A twist of Char Siu

It is all back to the time when I was in Finland. This is a dish that I had served to my friends before I finished my exchange program. Thus, it is quite memorable to me. The contract of my hostel was ended during 31 of December. To fulfill my traveling desire, I had to ask my Chinese friends to adopt me for 2 more weeks in their places. For returning their kind favor, I promised them to cook different type of food for expand their food horizon. I had made chicken tikka masala, ayam masak merah, cinnamon rolls, Hawaiian Pizza and Cacciucco all in my version. I gave a little bit of twist due to the difficulty of searching ingredients and the price of ingredients. However, they were not my masterpieces I shall say. I believe that I could do it much better with a proper tutor if there is.

Among all the dishes I had made, “Char Siu” received the best review from them. Maybe because they are Chinese, they tend to accept food that they are more familiar with. Hence, I am pretty proud of myself as I convert my Char Siu recipe from marination to a sauce base. I marinate the chicken drumsticks with the Char Siu sauce and I also use the Char Siu sauce for the sausage bun and also burgers on another day. Let me show you at the bottom.

The ingredients for marination:

Brown sugars 1.5 tablespoon

Honey 1 table spoon

Tomato ketchup 0.5 tablespoon

Chinese five spice powder 1 teaspoon

Hoisin sauce 1.5 tablespoons

Rice wine 1 teaspoon

Salt 1/4 teaspoon

Pepper 1/4 spoon

Sesame oil 1 tablespoon

Additional ingredients:

4 Chicken drumsticks

Spring onion 1 small branch

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for marination; taste the mixture again, it should be slightly sweet. Add in chicken drumsticks and give a good massage with slightly pull the meat of drumsticks. Cover it with plastic wrap and put inside fridge for 4 hours to a day; the longer the better.

Pre-heat oven to 180 celsius, take out the drumsticks half and hour before cooking. Put it on the baking tray with aluminum foil at the bottom and set inside the oven for 45 mins. Slice the spring onion and sprinkle on top of the finished chicken and voila.

For making sauce:

Brown sugars 4 tablespoons

Tomato ketchup 2 table spoons

Chinese five spice powder 2 teaspoons

Hoisin sauce 4 tablespoons

Rice wine vinegar 2 table spoons

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Pepper 1/2 teaspoon

Chicken stock 200 ml

Flour 75 gram

Unsalted Butter 50 gram

Method:

First make the roux by heating unsalted butter and add in flour to have a good mix. After the roux become yellowish, add in the rest of ingredients except chicken stock, salt and pepper. When bubble up, add in the chicken stock and let it reduce. Season with salt and pepper at last.

Irrelevant trilogy

Som Tam

In general, papaya salad is one of the well-known dish that can be found in every Thai restaurant. Most of the times, the changes of papaya salad would be adding shrimp or anchovies. But here, a vermicelli version of papaya salad really caught my eyes.

An authentic way to make a raw green papaya salad is to use muller to grind the all the ingredients such as red chillies, lemon juices, fish sauce and tossed peanuts. Afterwards, the raw papaya slices, tomatoes , yardlong beans and the grinded mixture will then toast together with fish sauce and lime juice. Topping cooked vermicelli into the salad base is the noticeable part of the Som Tam.

The price of the dish is RM12 and it is supposed to be shared with others. However, I ate it alone with the take-away version thus the visual part wasn’t good. Even though this salad may not look appetizing, but there is no way of finding out what deliciousness is underneath without giving it a try.

The tartness from the dressing tossed with vermicelli resulting in an unexpected balance. The vermicelli neutralized the sour and spicy taste with creating a smooth texture in one bite. The slow-burn from the raw chilies was like paper cut through your finger. It became a love-hate relationship towards chilies. You will feel sense of disappointment without the chilies while having too much brings your mouth suffering.

It didn't look exquisite at the very beginning. However, the taste is still acceptable and the heat really kicks thing up a notch. I am sure there are better version to find out and I am looking forward to it in the future. After all, I found something isn't prevalent.

Yut Kee chicken chop

To be honest, I was aiming the roasted pork roll before heading to the shop. As predicted, they didn’t provide the dish on the day I went. This shop is really impressive as it also is shown in the Kuala Lumpur city guide map.

As a solo customer, it was easy for me to share table with others after 15 minutes waiting. I was given seat with a guy from US and he told me he has been a regular since they were in the old shop which is just at the corner of the shoplot. Since there was no roasted pork roll, he suggested me to have the Hainanese chicken chop which is just another signature dish for this shop.

A shop which can last for 90 years definitely has its real deal. Hainanese chicken chop differs from other chicken chop due to its sauce and also side dishes. Apparently, the chicken chop looks a bit sloppy. Egg breading method for chicken chop doesn't have a thick flour layer at the outer chicken chop. The sauce isn't very gluey, that is the reason they dare to let the chicken chop bathe in the sauce.

Due to the submerged chicken chop, it didn’t feel crispy that much. From another angle, I think that it could be the separateness of Hainanese chicken chop to others. Well, it is enough for the protagonist, here comes to his assistant. Deep fried potato wedges and mix beans as side dishes are great for fullness and counterbalance the taste of sauce. These two down-to-earth vegetables have come along with the Hainanese during the old time.

For me, this dish reminded me the remarkable creation of migration from one place to another. Thin layer of juicy chicken chop with the sweet and savory sauce is a perfect combination . I must say a RM 10.50 chicken chop in a near KLCC area with no service charge in bill can be found nowhere. In the end, I shall say that promoting this chicken chop and place would be a mistake as it will create a chance for even longer queueing time to taste it in the future.

Cendol SS 15

Having a shaved ice in a sweltered afternoon would be a great delight for whoever you are. Your tiredness and grumpiness can be faded out with the cool feeling when you enjoy a traditional dessert of Malaysia. Most of the time, you will see vendors who sell their cendol either at the roadside stall or a food bike. It is very common and authentic to see an uncle who has done a whole day measurement of cendol materials parks his food bike or truck under the shade of tree. Cendol becomes a requisite refresher for Malaysian and it is traditionally made by coconut milk, sugar syrup and green peas strips.

SS 15 cendol vendor isn't strange in Subang area. His truck is full of the cendol ingredients and sets aside of his stall. I have tried different condiment of cendol in Melaka, Kluang and Penang. but cendol with glutinous rice was my first time. In my memory, the saltiness and the gummy texture will not match with the sweet mouthfeel of cendol.

Surprisingly, the chewiness creates a great balance with the smoothness of green cendol strips and the bitable kidney beans. A longer mastication will be generated. The creamy coconut milk has moderated the sugar syrup plus the slightly salty flavor, they created a tempting gustation.

I am quite impressed by this RM 2.50 glutinous rice version cendol with homemade pandan green peas cendol strips. I am sure that I will pay a visit next time. By the way, enjoying the cendol while standing is part of the peculiarity over there.

The sibling of Tangkak beef noodles in Puchong

I can’t really remember the exact time I have ever eaten Tangkak beef noodles in my hometown at the very first time. I guess it was probably 10 years ago. Before Tangkak beef noodles set up their restaurant in Kluang, my parents and brothers used to tell me that they had a toothsome beef noodles when they passed by the town of Tangkak from my Gemas which is my dad’s home town. They told me the portion was big and the price was reasonable which literally means a perfect food for me. I have tasted this beef noodles in my hometown so many times. Here I came to find out whether they keep the quality to another branch in a big city near Kuala Lumpur.

The location of Tangkak beef noodles I visited was in Puchong which is located at the busiest town----Bandar Puteri. Now, I have not seen any people complaining about the location but only the seat size. Due to the growth of its reputation, there are more and more customers travel for enjoying this 40 years bowl of beef noodles from southern peninsular to the Kuala Lumpur area. That is the reason why they opened in this Puchong area. This family business started from a small stall serving Tangkak people with their herbal and spices broth beef noodles until today’s 8 outlets in total and all these outlets are still managing by Mr. Hon’s sons and daughter. This branch remains their typical red color for the entire outlet.

front of the shop

When I stepped in to the shop, the decoration was a bit modern comparing to the Kluang branch and it still gave me the same nostalgic feeling. Unlike Kluang branch, the preparation station is hided at the back of the shop and only the beverage station is at the front. It is very classic way to do so. With the extra board they put on, it has indicated the story behind the bowl of beef noodles you will eat later. Beside the story board, the owner also put up the parts of beef they use and their benefits to human body. It is a great advertising strategy for someone who is the first time to try. It would be perfect if they add on English translation to all the explanation board

The dining area is cover with wooden wall paper plus together the slightly dim lighting, they are trying to create an old times atmosphere to the customers. At the same point, the ventilation system and the fans they installed give you a pleasantly cool feeling while waiting for your food. Of course, there are air-conditioning while competing with others in this urban city. And then the menu board, it is quite different from the Kluang version but consist of all the products they sold at the top of the beverage station instead of a big board at the corner of the shop. When talking about menu, they provide two types of menu. One is a book version and the other is a hard card with fully use both pages. this shows their concern about the old people when looking at the normal menu. This made me add some points in my evaluation.

This area customers prefer more selection in both food and beverages. Why did I say so? From the menu, I knew that the owner purposely added in 2 non-beef dishes and also some snacks such as deep fried mean rolls. Also, the different beverages are added such as fruit juices and some tendency drinks like cincau soya, honey lemon and plum lime. For attracting diversified customers in this urban area, the extra selection I saw in the menu was the handmade noodles in the noodle selection and also the beef tenderloin. These are the two things that they can charge for higher price and the customers are willing to pay for them too. These extra things had surprised me, and you might not find it in other branch as other things remain the same as usual for instance traditional lai fun (thick white noodles), yellow noodles and vermicelli.

As a culinary student, I could understand the prices are higher between this outlet and Kluang outlet. The pressure of the rent, salary of worker and ingredients have fully reflected on the RM 2 or 3 differences in the menu. Unlike Kluang branch, here only can choose either large or regular size for the portion of noodles while there are extra-large and small in Kluang branch. In here, the large size costs you RM15.90 to RM 16.90 depends on the parts you choose. Therefore, all the possible prices are listed down in the menu no matter what combination of beef parts you choose. I think this is a very honesty vendor because customers don’t have to calculate themselves when they mix-up the meats together in a bowl of noodles.

These don’t lower down the rating from me as long as the quality they keep. The taste doesn’t have any difference and same goes to the portion hence there isn’t much thing I can complain about the value issue. Another thing I noticed during this food testing journey, the porcelain bowl for filling the noodles has the name of brand and also the logo on it. I was freaked out to their pride of own business. For me, they deserve to mark up their price in this area.

After asking the staff there, this is the 5th year for them to survive in this area. Due to the intensive competition, the business wasn’t that good compare to other branches at the Southern Peninsular Malaysia. This is what I can see from the number of staff working during lunch time. They provided me a prompt service when I was dining in there. I have asked them for taking photo, the staff doesn’t hesitate to do so. After knowing me from Kluang, they also wanted to know how I feel about both restaurant and any improvement that they could do. On that day, I had chosen beef and stomach with lai fun. Overall restaurant, I would rate them 8.5 for the first time to be there. (1026 words)