Food Safety

When we talk about food safety, take a second, sit back and think about it for a while. What would your answer be? Our basic idea about it is, when you buy something fresh, bring it home wash it, clean the food be it meat or vegetable then pack it and put into the freezer or refrigerator. But there is an importance in knowing about food's safety. We can't see bacterias with our naked eyes and therefore, never would we know what is happening to our food when it is exposed to air.

Preparation of food as well as storage of food plays an important role in producing the final food product. Food poisoning isn't something to be taken lightly although these days it is easily treatable compared to many many years ago when medicine wasn't as advanced as today.
Foodborne illness can seriously harm you so don't take it lightly.

Here are some tips to protect yourself by handling food safely.

1. Cook meat, poultry and eggs thoroughly. Use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature of meat to be sure that it is cooked sufficiently to kill bacteria.(Typically most bacterias are killed at about 70 degrees C)

2. Avoid cross-contaminating foods by washing hands, utensils, cutting boards after they have been in contact with raw meat or poultry and before they touch another food.

3. Refrigerate leftovers promptly. Bacteria grow very quickly at room temperature. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Bacterial growth are most rapid between 4 degrees C to 60 degrees C.

4. Clean and wash produce thoroughly. Soak and rinse a few rounds fresh fruits and vegetables to remove dirt and grime. Remove and discard outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage.

Signs and symptoms of food poisoning include upset stomach, diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramping and dehydration.

Hope this information is useful to you. Thank you for reading!

Nasi Lemak Sambal Sotong

Introducing, one of my favourite nasi lemak dishes - the Sambal Sotong! A good sambal requires the right blend of ingredients from making the sambal paste to preparing the dish. Just to share the recipe for trying it at home :)

Sambal Sotong(serves 4)

Ingredients to be grounded or blended:

8-10 shallots
2 tsp Belacan(dried shrimp paste)
5 tbsp Chili Paste(I would always like to use fresh chili and make the paste myself)
4 macadamia nuts
4 cloves garlic

Other Ingredients:

450-500g of fresh calamari/squid, cleaned and cut into rings
4tsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 cup water
1 tsp brown sugar
salt

Preparation Method:

1. In a small bowl, mix the tamarind paste with the water, strain and discard seeds.
2. Grind the shallots, garlic, belacan, macadamia nuts, chili paste using a mortar & pestle or simply just blend it til it becomes a paste.
3. Heat wok on high flame, add oil and stir-fry ground paste until toasted and oil starts oozing. You'll be able to smell the fragrance of the ingredients. This process usually takes about 5 minutes.
4. Add onions, tomatoes, tamarind juice, sugar and salt to taste.
5. Cover and reduce flame to medium, to allow tomatoes to simmer to well stew and sauce to thicken.
6. Add squid/calamari and simmer til opaque. This process is very quick, remember to not overcook the squid!
7. Allow the flavors to be absorbed into the squid/calamari before serving.

Final Product - served with nasi lemak or white rice with side dishes of peanuts, cut cucumbers, stir-fried vegetable, sambal ikan-bilis(anchovies) and 1/2 of a boiled egg. Yummy! Bon Appétit!

What is Food?

Food is a very general term used for what we eat daily for the very reason to perform our daily activities. It gives us energy, proteins, nutrients etc. etc. for our body to function everyday.
I have been searching online over the past few days on food and couldn't really find any relevant articles which talks about it. Food can be represented as a substance but it can also represent a culture, a tradition, a cuisine. Food can symbolize a country, a race, a religion. Food is everywhere and is something which every single individual needs everyday.

Food is what brings people together, a gathering, a party, a celebration. Food bonds people, food is a remedy. I can't stop repeating Food here, Food there and every sentence it's all about food. The importance of food should never be neglected as a necessity that should be taken for granted. Studies on the relationship between culture and food is known as Gastronomy. But when the word Gastronomy is mentioned, people usually relate it to culinary arts, hence always a certain confusion.

I'm writing on this today because I felt that there is a need to share with people about food. Do you really understand the meaning of it? Does it really matter if it tastes good or not before you put in your mouth only to find out that you can't swallow it down after tasting it? Or, as long as it fills your stomach and serving the main purpose - giving you energy to perform your daily activities, it's good enough? My Dad once said to me when I was still in highschool, 'Son, you don't live to eat but you eat to live,'. I have always disagreed with him. You need to eat to live, yes, but when you live in a multi-cultural country and everywhere you go, there are just amazing foods awaiting for you to taste and eat, it just becomes irresistable. From hawker stalls to gourmet food and different cuisines, it just makes you unable to resist.

Do you remember the days when you would go back to visit your grandparents and when you arrive, grandma would be actually in the kitchen preparing those deliciously mouth-watering homecook food that you love and enjoy 'til cleaning up the plate? All those festivities like the night before the Lunar/Chinese New Year where everyone in the family would come back home and have the Reunion dinner on one table. It's what food that brings everyone back home(in a way, doesn't have to be always that reason). Understanding food will give a deeper meaning and appreciation to it.

We often see people putting food to waste by not finishing it mostly because life now is so luxurious compared to those days when people like our grandparents, ancestors have to slogged just to make enough to feed the family. Food represents history too. It gives you insights to why that particular dish is popular in some cultures and why it is so important in certain culture's cuisine. Histories are events of past which has lessons and wisdom seeded in it for us to learn and food, is part of it. Hopefully this short write up on what I think about food conveys a certain message that I'm trying to send out to everyone out there. Appreciate good food, use it as a tool to re-bond your relationship with family and friends and don't put food to waste. Kudos to you and thank you for reading!

I <3 Lala Soup

If there is one place i could recommend for a good and yummy lala soup(cooked in white wine and ginger) it would be at this place - Le Kwang Restaurant at USJ 2. One reason why, which is very obvious - the lala is fresh. It's a typical chinese 'tai-chaw'大炒 open during the night which serves chinese stir-fry dishes. They also have nice 'mun yee mee'焖伊面 braised yee mee noodles. I had a 'gon chaw hor'干炒河 stir-fried hor fun and 'gon chaw lou shu fun'干炒老鼠粉 stir-fried lou shu fun(rat tail's noodles) and to be fair it tastes not bad...however the star for the night was the lala soup....my friend recommended it that we must try and sure he was right, no regrets :) *thumbs up for this!*

Le Kwang Restaurant at USJ 2/2d. It's at the corner shop at the other end of Petronas near Summit USJ

The 'Gon Chaw Hor' @ RM 5.50

'Gon Chaw Loh Shu Fun' also at RM 5.50

The 'Mun Yee Mee'

And the Star of the Night - LaLa Soup! @ RM 12(I think...can't recall since it was 2 weeks ago hehe...)

鼎泰豐 - Din Tai Fung

Allow me to start with a brief introduction to Din Tai Fung first before my review. Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 is quite a renowned and respected chinese cuisine/or more specifically, taiwanese/shanghainese cuisine all over the world. Famous for it's delicate steamed 'dumplings' or famously known as the shanghai 'xiao long bao' 小籠包 (in other words, small basket dumplings) and also other steamed dumplings 蒸餃.

In other words, Din Tai Fung promises good quality food. I remembered my first visit to Din Tai Fung was in April 2008 where I had the most delicious 'Dan-Dan Mian' 擔擔麵 which is Taiwanese style(Sze-Chuan style is more watery and has a tremenduous amount of chili oil in it) as well as various good dishes. I yearned for quite some time before I found out that there was a Din Tai Fung in the Gardens Mid-Valley.

I have visited Din Tai Fung in the Gardens for 3 times before this and each time i went, I was always disappointed by them. First visit, no Dan-dan mian擔擔麵, but food was acceptable, their 'xiao long bao'小籠包 was juicy and has a thin skin that fits perfectly to the requirements of a good 'xiao long bao'小籠包, their noodles 麵食 has a number of variety and is tasty although I always reckon that they have to improve on their noodles(Texture is okay, but it should be fine, and smooth to bite, and melts in your mouth - that is what you call the perfect la-mian拉麵).

Anyway, moving on, my 2nd visit to Din Tai Fung was evenmore disappointing and embarrassing. There was a fly presented in my noodles - I had 蝦仁餛飩麵(Prawn dumpling Noodle in clear soup/broth) which ended all of my hope of giving another chance to Din Tai Fung.

However, fond I was of their 'dan-dan mian' I gave it another try on Sunday just yesterday, and there it was, the 'dan-dan mian' that I have craved for more than a year since I last ate it. And yet, how disappointing it was as it entered my mouth. First a major flaw was the sauce had too much sesame oil taste which kill off the peanut flavor as well as other sauce flavorings to make the right combination for the 'dan-dan mian' sauce. 'Dan-dan mian's most important ingredient in the recipe is sauce - peanuty, slightly sweet and spicy and I have been let down by Din Tai Fung in Malaysia for the 3rd time. Then, shing ordered 鸡排蛋炒飯(chicken chop egg fried rice) and my verdict - the fried rice was nice and good but too oily and the chicken chop - just like Uncle Bob at those pasar malam stall; Oily and just plain oily. It's too disappointing for me to see this and it hurts to see how such kind of food is being served to people who patronise this restaurant for it's renowned good food and good name with a slightly higher price than normal shop just hurts me.

I've already given up on thinking of giving them another chance and shall relish my chance to go back to singapore's Din Tai Fung for that awesome meal I had which I still crave for until now...

The Fabled 'Xiao Long Bao'小籠包 which Din Tai Fung is famous for


The Oily Chicken Chop Egg Fried Rice @ RM 14.80


The Disappointing 'Dan-Dan Mian'擔擔麵 @ RM10.80

My Verdict: Ambience 7/10
Food 6/10 (Still credits to the xiao long bao and other dumplings which is a must
try there)
Service 6/10 (Took them so long to serve our chinese tea even after the food had
arrived 10minutes later)

Orange Mint & Mango Salad

Taken from the recipe of Robert Rainford(License to Grill) and I took the initiative to try the recipe out.

Here is the recipe:

Orange Mint & Mango Salad (Serves 2)

2 Oranges(Can use one big Orange depending on your preference)
1 Mango - peeled, cut from pit and cubed(My favorite would be the indian mango, it's really sweet!)
1 Banana, Sliced
1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
25ml vanilla yogurt (i used plain yogurt)
1/2 cup sweetened, toasted coconut (i substituted with honey)
1 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint

Preparation Method

Peel, Seed, and slice 1 orange and place the slices in a bowl. Add the Banana, Mango and Strawberries and Honey, set aside.

Grate 1 teaspoon of zest from the remaining orange and juice the orange into a small bowl.

Add the yogurt and chopped mint and mix well. Add the fruits and mix well. Chill for 2 hours before serve.

My verdict: Maybe my portioning for the yogurt and honey went a little overboard which caused the final result feeling like a salad with quite an amount of sauce...plus, my mint which was plucked from the backyard wasn't giving me the mint taste which i expected( I used mint leaves which was used typically for Assam Laksa) Maybe I'll refine the recipe the next time I attempt this recipe again..

French Onion Soup - Recipe

I took the opportunity to try out this classical dish on a wonderful weekend...There were a few recipes which i did my referencing on but to no avail, i had suspecting important ingredients and method of cooking missing and thanks to youtube, I managed to get hold of myself on a french onion soup making video...

French Onion Soup isn't a hard recipe but it tests your patience in waiting for the onions to caramelize..which is the key to the entire soup making process. Preparation would take about 10mins but cooking is a real pain in the ass...Nevertheless, here's my share for the day:

French Onion Soup- Home made version(Serves 2)

4 Tablespoons of Grape Seed Oil(I would recommend to use Butter instead of Oil because I don't think oil produces the caramelization effect which you expect just like what you eat from the restaurants)
3 big White Onions, Thinly Sliced
1 Clove Garlic
A pinch of Salt
2 slices of bread
1/4 teaspoon of fresh thyme
Grated Gruyere Cheese to your liking
2 cups of water

My recipe has a big loophole because it's short of Chicken Stock, dry vermouth/dry white wine, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, some people uses a little flour, a little Parmesan Cheese and most importantly, french bread.

Preparation Method

1. Heat up a large saucepan and saute the Onions in the Oil or Butter on medium high heat until it's brown. Add in some salt and stir it in the process. This browning process will take about 45minutes. Then, add sugar into the saucepan to help the caramelization process.

2. Add in the Garlic and saute it for about 1 minute for flavoring. Add in thyme, stock, vermouth(for my case water and thyme) into the saucepan. Simmer it for another 30minutes. This will give the rich flavoring to the soup.

3. Pour into Thick oven-proof Soup bowls which are heat resistant, toast the bread and lay it on the soup, sprinkle the grated Gruyere Cheese (and also Parmesan). Put it into an Oven at about 350 degrees F or about 176 degrees C and allow the cheese to melt to a slight brownish. Then, remove it from the oven and it is ready to serve!

My verdict: Soup was really sweet and onion-ish but i couldn't get the taste like you get from dining in a restaurant...a good experience, worth the challenge again but not the time...