Tom Yum-Flavored Steamed Prawns

I find it an excuse whenever people tell me that it's hard to cook for two. I thought they meant that cooking small portions is hard. Now that my nest is empty, I realise that it isn't the portion but the whole purpose of cooking is not the same when you cook for two or in my case, three.

You know what they say about motherhood, that when you are finally good at it the kids are grown up. It's the same thing about cooking. When I finally hone my cooking skills, my kids have left home.

*sigh*

Here's a simple way to steam some prawns. The idea came from a meal at Hub's cousin in Shanghai during our visit in 2010. For a spicier dish, I'd use bottled tom yum seasoning although you, the purist cook, can make the tom yum from scratch. Add additional seasoning, such as fish sauce, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves if you want to. Don't forget to serve with lime wedges.





Tom Yum-Flavored Steamed Prawns With Mung Bean Noodles
1/2 kg fresh prawns, deveined and unpeeled
a small handful of dried mung bean vermicelli, soaked in water for 15 minutes
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn (optional)
2 stalks lemon grass, smashed (optional)
2 to 3 slices of lengkuas (optional)
1 to 2 red bird's eyes chilies, chopped (optional)
a few sprigs of coriander leaves/cilantro
2 T tom yum seasoning granules
2 T fish sauce
1 T light soy sauce
1/2 can chicken broth + 1 can water

Garnish with:
cilantro
1 lime, in wedges

1. Season the prawns with 1 T tom yum seasoning. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a heat-proof dish.
2. Arrange the prawns over the noodles. The water should just about cover the noodles.
3. Steam 6 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the prawns.
4. Garnish and serve hot.

Portrait of Jay Chou Using Coffee Stains

Yi's latest painting of her sad songs idol, Jay Chou. Posted half an hour ago.



Guangxi TV in China showed her Yao Ming painting recently:

Old Farm City Park Seafood Restaurant

Frankly, I'm reluctant to tell you about this restaurant. They aren't getting the local crowds as much as they do the tourists who are there mostly because the location is so convenient, smack in town right in front of the DBKK town council building and next door to the new Horizon Hotel. I'm possessive about this place because I don't want it to turn into another Welcome Seafood Restaurant. I rated Welcome Restaurant in Bundusan very highly about 5 years ago but now they've become so popular that it's hard to drop by without a reservation. I've also seen rats running around because that's a warehouse area. Welcome's Asia City outlet is just as jam-packed. I ate there in early January and it was an unpleasant dining experience. I just don't get why Chinese focus on food only and not on the whole dining thing. Surely we've come further than eating just for survival? There were so many people at Welcome that the tables were placed all along the sidewalk, next to the road. The seating took forever, the food took forever (tasted what they were: mass-cooked and crappy), the bill took forever and the place was littered with used tissues and unidentifiable water and noise, not just from the customers but also from the waiters who were clearly overwhelmed by the chaos.

I was told that the food's good at Old Farm City Park Seafood Restaurant (gosh, decide which one's more important, 'City' or 'Park' or 'Old Farm' or 'Seafood" and cut customers some wordy slack), formerly Old Farm Restaurant in Foh San, and the prices lower (RM28 per kg live prawns) than most other seafood restaurants but when we drove by the back, it looked rather shabby especially since there was a public toilet attached to the building. We left and went to a new seafood restaurant in Hilltop that was better housed but the food was embarrassing and I was sorry I brought some visitors from Melbourne there.

One night during the CNY period, when we were all tired of heavy meat dishes, we went to OFCPSR ("Hey, let's go eat at Old Farm City Park Seafood Restaurant tonight!"--gosh) for congee. Congee is comfort food to most Chinese especially when appetite's down or when having a food hangover. Sorry no photos of the congee and seafood feast because I didn't think the place would be good enough and so I didn't bring a camera. 

B was right. I think OFCPSR serves the best congee in KK. Their congee was light, fresh and tasty without the salty sweetness of msg which is so prevalent in that other famous place in Old Foh San. I just can't go to that other congee place anymore: the floor is carpeted with dirty tissues, the tables are so tight food has to be passed over your head. Worst of all, the congee comes in cold clumps sometimes and after eating, my mouth feels dry and my lips smack of msg. The only snag about OFCPSR is that they don't serve pork and so the best congee combination of pork and century eggs is not available. The closest you get to that is chicken and century eggs. I like their fish congee (but wish there's more fish slices) but some friends from Hong Kong and China love their crabs congee. HK congee is the best so if HKgers give their thumbs up, you know you are at the right place. However, the consistency of the congee can vary so you should tell the waitress if you don't want your congee too thick.

There's no tax or service charge, believe it or not, and parking is easy too. This place is right in front of DBKK, next to the gas station next to the new Horizon Hotel. A Malay food stall operates under the same roof and I'm going for nasi kerabu next time I'm there. Hub and I have been back to OFCPSR five times since we first ate there 3 weeks ago. They should give me a loyalty card or something.

Old Farm City Park Seafood Restaurant (someone tell them!)
Near Anzec Memorial, Jalan Tugu,
Kota Kinabalu
Opening hours: 11 am to 2 am.

Medium pot of congee, RM15/USD5.00. Large (RM20) is a lot bigger.

Half kg of salt and pepper soft shelled crabs, RM30/USD9.80. The soft-shelled crabs were live, not frozen, and were plump but didn't have roe. If there's roe and the batter is thinner, this can be a close second to Hyatt Kinabalu's soft-shelled crabs.

HK style dry fry beef and flat rice noodles, something hard to find in this town. This was quite the best version I've had in KK. RM8/USD2.60 for a single portion.

This was very ordinary, boiled beef slices with bean sprouts, RM12/USD4.00.

Small portion of sha cha claypot fish head and belly, RM18/USD5.90, excellent.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For those who can't be with their beloved, for those who are fighting, for those who won't be getting flowers, for those who can't forget their past love and for those yearning for the right one, have a blast still!

Meter Cake

Yes, literally, how lonnggg is your love?

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a meter cake recipe from East Europe. Six months ago I stumbled upon Chili Vanilla, a little cafe opposite Wisma Merdeka. The chef is a Hungarian lady, the menu is limited but generally the food is good although I would've been happier if the goulash was more of a soup than a stew.

I heard meter correctly but the cake didn't look one meter long. The lady explained that breaking the meter-long cake into two was easier for display. I love Chili Vanilla's meter cake. It was soft, the custard gooey and best of all, the chocolate coating was delicious and fun to eat because it was slightly sticky and springy. I was told by the waitress that it was ordinary chocolate ganache. I think otherwise though.

There's only one meter cake recipe on the Net, as far as I can search, and it's here in a lovely Croatian food blog. I made the cake for my bro Joe's birthday (other than signifying long-lasting love, the meter cake can signify a long life) and everybody liked it but like most first-time food that make a deep impression, I prefer Chili Vanilla's version for several reasons. The choc coating and the custard were too firm after chilling in the version I made. As usual, I reduced the sugar but the biggest mistake I made was not using Valrhona chocolate powder, which I usually do for all chocolate recipes. The cake texture was beautiful, moist and soft without being spongy. I would use this cake batter for other cakes in future.

I really like the idea of a long piece of cake which guests can slice off according to their appetite. It will be so dramatic and showy on a buffet table, especially if it's strewn with berries. But I'm in tropical Asia and berries are expensive so I got hold of a durian and added some durian in the custard in my second meter cake. Instead of chocolate ganache, whipped cream with mashed durian was faster and cheaper to make than chocolate ganache. Besides, choc ganache is so rich it softens before the cake can come to room temperature.

You know what? The durian meter cake was yummy, especially after a night of chilling. The custard was made without eggs so it stayed soft and gooey even after chilling. Even if you don't want to make it one meter long, make a shorter cake using half the cake recipe. My son Ming thinks that for the durian meter cake, plain vanilla cake without chocolate cake would be better. I agree. Great cake to make to express your long, long-lasting love especially on Valentine's Day tomorrow.


Sandwich the slices of cake with the custard. This cake is more dramatic and true to its name if you serve it a meter long.


Cover the cakes with the remaining custard. Chill.


Cover the cake with melted chocolate. The original meter cake.


Slice cake diagonally to get both flavors.

Durian meter cake.

Meter Cake
The Cake:
4 large eggs, separated
150 gm fine sugar (reduced from 250 gm)
150 ml water
150 ml veg oil
250 gm all-purpose flour
1/2 T baking powder (I used double action bp)
2 T cocoa powder (omit if making all-white cake) + 1 T cacao (I don't know what this is so I left it out)
optional: 1 t pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and flour two semi-circular loaf pans. You can half the recipe and make one cake first if you have only one loaf pan.
2. Put 100 gm sugar, vanilla, water, oil and yolks into a bowl. Sift the flour and baking powder over and mix well into a thick batter.
3. Whisk the egg whites with the remaining 50 gm sugar until stiff peaks stage.
4. Pour the batter into the stiff egg whites, folding to mix well. Divide the batter into two. Sift the cocoa powder into one batter, mix well.
5. Pour the white batter into one pan and the brown choc batter into another. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer in the center of the cake comes out clean.

The Custard:
800 ml milk
2 yolks
200 gm sugar
80 gm custard powder (Bird's)
2 t pure vanilla extract
150 gm butter
1. Put half the milk, the yolks, sugar, custard powder and vanilla into a bowl and whisk to mix well.
2. In a small pot, put the remaining milk to just about boiling point and add the milk and yolk mixture in, stirring well with a small whisk over low fire until the custard is thickened but not too thick.

For a soft and less rich custard, you can use this recipe:
600 ml milk
10 to 12 T fine sugar
6 T custard powder
2 t pure vanilla extract

6. Cut the cooled cakes into 2 to 2.5 cm slices. Use the custard to glue the slices together, alternating white and brown slices.
7. Coat the cake with the remaining custard and chill.
8. Coat the cake with the chocolate glaze.
9. Slice cake diagonally to get both flavors in each slice.

For the chocolate coating, you can choose between the hard choc coating or the soft one:

Chocolate Glaze:
Hard Choc Glaze
300gm bittersweet chocolate
2 T milk
2 T butter
--Melt the choc and milk over a pot of boiling water. Remove and add the butter. Cool and use to coat the cake.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze:
300 gm bittersweet choc
150 ml dairy cream
--Melt choc and cream over a pot of boiling water. Cool and use to coat the cake.

For the durian meter cake, add about 70 gm mashed durian to the soft custard and use the custard to glue the cake slices together. Whip some (about 300 ml for one cake recipe) dairy cream until stiff and mix in 70 to 100 gm durian mash. Use to cover the whole cake. Chill before serving.