Malaysian Belacan Fried Chicken

Belacan Fried Chicken

One very authentic Malaysian fried chicken recipe is the Belacan Fried Chicken.  I used to prepare the belacan fried chicken from scratch but nowadays there are prepacked belacan powder which is ready to use. With this belacan powder, it is so simple. Just prepare the chicken meat, drip the chicken meat dry and then mix with the belacan powder. One pack of the belacan powder is good for about five to six pounds of chicken meat.

Malaysia's Favorite Fried Chicken

But if you prefer the fried chicken cuisine to be less salty, then use lesser of the belacan powder. With the full pack of belacan powder, I can mix the powder to about ten pounds of chicken meat. And the belacan powder can also be use for other meats such as fish, shrimps or squid. I have fried female capelins with this same belacan powder and they taste good. Belacan always have that seafood flavour that is familiar to Malaysian cuisines.

Dark Soy Sauce Pork Stew

Or Tau Eau Bak

My mom used to cook this dark soy sauce pork stew very often when I was still living in Malaysia because most of the adults at home in Malaysia liked it. And, in a way we drain our rice with the dark soy sauce and in addition, we add sambal belacan to the rice. But nowadays, we hardly cook this cuisine because the kids don't really liked it too much. In fact, they do not like any food that is cooked with dark soy sauce or taste like dark soy sauce.

Dark Soy Sauce Pork Stew

Food presentation is important to young folks today. They place importance in how the food looked first. Taste, flavour and tradition become secondary to them. But still, the dark soy sauce pork stew is easy to cook. All that is need are few spoons of dark soy sauce, two cups of water, a pinch of salt, five to ten cloves of garlic, a few pieces of ginger (from about four inch long), two or three anise star, four buds of cloves, and three to four pounds of meat (pork or chicken).

Simple Meal

Put everything into a pot and bring to boil in a slow or low heat for about thirty minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving. I like to eat from a bowl with my rice drain with the flavourful dark soy sauce, the meat and with home made sambal belacan. This is another reason why the kids don't like the dark soy sauce pork stew because they also don't like the sambal belacan. The sambal belacan is simply red chilli, pinch of sugar, and dried shrimp paste, all blended together with a squeeze of lime juice. And, for a simple meal, this is all I would need.

Kampung Fried Chicken and Maggi Mee Goreng

Kampung Fried Chicken

I have work to complete today. So, not wasting the valuable time that I have, I decided to prepare a quick lunch. I had bought some chicken leg quarters from T&T Supermarket several days ago and wanted to cook them anyway. I just chopped the quarters to three parts. Then, without any seasoning or marinate sauce, I dropped the chopped chicken pieces into a pot of hot cooking oil. I deep fried the chicken pieces for about twenty minutes to allow the skin to crisp.

Plain Fried Chicken

I learned to fry chicken this way from my grandmother who likes to fry chicken the way it is, without any sauce, salt or gravy. But the chicken skin needs to be fried until they turn golden brown and crispy. This frying method can be used for frying the chicken whole or cut to smaller pieces. Then, once it is done, the chicken can be dipped in any type of sauce. My kids and I like it plain without any sauce. Depending on the type of cooking oil used, the chicken meat is flavourful and tasty as is.

Fried Instant Noodle

I did not cook rice and decided to bench some instant noodle. Then, fry the noodle with tomato sauce, dark soy sauce and chopped garlic. I wanted to be simple and quick. So, there were shrimps, bean sprouts and eggs used in the frying the instant noodle. I could have added some boiled potatoes and cut tomatoes too. At the end, I garnished the fried noodles with fried shallots and fried garlic. It took me about thirty minutes to prepare today's lunch and still leaves me plenty of time to complete my work.

Japanese Hotdog

Kurobuto Terimayo

I was shopping with the family at the factory outlet near the Vancouver airport. And while the kids were doing their shopping I when to look for lunch or rather a place for lunch. There were not many choices but I saw Neptune Wuntun Noodle Chinese Restaurant, Japadog, a Pizza place, and a food court. The Chinese restaurant was full and I did not want to wait too long in line so I ended up in Japadog instead. There were still a substantial crowd in Japadog but fewer than Neptune.

Oroshi

I have always seen Japadog on the sidewalks. They are normally on food carts and the famous one would be the one in front of the Waterfront Station. I have never even seen Japadog in food courts let alone a restaurant. I guess this Japadog, the Japanese style hotdog at the Factory Outlet Mall is pretty unique. And, I also noticed that the menu prices at the Japadog diner were no different from their menu prices on the Japadog food cart. Their diner too was spaces and provide comfortable seating.

Tonkatsu

Japadog is hotdog with teriyaki sauce and topped with ingredients used in Japanese cuisines like seaweed, shredded daikon, spring onions, sushi rice, and tempuras. It is actually pretty unique and creative. Their menu items are presented differently from those in everyday hotdog stands. Their signature Japadog is the Kurobuto Terimaya which hotdog stuffed with teriyaki sauce, mayo and seaweed. Next, is the Oroshi which is hotdog with teriyaki sauce, shredded daikon and green onions.

The Signature Japadog

Then, there is this Tonkatsu which is the most unique, instead of hotdog, the bun is stuffed with a piece of tempura and rice. Then, garnished with seaweed and teriyaki sauce. Its like eating rice in a bun. Japadog has really reinvented themselves. Each item on their menu is really unique and looked really delicious. So, far they have not created a unique french fries yet but I think soon enough they will be a Japadog version.

The Green Bamboo Vietnamese Cuisine in Crystal Mall

Beef Noodle Soup in Tomato Sauce

We went to Crystal Mall's Green Bamboo Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant for dinner. At first the original diner that we had planned to dine in was Dosa Corner but after some considerations we decided to go to Green Bamboo instead. I had been eating Indian cuisines for the past two days and thought I should not make it three days in a row. The Indian food was really heavy stuff. I have been eating too much lately. So, needed to get back to my healthy eating trend.

Wonton Noodle Soup

My family was joined by another couple at Green Bamboo. Together we shared several different types of Vietnamese cuisines. We have one order of the Beef Noodle in Tomato Sauce, one order of the Vietnamese Spring Rolls, one order of Fried Chicken Wings with Rice, another order of Fried Chicken Wings, and three plates of the Chicken Chop and Egg with Rice. I, on the other hand, just wanted something simple. I order the wonton Noodle Soup.

Chicken Chop, Eggs with Rice

With the seven of us, we have already taken up at least one third of the seating in the small diner. But what matters most was the food. We have always liked dining at Green Bamboo in spite of the limited seating space available. The cuisines is not that authentically Vietnamese but the cuisines served there are reasonably tasty, flavourful and competitively priced. In fact the menu prices are slightly lower than their neighbours. The serving portions are also larger in comparison.

Another Briyani Place

Briyani Chicken

Two of my colleagues and I went to Surrey to visit another colleague of ours and on our way back to office we stopped at a Briyani restaurant for lunch. It was my first time here and the restaurant was literally a hole in the wall type of set up. It is situated in the middle of nowhere, surrounded with factories and meat whole sellers. There were no other eateries nearby. So, it was really difficult to spot especially if one is not aware of this place.

Briyani Chicken

Briyani Garden is located on 128th Street in Surrey on the seventh thousand block. It is about a kilometre or two from Kwantlen Politechnique University campus in Surrey. When I first stepped into the diner, it did not look very presentable and pleasant at all. The diner was narrow and unorganized. But my colleague frequently dine here and he told us that the briyani was good. So, we wanted to sample it. When our orders were served, they were also not served in a presentable manner.

Flavourful and Authentic Briyani Chciken

I ordered the briyani chicken and it was served with an empty plate with a piece of raw green chilli, a small portion of chopped lettuce, a small cup of yogurt and the briyani chicken was in a polystyrene container. Of of my colleague ordered the Indian burger and it was served with french fries. The other was basmati rice with naan bread and a bowl of vegetarian dhal for dipping. In spite of the appearance and not so nice presentation, the briyani chicken rice was tasty, flavourful and authentic. And my colleague who had the Indian burger also said the same for the burger.

Some Authentic Southern Indian Cuisines

Briyani Goat

We went out to dine at Dosa Corner, a specialty diner that specializes in Southern Indian cuisine located on Fraser Street at the intersection of Marine Drive, with some friend that we have not met for a while. My wife and I have not been to Dosa Corner for at least half a year already. It is quite a way off our normal route. And unless with have specific friends that is dying for South Indian cuisines, we normally would not make the trip here.

Basmati Rice Naan with Goat Curry

Having said that, Dosa Corner is the choice of many diners when it comes to the best and the most authentic Southern India cuisine. We have dined in many other Indian restaurants, we still find Dosa Corner to be the better choice for Indian cuisines. There were eight of us dining in Dosa Corner yesterday and we ordered an array of their finest cuisines that they could cook out of the kitchen. The food was really good and plentiful, we enjoyed it.

Chicken Masala Dosa

I had the Briyani Chicken, and my wife ordered the Chicken Masala Dosa. The others were plain Basmati Rice and Naan with Goat Curry, Briyani Goat, Puri and Vadai with Curry Dip, Chicken Korthu and Plain Dosa. My friend and us spend more than an hour in the diner. The atmosphere in the diner was friendly and there were no rush to finish and surrender the table to other waiting patrons. It was a weekday, so different from the crowd on a weekend.