CNY | KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL

3 Feb

CNY Baking – Butter Cookies

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY, Home Cook - Bake. 10 Comments

Special Melting Moments (Recipe from Agnes Chang’s I Can Bake)

Ingredients:
200g butter/margarine
80g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence
¼ tsp salt
120g self raising flour, sifted
120g corn flour, sifted

Cream butter, icing sugar, vanilla essence and salt till just combined.
Add self raising flour, corn flour and mix into a soft dough
Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a big star nozzle. Pip into a greased baking tray to form the shape of a rosette.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for 15-20 minutes.
Cool on rack, sprinkle some icing sugar or chocolate chips if desired.
Store in air tight container before serving.

19 Jan

Feasting Out @ Restaurant Mei Chi Xuan

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY, Chinese Food, Damansara, Selangor. 14 Comments

It was raining cats and dogs, and we actually braved the traffic snarl from KL to Kota Damansara because we knew that the dinner hosted by Chef Steven is going to be a reward for all the hassles gone through.

Double Happiness “Seong Hei Lam Mun” (RM 13 per 100gram) is served in a jiffy because everyone was famished by then. When it came we were pleased with the presentation of the dish: the re-assembled lobster, tail inverted, with the flesh sashimi-ed to be eaten is served on a bed of ice. The translucent chunks are so sweet and crunchy, especially after seconds of boiling in the superior soup. All of us enjoyed it immensely.

Later in the meal, the head, is served ala braised yee mee style. It was another stunning sensation because the broth is surprisingly sweet and the yee mee is done perfectly, not too soggy and not too hard.

Eight Treasured Duck (RM 80). According to Chef Steven, the duck is marinated and braised until fork tender, then glazed in its own simmering sauce. A deft cut from the cleaver revealed the outburst of ingredients such as chestnuts, chinese mushrooms, button mushrooms, carrots, chinese sausages, lotus seeds, ginkgo and wood fungus.

Boneless Fish with Meat Paste (RM 18). The chef painstakingly deskins and debones the fish, chopped the flesh into slivers, reassembled the glue-ish slivers and sheets of thin fish skin to the fish head. I’ve tried the same boneless fish at Ah Lit and Banting’s Beggars Chicken place, I think that mei chi xuan’s version flares well.

Dried Oyster with Stuffing “Hou See Fatt Choy” (RM 50). Another surprise of the evening. The rich mouth-feel of the sauce with the bouncy fish paste with strains of black moss, slightly gamy oysters is simply divine! It is always startling to discover that dried oyster (hou see) and black moss (fatt choy) is match made in heaven. Hou see is usually spotted whenever fatt choy is around, vice versa.

Salt and Pepper Fish Baits, Pak Fan Yu (RM 20). Whitebaits dressed in light batter, are deep fried and served over a light seasoning of salt and pepper. It was too bland for my taste bud though, would prefer a heavy seasoning of salt and pepper.

Fried Potato with XO Sauce (RM 15). Being the carb lover, I enjoyed the texture of crunchy stir fried potatoes and the flavor of the XO sauce.

Pumpkin with Tofu “Wong Gum Moon Ngok” (RM 20) is definitely something light to end the day. The golden-brown concoction of pumpkin goes well with their home made silky smooth tofu.

Dear bulging tummy, I’m so sorry, the tofu is not the end yet! It was very thoughtful of BBO to bring us some Lychee and Chestnut Light Cheese Cake, and I just can’t say NO to desserts. Please allow me some space, will ya?

And so, the night ends with a beautiful rendition of birthday song for Christine and some sharing session with Chef Steven.

What makes the menu so interesting is the way the new dishes all emphasize texture and the contextually auspicious name. When is better then, to have the auspicious food for Chinese New Year? Do make a reservation in advance for the Chinese New Year menu.

Restaurant Mei Chi Xuan
No. 32A1, Jalan 5/10,
PJU 5 Dataran Sunway,
Kota Damansara,
47810 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.

Tel: 03-61416122
H/P: 016-2783089 (Steven)

Bai Tian Gong during Chinese New Year

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY, Special Event. 5 Comments

Long time ago, some intruders invade the Hokkien province and when they ask the locals what is their origins, they answered “Hok-Kien-Lang”. The intruders misinterpreted it as LANG (wolf) and thus a massive massacre began. The locals run for their life and they hide themselves under the clusters of sugarcane. As soon as the intruders has gone far, the locals came out from the clusters, and it is on the dawn of the ninth day of CNY. So, the Hokkiens believe that our life and prosperity are granted by the heavenly god (tian gong).

My Hakka family beholds the belief too. So on the eighth day of CNY, friends and relatives are invited to our house to join us for the prayer.

Fruits, Ang Ku Kueh, Huat Kueh, Mi Ku, roasted chickens, roasted ducks, and roasted pork in whole are arranged accordingly on tables wrapped in red colored paper. My mum cooked some curry chicken and char bee hoon for the guests. Last but not least, Hakkas must have yeong tofu so we ordered 200 pieces of it from the famous Dai Shu Geok. Everyone pray to Tian Gong and wish that their business will be prosperous in the coming year.

Home made agar agar in coconut and pandan flavour is finishing real fast! I love those mould in assorted flowers and fruits design.

Ops! A mild open burning is going on. It’s a tradition for the family members to fold the paper gold ingots (yuen bao) and burn it as a way to send cash to your ancestors or god.

Youngest Sis and Cute Little God Brother

10 Feb

Snacks for Chinese New Year

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY, Home Cook - Snack. 7 Comments

One of the most important thing about Chinese New Year is the food, of course it has to come after your family, friends and companions. Chinese New Year is a chance where people enjoy huge feasts, socialize and pig out! I tend to forget about my weight watch or work out during the period and I’ll carry with me the flabby meat until Chap Goh Meh.

Chinese New Year is also known for its snacks. Usually we will serve our guests with little snacks keep inside a container. This year, mum decided to make her own snacks so I helped out a bit.

Hornet’s Nest are my favourite and it is very addictive. It is crispy with a hint of sweetness. Sesame seeds are added into the batter to make it aromatic. The recipe and methods for both sweet and savoury version are available in FoodCrazee’s blog.

Arrowhead is a kind of swamp vegetable and also cousin to water chesnut or lotus root. My mum used to steam sliced arrowheads and garlic with chinese sausages (lap cheong). It makes a good New Year dish on the dining table. Other than that arrowhead makes a good snack after some deep frying.Peel off the skin and sliced it thinly. Put the sliced arrowhead into hot oil slices by slices. Drain the crisps as soon as it turn golden brown or else it will taste bitter. Bear in mind that the arrowhead slices has to be thin or else it would abosb oil. Sprinkle the crisps with some salt. Warning: It is extremely addictive!! One can never get enough of it!!

Pasar malam and shops in Ipoh are bursting with these crispy filamen crabstick. It is very easy to be duplicated at home, wonder why they can sell it for RM 12 for each red capped plastic container? First cut the filamen crabstick into half.

The filamen crabstick can be easily teared into stripes like this. Deep fried the thin slices until it turned golden brown. No seasoning is required because the slices taste sweet and salty at the same time. It makes a great TV snack!

From left: Crispy filamen crabstick, Chicken floss spring roll (no pic was taken on the making), Arrowhead Crisps.

4 Feb

Pineapple Balls for Chinese New Year

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY. 3 Comments

Pineapple cookies is an essential part of Chinese New Year. Pineapple is also known as Ong Lai to the hokkiens. Who can resist it when Ong (prosperity) Lai (come)?

However, pineapple balls is quite tedious to be made. First, you need to get ripe pineapples, cut, deeyed and blend it to pulp. Not to mention the continuos stirring of the blended pineapple until it forms into jam. It took me 1 hours plus for that.

The pastry is too soft to be handled too, because a lot of butter was added it to get the buttery melting in mouth effect. All the works are worth while because the pineapple balls turn out to be a great success.

You could settled for ready made pineapple jam too. I still prefer to make my own jam with desired texture and sweetness.

There are a lot of recipes out there yet to be tried out. I settled for the recipe found in boolicious blog, so far this is the best version of pineapple cookies that I’ve tried. Most of my past experiences are horid, either the pineapple jam becomes watery or the pastry goes wrong.

Pineapple Balls

Pineapple Jam
1 pineapple
Approximately 4 to 6 ounces of sugar

Cut the eyes and core of the pineapple. Chop into small pieces and place in a blender. Blend until it is pulp but not till it is so fine it becomes juice. Place in a metal saucepan and over a medium fire. Stir constantly until it almost dries out. Add the sugar slowly and taste to make sure it is not too sweet. The amount of sugar to be added depending on whether the pineapple is tart or not so go slow on adding the sugar till you taste it. Once the sugar is added, stir the jam constantly to make sure it does not burn. Once it gets sticky and caramelised, switch off the heat and cool. You can roll them in balls as seen above to be used to make the cookies.

Pastry

16 ounces butter
20 ounces plain flour
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Cream the butter and sugar until it changes colour. Add the vanilla essence and beat it in. Fold in the flour and the salt until it is mixed thoroughly. The dough may be too soft, check to see if you can manage rolling it. If not, add 1 1/2 tablespoon of flour to make it less sticky and leave it uncovered for half and hour. Once the dough is not so sticky, take a bit into your hand and flatten it. Place the jam ball inside the dough and roll the dough to cover the jam. Make sure it is properly covered and the thickness of the dough is even. Roll into a ball and place in the paper cases. Brush the top with egg wash. Bake in an oven heated up to 160C for thirty minutes.

10 Feb

Bai Tian Gong

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY, Special Event. No Comments

The ninth day of Chinese New Year is a significant day for the Hokkiens, it is a day of gratitude for their ancestors’ relive. I still remember the story that my primary school teacher told me vividly. Long time ago, some intruders invade the Hokkien province and when they ask the locals what is their origins, they answered “Hok-Kien-Lang”. The intruders misinterpreted it as LANG (wolf) and thus a massive massacre began. The locals run for their life and they hide themselves under the clusters of sugarcane. As soon as the intruders has gone far, the locals came out from the clusters, and it is on the dawn of the ninth day of CNY. So, the Hokkiens believe that our life and prosperity are granted by the heavenly god (tian gong).

My Hakka family beholds the belief too. So on the eighth day of CNY, friends and relatives are invited to our house to join us for the prayer. Fruits, Ang Ku Kueh, Huat Kueh, Mi Ku, roasted chickens, roasted ducks, and roasted pork in whole are arranged accordingly on tables wrapped in red colored paper. My mum cooked some curry chicken and char bee hoon for the guests. Last but not least, Hakkas must have yeong tofu so we ordered 200 pieces of it from the famous Dai Shu Geok. Everyone pray to Tian Gong and wish that their business will be prosperous in the coming year. I wished that more money and wealth will ne rushing into my bank account. Haha

My favourite Ang Ku Kueh – Not too oily and the sweet paste is just nice

38 red eggs symbolized sang sang fatt fatt

Some Miku in new design

Wishing everyone to have a Huat Doggie Year

Yeong Tofu from Dai Shu Geok

Homemade Curry Chicken

Roasted Duck from Yeong Wei

Roasted Chicken from Yeong Wei

Announcement: Kampungboy and Citygal are back to school. So more KL foodies will be coming soon.

Kampungboy’s coursemates @ Esther’s house (Kajang). CItygal: front row with pink sweater. Kampungboy: Standing with pink t shirt.

Kajang Satay revisited.

1 Feb

My Reunion Dinner

Posted by kampungboycitygal in CNY, Special Event. 7 Comments

Chinese New Year is the most important traditional Chinese holidays for my family. On the New Year Eve, all the members of the family will gather around for reunion dinner. Fish is a must dish on the table and it shall not ne eaten up completely to symbolized ‘nian nian you yu(fish)’. This will blessed the family with surpluses for the remaining year.

For me family, steamboat has been on the table for the pass consecutive year. Mum boiled the clear soup with mushroom, chicken, sea cucumber, chinese cabbage and scallop. Boy..It tasted soooo sweet!! Ooo..and grandma said that Hakka must have yeong tau fu during New Year’s Eve..So we bought lots of yeong tau fu, prawns, sea cucumber, vege and assortments of mushroom.