Authentic South Indian Samosa

Home Made Samosas

When I came home from work yesterday, I was surprised with some fried samosa that my wife had cooked earlier in the day. Samosa is a traditional South Indian cuisine that has been made popular by Indian immigrants when they immigrated to different parts of the world. So, it is not wrong to consider samosa as a cuisine that is synonymous to ethnic Indians just as roti, dosa and chapati. In fact, the samosa is quite similar to the Malay curry puff, especially the recipe for stuff that is filled into the curry puffs.

Samosas with Spring Roll Wrappers

Instead of making the wrapping sheets from scratch, my wife used the spring roll flour wrapper for the samosa she cooked. In its original recipe the samosa's wrapper is also made from knead dough, just like making the curry puff. When she used the spring roll wrapper, the focus was basically on preparing the fillings. And the stuffed fillings were prepared with potatoes, green peas, onions, curry powder and salt. First, boil the potatoes. Then, fry the mash potatoes in a hot pan with three spoons of cooking oil, garnished with a handful of green peas, half bulb of chopped onions, two spoons of curry powder and one spoon of table salt.

Hot Spicy Samosa

Transfer the curry mash potato to a serving bowl and allow to cool. Scoop two or three spoons of the curry mash potato onto a sheet of the spring roll wrapping sheet and then fold into a triangle. To stick the edges or ends of the wrapping sheets so that it would not open when frying, use egg yolk as glue. Once the samosa are all wrapped, fry them in a pot of hot cooking oil. Making the samosa with spring roll wrappers are so much easier and neater compared to kneading flour. And when fried, the spring roll wrapper becomes crispy and flavourful.

The most significant cuisine from Penang

The Shredded Dried Squid Cuisine of Penang

This is truly the signature cuisine of Penang, the Jhew Hu Char or the cuisine for all occasion. No matter what the occasion is, whether to celebrate, to worship, or to gather, this cuisine is a must have in all occasions in Penang. A fairly simple cuisine to prepare but the significance and importance is beyond the simplicity of the cuisine itself. I have not known any other cuisine that celebrates this kind of significance in the Chinese culture of Penang. Alas, I have not seen this cuisine's significance outside Penang.

Penang Jhew Hu Char

This simple dish is actually stir fried shredded dried squid with shredded jicama, shredded carrot, dried shrimps (or fresh shrimps) and finely slices of pork. The other ingredients that are used in the cuisine are two spoonful of dark soy sauce, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar, and a shake of pepper. Some of the recipes that you will find on the internet also recommend to add oyster flavoured sauce but I don't as the oyster flavoured sauce would change the taste and add too much fish flavour. Also, one more vegetable that was recommended in the Jhew Hu Char is shredded cabbage. I like the taste of jicama, so I do not add the shredded cabbage.

Cuisine for All Occasion

In fact, for that real authentic taste and flavour, I usually add a pinch of sambal belacan on the Jhew Hu Char before wrapping it in lettuce. This same cuisine can also be used to wrap in fried spring rolls (or fried popiah in Penang). When used as spring roll stuffing, it needs to be drained off as much of its liquid first. The people that use this as spring roll stuffings usually do not add as much of the dark soy sauce and oyster flavoured sauce at all. They just increase on the salt. And also, they add a lot more shredded cabbage into the cuisine. Jicama blends well as spring roll stuffings.

Cantonese Cuisines at The Lakeview Chinese Restaurant

Authentic Beef Fried Noodle

The Lakeview Chinese Restaurant is our alternative to the other cantonese restaurant near by the place where we live. We dine there quite often, like at least once a month and they are popular among the people living in the Burnaby/New Westminster area because they are located just two blocks away from the intersection of Tenth Avenue and Sixth Street which is the boundary between Burnaby and New Westminster. Another reason why this restaurant is popular is because of their serving portion size.

One Cantonese Cuisine Signature Noodle Dish

If dining there with more than fewer people, this restaurant would be the better alternative as each serving portion can actually feed more than one person. That is what they are known for. Taste and flavours have to be the second priority when dining at the Lakeview Chinese Restaurant. Every time when we dine there, I also noticed that they have a lot of phone orders and a lot of pickup orders. The lady owner just never stop accepting phone calls. Their business is just continuously busy from the time they opened until the time they closed. So, taste is not really important in this business. But customer satisfaction is.

Seafood Crispy Chow Mein

And how to make a customer satisfy is to give them more than expected. I know that generally, Chinese restaurants serves really large portions but this place is just exceptional. I was there again a few days ago with my wife and one of our kids for dinner because the other kids were out camping somewhere and would not be joining us for dinner. So, knowing that they serve really large portions, we just ordered two simple noodle cuisine. That too was a little too much for the three of us. We had to eat more than usual to clear the two plates of noodles.

Home cooked hand knead noodle soup

Home Cooked Hand Knead Noodle Soup

This is one of the most common noodle soup cuisine we make at home. The noodle itself can be in various forms. If using a noodle press machine, like the ones used in making home made spaghetti, the noodle can be as thin or as thick as one desire. But using the noodle press machine can be a hassle more than convinient if the noodle preparation process is only for a few people to eat. I rather, in such situations, use the hand to tear the noodle straight from the dough and toss into the soup. In fact, some people prefer the hand knead noodle, that is what it is called back in Malaysia. Again, this is a purely Chinese Malaysian noodle cuisine.

Popular Pan Mein Noodle Soup

Yesterday, my wife cooked the hand knead noodle soup cuisine for breakfast. First is to prepare the dough for the noodle. Prepare about eight cups of the multipurpose flour, mix with several cups of water, about four spoons of butter (or margarine), an egg and a pinch of salt for taste. Mix and knead the flour until an evenly dough is formed. Then, set aside the dough and prepare the soup. Fry a handful of anchovies in a hot pot with three spoons of cooking oil. Remove the fried anchovies and throw in a spoon of chopped garlic. Allow the garlic to simmer for a few seconds then add bite size chicken strips/nuggets and fish balls (optional). Allow to cook for several minutes.

Hand Knead Noodle Soup

Add sliced mushrooms (dried shitake mushrooms), and eight cups of water. Bring the soup to boil and add a pinch of salt for taste and half spoon of pepper for flavour. Add in some vegetables, like yu choy, spinach or cabbage. While the soup is still boiling, throw in the pieces of noodles. Take the dough and rest it in the palm of one hand, using the thumb and first finger from the other hand, press and tear a piece at a time from the dough and quickly throw into the boiling soup. As the teared hand knead noodle becomes enough for a serving portion, remove them from the hot pot into a serving bowl. Repeat this process until there are five or six bowls of noodles all evenly split.

Popular Home Cooked Noodle Cuisine

Once the hand knead noodles are done, fill each bowl with the anchovy soup broth, vegetables, chicken meat, fish balls and garnish with some spring onions and garlic oil. I like to add a spoon of chilli sauce into my bowl of hand knead noodle soup. But most people like theirs plain and simple. This is the freshest and healthiest noodle soup found anywhere and easy to prepare. Due to this noodle's popularity, and as recent as the last five years our so, there are many new coffee shops in Malaysia that have emerged as hand knead noodle shops.

Home baked Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins

What do you do with bananas that has over ripen? Well, I would cook them. In Malaysia, we often cook our fruits, especially tropical fruits because they are also a carbohydrate source. And being high in carbohydrate also means they are also starchy. Most tropical fruits are starchy, which makes them ideal for cooking. One of the easiest recipes to follow would be for the banana muffins. My wife often mix over ripen bananas with multipurpose flour to bake banana muffins.

The Healthier Choice

She would start by peeling about five over ripen bananas and mash them up. Then, pour three cups of multipurpose flour onto the mash bananas, add half cup of sugar, add some water and knead them up to form a thick dough. From this point, there are two ways how the  banana dough can be utilized. First, separate them into cups and bake them for banana muffins or simply make small palm size balls of the dough and fry them in cooking oil to make banana fritters. I am good with either but the bake banana muffins are the healthier alternative of the two.

The Baba Nyonya Gulai Tumis or Asam Pedas

Authentic Gulai Tumis

This is truly one of the most marvelous cuisines that was created in Penang by the Baba Nyonya clan. Growing up, I used to have this spicy and sourish cuisine every week because it was my dad's favorite dish. Naturally, I grew up learning to appreciate this spicy fish cuisine so much so that it became a must have cuisine, at least once in a week like my dad. My mum and grandma cooked the best gulai tumis and they have handed down the recipe to me and my siblings. There are a few types of fish that are normally used to cook with this particular cuisine. And they are the black pomfret, white pomfret, stingray, asian mackerel (kembong), basa, catfish and sea bass just to name a few.

Salmon Fish Head Gulai Tumis

But in Vancouver, I have tried cooking with the Salmon fish head and it turn out to be really good. In fact, I cooked the gulai tumis, using the same recipe with different types of fish and found that the Salmon fish head to be ideal. The spicy and sourish taste of the cuisine blends well with the tender fish meat. Besides that, the Salmon fish head is usually sold at a much cheaper price that the whole fish itself. And, when boiled in the gulai tumis gravy, the fish meat on the Salmon fish head peels off from the bones easily into the mouth. I could get  a lot more meat from the fish head cooking this way than frying.

Baba Nyonya Gulai Tumis

My recipe for gulai tumis is really simple. The important ingredient in a good bowl of gulai tumis is in the tamarind juice. Only fresh tamarind paste or pulp will do. I start with blending shallots (five bulbs), lemon grass (two spoons of the grated type), garlic (one clove), dried chillies (five pieces), ginger (one inch), and turmeric (one spoon of the powdered). Once the blended paste is ready, set a side. In a cooking pot, pour five spoons of cooking oil and add the blended paste. Allow to simmer and throw in some laksa leaves to simmer together.

Salmon Gulai Tumis

Once the aroma fills the room, add two cups of thick tamarind juice. Add salt for taste and half a spoon of sugar. Make sure to stir the gravy well and bring to boil. Add two more cups of lighter tamarind juice and stir again. Immediately, add fish or fish head. Once it is boiled, turn the fish over and add okra, then turn off the heat after two minutes. Allow the lid of the pot to remain closed for several minutes before serving. This similar cuisine is also called Asam Pedas in places outside Penang in Malaysia. So, it is a popular spicy and sourish fish cuisine in Malaysia.

Home cooked the famous Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean

The Famous Petaling Street Big Fat Noodle

We had the famous Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean for dinner yesterday. My wife prepared the ingredients and the thick shanghai noodle for me to fry this famous noodle cuisine after I came home from work. So, instead of going out for dinner, we cooked and ate dinner at home. The Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean was made famous by the three brothers that started their noodle cuisine business in the heart of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown way back in the early seventies. I frequented the this noodle coffee shop at the corner of Petaling Street, that was where it got its name from, a lot during the mid-eighties with my Air Force buddies.

Tai Lok Mean Petaling Street Special

Every time we ate there, I would watch how they fry the noodle cuisine because their kitchen was open and anyone can watch how the cooking was done. In fact, most of the street side noodle vendors or hawkers, as they are called in Malaysia, would actually cook in the open. And it is not difficult to learn how the cooking was done and what kind of ingredients were put into the noodle cuisines. Especially, for people like me that learn pretty fast from watching others. Then, I would try a couple of times, if I still done get it right, I will go back again to watch and learn more, maybe I have missed certain ingredients or missed out on a step.

Famous Petaling Street Noodle

So, throughout the years of observing and watching these real life master chefs, I have learn a lot. And some of these noodle cuisines are actually kind of simple to cook when you actually learned them. The Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean is an example of a simple noodle cuisine to cook. Many cooks over do the process and make it complex by adding too many ingredients. Of cause there are also different recipes in the Tai Lok Mean cuisine. But I still prefer the Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean recipe. Simple, authentic and flavourful.