Tod-Mun Pla-Krai (Fish Cakes)

Ingredients

Grated fish meat 200 grams

Gaeng kua curry paste 40 grams

Sliced wing beans 30 grams

Shredded kaffir lime leaves 6 grams

Egg 1

Salt 1/4 teaspoon

Sugar 1/2 tablespoon

Ingredients for Dipping Sauce

Sugar 1/2 cup

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Vinegar 1/2 cup

Crushed red spur chillies 4 grams

Sliced cucumber 60 grams

Ground roasted peanuts 20 grams

Coriander leaves

Directions

1. Knead the grated fish meat until it takes on a dense consistency.
2. Add the egg, salt, sugar, and curry paste. Stir and knead again until everything is well blended and is somewhat sticky. Add the wing beans and kaffir lime leaves and mix once more.
3. Form the mixture into bite-size balls. Flatten them slightly and fry them in very hot oil over high heat until they are brown. Remove from the oil and set aside.

Directions to make the side dish

1. Put the sugar, vinegar and salt in a pot over low heat. Stir continuously until everything is dissolved and cooked through. Add the pounded chillies and remove from the heat. Let it cool.
2. Place the sliced cucumber in a serving bowl and pour the melted ingredients over the top. Then garnish with the peanuts and coriander. Serve the fishcakes with the dipping sauce.

Tips

1. A fresh fillet gives the fishcakes a chewy texture and it won’t give off a fishy smell.
2. Don’t pour the hot dressing on the top of vegetables. The heat makes the vegetables sloppy.
3. Use only fresh vegetables and ingredients for the side dish. Vegetables become less crisy if they sit in the dressing too long.

Canton-i love you!

The roast pork belly has an absolutely crispy skin.

By Eu Hooi Khaw

OCT 24 — Each time my sister comes to KL from Perth, we would eat at least twice at Canton-i before she heads home. We love the Hong Kong wantan noodles there, which are fine and a little crunchy (not too much, else you will have wires in your mouth!). We would have these “kon-loh” or with soup, and we would definitely have the prawn wantan, some roast pork and “char siu”, and egg tarts.

We like it that the egg tarts always come first, the light pastry flaking off as we take bites of the smooth custard filling. What’s wrong with having dessert first when it sweetens your experience of what’s to follow?

The prawn wantan offers fresh, sweet and springy bites, while the roast pork belly (medium fat) has an absolutely crispy skin. The “char siu” or barbecued pork is consistently sticky sweet with a honey glaze, and has just enough fat for an almost creamy mouthfeel.

I was at Canton-i at The Gardens last week and found out that a mixture of high-gluten Canadian flour and Beijing eggs — which have very yellow and viscous egg yolks — make all the difference to the texture of the wantan noodles. The noodles are flown in from Hong Kong weekly. Now we don’t have to push our way into a tiny wantan noodle shop in Hong Kong and eat them from chipped bowls. I don’t mind having them in the comfort of Canton-i.

Congee on a higher plane — with bird's nest and abalone.

This time I tried its Congee with abalone, Japanese oysters and bird’s nest. It is simmered for four to five hours with three different types of rice – Australian long grain, Japanese pearl and Thai fragrant rice. It’s a silky and creamy congee, taking its flavours from slices of abalone and oysters, with ginger strips and spring onion giving a fragrant lift. It’s taste of luxury; the bird’s nest on top of it is the icing on the cake. Was it forbiddingly expensive? No! It’s RM38 for a bowl enough for two or three people.

You could tell a special soya sauce has been used in the Sautéed Chives with dried shrimps and shredded cuttlefish. There is just a touch of sweetness and a nice aroma about the fine chives which are fried with some beansprouts and carrot strips, with crispy cuttlefish and dried shrimps, and finished with cashews. ”We use a combination of three types of sang chow (light soya sauce) to fry,” said Henry Yip, CEO of Dragon-i Restaurant Sdn Bhd.

Canton-i is adding new items to its menu, and one of these is the Fish Maw Stuffed with Minced Pork and Cuttlefish paste. This dim sum is a mouthful of wonderful textures: the spongy fish maw against its filling that has bounce, and topped with flying fish roe. It’s surprisingly light.
We also had a dish of lotus root, black fungus, celery, magnolia petals and macadamia fried together “peasant-style”, though there is nothing peasant-like about its ingredients.

First a bird’s nest congee with abalone, now bird’s nest egg tarts, I swear I can feel the skin on my face smoothening out. There’s a delicate heap on the egg tart, and as we know bird’s nest has an eggy flavour, so it goes very well with the custard tart.

So fine — Egg Tarts with Bird's Nest.

Henry also insisted on me trying the Double-Boiled Ginger Milk, which was as smooth as tow foo fah, but even better with its distinctly hot and fragrant ginger flavour. I didn’t care for the lotus seeds on top. I know we should take the rough with the smooth, but not in this classic, excellent dessert.

You can expect Roast Goose Noodles at Canton-i soon, as well as Carp Fishballs and Lettuce Congee. ”We don’t add MSG to our food and we are trying to reduce the fat and salt too, without compromising on the flavour,” said Henry.

There will be afternoon tea at Canton-i soon, from 3pm to 5pm. There will be good coffee you can have with pastries, or the HK milk tea with a chee chai pow (piggy buns) at RM5 a set.

Canton-i is in 1-Utama, lower ground floor(tel: 7729 7888), The Gardens (LG floor, tel 03-2284 6888), Sunway Pyramid (ground floor, tel: 03-5636 2888) at the Blue Atrium.

Pineapple Ice Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4

1 pineapple, halved lengthways 175 g/6 oz/0.75 cup granulated sugar 450 ml/0.75 pt/2 cups water 1 egg white

Method : Remove the core from the pineapple and scoop out the flesh, keeping the shells intact. Chill the shells in the fridge. Puree the pineapple flesh in a food processor or blender. Dissolve the sugar in the water in a saucepan, then bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes to make a syrup. Leave to cool. Mix the pineapple pulp into the syrup, pour into a freezer container and freeze for 3 hours. Whisk the egg white until stiff, then whisk in the ice cream. Return to the freezer container and freeze until firm. Transfer to the fridge 10 minutes before serving to soften the ice cream, then scoop into the pineapple shells to serve.

Lemon Fridge Cake

Ingredients : Serves 4

6 eggs
150 g/5 oz caster (superfine) sugar
15 ml/1 tbsp water
100 g/4 oz self-raising (self-rising) flour
1 egg yolk
175 g/6 oz icing (confectioners') sugar
15 oz/0.5 oz/1 tbsp powdered gelatin

Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
150 ml/0.25 pt double (heavy) cream

Method :

Cream three of the eggs with the caster sugar until pale and thick, then add the water and fold in the flour. Spoon into two greased 20 cm/8 in round cake tins (pans) and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 12 minutes until springy to the touch. Turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Whisk the remaining eggs and the egg yolk with the icing sugar until frothy. Soften the gelatin in the lemon juice in a small bowl. Stand the bowl in a pan of hot water and leave until dissolved. Whisk the cream until stiff. Stir the gelatin and lemon rind into the egg mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Return one of the sponge cakes to its tin, then spoon the cream mixture over the top. Cover with the other cake and chill before serving.

Malay cuisine at its most authentic

Sup Tulang here is hearty and robust.

By Eu Hooi Khaw

AUG 29 – I had a bowl of Sup Tulang and thought it had lots of oomph: the sweetness steeped from the beef bones, with the fragrance of spices like star anise and ginger clinging to it. A slice of tomato, fresh coriander and fried shallots gave it an extra lift. Chunks of potatoes soaked up flavours from the soup.

I was at Baiti’s in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, KL, for its Ramadhan buffet, and I started right with this soup.

There was the very special nasi lemak and lontong that Baiti’s is famous for, at the beginning of the buffet. I took the lontong, as I did so want to have enough space for the rest of the food staring up at me.

The lontong has a darker orange tinge in its coconut gravy, and is cooked to a family recipe that restaurateur Shahizan Hasnan has attributed to a grand-uncle in Singapore.

The taufu pok soaks up this spiced, not too rich gravy that has hints of fried dried prawns. Long beans, carrots, lots of fried shallots and nasi impit made this complete.

Baiti’s Ramadan buffet costs just RM38 nett, and the variety of food (35 dishes) is mind-boggling. There’s satay, popiah, roti canai, roti jala, Malay kuih and pengat durian that are daily specials, then the main nasi campur that has about 20 dishes.

So much variety in the nasi campur section.

This does not include the ikan bakar – keli, kembong and pari, wrapped in banana leaves that is on the grill. I took a pari with a dip of pickles. The next best thing would be the kembong lathered with sambal.

I made a round of the nasi campur, picking out the chili beef, rendang tok, pucuk paku masak lemak, sambal udang petai, fried chicken, fried fish fillet in tomato sauce, petola or angled loofah cooked with glass noodles in coconut milk, and some fried ladies fingers. I had a very good meal with these.

I loved the rendang tok and fried chicken which we never fail to order in this restaurant when it’s not Ramadan.

Ikan bakar here is as good as it smells.

The rendang tok is especially scrumptious here. The meat is dark, rich and tender. The spices and the seasonings are all perfectly balanced. (This is unlike in some Malay restaurants where sugary sweetness is the dominant flavour, where a peanut sauce for satay can taste like a dessert sauce!)

Baiti’s Ayam Goreng Berempah is well marinated with spices. It is crispy outside, moist inside and delicately flavoured.

I went on to have a pengat durian with pulut for dessert. I was tempted to pack some home to eat the next day. There is pure durian in this thick, creamy sauce, that is lightly sweet and lovely eaten with the pulut.

Baiti’s Ramadan buffet really stands out for its authenticity, variety and value for money. I’d rather eat here than at hotels where the food caters to volume rather than concentrate on home-grown flavours like Baiti’s.

There is something different at the restaurant every day. For instance, you would get nasi minyak on Monday, chicken rice on Wednesday, sup tulang on Thursday and nasi tomato on Friday.

There is a refined touch about the dishes, that don’t have too much oil, salt, sugar or coconut milk, a rare thing indeed in Malaysian cuisine. The recipes that are showcased in the restaurant belong to Shahizan’s mum – she personally supervises in the kitchen too – and it doesn’t get any better than this.

After 9pm in the Ramadan month, you can order a la carte, and you should try the Mee Goreng. The thin yellow noodles are moist, each strand embraced by the spice and chilli paste (a special “warisan” sauce), and egg. Squeeze the small lime over the noodles and they taste so good.

Other dishes you can have here include Masak Lemak Cili Api Udang, Kurma Ayam, Sambal Kerang, Masak Lemak Cili Api Ikan and Mango Kerabu.

On an ordinary day, I would have the nasi lemak, a signature dish at Baiti’s. It is cooked with basmati rice; you get the appetising aroma of santan as the rice is served hot on a banana leaf on the plate, with sambal ikan bilis, fried ikan bilis, serunding, peanuts, hard-boiled egg, pineapple acar and keropok.

For Ramadan, the restaurant is open from 4pm till midnight, which means you can pack food home for sahur. It also does catering.

Baiti’s, which is closed on Sunday, is located at 36 Persiaran Zaaba, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-7729 9918, 012-383 0656 (Shahizan), 013-633 5954 (Norizan).

Cheesecake Torte Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4

150 ml/0.25 pt double (heavy) cream, whipped 25 g/1 oz cornflour (cornstarch) 450 g/1 lb/2 cups cottage cheese, sieved (strained) 4 egg whites 175 g/6 oz caster (superfine) sugar 5 ml/1 tsp vanilla essence (extract) 25 g/1 oz/2 tbsp butter or margarine 100 g/4 oz digestive biscuits (graham crackers), crushed 2 kiwi fruit, sliced 50 g/2 oz flaked (slivered) almonds, toasted 150 ml/0.25 pt whipping cream, whipped

Method : Mix the double cream with the cornflour and cheese. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in the sugar and continue to whisk until it holds soft peaks. Fold into the cheese mixture with the vanilla essence. Rub the butter or margarine over the base and sides of a 23 cm/9 in loose-bottomed flan tin (pie pan) and sprinkle with the biscuit crumbs. Pour in the cheese mixture and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 1 hour. Allow to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and leave to cool completely. Arrange the kiwi fruit over the top, sprinkle with the almonds and serve with the whipped cream.

Much more than just a bread shop

Breads, scones and hot cross buns, all so good.

OCT 10 — Bread always makes me happy; whether I’m eating it, or breathing in its aroma as it’s baking. But when was the last time you sank your teeth into some really good bread? Something always falls short: it’s too soft and cottony, too sweet or too greasy.

Since The Bread Shop opened in Damansara Heights, it’s been creating a buzz, mainly because the owners are dedicated to bread, the wonderful ones that they remember from childhood, or from studying and travelling abroad.

Walk in and breads — huge loafs — baguettes, croissants and Danish pastries come into your line of vision. There are so many varieties for you to salivate over. But that lovely aroma hits you first. The Bread Shop reminds me of a cafe I visited in Adelaide, Australia, with deliberately distressed walls, cement floor, stainless steel lamps, and high wooden tables. There’s beauty in the clean lines; in a vase of flowers reflected in a slanted, overhead mirror at the side table.

A complete meal – melted cheese on croissant topped with pastrami, mango slices.

I had wisely skipped lunch, to be wowed an hour later by the Melted Cheese on Croissant topped with beef pastrami and mango slices drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I piled everything, including the salad and mango on the croissant, and ate it all together. So you get the crisp greens with roasted onion dressing, the tart vinaigrette on the sweet, fragrant mango, the lovely thick slices of pastrami and you bite into melted cheese on a flaky, buttery, light croissant.

My table started piling up with Danish pastries after this: the Smoked Turkey with cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil, the Sausage Cheese Roll, Apple Danish, Banana Scotch, Cinnamon Swirl and Chocolate Danish. Half of this and that made many wholes. I stayed on the savoury side first: the smoked turkey on melted cheese, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil was really good.

If you are used to those thin, plasticky sausages in a soft roll, you would love this Sausage Cheese. It’s a thick, meaty chicken sausage with bounce and bite and bursting with flavour.

I ventured onto the light Apple Danish, with enough chopped apple and raisins on top of a custard layer of this croissant pastry, the crispy layers of which open up. The best thing about it is that the pastry has buttery substance, not just flaky layers.

The Banana Scotch Danish is a bestseller: the lattice-topped pastry hides within it lots of banana, drizzled with a butterscotch sauce. It has given the Cinnamon Swirl (which was in the lead) a run for its money. Customers actually call up and reserve this one. Banana has more appeal for me and it’s just so delightful with the butterscotch sauce.

I would like the Cinnamon Swirl to be a little less sweet though the sticky cinnamon layers get me too. The Chocolate Danish is truly a kiddie treat — there’s chocolate inside.

Crusty baguettes in a class of their own.

In-between I was asked to try a wonderful chicken curry served with four slices of toasted baguette or two slices of toast. I wondered about the two slices of toast but a look at the size of the loaf told me why. The owners are used to big loaves of Hainanese bread, and they want their breads to be like those. The prices of these wholesome and hearty breads have to be seen to be believed. It’s double or triple the size of any loaf, and yet the price of an organic wholemeal, for instance is just RM11.80, organic dark seed RM9.80, multi-grain RM8.80.

Back to the chicken curry: it’s intense with spice flavours, and Indian curry leaves, made to a family recipe. It’s a runny curry, so delicious you would remember it. The baguette slices were just perfect dipped in the curry. Mention must be made of the baguettes here — they are heavy, as they should be.

And I have found the perfect scone here. It has the right texture, very buttery and does not stick to the roof of your mouth or in your throat when you eat it. You can have this plain or with raisins. The owners have taken a lot of trouble to get it right.

The distressed wall, the mirror and flowers … quite eye-catching.

Again the low prices floor me — why is it just RM3.80 for two large plain scones, and RM4.80 for two raisin scones? A large croissant is just RM2.80, and good butter is used for making all these. The various Danish pastries were RM4.80, the sausage cheese roll RM5.80, Smoked Turkey Danish RM6.80. The beef pastrami sandwich I had was just RM16.80.

Thank goodness unsold breads are donated to orphanages, and not sold with prices further lowered as is the practice.

The shop makes a great cup of coffee too — I did so love my cappuccino.

Breads, Danish pastries and scones make a great gift (instead of chocolates and wine) too and the shop can put these in special boxes. It also makes its own dukkah; a spice and nuts dip for bread with olive oil.

The Bread Shop is located at 11 Jalan Setiakasih 5, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur (Tel: 03-2093-8734). It’s opened from 8am to 7.30pm daily, and from 8am to 5pm on Saturday. It’s closed on Sundays and public holidays.

Chocolate Cream Tart Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4

50 g/2 oz butter or margarine
50 g/2 oz caster (superfine) sugar

15 ml/1 tbsp golden (light corn) syrup

175 g/6 oz/1.5 cups plain (semi-sweet) chocolate
3 eggs, separated
10 ml/2 tsp brandy
150 ml/0.25 pt double (heavy) cream, whipped
25 g/1 oz walnuts, chopped.

Method :

Melt the butter or margarine, sugar and syrup and stir in the biscuit crumbs. Press into a 20 cm/8 in flan tin (pie pan) and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 15 minutes. Chill until firm and crisp. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks and brandy. Leave to cool, then fold in the cream. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the mixture. Pour into the crumb case and chill until firm. Sprinkle with the walnuts before serving.

Honey Meringues Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4
6 egg whites350 g/12 oz caster (superfine) sugar30 ml/2 tbsp clear honey100 g/4 oz/1 cup hazelnuts (filberts), chopped10 ml/2 tsp brandy300 ml/0.5 pt double (heavy) cream, whipped
Method :
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in half the sugar and fold in the remainder. Pipe or drop 5 ml/1 tsp quantities of the mixture on to a lightly greased baking (cookie) sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 140°C/ 275°F/gas mark 1 for 50 minutes, then leave to cool. Fold the honey, hazelnuts and brandy into the cream and sandwich the meringues together with the cream filling.

Apricot Cream Meringue Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4
3 eggs, separated225 g/8 oz/1 cup caster (superfine) sugar400 g/14 oz/1 large can of apricots
150 ml/0.25 pt milk5 ml/1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)2.5 ml/0.5 tsp vanilla essence (extract)
Method :
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in 175 g/6 oz of the sugar. Spoon or pipe into a circle on wetted greaseproof (waxed) paper on a baking (cookie) sheet and build up the edges to form a case. Bake in a preheated oven at 140°C/275°F/gas mark 1 for 1 hour until the meringue is crisp, then turn off the oven and leave the meringue in the oven until it cools. Mix the milk with 150 ml/0.25 pt juice from the can of apricots, stir in the cornflour and heat gently. Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar and pour on a little of the hot liquid. Return to the pan and stir over a low heat until creamy. Leave to cool, then stir in the vanilla essence. Just before serving, arrange half the drained fruit in the meringue case, cover with the custard and top with the remaining apricots.

Banana and Ginger Cheesecake Flan Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4

75 g/3 oz butter or margarine

225 g/8 oz gingernut biscuits (cookies), crushed
225 g/8 oz/1 cup cottage cheese, sieved (strained)
150 ml/0.25 pt plain yoghurt
30 ml/2 tbsp clear honey
3 bananas, mashed Juice off lemon
15 ml/1 tbsp powdered gelatin
30 ml/2 tbsp water
6 slices of preserved ginger
150 ml/0.25 pt whipping cream, whipped

Method :

Melt the butter or margarine, remove from the heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs. Press into the base and sides of a 20 cm/8 in flan tin (pie pan). Leave to cool. Mix together the cottage cheese, yoghurt, honey, bananas and lemon juice. Dissolve the gelatin in the water, then stir it into the mixture, pour it into the flan case and leave to set. Arrange the slices of ginger on top and decorate with piped stars of whipped cream. Chill before serving.