A Blessing In Disguise

So here I am in Paris. It was one of those legendary; I've always wanted to go this romantic city. Even just for a week, it’s been one helluva ride. This city is a whirlwind of excitement and activity and I’m lured in by everything I can see. And of course, eat.

I've my very best friend here who’s willing to drive me all day after class. (Don’t know what actually this relation based on but I've to ignore about the fact to be in any serious relationship at the moment).

OK, so for my food hunting in the most romantic place in the world with someone who’s not even my boyfriend, haha. I've to admit all the stories about Paris are hell true! The city, the people, the romance, the environment…everything is seems to be so perfect. I’m hooked! I always knew that French food would blow me away, though of course I was never to know the extent.

I went to few great & gorgeous restaurants; Horizon Deck, Restaurant & Champagne Bar- The view in here was wonderful. You can eat on the outdoor rooftop terrace or inside under the wood-planked ceiling but either will be delightful. I chose outdoor as I can see the spectacular view of the sea and feel its pride holding all the expensive yatch and cruise ship. Virage- The restaurant is contemporary and all in white colours with fantastic views of the port and the yatchs. La Maison du Caviar- The décor is a piece of art, regaining your appetite after a long day in the meeting. It’s really was a great dinner, delightful experience to eat something that splendid! If you want to taste the finest caviar, this is your nirvana. Le Grill- It’s quite expensive, but for God sake I’m in Paris, who cares! (Mix feelings by the way, looking at the food, hell yea who cares! Looking at the bill… cost me fortune). But have to agree thou, I’m paying not just for the food, I’m paying this elegant restaurant for the location and surroundings too! Square by the Casino, what not to expect uh! And of course I elegantly licked my plate so the kitchen people don’t have to wash it.

After elimination as difficult as the proposal to be cut up (in my work), here are the highlights...

Tagliatelle with scampi

Petit four

Blinis with salmon eggs

Salmon Escalope Tartare

Beef fillet

Pear Tarte Tatin

Coeur à la Crème with Caramelized Strawberries

Brioche Perdue

Soul Saver - Delucca

Howdy, no matter where your moods come from or how long they last, eating the right foods can help you feel more energetic & less like you’re riding an emotional roller coaster. Same goes to me, whenever I've a bad day, I will end it up finding a good food. The best soul saver!

We all know those days. And for me a late work night, freaking hot weather and the worst part is feeling destitute of any culinary imagination. What is the best option then? Yes. You've heard me!  Calling for pizza! Of course my taste not for Pizza Hut, Dominos or whatever craps.

My favorite will always be the Delucca Italian Restaurant, the best pizza in town I guess. What choice do I have in here? Let me tell you mate; it’s a long list desirable pizza menu they got in here. These guys have the recipe for good authentic Italian food, with good service and ambiance just right....equation not to be missed. With the wood fired oven, you can never resist their pizza varieties.

If you want to experience dining in here, this restaurant is located opposite No Black Tie Jazz Lounge (my favourite too)

One Residency, Ground floor - Office Tower

No. 1
Jalan Nagasari, off Jalan Raja Chulan

Kuala Lumpur 50200

I’ve ordered a perfect Delucca’s Special. It has a creamy buratina cheese, dried beef & marinated olives. Just like if you were in Rome, doughy, tomato sauce, just right crisp, perfect!

Friend of mine ordered a Seared tuna loin coated with sesame and served with pickled veggies. Pure goodness.

We also ordered a Funghi Pizza, it has wild mushrooms, scallion & brown butter

 Well that creepy day is well and truly over. Say cheese @ Delucca!

The Mighty Osso Bucco

I’ve decided to have an outrageously meaty moment for my Sunday. So here I am making the greatest Italian dishes which I personally love it! The mighty Osso Bucco. What is it? Literally translates as bone's hole is simply an inch & a half slab of veal shank. There is a good amount of tough meat surrounding a large flat piece of bone with ample amount of rich marrow in the center. So when we cook it, the marrow melts into the sauce leaving an open whole in the center, thus the name Osso Buco. Also, Osso Bucco is Italian for ‘bone with hole’.  

You’ll need to cook it slowly though, it takes time and gentle cooking to release their succulence. End result, this meaty bone pieces is a stellar which give this dish such robust flavour. I like to have it with polenta…some do have it with pasta or potato.

Ladled into a bowl of wet polenta to soak up the rich sauce. It’s a good stewy dish! There are a hundred different variations of Osso Bucco, mostly braised. This one is simply with the tomatoes.

Ingredients:

3-4 pieces of osso buco (veal shank)

2 carrots, chopped finely

1 onion, chopped finely

couple cloves of garlic, smashed 

bay leaf

any aromatics you like - i prefer rosemary

a little flour for dusting

salt & pepper

a good handful  of canned tomatoes, skins removed or fresh tomatotes with skins & seeds removed

olive oil

butter

half a cup of water or stock

Methods:

Salt & pepper the veal shank & then dredge in the flour. On medium-high heat, add olive oil & a pad of butter. Sauté the veal shank or  osso bucco for 2 minutes on each side.

Then add the vegetables & continue cooking the osso buco, turning frequently until it is nice & colored. Add the stock and cook until the stock is reduced by 2/3

Add the tomatoes, rosemary, pepper & salt, water or stock & bring up to a simmer.

Remove from stove & place in a 350 degree oven, uncovered for about an hour & half or until the centers of the bone have melted away & the meat is falling away from the bone. If you need to add a little more water or stock towards the end, do so

Serve over polenta, potatoes or rice to soak up the juices. This is one of my favorite dishes because it is lip smackingly delicious.

The classic fusion: Satay

I reminisce the humble looking though nonetheless much-loved staple food, the satay/sate.

And indeed, this is one of my favourite regional Malay foods. Why? Because it has the most unique and captivating marriages of smoky marinate beef and tangy peanut sauces and spices, it combines various meat-offerings to unravel a myriad of different options.

Satay has tantalized taste buds across the world. I remembered the time when we had an International Festival back in uni, nothing has attracted immense popularity of the people there more than a set of bamboo sticks with skewered meat on them. I guess its unique style of being grilled over open charcoal fires and constantly-fanned by a cook is easily attracting the crowd. In Southern Asia like Malaysia,Thailand and Indonesia satay has crossed cultures and racial divides to unite everyone to its delicious taste (both Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia claim it as their own). Satay is a widely renowned dish in these countries, as a result many variations have been developed throughout the Malay Archipelago.

Despite its murky origins – whether brought by Malaysian, Thailand or Indonesian traders I say - satay is synonymous with Asian. The popular kinds of satay are usually beef, lamb and chicken satays,  but some also serve more exotic meats such as venison, rabbit or fish, as well as gizzard, liver, and a number of other variations.

In Malaysia, it’s served with peanut sauce meanwhile in Indonesia they serve it with soy sauce.

Satay

Ingredients:

8-12 skinless chicken, cut into thin strips

Marinade with:

1/4 cup minced lemongrass

3 shallots

3 cloves garlic

1-2 fresh dry chilies

1 thumb-size piece galangal and ginger

1 tsp. turmeric

2 tbsp. ground coriander

2 tsp. cumin

5-6 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Preparation:

Soak wooden skewers in water while you prepare the meat (to prevent burning). Cut chicken into thin strips and place in a bowl.

Place all marinade ingredients in a food processor or chopper. Process well.

Taste-test the marinade - you will taste sweet, spicy, and salty. The strongest tastes should be sweet and salty, adjust the taste to suite your palate. You can also add more chilli if you want it spicier.

Pour the marinade over the meat and stir well to combine. Allow at least 1 hour for marinating, the longer the better of course.

When ready, thread meat onto the skewers. Fill up to 3/4 of the skewer, leaving the lower half empty so that the person grilling has a handle to easily turn the satay during cooking.

Grill the satay on your BBQ set or any indoor grill. Place satay close beneath the heating element and turn the meat every 5 minutes until cooked. Depending on how thin your meat is, the satay should cook in 10 to 20 minutes.

Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 cup dry roasted peanuts, unsalted

1/3 cup water

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. tamarind paste

1/2 tsp. dry chilli

1/3 cup coconut milk

Salt

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend or process until sauce is smooth. If you prefer a runnier peanut sauce, add a little more water or coconut milk.

Do a taste test, adding more salt if not salty enough, or if you'd prefer it sweeter, add a little more sugar.

Serve warm or at room temperature with satay.

Enjoy!

In praise of tiny little Lentil!

I had completely underestimated the power of lentil. When I was in Melbourne, I met a few friends from Bangladesh. Apparently they are a big fan of lentil. So I was so surprised when my first bite of their cuisine based on lentil has blown me away. Since then the hunting for the best lentil recipes have begun.

In Washington, they even have a festival for lentil! Erm…lentil…you are quite famous uh! I’ll definitely go for this event one day.

I found a few delicious recipes about lentil other than just make it soup in one website. But the real objective for me is that I simply want to cook and eat everything in this web.

So far I've tried these:

Lentils with broiled eggplant

This is a mouth-watering dish. The combination of textures and flavors of tender lentils, smoky eggplant, sweet tomatoes, herbs and mayonnaise weaved throughout this dish make it interesting and exciting. I had it with grilled salmon and it's a stellar

Photo Credit to Whole Living Daily

Wild Mushroom Lentil Burgers with Creamy Cashew Sauce 

As a meat eater, looking at veggie burgers typically give me a reason to criticize. Well, it sucks. (Initial reaction) but my friend… I dare to put my carnivore tag down and say this is probably the most genuine nature food with a deep flavor and dark spirit.

Photo Credit to Whole Living Daily

If you think lentils are boring (like me before), this is definitely your gateway recipe.

Meal in Arabic Style....yaaaaa habibi!

My housemate hit the jackpot I think when suddenly she said she wanna treat us (me and my other housemate) dinner. 

Well, thinking...thinking and thinking finally we agreed to go to this Arabic,Lebanese & Yemeni restaurant. Arrived around 8.30pm, quite full with a bunch of Arabic families. This place has a nice environment, well ventilated and has that authentic Arabian decor feel. 

Well, I did notice a smart looking guy...haha. He looked at me one awesome look. Ahhh...It's a great look man! but you're looking at the very hungry woman (for food of course) who just think about tuck in her tummy. Bye-bye then.

Looking at the menu, I find it hard not to get excited about grill lamb and flat breads. Yummy!

So we ordered:

Hadramawt Mixed Appetizer : Hummus, Baba Ghanouj, Salad, Grape Leaves, Tabbouleh, Mutable, Fattoush and Mayonaise Salad

Mixed Grill

Lamb Madghout : Pressure cooked lamb with rice simmered in tomato sauce

Lemon with Mint

Arabic Tea

Food served! The potion is quite generous and make me smile 

Thumb up for the mixed grill but the lamb madghout is a bit disappointment. The rice a bit dry for my liking but the lamb is very tender and not oily.

My absolute fave was the Lemon with Mint....  so refreshing I could have drunk one barrel of it! 

Overall, the price plus the environment and service, it’s a worth experience.

A definite repeat soon!

Multigrain Porridge with Wild Yam

Howdy! The foods diva is resurrected. I was sick due to severe slip disc. Anyway, this sickness doesn't mean my palate reduced to the lowest of the foodie castes just yet. So I tasted a multi grain porridge with wild yam. And…it’s great!

It's a fresh take on traditional porridge with interesting grains that add real texture and substance to my day. This porridge is crammed with wholegrain cereals and seeds garnish with wild yam which taste amazing!, sweet pumpkin, seaweed, radish, goji berries, carrot and mushroom. 

Eat it with a kick of soy sauce and chillies, kababom! I've to admit hey, it's too easy to be addicted to these.

Prep, prep, prep!

Prep, prep, prep! Holy moly. Preparing for a dinner party always starts off smoothly. I thought there's all the time in the world, having breaks for Starbuck Frappuccino, cheese toasties and for tasting (and tasting) my fruit cocktail, when suddenly I realize I still have four other courses to do with 2.5 hours left. Panic sets in, the pace picks up, and there's silent work flurry for at least one hour. All this among desperate tweeting to let friends and guests know I’m taking the challenge seriously! Bahaha…

The course menu : 

Canape

Vegie Springroll

Menu

Lemongrass Rice

Ketupat

Chicken Rendang

Chicken Masak Merah

Lodeh

Peanut Sauce

Tsa Bee Hoon

Stir Pineapple with Capsicum

Dessert

Fruit Cocktail

Tea & Coffee

We got carried away didn't we? With only three manpower, these engines will definitely be exploded! Finally, after all the yelling, sweat, laughter and tears, we are set to open our door for our lovely friends.

                                      

Lemongrass Rice

Lodeh

Chicken Masak Merah

Tsa Bee Hoon

Stir Pineapple with Capsicum

Veggie Spring Roll

Peanut Sauce

Ketupat

Chicken Rendang

 When my friend buzzling for the recipe of my dishes, I know I'm doing something right! J I’m happy that all my guests leaved feeling satisfied and not guilty!

Borneo Unique Fruits

I just like trying out things I've never seen before. I'm also getting slightly addicted to them. What weird and wonderful fruits have you eaten recently? Here's my fair share.

Dabai

These fruits are mainly grown in parts of Borneo Island especially in northern part of Sarawak called Dabai. This fruit have dark purple skin and when skin removed, we can see oily yellowish appearance. The yellowish fresh taste creamy. The way to eat it is first rinse it then soaks in lukewarm water until it softens. Season with salt. They even fried rice with this fruit. 

Sentul

The santol fruit is round and as big as a big apple. Inside the fruit there is a white juicy pulp around 3 to 5 brown seeds. The pulp is mostly sub-acid or sour. When the fruit is not ripe, the fruit is very sour.

Uchung

Widely known as wild starfruit. Red colour when it ripe. Taste sweet and sour

Lemba

The taste of the fruit is not sweet rather sour. However, after eating the fruits, food consumed after will taste sweet. The leaf of this plant was traditional used for wrapping rice cake. According to local folk lore identified it as a natural sweetener that gives a very sweet taste or sensation when its seeds or parts of the plant are chewed.

Tarap

Tarap fruit looks like the offspring of the jackfruit & breadfruit. When ripe the smell can be pretty strong, The flesh is silky & smooth, and taste like a cross between mangoes & jackfruit!

Kemunting

This plant grows in coastal, natural forest, riparian zone, wetlands, moist and wet forest and marsh fringe. Normally this fruit come in bluish or purple color, has sweet and sour taste.

Bilak

This fruit grows wild in many dry forests in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka as well as the spread in Southeast Asia, including in Malaysia. Bilak has hard shell and ripe fruit is yellow or orange with a fragrant aroma.

Photo Credit: Anim Agro

There's no end to God's creativity isn't!