Banana Leaf Meal @ Sri Nirwana Maju

Restoran Sri Nirwana Maju
No.1 Jalan USJ 9/5M
47610 Subang Jaya
Tel: 03-80259445
(They have another outlet in Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar too)

One day sometime last week I casually asked LL what he would like to eat in Subang since I would be picking him up on one of the afternoons from there. He said he would think about it. That night we were silent while eating our dinner, each very preoccupied with own thoughts. Suddenly… both of us blurted out SIMULTANEOUSLY - “let’s go eat banana leaf rice!” Wahlauu… I tell you, that was so creepy!!

So, a banana leaf meal we would have. Now I don’t know of that many banana leaf joints in Subang ever since the (in)famous Barath’s closed shop years ago. So LL did some smart checking-around from his cronies and this was how we ended up at this Sri Nirwana Maju.

We were lucky to get a parking space right beside the restaurant - you know how horrendous the parking situation is in USJ. It was drizzling when we got out the car - ahhh… nice cool weather to tuck in some fiery grub!

There was a good crowd but service was very fast. As soon as we were seated, the waiters came and took our order. Even before I could finish admiring the colorful paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, the banana leaves appeared on our tables...

...and immediately the rice, condiments and curries were ladled on the leaves!

Unlimited curries ... take your pick: fish? chicken? dhall? Vegetables were acar and yoghurted cucumber...

I was looking for my favourite fried bittergourd but was told that unfortunately they were not serving that that day! What??? No fried bittergourd? How can? Isn’t that like the staple dish in ever self-respecting Indian restaurant? Instead they served this…

Fried Ladies’ Fingers… there was more flour than ladies’ fingers. I totally did not like this.

The mandatory salted dried chilli & fiery sambal

We made our way to the back of the shop to select the items to be fried. There were not many choices... 3 types of fish, chicken and squids...

We chose 1 Chicken Drumstick (RM3.00) which turned out to be quite disappointing. It has been over-fried to death (cremation, in this case!), rendering it very dry and not tasty at all. While it was very crispy, there was hardly any flavour in it. Good fried chicken should have the skin crispy and when you bite into it, the flavoursome juices inside should still be spurting out...

We had 1 Ikan Bulus (RM4.00) deep fried too. Nothing special - it was crispy enough...can't remember much about the taste (maybe there was none?)

The piece of Ikan Tenggiri (RM7.00) fared better. For that price, it was a fairly large piece and it was very fresh.

Now the best fried item was the Squids (RM10). Not exactly cheap, I must say... the piece we chose was just slightly bigger than my palm (spanning from wrist to fingers lah)... and then when they cut it up, there were not that many pieces on the plate leh! Coated and fried in a light batter, the squids were fresh and firm... and the best thing was they were tossed in onions, dried chillies and lots of curry leaves! Yummm! This is one item you must order!

There were about 3 choices of lamb/mutton from their selection. We chose the Lamb Ribs Paratal (RM5.00) ... bad choice! Because... when the plate was served, they were all bones! Could hardly find any meat under the gravy... and it was a tad too salty too!

There was a array of other curries set out... fish, chicken, lamb...

...Nasi Beriyani pun ada...

At the front of the shop there was a variety of indian sweets in a glass case...

I don't know their names...
but they were all so colourful and pretty...
... and verrryyy sweet too, I'm sure! (they look sweet wor)

Banana Leaf Rice is charged at RM5.00 per person... with unlimited rice, curries, vegetables, papadam... I'd go back there for the Fried Squids, hehe! Just avoid the Lamb Bones Ribs and the cremated chicken and we're good to go... that is, whenever we get banana-leaf pangs again!

My rating: 6/10

Home-made Loh Mai Kai

While browsing through some food blogs recently, I was inspired to try making Loh Mai Kai. Precious Pea and Food Made Simple shared their experiences making this popular dim sum item and since I had a packet of glutinuous rice in my kitchen, I decided to give this a try last weekend.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, based on my limited culinary experience in making Loh Mai Kai, hehe! Translated loosely, Loh Mai Kai means “Glutinuous Rice Chicken”… and this was my version of it:

Ingredients:
1 kg glutinuous rice (soaked overnight)
500g chicken - chopped into pieces (I used boneless chicken thigh)
200g Chinese sausages - sliced
300g dried shitake mushroom (soaked overnight)

Sliced chinese sausages

To marinade Chicken:

3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp chinese wine
2 tbsp ginger juice
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper

Marinate chicken pieces for at least 3 hours before use

Sauce for the Glutinuous Rice:

3 bowls of boiled water (I used the regular Chinese rice bowls)
3 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tsp salt
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
Dash of white pepper

4 shallots - sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp oil

Method:

Steam the soaked glutinuous rice for 30 minutes. Loosen the steamed rice and leave aside.

Stir fry the mushroom and chicken in some oil in a pan/wok for 1 minute. Chicken should be just half-cooked. Dish out.

Heat up the 2 tbsp oil in pan/wok, fry the chopped garlic and sliced shallots. Then pour in all the ingredients for the Sauce, mix well. Pour this sauce into the loosened steamed rice and mix well.

Brush the sides of bowls (I used Chinese rice bowls) before arranging the sliced Chinese sausage, mushroom and chicken and then topping up with the glutinuous rice.

Steam the bowls of Loh Mai Kai for 40 minutes and then ENJOY!

*If you use the regular Chinese rice bowls like I did, 1 kg of rice will make about 18 Loh Mai Kai.

So what did I do with 18 Loh Mai Kai’s?? Well, I gave some to my neighbour and brought some to the office for colleagues and the rest … still in the fridge, haha!

Spicing up Instant Noodles

The past couple of weeks, the weather here has been unbearably hot and humid. Imagine, even with the air-cond on, you can still perspire - haizz!

So ... being too lazy to go out for lunch on a hot Sunday afternoon and it's really too tiresome to cook an elaborate meal, I turned to my trusted instant noodles. Having bought some of my favourite fishcake at the pasar pagi the previous day, I had those fried and sliced and they made a perfect accompaniment to my noodles!

Since I had also bought some vegetables and fuchook (beancurd skin) the day before, I decided to whip up a fast Vegetables Curry. Cabbage, ladies fingers, brinjals, long beans, tomatoes - these were all cut up and went into the curry pot...

Ahhh... the curried vegetables went very well with my noodles, too! I love the softened fuchook which has absorbed the rich flavours of the curry spices and coconut milk... yumm!

Wong Kok Char Chan Teng

Wong Kok Char Chan Teng
Lot F225, 1st Floor
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Bandar Utama
Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-77108611

This popular char chan teng underwent some renovations a couple of months ago. When they reopened, business picked up as it is extremely popular with the lunch crowd here. Serving HK-style "fast food" dishes, it's popular with the teeny boppers and office crowd in this area - saw lots of teenagers jamming this place.

There are the regular baked rice and noodle variations a'la HK-style. Drinks are served in jars like this... my Iced Lemon Tea (RM6.90)...(oh, it was tooooooo sweet - I had to get them to add water to it, otherwise I'd get instant diabetes, man!)

I found this dish interesting... all because of the deep-fried vegetables served at the side! This Pineapple Fish Cutlet Rice (RM8.20) had chunks of fish fillet cooked in the regular sweet-and-sour way...

... and a generous portion of the deep-fried vegetables. I think they used kai lan for this.

The Beef Kway Teow (RM8.50) was cooked in the usual Cantonese-style... with a lake of thick starchy gravy! From the no-complaint demeanour of my colleagues, I gathered the above 2 dishes didn't disappoint them kwa. (or maybe they're not very fussy discerning eaters?)

When this big bowl containing Honey Pork Ribs Rice (RM8.90) was served, my first reaction was "how pathetic!" Notice I said big BOWL, not big portion of food! In fact, the portion of rice and pork ribs was so miserable, it barely filled half the bowl, as you can see! Furthermore, the colleague who ordered this is a rice-lover... so your guess is as good as mine as to whether this satisfied his tummy or not!

Ahh... finally my order of Hand-made Noodles with Roast Pork (RM8.90) came and it was rather disappointing. The noodles were too soft and the 2 stalks of sawi were also soft and limp, as you can see (I hate soft & limp things!). Worse still, the roast pork was fatty and the skin was not crispy at all!!! That is the ultimate insult for roast pork - soft soggy skin!!

I think it's because they left the roast pork soaking in the copious gravy too long. The person who prepared this should know better than to do that! Instead, the roast pork should just be served atop the noodles! Like that also don't know, haiyaaah!

Well, if you come to this place, just be mindful of all these minor mishaps... may be "minor" but they actually can make or break the food!

As for me, the next time if I go there again, I think better stick to their instant Nissin noodles or bread toasts, no?

My rating: 5/10

Murukku

OK... how many of these crunchies have you munched on this season?

Murukku - available here most of the time, but more prevalent during Deepavali? LL and I love this crunchy snack... it's kinda oily, I know... but then the burst of spices (jintan and sesame) when your teeth crunch onto the fried dough... that makes you forget about the oiliness for a while, hehe!

My friend Indra is going to help me get all the ingredients plus the murukku pump so that I can embark on my inaugural murukku-making session soon! Will keep you all posted on this later when that happens! *wink*

Foodbuzz Goodies

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a package from Foodbuzz a couple of weeks ago. Upon opening it, this was what I found...


One of the nice things about being a Foodbuzz "featured publisher" is that they send you lovely useful stuff. The green spatula will come in very useful in my baking sessions - it's nice and pliable to scrape batter off bowls etc...

The pristine white apron - now that one I a bit sayang lah ... because it's so white and I'd hate to get any stains on it - which is bound to happen when you're working in the kitchen!

Auntie Juliet's Cafe

Auntie Juliet's Garden Cafe
43 Jalan Anggerik Vanilla N31/N
Kota Kemuning
40460 Shah Alam
Tel: 03-51212002

If you are a resident of Kota Kemuning or its surrounding areas, it's more than likely that you would have dined in this popular cafe. Fronted with a huge array of potted plants at the entrance, you can't miss this place. Once you have made your way through that foliage, you will be greeted by a charming family-type cafe...

... which is pretty crowded even on a weeknight (worse during the weekend!). The cafe is decorated with a wide array of homely knick-knacks... the walls are almost collapsing from shelves holding all manner of decorative teapots, cups, plates and other souvenirs... in addition to framed pictures or cross-stitch tapestry...

It seems almost every square centimetre of the place is filled with any and every deco item - perhaps Auntie Juliet was trying to create that warm homely environment for her diners eh!

Your cutlery is ready and available on the table...

The see-thau-por, Auntie Juliet started her business by selling the humble Mee Siam in the markets (you can read about her "history" from the various framed newspaper clippings on the wall!). This signature dish of hers was so popular that it kinda propelled her fortunes to open up a restaurant and has remained a "house speciality" ever since! At RM7 a plate, it is definitely more pricey than your average Mee Siam but upon tasting it, I could understand why it's so loved by her clientele. This simple meehoon dish was fragrant with its mixed spicy paste, the predominant ingredient being lemongrass. Fried with shrimps, beansprouts, beancurd and served with shredded lettuce, cut of lime and a dollop of sambal by the side, its simple tastiness was more than enough to satisfy any hunger pang.


LL's absolute favourite in this joint is the Seafood Platter (RM29.50: set price, comes with dessert). You can see from the picture that this is truly good value-for-money. The 3 huge shrimps, squids and generous-sized fish fillet were very fresh and grilled just-nice. The side dishes were potato salad and garden salad...


... here's a better angle of the "creatively-arranged" garden salad on the side...

This Ice Kacang which was part of the Seafood Platter set was so huge that even LL struggled to finish it.
At RM3.50 a bowl, the Chendol was another huge portion... however, the coconut milk was a bit watered-down and the gula melaka lacked "ooomph" - more reason for me not to have ordered this, as in the end, I could only manage to eat less than half of this! I should just have helped LL to finish his Ice Kacang!


The simple down-to-earth items in the menu and the "homely" environment of the place is a definite hit with the customers as you won't find a vacant table here for long. Even though the place was packed, service was pretty fast - the kitchen bell kept ringing constantly signalling the fast pace of dishes being served.

So if you want some quick unpretentious almost-homecooked food, head over to Auntie Juliet's!

My rating: 6.5/10