272: 'Chai Bouy' Pork Shoulder & Stomach Last day of the event and it was my turn to cook. I made one of my Mum's all-time signature dishes which recipe has been passed down from her mum and her mum's mum and God knows how many more generations before. I made a dish called 'Chai Bouy' which is mustard greens cooked with pork. It's a fairly simple dish that anyone can make and doesn't have any particularly difficult cooking technique involved. All you need are the…
FOODlog #273: Curry Fish Head Last month my parents invited me and my brother and our families over to their house. My Mum was cooking some fish head curry which we all enjoy. The fish has been in her freezer for some time now and she has been wanting to cook it but I got covid so things were delayed. Anyway, she cooked it and we finally got to go over to have a meal together. She cooked the dish with some premix curry paste that had a lovely balance of sweet, savory, spicy,…
FOODlog #274: Woodfire Oven Pizzeria A friend of mine recently opened up a Pizzeria that serves woodfire oven pizzas. He even built the brick oven by himself and single-handedly built the restaurant from the ground up including water piping and electrical wiring. It's been an exceptional work especially since he's got not prior experience in F&B nor construction work and still manage to pull it off and setup this place. This woodfire oven pizza is called Dante Carlos and…
FOODlog #275: Beef Japanese Curry & Chive Dumplings For our staff meals at the cafe, we get to cook different cuisines and explore different food cultures. Since we pick what to cook, it's a wonderful experience that we get to experiment and try new types of food every other week. It was my colleagues turn to cook and he picked Japanese cuisine. He cooked some Japanese curry with beef mince and carrots. The curry was a premix that we were trying out and it turned out…
FOODlog #276: Filipino Pork Sisig It was my Filipino colleague's turn to cook staff meal and he cooked what is the best lunch I've ever eaten that he cooked. He cooked 3 dishes and it was really some of the best Filipino food I've eaten so far. He cooked pork 'Sisig' a popular Filipino dish that's super delicious. It's my first time eating it and man was it a treat! He first marinated with soy sauce and roasted the pork face in an oven. Then stir fried it with liver. After…
FOODlog #277: Pork Bone Broth Soup It was my turn to cook lunch for the staff. I cooked something my wife cooks at home every now and then - 'hai di lao' soup. She normally adds in frozen food like seafood tofu, fishballs, meatballs, as well as fresh meat like shabu-shabu sliced pork belly. I took inspiration from that and using the same soup/stock base from the 'hai di lao' brand, I made some soup with seafood tofu and chicken meatballs. I also added in some roughly chopped…
FOODlog #278: Oyster Meesuah & Bone-In Fried Chicken After church on Sunday, me and my friends went for lunch to a nearby mall. My wife and younger son was down with covid so they didn't follow us and my eldest son was with me. We went to a 'kopitiam' that serves various local noodle and rice dishes. I ordered for him 'Nasi Lemak' with fried chicken which he really enjoyed and finished the whole plate of food. The rice was a heapful and he mamsged to finish that and the…
FOODlog #279: Wantan Noodles with Roasted BBQ Chicken and Fried Prawn Rolls After eating rice dishes for our lunches at the cafe, I decided to switch it up by cooking some wantan noodles for lunch. I went shopping at the supermarket located above our cafe and saw they had these ready made wantan egg noodles on sale. I got a couple of packets and made a simple dry noodle dish with some sweet Chinese barbecue sauce chicken (Char Siew). I used a premix sauce for the sweet sauce…
FOODlog #280: Ginger & Anchovies Pork Shoulder Stew One of my colleagues bought some pork shoulder the other day which I used them to cook one of my comfort dishes - pork shoulder with salted fish and ginger. Its a Chinese dish that is really delicious and also a dish that my Mum cooks. This dish is normally made with pork belly and salted fish but I improvised with the ingredients I had and used pork shoulder instead of belly and anchovies instead of salted fish. The…
FOODlog #281: Thai Pandan Roasted Chicken Another day another cuisine to cook and savor. This time I cooked a Thai dish called - Pandan Fried Chicken. I improvised a little by baking the chicken instead of deep frying since it doesn't use as much oil and much lesser mess to clean up after. All you need to make this dish is chicken, garlic, white pepper, black pepper (optional), oyster sauce, pandan leaves. I first start with marinating the chicken with freshly ground white…
FOODlog #282: Mushroom Duxelle Mushroom Duxelle is something we make at the cafe. It's for one of the sandwiches which we use the Duxelle as a spread on the bread before the other ingredients are added to make the sandwich. Here's how you make mushroom Duxelle: Use whatever fresh mushrooms you like. At the cafe we use 3 types of mushrooms - white button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms. The oyster mushrooms are shredded by hand roughly and the button…
FOODlog #283: 'Ayam Percik' & 'Daging Bakar' The other day I went to get my car wrapped for an advertisement which they would pay for the service. It's a 3 month campaign and I needed to drive to the location about 30km away from where I live. After the wrapping was done which was lunchtime, I went by a roadside 'warung' to get some lunch. The area wasn't a place I'm familiar with so I just went anywhere that was convenient. There wasn't anyone else eating at the place but…
FOODlog #284: Local Eatery 'Bungkus KAW KAW' Recently there's a new shop that opened next to the cafe I work at called 'Bungkus Kaw Kaw'. I've been wanting to try the food there as I've seen lines everyday since they opened but never get to as I myself am occupied serving people food at the cafe. I managed to try their food the other day at another shopping mall where I met up with someone. We ordered a pack of 'mihun Siam' which is rice vermicelli noodles that's cooked with…
FOODlog #285: Mushroom & Chicken Ramen Recently I've been really into noodles. I really love eating noodles nowadays which I didn't use to. Perhaps I've always loved noodles since its part of the Chinese culture and my heritage as well as I really like 'ramen' from Japanese cuisine so why not combine the two! I've recently tried some ready made 'wantan' noodles which are egg noodles made for the 'wantan' noodle dish. I've been thinking that this noodles will be good in a…
FOODlog #286: Tomato & Onion Chicken and Deep Fried Brinjal For our staff meals I often take inspiration from food my Mum cooks as well as places I've been to and loved their food. I made a chicken dish with tomatoes and taufu 'pok' which my Mum made when she was still staying with me. It's a very simple dish with just a handful of ingredients like - tomatoes, onions, garlic, soy sauce, taufu 'pok', and chicken. For the marinade of the chicken I used soy sauce and oyster…
FOODlog #287: Chicken & Vegetable Curry Another day another staff meal to cook. This time I made chicken and vegetable curry. I used chicken wings cause I had them in the freezer and needed to use them, and for my vegetables I used long beans, brinjal, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and carrots. You could use your favorite vegetables for this if you don't like any of the vegetables I used. I also used some aromatics like ginger and garlic and Sautéed them with the premix curry…
FOODlog #288: Korean Beef Bulgogi 've been planning to cook beef bulgogi, a Korean beef stew dish that I absolutely love and there was a week that I had the time to make it for the staff meal. I used beef tenderloin that I sliced thinly and marinated it in a marinade I made with soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, and sesame oil. Originally there is blended puree of pear but I forgot to get some pear which is also fine as the end result turned out super…
FOODlog #289: My Daily Breakfasts as a Chef Often for breakfast we get to eat whatever we have that is extra from the cafe. Like not so pretty looking smoked salmon where it'll become scrap, we use them and repurpose them for our breakfast. Sometimes I buy myself some food for my breakfast which I normally go for something on the cheaper side and that's budget friendly. Here are some of the breakfasts I had the past week: 1. Fried Noodles (Mee Goreng) This one is from a…
FOODlog #290: Filipino Brinjal Omelet 'Tortang Talong' The other day for lunch my Filipino colleague cooked a Filipino dish called 'Tortang Talong'. It's an omelet using eggs and cooked with brinjal that's roasted whole and the skin removed. It starts with the brinjal that's roasted over fire until the skin blackens and blisters. It's then covered in a bowl with cling wrap so that the steam will help the process of removing it's skin. In a bowl, some eggs are beaten and…
FOODlog #291: Beef Shawarma One of the Saturdays this month after work and music practice at church, I was hungry and went to a new kebab shop that opened nearby where I live. I've heard from my wife that she's tried it and she really likes their shawarmas so I thought I'd give it a try. Its a place called 'Kebab Joy'. One thing I noticed before stepping into the shop is the bright signboard that's very inviting especially in the night. I ordered their beef shawarma which…
FOODlog 292: North Malaysia-style Fish Curry & Spiced Fried Chicken Went to one of my favorite places for curry 3 Sundays ago and man was it a satisfying meal. I haven't eaten there in awhile now being so occupied with work and family so it was such a treat to be able to go there after church. This place called 'Lunch Bear' serves northern Malaysian cuisine that includes spiced fried chicken, varieties of curries and Malay dishes. I ordered a plate of rice topped with their…
FOODlog #293: Wagyu Beef Patties with Fried Eggs My brother bought me and family some wagyu beef patties that were going on sale. It was a buy 1 free 1 deal and was a good money for value especially since we rarely ever eat wagyu beef. I pan fried the wagyu beef patty in a pan. It didn't need any oil as the wagyu patties had lots of fat and the fat rendered down producing lots of oil to fry the patties. It got a nice sear and gave an amazing aroma. I cooked both sides for…
FOODlog #294: Beef Tongue & Tendon Spicy Ramen I had an off day and went to a nearby frozen food store to get some grocery for our staff lunches at the cafe. I bought some buffalo tongue and beef tendon to cook. Buffalo tongue is similar to beef tongue but a little more gamey. Since I knew it was gonna be gamey, I cooked it with very strong herbs and spices to remove as much of that gamey smell and taste. I cooked the tongue and tendons with garlic, soy sauce, black…
FOODlog #295: Thai Pandan Fried Chicken & Quail Eggs Stir Fry My Filipino colleague cooked 2 dishes for put staff meal the other day. He made a delicious fried chicken dish and a vegetable dish with quail eggs. For the chicken he simple marinated some chicken drummets with fish sauce, soy sauce, chopped up fresh coriander, and pandan leaves. It was a shortcut style and take on the Thai pandan fried chicken. It turned out really flavorful and had the familiar tastes of the…
FOODlog #296: Cashew Nuts & Chili Chicken (宫保鸡丁) I've been wanting to cook this Cantonese-style dish that pairs chicken with cashew nuts. I finally had some cashew nuts in the kitchen and decided to make this dish. The dish is preferred to use boneless chicken thighs but the supermarket didn't have any so I used chicken tenders that I cut into cubes instead. I seasoned the chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and dark soy sauce. I stir in oil some fried dried chilies and…
FOODlog #297: Spaghetti with Black Pepper Roasted Chicken It was colleagues turn to cook and he made a simple spaghetti dish paired with roasted organic chicken. He bought 1 and a half organic chicken that was on discount and roasted it with black pepper sauce. The chicken is marinated in black pepper sauce and roasted in a 180 degree Celsius oven for about 20 minutes. The chicken breast is cooked for half the time but the chicken thighs at least 20 to 25 minutes. For the…
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