Eighteen Chefs, Tiong Bahru Plaza

I was rampaging the photos from my hp today. Seems that I have taken quite a number of food shots since a few months ago. But I dont have the time (rather I am lazy) to upload the pics into my computer. Since I will be on vacation since tomorrow till the coming new year, I decided to clear some of the pics from the hp to get some space for more pictures taking. This restaurant is known as Eighteenchefs in Tiong Bahru Plaza.

I love the design of the shop. Look funky and even though the space is limited but it looks spacious. Good design. Apart from discounts, I think student have the one for one offer. So quite a lot of youngster are there to eat. Since I am a student, of course and definitely I cant waste the opportunity to flash the student card. As one of my Cambodian friend (Bill) once said, "If you have, flash it."

While waiting for the food to come, here are the seasoning for the food that was yet to come.

First up was the calamari rings. They use a big sotong for this. Taste not bad. But I still prefer the small squid. Taste sweeter and easier to chew. Cos the bigger one makes you feel like you are chewing rubber band. It's just a description. It doesnt really feels like rubber band though it you will feel a little bit like rubber band. HUh?@~@ what am I mumbling ... .whatever ....

This is my order. Salmon curry bake rice. Taste good at the first few bites. But after a while you will get bored of it. So better ask someone to share this with you. The salmon is a bit too dry to swallow. Probably they over cooked it. I think it will taste just nice if they dont pan fry the salmon. Baking it with the cheese will make it just right.

Shalom ordered sausage baked pasta. Doesnt taste as great as it seems to be. Taste similar to my baked rice with a different sauce. I think it was just so so.

Maybe because I am not a great lover of baked rice or baked pasta. You guys may try it out. Probably it doesnt taste that bad cos a lot of people always said I am quite picky about my food *Wink*

Christmas Hot Pot

It Christmas today!! Noel noel NOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLL!!!! Since there will be people everywhere, the best is to stay at home and cook something nice for myself and Shalom. I decided to do my long time yearning try-out ... STEAMBOAT!!!!! The steamboat consist of soup, napa cabbage (it's a must have for steamboat as it makes the soup taste better at the end of the meal), dumplings, fish-pork ball, fresh prawns, dough noodles, chilli paste and additional dished enoki mushrooms beef-rolls. So right now I am going to share the ingredients and their makings one by one.

The soup

Soup base is the most important ingredients in a steamboat. I spent 8-10 hours in brewing the soup in a crockpot (slow cooker). The ingredients of the soup consist of big bone, prawn shell, dried scallop, dried oyster and Knorr chicken cube. The soup taste superb but got spoiled by a little of fishy smell. So if you dont like the fishy smell, you guys can skip out the dried scallop and dried oyster. If you prefer a strong taste then use less water for more bones.

The Dumplings

Skin: Make the dough using wheat flour and water. Knead until it is not sticky anymore. But not too dry though. Then, spread out the dough and make a thin sheet as thick skin wont make the dumpling taste good. But of course not too thin till it tears easily. Then use a tupperware cover (small one) to make the shape of the skin. It can be square or round ones. I prefer round ones. I was not the one who make the skin. Shalom is the one did. Hahahahha ... so the trick to do it I am not sure too ... hahahhahaa

Fillings: Ingredients were made of napa cabbage (chopped), garlic (chopped), spring onions (chopped) and pork (minced). The portion depends on your liking. The seasonings are pure sesame oil, vinegar, white pepper, cornstarch and soy sauce. The addition of cornstarch is to make the fillings smoother than the non-cornstarch fillings. Mixed them together and let it sit for about 30 mins.

Wrapped the fillings with the skin. I made the small ones but Shalom he made a really super duper big dumplings. And of course, it takes longer to cook. Put the dumplings into boiling water. When the dumpling floats, it means the dumpling they are cooked and you can either eat them dry or in a soup. The reason to separately cook the dumpling is because, the flour will turn the soup into gruel.

The Prawns

Prawns are easy. Just peel the shell off and wait to be cooked in the steamboat later. Hahahaha .... But have to ensure that the prawns are really very fresh. How to determine that? If the shell can be easily peel off and the flesh of the prawns are left intact, it means the prawns are fresh, succulent and sweet. To see whether it's fresh, the eyes of the prawns will shine. Or else the unfresh prawn eyes are quite dull.

The Fish-Pork Balls

This one is easy. Get a flesh of a red snapper, minced pork and garlic. Mixed them with pure sesame oil, soy sauce, white pepper and cornstarch. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll them into balls. Marinate it for 30 mins before you start your steamboat.

The Dipping Sauce

I used the dried chilli flakes oil produced in China. It is known as "Lao Gan Ma Chilli Oil" . This is the kind of chillies used for steamboat or dumplings.

Of course it does not comprise of the chillies only. It will only be spicy. Too plain. So, what I did here is I soy sauce but Shalom said it's still need a little bit more to enhance the taste of the dipping sauce. He suggested to add in some sugar and vinegar. I would say WOW it really taste great man!!

The Enoki Mushrooms Beef Roll

This is a modification of recipe from Lee Kum Kee. Ingredients are simple. Just beef slices and enoki mushrooms. Marinate seasoning consists of pure sesame oil, Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce and sesame seeds. After marinating the beef with the seasoning for about 15mins, wrap around the enoki mushrooms with a beef slice. Use constarch to stick the edge of the beef slice together. Next heat the pan with oil or sesame oil for a more fragrance taste. Pan-fry the till the beef is cooked and ready to serve.

Shalom ate most of the dumplings and the beef rolls. While I ate most of the fish-pork balls. It taste really great hohohoho ... Hmm ... seems that I am not a bad cook after all. Hahhahahaha ... Anyway, it was an enjoyable and great Christmas for me!!! You guys can try out the steamboat thingy if you have any occasions later. I assure you that it will be the most enjoyable event to do it together other than bbq! ^_^

The Dim Sum Restaurant at Desa Setapak, KL

HIIIIIIII FOOOOOOOOOOLKKKKKKKKKKS!!!!!!!!!!! TADAIMMMMMMMAAAAAA!! I am finally back again to blogging world. Recently, I have been really busier than a bee can be. I was engulfed with experiments (where it takes about 9-10 hours daily leaving me dropped dead whenever I am back home). Due to the tiredness and stress, I indulged myself in taiwanese dramas making me too lazy to pen a few words in my blog. I have a lot to write as recently things had been quite happening around me. Well, mostly it's about FOOD.... kekekekeke .... An old history of food which I have had is in Kuala Lumpur aka KL.

This is a dim sum shop located at Desa Setapak, known as Six Happiness Restaurant. To find the exact location, you can visit the URL in the following.

http://www.sixhappiness.com

The food that me and my big family love here is the Hong Kong dim sum (a kind of Chinese morning Hi-Tea) and it is very famous for that. The savour of the dim sum can be seen from the pictures in the following. What makes those dim sum special is the freshness of the ingredients. Fresh and succulent pork and prawns makes a great dim sum. But I think it's a little too salty though. That's the downside of the dimsum. I will not be elaborating on how each of the dim sum taste like cos I always believe that a picture can explain a thousand words. Hahahhahaha .. alright ok ... I will cut the crap ... enjoy the pics folks.

In addition to dim sum, their all time favourites are the fried noodles and fried rice. But similar to their dim sum, a little bit too much of salt. Maybe salt is too cheap in Malaysia ... that's why they ..... I talk too much. Hope you guys will go try out when you "Jalan-jalan cari makan" *WINK*