Authentic Nasi Kerabu

We Malaysians, just love our rice. We have our Nasi Lemak, Nasi Goreng (fried rice), the borrowed Nasi Briyani ( from India), Frog Leg Rice Porridge (from our Chinese friends) and many,many more. But today, I will talk about the Nasi Kerabu

 Nasi Kerabu  is a regional specialty from the state of Kelantan on the east coast of Malaysia. Traditionally, the rice is tinted bright blue from petals of a flower called bunga telang (clitoria) Several  varieties of local herbs are added into rice.

 This Nasi Kerabu is normally a combination of fresh aromatic herbs; local mint, basil, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric leaves and raw vegetables; bean sprouts, long green beans, shallots, cucumber, are combined together. The rice is bland on its despite its bright blue colour, and makes it perfect for the spicy "sambal"and  strong flavored ingredients such as salted fish, dried prawns, fish crackers, kerisik [fried grated coconut] and other savory garnishing. 

Yumm...This Nasi Kerabu is served with fish crackers, salted egg and chicken "rendang', a truly authentic dish.

Rich Fruit Cake for a Merry Christmas

Fruit Cake is a "must have" for Christmas, has that wonderful combination of nuts and dried fruits with barely enough cake batter to hold it all together. What sets a real cake apart is  the alcohol (usually brandy, sometimes rum). This gives the Fruit Cake a subtle brandy flavor and a moist texture, plus it also allows the cake to be stored for ages and ages. 

My recipe is just below:

Fruit Cake:

1 cup  unsalted butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons brandyplus extra for brushing the cake

Juice and zest (outer orange skin) of one orange

Zest (outer yellow skin) of one lemon

1cup of any kind of nuts ( no groundnuts)

1 big pack of assortment of dried fruits (preferably Big Sister)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

salt

Soak fruits in achohol overnight or longer. The longer you soak the fruits,they better they taste in the cake. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the juice and zest of the orange, and zest of the lemon.

Adding of the fragrant orange zest...

Then fold in the chopped nuts, and all the dried and candied fruits. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder and fold this into the cake batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for1 hour.  I could not remember the temperature I used but I basically followed the manual of the oven. Bake for about 1 hr 30 minutes or until a long skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

 Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely. Wrap the cake thoroughly in aluminum foil.This cake will keep several weeks or it can be frozen.

This is just my recipe but there  are many fruit cake recipes on the net and you choose any one that suits you. Just go with the flow and experiment, that is how I got my cake done, and my mom loved it!

Bangkok House @ Sunway Giza

This is my first post for 2013, so I am 2 months behind time. Let's start, I bought a groupon coupon for Bangkok House. Being and ardent fan of Thai cuisine, so I grabbed the chance.

In short, the food was alright, but the place was decent and nice. This is what we ate, Deep Fried Assorted Veges. It was fried well, coated with just the right amount of flour, and the "sambal" was just perfect.

 "Ikan Tiga Rasa" or Fried Fish of 3 flavours came next. The interesting thing was that the fish was cut into bite size pieces which made eating easy, and the flavour was quite good, sweet, spicy and sour..all just right. My son who loves Pandan Chicken, vouched for their pandan chicken.

But guys..what is Thai Food without the one and only Tomyam. We ordered the white version of the seafood tomyam. The tomyam came with a generous amount of prawns, fish fillets, squids and even crab. However, it was not spicy enough for our taste buds.

I can say, in general, The food was not too bad, but nothing to shout about. We loved the ambiance though, which was a nice family setting. And of course, with the deal that we got, it was worth it!

2nd trip to Brisbane - Desserts

 I have been busy with work and completely forgot about blogging to it is time to get on track now. Let's see how many blog I can succeed in uploading today...cheers for me !!!

My second trip to Brisbane was filled food, food and more  food. Let's start with desert...which is not normally. Some of the best desserts I had during my trip, which is why I plumped up :)

The sticky date pudding served with honeycomb ice cream was simply irresistible, and my it was, because I ordered it from room service almost everyday. It is definitely a dessert to die for...

    The warm date pudding topped up with the freshly made Butterscoth Sauce, accompanied with a generous scoo[ of honeycomb ice cream.

I also made another visit to Max Brenner Chocolate Bar, and had the waffle with chocolate ice cream. Again max Benner did not fail me. It is definitely a special place for chocoholics like me, and I believe anything you try there is simply superb. I wish there had one here.

Now, for the more Asian flavour, I had fried ice cream in a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. It was simple, yet very nice. The distinct coconut bits really gave the kick to rather modest dish.

 I will post more about the different types of food I had in Brisbane, but for now savour this....cheers mates!!!

Authentic Persian Meal at Naab Restaurant

Again, courtesy of my 12 year old, we visited this restaurant. The story is, my son achieved 5 A's in his school exams and was rewarded by his aunt (my sis) with a Groupon voucher for a meal at Naab's.

So, another meal, courtesy of my dearest son.

Naab has a very nice ambiance, with soft middle eastern music playing in the background. and a very very friendly staff. They immediately served the three of us with drinks, even though, the coupon was for two. Hats off to them!!

Naab offers a wide variety of celebrated Iranian and Middle Easter cuisine. The lemonade, lightly spiced with mint leaves was very refreshing.

First we were served with Mirza Ghasemi, a mix of smoked eggplant and tomato, topped up with egg seasoned with garlic. You have to eat it with bread. At first, the combination of egg and the eggplant mash looked a little weird.Surprisingly, tt was a fresh, nice taste for our taste buds, and we enjoyed it all the way through.

We also had the Hummus Salad, also with hot bread. Yumm....

The Shirazi Salad was refreshing, with a slight hint of middle eastern spices, cumin maybe...

 

As we move on to the main course, the standard gets higher and higher. We had the Lamb Koobide Kebab, which was grilled marinated lamb, served with saffron rice. First, of all, the lamb was so tender, and well cooked, with all the right seasoning and flavour. The rice was fluffy, and fragrant.

We also had the Ghorme Sabzi Stew, chunks of lamb and chickpeas cooked in stew. It complimented the saffron rice.

For dessert, we had Baklava, a sweet pastry popular in Greece and the Middle East, consisting of multiple layers of butter-soaked phyllo pastry, spices and chopped nuts, a drizzled with sugar syrup and flavored rose water. And to top that off, we were served with Iranian tea, in cute little cups.

Beautiful restaurant, attentive staff and fantastic food....to sum it up..a wonderful evening!!

Spendid Thai Food in Bandar Puteri-Awet Thai

It was a special day, Mother's Day, and my son insisted that he "belanja" (treat) me for dinner on this day. So, we went to Bandar Puteri with the hope of finding a good Thai restaurant. We found this crowded restaurant, and you know, being Malaysian, we figured that somehow a restaurant that is packed must serve good food. Awet Thai, is a no frills restaurant in Bandar Puteri, Puchong.

Seafood Coconut Tomyam, we had was prepared really hot and sour here, definitely not for those who have a weak tolerance.It was  just the taste that suited the three of us. It was packed with prawns, fish and squid.

The staff told us the next dish, which I could not remember the name is their specialty so we decided to order. It was fried "siakap" (snapper) in a spicy gravy, which was appetizingly sourish. It was really good, and was something different from what we normally have. It came with extra gravy with such "umpph".

One of our family favourite dished is the deep fried "kangkung" (water spinach). The "kangkung" was crispy and was serve with a "mysterious" sauce (up till now I have no idea what it was), but satisfyingly delicious.

The last dish we had was the sambal petai, my favorite dish. The spiciness was just right, with medium size, fresh prawns, and it went so well, with the steaming hot rice.

Another interesting thing was , they served us with pandan water, in this very cute, silver cups.

As I said, Awet Thai is a no frills restaurant, but the food is definitely good. I would not mind a second trip. The best part of the day, was my 12 year old insisted on paying the bill, and the poor boy had only a 50 ringgit note, and needed his father to top up the rest :)

Food in Brisbane

Last month, I was in Brisbane for a business trip, and i had an option to savour at some of the finest restaurants in Brisbane. Western food in Australia is so different from back home, and the most distinguish feature it is portion of the meat they serve.

First up, is  Cha Cha Char Wine Bar & Grill, which is  is a stylish, contemporary restaurant in the heart of Brisbane. Everyone recommended us to visit the restaurant so we made sure we did.

Roasted & braised lamb, gorgonzola polenta, pear relish, mint salad was my dish of the day.A juicy  lamb served with polenta,  was cooked medium rare, and simply melts in your mouth. Polenta is coarsely or finely ground yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize) used as a foodstuff. It was my first time tasting it, but it tasted like mashed potato.

 This was on the house, an appetizer of Wagyu spring rolls with black pepper caramel. Since I don't take beef, I did not have  a taste at it. Of course, I did not lose the chance of getting a photo.

The above very interesting photo was the only halal option in the house- Wagyu tataki, garlic chips, spring onion, ginger soy vinaigrette. It looked very pretty, so I just had to get a photo.


I could not remember, the other restaurant that we visited, simply because it was not as good as the Char Char Char : )

I had this horrible looking tuna coated with black sesame seeds and bak choy. It looked interesting on the menu. though.

 
This was pretty picture also from the same restaurant. As pretty the picture, it did not taste as good. Thank god, I forgot the name of the restaurant !!!


Another very nice joint that we visit was Max Brenner, a creation of new chocolate culture. It was as if we were in chocolate fairyland...

Not enough...look at this...Yummm Yummm

Chocolate sundae with chocolate fudge, and chocolate brownie and chocolate balls.....how is that???