Zespri Kiwifruit: Original Recipes by Ieatishootipost!

The Zespri Kiwifruit Season is now well and truly underway and I have been asked to be Zespri Ambassador for the 2009 Season. As part of my duties, I had to come up with three original Kiwifruit recipes for the media launch which I am posting here for everyone to try at home. As I am more of a home chef rather than a professional chef, you will find that these are really simple recipes that anyone can do at home with ingredients that are easily available from the supermarket.

I hope you can try them at home and let us know what you think.


Zespri Green Kiwifruit, Surimi and Avocado Salad in Beancurd Skin

The first recipe is basically a salad which is presented in finger food form. The inspiration for this dish really came from my mom who introduced me to avocado and crabmeat salad with thousand island dressing years ago. The zesty green Kiwifruit goes very well with seafood such as crabs, prawns and lobster and I felt that the Kiwifruit would add a nice contrast to the creamy Avocado which can be a little heavy by itself. To give it a bit of Japanese twist, Goma dressing (Japanese Sesame dressing) was added to the mashed avocado as well as a dash of wasabi to give it a bit of kick. The idea of using inari skin actually came about because I was initially experimenting with the idea of a Kiwifruit rojak which is presented in a toasted Tau Pok Skin. But that didn't taste too nice, so I ended up using inari skin with avocado instead.

Ingredients:

1 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
6 sticks of Surimi
1 Ripe avocado
1 teaspoon lime juice
2 tablespoons Japanese Goma Dressing
6 sheets of prepared Inari Beancurd skin
Wasabi paste

Mash avocado with Goma Dressing and lime juice and half fill the Inari Beancurd skin. Add two peasized portion of Wasabi on top of the mashed avocado. Cut ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit and Surimi sticks and set on top of the avocado.

Serves 6


Video Clip of Recipe


Zespri Green Kiwifruit on ice with Oolong Jelly and Wolfberries

I have been drinking a lot more Chinese Tea lately, in particular Oolong and Pu Erh tea as they are great for lowering cholesterol levels. Hey, when you are eating stuff like Char Kway Teow, you really want to try balance it out with something that will help negate the ill effects of all that lard. One of those things I have been doing was to chill the tea in the fridge and drink it cold. When I got my supply of Kiwifruit, I thought that adding a few slices of Kiwifruit into the chilled tea might make it even more refreshing, and was quite surprised that the combination worked really well!

So rather than having just chilled Oolong with Kiwifruit, I thought it would be great to make a jelly using Oolong. With Konnyaku, people often add flavours, colours and sugar to make the jelly. But I just tried using just Oolong Tea with Konnyaku powder and found that it actually tastes quite refreshing without the addition of sugar. The Konnyaku powder does have a bit of sugar in it already, so the jelly is slightly sweet. With the sugar syrup, I originally used pandan flavoured syrup, but I felt that using wolfberries would give it some colour as well as flavour. Assemble all the ingredients in an ornate Chinese Tea cup and you have a dish that celebrates the Chinese origin of the Kiwifruit accompanied by the other Chinese ingredients of Oolong and wolfberries. It's a light, thirst quenching dessert for a hot day and you can make a big bowl of it like how we do with almond jelly with longan if you are serving at home.

Ingredients:

2 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
150mg Konnyaku powder
750ml brewed Oolong Tea
Half Cup wolfberries
2 Cup sugar
1 Cup water

Mix Konnyaku powder with brewed Oolong Tea and bring to boil. Pour into mould and set in the fridge. Dissolve sugar in the water and add wolfberries and bring to boil. Simmer for half and hour till wolfberries are soft and plump and chill in the fridge. To serve, shave or crush ice, top with cubed Oolong Konnyaku and Kiwifruit. Add wolfberries and syrup to taste.

Serves 4 to 6

Video Clip of this Recipe

Gold Kiwi Pudding with Sago

The idea for this final dish comes from the popular Mango Pudding dessert that we often get at Dim Sum restaurants. But it is difficult for gelatine to set with Kiwifruit because the Kiwifruit contains actinidine, an enzyme that breaks down protein. This is why if you marinade a tough cut of beef with Kiwifruit for half an hour, your meat is going to be nice and tender. Also you really don't want to cook the Kiwifruit as it would destroy the Vitamins. So in the end I just pureed the Kiwifruit and mixed it with the custard and was pleasantly surprised that it worked really well.

You can blend the Kiwifruit if you like but I find that if you use a blender, the seeds get cut and you get a grainy texture with your pudding. So after trying out a few ways of making pureed Kiwifruit, I suddenly realise that you can simply crush it by hand which is where the ziploc bag idea came it. With the ziploc bag, you can puree the kiwifruit, mix it with the custard and leave the whole bag in the fridge to chill. When you are ready to serve, cut off the corner of the bag and it turns instantly into a piping bag! The sago adds a local touch to the dessert as well as some texture to contrast with the smooth pudding.

Ingredients:

6 ZESPRI Gold Kiwifruit
Half Cup Pearl Sago
400ml milk or alternatively skim milk may be used
200ml Evaporated milk
4 Tablespoon Bird’s Custard Powder
4 Tablespoon sugar (adjust to taste)
Vanilla essence

To make Sago:

Rinse sago and add to pot of boiling water. Bring to boil then turn off heat and leave for 20 minutes. Bring water to boil again and cook until sago is transparent. Rinse in cold water and set in fridge.

To make custard:

Add 50ml of milk to custard powder and sugar and dissolve. Bring the rest of the milk and evaporated milk to boil. Slowly whisk the custard powder mixture into the hot milk and bring to boil. Add a few drops of vanilla essence to taste. Chill in fridge.

To assemble:

Cube the Gold Kiwifruit. Save some of the Kiwifruit for the topping and place the rest in a Ziploc bag. Use your hands to crush the kiwifruit into a puree. You can also use a blender if you wish, but the seeds will get cut and it will not taste as nice. Add equal amounts of the chilled Custard into the Ziploc bag and mix. You can now leave the bag of Custard in the fridge to chill.
When ready to serve, spoon the sago into a Martini glass. Cut the corner off the Ziploc bag and pipe the Kiwifruit Custard into the glass. Top with cubed Gold Kiwifruit and garnish with a slice of Green Kiwifruit.

Serves 4 to 6


Video Clip of this Recipe

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Kwong Satay: Kushiyaki style Pork Belly Satay!

With Holydrummer, Holybunny, Wahcow, Cactuskit, Khim, Amagada, Denniz

Kwong's Premium Pork Belly Satay $1ea

I had a dream.

I dreamt that I was eating Pork Belly Kushiyaki (Butabara) and all the wonderful juice was bursting out in my mouth as I sank my teeth into the springy flesh. But in my dream, instead of the plain salt and pepper marinade, the pork was marinated Hainanese satay style and I enjoying the sweet fragrance of the cumin, coriander, five spice powder and saffron....yummm...

Then I woke up right at the part where my pastor said: "And in conclusion......."


Pork Belly Satay on the grill (note size of the normal satay beside it)

Now that I had that dream, I just couldn't get it out of my mind. Somehow, I had to find some Satay seller who is willing to take on my idea. As if by divine intervention, I stumbled upon this blog whose author just happened to be the daughter of Kwong's Satay whom I blogged about a while ago. In her blog post, she said that she was pleasantly surprised that one day, person from one of Singapore's major organizations called up to place an order for a large function. She found out later that they had found out about them from reading my blog post! So since I knew she was happy, I decided it was an opportune time to try my luck and see if they would agree to my idea of a Kushiyaki style Pork Belly Satay.

So that is how our group of Makan Kakis ended up in Geylang Lor 29 one evening to taste-test the latest "ieat creation". The majority of the makan kakis including myself gave it a 4.75/5 for being the juiciest and best tasting satay (certainly the largest). Cactuskit was not as ecstatic as he did not like fats in his satay (where got pork satay with no fats?) but still gave it a 4.25/5. The satay is almost 2 and a half times their normal Pork Loin Satay, so I guess the price of $1 is justified and furthermore you are getting Pork Belly meat which is more expensive than Pork Loin.


Original Pork Satay 40 cents each

Don't miss out on the normal Pork Satay (40 cents) as well as the two meats are different. The normal Pork Satay is more tender compared to the Pork Belly which is a little more chewy but more flavoursome and juicy. One of the secrets of Kwong's satay is that he still insists on using Saffron ($6000 per kg) in the marinade which made it very aromatic. 4.5/5

The peanut sauce comes with crushed pineapple which would please most foodies. However, I did feel that the sauce could have been more "peanutty" to make it even shioker. The Ketupat is very nice as they use pandan leaves instead of coconut. Have a bit of a sniff before you pop it into your mouth when you try it.

Somehow, I felt that the Satays here at the original stall taste better than the one that I blogged earlier at one of the franchisees. It could have something to do with the high turnover of the satays as well as the person who is actually doing the grilling.The original owner, Mr Kwong has since passed on the everyday running of the stall to his disciple whom he has trained in the art of Satay BBQing. He now concentrates on supplying his satay to various stalls around Singapore (as well as home parties). However, he can still be spotted at the stall occasionally since it was where he first started his business in the 80's.

Conclusion

One of the most memorable Satay experiences for me and, I hope, for you too!

Post Script:

This is already quite a popular stall on weekends, so be prepared to wait for your satay!

Kwong Satay Geylang Lor 29 (Geylang side)
5pm - 11pm
closed on alt Wednesdays (This wed open)
Home orders available from Kwong's
Call 6565 0002 Judy
www.kwongsatay.com.sg

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Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow: Let's Raise the Bar on Beef Kway Teow!

Minipot Shabu Shabu sets starting from $15 (All proceeds donated to Operation Smile)

I recently complained to a TV producer that she should not continue to make TV shows that glamourise $2 hawker meals. I mean, do we really want to encourage more hawkers to compete just price rather than to focus on quality?


With food prices going up, our hawkers are all suffering from lower profit margins but at the same time still under pressure to provide meals at cheap cheap prices. Our friend Liverpool of
Good Morning Nanyang Cafe is still forced to sell his cup of Kopi for $1.10 just because he is selling "Kopi" (Ya Kun already increased to $1.50 btw) while the same people won't even blink an eye to pay $5 for a cup of cappuccino at a cafe.

What we need is to change our mentality and reward hawkers who are willing to give us quality stuff rather than cheap cheap stuff. Either we do that or we risk all the good hawkers not being able to pass down their skills to the next generation. In the end we will all lose out.

I have made it my personal mission to support hawkers who are opened to new ideas and to providing better quality hawker food for us all. The fact is that even if they increase their prices, it is still cheaper than eating at a restaurant, but you derive more shiokness out of it.

So I am very happy to announce that Tina from Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow and taken on my suggestion of introducing a Shabu Shabu style Beef Kway Teow which I hope will do for Beef Kway Teow what Big Prawns had done for Prawn Noodles.

The premise is very simple. We like Beef Kway Teow, we like good beef and we also like our beef not too well cooked. So the solution to this is to provide nice Sukiyaki Grade Beef with a Mini Hotpot of stewed beef tendon, balls, tripe and you can cook your sliced beef yourself!


How often have you eaten Beef Kway Teow and wished the beef could be better?

Needless to say, the longer you cook the soup, the more "Tok Kong" (addictive) it is going to get and the slices of beef that you cook yourself just melts in your mouth and is even more shiok with Hock Lam's famous chilli sauce! 4.5/5

I prefer the soup version to the original dry version here. But you should try Tina's new "Gorn Lor" Hor Fun which is fragrant and the kway teow just leaps into your mouth. 4/5

Hock Lam will be introducing their Minipot Beef set on their 97th anniversary which is on 1 Oct (Hari Raya). And to commemorate their anniversary, they will be donating all the proceeds of the day to Operation Smile which is a worldwide movement to fix cleft palates in kids. So that is an added incentive to go down and try this very special way of enjoying one of Singapore's truly heritage foods. And, if it is well received, they might even put it on their menu!

Conclusion

I have tried very hard to convince Tina that there will be a market for better quality beef, but she is worried that consumers might not want to pay for it. How do you all feel about it? Would you like to see Wagyu beef or Karubi on the menu? Or do you want to just stick to the traditional $4 Bowl of Beef Kway Teow?

Please Note:

This special dish is only available on 1 Oct 2008 to commemorate their anniversary. However, if the feedback is good, they might decide to put it on the menu.The ieat kakis will be going there for lunch at around 1.30pm, do come and join us and at the same time support Operation Smile!

They will be opening from 10am to 3pm on that day itself.

Hock Lam Street Beef Kway Teow
22 China St, #01-01
Far East Square
62209290
90180508 (Tina Tan)



What to do next:
Read what others have to say about Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow! Very heated indeed!
See which other kakis are coming in our Forum.

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Cilantro: Foie Gras hits the Heartlands!

This stall is closed

Escargot $8

When I first started the blog, I wrote about Astons and eBlackboard and how these eateries are bringing affordable western cuisines to the heartlands. I hinted then, that we will see more and more Restaurant Style Western Food stalls in our heartlands. And it came to pass that Singaporeans are now enjoying the likes of Botak Jones, Crazy Ang Moh and Astons in a coffeeshop environment.

Now we move on to the next level. Foie Gras and Escargot in our heartland coffeeshops.

Actually the development is inevitable. With the increase in rental and food prices, Singaporeans are finding it increasingly expensive to dine at restaurants and restaurants are finding the high rental prohibitive to their businesses. That was the case with Cilantro, who used to be a fine dining restaurant at Purvis Street which earned rave reviews from the media. When their landlords increased their rentals, they decided that instead of continuing to work hard to feed the landlords, they would bring fine dining cuisine to our heartlanders instead.

Notice I never said "fine dining" but rather "fine dining cuisine". This is because it is still to be seen if Singaporeans will pay higher prices to eat at coffeeshops even though the food is fine dining standards. Or put another way, is fine dining just about the food or is it also about the service and the ambiance? If we can judge from the experience of Botak Jones and Astons, I would say confidently that a large segment of Singaporeans will take to this type of cuisine at coffeeshops IF the price is right. We Singaporeans are practical and more importantly we are know a good bargain when we see one.

So what is a good bargain? How about Escargot for $8 and Foie Gras (Goose, not duck liver) at $15 without GST and service charge? I think I got your attention.

This is the 2nd time I am trying Cilantro. During my first visit 1 month ago at the Old Airport Road Food Centre, they were still undecided as to whether the heartlanders will be willing to pay a little more for fine dining. So I ended up eating their "not so fine dining" standard fare. It was good but I felt that it wasn't exciting enough to be blogged, so I encouraged them to really give Singaporeans the good stuff they used to serve at their restaurant. I really believe that Foie Gras in a coffeeshop would cause some excitement, especially with the ieatishootipost makan kakis.


Foie Gras (Goose Liver) $15 (Special promo for ieatishootipost readers $12)

So here it is! $15 Foie Gras! And they are not cutting corners. They use Goose liver which have been marinated in Szechuan peppercorn and other spices, panfried till it is crisp outside and served with an excellent brown sauce reduction flavoured with truffle oil and topped with raisins which have been soaked in Black Vinegar and sweetened with rock suger.

I am not kidding. This is the one of the best Foie Gras I have eaten and certainly the cheapest. The Foie Gras is super creamy and oh so umami. And the sweetened black raisins were an excellent complement for the savoury Foie Gras. For those of you who have not tried Foie Gras, this would be a great opportunity to be introduced to the dish. If you think that you would never like liver, just remember that Foie Gras does not taste anything like the liver you know. Trust me, it's the only liver I eat. 4.75/5

The escargot was surprisingly good. Everytime I had escargots before, I thought they tasted like a cross between a rubber band and salted fish. But this one was surprisingly tender and flavoured with a mild curried butter. Ok, I still don't really appreciate the taste of the escargots itself but I think as a whole they make for a tasty appetizer. 4/5


Lamb Rack $20

The other dish that tingled my tastebuds was the lamb rack. Lamb has a very strong flavour, so I usually like it with a sauce that is fruity and sweet. They use an excellent chilled NZ lamb rack here which has been marinated with lemon grass and other spices before grilling and served with a piquant brown sauce. Rather than causing fusion confusion, I thought the combination of Asian spices to the lamb rack was excellent. The lamb was really tender with that melt in your mouth quality about it. So good that I am still thinking about it. 4.5/5


Smoked Duck Breast Pizza $6

One thing that was really good that I remember from my first visit was the Smoked Duck Breast. They actually marinate and smoke their own Duck and it is very good. The pizzas here will be great for the kids. I like the the chewy quality of the Mozarella they use here but I think the pre-baked crust needed a bit more tweaking. With the smoked duck pizza, I reckon a BBQ sauce like those served with Peking Duck would have made a better combination. 3.5/5


King Prawn Mee Sua

The Mee Sua was a little hard to figure out at first. I had really no reference point for this dish. It didn't come across as a Western dish with an Eastern influence or vice versa. To me it tasted a little like chicken broth with noodles.



However, the one thing that I did appreciate was the Mee Sua. It wasn't powdery like the Mee Sua that I was accustomed to. Instead it had a very unique bite to it that I really grew to appreciate. It was then that I found out that they were using Japanese Mee Sua! That was a first for me and I really give it to the Japanese for being able to make Mee Sua that tasted better than all the Mee Sua that I have eaten before! If you are the sort that likes noodle soups and ramen, I think you will like this one. 4/5

Conclusion

Be a part of Singapore Culinary history and be one of the first to eat Foie Gras in a coffee shop! Whether or not Singaporeans will be willing to pay for fine dining in a coffeeshop remains to be seen. But I think that we will be seeing more fine dining in our coffeeshops in the near future.

Special Promo for ieatishootipost readers:

Go to the stall and mention the blog and pay $12 for the Foie Gras. This is the normal portion not a mini portion. But you guys Zi Dong a bit and buy some of their other stuff okay? There are limited portions of foie gras so it may be a good idea to call up first to reserve yours.

Update: 4 Sep 2008

Due to lack of supply, the Foie Gras promotion will cease on 15 Sep 2008

Update: 9 Oct 2008

They have revamped their menu, so these items are no longer available.

Cilantro Modern Asia
Blk 28, Jln Bukit Merah,
#01/4476 S(152028)
www.cilantro.com.sg
10am to 10pm
Open daily
Disclaimer: This was an invited review.
97950289

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ieatishootipost on Channel U

Here's the link to the video on youtube

You can also read the online article at xin.sg

When the reporter from Channel U asked me to pick a place where we can stage the interview, Ya Kwang immediately came to mind. I chose Ya Kwang because Jason decided to introduce Cze Char dishes right after the first blog post on their Kway Chap. It was during that meeting that I discussed with Jason about the possibility of introducing a Lobster Noodle dish that was available outside of a hotel or fancy restaurant. It became the first of many unique new Cze Char dishes to be introduced our local food scene.

So after 10 months of blogging (on this and other blogs), the print media finally took notice and featured their Crab Bee Hoon on the Sunday Times last week. I thought this was a good example of how blogging is changing the way eateries are being marketed in our day and age.

Personally, I feel that restaurants have not fully realize the potential of blogs to make or break a restaurant. Of course, blogs are still very much in the infancy stage compared to the main stream media when it comes to marketing. However, as the experience in the Malaysian elections have shown, it would be a mistake to simply ignore the blogs. I think it is only a matter of time before PR agencies are hired by the restaurants to manage bloggers. This would be a whole new ballgame for the PR agencies because they will be dealing with a group of people whose nature is to fiercely defend their right to independence and free speech.

On the other hand, consider the impact that a group of 20 or 30 food bloggers reviewing the same eatery all at the same time. All we need now is a nexus whereby they can all be mobilized simultaneously. It's an uphill task trying to get a whole bunch of individualistic "cats" to behave like socialistic "dogs". There have been food bloggers' dinners organized in the past to try to bring food bloggers together, but these have only been a "blue moon" affair. The community of food bloggers in Singapore still tend to remain fragmented. Some would perhaps argue that it should remain this way. Though I believe that blogging should retain its independent flavour, I also see the marketing potential of some form of association. I am trying to plant the seed for such a nexus by creating a special segment in the forum where Singapore food bloggers can get together to discuss food blogging issues. It's a start but there is still a long way to go.

One of the emerging players in this whole equation is the blog advertising agency Nuffnang whose ads are supported in this blog. Nuffnang is emerging as the de facto association for bloggers by organizing gatherings and forums where bloggers can all congregate to discuss contemporary issues. The next logical evolution is for Nuffnang to segment its registered bloggers into the various categories and mobilize them to provide reviews of different products. I think that would be an attractive proposition to advertisers. Currently they are already doing product advertorials but on a wider, less specialized scale.

Anyway, enough of theorizing, back to the appetizing.


500g Lobster Tang Hoon $60

For this occasion, we wanted to do something that would look impressive on TV, so we went with the Boston Lobster again. Nothing spectacularly imaginative, just substituting Crab for Lobster in his already popular Crab Tang Hoon dish.



This dish combines one of my favourite carbs with my all time favourite seafood. Korean Tang Hoon is one of those magical foods that I simply fell in love with when I first tasted it in Sydney. (My hometown of Eastwood is almost like a little Korea!) And I fell in love with Lobster the first time I had it in Phuket. Not only because they are nice to eat (and very exclusive), their are probably the prettiest and most photogenic of seafoods. The bright red colour never fails to make a good picture, and the shell and tomalley (that green stuff in the head) always imparts the savoury taste of the sea to starchy staples of any kind. So it was a impressive no brainer. 4.5/5

Conclusion

I would like to apologize to the 11 Lao Shis (10 from St Andrew's and Kang Lao Shi of RJC '87-'88) who have tried their utmost to teach me mandarin. I tried my best but as you can see, I have not made further progress in the last 20 years. And if it makes you feel any better, I am still occasionally waking up in the middle of the night thinking that I am sitting for my Chinese Exams the next day. So I hope it shows that I really did try. And to the rest, please give me a break, my Chinese is not "Half past six", its a proper D7!

Thanks again to all the readers of this blog. Your comments and constant encouragement continue to fan the charcoal fire and keep the satay grilling!

Update 1 Nov 2008

Please note that Jason has sold his business as of 1 Nov 2008. We wish him all the best as he ventures down under!

Ya Kwang Dai Pai Dong
709 Geylang Road (Lor 37)
11am to 11pm daily
98170006
Lobster orders before 7 pm




Here's the translation of the Video provided by jems based on the transcript: Thanks jems!

Some bloggers like to make use of their online blogs to introduce food they love to eat. There's this particular blogger who sets out to eat all the local hawker food and blog it on his blog as a food directory for netizens.

Dr Leslie Tay loves food and also loves photography. He combined these two interests one and a half years ago, started an online food blog, going around Singapore tasting hawker food, took pictures and uploaded them onto his blog, added his critic, categorized them into various categories for easy lookup for the netizens, averaging a hit rate of 8000 a day.

Some hawkers even voluntarily requested for Dr Tay to blog about them, hoping that it will help to boost their business. Dr Tay said, " Some said it does not affect much. It's very hard to say, but for most of the unique ones, I give full marks, or rather not full marks, but 4.75, most of them will see a significant improvement in business."

There's a stall situated at Geylang which is famous for its Crab Beehoon and Lobster Noodles, after Dr Tay's introduction saw an increase in business by 50%. There are even Indonesian netizens who after reading the blog, specially flew into town to try his food. Ya Kwang Da Pai Dang's boss Jason Tan said, "When they were here, they were carrying luggage, to come and eat my Lobster Noodles, I just find it very amusing, Dr Tay's blog can evoke foreigners to come try my stuffs."

Other than introducing good food, Dr Tay also from time to time suggests to the hawkers how to improvise and create new dishes, for example this Lobster Tang Hoon. Netizens also discuss in his forum how never to waste calories on yucky food.

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Ya Kwang: Italian Cze Char

With Camemberu, Keropokman and Amagada

Huay La Ban Mian $5

You would be forgiven if you thought that this was a blog about Italian food. This is not a plate of Pasta con Vongole. It might look like Vongole and maybe taste a little like Vongole but Vongole it is not. Instead, it is a Fried Ban Mian with Huay La and it is eaten in a coffeeshop amidst the smells of Kway Chap and exhaust smoke.



This is a relatively simple dish. The secret lies in the type of clams used. Jason uses what he calls a Huay La (Huay = Flower) as opposed to the more common La La. The Huay La is much sweeter than the La La and that characteristic bitter aftertaste gives the al dente (should I say QQ?) homemade Ban Mian a great sauce to create gastronomic symphony. Certainly a most unexpected hawker dish!. 4.5/5

This is actually my second time eating this dish in a week and this time I gatecrashed on Keropokman's lunch AGM of the Alumni of Batu Pahat Bloggers. By the time I got there, the alumni was already halfway through their agenda and two eyeballs short of their steamed salmon head! You can read Keropokman's account here and Camemberu's here. So not say I say but other bloggers also say that this Ban Mian is good, ok?


Prawn Tang Hoon $7

I did not want to eat crab that day, but I was still yearning for the marvelous Korean Tang Hoon, so I requested that Jason do a Prawn Tang Hoon for me instead. The dish came with a pleasant, and unexpected addition of belly pork as well. The Tang Hoon was wonderfully slurpilicious as usual, however the prawns did not give it as much kick as the crab usually does. OK, still managed to satisfy my Tang Hoon craving but not quite hit the umami spot. 4/5


Teriyaki Beef Hor Fun $5

Jason loves everything Japanese and used to run a Japanese stall over at Suntec City. So there is a lot of Japanese influence in his food. The Kway Chap for instance uses Kikoman soy sauce instead of the normal Soy Sauce. I tried his Teriyaki Beef with rice set which was so good that my son finished the whole thing before I got enough of it. So I asked Jason to try something new for me. Instead of rice, I asked him to fry a Teriyaki Beef Hor Fun instead.

Well, let's just say that it was so good that one of my fellow bloggers Tah Powed a portion home. I like the fact that Jason uses a really nice beef and he doesn't tenderize it by soaking it in bicarb. So the beef is nice and beefy and the homemade teriyaki sauce is quite shiok. The Hor Fun still can be improved as it did not have that wok hei flavour. That aside, this is a dish that I am looking forward to eating again soon. 4.25/5

Conclusion

Not many stalls get repeated blog posts. What can I to do? Everytime I come here to eat, I either discover something new or create a new dish!. So how not to blog? Anyway these one dish items would be a great idea for a quick lunch if you are tired of the samo samo and want to try something tasty and novel. Hope you enjoy it and if you have any ideas for something new, just ask Jason to try it and write about it in the forum for everyone to know!

Click here to read the other Ya Kwang Posts.

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D'Bun: The Char Siew Sio Bak Pau!

Mouse Pau: Lotus Paste $1 ea

You might not realise it yet, but you and several thousand other readers of this blog are part of a small test market for new food products. When you make the effort to go down and try some of the new stuff that is being featured on the blog, you are actually playing a role in introducing a new food item to our local food scene. Over the last 18 months, several new food items have already been introduced. The Godzilla Da Pau and ieat Superburger are probably the best known, and then of course there's the Double Ramly and the Cheese Baked Chilli Crab. Some of the rest did not quite make it, but hey it was still a lot of fun creating them. So I hope you all will continue to volunteer your tastebuds and tummies.

There are lots of stall owners with creative ideas but what they lack is a platform where they can test market their creations. So when I get to meet some of these passionate people, they get excited when they realize that they can try out their new recipes on a group of real foodies!

As fate would have it, I met Mimi, the boss of D'bun when we started our Alpha course last week. She and her friend, Ginny had cooked up a sumptuous dinner that night and I was enjoying a delicious Chui Pi Tou Foo when I was introduced to Mimi, who made the dish. When she found out about my food blog, she got really excited and started telling me about her ideas about some really interesting Paus.


Char Siew Sio Bak Pau $1, Normal Char Siew 60cents

A couple of days later I was at her shop in Joo Chiat to try out some of her new creations. The one that really got me excited was the Char Siew Sio Bak Pau which really hit that Oooommph button. Firstly, they roast all their own Char Siew and Sio Bak here. So the Char Siew filling already has that nice smoky charred flavour which is seriously lacking in a lot of Char Siew Paus nowadays. Then when you bite into the Sio Bak in the middle, ooooohhhh, the aroma of the crispy pork crackling just wafts up your nostrils. This is seriously quite shiok and definitely worth a try. 4.5/5


Curry Pau $1.20

The Curry Pau is not really new creation. It was selling quite well a few years ago but ceased production during the crisis with Malaysian pork. Now Mimi is resurrecting it again. The curry here is very mild, so even the kids can eat it. I love eating bread with curry, so this combination is not all that far fetched. I think this could be even better if they could give the curry a bit more of a umami kick. Perhaps a nice creamy beef Rendang might also work? 4/5


Chui Pi Tou Fu $1.20 per slice

This is the Chui Pi Tou Fu (Crispy Skin Tofu) that I ate during the Alpha course. It's basically egg tofu with lots of other ingredients wrapped in bean curd skin. It is quite light but very tasty and I couldn't stop eating it that night. Goes really well with sweet chilli sauce. 4.25/5


Yuen Yang Pau $1.30ea

Glad to report that they make the Yuan Yang Pau here as well. Not readily available nowadays, the Yuan Yang Pau is made from Red Bean Paste, Lotus Paste and salted egg yolk. They use a special layered skin for this Pau which I felt was just slightly too thick. Otherwise the Red Bean and Lotus Pastes were good. 3.75/5

Conclusion

I haven't had a great Char Siew Pau for a long time and this Char Siew Sio Bak Pau really hit the spot for me. I thought that even though the Char Siew filling is already one of the best ones around, it could still be improved that tiny bit more to get it past the threshold into the 4.75 category. Just like how that one extra "Yelp" from JoJo enabled Horton's suspicious neighbours to hear the noise emanating from Whoville! (Horton hears a Who)

My next challenge to Mimi was to create a die-die-must-try, "even the Malaysians will drive out to Singapore and pay ERP to buy", Luo Mai Kai! One that is laced with dried scallop XO sauce and other fantasy ingredients in it! Mmmmmm........ stay tuned!

D'Bun
358 Joo Chiat Road
Jn of Marshall & Joo Chiat Rd
63448110
www.dbun.com.sg
8am to 10pm

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Kim's Hokkien Mee: The Hokkien Mee Experiment

With Damien, smart, sumosumo, bashful hunter, holydrummer, fashion foodie, khim and friends

Special Claypot Hokkien Mee $5 per person

This pot of Hokkien Mee was one and a half years in the making. For those who can still remember, one of my earliest posts was about my fantasy of putting Sio Bak in a claypot of Hokkien Mee. However, on that occasion, I had to bring along my own Sio Bak and it wasn't really braised in the claypot, but merely tossed in with the Hokkien Mee. So it wasn't quite what I wanted but it was still pretty shiok. Since then, I have looking for a Hokkien Mee Hawker who is adventurous enough to accommodate my wacky ideas.

So after putting the idea in the back burner for over a year, along comes the enigmatic Mr Tan Kue Kim (The original Kim) who quite readily agreed to do a Sio Bak Claypot Hokkien Mee for me. Finally, I will get to experience a real Sio Bak Braised Hokkien Mee! And when my makan kakis got wind of it, they also wanted to come along for a piece of the Sio Bak!



This Claypot Hokkien Mee is not for the faint hearted. Its got all the good stuff in it including Sio Bak, crispy pork lard, pork balls, prawns and sotong. A Cardiologist's dream to be sure. Comon', I know many Gastrointestinal Surgeons who love Kway Chap, Cardiologists who love pork lard and Respiratory physicians who smoke. Doctors are human after all. If you prick us, will we not bleed? Thankfully, we are the ones who usually do the pricking.

Tastewise, the opinions were divided. Those who where looking for a very good Hokkien Mee felt that braising the Hokkien Mee in a Claypot did not add value to a standard fried Hokkien Mee. There were others like Bashful Hunter who liked it because it was a novel way to enjoy Hokkien Mee. Personally, I was slightly disappointed that the stock that day did not quite hit the umami spot although the simmered Sio Bak was still quite shiok. Majority of the makan kakis however felt that the traditional boiled Pork Belly, sliced thin would still be better.

Ok, the bottomline from me: I would still go back and order it as is because I just love all that extra ingredients but it is not something I yearn to eat again the following week. I can't help but wonder how it compared with the Claypot Hokkien Mee that he used to dish out in the 80's? Ratings range from 3.5 to 4.25 so you'll have to try it yourself and make up your own mind.



Kim must have mellowed down quite a lot if you believe all the stuff that was said about him years ago. He was very accommodating and knowing that we are a bunch of foodies, he said he would specially fry for us his dry version that night. The dry version is fried with thin bee hoon and eaten with cut chilli, so it is similar to the Nam Sing and Hainan Hokkien Mee version.

The verdict: Being seasoned foodies, the dry Hokkien Mee did not quite give us that rush of excitement because we were comparing it with Nam Sing and Hainan. However, it was still a good plate of Hokkien Mee and definitely better than average. 4/5



To complete our Hokkien Mee Trilogy, we had Kim's standard Hokkien Mee which I have already reviewed in my previous post. Most of the kakis felt that this was better than the dry Hokkien Mee. 4.25/5

Conclusion

So that concludes our great Hokkien Mee experiment! I still feel that the Claypot Hokkien Mee has got potential and with a bit of tweaking, this can be one of those dishes you would travel across the island to eat. Kim tells me that he will be stocking Sio Bak at his stall, but if you are planning to go, it is still better to give him a call first.

Kim's Hokkien Mee
62-B Jalan Eunos
Jn of Jalan Kechot and Jalan Eunos
67478766
www.kims.com.sg
Opened 11.30am till 1am daily

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Noor Jannah's Kitchen: Bone Steak Hor Fun Anyone?

With fashionfoodie, bashful hunter, carnineviand, khim and friends


The good people from Noor Jannah's who were responsible for the Prata Bomb, have just moved to their new location at Jalan Masjid. As you would recall in the previous post, the neighbours were complaining about the smoke from the BBQ pit and as a result they couldn't grill their satay outside anymore. So they actually moved to another location and starting doing this Bone Steak Hor Fun which became a big hit after it was featured in the Suria Channel. When the owners of the coffeeshop saw how successful they were, they decided to take back the coffeeshop and run it themselves. As a result, this nice Malay couple found themselves having to move again. So now they have settled in Jalan Masjid, a place where they can panggang their Satay in the open and lead a Kampung like existence, hopefully for a long time.

I really enjoy eating at Noor Jannah's because they are not afraid of experimenting with new things. The raisin bomb, cheese bomb came into existence because of our zany experimentations and the bone steak hor fun became a reality because of the Satay Man's (Sha) secret fantasies.

This is my very first review of a Malay Cze Char. In fact, it is the first time I am eating Malay Cze Char. With all due respect to our Muslim readers, I have never really thought of eating Halal Cze Char because I had always assumed that there was no way Halal Cze Char can be that good since they don't use any pork to cook. However, I was proved wrong as the Hor Fun turned out to be quite tasty and I dare say better than a lot of Chinese Cze Char Hor Fun. Our group felt that the Hor Fun deserved a 4/5 even though it still lacked that elusive wok hei flavour. We were however not quite sure about the combination of Bone Steak and Hor Fun. The taste was just too jarring for our liking. However, it might appeal to people who love the strong taste of mutton. Guess it's something you will have to try for yourself!



If you like Malay Style Mee Goreng, then we would recommend you this particular one. Before this, I only know of Indian and Chinese Mee Goreng. Fashionfoodie told me that this version is the Malay version, which was more like the Chinese version but is more savoury than sweet. He gave the Mee Goreng a 4.25/5.



We confirm that you can now find the raisin and cheese bomb here and the good olde prata man from Malaysia is also resident. So this is going to be my regular prata spot since it is close to home. They have also introduce coin pratas which are mini pratas the size of a drink coaster. At six pieces for $2, it's great for the kids but a heck of a lot of work for $2 if you ask me. 4.25/5



Finally, my favourite (Malay) satay has found a home in the East. Not just I say, but the rest of my makankakis who are tasting the satays for the very first time also agree that the satays here are really good. Sha uses only thigh meat and they are big enough to remain juicy after grilling. We all agreed that it deserved a 4.5/5 You can also get beef tripe satay here, though it was a little too soft that evening and only scored a 3/5. However, Sha has informed me that he has already rectified the problem, so it should be much better now.

Like most Muslim 24 hour joints, the coffeeshop also serves a lot of other stuff. Frizz grill is also here for those looking for western food in the middle of the night. They also have a stalls selling Naan Bread and Ayam Penyat. Located in close proximity to two other 24 hour Muslim eateries, this stretch along Upper Changi Road is fast becoming a hub for those looking to satisfy their hunger 24/7.

Conclusion

To my surprise, Malay Cze Char actually turned out to be quite good. You'll just have to try the bone steak Hor Fun out for yourself to determine if you like it. The place has got a laid back kampong charm to it and coupled with a very good Prata and Satay, I can see myself having supper here quite often.

Noor Jannah's Kitchen
2 Jalan Masjid
90373623
Opened till very late for now
Open 24hrs soon
Disclosure: This was an invited review

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Noor Jannah's Kitchen: Get ready for a Prata BOMB!

There are updates at the end of the Blog

Raisin Boom: $2 Raisin Boom plus Kopi or Teh set: $2.50

OK, get ready for the next revolution in Roti Prata, or should I say Roti Canai?

Ever wondered if there is any difference between Roti Prata and Roti Canai? Most people would say that Prata is just the Singapore name for what the Malaysians call Roti Canai. Or is it?

It has been a while since I have been to Malaysia, but I remember that most of the Roti Canai I had there was the soft and fluffy type whereas in Singapore, the Schizophrenic Prata seems to come in many guises. The Roti Canai is actually supposed to be different from the Roti Prata in that the cooking process is slower and more laborious. In Singapore, where everyone is always in a hurry, the prata is cooked quickly by using lots of oil. In Malaysia, where people know how to be a bit more laid back and enjoy life, they make their Canai thick and fluffy and toast it over a slow fire with very little oil, then serve it with sambal and curry. The result is a pastry with a lighter and more chewy texture.

Since we are celebrating National Day this week, I really should not be saying this; but when it comes to Roti Canai, Malaysia really Boleh. So how? Does that mean that we can never enjoy a good Roti Canai in Singapore? Of couse not. If Malaysia Boleh, then Singapore lagi Boleh. We boleh hire the Malaysians to come make Roti Canai for us here in Singapore.


Cheese Double Bomb: $3.50

This stall did precisely that. They hired a guy who had just returned from making Roti Canai in Brunei and he brought with him the idea of the Prata Bomb which is currently the craze in Malaysia and Brunei. I was told that the Malay version of the dough is different from the Indian version. The dough is made with extra ingredients such as sugar, condensed milk and eggs so that it is more shiok.


Clockwise: The making of Prata Bomb

The Prata Bomb is essentially a dessert Prata which is something like a Snail Pastry. It's got margarine and sugar in between layers of prata dough and made to be thick and fluffy. The original Bomb sold in Brunei where this Prata man honed his skills had only margarine and sugar. We wanted to experiment with a few variations on this, so we tried raisins, cheese and cinnamon sugar. (Have to be better than Malaysia hor?)



We all loved the Raisin Bomb and the Cheese Bomb. The Cinnamon Bomb still needed a bit of tweaking. The wonderful thing about the Bomb is that it is really nice and crispy on the outside and buttery and fluffy within. It might be the same ingredients as the paper thin Tissue Prata, but you will be amazed at how the different way of preparing the dough really transformed the taste of it. You might find this wierd, but it goes really well with curry and I personally found it very shiok with a cup of Teh Tarik. 4.5/5

By the way, if you really want to eat a Roti Canai, you can ask specifically for "Roti Canai". The curry here is very shiok and they also serve the Roti with a delicious Sambal Tumis. The roti is nice, fluffy and not oily, but you will have to wait a bit longer for it. 4.5/5



This new stall in Bedok has several other items that are quite unique. One is the Soup Kambing Lontong which is quite popular in JB but difficult to find in Singapore. The soup is not thickened with cornflour so it is quite light but the flavour of the soup is still robust and uncompromised. You can have it with pressed rice, noodles or bee hoon. One of the best Kambing Soup I have had for a while and it does not make you feel jerlak afterwards. 4.5/5



The satay is the reason that I discovered this eatery in the first place. I have been pushing my friend Sha, who is the supplier of Power Chicken Satay to open a stall in the East and he eventually managed set it up here. The Power Chicken Satay has already been reviewed in a previous blog so I don't need to talk about it much except to let you know that you don't have to travel all the way to the West to try this now.

Conclusion

If this is so popular in Malaysia, it should soon take Singapore by storm just as Roti Boy did. It's been said before that the Prata is our answer to the Croissant. I didn't think it was that similar until now. With the Prata Bomb, we really have something that is comparable to a Croissant! Really Must Try don't you think?

Noor Jannah's Kitchen
Jalan Masjid







Update: 9 August 2007
Just found out that the Malaysian man who specializes in the Prata Bomb had to rush back to Malaysia because his wife became very sick. They have others doing the Bomb at the moment but I can only vouch for the Bombs produced by this guy. If you have been there recently, please let us know if the Bomb was alright.

Update: 9 Sep 2007
The stall has relocated to Bedok South Blk 18 after fighting a losing battle against the authorities who refused to allow them to BBQ the satay outside. The new address and opening times are updated on the blog. Now that they are able to pangang the satay properly, I hope that they can maintain the standards of the satay.

Update: 2 Mar 2008
The stall has relocated to Jalan Masjid in Kembangan and their new premises start operation this month. I haven't gone down to check them out yet. Will update later.

Update: 15 Jul 2008
Unfortunately they no longer do the Prata Bomb!

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Eighteen Chefs: New! Lobster Mornay Pasta

Lobster Aglio Olio $18.90 for set with soup and drink

For those who prefer the Ang Mo version of Lobster Noodles, here is a cafe where you can find it!

I dropped into 18 Chefs one day for the baked rice only to be pleasantly surprised that Benny has started serving Lobster pasta as well! Good thing I brought along my camera that day. I can't resist taking some Lobster shots. Don't you agree they make the nicest pictures?

Now, you already know that Lobster Thermidor holds that special place in my heart so when I found out that Benny had some Lobsters in the premises, I could not resist but to ask Benny if he could make a Lobster Thermidor for me.


Lobster Mornay Pasta $18.90

I told Benny what I would really like is a pasta with a seafood cream sauce made by simmering the Lobster shell with scallops and prawns served with the Lobster Thermidor on top. "Can do or not?" I asked Benny. Benny gave me his usual "Severe" look and said with a note of confidence, "Sure, I can give it a try".

I think Grilled Cheese and Lobster is just one of those "sure win" combinations. The seafood infused bechemel sauce was scooped into the Lobster shell topped with cheese and grilled till nice and golden brown. I just love how the Cheese manages to absorb the Lobster taste from the shell. Too bad Benny didn't have a bit of Brandy and Gruyere Cheese as it would have given it that extra kick. Actually this dish should more correctly be called a Lobster Mornay than a Lobster Thermidor but I am not complaining. At $18.90, I would certainly be coming back for it quite regularly! 4.25/5


Baked Pepper Crab Fried Rice

For those who have been waiting for the Baked Chilli Crab and Pepper Crabs, Benny has confirmed that it will be on the menu on Wednesday nights starting from this month. You will have to call in advance to book it yah?

Conclusion

Found a place to get an affordable Lobster Mornay Pasta! Not quite as "Cheok" as a Lobster Thermidor can be, but "Cheok" enough for me to think about going back for another meal.

Eighteen Chefs
Eastpoint Mall
3 Simei Street 6 #01-36
12pm to 11pm daily
67821298

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