Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls @ Jalan Hang Lekir, Petaling Street, KL

Recently, I did one of my walkabouts around Petaling Street and finally found my favourite sweet potato balls. It's been a while since I have eaten them as I usually visit Petaling Street either too early (to have porridge or go to the market) or too late in the afternoon or the evening.

A quick chat with the couple that run the stall indicates that they have been making these deep fried sweet potato balls for almost thirty years. No wonder I remember indulging in these when I was a kid since they're almost as old as I am. These sweet potato balls are made by steaming yellow sweet potatoes and mashing them when they're soft. They're then mixed with sugar and flour and rolled up into balls. See the first picture where the lady is rolling up the batch to be deep fried in the wok filled with hot oil. She fries them as and when her supply of deep fried sweet potato balls are dwindling to keep them fresh. The sweet potato balls are sold in packets of 10 pieces for RM2. A wooden skewer is given to you for you to eat your snack while you wander around the streets. Besides the sweet potato balls, she also sells the small crunchy popiah snacks and pineapple tarts.

Sweet Potato Ball Stall
Along Jalan Hang Lekir
Right next to Tang City Food Court in the alleyway

Opens from 9 am till 2-3 pm depending on how fast her wares are sold out

(Pork free)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Other reviews:

• food-cookies

Tagged with: Sweet Potato Balls + Malaysian Food

Martell presents Klue RSVP @ Isthmus, Northpoint, Mid Valley City, KL

I thought this particular event will be obvious interest to all you foodies. It's a good chance to check out Isthmus which I have earlier reviewed thrown in with free flow of Martell, if you love your alcohol.

Personally I must admit, I'm impressed with the food in Isthmus which I have sampled twice, once with the floggers and at their grand opening. This Blue Rice Lemongrass Chicken Sushi was one of the items we sampled that night and it was delicious. All the finger food served was really yummy. What I liked was their playful way of combining flavours - for instance the interesting ikan bilis almond petit fours. You thought it was just something sweet until you bit into it and got the salty taste of ikan bilis. It was kinda weird in the beginning but after a while, we grew to like it. For the non adventurous, there's always the Oyster Shooters which look like they're now a permanent feature of the menu (see the Star Weekend review).

Now, sometimes my own view is just not enough so I was happy when a friend of mine attended a corporate event hosted at the restaurant and came back raving about the food. It's these affirmations that kinda make my day since I know I'm not off the mark when I say the food is delicious. However, there will be some which will say: it's not nice or not fantastic since everyone's tastebuds differ based on personal backgrounds and etc. ( My reference was a review on Fried Chillies forum saying, the person was not impressed)

There's more things on the menu now since I ate there so it'll be interesting to re-visit the food another day for dinner. However for the above mentioned dinner, note that it's a set meal so choices are limited. Do also check out Star Weekend's recent review of the place last Saturday.

Roast Duck and Goose @ Wei Kee, Lorong Yap Hin, Off Jalan Pasar, Kuala Lumpur

Recently, I had a conversation with my mum about people's eating habits and it dawned on me how lucky I am since my parents exposed me to virtually everything under the sun that I'm not fussed about food. I'm generally game to try anything as long as it tastes good. Hope you train your kids to be like that as fussiness when it comes to food means you just miss out in a lot of good things in life.

Anyway, one of the items I love is Roast Goose or Siew Ngor in Chinese. Even though it's not as fantastic as the ones you get in Hong Kong, Wei Kee in Pudu does a pretty good job for satisfying my cravings.



The restaurant is just off Jalan Pasar where you can get any electronic equipment you want. There's always crowds of people going through the tiny stalls to search for items whether it's dinky torchlights or some electronic gadget.

The goose here is tender and comes with extra crispy skin that is addictive. Besides roast meats, they also serve Kiam Chay Boey. The mustard greens are usually stewed with leftover duck or goose meat and bones to give it flavour. Tamarind slices and dried red chillies are added to give it lots of zing.



You can also get roast duck which is slightly different from the ones in Petaling Jaya as it has a more herby taste. Served with plum sauce and their own duck sauce poured from the duck after it has been roasted, it tastes great. Only problem with this place is eating here is not cheap as the roast goose is imported from China.

Restaurant Wei Kee
50, Lorong Yap Hin
Off Jalan Pasar
Pudu
55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 - 9221 8428

(Non-Halal)

Tagged with: Roast Goose + Roast Duck + Malaysian Food

Mini Egg Tarts @ Weng Hing Restaurant, Jalan Imbi, KL

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of these freshly baked mini egg tarts (RM0.50 each) from Weng Hing, Jalan Imbi. Looked like someone couldn't resist either as one tart was missing from the whole tray. We were at the shop searching for pineapple tarts to buy as my mother was making a quick trip down to Singapore when we spied these irrestible egg tarts. Of course, we packed some back to sample on the way home. They're absolutely delicious especially eaten hot.

Although they're not up to the mark of the famous Tong Kee egg tarts as their crust tends to harden too much when it's cold, it's yummy when it's piping hot from the oven. I reckon these mini ones do not have lard compared to Tong Kee's which is why Tong Kee's tarts are always so flaky. Besides egg tarts, the small stall at the one side of Weng Hing (nearer towards Sakura) also sells Seremban Siu Pow, yummy pineapple tarts and lots of assorted goodies.

Other goodies from Weng Hing:

• Kuih Bakul; and
• Pork Noodles

Weng Hing Restaurant
183, Jalan Imbi
Kuala Lumpur

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Egg Tart + Malaysian Food

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 84

We're back this year for Weekend Cat Blogging, something which took a slight hiatus as none of the kitties felt like posing.

This time round, I managed to snap this adorable picture of the neighbour's new cat. She's extremely sweet but kinda lonely since she's the only one at home. Sometimes I catch her sitting outside her house longing for companionship from my totally madcap bunch. One day, she decided to throw caution in the wind and climb our willow tree. I guess it was a great breakthrough for her as she totally enjoyed herself.

Do check out Upsie and Sher from What Did You Eat? who are the hosts of WCB 84 this weekend. They're serving some yummy ahi tuna which lucky Upsie got to sample. There's also lots of cats from all over the world, so hop over there.

Tagged with: WCB 84 + Weekend Cat Blogging

Rosli Mee Rebus @ Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur

When it comes to searching for new places to explore, I find blogs to be an excellent guide. Whether it's one dedicated just to food or general ranting, you always pick up some great pointers from the person's personal experience.

One day when I was around Masjid India, I remembered reading about a highly recommended Rosli's Mee Rebus in Babe in the City - KL's blog hence I tried to search for it. Since it was an impromtu thing plus I didn't take down any directions and etc, it was kinda like searching for a needle in a haystack. I basically explored the whole Masjid India area - so many alleyways with food and restaurants all over. I eventually found the place after almost giving up but the mouthwatering description of the Mee Rebus she had described kept me going.



I'm glad I persevered as the Mee Rebus (RM3.00) was excellent. The gravy was the key to the whole dish. It's beef stock with mashed sweet potatoes but at this particular stall, they add ground peanuts which makes it so delicious. According to the proprietor's wife, the recipe is from Singapore which is where Rosli originates from. They have both been in the Mee Rebus business for almost thirty years so I guess they have perfected this dish. Eat it with the thin yellow noodles, half a hard boiled egg, bean sprouts and chopped chillies for ultimate satisfaction. Needless to say, I slurped up all the delicious gravy from my blue bowl.

Besides Mee Rebus, they also serve Tauhu Goreng (RM2.70). The tofu is grilled on a charcoal grill and topped with a mix of bean sprouts and sliced cucumbers. A spicy peanut sauce is added to give it flavour. Although I didn't add the two together like how Babe in the City described it but it was pretty good on it's own.

If you're a fan of Mee Rebus, do make a trip down to this stall. It's easy once you know the directions and definitely worth the drive down town and battling traffic.

Rosli Mee Rebus
Lorong Bunus 4
Off Jalan Masjid India
Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 019 – 280 3171

(They're opened from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm and closed on Sundays. To find the stall, walk behind Haniffa Textiles. There will lots of other stalls selling food but Rosli's stall is right in front of the entrance to Haniffa Textiles' underground parking entrance.)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Mee Rebus + Malaysian Food

Dining Out @ CoChine, Asian Heritage Row, Kuala Lumpur

Sorry for not posting yesterday but I had serious issues with accessing Blogger. Every time I tried to create a post, it hung on me which was so frustrating. Still not sure if it's because of the slow Net access or because Blogger had a fit yesterday.

Back to food, the pictures this time aren't of sterling quality as this restaurant had pretty dim lighting but don't let that deter you as the food here is yummy plus the atmosphere here is great. CoChine at Asian Heritage Row is part of the Indochine group which started out in Singapore. Their Bar SaVanh just below CoChine is a great place to chill out at night too. It's also one of the few places in town which serves Indochine food i.e. Laos, Cambodian and Vietnamese.

We started off with Gui Cuon Vit (Roast Duck and Mango Rolls - RM20) which is from Vietnam. The rolls are filled with vegetables and delicious when dipped in the sauce with ground peanuts and a tinge of ginger in it. Since the vegetable dishes on the menu didn't look exciting, we settled for a salad instead. Since I love pomelo, I had to order their Goi Buoi Saigon (Prawn and Pomelo Salad – RM28). The pomelo chunks and crunchy prawns are tossed in a sauce made from fish sauce, lemon juice and palm sugar. Unlike other places, we find the food tastes here are more subtle which suits us fine.

I always have trouble snapping pictures of beef and chocolate cake because it's dark hence this picture isn't so nice. However, this was my favourite, the famous Cambodian Thit Bo Luc Lac (Beef Cubes with Pepper, Garlic and Butter – RM26). The beef cubes are juicy and succulent with a slightly peppery kick. Add the dip which is slightly flavoured with fish sauce and you'll be asking for extra jasmine rice for your meal.

Since there was only two of us, we were struggling to finish our dishes but we need we had to taste their curries hence we ordered Samla Kroeng Somot (Cambodian Seafood in a thick coconut curry – RM30). The curry is quite mild in terms of spiciness which we both like as we could then enjoy the array of seafood inside it - calamari, prawns, scallops, mussels and fish.

Even though we were stuffed from the meal, we decided to try the highly recommended Steamed Pumpkin Custard served with Vanilla Ice Cream (RM16). This was the Laotian version that tasted lighter as it used an egg custard instead of a rich coconut milk custard. Absolutely delicious when paired with the cold vanilla ice cream.

Dining here is a great experience as the food is good albeit a bit pricey. We also liked the nice atmosphere the place has with it's artifacts and opium beds from the Indochine region. Although it's a good place to have a romantic dinner, you can also catch a bite with friends before you head downstairs for a night out.

CoChine Lounge and Restaurant
Asian Heritage Row
No. 64, Jalan Doraisamy
Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 – 2697 1180

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Indochine Food

Value Meals @ Friendship Herbal Soup, SS2, Petaling Jaya

Within the vicinity of yesterday's Lui Cha place, you also have this place called Friendship Herbal Soup. They're running a really good value set lunch promotion at the moment which is available throughout the week. For the price of RM9.90, you get a choice of one claypot dish from the menu, soup, a choice of white rice or yam rice, vegetables and dessert. The soups offered are the non herbal type but if you wish to change to the herbal ones, just pay the difference.

My dining companion was having a slight cough hence she ordered the herbal soup which is good for coughs. If I am not mistaken, the price difference is about RM3 to RM4 for the soup which came with pork pieces, almonds, red dates and lots of Chinese herbs I am not too familiar with. You get to choose from a variety of claypot dishes - pork, eel, chicken and etc but she ordered the three cup chicken. Although it's just a mix of light and dark soy sauce with a touch of rice wine, the chicken was fragrant and a huge portion for a set meal.

I opted for my usual old cucumber soup which I always love. I have a slight childhood fascination for this soup as I'm partial to eating the old cucumbers after drinking the sweet soup.

My claypot pork ribs weren't too great as we thought it lacked flavour. It wasn't too tender too but I felt it was very good value for money since the portions are quite substantial here. I chose the yam rice which was a dismal as it's just oiled rice with small chunks of yam inside it.

Besides soups, the restaurant also makes their own dessert like the Gui Ling Gao (Herbal Jelly) they served at the end. The jelly had a nice consistency, not too hard or soft and was very refreshing after the heavy meal. Although it's quite easy to make the jelly from powder available from the Chinese herbal medicine shops, getting the right consistency is often tricky.

Based on the reviews below, the restaurant also has quite a few specialities worthwhile trying. However, if you're looking for a value for money lunch, this is a good choice especially since they serve this during the weekends.

Restaurant Friendship Herbal Soup
No. 40, Jalan SS2/10
47300 Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7877 7827

(Non Halal. This is on the same row of Yu Ai Seafood Noodles and Kayu Nasi Kandar)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Other reviews:

• Life of a Food Lover
• KY Speaks
• Julie the Biscuit

Tagged with: Herbal Soup + Malaysian Food

Lui Cha or Thunder Tea Rice @ Restoran OK, SS2, Petaling Jaya

I thought this would be an excellent time to re-introduce all of you to the healthy wonders of Lui Cha or their interesting moniker, Thunder Tea Rice. I'm sure lots of people are groaning from the excesses of the festive season or has come up with a long list of New Year resolutions of which one is to lose weight so this health food is extremely ideal.

Unlike the posher Ecogreen version featured in my previous post( click on the link above), this version is from a stall we discovered at SS2 which we usually visit for their wantan mee and sui kau. The ingredients are all piled on top of the white rice and consists of chopped long beans, preserved radish, sesame seeds, peanuts, black eyed peas, mustard greens, chopped onions, cubes of tau kwa with dried prawns and etc. Although it's not strictly vegetarian, it's a healthy mix as you end up eating lots of vegetables.



You mix in the broth which is made from mint leaves, green tea leaves and basil which gives it flavour. Unlike the Ecogreen version, the broth is not as bitter hence it makes it more palatable for those who have never tried this dish before. Even though it's just vegetables, it's a substantial meal on it's own and excellent value for below RM4.

Besides this healthy treat, the stall also serves home made porridge with simple flavours like peanuts which are also tasty. The stall owner is new to the area as they just came down from Ipoh a few months back to open this stall hence he's really chatty whenever you buy anything from him. Do give it a try as this is one of my favourite places to get a healthy kick in my system especially after a weekend of indulging.

Restoran OK
Jalan SS2/10
Petaling Jaya

The stall opens from the morning till lunch time daily. Besides this stall, there's also the wantan mee stall which serves pretty good sui kau. At night, this stall serves Teochew Stewed Duck which is famous in Petaling Jaya. This is within the vicinity of the Lim Mee Yoke, Kayu Nasi Kandar area.

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Lui Cha

Tomato Sauce - the Marcella Hazan Method

During the festive season, I did quite a lot of cooking which gave me the opportunity to experiment. I confess, I've always had some problems with the basic tomato sauce for pasta as I find it lacks the extra oomph! like the ones you get in the restaurant. My sauce always has a sour taste to it which I kinda hate.

In response to my queries, a friend of mine introduced me to Marcella Hazan's cookbooks and the wonders of her famous tomato sauce. It's something not new as her cookbooks have been around for years but after giving it a try, I feel as though I have found epiphany in my pasta sauce making. The best test of course was my friends' responses and the simple tomato sauce was a hit at a recent dinner party at my friend's house. Everyone asked for the recipe hence I have decided to write it up here rather than emailing all of them plus sharing it with all of you.

Although the pricing of this sauce is quite expensive versus buying an instant pasta sauce, it's kinda worth it as you know what goes in to the sauce and it does not have any preservatives. For my version, I used canned Italian plum tomatoes (Cirio is my favourite) plus my usual Lurpak unsalted butter. Even though Marcella Hazan does say you have to throw away the onion once you use it, I've found that it's nice to eat it together with the sauce. For my pasta in the picture, I have added a mix of seafood like clams, calamari and prawns which I sauteed seperately before adding the sauce.

On a cooking note, if you love cook shows, do check out Astro's new channel, BBC Entertainment on channel 26. There's a variety of shows such as Friends for Dinner, James Martin's Sweets, Delia Smith's How to Cook, Ching's Kitchen, Rick Stein's Fruits of the Sea and Giorgio Locatelli Pure Italian which they're showing. It's at odd times but if you love British chefs, it's a good opportunity to catch them in action before Astro start charging for the channel from May 2007. To check the schedules, see Astro's website for details.

Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

(Extracted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice
5 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt

Put canned tomatoes in saucepan, add butter, onion and salt and cook uncovered at a slow and steady simmer for 45 minutes or until fat floats from tomato. Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in pan with a wooden spoon. Taste and correct for salt. Discard onion and serve sauce with pasta. This recipe makes six servings.

Other raves about this recipe:

• The Amateur Gourmet
• I like to cook

Tagged with: Tomato Sauce + Marcella Hazan

Dining Out @ Max! Kitchen And Wines, Tengkat Tong Shin, KL

The Net connection seems to be pretty good today so hopefully you can access the pictures I have today. We made a few visits to this place as we can't get enough of this restaurant's yummy food. So far, everyone we have introduced this place love it too which is such great news to hear. You'll see two contrasting sets of pictures as one was taken during lunchtime where the light was the best and another one during night time where the light was dimmer.



Taking over the old Jiak Guan restaurant and right next to Sao Nam on the refurbished Tengkat Tung Shin, Max! Kitchen and Wines is run by Max Chin, a former chef from Regent Hotel. The menu selection may be small (we have tried basically everything on it now) but he makes it up with the freshest and most delicious dishes. Cooking is mainly done at a large grill next to the bar counter so if you want you can see Max in action.

He also serves an excellent set lunch during the weekdays for RM18++ (appetiser and main). The menu for the set lunch changes all the time so you won't get sick of eating it five days in a row. He offers a choice of two sets which we took the two. The first picture you see was the smoked salmon served with mesclun greens, capsicum salsa and balsamic reduction while the above picture was potato tomato soup with artichoke hearts. Everything tastes great and since I'm a balsamic vinegar and artichokes fan, no complaints about the dressing and the soup.

For mains, we were served the chargrilled minute strip loin of beef fillet served on top of mash potatoes and old mustard sauce. The steak was perfectly grilled and juicy that complemented the thick mash potatoes.

My favourite was their simple chargrilled sole fillet served with yabbies tails and a sweet vermouth beurre blanc (butter sauce). My friend who loves yabbies really enjoyed this that day and even though it was a small portion of yabbies, who can complain since it's a set lunch.

We added an order of Pannacotta (RM12) which my friend loves. This one is nice and wobbly with just the right amount of gelatine added. Served with a delicious tiramisu ice cream and fresh fruits. They also serve Illy coffee here which is an extra at RM4 to your set lunch.

For dinnertime, I only snapped pictures of our first dinner here and not the recent one as we were with a group of friends. Another salad but this time it was with chargrilled portobello mushrooms (RM22) which was rich and earthy. We also had the tuna loin with capsicum salsa which I messed up the picture as I tried using my flash.

We had to have the Yabby Lobster Tails (RM25) as it's a favourite of ours. Extremely fresh and yummy. At the recent dinner we had, we all shared the Bay Scallops Chargrilled on the Shell(RM25) which were excellent. They serve it with a balsamic reduction which complements the juicy scallops.

For mains, we had the roasted duck breast served with an orange sauce spiked with Drambuie. This wasn't too good that night as it was slightly tough.

One of our favourites was the chargrilled ocean trout fillet(RM45) which looks like salmon but is less cloyingly rich. It's flown in from Tasmania and tastes great with the butter sauce and mash potatoes.

This is a must have - their signature Braised Shiraz Wagyu Beef Cheeks with mushroom ragout (RM60). The Wagyu Beef cheeks are so soft and gelatinous from the long braising in the rich red wine. Extremely addictive and you'll ask for extra bread to mop up the delicious juices.

We have also tried the Cod which was pretty okay, the lamb cutlets which was good and the beef tenderloin served with pan fried duck liver that was cooked to perfection and had a melt in the mouth texture. For our last visit, we tried the new dessert, Kataifi with Strawberries, Straccialetta Ice Cream and Coffee Oil which was fantastic and great to look at (a picture is found in the Star weekend's review). It comes in a huge platter so do share that with your friends. Besides the menu, he also does a tasting menu served with champagne. Private parties can be catered for upstairs. Although we don't drink wine, our friends rave about their wine collection and the prices are pretty reasonable too.

Max! Kitchen and Wines
27 Tengkat Tong Shin

Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 - 2141 8115

(Open for lunch and dinner on Monday to Fridays and dinner during the weekends)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Tengkat Tong Shin

Other reviews:

• The Star Weekend
• 1001 Recettes
• Sooyindotcom

New Year Feasting

It's been a slow process uploading pictures throughout the night. First uploading was an issue then Blogger threw a small fit. Hopefully everything is okay.

This New Year celebrations was a good time to eat lots of yummy food and catch up with friends. My friend threw a Pie and Pasta party whereby she cooked everything and it was so good. Only thing she didn't make was dessert and this Indian snack we loved i.e the Muruku. It's a really good mix as the crispy shreds were thin and I liked the nuts it had mixed inside. The red bits were slightly sweetish which complemented the whole crispy and slightly spicy taste.

She made two pies in her brand new oven - one which was a vegetable one with tomatoes and leeks. I liked the flavours of this pie as the tomatoes complemented the egg and cheese mixture.

The second pie had lots of leeks and salmon in it making it a yummy biteful.

Keeping up with the theme, the spaghetti was kept plain and tossed with tomato sauce or a mix of ground chillies, garlic and onion. You add the following side dished to complement your pasta.

Plain sauteed mushrooms is always a favourite which adds lots of oomph to the pasta.

We also had a selection of mixed roasted vegetables with capsicums, aubergines, onions, pumpkin and etc.

I loved the roast chicken, it was nicely deboned already so at the end, we were just hanging around the table finishing it up with our fingers.

Splashie Boy's favourite - lamb and beef meatballs. He had to pack some home for his lunch time as he loves meatballs.

We had salad with lots of mesclun leaves, purple long beans and pea sprouts. Those purple long beans are a Japanese vegetable and it's really nice in a salad as they're crunchy.

My absolute favourite which I helped finish up for the night - brussel sprouts and chesnuts. Most people hate brussel sprouts (Splashie Boy shudders when he sees them) but I love me sprouts. I used to buy them and stir fry them during my student days with a touch of sesame seeds. My British flatmates used to think I am mad for liking them.

We had to end with a bang for the night and since we didn't have fireworks like the next door neighbours, we had this scrumptious Chocolate Banana Strawberry cake my other friend made. It's banana cake with layers of strawberries and chocolate ganache. Yummy stuff as it's not so sweet. This was accompanied with lots of spiked home made daiquiris.

I'm sure all of you had a great time partying away so I can't wait to see everyone's new year pictures. Hopefully the Net does not play up tomorrow.

Tagged with: New Year

Happy New Year

Sorry for the long absence but since we had Net issues arising from the Taiwan earthquake, I decided to take a long break. I was all geared up to start blogging this morning but couldn't get in to Blogger. Hope I don't get a crash down tomorrow either as the newspapers are warning of Net congestion when everyone gets back to work.

I hope all of you had a great break and celebrated New Year with lots of partying or just mingling among friends and families. Will upload pictures of the scrumptious food we had for New Year at my friend's place later on - believe me, everything was good.

On another issue closer to home, do think about the flood victims in Johor. Try and contribute time, monies or even donate items to the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) to help out (all the details on how you can contribute are in the link to MRCS's site). Every little bit helps them. Splashie Boy followed MRCS last Saturday to Segamat to deliver supplies and witnessed some of the after effects (if you look hard enough at the link above, you can spy him in the picture). Although most of the water levels receded, some low areas are still unpassable unless with heavy vehicles and villages are cut off. The flood victims were grateful to receive the supplies and impatient for the flood waters to recede for them to get on with their lives. No pictures as yet but do check out TV Smith's pictorial essay. Most of those images were seen by Splashie Boy that day. Will upload the pictures they took that day once I get them from a friend.

Chocolate Cheesecake

Besides the Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova, I was busy on Sunday baking my first cheesecake (sorry for the not too perfect picture as it was taken in haste at my friend's party). I wanted it to be chocolately since I had recently bought a batch of Valrhona 70% Guanaja from Gourmandines. I was initially torn between trying out Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Cheesecake from Feasts (which will be featured in the future episodes on television) and Alice Medrich's Chocolate Cheesecake from her book, Bittersweet.

Eventually, I settled for Alice Medrich purely because her recipe called for less ingredients and less time in the oven. Although everything well with the cheesecake (which smelt wonderful) and I'm happy to say it didn't crack one bit, it didn't go down too well with the people at the party. Feedback from others said it was too bitter and slightly too tangy. For my tastebuds, I felt it was slightly tangier than what I would have liked in my cheesecake but the chocolate taste was just nice. It took me a while to realise my tastebuds with regards to chocolate has really changed as nowadays all I use in cooking or consume is bittersweet 70% chocolate. Looks like it's time to switch to say 64% Manjari or 40% Jivara which is what Bakerzin uses as the general public's tastebuds aren't like mine.

If you wish to try this recipe which gives a smooth cheesecake with no cracks, cut the sour cream to half as it was slightly too tangy for my taste. If you wish to use 64% to 66% chocolate, use 7 ounces of chocolate and for anything lower than 64% chocolate, use 8 ounces but increase the sugar to 2/3 cup and add one tablespoon cocoa powder with the sour cream.

Chocolate Cheesecake

For the crust
1 1/ cups chocolate wafer crumbs (I used Oreo cookies)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

For the cheesecake
1/3 cup boiling water
6 1/2 ounces bittersweet 70% chocolate, finely chopped
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
One 16 ounce container of sour cream

You will need a 9 inch springform pan

To make the crust: Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Grease the cake pan.

Use a fork to blend together all the crust ingredients in a medium bowl. Press evenly over the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the pan. Prick the bottom of the crust with the fork. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a rack before filling (leave the oven on)

To make the cheesecake: In a small bowl, pour the boiling water over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with an electric mixer just until smooth about 30 seconds on high speed on a heavy duty electric mixer with a flat beater. Scrape the bowl and beaters well. Turn mixer back to medium to low speed and gradually add the sugar a time. Continue to beat until smooth and creamy, then add the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated and scraping the bowl and beaters before adding the next one. Add the sour cream and beat until incorporated. Pour in the warm chocolate mixture and beat on low speed until just well blended. Pour batter into the crust and place pan on cookie sheet.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until cake is puffed and looks set about 1 1/2 inches from the sides of the pan but jiggles in the center when the pan is tapped. Remove cake from the oven. Slide the tip of paring knife carefully around the top edge of the pan to detach it from the pan, but do not remove the pan sides. Place pan on a rack and cover the pan and rack with a large inverted bowl or pot so the cake can slowly cool to room temperature.

Cover the cooled cake and chill for at least 5 hours, preferably 24, before serving. Note the flavours of the chocolate will intensify after 48 hours.

Tagged with: Chocolate Cheesecake + Alice Medrich

Christmas Feasts

Yesterday was half a day of feasting which started off with the traditional Christmas lunch at Splashie Boy's house. Star performer was the turkey of course which came all the way from Australia (G'day mate!) and courtesy of Sheraton Subang. Accompanied by a cheese rosti, mash potatoes, a crisp vegetable salad and corn on the cob, it was a very satisfying meal.

For desserts, we had chocolate banana cake and by special request from Splashie Boy, Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova which my friend made that day. My first attempt making it and it cracked so much after it cooled that it looked so ugly. However, taste wise it was still good that Splashie Boy's family didn't believe it was made from egg whites and no flour.

Then later at night, it was my friend, Ms. C's yearly get together with family and friends. More turkey and this time it came with delicious roast potatoes. I liked the stuffing which accompanied the turkey and kept scooping it up for seconds as it was so yummy.



It was a huge spread of food that had us all eating throughout the night. That's only half of the table since I couldn't capture all the dishes for last night.

There was yummy fried beehoon which came topped with colourful shredded omelette and red chillies. Accompany this with yummy chicken curry, roti jala, chicken drummettes and beef rendang.

My favourite were the pie tees - crunchy shells filled with yummy filling topped with chilli, fried shallots, chopped coriander and shredded egg omelette. They were also easy to finish up since all you needed was to pop them in your mouth.

Desserts was yummy chocolate walnut caramel torte brought back from Chicago by my friend's sister who was visiting. Delicious and extremely rich tasting.

We also had the traditional log cake from La Manila - light sponge filled with chocolate ganache. Very satisfying meal which ended with our traditional gift giving plus pulling of Christmas crackers. I always love those crackers as they come with tiny gifts, great jokes and party hats.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and let's look forward to partying towards end of the year.

Tagged with: Christmas