3 Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf.

I've been scratching my head over a strange tutorial question so instead of going on staring at how the solution turned out that way, I've decided to post up what we had last month at the Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf at Bangsar Village.

Half the restaurant was occupied by working adults, the rest by families and groups of friends, though we didn't have to shout to make our scarce conversations audible to each other, words exchanged at the next table were clear.

As the name suggests ... We had to try pork. Guess none of us was in the mood for pastas so both of us had burgers.

That's my Hawaiian Burger (RM 26) and his Big Bad Burger (RM 28). Mine came with a ring of pineapple and onion rings.

They were both too large for our mouths to bite into, though. The patties didn't turn out juicy enough, but the salads were amazing. At least for the value, it's pretty worth it.



Address:
Lot G1A, Ground Floor, Bangsar Village, No. 1, Jalan Telawi Satu, Bangsar Baru.

Tel.: 03 2283 2270

Beer for the Soul.

This is one legit non-halal post.

Beer Marinade Baked Chicken

I've been wasting my youth away at somewhere with satellite TV programs and I was infatuated by the host in Licenced to Grill.

So when I'm back to the place with an electric oven, I had to get myself a can of beer, some lime juice and a neat halved slice of chicken breasts for grilling.

Marinated the slices for half a day.

Both sides rubbed with butter.

The sprinkles - mixed herbs, crushed black pepper, sliced garlic, salt.

180 degree Celcius and tadaa -

Lasagna with Tomato and White Sauce + Very Malaysian Risotto.

Lasagna with Tomato and White Sauce

On new year's eve, I had these instant lasagna sheets left in my fridge so I've got to make him his last homemade lasagna of the year.

Anyways, my faith in making my own tomato sauce had reduced until I decided to take up kitchenknifegang's advice. I used to cook the blended tomatoes at one go which resulted in a greater time taken to boil, this time I reduced the juices in batches.

Tomato sauce:
500g ripe tomatoes, peeled and blended (I reckon it's better to use cherry tomatoes, my sibling did once and the taste was fantastic)
1 small red onion, chopped
200g pork, minced
Italian mixed herbs
Pepper

1. Heat oil in pan. Cook onion, then sauté minced pork until thoroughly cooked.
2. Pour in quarter of the blended tomatoes, let it simmer cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly.
3. When the juices have reduced to one-third, add in the next batch of blended tomatoes. Repeat until all used up.
4. Flavour with herbs and pepper.

Improvise?

Yes definitely. Decent tomato paste SHOULD be used. The flavour of this sauce was still too bland as a pasta sauce, eventhough it was dry enough.

White sauce:
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour

1. Melt butter in pan. Add in flour and stir to incorporate.
2. Pour in milk and stir over medium heat until thickens to your preferred consistency. This could take a while.

Also added were mixed herbs.

We also cooked the instant lasagna sheets for a moment in water, so that they would not take too much time to turn tender when in the oven, like before. When assembling with a good 200g of shredded mozzarella:

After 20 minutes at 180°C.

Very Malaysian Risotto

To be honest, I've been reminiscing about risotto that's been transformed by my ex, and even more after the post I've mentioned: Simple Parmesan Baked Risotto.

The reason this risotto is very Malaysian is that instead of the typical risotto rice like Arborio, I used locally produced rice. I was going to try the dish with Japanese rice but he couldn't find it in his kitchen, and it would be such a waste for me to buy a 500g packet for the 10g of rice I was gonna use.

Besides, I'd also used Chinese rice wine. I originally went for Shao Xing but it again, could not be found.

What I did:

500ml vegetable stock (cooked with these seasoning granules)

1/3 cup rice, uncooked

150g pork, minced

2 Shiitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced

1 tsp rice wine

Formaggio (I mistaken this as canned Parmesan)

1. Melt butter in pan. Sauté pork until cooked.

2. Pour in two ladles of stock and all the rice. Stirring constantly, simmer until stock reduces by two-third.

3. Stir in the wine along with another two ladles of stock, again, reduce until one-third is left.

4. Repeat by adding two ladles of stock at a time, simmering until rice is tender enough.

5. Then, add in Shiitake mushrooms while cooking the last batch of stock.

6. When the rice is moist enough (don't dry it up too much), turn the heat off. Pour cheese enough to cover the rice, and mix thoroughly. Serve.

Improvise?

The pork should not be cooked before the rice and stock are in the pan, as it loses flavour and becomes plain and dry after the dish is done like it does in soup. I was cooking only for myself, so the pork was still alright.

Where Pomelo Rules.

Travelling south, we got to Ipoh.

What I didn't know is that beside white coffees, almost all Chinese kopitiams sell this pretty little thing I (and my bf, presumably) lovedddd!

So I had this Custard Pudding everytime I get to settle in a kopitiam.

But of course, who can let slip of Ipoh's famous Bean Sprout Chicken?

I actually, am not a fan of White Cut Chicken. But for parents, and since it's blog-worthy, a dinner wouldn't bother me.

Instead of going to Lou Wong and suffer with the incredible crowd and long waiting, we went for Onn (Ong) Kee which was opposite Lou Wong. It also had an air-conditioned room just beside Lou Wong. IDK but I heard that both Lou Wong and Onn Kee are the same restaurant (?).

The Onn Kee beside Lou Wong was air-conditioned.

And presenting Onn Kee Bean Sprout Chicken, with the choice of Hor Fun or rice.

For breakfast, we went for Foh San. My dad would never choose to have meal at some cramped up fancy-looking eatery just for dim sum, but we sure did the next morning.

Self-service at dim sum booths. There were also waitperson rushing around promoting fresh dim sum. 

Warm pudding, with smooth texture and a hint of fragrance.

Perhaps you should also try out the other dim sum eatery across the road highly recommended by the locals. I don't remember the name, but I think it should be Ming Court.

The catastrophe drifted away at Din Tai Fung, Jurong Point.

A pretty lavish gift, it seems, since it's been a very long time after my last meal at this type of restaurant. Such lavish experience was especially exaggerated because I just sat for my exam two days in a row = 6 hours spent in Singapore. It was a treat by a friend of my mom who also enjoys eating.

Note to self: excessive format writing may program you into a facts-loaded robotic writer.

We hopped down from the bus ride (was that 907?) into Jurong Point and she led us to Din Tai Fung right away. I knew I've heard it before but was never a big fan of it yet my recent Google results showed me some reviews on Din Tai Fung franchise in the US. Besides, the diligent and fully occupied staff (mostly foreigners from Mainland) deciphered the first impression that it would not be a let down.

It was during lunch hour anyway and we didn't need to wait long for our seats to become available. The reception lady would ask you to order before entering (I don't know if that works the same in Malaysia or in other countries) for a speedy service. It was about 5 minutes after that when they found a table for us.

My steadily amplifying hunger just couldn't hold any longer to taste the Xiao Long Bao auntie had greatly recommended.

But because we asked to serve the desserts together, they came first.

Having tasted this Almond Pudding with Red Beans Served on Crushed Ice ($3.80) will totally push all your past experiences with similar almond pudding dishes down the drain.

Though I couldn't recall myself eating any red beans (lol) I remember there was something I liked underneath the pudding - longan, perhaps?

It was certainly fresher and undoubtedly smoother than all of the ones I've tried before and the hint of almond scent was superb and strong. But of course this would also discourage the Chinese almond haters from taking the next bite. Teehee.

Double Boiled Papaya and Snow Fungus with Rock Sugar ($5.80).

That's a pretty weird combination to me. I do remember it being... A little too sweet...

Time for the hot shot!

Picture taken right after its arrival! They used cloth (I assumed was cheesecloth? Clarification needed.) to line the steamer.

It was hard to get the internal shot...

Steamed Pork Dumpling ($10.80 for 10!) was a good deal. They also came in five.

If I were eating with Ricky they would have all been gone within 10 minutes, but ladies being more polite eaters - we left them there 'til the end of our meals to see who were going to finish the last few. By that time the skin was already dried up and the bottoms (forgive me) stuck to the cloth, I accidentally broke one of the dumplings there and some of the soup trailed out. *Guilty*

The dumplings were decent. I'd rate them above Dragon-i (sorry wickeee!). Tiny but enough to stuff a lady's mouth full. Served steaming hot, you could picture the illogical agony on my face when I bit my first dumpling open without extreme care. I loved the broth and how fresh the pork tasted. Two thumbs up for this dish!

Here's another favourite of ours - Steamed Chicken Soup ($8.80). I wouldn't favour its presentation at all (chicken skin with hair still adhered, seriously?) but the soup was fabulous! It tasted very little like herbal chicken soup (you know we Chinese dump in quite some of the herbs into our soup) and we were all fond of its taste.

And then we also had these darling dumplings to fulfill our appetite.

Shrimp and Pork Wanton Served in Superior Chicken Broth ($6.80).

It was chewy and fresh - enough said. Broth was plain and unimpressive we left it unfinished.

Steam Glutinous Rice in Red Dates ($4.00).

It's something new and worth trying for only $4.00, no kidding. Though we realized there were too many of them as the dates were amply filled with... Glutinous. I'd say 3 would be more than enough per person...

By the way, Din Tai Fung rented more than two units, a normal lot and an adjacent space which was placed directly in front of Toast Box.

The two days were disastrous enough even with good food around me all the time, you can therefore imagine how these dishes looked like they just got garnished with gold dust at Heaven and delivered right onto our table.

Mac 'n' cheese.

Nothing gets you instant access to temporary haven like a good big plate o' hot cheesy nourishment.

Think a dollop of warm strawberry sauce on a lump of ricotta cheese cake with double cream.

Fresh grated mozzarella, now molten, farmhouse scented, on top of a serving of bolognese lasagna.

A cup of hot chocolate (literally, hot, chocolate, click on this '.') beside a cheese plate.

After a seemingly endless struggle with life, the only upside of the day would have been settling down on a big fat couch next to a coffee table with a night-long strife supplement.

Then you'd imagine yourself, fearless, with the sharp edge of a sword pointed at your nose tip. "Try me, I'm as hard as concrete," you roared.

And where did I get the recipe again? I don't want to recall.

The next dish shall be an improvement.

Jamie Oliver or Alton Brown?

Cheese Baked Rice.

So I came across this post when I was searching for a recipe I wanted to cook for him. The admin made it looked so simple I decided to give it a go.

We were out of sausages so we used stir-fried pork instead.

The dish turned out to be okay, except that the canned mushroom soup wasn't enough and the pork tasted awful.

Chinese soft shelled turtle noodles.

Wikipedia listed these turtles as threatened species.

It reminds my mom of her childhood memory, she said. Thus, for everytime we hit Kuala Pilah, this old food court located at where I believe as the central of the town, is a must for mom.

Is it a tradition for the likes to be close together, united?

According to mom, the stall on the leftmost is the one with the longest establishment.

A bowl of this (the smallest portion) will cost you RM6.

I'm not going to comment on this; but I really liked the soup. :) Mind you, not the turtle parts, no!

(The others though, said they tasted only salt.)