Malaysian Hut Restaurant

We have moved our site to http://chowtimes.com

Man shall not live by bread alone ... ~ Moses Today, we were invited by Bernie and his family to try out a Malaysian restaurant in Surrey. Bernie hails from the Pearl of the Orient, Penang. The restaurant we went to is called Malaysian Hut and is managed by Irene Chang, a baba-nyonya, from Sibu, Sawarak. Irene is a very friendly person who came out and chatted briefly with us. The restaurant has been operating at the 108th Avenue for more than five years. They have a mini website at http://www.malaysianhut.ca/ and was featured twice recently in The Province. Anyway, Irene is the tall one in the picture below.

We decided to order different types of dishes for sharing so that we all get the chance to try out varieties. So, we ordered Char Koay Teow, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Curry Laksa and Asam Laksa. The servings were pretty generous. Of all the dishes, the Char Koay Teow and the Hainanese Chicken Rice are the most popular. We ordered an extra serving of rice because there were more chicken leftover.

Norman and Marcus rated the Char Koay Teow a "five". For me, I will rate the Char Koay Teow a little lower. It is because that dish does not have the two MOST important ingredients: crispy fried lard (gee yow jar) and cockles. Anyway, I have not come across Char Koay Teow so far in Vancouver that has these two ingredients. It is perhaps because Vancouverites are just plain afraid of Hepatitis and clogged arteries! :-) I will grudgingly give it a 4.5.

The best Char Koay Teow I have tasted was the stall behind the Selangor Emporium in Jalan TAR ... I wonder if that stall is still around. Let me know your favourite place for Char Koay Teow, especially one that has "gee yow jar" and raw cockles!

The Curry Laksa is OK but I think it will be much better if it is spicier. Curry Laksa is supposed to be so spicy that you sweat eating it. I must say that the Asam Laksa is pretty disappointing. I guess it's because the lai fun was substituted with thin vermicelli. Also, we normally expect Asam Laksa to have shredded cucumber, pineapple, onion, asam paste and sardines.

Thanks to Bernie, Janice, Ignatius and Cornelius for buying this lunch. It was great meeting up with you all again.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

We have moved our site to http://chowtimes.com

Friends are chocolate chips in the cookie of life! Believe it or not ... Suanne's chocolate chip cookies were so good that her recipe has landed into the Richmond School Board's Grade 5/6 curriculum. He he he ... not exactly ... but this is how things happened: Just before Christmas, Suanne baked some chocolate chip cookies and gave some to Norman and Marcus' teachers. Ms Tobin, Norman's class teacher, liked it so much that she told Norman she rationed herself to just one a day. She also asked Suanne for the recipe and decided to organize a class baking project using Suanne's recipe. Well, the project was carried out today by Norman's class in the staff room and the gym's kitchen. The class was divided into two groups: the boys vs the girls. Here is a picture of the boys' cookies:

The two teams were given the written recipe and were expected to make the cookies all by themselves. They are to learn how to read instructions very carefully. Suanne supervised the boys team while Ms Tobin supervised the girls.

Suanne can't be at two places at a time and so she just took pictures of the boys in action. They had a great time and everyone took active part. Everyone wanted a hand in every step of the process that they did the math and divided the tasks equally between themselves. For example, when the recipe called for 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract, the boys divided the task into 8 half-teaspoon so that each of them had a chance to pour it into the mix. That is teamwork!!

Here are the pictures of them in action, starting with creaming the butter and sugar in the picture above. They then added in vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, oats, chocolate chips and shredded coconut. They had great fun ...

After all the mixing, they're all ready to be placed on the cookie sheet. They rolled the dough into a ball and then flatten them with a fork ... some used to flatten them with their hands ... and some ate the dough just like that!

They are then ready to go into the oven -- even though they are not round. The baking takes 10 minutes. Strangely, the boys did not fool around the kitchen but just waited patiently. I think this project has domesticated the boys!! That's Steven and Steven with Norman below -- domesticated and all. What bliss!

So, here it is. All done by the 5th/6th Graders. It was a great job by both the boys and girls team.

And finally the hardest part of the chocolate chip cookie baking project ... the cleaning up. Trust me, savor this picture of Steven and Steven because it's a rare sight. The other boys all disappeared from the kitchen to the class just in the nick of time. Norman coyly volunteered to bring the cookies back to the class for his group. He he he ... that's my boy!

Norman said that the cookies tastes just as good as mum's. So, cookie baking duties in the family has successfully been transitioned to Norm!!

Email Norman if you want the recipe! :-) Don't email Suanne.

Spicy Pulled Pork Bun

We have moved our site to http://chowtimes.com

The four food groups: Fast, Frozen, Instant, and Chocolate. ~ ahajokes.com OK, OK ... I know, I know, I know ... it's another PORK dish! Sorry-lah bruder! Before you pass any judgement, just take a look at it ... mouth-watering, right? Well, it's another of Suanne's fave. It's a bun filled with spicy pulled pork.

Suanne uses a bread-machine to prepare the dough. It takes two hours for the bread-machine to prepare the dough -- that includes rising time. I guess you could also manually knead it but it won't be easy. Suanne knows of people who uses food processor or standing mixer to prepare the dough.

It is easy using the bread-machine because you just dump all the ingredients into the pan and set it to dough-cycle. The mixing, kneading and rising process is all done in the machine. You just got to wait for two hours. Ingredients includes milk, egg, flour, sugar, margarine, salt and yeast.

At the end of the two hours, you get a nicely risen dough ... all ready for the filling steps. The dough is enough to make twelve buns.

The dough is divided into twelve pieces. Each piece is flatten with the palm and then rolled into 3 inch circles. Put in the filling and then fold and crimp the edges tightly. Of course you may substitute the pulled pork filling with other fillings such as char siew, lotus paste, kaya and others.

Line a piece of parchment on the baking pan. Arrange the prepare buns two inches apart. This is because you will need to let the buns rise for a further 40 minutes.

After allowing the bun to rise for 40 minutes, you will then brush the bun with egg wash (basically egg yolks plus water). This will make the bun looks brown, shiny and delicious.

It is now ready for baking. Preheat the oven to 350C before you put in the baking pan. The baking process will take just 10 minutes. Here is the before and after shot.

To the ladies in Richmond, if you want to make this together, call me (Suanne, not Ben) and we can make the buns together. He he he ... I will also include your pictures in my food blog ... sounds good?

Cheers! I promise, chicken next week! :-)

The Yap-O-Meter Rating:

• äääää Marcus
• äääää Norman
• äääää Ben
• äääää Suanne (Self)

Chocolate Coated Korean Snack

We have moved our site to http://chowtimes.com

Qn: Why did the student eat his homework? Ans: Because the teacher told him it's a piece of cake. Hi all again. Wanted to show everyone what Auntie Allie and her two boys (Luke and Chris) gave us, all the way from Korea. They brought some snacks for Norman and Marcus ... some chocolate coated cake. Here is how the chocolate coated cake looks like:

Can't read Korean but the only English words on the packaging says Well-Being. The above pack is the last pack which belongs to Marcus but Marc lets his brother have it because, well, he's not well the past two days and don't feel like eating.

The snack is really soft and light. You really have to carefully tear open the packaging or you'll squished it. It's basically a soft cake under the coating.

Asked Norman to describe it and all he says is that it is "GOOD" -- he don't know why it's good, it's just good.

This blog is dedicated to Chris and Luke Yun, classmates of Marcus and Norman ... Thanks a lot, bud!

Casserole Sausage Rice

We have moved our site to http://chowtimes.com

Everything has an end -- except for a sausage which has two. ~ Danish Proverb This was what Suanne made for dinner yesterday. She found the recipe from the internet. It has been one of the more frequently made dish at home. Suanne says that she likes to make this dish is because this is the only way she can make Marcus eat carrots. Here is how it looks like:

It's quite an easy meal to make. It will take about 1.5 hrs in all, including baking and preparation time. It's has everything one needs for nutrition ... vegetables, meat, carbohidrates ... all in one pot. Cleaning is also easy because it's just one casserole and dry plates to wash. Email Suanne if you want the recipe.