4 posts tagged “food”
It had been more than two years, since I tasted Yong Tow Foo.
Yesterday, whilst driving on the highway through Kelana Jaya, I saw this Ipoh Road Yong Tow Foo restaurant. It was pretty easy to find parking space, probably because it was a Saturday.
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The interior was nice, with marble flooring. The entire right hand side wall was covered with mirrors, cleverly giving an illusion of extra space.
The waiter handed me an order form and a pen. After writing down the quantity of each item,
I handed them back to him. According to the menu on the wall, each stuffed piece of Yong Tow Foo was 90 sen.
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We ordered two pieces of: Bitter Gourd; Lady's Finger (Okra); Red Chilli; Brinjal (Eggplant) and Tofu. We also ordered a dish of their oyster vegetable and two pieces of something I had never heard of before - Paper Chicken. They turned out to be bite-sized pieces of stewed chicken, wrapped inside a thin paper.
As we were leaving the restaurant, I told the manager that the Paper Chicken was really good. He smiled and said thank you.
When it comes to food, only TWO things really matter: quality and taste.
It is common knowledge that the best tasting Satay comes from Kajang town.
This afternoon, we stopped over at a Satay restaurant called Sate Hj Samuri located just off of the highway between Ampang and Batu Caves, in an area called Taman Melati, Gombak.
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The signboard for the word 'Satay' was spelled 'Sate'.
Satay is always cooked over a charcoal fire. This restaurant had a glass wall which separated the dining area from the charcoal fireplaces.
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We ordered 5 sticks of chicken Satay; 5 sticks of beef Satay; 2 sticks of venison Satay and a roll of Nasi Impit. We also ordered two cans of a soybean drink.
When everything was served, we discovered that the Nasi Impit was a white rice cake, cut into bite sized pieces, placed together in a bowl with small slivers of cucumber. The only item missing in this bowl, was the raw red onions.
The peanut sauce tasted truly delicious - flavorful yet mild. So mild in fact, that you could even drink it as a thick soup, instead of just as a dipping sauce. Also served, was a small bowl of spicy sambal paste made from hot chillies.
(At other Satay places, the spicy chilli sambal paste is always incorporated right into the peanut sauce, which sometimes can become so overbearing, that it causes a burning sensation at the back of your throat. When that happens, you won't enjoy your meal. Thankfully, that wasn't the case with this restaurant.)
When we were done eating the first order, we ordered 5 more sticks of chicken Satay and 5 more sticks of mutton Satay.
Overall, the quality and taste were exceptionally good, that we ordered even more as takeaway.
Even though the staff in this restaurant couldn't speak English, this meal was nonetheless, a truly delightful culinary experience.
Whenever fruits are mentioned, we normally think of apples and oranges. Seldom do we think about the papaya. It is one of the lesser "thought about" tropical fruits.
There are 45 species of papaya and the "trees" reach fruit bearing age after only a year.
The pear-shaped fruit can grow as long as 20 inches. Green papaya is used in Thai cuisine, both raw and cooked.
Papayas are usually grown from seed. The ripe fruit is usually eaten raw, without the skin or seeds. However, the seeds are edible and have a somewhat spicy, bitter flavor reminiscent of black pepper.
A papaya "tree" is actually a large herb plant, which can grow up to anything between 12 to 20 feet in height. Papayas contain an enzyme called papain. The greener the fruit, the more active the papain is. This enzyme is especially concentrated in the fruit when it is unripe. Papayas are also a good source of vitamin E, vitamin A and vitamin C.
Some chefs have found it useful to use the papaya as a meat tenderiser.
There are so many variations of fried rice which I've tried in my lifetime. Different restaurants serve different kinds of fried rice. Some affordable and some overpriced.
I know it takes just a little effort to check out prices from other shops, too. But the best fried rice we could ever please ourselves with, is the one which we cook ourselves, at home.
Just recently, I tried out something new. Fried rice with canned sliced mushrooms. I also added some beef (cut into bite-sized pieces), a few shrimp, 10 pieces chopped garlic, 1 egg,
2 tablespoons garlic butter, 5 dashes of white pepper, a handful of frozen mixed vegetables;
2 tablespoons vegetable oil and for seasoning, I added 1 packet of Seri Aji Nasi Goreng Cina.
The end result was real tasty.
The amount of canned sliced mushrooms added to the fried rice, depends on how much you like the taste of mushrooms. In the above recipe (which was for two), I used 5 tablespsoons. The leftover was refrigerated and reheated in the microwave oven the following day.
