Monday, November 19, 2007

A Good And Tasty Raw Seafood


This is was when my family, my relatives and I went to one of the 5 star Japanese Restaurant, named Agehan Japanese 'All You Can Eat' Restaurant, located at level 3, Blue Wave Hotel, Shah Alam. This time, I'm having my best time celebrating my 28th birthday, along with my relatives who is celebrating theirs too.

At this restaurant, I've had a wide range of Japanese cuisine, including a yet hot bunch of known Japanese dip, called 'Wasabi', which has a strong and mild flavor, but its hot flaming feeling will feels your throat, up to your nose, if you don't careful. This is my good delicacies starter at the beginning, yet it brings me through while making me addicted for more and more spicy foods until now, and now I'm hunting for Sarawak Laksa, Nyonya Laksa and some other Nyonya cookings as it has the similar asian tastes, and quite localish, with a bit of chinese taste, i.e the noodles like the one used in Japanese cookings.

These asian cookings has the similar taste in sense of smells, aromas and flavors, which uses a lot of spice and herbs, take it as a comparison with two 'twin' cuisine, a Japanese and Chinese noodles. It has a same texture, same styles, same method of making, and quite a same name. For example, we can found both Japanese and Chinese uses a 'Ramen' for its main noodle dish. All these makes me feels like pulling myself more to the east, with a bunch and taste of herbs. Yes, herbs makes the foods better, yet tasty. You can also blames for the spices, for it too makes the same results for the Western foods for examples, take a look at the Italians.

When all these spices are blended, the result is the authentic tastes which suites your tasty buds nicely. The tasty buds may vary in difference places as well, but this times I feel my loves taking me to the east. I can say that this Japanese threat is the starter, but I'm still wondering, if there are still the others. Maybe we are still after the Raya season, where our local spices are still in the memories, although the newly Japanese welcome may be the hints. Well, until now(it's about 3 days past, we are having our celebration last Saturday), I'm still feels my buds dreaming of a well cooked noodle cuisines, with a bunch of herbs, spices, and a local cuisines, which has a sweet, sour, spicy, and a good blend of turmeric aromas. So, guess, what it would come? Haha.. A bountiful Nyonya cuisine, which include some of its famous laksas and curries, where I've just looked up at web some of its recipes - Ayam Kari Kapitan, Nyonya Laksa@Nyonya Curry Laksa, Lai Fun, Kari Ketam (Crab Curry), and some infos about the Nyonya decendants.

So, I'm still thinking what I would be cooking next, perhaps the Nyonyas, perhaps the Japanese, or perhaps the local Malay desert - I'm proud to have this one first if I could - the most important as I'm a Malay! Anyway, I'd like to have a variety of tastes, whereas my buds doesn't stick to what I am, where I am, or what I like at most. My taste always change, according to place, current events, or even the popularity of a current culture or some attraction activities of some groups about foods and something like that. If the season is about the Japanese, so there will I go! No matter how difficult to get the ingredients, I'll try. Don't think that I'm unable to find the Wasabi, cause I've found on the net on how to make it at home! Just after a few days!

More or less, I'll decide that I want to start something similar to Nyonya's favorite this week, if not being able to cook myself, I'll try to stop at Laksa Shack and try some Sarawak Laksa soon!

Today I've added some of the known fellas who have the skill cooking and preparing many of my favorite dishes, including this newly borned favorite in my life - the Nyonya style! I've added it at the left side. Happy visiting!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Focaccia with Onion and Rosemary


Hello there! This time I'm having my time with a fellow cook specialist from my own country through his cookbook, entitled ' Tea time threats with Chef Wan'. He has been known as the Ambassador of the Asian Food, where he has been on the TV programs hosted and videoed from around the world! Ok, for now, I'm just alone in my kitchen, but, there is a helper from my book, a good book, with a spirit of the cooker's too! What a nice book, a full colored pages, with a nice appearance of texts. I bought this for just RM 59.90 from a Popular Bookstore and it worth a value.

Ok. For today, actually tonight, I've been baked some of my first ever home-made bread, which is known as Focaccia, an Italian style bread, made with a pizza base like dough, topped with the onions, garlics, olives, tomatoes, chillies, or even nuts. I could call this a simple version of a pizza, as it sounds well, looks and tasty like a pizza too, except it has a less toppings. The basic dough is quite the same, and you can vary your topping to fit the taste and cuisine as well, be it sweet, savory, hot or spicy. There are a history of this kind of bread, where I just only learned it, well, you and I can check it out at Wikipedia to find it more. It is a kind of Italian style bread, where it may have been a twin to a pizza, if I'm not wrong.






Ok. Let's not waste the time, and here I'll will show you the original recipe that comes from my book, but, again, this recipes has a copyright. Please use it exactly!
Note: I have change a bit for the topping, where I've substituted the olives with a half tomato, walnut with the almonds, and the olive oil with a vegetable oil as I don't have this things in my kitchen at the time.

Here is the recipe:

Focaccia with Onion and Rosemary

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 1/2 teaspoons active dried yeast
1/2 cup UHT milk, preheated to 40C and 46 C
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water, at room temperature
500g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

Topping:
1/4 cup walnuts, roasted and chopped
2 large red onions, sliced and fried with olive oil
10 black olives, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Method:

1) Dissolve yeast with a milk until foamy. Add olive oil and water, set aside.
2) Add the salt to the flour. Make a well in the center, pour over the yeast mixture. Mix and knead for 10 minutes. Cover dough and let inside the greased bowl to rise for one time the size for 2 hours.
3) Punch the dough and divide into two. Shape into balls and flatten a little.
4) Add all the topping on top of the flatten dough, let the dough to rise more for another one hour before baking.
5) Bake into a preheated oven at 200 C for half an hour or until well cooked.

This is my first time bread baking, so the result is not as good as what it should look, feel open to feel at what I got in my pictures:)

Instant Fried Maggie

Welcome fellow cookers! This time I have tried my own new menu based on my taste experience. This recipe was invented through my estimation and assumption from a variety of taste of the similar menus, whereas the basic ingredients has been in my thought at first. This include the simple and yet instant to prepare dinner recipe, where I found a part of the ingredients has been in the package at first. The instant noodle, as we know, usually comes with its own taste and flavor pre-packed in its own packages. This could make the late-stayers easily prepare up his/her wonderful dinner with a big taste within a minute. No long written recipes, or even a long list of kitchen ingredients. Just require a sachet or two, provided inside the noodles' package, and you'll keep up the rest. Amazing and fascinating, I show you my home-made fried instant noodle, or in Malaysia, the folks just simply calls it 'Maggie Goreng'. You can have this at the Mamak stall, but this time you can try to pick up the art yourself at home! Note: This recipe has a bit of a threat of a Mamak taste, which is a bit spicy, but not too hot. Try!

Maggie Goreng Segera (Instant Fried Noodle)

Ingredients:

1 packet Instant Noodles, usually Maggie, Mamee, or any other good brand.
2 segments of Garlic, chopped
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 cili padi (small size chillies), chopped
a chunk of leftover fish or chicken or any meat dish, washed and chopped (you may used the fresh boiled ones)
An egg
Soy sauce
Tomato or Chilli Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 tomato, cut into cubes.
about 1/3 cup vegetable oil for frying


Method:

1) Prepare the instant noodle, empty the noodle from the sachet and soak in a hot water for about 1-2 minutes or according to the instruction on the package.
2) While the noodle is soaked, prepare the oil in the frying wok or large pan. Heat the oil until gentle hot, around 1-2 minutes.
3) Place the onion, garlic and chillies in the pan, stirring slowly until the smells raise and the onion is lightly browned.
4) Take the flavor sachets from the noodle package, empty both or more(if the package has more than one or two, use all of them) into the pan, keep stirring until combined.
5) Put into 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of chilli or tomato sauce into the pan and keep stirring.
6) Place the drained soaked noodle into the pan, stirring and mix as quickly as possible to let all the sauces mix in with the noodle. Keep stirring until the sauce begin to dry.
7) Make a well in the centre, then break an egg on top of it and quickly stir all the mixture together until totally blended. Keep stirring to avoid the mixture dry too fast.
8) When the egg mixture has set, then it is ready. Transfer the fried noodle onto the plate and serve hot immediately. Garnish with a cubed tomato.