Authentic Thai Green Curry @ Home

The best meals are home made and have no more than 10 ingredients in them. It might not be as convenient as buying food from the shop, but the portions, quality of ingredients are handpicked, cleaned, sliced and diced with love care. Plus it just tastes better unless you're going up against a restaurant serving up a 10 course meal.

Today we're using Kanokwan from Thailand! It is not so spicy to me, but consider yourself warned on the spiciness level.

Ingredients :
(1) Coconut Milk
(2) Tomatoes
(3) Onions
(4) Coriander
(5) Thai Basil
(6) Brinjal
(7) Chicken
(8) Kaffir Lime Leaves
(9) Potatoes
(10) Green Curry Paste

Thai Basil - what an amazing herb.

Heat up the pan and saute the onions in a little bit of olive oil. Pour in coconut milk, mix in the green curry paste and bring to boil. Add potatoes (which have been pre microwaved for 5 minutes), chicken, and why not everything else too! (thai basil, brinjal, kaffir lime leaves, tomatoes). Add little bit of water and bring to boil. Cook until vegetables are soft and chicken is cooked.

Tada! Green Curry with lots of chicken, brinjals and potatoes in less than 30 minutes

I always make the mistake of adding too many brinjal and chicken, resulting in a pan that is almost overflowing... but no regrets there! And the only thing better than green chicken curry, is green chicken curry with black rice.

 

myBurgerLab OUG @ Jalan Awan Hijau

I had a burger today. I believe I was social media'ed into having one. After seeing promotional posts of myBurgerLab's new branch opening in OUG, and countless beautiful, juicy, sauce dripping burger pictures in my newsfeed (thanks to burger loving FB friends), I ended up joining an insanely long queue (60 minutes) in the humid weather in my 3.5" heels to get my burger fix at a discounted price.

Fairly easy to locate the shop. Just look for the queue ...

A number was given out on myBurgerLab's Stress Testing day since only 250 burgers will be served, and a menu of what's available.

The queue behind me

Love the creative menu display in periodic table form!

MyBurgerLab will try to accommodate any custom burger requests - for me, anything to do with beef has to be medium-rare.

Basic decor and no frills with the table and chairs, making the open assembly lab its main feature.

It was refreshing to watch the lab techs in action. As you can see, they're a bunch of happy, fun loving college kids rather than sour faced migrant workers who just want to close shop and call it a day.

Hard at work. Or hardly working? :D

There is an LCD counter so that you know when your burger is ready for collection at the assembly line. Gives order to what would be a chaotic environment full of hungry people.

They were out of Portabella fries (RM 15), so I settled for fries (RM 4 for small). I was pleasantly surprised by the rosemary seasoned french fries. Tasted great!

My A+ Burger - RM 7.50 (Normal price RM 15).

The legendary charcoal bun lived up to its reputation. Fragrant & fresh! Not too firm and not too soft. I requested my patty to be medium-rare and thoroughly enjoyed the good juicy meaty nom.

The single patty could have been wider to match the bun's diameter, so a patty add-on is compulsory the next time. Unfortunately that would push the price over RM 20 which is what I wouldn't pay for a burger especially if I have to wait more than 60 minutes for it.

It's relatively easy to compare the A+ to other burgers because it is made of the traditional beef patty and melted cheddar cheese. Although not a big fan of burgers, I have to say - the patty was fantastic. Overall, this burger tasted superior to the other traditional burgers I've had before.

Blushing red patty because I requested mine medium rare. The long queue makes me suspicious that myBurgerLab's patty is laced with crack.

The Good : Great place for burger cravings and exellent beef patties with customizable requests.

The Bad : The lab needs to find a solution for the long queue because burgers are supposed to be a fast, convenient, and hassle free nom.

This queue would put anyone off and honestly, getting the ingredients from a grocery store would be faster to cook and assemble in your own kitchen than the time I had to wait for this burger. So unless you know the owner, or can bribe someone in front of the queue to put in your order, or have plenty of time to spare ... then you'd feel what I felt.

Slightly over an hour for this burger was just too fracking long.

It's true that some people get really cranky when they're hungry. I am one of them.

myBurgerLab - Facebook, Website

Aunty Nat's @ Midvalley Boulevard.

A quick visit to Aunty Nat at Midvalley, and the reason why throats are going to burn tomorrow.

Fish Mango Kerabu (RM 6).

The mango slices were chunky and thick. Fruity salads are always refreshing in salads because green leafy vegetables are dry & usually tasteless with a dull crunch. Fruits on the other hand, are natural sweeteners that add on flavour and texture to salads. Dressing for this kerabu is a sweet and sour plum sauce that went very well with the [fried] fish fillets. It's hard to pull off fried stuff with salads because the fried stuff becomes soggy quickly but this fish mango kerabu salad was pretty okay!

Petai with Belacan Prawns (RM 18).

Gosh ... I haven't had this much [fried] belacan (shrimp paste) in ages! The table beside me had ordered the petai belacan sotong and I knew from the vibrant green colours of their petai (and the fragrant belacan scent) that I had to have it too. Kiasuness meant I had a delicious dish of [fried] prawns, belacan and petai!

Fried Popiah (RM 6).

They were out of 'Top Hat' so I had no choice but to go with this rather bland and soggy plate of [fried] popiah. I'd give this a miss the next time.

Fried tofu salad (RM 6).

I have reached the limit of [fried] food stuff ... The other table had a dish of very attractive, light maroon coloured, blushing spicy red, half a dozen deep fried mid sized chicken drummets, which I ended up coveting but did not order. Maybe next time!

Ginger Lemon tea to sooth inflamed throats

Aunty Nat in Midvalley is located on the first floor, opposite CIMB bank, between Midvalley and The Gardens.

Rawang Famous Tilapia Fish Wantan Mee as seen on Ho Chiak!

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” ― Allen Saunders

This fine morning brought us to Restoran R Cheng Fei Chou Yu Wantan Mee (it is a mouth full), with no regrets of skipping breakfast at Publika, KL in favour of cheaper and more authentic local nomnoms en route to Fraser's Hill. I found this place thanks to j2fkm via google ("Rawang Food" or "Rawang Eat").

My plan was to arrive at this wantan mee place for lunch, but we arrived early at 10:00am even after making a few wrong turns. I was fretting that they wouldn't be opened yet but as luck would have it, their business hours are from 8:15am - 8:00pm, and 8:15am - 6:15pm on Mondays! The aunty welcomed us in and we had the entire place to ourselves for a short while.

Crabs, fish or politics? No brainer lah!

Tucked deep in a housing estate in Rawang (Jalan LKS 5), with many signages leading to this place.

Fish wantan noodles shop opening hours ... it's not just software engineers that work long & arduous hours.

"So what should we do with the garden and extra parking space around our house?"

The menu with pictures, but kinda tiny pictures

Clockwise from top to bottom :

Jing Zhen - Golden Special Garlic Sauce or somehting
Jiang Zheng - Steamed with Ginger
"You Hua" - Oily and smooth
"Jia Li" - Curry
"Gan Jian" - deep fried.

"Want to eat good fish then come to 'Ya Ching'. Each person 1 fish, RM 13.80, eat until air float water rise, whole life prosper-prosper."

Big Prosperity!

Since they specialize in tilapia fish with wantan noodles, that's what we had, and we did not stop at one.

Curry Fish Wantan Noodles

Fish is fresh, cripsy and crunchy. Curry is pungent and not spicy. Sambal accompanying the wantan noodles giving it extra flavour. My sister loved this curry fish wantan and hogged it. A+ for gravity defying deep fried fish tail curling upwards into the sky!

Steamed Garlic Fish Wantan Noodles

Delicious, fresh tilapia fish with mildly spicy and garlicky sauce. Very nice and pleasant aroma from this combination. The Wantan noodles also tasted really good in this sauce.

Breakfast!

A very massive and satisfying meal in two extra large metal bowl plates.

Happy face. :)

Herbal drinks

The bill

Must ask about the Tom Yum next time

Restoran R Cheng Fei Zhou Yu Wantan Mee
No: E-13, Jalan LKS 5, Kampung Lee Kim Sai, 48000 Rawang, Selangor

Visited on April 27, 2013.

Sam Hadramawt Groupon Review - 5-Course Authentic Arabian Meal

This is a review of the Groupon deal for Sam Hadramawt's 5-course Authentic Arabian Meal in Kelana Jaya, at RM 16 per pax, inclusive of bottomless blackcurrant drinks.

[Up to 75% Off] 5-Course Authentic Arabian Meal + Free Flow of Drinks at Sam Hadramawt for 2 (RM32) / 4 (RM58) People. From RM14.50 per person. Halal.

Where you spend RM 32 to save RM 50!

I wanted middle eastern food but was almost broke. And you can't beat RM 16 per pax for a 5 course meal. It's equivalent to the price of 3 large meals at a hawker centre, except everything is middle-eastern!

Hummus

One should always order hummus when eating in a middle-eastern restaurant. It's something that's quite different and unique to middle eastern cuisine. Sam Hadramawt's hummus had an overpowering olive/sesame oil taste which I didn't quite like, but was still good nonetheless.

Hummus - blend of chick peas with tahini sauce (RM 16 of value)

Naan to go with the hummus.

Vegetables

Would have gladly traded in the watery concoction of Salad and Mixed Vegetables for more hummus. I think both vegetable dishes were made from the same ingredients, except that one was put into a blender.

Mixed Salad of Japanese Cucumbers, Parsley, and Tomatoes (RM 16 of value)

Mixed Vegetables (RM 12 of value) - the dry chunky version of the above watery version.

Main Course

I dig Sam Hadramawt's rice. I nom'ed 1/3 of my rice without any sides just to savour the fragrant spices in each spoonful of rice. Lightly coloured, soft and fluffy, middle eastern rice is awesome as usual. Why do we eat plain unflavoured white rice when there are much better alternatives out there, like nasi briyani, saffron rice, middle-eastern rice, nasi lemak and chicken rice?
Although oily, the lamb was much better than the chicken, which was just meh. I too can make chicken that looks meh and tastes totally meh, so I probably don't want meh chicken at a middle-eastern restaurant.

Would have liked my chicken on a skewer, ala Kebab style that is boneless and easier to eat compared to a winged drumstick, but the waiter skipped the Kebab option from the Main Course choices.

In my opinion, if a Groupon deal says you have a choice of lamb or chicken meat in Kebab, Haneeth or Mandy style, then you should be asked if you want lamb or chicken in Kebab, Haneeth or Mandy style. We ended up with 1 chicken and 1 lamb, which I'm still not sure prepared in what way. However all is forgiven since were given a RM 10 voucher afterwards.

Dessert

I did not expect dessert to be served in a plastic container. This custard tasted like a close cousin of instant jelly, masquerading as custard. Can you believe it is supposed to be RM 10 of value? I can't. Creme brulee, a slice of cheese cake, an ice-cream chocolate brownie, or a souffle can be RM 10 of value. This doesn't even make the RM 5 cut. Being a big fan of dessert in general, I was disappointed with the effort put into making the dessert.

Custard with milk and blackcurrant toppings (RM 10 of value)

Overall verdict : If you can afford it, I'd recommend that you pay full price to have a proper main course meal and the hummus, then skip the rest. Your tummy will be full by the time you're halfway through nomming the main course anyway, especially with middle-eastern serving portions. But if you're almost broke like I was (and still am), don't pass up the opportunity to eat a meal with this much variety at such a price. Despite my nitpicks, it was a steal.

Visited on 25th November, 2012.