Stink Bean -Biji Petai

During pregnancy of my both children, I was never craved for any kind of food as claimed by some other pregnant women. I had mild morning sickness but I was never craved for the sweet and sour stuff. One of my pregnant friends, J craved for ice-cream in the middle of the night and her husband had to rush to the 7-eleven to get it for her and luckily 7-eleven was operating then, it was about 15 years ago.

But my craving for specific kind of food happens before my menstruation. I have this PMS thing for quite some time. Besides the bloatedness of my body, I feel tired, sleepy and moody. Like yesterday, I craved for the Sambal Petai. I bought all the ingredients from a supermarket near my office at 4pm and finished cooking the sambal by 6.30pm.

Parkia speciosa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Petai

Seed pods of P. speciosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
Magnoliophyta
Class:
Magnoliopsida
Order:
Fabales
Family:
Fabaceae
Genus:
Parkia
Species:
P. speciosa
Binomial name
Parkia speciosaHassk.
Parkia speciosa (petai, bitter bean,sataw, twisted cluster bean, yongchaa, yongchaak, zawngtah or stink bean), is a plant of the genus Parkia in the family Fabaceae. It bears long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds the size and shape of plump almonds which have a rather peculiar smell, characterised by some as being similar to that added to methane gas.[1]
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Uses
The beans are an acquired taste, but are popular in southern Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, and northeastern India, and are sold in bunches, still in the pod, or the seeds are sold in plastic bags. Pods are gathered from the wild, or from cultivated trees, They are exported in jars or cans, pickled in brine.

Culinary use
Depending on the country of origin they may be labelled peteh, petai, yongchaak, sataw, or sator). They are best when combined with other strong flavoured foods such as garlic, chile peppers, and dried shrimp, as in "sambal petai" or added to a Thai curry such as Thai Green Curry of Duck. When young the pods are flat because the seeds have not yet developed, and they hang like a bunch of slightly twisted ribbons, pale green, almost translucent. At this stage they may be eaten raw, fried or pickled. Young tender pods with undeveloped beans can be used whole in stir fried dishes. In North-eastern India, the seeds or the bean as a whole are eaten by preparing a local delicacy call Iromba or Yongchak singju. Seeds are also dried and seasoned for later consumption. When dried the seeds turn black. In Indonesia, petai is very popular in the highlands of Java.
Petai beans or seeds look like broad beans. Like mature broad beans, they may have to be peeled before cooking. Petai has earned its nickname 'stink bean' because its strong smell is very pervasive. It lingers in the mouth and body. Like asparagus, it contains certain amino acids that give a strong smell to one's urine, an effect that can be noticed up to two days after consumption. Like other beans, their complex carbohydrates can also cause strong-smelling flatulence.

Botanical description
The petai tree can grow to about 90 feet (30 metres). It bears flowers in a light-bulb shaped mass at the end of long stalks. The flowers secrete a nectar that attracts bats and other pollinators. The tiny flowers mature and die. Long, twisted, translucent pods emerge in a cluster of 7 or 8 pods. When those pods are mature, within them will reside the petai beans or seeds.


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkia_speciosa"

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Sakae Sushi - The Curve, Bandar Utama

It is always my children's number 1 choice to eat Japanese food whenever we go out for family dinner and they like Japanese fast food like Sushi King, Sakae Sushi etc. We would very much prefer Sakae Sushi as it has more varieties and the food is much better.

We were led to the back portion of the restaurant where the table was much bigger.

The food was served on colored plate to differentiate the pricing and run on a conveyor belt. Each table was placed with a computer for food ordering purpose.

My favourite preserved ginger, crunchy, sour and sweet.

Hubby's favourite Ebi Tempura(RM15.90).

I think this was Ika Lobster Salad(RM7.90).

Beef slice Gyuniku Tataki 8 pcs (RM13.90).

Soft shelled crab tempura(RM8.90).

Sashimi Moriawase (RM29.90).

Eldest son ordered Tenzaru Cha Soba (RM16.90).

Youngest son ordered Tempura Yuzu Soba.

My sons took many colored plate food from the belt ie red plate - RM5.90, pink plate - RM3.90 and green plate - RM1.90.

The total bill was RM218 incl. tea four four. Overall it was quite a satisfying meal for the price we paid and the amount of food we ate.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Lin Zi Kang - Dessert

It has been very hot for the past few weeks and I try not to go out unless it is necessary. I put a lot of sunblock on my face and hands and keep one sunblock cream in my car for extra protection. Although I put on my sunglasses when I am driving but my eyes feel dry due to the hot blazing sun. The weather makes me sweat and heaty and I have been boiling a lot of herbal/cooling tea for my family. For those who are not free to make herbal/cooling tea, just look out for herbal/cooling tea (凉茶） vans. They are all over the street in KL/PJ. Yesterday I spotted one in Selayang Jaya Pasar Malam (but already open around 4.30pm). I tried the Lin Zi Kang which was very tasty and cooling.


The Lin Zi Kang consists of many ingredients ie. lotus seed, dried longan, grass jelly, barley, sweet potatoes, white fungus etc. The ingredients were very fresh and it costs RM2.50 for a small bowl (which was quite big for me).

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Madam Kwan's - Bangsar KL

Last week, we had our dinner at Madam Kwan's, Bangsar KL. Although Hubby thinks it is not money worth to pay about RM20 for a plate of Nasi Lemak, but once in a while to pay extra for the service, ambiance and environment, I think it is ok.

This is the Nasi Lemak we order : 1/2 hard boiled egg, sambal ikan bilis, two pieces of curry chicken, sambal dried shrimp, two pieces of sliced cucumber served with one bowl of nasi lemak.

Acar is served separately.

I remembered we paid less than RM10 for a plate of Nasi Lemak when Madam Kwan's was still the owner of The Sakura Restaurant in Jalan Imbi. That was about 20 years ago. The value of money is getting less and less.

This is the ABC aka ais batu campur my friend ordered.
Banana fritters with ice cream.


This is the Nasi Lemak I cook at home and it costs me less than RM20 to cook four persons. Taste wise.....so far no complain.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Braised Ginger Chicken 姜芽鸡

It has been my family tradition to cook up this dish during any Chinese Festive reunion meals. But my Mom uses Duck instead of chicken. I use chicken as it has more meat and not so fat and I modify my recipe a little.


The ingredients are quite simple. First, preserved ginger..........marinade ginger (cut in chunk size) with three tablespoons of white ginger and one heap teaspoon full of sugar overnight.



These are the additional ingredients I put. Blend 2 stalks of serai, garlic, onion and 2 thick slice of lengkuas(galangal) together to make a paste. The amount of these ingredients is depending on how many chicken you cook and how you want your sauce to be either thick or dilute.

One tablespoon of taucu ( bean paste).Heat up two tablespoon of oil, add in blended ingredients and taucu and fry till fragant. Then add in chicken pieces ( I used three chicken thighs), light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt to taste, preserved ginger and water just to cover the chicken and stir fry everything so the seasoning is spread evenly. Then cover the wok let it simmer about 20-25 minutes. Lastly, drop some sesame oil and Xiao Xin rice wine into the chicken.

Final result :

As you can see from the ingredients above, I did not use any oyster sauce at all. I try not to use much oyster sauce in my cooking because I don't recall any oyster sauce in my grandma's kitchen in the 60s or 70s but she could cook up such a wonderful dishes. The seasoning was very basic in those days and one can taste the original taste of the food. You can add some in this dish if you like.

My children love this and it goes well with rice. Happy cooking!

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Italiannies - The Curve, Bandar Utama

Last week, Hubby and I went to the Curve in B.U for dinner. Actually we thought of eating Sakae Sushi but were told that the kitchen was closed and only the food available is on the conveyor belt. It was already 9.30pm and we did not want to spoil our day by eating sort of leftover food of the day on the conveyor belt, so we tried out Italiannies!

The restaurant opens until 11.00pm and it was half full when we were there. It was a Friday.

The Olive oil, salt and pepper and I think is balsamic vinegar were placed on each and every table.

Hubby ordered Lamb Shank (RM39.90) and he said is good. The meat was tender and the mashed potatoes was very tasty. He finished all the mashed potatoes.

This was the shrimp pasta (RM32.90) we ordered. The menu stated is for two persons but the serving was quite big and I think is enough for four persons. There were about 8 medium size shrimps and they were very fresh and not overly cooked. The pasta has other vege like asparagus, tomatoes and celery. We did not finish the pasta as it was a lot and very cheesy. I still prefer pasta with garlic and oil .

The total bill was RM107.60 incl. of one Iced Cafe Mocha (RM7.90) and one Brewed Coffee (RM12.90) plus taxes.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Wantan Noodles(云吞面）- Air Panas New Village, KL

There are still many Chinese new villages within Kuala Lumpur (Ampang N.V and Serdang N.V etc) and these are the places where good traditional food still maintained and exist thru generation after generation. Today I have my breakfast in the village I grew up in.....Air Panas New Village. Although I have moved 25km away from here but I still go back there often to savour my childhood food. Actually there is one very famous Wantan Noodles stall in the Air Panas Wet Market called Choy Kee (财记）which has been passed down from the original owner to his daughter now. The noodles is still tasty but I don't like the char siew there. It is too dry and tasteless.

This Wantan Noodles stall I am going to write about is not as old as 'Choy Kee' but the noodles is delicious. It is located opposite the 4d gaming Toto shop in Air Panas New Village called Home town Wantan Noodls Ping Jie (家乡云吞面屏姐 ）. It is a village house but convert to coffee shop.


The front portion of the shop:

This is my dried (kan lo) wantan mee costs RM3.50 per plate come with a bowl of soup with meat dumpling in it.

This is the bbq meat (Char Siew) I like. Not the red or orange coloured type. It is not very sweet and full of bbq sauce aroma. The noodles is very Q and the sauce is not too sweet. I don't like wantan noodles that is either too much ( 猪油味) lard or five spice powder(五香粉味) smell. This has the right amount of both with a taste of shallots oil (红葱油）。

The stall opens about 7am until 11.00 am and closed on Thursday. They have Curry Mee, Chicken Feet Noodles and Soup Noodles.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

PETER KARI KEPALA IKAN - SETAPAK, KL

Restaurant Peter Kari Kepala Ikan is my husband favourite eating place for lunch. It is located in Jalan Angsana, Setapak. If you are coming from Perkeliling roundabout, go to Jalan Pahang (the same road that will take you to the Zoo and TAR College), pass all the : Tawakal Hospital, McDonald and two Chinese primary schools, mosque, police station, Court Mammoth and a Church (all on your left) slow down and take first left turn, Peter's is on your left.

The menu is on the wall:

Our food, Seafood Taufu, fried from a frozen pack taufu from supermarket I think but it is good anyway, after all their speciality is Curry Fish Head.

Another Taufu dish (picture was was taken on last occasion). Thickly slice Japanese Taufu with fried dried shrimp and onion topping. The taufu is the cold one.

The curry fish head meat was fresh and I think fresh coconut milk was used instead the pack one. Generous amount of vegetables like ladies' fingers, brinjals. long beans, cabbage and taufu pok were added. The curry was a bit sourish and sweet and the santan was not too much but it was not spicy at all. I would say this is a typical Chinese style curry because you can taste that not much spices(rempah) were used. Anyway it is still goes well with rice! You can add additional squid and prawn to the curry at extra cost.

The place is quite packed during lunch hour and you can see many office workers will drive here to eat. Parking is ok and the price is reasonable.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Restoran Fatty Mok HakkaYong Tau Foo 肥佬莫客家酿豆腐

My sister and brother are going back today and we decided to eat at my father's favourite restaurant ie Fatty Mok Hakka Yong Tau Foo in Salak South Garden, near the morning market place.

The restaurant is divided into two section ie. one with air-cond and one without air-cond. We went to the air-cond section as the weather was very hot.

Pictures of the boss taken with TVB stars pasted on the wall.

The clear and simple menu with pictures and price.

Here are our food, of course Yong Tau Foo. As there is one very tasty yong tau foo stall near my work place, I find this one to be just average. The soup is tasty and not so much MSG added.

Our favourites , Fried stuffed Brinjal and Crispy Fried Dumpling. Both are tasty and very nice.

This is the main reason we come here for : the Pork innards porridge. This is really good. The porridge is smooth and not too thick or watery, just nice.

We order extra fried pig intestines for our porridge which I think quite unnecessary as the original bowl of porridge come with quite generous amount of it.

But out of kiasu, I add some to my porridge......hehehe.

Besides the yong tau foo and porridge, they have 'Hakka Cha Yuk' , Curry laksa, Clear Soup Noodles, Curry ribs, Chicken Rice and Kan Lo Mian. The price is reasonable and the place is quite clean.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!