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

Pasta Zanmai @ 1Utama

Pasta Zanmai
G210B Ground Floor Promenade
1 Utama Shopping Mall
Bandar Utama
Petaling Jaya


Much has been said about this sister outlet of Sushi Zanmai. While it serves Japanese-style pasta and pizza, it still retains some its other Japanese dishes on the menu, eg grilled seafood, tofu, edamame and some rice sets.

We started off with some Miso Soup - some of us had the Miso Soup Yasai (RM6) - with mixed vegetables and mushrooms...

... while I had the Miso Soup Asari (RM6) - with clams ... (only 4 clams in my bowl!). The portions of soup were more than sufficient and best of all, the soup was piping hot! Good!

Their Kani (crabstick) Avocado Salad (RM18) was served with our choice of Sesame Dressing. I would say for the price paid, the portion could have been more generous. The vegetables were fresh, crispy and the sesame dressing was excellent.

The thick sesame dressing was very fragrant and went very well with the salad...
Next came the Teriyaki Chicken Pizza (RM20). The thin biscuit-like pizza was very different from your regular-kinda western pizza. There's no yeast in the dough and its texture was almost like the cream crackers kinda biscuit - firm and crispy. It was served with a half-cooked egg in the centre and the idea is to break it up while the pizza's hot... so we had this runny-egg (like soft boiled egg) smothering the pizza. Topped with shredded spring onions, seaweed and tender chunks of teriyaki chicken, this was one delicious unique pizza!

The Creamy Chicken Spaghetti (RM18) had crispy fried chicken pieces and mushroom served in a thick rich creamy sauce. Thank goodness we were sharing all the dishes among ourselves. If you are to eat this entire pasta dish by yourself, you would end up feeling very "jelak", I'm sure!

The Unagi Wafu spaghetti (RM22) fared better with our tastebuds. Again, a half-boiled egg was part of the topping and once mixed with the pasta, it rendered a smooth delicious consistency to the dish.
The Smoked Salmon Pizza (RM25) is one really healthy dish - it's like a salad served on a biscuit! A whole bunch of crispy lettuce leaves and onions sat on top of the biscuit-like pizza and slices of smoked salmon decorated the salad, with a sprinkling of savoury pepper powder.
See how healthy it is??!

Shells from the clams in my Miso Soup... they looked so pretty and cleanly-scrubbed!
For an interesting Japanese-Italian fusion experience, this place should be visited at least once. It is quite packed during mealtimes but the service crew were pretty efficient and alert.

My rating: 7/10

Hoong Foong Dim Sum

Hoong Foong Dim Sum
No.77 & 79 Jalan USJ 21/10
Pusat Perniagaan USJ21
47630 Subang Jaya
Tel: 016-2637163 (Boon)/016-2031972 (John)
Operating hours: 7am - 2.30pm (everyday incl public holidays)

Taking a break from posting about baking, I'd like to share some feedback and photos of this popular Dim Sum place in USJ21. I believe they have another outlet in Puchong. This place is well-patronised for its decent dim sum at very affordable prices. Housed in a typical no-pretense coffee shop, service is brisk and they are usually "full house" on weekends.


Let's start off with the "must have's" ... Loh Mai Kai. I would say this was pretty average - nothing spectacular - the grains of glutinuous rice and chicken, cha siew, chinese sausage and mushroom were well-steamed.
Their Pork & Century Egg Porridge was robust with decent amounts of pork and egg. Served steaming hot, it gave a warm respite to our growling stomachs.
Now, on to the steamed stuff...
This Beancurd Roll was one of our favourites - we ordered extra plates of this. The fish & pork paste encased in the beancurd sheet was springy and tasty.
Anything to do with shrimps is LL's favourite- so this plate of steamed Shrimp Dumpling was eagerly taken from the bamboo tray. The above-average-sized shrimps were fresh - however, I found the taste a bit bland.

Ahh... the compulsory Pork Ribs with Black Beans... generous cuts of ribs were delicately-flavoured and steamed just nice - very satisfying indeed!
This plate of Steamed Beancurd looked interesting when it was offered to us. Hmmm... taste-wise, it was rather disappointing as the shrimp+pork filling did nothing to lift it above average.
We loved these Steamed Fish Balls in Beancurd Skin - I think we also ordered extra plates of this! Served with some yummy beanpaste gravy, this was quite delectable!

Ahh... their Cha Siew Pow was soft and fluffy - certainly passed the acid test of pows!


I'm not exactly a fan of the fried stuff but LL absolutely must have his Fried Springrolls! According to him, they were very crispy and tasted excellent!The Yam Puffs were light and crunchy and the cha siew filling was adequate. Like any good yam puff, they were not oily and the yam texture was "powdery" enough and was well mashed.
The Shrimp Rolls were "absolute heaven" - according to LL. As you can see, the light batter used was so puffed-up and crunchy! This was really shrimp paradise!

The Chee Cheong Fun guy busy with his tasks...
The trays and trays of dim sum ready to be served to the hungry hordes...


The steamer where all kinds of Pows were kept hot and soft...

Their prices are reasonable and won't burn a hole in your pockets, with prices starting from RM1.80 per plate. So, if you want some no-frills decent dim sum, this is the place to head to.

My rating: 7/10

Blueberry Muffins

Personally, I find that muffins are one of the easiest things to bake. LL did a good job baking his first batch of muffins (under my guidance, of course, hehe!). Basically, you just beat/mix everything together and bake...

The good thing about muffins is that you can be very flexible about the flavours you wish to add in... ranging from nuts, fruits, chocolate chips, fruit paste etc!

Last night we decided to do a Blueberry version... here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

3 eggs
125ml melted butter
250g self-raising flour
180g castor sugar
100ml water
100g blueberry granules/paste
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

*Beat eggs and sugar.
*Add in melted butter alternately with flour and water.
*Add in vanilla essence and blueberry granules & mix thoroughly.
*Spoon into paper cups and bake in 180 deg.C for 20-25 minutes till golden brown.

LL was a very good student and the muffins turned out very well, don't you think?

Moist Carrot Cake

With 3 days off last weekend and no travelling in mind, there was ample time for some baking. LL wanted to learn an easy no-fuss cake so the Moist Carrot Cake came to mind.

The recipe goes like this...

Ingredients:

200g shredded carrot (1 medium-sized carrot)
50g walnuts - chopped
70g raisins - chopped
70g canned pineapple - sliced into small pieces

225ml corn oil
180g castor sugar
200g flour + 1 tsp baking powder + 1 tsp soda bicarb - sieve together
4 eggs
1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

*Beat eggs and sugar together till sugar dissolves
*Slowly add in the corn oil, beat further
*Add in the cinnamon and vanilla
*Stir in all the chopped/shredded ingredients
*Lastly, fold in the sieved flour & combine well
*You can bake them in papercups like this...

Or in a 9" square tin like this...

*Bake cake in 190-200 deg.C for about 35 minutes (till golden brown)


See... wasn't that easy?