Chinese Food | endearingmoments

Savory Pork Trotters

Chinese New Year is just around the corner.Families around the world will gather and enjoy the reunion dinner tonight. It will be a night of laughter,fun,lots of stories and chatter about the past year.And one of the most important thing tonight will be-home cooked food! Everyone who was not around either working or studying abroad would have missed their mother’s home cooking dearly.

Talk about good food,we recently chanced upon to dine in a special restaurant. The place is called Kedai Makan Choy Kee( malay), 财记饭店（mandarin chinese),which means Choy Kee Restaurant.This specific restaurant is famous for its savory pork trotters 咸猪手（ham ju sau,cantonese or xian zhu shou,mandarin) and river fish dishes. I’ve been longing to try the dishes since 2 years ago after seeing a review in a local newspaper.Yes,it is that damn good !

When we arrived there,it was 830pm and the staffs are already packing and cleaning up the restaurant. I almost frowned.But suddenly a lady came out and asked us if we still want to dine in.It was the boss,herself.With much gratitude,we accepted the offer.

Without haste,we ordered for their best dish-Savory pork trotters !

The meat is just the right texture-soft,smooth,not flaky.Its very rich in flavors too as it was braised till such perfection. The skin is so fragrant and jelly like,it melts in your mouth.

Since only two of us dining,we did not order any of the river fishes. Never mind, that’s for next time. Just like the Terminator -” I’ll be back !”

Th soup was splendid.A great concoction of oyster sauce, sesame oil,light soy sauce,brown sugar,cinnamon sticks,star anise, wolf berries and a few secret ingredients i can’t decipher!. Just great! I give it -Two thumbs up and a button down!

Good food+Good company=Great memories

Honestly,we had a great meal.And we would really recommend this restaurant to anyone! The service and quality of food served is five stars.Prices are reasonable too.One dish of savory pork trotters is just Rm 35 which 5 people(picky eaters) or 3 people(average sized stomach) can share.

The place is located in Sungkai area ,Perak state in Malaysia. Here’s the location-

Just follow the North south Highway from Kl to Ipoh.Exit at the Sungkai toll.Just follow the main road and head into Sungkai town.

To all our readers,enjoy your reunion dinner tonight.Remember.Good food is only delicious when you are enjoying or savoring it with your loved ones.

Have a happy Chinese New Year !

Sincerely from,

endearingmoments

Our First Cooking Experience :)

The date is 28^th April 2012. A very memorable date for both of us.

Our plan was to explore Bagan Datoh and Bagan Pasir in the evening after lunch which we were going to prepare ourselves. (Little did we know, it was going to be a great excursion. Fun. Fantastic. Full of joy. An adventure close to nature and delightful on the tummy. If interested, do click here to read about our estuary adventures.)

Came up with the menu after much discussion- contemporary home-styled Chinese food. So we headed to the Pasar Besar Teluk Intan hunting for fresh ingredients for our cook-out today. It was going to be an exhibit of my culinary skills and a show case of cooking talent, if I do say so myself 🙂

Happy posing in front of the pasar

Look at how fresh these kangkung are !

The glorious ingredients on display.

Here are the dishes

STEAMED CHICKEN WITH BLACK FUNGUS

Ingredients: Chicken (preferably thigh), black fungus mushrooms

Preparation: 1)Chicken thighs chopped into bite sized pieces, marinate with mixture of five spice powder, brown sugar, sesame oil, light soy sauce and Shaoxing rice wine (one teaspoon each). Dash in some pepper and let it marinate for at least 20 minutes. Try “massaging” the chicken to let the seasoning mix well,hence,absorbed into the meat faster. By doing this, the chicken would be more succulent too. 2) Soak the black fungus mushrooms.

Marinating the chicken pieces.

Cooking: Just put the marinated chicken to steam. Use medium fire. Steaming too fast will cause the chicken to have a dry texture. Steam for about 15 minutes. Then,add in the mushrooms. Continue the cooking till meat is cooked and mushrooms slightly soft yet attaining its crunchiness. For those who like the sweet aroma of Shaoxing wine, sprinkle some to jazz up the taste. Garnish with coriander leaves. Lunch is served!

the great texture n original sweetness of the chicken-soft,juicy n sweet…u can even drink the sauce like chicken soup…the fungus, earthy with some mild soury aftertaste..truly a simple yet delightful n healthy meal…

STIR FRIED KANGKUNG

Ingredients: Kangkung, garlic,dried shrimps,shallots,dry and fresh chilies, curry leaves, taucu paste

Preparation: Simple. Just chop all the ingredients besides kangkung and curry leaves. Soak the dried shrimp and dried chillies.

All the ingredients chopped, and arranged into an artists palette !

Cooking: Hot the pan. When there’s a little smoke. Add a tablespoon of oil. First off are the, curry leaves and the dried & fresh chilies. Sauté these three hotties till the oil looks red.Then, add in all the other sauté ingredients except the kangkung. Just keep on stir frying till the garlic is golden brown and the nasty aroma of nyonya styled sambal wifts into our olfactory nerve ! Haha. Lastly,add in the kangkung and sauté till slight soft. There you go, your own Nyonya styled stir fried kangkung.

a less oily alternative to the usual “malay feng guang”…the salty,spicy sauce just tickles ur tastes bud….

Our main carbohydrate for the night- organic pasta bought from Country Farm Organics.

Organic pasta…arranged into “yin yang” anagram style…reflects the balance needed for a happy relationship…n of course the balance of taste in good food too…hehe…

The three dishes that went into our bellies.

These recipes are just simple adaptations of traditional recipes, all in the aim of creating a healthier yet delicious meal that can be easily done by anyone, especially young people who are always on the go.

This is our first post about Gastronomy. It is our passion to enjoy wonderful food and try to recreate our won gastronomic wonder! We hope our post would ignite the Top Chef or Master Chef in you.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this post. Did it tickle your tastes buds? Do try out the simple recipes. And don’t forget to subscribe to us for more recipes and food reviews. Thank you.