Penang Asam Laksa

Day 53 Circuit Breaker: I've eaten enough bowls of Penang Laksa, to be able to cook without a recipe! 😂

Penang Asam Laksa ("laksa"). This is my ultimate favourite food and I've been very blessed to have enjoyed this throughout my life. Mom knows I love laksa and she'd cook for me whenever possible. It is her expression of love for me 😍, from Penang, Johor, Singapore, and even London! Disclaimer: laksa in London wasn't my request, but Alex's. 😇

When in Singapore, I usually satisfy my laksa cravings at Jason's Penang Cuisine (stall #01-12 at ABC Food Center). Jason's is my absolute favourite and trust me, they are the BEST in Singapore! In fact, whenever my date asks me where I'd like to eat, I won't hesitate dragging him here. Yup, the dating litmus test. To see if we're two peas in a pod when it comes to food.😁

I have been craving for laksa of late. But due to circuit breaker, it didn't make sense for me cab all the way to ABC Food Center (that would have cost me $50 to and fro). So I woke up today and decided to cook laksa. I realized I've not cooked laksa before. 😬 I was a little nervous, but that didn't stop me from trying.

The results? I was blown away! My laksa was close to mom's. I'm so pleased with myself. I realized it ain't rocket science and I could easily cook this again. I'm also starting to believe I can bedazzle any red-blooded man with my culinary skills. Game on! 😉

Tastes so good. This photo does not do justice at all. 

Ingredients 

Laksa mix

• Galangal (a few slices)
• Asam jawa 
• Asam keping (a few slices)
• Laksa leaves 
• Chilli paste 
• Belacan (pounded) 
• 10 shallots (pounded) 
• 3 lemon grass (pounded)
• 4 fresh mackerel  
• Salt  

Others 

• Laksa noodle 
• Lettuce 
• Cucumber 
• Mint leaves 
• Pineapple 
• Onion 
• Prawn paste 
• Torch ginger  
• Bird's eye chilli

Preparation 

1. Clean the fish with salt and running water. 
2. Boil the fish and remove the bones. Keep as soup stock.
3. Boil fresh pot of soup. Add soup stock and remaining soup ingredients. 
4. Boil the laksa noodle. 
5. Place the laksa noodle in a bowl and stack it up with vegetables, pineapple and onion. 
6. Once the soup is boiling hot, scoop the soup into the bowl of noodle. 
7. Add prawn paste, torch ginger, and bird's eye chilli. 

The foodgasm verdict: 9/10

Spicy Thai Basil Chicken

Day 44 Circuit Breaker: Thai Basil Chicken with vermicelli 

The Thai basil paste my mom gave me came in handy. Made this simple chicken dish for lunch within 10 minutes. It is best served with steam rice. I like mine with vermicelli though. 😄

A simple balance meal

Ingredients: 

• A packet of Thai basil paste
• Fresh Thai basil leaves 
• Chicken breast 
• Wood ear mushrooms
• Bittergourd
• Garlic

Preparation: 

1. Heat up the pan with oil.
2. Stir fry the garlic.
3. Add chicken breast and stir fry until it is no longer raw.
4. Add the Thai basil paste. 
5. Add mushroom and bittergourd.
6. Serve with steam rice of vermicelli. 

My foodgasm verdict: 7/10 

Penang Char Koay Kak

Day 41-43 Circuit Breaker: Making it from scratch! 

One by one of my friends talked about Char Koay Kak (fried steam rice cake). It started with Shu-Yin, then Eleen and Hooi Ling, the hits and misses, and apparently it is not easy to make the rice cakes at all. I took it as a synchronicity sign from the universe inspiring me to master this Penang hawkers dish. Challenge accepted!

I knew I wanted to make the rice cakes from scratch. That's the fun part of it. But oh my, I had no idea what I signed up for. The technique and effort required was enormous and it stretched my culinary skills.

• Day 1: Steam rice cake 
• Day 2: Fry the rice cake 

Thankfully, I had my mom to guide me over the phone. I admire my mom. She is a walking recipe book.

Steaming the rice cake

Making crispy pork lard

Frying in process

It was so yummy! I had 3 plates.

I am very satisfied with my Char Koay Kak. I have also learned to enjoy eating this. 😅😋 If not for my mom, I would not have made it successfully on my very first attempt. Thank you mom for the voice-only cooking masterclass. 😍😘

Ingredients:  

• 1 cup of rice flour 
• 3 cups of water 
• 1-2 tablespoon of tapioca flour or corn flour 
• 100% pork fat  
• Olive oil 
• Garlic
• Chai Poh, both sweet and salted (picked radish)
• Salty dark soy sauce 
• Fish sauce 
• Ku Chai (Chinese chives) 
• Beansprout 
• Egg 
• Banana leaf 

Preparation: 

Day 1: Steam plain rice cake

1. Coat a stainless steel bowl with a layer of oil. 
2. Combine rice flour, water and tapioca flour in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Stir it until the paste thickens. 
3. Transfer the paste to a greased stainless steel bowl.
4. Steam it for 1.5 hours - 2 hours. 
5. Use a satay stick to see if it's cooked. Top up water in the steamer if needed. 
6. Once cooked, let it cool down. 
7. Once cooled down, refrigerate it overnight. 
8. The next morning, take it out from the fridge and check the texture. It's supposed to bounce up when you gently press with your finger.
9. If texture looks good, cut the rice cake into small cubes. 

Day 2: Fry the rice cakes

1. Fry pork lard with oil and put aside. 
2. Add oil onto your pan.
3. Saute garlic, chai poh and pork lard.
4. Add rice cakes.
5. Add dark soy sauce and fish sauce. 
6. Add chilli paste (optional).
7. Add beansprout and kuchai. 
8. Finally, add egg. 
9. Serve on banana leaf. 

Tips:

• The pork lard will make or break the dish. This is a must have.  
• The pork lard shrink into tiny bits once fried. 
• Smash the rice cake into smaller pieces so that more surfaces are coated with sauce. 

The foodgasm verdict: 9/10 

MLXG Beef

Day 40 Circuit Breaker: Ma La Xiang Guo Beef 

After 1 month staying away from beef, I finally surrendered to my cravings for beef. Also added rainbow diet of vegetables for my chakra health. 🌈🌈🌈 Added bittergourd, brinjal, potatoes, bell peppers, carrot and garnished with coriander and additional garlic. Yes I love garlic. Apparently garlic (yellow) is good for solar plexus chakra. This chakra is closely related to personal power, self-worth and self-esteem; the ability to master thoughts and emotions. Dress sharp, stand tall and speak up. I am enough!

The Captain asked, "Why is it all your beef dishes look so good?" 😁

Rainbow MLXG for my healthy Chakras 😍

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10

Pad Thai

Day 39 Circuit Breaker: Making Pad Thai 

It's the weekend and I decided to make Pad Thai (yes, my very first time). 😇 The idea came about when my friend sent me a YouTube video of Bangkok street food. I watched the video and thought it was doable. I had no idea what sauces they used, but I decided to use fish sauce coupled with light soy sauce.

Carb loading for tomorrow's cycling 

I was happy with the end product. It was very flavourful and appetizing, just lacked the "wok hei" effect. 😬

Ingredients 

The sauce

• Fish sauce 
• Tamarind paste (I improvised with light soy sauce)
• Sugar (I didn't add)
• Water 

Main ingredients 

• Olive oil
• Garlic 
• Shallot 
• Prawns (improvised with pork)
• Tofu 
• Rice noodle 
• Beansprout 
• Chives or spring onions, and often both.
• Egg 

Garnishing 

• Roasted peanuts  
• Chilli flakes 
• Lime

Preparation 

1. Heat up oil on a pan on medium heat.
2. Fry the tofu and put it aside on a plate. 
3. Saute the garlic and shallot.
4. Add the prawns. 
5. Add rice noodle.
6. Add a dash of fish sauce and light soy sauce. 
7. Add beansprout. 
8. Add egg. 
9. Add chives or spring onion
10. Serve with roasted peanuts and chilli flakes.

The foodgasm verdict: 7/10 

Enjoying CB project thus far!

Day 36-38 Circuit Breaker: My kitchen project checkpoint... 

After staying home for 4+ weeks, I discovered new dishes and flavours. First time making sushi and pizzas. First time using avocados and truffles. This lockdown truly brought out the chef in me! 😄

CB: Circuit breaker (in case you dirty fellas have something else in mind, hahaha)

My top 3 kitchen fun:

1. Rolling sushi! 
2. Making avocado toast or milkshakes
3. Baking pizza with wraps

My top 3 most repeated meals (mostly carbs 😂):

1. Miso udon  
2. Tomyam noodles
3. Koay teow soup 

My top 3 snacks:

1. Baked almond (from Melbourne OMG tastes so good!), figs, raisins 
2. Edamame 
3. Milk & good ol' Marie biscuits 

Coming up next:

1. Pad Thai noodles
2. Carrot cake
3. Shakshuka 

Cooking is so fun. Gonna keep cooking till I'm old. It's my expression of love.😍 

Sauerkraut

Day 35 Circuit Breaker: Sauerkraut, my lifesaver this lockdown

I bought a bottle of sauerkraut late last year. Scoop a generous portion of sauerkraut from the bottle, toss coriander sprinkle black pepper, and it's ready to be served as a vegetable side. I love how appetizing it is!

Soy sauce roasted chicken from Cold Storage

The foodgasm verdict: 6/10

The Pizza Craze continues.

Day 34 Circuit Breaker: A friend calls me "pizza" and I'm living up to my nickname!

It looks like pizza has become my staple diet during this circuit breaker period. I had pizza for 3 consecutive days and I'm not bored of it just yet. 😜

Here are the toppings I made:

• Pizza with bell peppers and truffles 
• Pizza with minced pork (also the Captain's favourite)
• Pizza with aubergine

I like adding salad leaves on top of the pizza. It adds texture. 

The foodgasm verdict: 7/10

Salad with Hard Boiled Egg

Day 33 Circuit Breaker: Delicious Salad with Hard Boiled Egg

If you have noticed, I've recently reduced my meat intake. Replaced my protein dietary needs with eggs and tofu. It's supposedly healthy but it feels like something is missing in my diet. Oh well, will let my body guide me what nutrients I need. Might go back to meat and seafood next week!

Meanwhile, here's my salad ingredients for today:

• Bell peppers - green, yellow, red
• Cucumber
• Lettuce 
• Spinach
• Sauerkraut 
• Kimchi 
• Garlic
• Feta cheese 

The salad was delicious, but I got hungry a few hours later.

The foodgasm verdict: 7/10

MAMA Tom Yam Noodle

Day 32 Circuit Breaker: Yes I'm official instant noodle queen! 

Besides Indomie, I also enjoy Thai MAMA Tom Yam instant noodle and I have no shame to admit it. 😆 Yes I know it is unhealthy and it's a cardinal sin to some people. But then again, it's just so convenient and satisfying. As long as I don't take it all too often, it should be fine. What's life if we cannot indulge occasionally?

My toppings today:

• Mint leaves 
• Ginger flower 
• Mushroom
• Coriander 
• Egg 
• Chinese wolfberries (for sweetness and eye health)

Toppings overloaded 

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10 

Thin Crust Pizza with Rocket

Day 31 Circuit Breaker: Making pizza using wrap. It works! 

Happy Vesak Day! Today is a holy day for Buddhists to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha. I decided to go vegetarian.

Since I was not happy with the pizza crust I previously made, I decided to try again. Apparently, I heard that Mission pizza crust will do the job. I searched high and low, typically at the fresh bread section, but it's out of stock. Looks like everyone else is also making pizza. I didn't want to wait until it comes back in stock, so I decided to use Gardenia wrap instead. I am pleased with my pizza. Please allow the Italian chef in me present you with "thin crust pizza topped with rocket." 😊

Superbly satisfying thin crust pizza! 

Ingredients 

• Wrap 
• Tomato ketchup (lazy me!)  
• Toppings: Tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, onions 
• Mixed Italian herbs, dried chilli flakes.
• Cheese: Mozzarella + Cheddar + Parmesan  
• Rocket leaves 

Preparation 

1. Preheat oven at 250 degrees Celsius. 
2. Chop the vegetables.
3. Lay a fresh wrap on a baking sheet. 
4. Then, spread tomato ketchup, toppings, cheese and herbs.  
5. Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes. 

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10