Sushi Mushi

'Mushi' means DRAGON (It's the Dragon year!) in old asian language or cute/awesome/cool/delicious according to Urban Dictionary. Ok, chop chop, enough of nonsense, let's get to the point...

It's been quite a while since my last update as I was either enjoying all the good food prepared by my dearest mom at home or going out to all those restaurants or food stalls that I've missed since I left home! So I gained 2kg in one month!  (T____T)

Moreover, I didn't have my camera with me most of the time (I know it's irresponsible for me to say this). But anyway, me and my dearest mom managed to put up a good sushi dinner for the family at home for celebrating the New Year without turning the kitchen upside down.

Clockwise from left: Spicy fried Udon, Sushi Platter, Unagi Roll, Ebi Tempura, Dragon Roll, etc.

I'm taking five classes for my final semester this year including two upper level Economics classes and two German classes. That's really keeping me busy all the time but I'll try to update more often soon! So that's all for this time. Now running off to my German conversation class!

Tschüss und bis später! (Bye and see you later!)

Korean BBQ Dinner Spread

It's been one and a half years since I left home and I'm now back again in Malaysia! It was also more than a month since my last recipe update before I got busy with final exams, assignments, and tons of term papers! Yesterday was the first day I came back and really settle down at home after spending a few days in Bangkok, Penang, and Ipoh. Oh, and I was eating too much like a pig, from street food and burning spicy Thai food in Bangkok to Laksa and seafood in Penang and the local hometown favorites in Ipoh.

So yesterday me and my mum thought of making Korean BBQ for dinner since we got home late and we thought of just pulling out all the ingredients from the refrigerator and grill everything on the pan. The beef was pre-marinated and everything else is pretty much fresh ingredients such as seafood and vegetables.

Clockwise from top-left: Marinated Beef and Mushrooms; Garlic Fried Rice, Lettuce, Squid, Fish, Vegetables and more mushrooms; Kimchi and Fish Cake; Sausages, Shrimps, Miso Soup.

All I remember was that we had a good evening. It's always good to be home...  :)

Spicy Pad Thai

Commonly found in most Thai restaurants or eateries, Pad Thai is definitely a no-fail when it comes to authentic Thai food. Know what? It was listed as number 5 on World's 50 Most Delicious Foods reader's poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.

It's the ultimate street food with an exotic fish sauce flavour, hints of lime zest and
mild spiciness to it. For a vegetarian version, you can substitute the shrimps and chicken with fried firm tofu.

Ingredients:

   1/2 package Thai Flat Rice Noodles (pre-soaked in water or boiled according to instructions)
   1/2 cup Chicken Breast (sliced)
   6-8 Shrimps (de-shelled with tail attached)
   1 Egg
   2 tbsp Tamarind paste (mixed well in water)
   3 tbsp Fish sauce
   1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
   2 tsp Lime juice
   2 tsp Sugar
   1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
   Garlic (minced)
   Scallions (chopped into 2 inch strips)
   Bean Sprouts
   Crushed Roasted Peanuts

Instructions:

Heat the pan or wok with cooking oil and stir fry the minced garlic for a while before adding in the chicken strips and shrimps. Continue for about 15 more seconds with high heat and then add in the flat rice noodles and begin to add in the fish sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar and mix everything well. Continue to stir and add in the sugar and tamarind paste juice.

After that, just toss in the bean sprouts and scallions and stir fry again under high heat. Push the noodles aside on the other half of the pan and crack an egg on the wok surface. When the egg is still runny, mix in everything together and finally add in the crushed red pepper flakes according to how spicy you want it to be.

Serve immediately with crushed peanuts and drizzle with lime juice!

Peanut Rice Porridge with Assorted Eggs

Rainy days, wilting leaves, chilly temperatures... ol' Autumn is here again. A bowl of hot rice porridge is the best way to stay warm, with spicy ginger, tiny bits of salty eggs and crunchy-to-every-single-bite peanuts for added texture. My fingers are already freezing now as I type, so I'll just cut the crap and get right into the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup of Normal White Rice
1 Salted Egg (chopped into small pieces)
1 Century Egg (chopped into small pieces)
1/2 cup of Peanuts (with the skin intact for the precious nutrients!)
Ginger (thinly sliced)
Scallions (finely chopped)
Cilantro (finely chopped)
White Pepper Powder
Salt
Chicken Bouillon/Powder/Soup Stock

Instructions:

Wash and cook 1 cup of rice with 6 cups of water together with the peanuts in a pot (non-stick preferred) under high heat until it slowly becomes starchy. Stir occasionally to prevent it from getting a burned bottom. Turn down the heat and cook for another 30 minutes with low heat. Remember to add water occasionally to maintain a watery consistency and not dried out.

Then, add in the Chicken Bouillon and salt for added flavour and then followed by the Salted egg and Century egg. Mix everything throughly and continue to cook under low heat until a desired porridge consistency is reached.

Serve with chopped cilantro, scallions, ginger, soy sauce and a few dashes of white pepper powder.

Black Pepper Beef and Tripe

As a student staying away so far from home for so long, sometimes by listening to Home by Michael Bublé won't help much. One of the best ways to ease homesickness is still by eating home comfort food. Hotplate Black Pepper Beef and Tripe is a popular dish that my family would order in a restaurant we frequent once a fortnight back at my hometown. The succulent beef combined with crunchy tripe taste so good in hot black pepper sauce especially when the tripe soaks up all the flavourful gravy, making it the perfect combination!

You can find the pre-washed beef tripe from Asian food stores and if you are not a big fan of offal, just with the beef alone taste very good as well.

Ingredients:

Tripe (pre-washed and soaked in cold water)
Beef (sliced across the grain)
Scallions (chopped finely)
Ginger (chopped finely)
Parsley (chopped finely)
2 tbsp of Oyster sauce
2 tbsp of Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp of Cracked Black Pepper (ground black pepper is fine)
White Pepper Powder (according to taste)
Sea Salt (according to taste)
Corn starch (to thicken the gravy)


Instructions:

First, stir-fry the ginger with high heat to bring out the flavour, then add in the beef slices and spread it evenly on pan and wait until you can see it's slightly burned and caramelized. Flip it over to another side and repeat the process.

After that, add in all the oyster sauce, soy sauce, black and white pepper and continue to stir-fry under high heat for a few seconds before adding half a cup of water and then followed by the tripe, chopped parsley and scallions. Cook until the gravy is slightly reduced and then add in the corn starch (dissolved in cold water) to thicken the gravy. Bring it to a quick simmer it's ready to be served.

Serve over steamed white rice with a drizzle of red chili oil for an extra zing of spiciness!