Street Eats - Spicy Pan Mee @ Kee V

I had the pleasure of discovering this hidden gem two weeks ago when April planned for a tweetup (read: gathering of likeminded twitter addicts). Startled up from bed at 10.15 am when I was supposed to meet the tweeps at 10.30 am. Scrambled out of bed – got dressed and off I went on my way. A few missed turns here and there (sorry guys) and I finally arrived at the sanctum of the spicy soup.

I was happy meet to meet new faces, some of whom I regularly keep in touch via twitter – you know the whole matching the face to the twitter profile thing J. As soon as the dishes arrived, we thought no less for a second and digged in right away.

The spicy pan mee soup came in two versions – one with the smooth hand torn noodles and the other was a thin and more springy version. For the initiated – please do head your cursors to the Wikipedia entry of pan mee.

Smooth hand torn pan meen in a fiery soup

The soup by itself had a nice peppery herby flavor to it and complemented the noodles very well. It was spicy yes, but not spicy to the extent that I would break into sweat and gulp down buckets of water (Too much K factor?). Anyhow, I appreciated the mild spiciness that worked harmoniously with the noodles.

Springy noodles at dancing in hot soup.

The claypot chicken and claypot pork cooked with Chinese Rice Wine we ordered were the other specialities of this place. The pork had a mild spicy and salty tinge to it while the chicken was delicate, sweet and soaked up the flavors of rice wine brilliantly – was a great accompaniment to the spicy soup.

Claypot Chicken with Chinese Rice Wine

For extra bites, the minced pork in foo chook rolls was perfect for its role. Tiny little delighted morsels of minced pork simply bursted with meaty goodness at every bite. The meal came up to about RM168 for a group of 9 which translated to about RM 19 per pax – extremely reasonable for the quality and amount of food we gleefully walloped. Ended up leaving Kajang with a porky filled belly like crocodiles after a hearty lunch.

(from left) 1. Divine steam released from the claypot, 2. Pork rolls, 3. Ooh so springy :)

Location:No.468, Jln 13, Kg Baru Sg.Chuah, 43000 Kajang, Selangor.

Web: http://www.restorankeev.com/

(I thought I was dreaming when I found the website of this little wooden shop with zink roofs – well yea, I guess their famous:p)

Delicious Crustaceans

Delicious Crustaceans, originally uploaded by MasalaHeaven.

I simply heart crabs :)

Usually when I need my crabby fix, I’d drive down to the ubiquitous dai chow type seafood restaurants in Klang Valley for amazing mudcrabs cooked either the spicy Kam Heong style, with salted egg yolks or plain steamed.

Back home however, when dad gets the mood he’d buy flower crabs from the local market and to suit the curry cravings of everyone – we’d usually cook it dry with spices and since it’s so good on its own – we’ll have it sans rice.

I learnt this particular recipe from my dad – a gifted cook. I don’t mean to be bias – but his recipe for curried crabs is pretty much one of the few real good ones I’ve had.

Crab Curry
1 kg of flower crabs ( each chopped into half)
1 onion – chopped into rings
3 cloves garlic – chopped finely
2 thumb sized ginger pieces – sliced thinly
¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 pieces clove
1 piece star anise
a sprig of curry leaves
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 medium sized egg
Vegetable oil
salt

To make :
1.Fry fenugreek seeds lightly in oil
2.Add in the other spices : cinnamon stick, coriander, cumin, clove, star anise, curry leaves and fry lightly
3.Fry onions, garlic and ginger till fragrant
4.Push fried stuff to the side of the pan and add chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Roast lightly on fire until the raw smell of spices is non-evident.
5.Once that is done, add in crabs and toss in the spice mixture. Within less than 5 minutes, the crabs should turn slightly pink/red in colour. Add in salt to taste and a little water at this juncture. Continue tossing the crabs.
6.Break in an egg into the curry and toss till cooked.
7.Can be served with rice.

Quick Bites : A Perfect Omelette

An omelette - what does it say? A simple fried egg you may say. I beg to differ - I've always been craving the perfect omelette. The closest I've gotten so far was those egg stations in morning buffet breakfasts during my hotel stays and what we used to get at home were those unappetising limp and overcooked omelettes.

Fiddling on google one day, I tried searching for tips for the perfect omelette and frankly I'm quite glad I found a good tip on the BBC website and not long later this clip below. Somehow writing this post makes me feel like a dodo - but I hope its of some help to those ( like me) who have been having limp omelettes all their lives and would do well with some properly made omelettes for a change.

Getting back into track, eggs is right way on top of my list whenever I need a quick bite - simply cause its quick to cook, nutritious and yummy :) Here's a glimpse of what I did one day :

Tomato, Coriander and Ham Omelette

Why this combination?? Cause I was in a hurry and these were lying in the refridgerator.

Serves : 1

Checklist : Tomato, Coriander leaves, Ham, Salt, Pepper, Ketchup/Chilli sauce, Cooking oil, Bowl, Pan, Whisk/Fork

Tasks :

1. Chop 1/2 tomato, 2-3 sprigs of coriander leaves and a slice of ham finely into bite size pieces.

2. Break 1 egg into a bowl - season with salt and pepper and beat with a whisk/fork till slightly frothy.

3. Heat pan and pour a little cooking oil into it - Pan must be hot

4. Cook egg according to directions in the video above.

5. Towards the end add tomato, coriander leaves and ham and fold over.

6. Serve hot with chilli sauce/ketchup.

P.s : I personally love the undercooked soft top of the omelette with the stuffing - blends in the tastes really nicely.

I'm sending in this simple and (dodo you might think) post of mine to the No Time to Cook #5 July 2009 Challenge.

Carrot-Mint Raita from my garden

As mentioned in my previous posting for Baingan Masala, we have began growing a couple of items in our yard - particularly cause it's fun, healthy and really convinient.

Dad has somewhat began a herb garden at one side-with mint, basil, rosemary on top of the curry leave and pandan plant which we use ubiquitously in Indian and Malaysian cooking.

On a personal note, I've began frequent gym workouts recently and hence have focused my daily diet on more healthy eats :). We now have raita's(yogurt based salads) frequently at home as it provides a good source of protein and probiotics for a healthy digestive tract and also cause it's extremely simple to assemble - shred in some vege's and add salt for taste and it's ready to be eaten. One of my favourite ways of preparing raita is with carrots and mint leaves ( plucked freshly from my herb garden). This recipe is submitted to the Grow Your Own #31 July event hosted by Andrea.

Carrot and Mint Raita
1 cup unsweetened chilled yogurt ( I use the low fat version)
1 medium sized carrot - shredded
a bunch of mint leaves ( can be chopped finely if you'd like)
a sprinkle of salt
a sprinkle of chilli flakes

1. Simply pour yogurt in a serving bowl and add carrots, mint, salt and chilli flakes
2. Best served as an accompaniment to curries.

A mouthful of Devil Curry

Good Malaccan-Portugese cuisine in Klang Valley is sadly a rare find. While pouring through forums one day in search for some enlightment , I was surprised to find that a highly recommended spot for Kristang (Portugese Malaccan) food just is smack right at my backyard.

Heading over one day for dinner to this rather popular outdoor foodcourt for Cheras dwellers, I was welcomed at the Portugese stall with a warm friendly smile by the mid aged man running the stall, who I suspect is a Kristang judging from his accent. His menu ranged from a variety of claypot based curries of lamb, chicken and pork and other Kristang delights. When asked for a recommendation , the stall owner suggested his prized devil curry ; we ordered that and a serving of green curry and went forward to hunt for outdoor seats amidst the busy weekend crowd.

Green curry chicken ( Apologies for the grainy shot - we only managed to get a seat in a badly lit area and I had to make the best out of it)

The curries arrived not long later piping hot in the claypot with a serving of white rice, some salad like veggies at the side and the typical condiment of green chillies dipped in soy sauce for that extra fiery zing. The first spoonful of the devil curry was just – oh just so heavenly – a well proportioned blend of spices and coconut milk with tender pieces of chicken. The second curry we tried was the green curry ( not to be mistaken with the Thai green curry). I was quite keen to try the curry with pork but was told that he had run out of pork that day and hence I could only have it with chicken. The green curry with chicken, also served with white rice, I’ll have to say did not disappoint a slight bit. It had plump pieces of aubergines – which I felt was well married with the flavor of the curry. Interestingly, I wonder if the slight creaminess of the curry was created using low fat milk instead of coconut milk as I noticed the man adding some low fat milk into the curry mixture while cooking.

The curries were reasonably priced for RM 5.50 per set. The shop also has other Portugese varieties including pineapple prawns and pork sebak which I am looking forward to try real soon on my next visit. Hence, you can expect a part 2 of this review in some time to come.

Location : KFL Food Court is in Taman Alam Jaya, Batu 7 1/2 Cheras. I've tried to estimate a mark in Google Maps. Do ping me if you plan to drop by and need directions.

Other Kristang food joints in Klang Valley :

So far I know these couple of joints - please drop a comment if you know other good places for the benefit of all readers.

1. Felice, PJ State

2. Cristang, 8th Avenue PJ

3. Kristao, Asian Heritage Row ( ain't too sure if it still exists)

For more information on Kristang /Eurasian Cuisine - read these articles:

1. Eurasian Cuisine
2. Devil Curry