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eG Foodblog : kew/Tepee


JustKay

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Other ingredients are bunga kantan (hello, interpreters?), lime and calamansi, sugar.

Hello! Now I'm thinking nobody reads my posts. :raz:

We went to Swensen's Restaurant for dinner last Saturday. I ordered "Spaghetti with Chilli Fish".  No description was provided. When it arrived, I was  :blink:  to see daun kesum (polygonum) and bunga kantan (torch ginger flower). It was really just spaghetti tossed with thick asam pedas gravy. And topped with deep fried battered fish fillet. Talk about fusion food! 

:biggrin::biggrin:

*emphasis added*

btw, will you share the pumpkin kaya/egg custard recipe please? :biggrin:

Thanks, Kew, you're Da Best!

Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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I drink that soup all the time!  But I had no idea those herbs are especially beneficial to women.  Let's hope what's good for women isn't harmful for a man, and doesn't make him any less of a man.  :hmmm:

Not to fear! It ain't "harmful" for man (DH takes it too), and nothing will 'disappear' :raz: ; it's main efficacy is to clear the women's system. Solly. I've been deliberately mischievous.

*WHEW* That's a relief! And to think, for all these years, I've been drinking the soup under the false impression that it was beneficial to men. I mean, with names like dong guai and dong sum, can you really blame me? :wink:

I'm sorry, my mind is only capable of very shallow thoughts.

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Laksa, please also be very gentle as you transfer it to a plate to do the slicing. Treat it like you treat Ms Congeeniality.

Thanks for the advice. I'm always very gentle when transferring Ms Congee to a plate for slicing. She wouldn't have it any other way.

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Your "soup for girls" reminded me that last year I had a delicious bah kut teh here in Seattle. It was the first time I'd ever had anything like that, and Trillium gave me a recipe, which I promptly forgot because of its daunting ingredient list. Now I'm craving that soup. Next time I'm in the neighborhood, I think I'll take a list into the Chinese herb store and see if I can figure it out.

Can we have a little pandan lesson? I can get frozen pandan leaf, and extract, but don't really know how to use them. What's a good pandan beginner's recipe that will help me get a grasp on the stuff?

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Can we have a little pandan lesson?  I can get frozen pandan leaf, and extract, but don't really know how to use them.  What's a good pandan beginner's recipe that will help me get a grasp on the stuff?

I am not sure at all about frozen pandan leaves. Perhaps, we should freeze some and compare with the fresh. :unsure: But I guess if they do sell frozen pandan leaves, then the thawed leaves surely must be umm ... okay? :raz:

Pandan grows easily and in pots too, you might want to try plant them.

But, top of my head for now, add one or two leaves to the rice you're cooking.

Make pandan jello, using unflavored gelatin, or better yet if you use agar. I have posted on another thread a simple pandan & coconut agar recipe (I'll linkie later).

Boil sugar with a little water and some pandan leaves thrown in, to make 'sirap' base. Water down some syrup base and add ice-cubes - Air Sirap is a very popular drink here. (Air, pronounced as are.yea, is water in Malay). Some people like to add slices of lime or lemon to this.

Or add sweetened condensed milk and some ice-cream soda to make a wonderful Malaysian drink called Air Sirap Bandung.

The extracts would be for making kuih, cakes, pancakes, etc. I have never used a bottled extract. :biggrin:

Usually though when you use pandan in desserts, coconut milk is used too. I think pandan panna cotta will rock. lol! :laugh: I just googled and found a restaurant that serves pandan pannacotta

For instance, if you want to try making pandan pancakes or waffles, I would suggest that you replace part of the water with coconut milk and then add some of the pandan extract. But you'll have to experiment as pandan extracts might differ in strength according to the brand. Of course, nothing beats pounding fresh pandan leaves for the extract.

Or similarly, try making pandan muffins. Replace the water with coconut milk and add some pandan extract to plain muffin batter.

Note - the coconut milk extract might have to be mixed with some water if it's too thick. When used in baking, it would have to be thinner ... like light cream?

There are lots of other simple recipes you can try. But those I mentioned are probably the very basics. Pandan is primarily used for it's aromatic qualities rather than flavor.

The closest that I could think of to compare it's aroma is to the Jasmine rice. And the best pandan leaves are the 'old' leaves - the ones that are just about to start to wither.

In making pandan desserts, I would say the usage of pandan extract is similar to that of vanilla extract. So ....go ahead and 'pandanize' the plain vanilla desserts. :laugh:

Edited by kew (log)
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Now, I may have missed the answer.  I believe somebody asked earlier what dishes you missed from Canada... if you answered it, just direct me to find the answer - if you didn't answer... well... answer!  :wink:

Okay .... but perhaps tomorrow. It's a long list and it's now 3am here. :rolleyes::biggrin:

But I do miss everything Canadian.

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Pumpkin kaya recipe (an example of a deceptively simple recipe)

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One pumpkin slightly smaller than a soccer ball

6 medium-sized eggs

3 pcs pandan leaves (cut into 2-inch lengths)

first pressed milk from one coconut (approx. 200 ml)

150 ml gran. sugar

pinch of salt

Decapitate soccer ball pumpkin. Remove seeds and stringy stuff. Wash, dry.

Beat sugar together with eggs and pandan leaves till sugar has dissolved. Remove leaves. Stir in coconut milk (with salt added to it earlier).

Set the pumpkin in a heat-proof bowl. Pour mixture into cavity. Steam for an hour or so. Test with fork to see if the custard has set. This baby takes a looooong time to cool down. Give it some help. It tastes very good when chilled.

Ooh - this is clever - using the pumpkin in its skin as a pie shell.

Question - you beat the 2-inch length of pandan leaves with the eggs? Guess it won't look so pretty if the custard were green with pandan juice? Am planning to try this - it sure would make quite a pretty presentation at the table.

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Shiewie .... I've always thot that this is like common Chinese dessert? No?

recipe by amy beh

Like when baking squash, I bet using brown sugar will make it yummier?

And I think the leaves are for the aroma only. Not the extract but there are such things as green pandan kaya.

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Your "soup for girls" reminded me that last year I had a delicious bah kut teh here in Seattle.  It was the first time I'd ever had anything like that, and Trillium gave me a recipe, which I promptly forgot because of its daunting ingredient list.  Now I'm craving that soup.  Next time I'm in the neighborhood, I think I'll take a list into the Chinese herb store and see if I can figure it out.

We had bak kut teh last night!

If you have access to an Asian grocery that also sells S.E. Asian foodstuffs, you may be able to find bak kut teh herbs in a packet. Look for the A1 brand; they make several varieties of bak kut teh. I prefer the one that comes with the herbs visible through a clear window at the back of the packet.

Bak Kut Teh is a Malaysian/Singaporean invention, so your regular Chinese herbalist may not be familiar with it.

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Thanks, Kew, that gives me lots of things to try. It drives me crazy to have ingredients available that I don't know how to use, so I'm always wanting to taste new stuff. Pandan has been calling to me.

That pumpkin kaya looks so scrumptious! Is "soccer ball" a reference to the size of the pumpkin, or is that the name of a variety of pumpkin?

I'll definitely look for an herb packet mixture, but the recipe Trillium gave me had the individual herbs: gan cao, luo han gao, dang xin, dang kway, chuan kang, and sheng di. Hmm, that looks like the Chinese names, no? Is this the same herb list you'd use?

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Answers to above questions:

#1. Shiewie: The pandan leaves will not disintegrate when you whisk the eggs and sugar. Just fish it out when you're through. To be on the safe side, strain mixture.

#2. Kew: Thanks for the brown sugar reminder. I actually used brown sugar, but I was kinda sleepy when I typed the recipe out last night. You thought it was a chinese dessert? I thought it was a Malay dessert because I first saw it in Jelita magazine! :biggrin:

#3. Abra: Soccer ball refers to the size. :smile:

Spent a very fruitful morning at the open air market. The photos are being downloaded. Will post asap.

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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I'll definitely look for an herb packet mixture, but the recipe Trillium gave me had the individual herbs: gan cao, luo han gao, dang xin, dang kway, chuan kang, and sheng di.  Hmm, that looks like the Chinese names, no?  Is this the same herb list you'd use?

Okay, I have the A1 packet in front of me and the list of ingredients reads: angelica pepper, aralia cordata, sinensis, cinnamon, paurantiii star anise, astraglietc (sic?), cigusticum, fructus zanthoxylum.

I have no idea what the relative proportions of those herbs should be... and never knew what herbs actually went into bak kut teh. Have never needed to know, frankly. Malaysian Chinese medicine herbalists know exactly what herbs to combine when you ask them for "bak kut teh".

I've had bak kut teh made with herbs from the medicine shop, but I actually prefer the A1 mixture. The one from the medicine shop tastes ... uhmm.. too much like medicine. :huh:

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Forgot to show pics of the kedai runcit/grocer-within-walking-distance (your mom-n-pop?)[...]

Probably either a convenience store or something that would call itself "Mart" in these parts (i.e., a sort of mini-supermarket). Of course, food shops and convenience stores can be mom and pops, if they're family owned, but that expression can be used for many other types of establishments.

Oh, and your daughters are so cute!

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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To market, to market, to snap pics for eGulleteers....

Oodles of Noodles

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Sausages and imported dried stuff

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Dried squid (for soup), dried chrysanthemum (for drink), gei zi/boxthorn berries(for soup), dong sum (soup)

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More dried stuff: Mushrooms, anchovies of different sizes, some cleaned, some whole

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Crackers and biscuits, what's your favorite?

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Chinese herb sold in the open are sometimes of slightly inferior quality, caveat emptor

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Red and Yellow, Black and White Beans...that is. I think I see soy beans and groundnuts too

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TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Can't find a fitting room? Not to worry, bring them home to try.

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Hmmm...I think I must replenish my supply of canes

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Booster seats, anyone?

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Cute rocking horse.

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Bowls, soup spoons, chopsticks

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Fortune(if you believe it) Bracelets

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Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Here comes the GOOD part.....FOOD!

Char Siu and Siu Yoke man. Bought some for lunch.

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Tau foo fa with white sugar syrup flavored with pandan leaves and ginger, gula melaka and soya bean milk.

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Chinese cruellers and sesame dough balls with red bean fillings etc.

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Pickled vegetables/acar, grilled glutinous rice with dried prawns, chilli and coconut filling/pulut panggang, zoong zi, kaya (original and brown sugar)

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Meen chang kueh (thick with peanuts/sugar and thin with shredded coconut/peanuts and sugar)

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Mmmmm...lemang (smoked coconut glutinous rice in bamboos) and rendang

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This nasi lemak stall has been here for 15 years. We're one of their faithful patrons. Very, very reasonable...their daging rendang is goooooooood!

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Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Local fruits: bananas, papayas, guavas

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Jambu air (I've got a tree at home)

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I didn't venture into the wet market because the littlest one was with me. DH went in to buy the chicken and veggies. Sorry, no pics.

Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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This housing estate (DH's homeground) is bursting with chinese medicine halls, all of them seem to have roaring business. We go to this one...prices are not fixed, the regulars get good discounts.

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What's ailing you?

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TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Next door is the famous Indian restaurant Steven's Corner. Here's a step-by-step on how to make roti canai. Here he's doing the roti pisang/banana.

Chopping the bananas

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Don't blink...watch the roti grow!

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Add bananas

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Fold very quickly into 4

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Here's the roti pisang at home

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I like my roti shredded

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and with tea. This is local Mayang tea, tea leaves from Kinabalu, Sabah.

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They sell various deep-fried meat too.

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Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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I didn't take pics of our lunch. DH made rice porridge with the roast pork and served it with cruellers. Was too tired editing the pics to size and posting them. See you at dinner! :biggrin:

Edited by Tepee (log)

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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Great pics TP!

Crackers and biscuits, what's your favorite?

gallery_28660_3_91357.jpg

Hey! Can you get me a packet of cream crackers with the granulated sugar on top?

Actually, my all time fav Malaysian cookie is kuih bangkit. That's one item that I've been unable to find here. Can you believe that a store would choose to carry Apollo cakes but not kuih bangkit? It's criminal! Obviously they have access to Malaysian imports, they're not importing the right stuff!

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