Home Cooked Mamak Mee

Mamak Mee Goreng

We had the Mamak Fried Noodle for dinner yesterday. It was a change in our normal dinner routine as we usually have rice and three cuisines. But yesterday we were kind of lazy to think of what to cook, so, we just prepared the ingredients for the fried noodle and fried the noodle cuisine. The change in menu was good as sometimes after eating the same kind of food over and over again, we can get rather bored too.

Mamak Fried Noodle

The ingredients that we put into the Mamak Mee Goreng was potato, shrimps, bean sprouts, yu choy, tomatoes, fried tofus, garlic, and fried onions. The sauce was simply a mix of shrimp broth and tomato ketchup with a small spoonful of sugar. After the noodle is done, garnish some fried shallots onto the noodle and squeeze some lime or lemon onto it. This home cook version of the Mamak Mee Goreng may not be as authentic but the flavour and taste is about there.

Malaysian Belacan Fried Chicken

Fried Belacan Chicken

Lately, we have been cooking so much pork. It seems like we have been consuming a lot of the same meat for a long time. Therefore, for dinner yesterday we decided to cook a chicken cuisine. And because frying would be the easiest and fastest way to cook, we decided to prepare four quarters of chicken for the belacan fried chicken. First we marinated the chopped chicken meat with approximately five spoons of belacan powder.

Belacan Chicken

The belacan powder must be used sparingly because it is a difficult to acquire commodity in Vancouver. Most of the belacan found in grocery stores comes in the block form. And we have to bake the belacan first before pounding it to powder. The process takes too much work and time. Besides the work, when the belacan is being baked, it creates a strong smell that is not very comfortable.

Smells Great Taste Even Better

The smell is like dead fish. But most Asians wouldn't mind the smell. It depends who your neighbours are. Any way we have powdered belacan that we brought from Malaysia. And these are genuine belacan from Penang. My mum prepares the belacan powder at home. Another easy access to belacan powder is to purchase a bottle or pack of it from any grocery stores in Malaysia. This powdered belacan is very popular nowadays.

Cheese and Tofu

Cheese Tofu

We learned a new fusion cuisine today. While going through youtube, my wife stumbled upon a video showing how tofu can be cooked with cheese. So, without much hesitation we tried the recipe for lunch since it was just a few simple steps. We have a block of soft tofu in the fridge and plenty of cheese which we had just bought from Costco. The cheese was on sale, so it came at the right time. And we have bought the correct type of cheese for this recipe.

Tasty and Flavourful Cheese Tofu

Slice the tofu block in the middle to split it into two pieces. Then, place the tofus in a plate and a slice of cheese on each of the tofus. Garnish some mushrooms on to the cheese. Once the tofus are ready, put the plate in a steamer for about five minutes. After that, take the plate out of the steamer and sprinkle some black pepper on the cheese. This tofu cheese cuisine can be served as another dish for dinner or lunch. The cheese and tofu blended really well.

More Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Tofus and Green Chillies

Another pork dish for dinner yesterday. The Hakka Yong Tau Foo actually uses more pork meat than fish. We don't always have the Hakka Yong Tau Foo but whenever we decide to cook this cuisine, we ended up cooking more than we could eat in one meal. Just imaging five pieces of each different variety of of the Yong Tau Foo. And if we happened to prepare four different types, there will be approximately sixteen pieces.

Tofu Puffs

The tofu stuffed yong tau foo itself is already quiet a heavy piece of food to finish up. And with one each of the other yong tau foo, they were just plentiful. Yesterday, we had the tofu, green chillies, tofu puffs, which was more than a piece each and fried large wuntun dumplings. Although nobody eat the green chillies yong tau foo but me, eating the other yong tau foo items were just as plentiful. The green chillies were to hot for everyone. I ate two pieces of it.

Fried Large Shrimp Wuntun

By the time we completed our meal, there were some tofu yong tau foo and green chillies yong tau foo leftovers. In the morning, we reheated the tofus in a wok and removed the meat from the hot chillies to add into the wok too. And eat them for breakfast with steam rice. For additional cuisine, my wife simply fried tomato egg omelette. Simple and quick for a home cooked breakfast for the family to start the day.

Korean Dae Ji Cutlet House

Original Dae-Ji Pork Cutlet

We went to Dae Ji Cutlet House for takeouts yesterday. Initially thought of dining in but because it was getting late and one of the kids have an assignment due in the next few hours, we decided to just do takeouts. It was our first time there and we did not know what to expect except reading from the reviews online. And I don't exactly trust the reviews as everyone has a different taste preference. I rather taste the cuisines for myself.

Cheese Kimchi Pork Cutlet

From the photos in the menu, the presentations looked like fusions between Western and Korean cuisines. I was looking through the copy of the menu which was posted by the entrance and trying to decide which was better. So, before we actually entered the diner, we have already decided upon which of the items listed on the menu we were going to order. We selected five from the menu and they were all different.

Mushroom Hamburger Steak

We have selected the Original Dae-Ji Pork Cutlet, Fish Cutlet with Tartar Sauce, Mushroom Hamburger Steak, Cheese Shrimp Chill Pork Cutlet, and finally the Cheese Kimchi Pork Cutlet. All in all the cuisines were common cuisines and nothing really special but the portions were really huge. This diner is suitable for the younger generation, large portions and fusion kind of cuisines are more appealing to kids these days.

Malaysian Friends Gathering and Potluck

Honey Garlic Chicken Wings

We join several other Malaysian friends for a gathering and potluck in Coquitlum. This was a smaller group than our typical Malaysian friends' gathering. Although, small in group, we had some really flavourful Malaysian cuisines during the potluck. Like usual, each of us brought a dish or two to the potluck and every dish had a Malaysian theme to it, making the gathering a truly Malaysian cuisine potluck. Our contribution was a pot of pork curry.

Yong Tau Foo

The other cuisine contributions that were brought to the potluck were Sweet and Sour Prawns, Honey Garlic Chicken Wings, Yong Tau Foo, Roasted Pork Ribs, and desserts. Notably among the desserts were the barley soy drink and the fish shaped red bean stuffed waffles. Besides enjoying the dinner together, we also shared some of the best Malaysian cuisines together. These were the cuisines that we don't find in Malaysian restaurants in Vancouver.

Pork Dumplings

Pork Dumplings

With so much pork that we still have in the freezer, we had to think of more recipe choices which we could cook up this meat. So, the next pork cuisine that we cooked at home was the fried pork dumplings. We first used the food processor to mince the pork to ground meat and put some chopped carrots, and water chest nuts to the grounded meat. We added two spoons of sesame seed oil, two spoons of oyster flavoured sauce and a pinch of salt to the three pounds of grounded meat.

Fried Dumplings

Before we could actually fry the dumplings we have to wrap them in wuntun skin. So, I got the family together and asked everyone to help do the pork dumpling wrapping. It took us about thirty minutes to wrap about fifty pieces of the pork dumplings. For the wuntun skin to stick together, we use egg as glue. And once the pork dumplings were all wrapped, the frying started. As the earlier batch turn golden brown, we take them out from the cooking oil and put in fresh dumplings.

Fried Pork Dumplings

Other than frying the dumplings in hot cooking oil, another method to cook these delicious dumplings would be to put them in a pot of wuntun flavoured soup. Preparing the wuntun soup is easy. Throw in some yu choy and a spoon of the wuntun soup flavoured essence into a pot of water. Once the broth has boiled, introduce the pork dumplings and continue boiling for a few minutes to make sure the dumplings are cooked.

Roti Chennai and Curry Dip

Roti Chennai

This Malaysian favorite breakfast cuisine has also been one of our favorite breakfast meal. In Vancouver, it is not as simple as stopping at one of the many Indian owned coffee shops to get a fill of the roti chennai breakfast. But instead, we rely on prepacked roti chennai that we pick up from the supermarkets which we are still doing occasionally. Although, they do not sound like authentic, but it is all we have.

Home Cooked Roti

We have gotten used to what we can authenticate in these circumstances. We source and make use of what is available in Vancouver and replicate our favorite Malaysian cuisines from the what can find in the local supermarkets. Most often we can find the exact ingredients. Thus far, we were able to find all the ingredients we want or need except for ginger flower (bunga kantan) which is used in many of Malaysia's wonderful cuisines.

Chinese Pan Cake into Roti Chennai

So, every time when we cook up a pot of curry, any type of coconut milk curry,  we would have extras which we will keep for the next day. And this extra pot of curry will be for dipping the roti chennai. For the actual roti chennai, we will toast them from the frozen ones which we purchased from the supermarket. There are all kinds of prepacked pan cakes being sold in the supermarkets, more than what is available in Malaysia.

A Restaurant Named Top Cantonese Cuisine

Egg Plant Yong Tau Foo

My wife and her friends went out to dine in this restaurant located on the 2700 block of Kingsway in Vancouver a couple of days ago. And what initially caught my attention was the name of the restaurant. In sounds like the owners of this restaurant has discovered the perfect online marketing keyword to generate traffic to their restaurant. The name of the restaurant is probably high on the keyword search list when someone is searching on the internet for a Cantonese restaurant to dine in.

Raddish Cake

The restaurant may have found a perfect online marketing strategy but the cuisines that was served there were not unique nor special in anyway. The cuisines that were served that morning in the restaurant were common dim sum cuisines that were found in many Chinese restaurants. I did not join the ladies at the restaurant but from their sharing, I gathered that the cuisines were not exceptionally special, just normal.

The Newest Bucket of Fried Chicken Wings

Fried Chicken Wings

Since Costco started serving the fried chicken wings from their cafeteria, not too long ago, we have had at least five buckets of the juicy chicken wings and still haven't feel bored with them yet. The per bucket price was not only attractive but the smell and flavour as you past by the cafeteria was irresistible as well. So, every time we shop in Costco Wholesale with our kids, they will want a bucket of the fried chicken wings.

Costco's Latest Item from their Cafeteria

Supposedly, the cafeteria is a quick stop for quick bites for many folks that visit Costco but this convinient outlet has turned into a money making outfit for the company. Every time I walk into Costco, I noticed the flow of people there is just constant. They are actually doing much better than many other fast food joints if we take into account the number of people that stop for a quick bite. And, I am one of those folks.

Pork and Vegetable Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls

Between my wife and I, we have bought nearly five boxes of Costco Wholesale's Pork and Vegetable Spring Rolls when it went on sale. Stocking up for our kids before the summer holidays start. We anticipated that they would probably take no longer than three weeks to consumed all of the stocks in the fridge if they have friends over once every few days and cook at home than eating out. We have prepared a variety of different frozen food for them.

Pork and Vegetable Spring Rolls

Yesterday, we opened one of the pork and vegetable spring roll to try out. The spring rolls were individually wrapped in plastics and was actually cooked. It can be either oven bake or microwave oven heated. I decided to oven bake. When done, it turned out to be really good. The stuffing was packed with vegetable and ground pork. The wuntun skin wrapper was still crispy. The pork and vegetable spring roll not only looked like the ones my mum used to make but tasted similar too.

Garlic Stir Fried Vegetables

I also prepared two other dishes with the spring roll for dinner. The second dish was the garlic stir fried vegetable. I don't know what was the name of this vegetable but the leaves looked like romaine lettuce, only softer and longer. I have eaten this vegetable dish in Malaysia before. So, I think it must be a popular Chinese vegetable. Anyway, I have not seen this vegetable in Safeway or Save-On-Foods Supermarkets, only in Crystal Mall wet market and T&T Supermarkets.

Ginger Sesame Seed Sauce Shrimp Salad

Shrimp Salad

Had a sumptuous home cooked meal with the family yesterday. The main cuisine was the ginger sesame seed sauce shrimp salad. I boiled a pot of water and used it to blench a handful of shrimps which I simply garnished on some lettuce. Then, added a few spoons of the ginger sesame seed sauce that I had just bought from Costco. Deliciously simple but tasty and flavourful. For the second cuisine I blenched some yu choy in the same pot of hot boiling water and added oyster flavoured sauce.

Ginger Sesame Seed Salad

So, we had one cuisine with fresh vegetables and the other with cooked vegetable. Adding to this two simple cuisines was tomato omelette. Often, our weekend meals can be simple if we do not dine out. My wife and I have been busy of late, preparing and getting work done before our summer break. We will probably be away for several weeks. We are also stocking up on easy to prepare and cook food. Our freezers are full to the brim.

Ulu Yam Lam Mee in Vancouver

Preparing for the Loh Mee

The sleepy town of Ulu Yam in Selangor, Malaysia seems to have laid claims to some of the best recipes for some of the cuisines the are synonymous to the Hakka clan. If you actually visit this predominantly Chinese town, there are no such cuisines served in any of the coffee shops nor in the restaurants. I guess the name of the town when added to the cuisine name makes it sound authentic. Just like Char Keow Teow. Want the cuisine to sound authentic? Just add the word Penang to the cuisine.

Loh Mee

Then, removing the towns and cities the cuisines were named after, there are actually such cuisines. Not originating from Ulu Yam as suggested, are more authentic Hakka cuisines. Like the taro root noodle, thick gravy noodle (loh mee), and the simple steam talapia with ginger noodle. At least these are some of the authentic Hakka cuisines that I have experienced with. These noodle cuisines are simple but really tasty and flavourful.

Home Cooked Loh Mee

This morning, my wife prepared the thick gravy noodle for brunch and it has been a long while since the last time we had eaten this Hakka noodle cuisine. She started with a pot, boiling a piece of the pork loin (about two pounds) with four cups of water and five spoons of dark soy sauce for about fifteen minutes. Add in a couple of shell peeled hard boiled eggs. Once the the pork is cooked remove from the pot, slice it thin slices. The eggs are removed and sliced too. Then, thicken the broth with corn starch and eggs. Lastly, add a spoon of rice vinegar into the thick gravy. Stir well, then serve on a plate or bowl of cooked noodles. Garnish with the slice pork, slice eggs and fried tofus.

Malaysian Curry Pork

Malaysian Curry Pork

Instead of using chicken or fish as the main choice of meat for the curry cuisine, I switched the meat to pork which actually is the cheaper of the proteins sold at the local supermarkets. Pork loins are on sale and seems like everyone that does grocery shopping in the supermarkets that sells them are walking out of the supermarkets with at least a chunk of the meat. The pork loin sale started in Walmart, after two weeks, Safeway started offering the discounted price on the same item.

Curry Pork

Since the beginning of Walmart's special offer on the pork loin until today, we have bought no less than seven chunks of the meat. Each weighs about a kilo and a half.  So, we decided to cook curry with some of this meat. Using pre-packed Malaysian curry paste, Tean's Gourmet brand, I cooked up a large pot of pork curry. We like Tean's Gourmet as the result of the cuisine turns out to be authentic. We also use A1 and Baba's curry paste and powder for cooking curry cuisines.

Home Cooked Pork Curry

It simple cooking with pre-packed curry paste. I started with about five spoons of cooking oil, then simmer the whole pack of curry paste into the cooking oil. Add some curry leaves for the beautiful fragrant and once the the curry gravy boils, add a canned of thick coconut milk. Once the curry gravy boils add another cup of water. Then, goes in the the pork (cut to large bite size), peeled potatoes, and tofu puffs. Cooking time should take about thirty minutes. This curry cuisine is best served with steam rice or roti Chennai.

Best Bao in Vancouver

Char Siew Pork Bao

I like Bao. Especially, the ones that are stuffed with Char Siew Pork. I actually grew up eating a lot of these type of buns and have always enjoyed them. But since coming to Vancouver I found the Bao here to be more healthier and tastier too. In Malaysia, the baos are mostly prepared to be frozen and kept for longer then they should. So, there might be more preservatives used in their preparation. Due to that there is a after taste.

New Town's Char Siew Bao

I alway experience my saliva thickens after consuming bao in Malaysia. I think it is some additive that was added in the making of the baos that makes my saliva thickens with an after taste. Therefore, after realizing this, I stop eating baos in Malaysia. But in Vancouver, I occasionally buy baos for lunch and having them in the office. I haven'y experience the same in Vancouver. At least not until presently.

Chinese Meat Buns

Other than buying baos from T&T Supermarket, I like to purchase them from New Town Bakery in Chinatown on Pender Street. Sometimes, I also buy from a small corner bakery on the junction of Pender and Gore in Chinatown. There are also those buns that has no stuffing. Taste like bread but instead of baked, they were steamed like any other baos. I have also seen and eaten baos that were fried. Only fried after they were steamed.

Black Pepper Pork

Black Pepper Pork

This is one of the easiest to prepare and flavourful cuisines that we cook at home. Even my kids have learned how to cook this pork cuisine. First, is to slice the meat as thin as possible and stir fry with lightly oiled pan or wok. As the pork is cooking continue to toss and stir them or else the thinly sliced pork may stick to the hot pan. Add a sprinkle of black pepper (powdered is fine) and pinch of salt as the stirring continues.

Plater of Black Pepper Pork

The whole process of cooking should take about ten to twelve minutes if the pork meat were sliced thin enough. But if the meat was thicker, then the cooking process may take slightly longer. The same could be done on beef or mutton. Just black pepper and salt. After the meat is done, add some vegetables like celery, cucumber, tomato, green peas, bell peppers, or corn kernels. This cooking method is not only suitable at home but also for outdoor cooking. Quick and easy.

Bottomless Fish and Chips

Fried Fish Fillet

I went out with colleagues and friends to dine at one of our local seafood restaurant in New Westminster. We were celebrating the volunteers that have supported us in one of our projects. We decided to meet there because Cockney Kings Seafood Restaurant is a very convinient place for those who commute by skytrain. The restaurant actually is just meters away from the New Westminster skytrain station.

And the Chips

So, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they usually have the bottomless fish and chips deal. I have dined here with my family many times before. We dine here not because of the great food and all but more to the convenience and the really great deal. I would say this is the diner with the best deal for fish and chips in town. And from my observations, almost all of the patrons that dine here come for their fish and chips.

Quick Meals from H Mart

Unagi Fish Rice Bowl

My wife and I went grocery shopping at H Mart, the Korean supermarket and while we were there we decided to have our lunch at their corner cafe tucked away at one of the front corner of the supermarket. There were variety of different combination of Korean and Japanese cuisines prepared in disposable plastic food trays and disposable plastic bowls. And then, there were also a wide range of Korean and Japanese cuisines displayed behind the glass food counter.

Korean Japanese Sushi Combination

The prices labeled on the plastic disposables were the most tempting. So, we bought two after looking for our perfect tray of Korean-Japanese food tray. I chose the one with the unagi fish and my wife took the tray with sushi, rice stick and fried chicken meat. I will definitely come back for the different food trays, especially the rice bowls that I feel was the more reasonably priced between the two different packaging.

Stir Fried Pork with Bulgogi Sauce

Stir Fried Pork with Bulgogi Sauce

Just a portion of of stir fried pork with bulgogi sauce and fried tofus were all that was needed to satisfy our hunger in the evening yesterday. We were so busy with chores at home that we had totally forgotten about preparing for dinner. By the time we noticed that we were supposed to have cooked dinner, it was already past eight o'clock. So, instead of opening up a few cans of canned food, we decided to cook.

We had some cleaned and slice

Fried Bulgogi Pork

pork that we had taken out from the fridge earlier. The quickest way was to pan fry them and add sauce after, since the meat wasn't marinated. I took about two handful of the sliced pork, put them in a hot pan with two spoons of cooking oil and stir fried them for about five minutes. Before transferring the pork to a serving plate, I added three spoons of Korean bulgogi sauce and a sprinkle of chopped spring onions.

Fried Tofus

Mixed them properly than transfer to a serving plate. For the other dish, I sliced four bricks of pressed tofus and continue using the pan to fry them with cooking oil. It took about ten minutes with the tofus. After which , I served with steam rice. Both the stir fried pork with bulgogi sauce and the fried tofus were good enough for a quick dinner meal. Lately, we have been consuming more pork than our usual fish and seafood because of the cheaper price of pork.

One of Penang's Most Famous Cuisine

Penang Loh Bak

The Penang Loh Bak is one of the most famous cuisine that originated from the Teochew clan in Penang. Although there are several recipes available in preparing this delicious meat wrap roll, the Penang version is the more favorable. The Loh Bak is also found in Malacca and Singapore where there are lots of Teochew people but it may have a different name and slightly different preparation method.

Famous Penang Cuisine

No matter which recipe is used to prepare the Loh Bak, five spices or Ngoh Yang Hun is the main ingredient used to create that unique flavour and taste in the meat wrap roll. Other ingredients would include taro, carrots, water chest nut and pork. Once all these ingredients are mixed and marinated over night, they are used as fillings in soybean curd sheet (cut to six inch squares). These meat wrap rolls are then deep fried in cooking oil.

Loh Bak

It will take just a few minutes to cook in hot cooking oil and when it is still hot, the wrap is crispy on the outside, soft, crunchy and juicy in the inside. At home, we usually prepare a few dozens of this meat wrap at any one time. Then, consume what we can and keep the rest for later meals. The kids would warm up the frozen Loh Bak in the microwave oven, cook rice and slice some cucumbers to take to school for lunch.