in my studio | category

Jul
16
2013

{in my kitchen} bihun goreng | fried meehoon

I’m back with food! I’ve realised the past 15 posts have been all about design.

I have heaps of food photos on my backlog just waiting to be published, so In Sha Allah when I get a bit more time on my hands, I’ll post them up with their recipes!

Lately I have been craving meehoon. Had it at my parents, ramadan bazaar and so I thought its time I make this thing! My sister said it was tasty, and it really is!

RECIPE FOR BIHUN GORENG/ FRIED MEEHOON
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 25 mins
Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients

1 pack rice stick (bihun)
15 small prawns and/or 200g thinly sliced beef
3 bunch choy sum (or any asian vegetable)
4 cloves garlic
2 carrots (cut into matchsticks)
1 block fish cake
1/4 cabbage
2 big handfuls of bean sprouts (taugeh)
Salt & pepper to taste

Sauces

2 tbsp chilli boh or sambal belacan (I cheated and use the bottled brand ‘Singlong’)
2 tbsp tauco (salted soy beans)
2 tbsp osyter sauce
2 tbsp kecap manis
1.5 tbsp tomato sauce

To garnish (optional)
Cut chilli
Fried shallots
Thin long sliced omelette (made up from 2 eggs)

Method

1. In a large wok, saute the garlic and fish cake for a couple of minutes.

2. Add the cut vegetables, all the sauces and cook until they get a bit soft.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, soak the bihun/meehoon in a large bowl of warm water. Let is soak until it softens and then drain.

4. Add your bihun/meehoon into the wok and stir fry to coat it evenly with the sauces/vegetables.

5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Finally add your garnishing and serve fresh off the wok!

4 lovely comments
Category: asian, in my kitchen, noodles

Nov
19
2011

curry laksa version 2

curry laksa

Yet another laksa post from me because I am a fanatic laksa fan. Here is the original post, I posted a few months ago when I first learnt how to make it from scratch-no bottle paste anymore yee-ha! This time, I made a few extra changes.

If you love cooking malaysian food, you most probably have all these ingredients sitting at home in your pantry/fridge. All you have to do is get the fresh stuff like boy choy, bean sprouts etc. The only downside is probably having to toast the belacan (shrimp) which is super smelly-makes-you-want-to-gag, but because I’m all-things-malaysian, I absolutely love the smell! Though, hubby’s orders: please toast them outside. And yes, please do. You do not want your house smelling like off shrimps ;)

RECIPE FOR MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY LAKSA
Adapted from Almost Bourdain, with slight modifications

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 50 mins

Ingredients

For the paste:
20 Asian shallots
10 cloves garlic
10 dried chillies, soaked in warm water for 30mins
3 tsp toasted belacan
3 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in warm water for 5 mins
6 candlenuts (buah keras)

Other ingredients:
3 tbsp curry powder (I used Baba’s Meat)
1 kg egg noodles (hokkien noodles), blanched
24 shelled prawns, deveined
2 chicken breast, cooked and sliced
2 big bunch of choy sum, cut
3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
2 sprig curry leaves
3 cups chicken stock
3/4 can coconut milk
200 g tofu puffs, halved
300 g bean sprouts, blanched and tail removed
3 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 packet fried fish cakes, sliced thinly
5 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Fried shallots, for garnishing
Spring onions, for garnishing

Method

1. To make the paste: Mix ingredients and pound into a paste using a blender.

2. Heat up oil in a medium sized pot, and stir the prawns for 5 mins until cooked evenly. Remove prawns and set aside.

3. Saute the blended paste, lemon grass, curry powder and curry leaves until the oil separates and is fragrant. This should take about 7 – 10 mins.

3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

5. Add the coconut cream/milk and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly to prevent it from curdling.

6. Turn of the stove and add tofu puffs, fish cake, choy sum and some salt to taste then give it a final stir to coat all the ingredients.

To serve: Divide noodles into individual bowls. Pour the hot curry laksa evenly ontop of the noodles into each bowl and then spread the prawns, chicken, eggs and the garnishes. Serve immediately.

Click ‘Read More’ below to print out the recipe and leave a comment.

3 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, halal, in my kitchen, noodles, seafood

Oct
25
2011

chicken and prawn noodle soup

chicken noodle soup

The day before yesterday I got sunburned under the scorching sun at our local Sunday market. It almost hit 30 degrees. Then within a flick of a swith, that all changed. Wave goodbye sun and hello rain! From 30 down to 11, SubhanAllah. So yesterday I had to wear 3 layers of clothing because it was freezing. But why am I acting all surprised? I’ve been living here for the past 10 years. That’s Melbourne! So if you ever want to experience 4 seasons in a day, book your next flight down here!

chicken noodle soup

This is what we usually have on a chilly day. Soup. Chicken noodle soup. A hot bowl of this in your hands on a couch with the family is what I call comfort food. And don’t forget the blanket of course.

chicken noodle soup

Yes I know I’ve been making a lot of easy dishes lately. I don’t exactly want to scare you off Malaysian cooking. Buy hey, if you’re an adventurous cook, why not try my chicken rendang recipe here. You can also make it with beef but let me warn you, be prepared to stay in the kitchen for up to 4 hours! For now, here is the recipe for this amazingly yummy and easy soup.

RECIPE FOR CHICKEN AND PRAWN NOODLE SOUP WITH ASIAN GREENS

Serves: 3
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, quartered into chunks (this will then be shredded to serve)
1/2 kilo chicken neck/bones/carcass (this is only to make stock, will be thrown out)
12 prawns
2 cloves garlic
500g hokkien noodles (egg noodles)
1 bunch of Asian greens, Bok Choy or Choy Sum
2 cup vegetable stock (or 1 veg bullion)
3 cups water (or enough to cover chicken)
3 boiled eggs, halved
10 tofu puffs
1 packet of fish cake, sliced
Handful of bean sprouts
Handful of spring onions, sliced (for garnishing)
3 tsp fried shallots (for garnishing)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 birds eye chilli, cut
Salt and pepper, to taste

To make chicken broth:

1. Marinate the prawns with garlic and set aside.

2. In a stock pot, boil water with the chicken neck/bones along with the chicken breast chunks and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Remove excess chicken foam floating on the surface. Then leave to simmer for 40 minutes covered.

3. In a pan, sautee the marinated garlic prawns until evenly cooked through. Set aside.

4. Blanched noodles in warm water for a couple of minutes and strain. Set aside

5. Throw away chicken neck/bones as well as the 2 garlic cloves from the stock pot and remove the chicken breast pieces to a chopping board. Back to the stock pot; season with salt and pepper and add the cooked prawn pieces and asian greens. Give it a quick stir.

6. Turn off the stove but lid on.

7. In the mean time, slice the chicken breasts into thin long strips and divide them as well as the noodles, tofu puffs, fish cake slices, boiled eggs, bean sprouts, spring onions and fried shallots between 3 bowls.

8. Pour the hot soup and serve immediately. While pouring the soup, divide the poached eggs and prawns evenly between bowls. (Optional: Serve with chilli soy sauce.)

To make chilli soy sauce:

1. In a small serving bowl, combine soy sauce, chilli and sesame oil.

My tip for a tastier soup is to put one teaspoon of fried shallots in the pot just towards the end. It’ll be soggy, but boy, I tell ya…it adds a hint of shalloty flavour that simply bursts in your mouth!

Click ‘Read More’ to print the recipe and leave a comment.

4 lovely comments
Category: chicken, in my kitchen, noodles, soups

Sep
15
2011

chicken curry laksa

I love noodles. I could eat them everyday. Stir fried or soup based noodles. Both are Yum! Curry laksa is one of my all time favourite meal. Whenever I dine out in a Malaysian restaurant, this is what I’d order. There were times where I have been so dissapointed and times where I’d go back again just to eat laksa. My family knows I’m a crazy laksa girl. Sometimes they would stop me from ordering it and tell me to try something else. I should write a post about these laksa joints, where to get yummy laksa and where not to order not-so-yummy laksa.

In Malaysia, there are so many kinds of laksa. Curry laksa (uses curry powder), Asam Laksa (uses fish), Johor Laksa (uses fish too but very dense and has coconut milk) and so on. Just do a google search and you’ll find heaps of variants. My sister made laksa using this recipe and I loved it. So I tried it at home for some lovely guests we had coming from Sydney and they loved it too. Once you try this recipe (from scratch) you’ll never want to buy the laksa paste at the supermarket again. This tastes no where near that bottled stuff.

RECIPE FOR MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY LAKSA
Adapted from Almost Bourdain, with slight modifications

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 50 mins

Ingredients

For the paste:
20 Asian shallots
10 cloves garlic
10 dried chillies, soaked in warm water for 30mins
3 tsp toasted belacan
3 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in warm water for 5 mins
6 candlenuts (buah keras)

Other ingredients:
2-3 tbsp curry powder (I used Baba’s Meat)
1 kg egg noodles (hokkien noodles), blanched
24 shelled prawns, deveined
2 chicken thigh fillet, cooked and sliced
2 big bunch of choy sum, cut
3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
1 sprig curry leaves
3 cups chicken stock
1 can coconut cream (use coconut milk for a lighter version)
200 g tofu puffs, halved
300 g bean sprouts, blanched and tail removed
3 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 packet fried fish cakes, sliced thinly
5 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Fried shallots, for garnishing
Spring onions, for garnishing

Method

1. To make the paste: Mix all ingredients and pound into a paste using a blender.

2. Heat up oil in a medium sized pot, and stir the prawns for 5 mins until cooked evenly. Remove prawns and set aside.

3. Saute the blended paste, lemon grass and curry leaves until the oil separates and is fragrant. This should take about 7 – 10 mins.

3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

5. Add the coconut cream/milk and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly to prevent it from curdling.

6. Turn of the stove and add tofu puffs, fish cake, choy sum and some salt to taste then give it a final stir to coat all the ingredients.

To serve: Divide noodles into individual bowls. Pour the hot curry laksa evenly ontop of the noodles into each bowl and then spread the prawns, chicken, eggs and the garnishes. Serve immediately.

Click ‘Read More’ below to print out the recipe and leave a comment.

Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 1-2 hours

1 lovely comment
Category: asian, chicken, in my kitchen, noodles

{in my kitchen} bihun goreng | fried meehoon

curry laksa version 2

chicken and prawn noodle soup

chicken curry laksa

follow

search

about

categories