All-You-Can-Eat Sushi

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A glutton is never satisfied. ~ Namibian Proverb

It's been a while since we had sushi and the boys wanted sushi for lunch too. Suanne also wanted to try the Top Gun Sushi I went to a few weeks ago. So, we made our way to the Top Gun Sushi at the New West Quay.

The all-you-can-eat is more expensive on the weekends. It costs about $11 for adults and $7 for kids age 6-9. He he he ... the waiters thought the boys were below 9 years and we kept quiet ... don't ask, don't tell, right?

All-you-can-eat Shashimi is $2 extra for adults. Norman can just eat shashimi alone. We ordered 28 pieces in all. The pieces are small but rather fresh.

Suanne started off with cold noodles from the salad bar. I don't know what that means when Suanne said they were "refreshing". :-) It's had a bit of lemon and is sourish.

I scooped some fried noodles from the salad bar too. They do look nice and I especially like it that they are not greasy.

We also ordered a lot of nigiri's. We ordered a few of each types. At the background (kind of blurred) was the fried smelt. They don't look good but tastes great.

Suanne's favourite is the motoyaki. She had quite of few of the salmon motoyaki and oyster motoyaki's.

We ordered the beef teriyaki and ginger pork. It would have been better if they are served with rice. Eating them alone does not seem right. We also ordered the grilled salmon belly and cheek.

And finally, tofu and fried chicken wings.

I am full ... no dinner tonight.

Korean Style BBQ Beef on Dried Shrimp Pancake

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When the big fish fight the shrimps must lie low. ~ Creole Proverb

The Richmond Community Kitchen, coincidentally, showed Korean BBQ beef for the session this week. The lesson today was led by Tanni Lee. I like Tanni because she is soooo cheerful and have a smile all the time for everyone.

Tanni made two separate dishes that complements each other. The Korean Style BBQ Beef goes very well with the dried shrimp pancake. For garnishing, she used kiwi fruit. She also used the kiwi fruit juice to marinate and tenderize the beef.

Korean Style BBQ Beef

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb Beef
• 1.5 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon kiwi juice
• 1.5 tablespoon green onions
• 2.5 tablespoon korean soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 2 teaspoon dark soy
• 1.5 tablespoon sesame oil

The marinate includes all the ingredients above.

We need to marinate for a at least 3 hours but preferably overnight.

Fry the marinated beef with a bit of cooking oil.

Frying process is very quick because the beef is thinly sliced.

Dried Shrimp Pancake

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup flour
• 1.5 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 1 egg
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 teaspoon green onion
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

Stir all the ingredients together until you get a smooth batter. You then just pan fry them with a little oil at low heat.

The frying take just a little while. Do so until you get a nice golden brown.

Tanni, thanks for the time taken to show all of us this dish.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

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Mutual gifts cement friendship. ~ Ivorian Proverb

I made a Sour Cream Coffee Cake before I went over to Allie's for her Bulgogi lunch. It has been a while since I made this cake. Since I still have a cup of sour cream in the fridge, I thought I should use it. This goes well with coffee.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350F and grease a 6-cup tube pan. Mix walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon to make topping and set aside. Stir or sift flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt until dry ingredients are well combined. Cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in alternate thirds with the sour cream,beating well after each addition. Spoon half the batter into the pan and sprinkle with half the topping, then add remaining batter and sprinkle on the rest of the topping. Bake for 40 minutes without opening the oven, then test fordoneness (a toothpick should come out clean). It may need another 5 to 10 minutes of baking.

Allie's Bulgogi Lunch

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Aim high in your career but stay humble in your heart. ~ Korean Proverb

Allie invited Helen and I to her place for lunch. It's her way of thanking both of us for helping her move to her new place earlier. Since she is Korean, she showed us how Bulgogi is eaten the right way ... using hands. :-)

Bulgogi is a popular Korean beef dish, a kind of Korean barbecue. It is made from marinated steak that is cut into thin strips before cooking. Bulgogi is a specialty dish served when guests visit or eaten in restaurants. The dish is also often served to non-Koreans as a first taste of Korean cuisine.

Instead of barbequing it, Allie pan fried the sliced beef strips. She pan fried it with lots of slices onions, green onions and garlic. The cooking smelt good.

Koreans loves kimchi and have that as a side dish in almost every meal. So, Allie made two types of kimchis. The traditional kimchi (fermented cabbage) was made by her mother-in-law. Even the cabbage was grown on their own. Many Korean households made their own kimchis and I was told that many households too have a separate fridge just to store the kimchis! I will try to ask Allie to show me how to make them once her batch is finished.

Did you know that early forms of kimchi consisted mainly of salted greens as chili peppers and were introduced to Korea only in the 16th century by Portuguese traders coming from Japan? The introduction of cabbage in making kimchi probably did not occur until the 19th century before that, kimchi was made from indigenous vegetables.

Allie made another type of kimchi from cucumber and carrot. I have never tried this type before. Taste a lot like the cabbage kimchi but it a lot more crunchier. I like it.

She also bought some dumplings and fried them for the kids. She fried it so well ... looks yummy right?

Thanks a lot Allie for the lunch.

Steam Jah Jan Ramen

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I have money, you have money; so we are friends. ~ Chinese Proverb

Panos came over to play with Norman and Marcus the other day. Panos is Norm's best friend. Since Panos wanted to stay over for dinner and I thought I make instant noodles for the boys.

Unlike most other single serving packets of instant noodles, the Steam Jah Jan Ramen comes in a pack for servings of four. This is just the right size for a quick lunch for our whole family. Opening it up, it's just like any other noodles with a twin packets of seasonings. The first packet was the oil and other other is the "jah jan". Jah Jan is basically made of fried pork fats, lean pork and soy bean paste.

We found the instructions on the wrapping funny. It's common to see broken English used in Made in China products. The instructions reads "After 4 minutes scooped spice of oil to stir. Then you can enjoy the delicious ramen".

Marcus loves instant noodles, especially the dry type, not the soup type. Here he is pulling a face because mum is not making it fast enough ... look at the speed of my hands!

I added a slice of yesterday's meat loaf to go with the noodles.

Panos likes it too. Finished it off double quick time.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

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He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes. ~ Maltese Proverb

I made Cinnamon Coffee Cake today. I normally make cakes at least once a week for breakfast and snacks for the boys. Ben likes cakes with coffee in the mornings too. It goes very well with coffee.

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10-15 m tall native to Sri Lanka and Southern India. The bark is widely used as a spice. It is principally employed in cookery as a condiment and flavouring material, being largely used in the preparation of some kinds of desserts, chocolate and spicy candies and liqueurs. In the Middle East, it is often used in savory dishes of chicken and lamb. In North America, cinnamon and sugar are often used to flavor cereals and fruits, especially apples.

To prepare the cinnamon coffee cake, I use the following ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (if using self-rising, eliminate next 2 ingredients)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans if you prefer)
• 1 stick margarine or butter, melted
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Stir in walnuts.

In other bowl, beat butter or margarine and sugar, by hand, until smooth. Mix eggs, vanilla and sour cream into butter/sugar mixture.

Pour the mixture all at one time into dry mix and stir until well mixed. Pour into a greased 9" baking pan.

For the toppings, I used the following ingredients: 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons butter or margarine cut into small pieces 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Rub with fingers until texture resembles cornmeal. Sprinkle crumble topping evenly on cake mixture. Lightly swirl knife through mixture.

Bake 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Celcius or until cake pulls away from side of pan.

Beef Rendang

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All is not butter that comes from the cow. ~ Italian Proverb

Rendang is a dish from Malaysia which in some ways resembles a purely meat curry. In Malaysia, it is prepared by the Malay community during festive occassions.

Rendang is often served with a ketupat (a compressed rice cake) and lemang (glutinous rice barbecued in bamboo tubes). However, it goes equally as great with steamed rice, or even bread. It is not very spicy hot but is very heavily flavoured in spices.

Rendang is normally made from beef (or occassionally chicken or mutton) slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid is gone, leaving the meat coated in the spicy condiments. The spices may include ginger, galangal, turmeric, lemon grass and chillies. The slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and to become tender. That sounds daunting, right?

Things are much more easier these days because we can just buy all the ingredients mixed in a box.

We bought the Claypot brand Beef Rendang Mix (see box above). To prepare this dish, we only need 750g (1.5 lb) of cubed beef. The stuff you see in the two bowls and measuring cup are prepared out from the box.

The box contained three sachets of ingredients: (1) the curry paste, (2) powder coconut milk, and (3) toasted coconut. Well, it's high cholestorol with coconut -- remember that.

Heat cooking oil in wok over low flame. Add curry paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until fragrant.

Add beef, adjust flame to medium and stir fry.

Add coconut milk (a little at a time). Bring to boil.

Cover and simmer for 60 minutes. Stir occasionally. When cooked, add toasted coconut. Stir well and serve.

There you go. We love this a lot. We sometimes buy rotis (even pita bread) and dunk it into the curry.