Kitchenventure: (almost) Asian

Mee Hoon Kueh 麵粉粿

From where I come from, we call it mee hoon kueh. Not pan mee 板麺 although I know many people (particularly from Subang and KL) call it that. Sorry, pan mee as I have known it is anchovy-based soup with broad, flat noodle (like fettuccine). Exactly the same with mee hoon kueh, except that mee hoon kueh are hand-torn, flat, irregularly shaped pieces of noodle (like pappardelle, but more irregular). I like to call this the Asian pasta. It is sooo easy to make. I remember eating this on Saturday nights when my mom didn't bother to cook. She would buy this from a place nearby and they were so good.


Cream of Mushroom Soup

After making my own cream of mushroom soup, I honestly will never buy canned mushroom soup again. Again, it is really easy to make but the taste is so awesome. I'm not bragging really, anyone can do this because it is that simple. I am suddenly reminded of the mushroom soup which comes with the meals in Malaysia's Pizza Hut. Oh gosh. How can a restaurant even serve crap like that...

Vietnamese Prawn Salad

I tried this once in a Vietnamese restaurant and I instantly loved how it's made of really simple, fresh, raw ingredients and yet it tasted so good. It's really light, refreshing and healthy. I tried making it myself but somehow the taste just didn't feel quite the same :/ This shall go to my 'revisit' list.


Three Cups Chicken 三杯鸡

I've never had this in anywhere before but a friend told me about it and I came across a recipe on the net one day, got interested and decided to try making it. 3 cups basically mean a cup each of 3 main condiments which are sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine. Of course, it is just a basic idea/concept of cooking it, you'll have to adjust the volume according to the amount of chicken. The first time I made it, I used 1 cup each of the said condiments and it was a disaster. Can you imagine 1 cup of soy sauce? The level of salty flavour is beyond any normal human's tolerance lol. Anyway, I've tried making this dish a few times and finally managed to get it right. I used chicken breast and it was really good! And this is coming from someone who doesn't even like to eat chicken breast. The key is to not overcook them.


Fish Fragrant Eggplant 鱼香茄子

I tried this once in a Sichuan restaurant here and I fell in love with it at an instant. Growing up, I never liked eating eggplant. Its mushy and I think it tastes quite disgusting. When I had this popular Sichuan dish, the eggplants were deep-fried so it's crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. And I loved that it didn't have that mushy texture and that disgusting taste? I think it's because of the type of eggplant used and also not overcooking it. And the savoury sweet sauce was very appetizing. I've searched through many recipes of this dish and to my surprise, there are so many versions of it and not many call for deep-frying the eggplant. I did deep-fry my eggplant but sadly, it didn't stay crispy :( I don't know how to maintain its crispiness... probably need to use a liquid frying batter instead of coating it with cornflour. I shall attempt this again!

Thai Green Chicken Curry

I made the curry paste from scratch. Store-bought pastes tend to contain too much preservative and additives, not to mention the MSG and often lack in real flavour. I was really really happy with the end result. It would have been perfect if I could have used freshly squeezed coconut cream but unfortunately I have yet to find a place which sells freshly grated coconut, let alone freshly squeezed coconut cream/milk. So a canned coconut cream that is. I used coconut cream in the first time cooking it and it tasted amazing. The second time cooking it with the leftover paste, I substituted it with evaporated milk (healthier option) and sadly, it was a disaster. For unknown reasons, the milk curdled in the curry. And it didn't give the curry the same consistency and fragrance as when I used coconut cream. Nevertheless, I'm really happy that I made the paste from scratch! Required some work but totally worth the effort.