Malacca, March 2011 - Part 3

We have already returned from recent holiday in June but I'm not done posting the pictures for our holidays back in March :P  Going to make it quick and short here, for my own reference.

For those interested, you may check out my earlier posts on our visit to Malacca here and here.

Nancy's Kitchen

Food wise so-so, nothing to shout about.

 Pork Pongteh (RM10) - too sweet for us

Softshell crab (RM12) -  taste normal, nothing fantastic

 Assam Fish (RM42) - this is the only dish we like

Fried Egg with Cincalok (RM6) - cannot find any attraction in this dish

Fried Angle Bean (RM8) - the beans tasted extremely old and chewy, despite asking for less chilli (for the kids), we still find it way too spicy for the adults.

Cendol (RM3) -  Nothing fantastic too but I thought it tasted better than Jonker 88 (read review here).

Total bill: RM107.65 including steamed rice and 4 drinks.

From a Singaporean standard, not an expensive dinner but as far as I'm concern, it is not value for money.  With the same amount, I'll rather go back to Teo Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant.

We spent a total of RM1900 nett for 3 days 2 nights in Malacca, 3A + 3C.  This marks the end of our 2nd trip to Malacca.

Quick Plum Sauce Chicken

Pardon my disappearing act as I've been really busy.  School holidays started in late May and I've got 3 monsters at home 24/7.  It is a chore to have them home, creating havoc and driving me up the wall.  It is worst when I have to do marketing, imagine lugging 3 young kids to the supermarket.  A simple 30 mins trip turned into an hour or more.  Oh well, that's life.  I choose to have 3 kids so I'm not complaining.  Just have to grit my teeth for these few years.  On a happier note, we have just returned from a 5 days trip to Malaysia :-)

Here's sharing a dish that my family likes, Plum Sauce Chicken.  I've been cooking this quick and simple dish whenever I run out of ideas.

The meat is very tender and it taste great with plum sauce. However, DH doesn't appreciate the wine in it so I've reduced the quantity by 2/3.  Feel free to add more wine if your family enjoys it.

Quick Sour Plum Sauce Chicken
Adapted from Mary Moh, with slight modifications

Ingredients A
14 mid-joint chicken wings
1.5 Tablespoon plum sauce
2.5 Tablespoon tomato sauce
2.5 Tablespoon soya sauce
3/4 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon rice wine
3/4 Tablespoon oyster sauce
250ml water

Ingredients B (thickening) - optional
1 Tablespoon corn flour
60ml water

Method

1. Mix ingredients A together in a pot and boil for 30 mins.
2. For a thicken sauce, mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 60ml water.  Mix well and pour into the pot of chicken.  Mix well and let it boil again to thicken the sauce. Turn off the fire and serve immediately.

Malacca, March 2011 - Part 2

Here's part 2 of our Malacca trip back in March.  We are planning another trip to Malacca, but unfortunately Courtyard is fully booked on the dates we want.  In fact, most of the hotels along Jonker Street are fully booked.  There are a few other boutique hotels available but after reading the reviews @ Trip Advisor, I decided to venture further and give the ones at Jonker a miss.  I explored the possibility of staying @ Holiday Inn as I've heard so much rave but the busy traffic across the hotel made me change my mind.  A few other hotels with good reviews from Trip Advisor are fully booked too.  So left with no other options, I settled for a budget hotel that is newly refurbished.  I do hope we will have a pleasant stay there.

Enough said, here are more pictures of Courtyard.

This is the view opposite our room.

This is our room.  There is a huge window but it cannot be opened.

A dressing table just beside the window, as a decoration.

This layout is found in their inner yard, just behind reception area. Fengshui?

I like these furnitures!  Not that I like to have them in my house but I feel that these nostalgia furniture gives the hotel character.

Walkway towards the rear, leading to the carpark. 

Breakfast area

We didn't have a chance to visit Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant  last year and since our room wasn't available for early check-in, we went for lunch first.

It is easy to overlook this restaurant as it is located in a quiet alley with a not so prominent signboard.  In addition, the kitchen is at the entrance of the restaurant and it looks very rundown.  Nevertheless, we found it by asking the locals for directions.

There are a few things to take note if you are planning to have a meal there:

1. Reservations is a MUST. We didn't but being the first customer (they are open at 12.30pm but we were there at 12.20pm), they allowed us a table.  Contact number 606-282 2353.
2. You can't really dictate how you want the food to be cooked.  You basically choose your ingredients from the counter and the rest, you leave it to the cook/chef. 
3. Absolutely no food wastage.  Why do I say that?  That's because they do not allow you to over order.  Also, before they clear the plates away, they'll make sure the plate is empty ie no leftovers.  If there's even a mouthful of food left, the staff will it scoop up and serve to the person nearest to him.
4. Dessert (yam dessert/orh nee and fresh mango) is mandatory.  We didn't order, it was served and charged to our bill.

Oyster Noodle (RM16).  I'm not a fan of cooked oysters but since this is one of their signature dish, we went ahead to order this.  No regrets!

Stir-fry vegetable (RM10).  Not appealing looking but taste is not too salty, suits our taste bud. 

Tofu with minced meat (RM9).  This looks like a boring dish but it is absolutely fabulous.  The gravy goes well with rice too.  I don't usually eat minced meat outside but this is a must try for all!

Spring roll (RM9).  Besides the tofu, my kids like this dish too.  Maybe because it's deep fried?

Steamed prawns with ginger wine (RM25).  We wanted to order steamed fish but the only fish DH eats must be "bone-less" (that's because I always debone for him back home).  I reckon I won't have much time to debone for the 4th person so we changed our order to steamed prawns instead.  We like the simplicity of this dish.

This goes well with the steamed prawns!  There's another condiment on the table, sambal belachan with anchovies, which was absolutely yummy too!

I didn't manage to take pictures of their famous yam dessert/orh nee (RM18) as I was busy cleaning up after the kids.  Again, I don't appreciate yam dessert (served with pumpkin and gingko nuts) but the dessert served is really smooth and thick.  The fresh mango (RM8) was so-so too, I think the ones we bought at Machap stopover tasted better.

Our bill added up to RM128.60, including 4 glasses of freshly squeezed juice. Will I come again? Most definitely! Want to try their soft shell crab and suckling pig!

Of course, we visited the ever famous Jonker 88 again.  However, I thought this trip was a letdown as the cendol wasn't as tasty and fragrant.  It wasn't as satisfying as the first time.  Maybe they have changed the gula melaka and coconut milk supplier?  Will I go back there again?  Maybe, might try out again this coming trip to see if their standard has improved. 

These interesting words of wisdom caught my attention again and this time round, I remember to take some pictures.



Condensed Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

Thanks to Aspiring Bakers by Small Small Baker, I'm digging out all my backlogs and getting them posted online :)

This Condensed Milk Pound Cake was a hit back in 2007/8.  Many bakers tried and raved about it.

The only time I buy condensed milk is to make this cake (and this easy chocolate chip cookie here) for I have no other use for it.  Instead of baking the regular pound cake, I added some cocoa powder and turned it into a chocolate cake.

Verdict:  As good as plain, if not better.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted.

Condensed Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

Ingredients

(A)
120g Butter, room temperature
40g Caster Sugar (I omit vanilla essence and used vanilla sugar instead)

(B)
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup or 100g Condensed Milk

(C)
100g Cake Flour
20g Cocoa Powder
3/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
*Sift together

(D)
2 Eggs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg.C
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Add in salt and condensed milk, whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until no traces of flour remains.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each additions.
6. Pour the mixture into muffin cups and bake at 170 deg.C for 25 - 30 mins or till top is brown and skewer inserted comes out clean.

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake

Whenever I have unfinished mayonnaise, I will use it to bake this cake.  I've blogged about this before but I've done injustice to it with my lousy photographs, so I decide to make another entry.

A few months ago, SM was sharing with me about her ailing grandmother and how her mother toiled through days and nights in the hospital, keeping her grandmother company.  Upon hearing what SM's mom was going through, and I know her family likes chocolate cake, I decided to bake her mom this Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake, hoping that it will cheer her up a little.

I baked a 7" x 7" and gave 1/2 to SM.  Her kids love this and she sms-ed me to ask if I would accept her order.  I feel honoured that I've got kind folks like her asking if I sell my bakes but I feel very stressful when it comes to taking orders.  I prefer to bake and give-away, at least the commitment level is different :P  Yes, call me a coward, I don't like to take on responsibilities like this, definitely too much for me to stomach.

The texture is soft and moist.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted.

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake

Adapted from My Cooking Escapades

Ingredients
110g mayonnaise
125ml buttermilk (I used 110ml milk + 15ml lemon juice, stand for  min 10 mins before using)
120g all-purpose plain flour
20g cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
110g vanilla sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more), optional

Method

1. Line a 7" square baking tin with parchment paper (no need to grease).
2. Sift flour, cocoa and bicarbonate soda together.
3. Place the sugar and sifted flour mixture into a bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the mayo and buttermilk till smooth.
5. Add mayonnaise mixture to the flour and mix till the batter is smooth.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Bake at 170 deg C for 20-25 minutes or until skewer inserted to centre of cake comes out clean.
   
   

Ferrero Rocher Nutella Chocolate Cake

Time passes so fast and we're already into the month of May. Just a week ago, I was instant messenging with SL and suddenly remembered SA1 (Semestral Assesment) is just round the corner. As usual, I'm not sitting down with DD1 for her revision. Some people may ask, "You have time to blog but no time to do revision with your daughter? Which is more important?". Not that I'm blogging a lot lately...  oh well...  and if you know me in person, you must have heard enough of my dissatisfaction with DD1. She is not stupid but plain lazy. To make things worst, she's a dawdler. I won't go into details here, it will take a long time if I do.

There were 2 birthdays in April, DH and myself. With my frozen Nutella SMBC that was sitting in the freezer since February, it is time to clear some freezer space. With that intention in mind, I baked a chocolate chiffon cake again for DH's birthday, nothing fanciful again, just trying to clear off whatever I can find in my fridge.

DH got home after work and the moment he saw this cake, his first comment was "Oh.. it's a children's cake". He is not wrong to make this statement for these are all my kids' favourite (they have lots of favourites), Ferrero Rocher and wafer biscuits.

We received a box of Ferrero Collection last December and again, it was sitting in the fridge since. DS1 thought the white chocolate coconut was cool but upon his first bite, he grimmaced and asked if he could spit it out. DH couldn't disagree that the white rocher tasted yucky too :P

I know I lack the skill to cut these wafer biscuits into equal parts so I just cut them up randomly and cover the side of the cake. Bingo! What a perfect way to cover up the flaws and finish up the junks ;-)

I didn't bother to add any other junks goodies in the layer, just a thin layer of SMBC to hold the 2 layers together. I should have taken a picture of the cake in the day for natural lighting but the cakes were given away.

For recipe, please refer here.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted.

Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce (香菇卤肉燥)

During my working days, I have a very close colleague turned friend.  In fact, we are still in touch now, meeting twice yearly on our birthdays.  Probably because we are so close, our many likes and dislikes are similar too.  I used to eat pork, but she doesn't.  So over time, I'm a convert.

After she left the company, I started to eat pork again since my lunch partners are pork eaters.  I never knew pork could be so tasty, didn't know what I've been missing hahaha!  But there is one exception, I won't order minced meat dishes from outside, for I've heard of so much horror stories about what goes into it.

Sometime back, I saw Shirley's Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce recipe and decided to give it a try.  I love mushrooms and added a few more than suggested.

I "ran out" of spring onions so the pictures look slightly bare.  Actually, I grow my own spring onions but they are not fully grown yet.

My family enjoys this dish and whenever I have any leftovers, they go into the freezer.  Great with instant noodles too!  There was also an occassion where I added the frozen stash to fry mee hoon :-)

I've modified the recipe slightly by reducing a small amount of seasonings and did the lazy way out (Shirley removed the fried shallots in Step 3, I didn't).  For those interested in the original recipe, please refer to Shirley's blog here.

Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce (香菇卤肉燥)

Ingredients 

300g minced pork
7 - 8 dried mushrooms
4 - 5 red shallots/small red onions, sliced
100ml - 120ml water/chicken stock

Seasonings
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
some corn flour
* you may add more to your liking

Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1/2 tbsp Rock Sugar
Dash of White Pepper
Pinch of 5 spice powder (we don't like it too strong so I only added a pinch)
1 tbsp Rice Wine (I used ginger wine)

Method

1. Season minced pork with seasonings.
2. Soak mushrooms in water and dice into small cubes.
3. In a heated wok, add 1 - 2 tbsp oil, fry sliced shallots until brown and crispy.
4. Add mushroom and fry till fragrant.  Add minced meat and stir fry until 70% cooked. 
5. Add sauce ingredients (please feel free to adjust according to taste).
6. Add water/chicken stock and simmer on low heat for one hour. Turn off heat and if possible leave the minced meat over night (I usually cook this in the morning with my thermal pot and we have it for dinner).
7. Heat up again before serving.  If a thicker texture is preferred, thicken with a little potato starch solution.