PAPAYA SOUP

My father-in-law likes to grow papaya trees in our back yard.

This is one of our papaya trees that bears so many fruits. We eat

papaya almost everyday because we know papaya fruits are a

good source of antioxidants,vitamin C, and flavonoids. They are

also a good sauce of folic acid, vitamins E and  A, potassium, and

dietary fiber. Papaya especially when green or unripe, contains papain,

which helps digestion and is used to tenderize meat.

Papaya leaves contain a component called (carpaine) and preliminary

studied have suggested it to be beneficial to cardiovascular health.

Papaya and its seeds have been proven anti-parasitic and anti-amoetic

activities,this is the cheapest,natural, harmless and readily available

preventive remedy against intestinal parasites. (just swallow some of the

seeds while eating papaya).

My mother used to boil papaya soup for us when we were young.

Today I tried her  papaya soup recipe.

The ingredients are:

300 grams half-ripe papaya, peeled, seeds removed and cut into

cubes.

500ml water

7 pieces of red dates

300 grams of pork ribs, washed and par-boiled

1 piece of white fungus, pre-soaked, washed and drained

salt to taste

chopped spring onion.

Boil the water, put in all the ingredients except the white fungus.

Slow fire boil for about an hour, put in the white fungus and salt.

Boil for another five minutes and the papaya soup is ready.

Serve hot with a sprinkling of chopped spring onions.

This soup really taste good. Once can taste the natural sweetness

from the papaya and is a very good tonic for women.

THE LITTLE ABACUS

Last two days went to SS2, Petaling Jaya wet market with Judy.
We found a  small lorry selling his own grown vegetables, fruits,
sweet potatoes and yams. Judy was so happy to see "the little
abacus" that were hanging at one of the corner of the lorry. I was
wondering what was that that can make her so happy.  She told
me that those little abacus was one of the Hakka dish and she has
been looking for them for quite a long time, The little abacus is
made with a mixture of glutinous  rice flour and yam. Judy bought
two packets of them,some bean sprouts, minced meat, Chinese
chives. dried prawns and ready to cook for lunch.

The ingredients
300 g little abacus
150 g minced meat
50 g dried prawns- washed and drained
150 bean sprouts - washed and drained
150 g Chinese chives (kow choy) washed and cut into 2 inches long
2 red chillies- sliced
3 pips garlic- chopped
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp corn flour
3 tbsp cooking oil

Seasoned the minced meat with sesame oil, light soy sauce and
corn flour, leave a side for later use.
Heat up the cooking oil, fry the dried prawns till fragrant, add in
chopped garlics and fry for a while.  Put in the seasoned meat
and continue frying . Pour in the bean sprouts, kow choy and
chillies, mix well. Lastly add in the main ingredient, the little
abacus and follow by the oyster sauce and salt to taste.
Serve hot with samble. Em.....smell go and yummy!!

PENANG FOOD

Yesterday we went to Penang with and  Agnes and Cecilia. Due
to the time factor and weather, we managed to visit only three places
from our list.The first place was the Penang Road Famous Teochew
Chendul.

The stall just started operating when we were there at about 10.15
am. It operates daily from 10.00 am to 7pm. The stall is located
just opposite the Penang Road police station.
We ordered four bowls of chendul and were to eat there, but the
Indonesian girl led us to a small shop just about twenty feets away
from the stall.  There layed a few tables and chairs for their guests
only, there were pictures of famous artists who  visited this stall,
the certificates of best food in Penang and etc.

We found that the taste is the same as few years ago when we visited
this stall but they have reduce the ingredients.

Next, we went to look for Ghee Hiang Manufacturing Co, (A harita
ge of over 150 years) which is famous for its Sesame oil,Tau Sar Pne
ah, Beh Teh Saw, Hneoh Pneah and etc.,we missed the factory at
Macalister Road, anyway manage to find the small outlet on Burma
Road. I bought only small Hneoh Pneah which the fillings are made
of brown sugar ,different from the normal Tau Sar Pneah, not very
sweet but has the different kind of taste.

From Ghee Hiang outlet we went to Jalan Tan Sri Teh Ewe Lim to
locate Eaton Kuih Centre. This kuih centre is famous for its Ang
Koo, Nasi Kunyit with Chicken Curry,and Glutinous Rice. Its also
very popular shop for baby full-moon packages. They are cheap
and convenient. http://www.eaton.com.my/. 
The main office is at 110 or 139-M, Jalan Tan Sei Teh Ewe Lim,
11600, Penang.
Tel: 04-6577223, 6588097, 2828355
Operates from 7.30 am to 5pm daily except on Sunday opens
unitl 3pm only.

We managed to buy only some Ang Koo bacause the Nasi
Kunit with Chicken curry and glutinous rice were all sold
out.

This was not a satisfactory Penang trip, we promised ourselves that
we will go again very soon with proper information and pray for
good weather .

DURIAN

Its durian season again. Durian is widely known as the "king of fruits" in
South East Asia. Durian fruit contains a high amount of sugar, and is
a good source of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, hence recommend
ing to minimise its consumption.
Traditional Chinese medicine consider the durian fruit to have warming
properties liable to cause producing heat after consuming durian. An
alternative method to counteract this is to eat the durian in accompaniment
with mangoesteen ,the"queen of fruits" which is considered to have
cooling properties.
We overbought durian fruits last night because they were cheap. I have
to keep the remainder in the refrigerator so to bake durian cake today.

Ingredients for Durian Walnut cake
180 grams self-raising flour
180 grams butter
150 grams sugar
120 grams durian flesh -mashed
4 eggs
100 grams walnuts-chopped
1/4 cup of milk
pinch of salt

Scrape the durian flesh from the seeds and leave a side. Separate
egg whites from the yolks. Beat egg whites till light and fluffy.
Cream butter, sugar till light and creamy. Add egg yolk one at a
time. Beat well after each yolk.
Fold in mashed durian into egg yolk mixture. Mix well.
Add in the milk. Fold in frothy egg whites. Then fold in the flour.
Lastly add in the chopped walnuts.
Pour mixture into greased tin. Bake in preheated oven at 180
degree about one hour.

Durian walnut cake is baked just in time for tea at 3pm.

THAI FOOD

Thai food in Ipoh Parade.

This stall serves tom yam, seafood kerabu, mango kerabu, mango

glutinous rice, fried spring rolls and other deserts.

Spring rolls are crispy and delicious.

Crispy fried prawns and sweet deserts.

Because only three of us and we are small eaters, we ordered only

seafood kerabu, mango glutinous rice and spring rolls. I like the

seafood kerabu  with tong fun (pea noodle) very much . It really

tastes good, the sweet, sour and pungent taste,oh, its just delicious.

The mango rice with the coconut milk really lemak. We will try the

 tom yam next trip.

The mango rice, seafood kerabu and spring rolls were RM4 each.

The stall is located on the 4th floor food court in Ipoh Parade.

The stall will operates from 11.00 am till 9pm daily.

BIRTHDAY

Went to Victor's 30th birthday on the 8th of Nov, at Ara Damansara.
The Hawaiian Night.

Family album.  Birthday boy, Victor, 4th from left and Carrie, the cute

and fabulous wife stands on his right. She prepared most of the foods

for this party.

One for the album, me, 2nd from left with relatives of Victor, cheers.

Victor's Birthday Cupcakes

The delicious food of Carrie.  Roast lamb from New Zealand,

grilled pork ribs and fried chicken.Grilled cuttlefish, fresh water

 prawns with spicy Thai sauce. (pictures from Carrie)

The Cocktail- Hawaiian Delight

Salmon Mango Sushi

Sandwich Paradise

Caesar Salad with Salmon

Avocado, Crab and Mango Salad

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes, and many more.

The couple were so generals, all  the guests were given door gifts.

We had the competition of the most Hawaiian dressed contest and

lucky draw as well, with marvellous prizes.

Victor's father-in-law got the most Hawaiian dressed prized of RM 100!

Lucky Cheah How won the Grand Prize of the lucky draw!! RM300 cash.

Me, not too bad, won the 4th lucky draw price with shopping vouchers.

PUMPKIN CHIFFON CAKE

Last Saturday went to Pasar Tani and saw that pumpkins were very
cheap, only rm 0.90 per kg. Bought one of them.  I will make use of
110 gram to bake a chiffon cake and the remainder to cook pumpkin
soup.

Pumpkins are not just for Halloween.  Surprisingly, there are many
health benefits derived from pumpkin and the seeds. The orange and
yellow colour of pumpkins are high in beta-carotene, is a powerful
antioxidant as well as an anti-inflammatory agent. Pumpkin seeds
promote overall prostate health as well.

Here is the recipe for Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

6 eggs separate the whites from the yolks
110 grams pumpkin -steamed and mashed
150 grams coconut milk/soya milk/milk
30 grams pumpkin seeds (blend with 1 tsp of flour)
150 grams sugar
140 grams self-raising flour
60 ml cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Beat egg whites with 100 grams of sugar and cream of tartar till stiff.
In a separate mixing bowl, mix the egg yolks with 50 grams of sugar,
mix well.  Pour in the liquid, then the cooking oil.  Slowly blend in the
flour, mix well. 
Fold in the beaten egg whites into the egg yolks mixture, lastly add in
the pumpkin seeds. Pour into a round 20 cm baking tin and bake in
preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes.

Ha ha.. the pumpkin chiffon cake is ready.  The texture is very soft
and nice to eat. em...yummy...

BREAD FACTORY

Yesterday while clearing and cleaning my store room, notice my Sanyo

Bread Factory stand at a corner. It must have been there  for more
then ten years since my daughter left for Kuala Lumpur to further her
study. I really make full use of it when all my children were with us.
It is very handy and easy to bake a loaf of bread or to make dough for

sweet breads. All I have to do is to dump all the ingredients into the

inner pot, choose the setting and press start. The bread will be done in

a couple of hours.

So decide to wake up my bread factory and to check weather it is

still working, went to buy ingredients for baking  a wholemeal bread.

WHOLE MEAL BREAD

400 grams high protein flour

100grams whole meal flour

100 grams mixture of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and raisins

1tbls milk powder

1 tbs margarine/butter

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

pinch of salt

270 ml water

I will pour the water into the inner pot, follow by the dry ingredients
and the instant yeast go in last.  Choose the setting and the loaf will
be done in 3 hours and 25minutes.

Wow! My bread factory still work well for me.  Its worth investing in it.

BAH KUT TEH

We took a drive to Genting Highlands on 28th Oct. We heard of a
good Bah Kut Teh restaurant in Batang Kali. Unfortunately it was
too early at 10.15am; the restaurant was not open yet. Anyway by
chance the neighbour new bah kut teh Restaurant Bee Lian ( has
the same name as my daughter)was opened. Out of curiosity, we
walked in. There were only two couples waiting for their orders.
We ordered a clay pot of bah kut teh for two.

The boiling hot pot of bah kut teh finally came after waiting for almost

half an hour. Its smell good!  Tasted it, wow! Surprisingly delicious.

We had a chat with the boss Mr Cartoon, cute name and he does

look cute too. This couple came from Klang seven months ago. Oh!

That's the reason  why their bah kut teh has the taste Klang style bah

kut teh. They were so happy that we gave them good comments of

their cooking. They serve other foods like pork belly soup, black

vinegar pork legs, wine chicken, salted chicken, fishes

 and etc.

 Bah kut teh is RM 8.00 per head.  Its rather cheap.  The business

will start from 10am to 10pm daily. It closes on alternate Tuesday.

 It is located at 27, Jalan Meranti 2A, Bandar Utama Batang Kali,

44300, Batang Kali.  Tel: 012-6626078 and 017-3276078