What's For Breakfast in HK

When you are in foreign countries it's a must to xplore and try the local food.

I was just in HK last week and everyday we go around Tung Chung, a small township 5min away from the HK international airport to have breakfast....and I saw common faces in the same place everyday for breakfast and they tend to have the same thing most of the time.

Well, lets eat we they eat....and if you happens to be in HK do try their local daily breakfast.

Check out what's for breakfast....

Glutinous Rice with Chinese Sausage, Chicken, Shitake Mushroom and Dried Shrimp wrapped with Lotus Leaf. Highly Recommended !

Porridge with Pork Intestines. Good to have during winter !

Fried BeeHoon. Too common but it seems many having this. You might think it's cheaper but all breakfast set cost average HK$20

Dim Sum for breakfast, Har Kow, Siew Mai, Lo Bak Koe and Chee Chong Fun. A must in HK ! Do check out the time ! Most restaurants determine the prices based on time. ie 7am to 11am low price, 11am to 1pm high price and during 1pm till 3pm average price.

Check out What's For Lunch in HK

Cabbage Soup with Chinese Ham

Check out my secret ingredient for making a perfect broth...Chinese Ham !

The first time I was exposed to this when I was walking down one of the back street in Kunming....xploring the wet market and my friend stopped in front of a butcher...

That butcher was having a wooden box as a table,....just selling a leg from some animal !???It was dirty, hairy, what a rotten looking thing....my friend was speaking mandarin and the butcher just sliced a small piece of the rotten looking meat and passed to him to try !!! He did ...He ate it !

Erh...a bit shocking to me ! I can take raw,....but not rotten ! Well, if my friend can do it, so wth....anything salty, smelly,...my kind of food ! It taste similar to prosciutto.

That was the fear factor experienced, the real thing I bought looks much cleaner than what I described.

All the way from China...my two favorite places to get a good Chinese Ham, either from Kunming or Hangzhou.

I found out this is actually a rich man food, this Chinese Ham is one of the must ingredient used in luxurious restaurants to make exclusive dishes, supreme broths/stocks and much more....one of it is the exclusive dish-Buddha Jumps Over The Wall.

Well, check out my simple...clear Chinese Cabbage Soup with Chinese Ham.

Blanched the Chinese Ham and Pork Ribs with boiling water to get rid of the smell.

Place Pork Ribs and Red Dates in a pot and bring to a boil, and let it simmer from 1hour. Add in the Chinese Ham and Chinese Cabbage and continue to simmer for another 20min.

Season with salt. Serve hot with a dash of pepper !

Simple with an exclusive ingredient...


Serving for 4

Ingredients
400g Pork Ribs, blanched with boiling water
100g Chinese Ham, blanched with boiling water
300g Chinese Cabbage, cut into chunks
20g Red Dates
1tsp Salt
1lit Water

Vegetable Dhal Curry

Feel like having something spicy and appetizing....try this for a change !

No meat,...purely vegetables and spices.

Erh...actually I loved eating the green thing shown in the picture, I don't know what it's called, all I know is you are suppose to eat the seed from the green thing only and it looks like the seed from the okra....can somebody tell me what's that green thing called....

In a pot add in the Water, Garlic, Potatoes, Carrots, Red Chilli, Onion and Dhal. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer till the dhal is soft.

In a separate pan, heat up the oil and add in the mustard seed. Let it pop ! Add in the garlic, shallots, fennel, cumin, coriander, chilli powder, turmeric power and the curry leaves. Saute for 2-3min. Once fragrant, add these mixtures in the pot.

Throw in the tomatoes, cauliflower and let it cook for 10-15min.

Season with salt

Serve with steamed white rice.

Ingredients

1tsp Turmeric Powder

1tsp Chilli Powder

1tsp Mustard Seeds

1/2tsp fennel

1/2tsp Cumin

1/2tsp Coriander Seeds

10g Shallot, chopped finely

5g Garlic, chopped finely

1stalk Curry Leaves

100g Dhal, soaked

60g Tomatoes, diced

200g Potatoes, diced

150g Carrot, diced

100g Onion, chopped

100g Red Chilli

100g Cauliflower, blanched with hot water

10g Garlic, sliced

2tbsp Oil

1tsp Salt

2cups Water

Nyonyachef Xplore Exotic Food

I always wonder...If one is a glutton or a food connoisseur how do you know whether the food is good or not if you have not try anything and everything that is foreign or exotic to you ?!!

In Thailand...the locals eating insects, The Philippines....duck fetus, In China..dog, snake or any/every animals with the "back facing the sky"...and much more.

We tend to look at things and commented good, delicious, Mmmm or....Yucks ! How do you know if you don't try or xplore....!

Glutton ?....Let's go to the extreme to find out how far your stomach can take it !

Dare...or...Not ! Let's xplore ! Get ready the first aid kit !

First stop...what the +x@-!#...ugly, slimy, disgusting, indecent thing

Sea Worm ?....it's only RMB 58

Second stop...something crawling out....suddenly caught my attention !

Water Bug ? Only RMB 33 for 50g....not cheap, must be a delicacy in China !!!!

Lunch is served,....Stir Fry Water Bug with Spicy Sauce ! Hehe....I actually frightened everyone in the dining room...they ran out...Glutton ?!!!

Actually it taste crunchy and tasteless ! It's the spicy sauce that gave it a boost.

You should try anything and everything the locals eat then you can be the judge of it !

Nyonyachef Xplore Food in China

It's amazing to xplore all the food in China, with wide range of varieties and techniques of cooking just like in Malaysia we have Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Sichuan, Foo Chow styles,..and many more but many have been altered or mixed due to the crossed breed among themselves....so which one is the original....unknown....Want to find out ? Fly to China !

I landed in one of the main city in China and my task was to taste at least 200 varieties of food all over China within 5 days,...40 varieties a day,...20 dishes per meal,...and not over eat cause I still need to try some of the thousand types of beer in China...Trying !

Check out some of the few highly rated authentic dish chosen by the gluttons....

The Seafood

Steam Fish with Fermented Bean, Shrimp with Long Jing Tea Leaves, Boiled Hangzhou Shrimp, Steam Carp with Spicy Sauce, Deep Fry Butter Prawn Mantis, Stir Fry Lala with Chinese Herbs, Crab with Sweet Sauce, Baked Shrimp with Salt, Deep Fry Fish with Sweet & Sour Sauce.

Nothing extraordinary about the seafood when you are in somewhere near the mountain side. We had fish, Prawn Mantis, Crab, Lala, Prawn & many, many, more. Most gluttons commented on the fish....Fishy ! Muddy smell ! and blah...blah...blah, but the cooking was delicious and very tasty.

The miniature prawn seems tiny but tasty,..so where's the big one ? Nowhere to be seen in this part of the world !

The Meat

Tong Po Meat, Beggars Chicken, Pork Leg with dark soy, Peking Duck, Pork with Preserved Veggie, Mince Pork with Salty Mustard, Chinese Ham with Beancurd, Sweet & Sour Pork Rib.

Among all the meat dishes, the Tong Po Meat was the main highlight.

The Veggie

Golden Pumpkin with Pork Ribs, Stir Fry Mushroom with Oyster Sauce, Plain White Radish, Cabbage Soup with Chinese Ham, Plain Cucumber, Plain Cucumber with Cream Mustard Sauce, Peanuts with Sour Plum, Stir Fry Pak Choy with Soy, Celery with Chinese Sausage.

We had at least 5 veggies per meal and these are the highly rated ones,...based on tasty, freshness and artistic cooking techniques....and the Golden Pumpkin was simple but very tasty. I can't remember why they chose the cucumber,...maybe most of the the veggie dishes were a bit on the oily side and salty.

The Authentic....

Out of the 200 ++ dishes, somehow these were the best...of the best. Tong Po Meat, Shanghainese Siew Long Pau, Hangzhou Bak Chang, Wuzhen Lamb Noodles, Steam Egg with Tiny Shrimp, Duck's Tongue.

The Wuzhen Lamb Noodles was the main hit. Hot spicy and damn tasty !

The Steam Egg with Tiny Shrimps was a surprise to us, the tiny shrimp looks like the Fermented Shrimps (Cincalok)

The Exotic Duck's Tongue was a delicacy indeed.

The Season....

Hairy was on season, never miss it for the world.

...next the exotica !

Foo Chow lang...it's Time

After a long wait...patiently...it's done !

Dedicated to all the Foo Chows for their wonderful food and recipes....

After taking a journey to the North, back to where most of our ancestors came from and came back down to the South where most of the Foo Chows are residing....after much, much, more xploring,....finally this is what we have....the fundamental secret recipe for making a healthy, delicious dish....The Ang Chiew (Red Wine)

Cheers ! Sweet and Strong ! Erh....don't really advise for drinking !

From the process you will have two goodies....

The residue: The Foo Chows would turn this leftover together with some ginger and chicken into a delicious dish ! Stir Fry Chicken with Red Wine.

The cream after the filtration process: Fuzhou Red Wine for stirring up a healthy Ang Chiew Mee Suah. It is suppose to be taken by those Ah Nya's during their confinement period !

Check out Fuzhou Red Wine for the recipe

Timun Char Swee (Stir Fry Cucumber with Vinegar)

Stir Fry Cucumber with Vinegar

This is one of my all time favorite nyonya dish. Very little chance I get to eat this,...only see this dish during Chinese New Year ! I can't recall seeing this dish in any of the nyonya restaurants in Klang Valley.

Seems that traditional nyonya dishes are getting lesser and lesser...the only time I can really find all the dishes are during the Chinese festive season or some special occasions.

Better note it down somewhere before it extinct....

Preparations: Peel Cucumber and remove the seeds, slice, then marinate with a pinch of salt, sugar and vinegar. leave aside, cut the Carrot and Onion, minced the Garlic. (Forgot to buy Red Chillies)

Prawn(shelled) , wash and clean the Chicken Gizzard & Chicken Liver thoroughly. Slice thinly !

Heat up the oil, saute the garlic till fragrant. Add in the prawn, gizzard and liver and stir fry for 2-3minutes.

Throw in the cucumber, carrot and onion, mix all the ingredients. Add in some water. Pour in cornflour(premix with water) to thicken the gravy.

Lastly salt to taste.

Ingredients

400g Cucumber (peel, remove seed & cut)

80g Carrot (sliced)

50g Onion (sliced)

10g Garlic (minced)

150g Prawn (shelled)

30g Chicken Gizzard (sliced thinly)

30g Chicken Liver (sliced thinly)

1tbsp Sugar

3tbsp Vinegar

1tsp Salt

1tsp Cornflour (mixed with 3tbsp water)

100ml Water

Fuzhou Red Wine

Dedicated to all the "Foo Chows"

I have a Foo Chow friend who taught me almost everything about their Fuzhou Red Wine,... the food,...the restaurants in Malaysia...an even on the recipes how to prepare their delicacy the...Ang Chiew Mee Suah.

I was fascinated to xplore more !...So check it out !

I was in China recently and I was given the opportunity to check out one of the thousand wine breweries. Before I reached the destination, I was taken for a ride almost a mile journey through many back lanes just like the one you see....imagine yourself like a rat running around in a maze...no ending.

...till I saw this shop ! So it's for real....small wooden shop selling all sorts of Chinese wine.

Hooo....check out the backyard ! Thousands of urns filled with Chinese wine.

The owner took me tour round his factory, showing me the wine brewery equipment and took me through the wine making process....cool !

Of course it' never complete without the wine tasting to demonstrate the quality of their wine. Arrggh....too strong, taste almost like kerosene.

Now, the moment you have been waiting for....

Glutinous rice+Red yeast rice+Yeast

Cook the glutinous rice and let it cool down. Grind the red yeast rice and the yeast till they become powder form.

Mixed all ingredients together....

Wait for the fermentation process to take place ! 3 to 4 weeks.

To be continue....need to go back to China to check it out !

Ingredients

1kg Glutinous Rice

150g Red Yeast Rice

10g Yeast

3cups Water

bsg: You need to be there...it's coming your way

Fried Rice with Mustard Green

Mom's recipe !

I found a leftover mustard green lying in my fridge,....I told myself besides making tasty kiam chai boey what can I do with it !

So call back Penang and ask....this is what I came out with....

I don't know whether call to it...fried rice or lotus rice, coz the cooking method is similar to preparing the lotus rice...but without the lotus leaves.....so I cannot branded it as lotus rice, right!....so, fried rice !

My mom has been cooking this for at least few decades !!!!...Boring ! but then again now staying alone...kind of missing this dish. Oooh ! actually it's because of the mustard green has been lying around and occupying the fridge....so it's has to go ! Cook without choice !

Basic Ingredients; Rice, Pork Belly, Garlic, Shallots, Mustard Green, Shitake Mushroom, Ju Hu See (Shredded Cuttlefish) and Dried Shrimp.

Heat up the oil, saute the garlic and shallot till slightly brown. Then add in the pork belly, dried shrimp, shitake mushroom and ju hu see, stir fry for few minutes. Add in the uncooked rice, light soy, dark soy, salt and pepper to taste and stir to mix all the ingredients together.

Once all the ingredients are well mixed, transfer all the stuffs into the rice cooker and add in the mustard green.

Add water like how you used to cook rice but slightly lesser.

Done ! Half fried rice....half lotus rice ! Mom's recipe !

Trust me it's tasty. You get the sweetness from the pork, dried shrimp and ju hu see and yet you get a bit of the sour taste from the mustard green.

Serving for 4 paxs

Ingredients

200g Pork Belly, cubed

10g Ju Hu See, soaked

10g Shitake Mushroom, soaked

20g Dried Shrimp, soaked

500g Mustard Green, cut into chunks

10g Garlic, chopped finely

10g Shallots, chopped finely

11/2cup Rice

2tbsp Light Soy

1/2tbsp Dark Soy

1tsp Salt, or to taste

1/2tsp Pepper, or to taste

2cups Water

2tbsp Oil

Nyonya Aunty's Home Cook Food

Nyonya aunty demonstrating her culinary skills to nyonyachef....

One evening I was invited by my friend to check out his family's version of Loh Bak. The mom who is also from nyonya descendant was showing me her family recipe. According to her, this is how her grandma and her mom taught her how to cook Loh Bak.

I was trying to figure out the origins of this dish, whether it's from Melaka, Johor or is it different cooking methods from different Chinese dialects...Teochew,..Hokkien,..Hakka...or a mixture of here and there.

My personal findings; Because of distance and a period of time !...our ancestors carrying the recipe across many provinces and countries, and meeting many different men and women has altered the ingredient and appearance resulting no one to prove which is the original.

Well,...just enjoy and appreciate the varieties of cuisine !..Be happy

Check out this Nyonya aunty taking her precious time to show me her ancestors recipe....

Nyonya aunty in action dishing out 4 spectacular dishes....

The main highlight....Loh Bak !

Loh Bak or meat roll made from pig's intestine, minced meat, carrot, yam bean, eggs, beancurd sheet, tapioca flour, oyster sauce, five spice, sugar, salt & pepper.

This differences between Nyonya aunty and Penang Loh Bak; She uses pig intestine as the wrap and minced meat. Taste unusual but...still tasty! By using minced meat the taste is quite similar to the meat balls and the pig's intestine will give different texture to the Loh Bak.

The Rounded Loh Bak...

Same taste but instead of a roll...it's made into a ball shape. Something different !

Sambal Stuffed Fish....

Another nyonya's creation...really taste like mom's cooking.

Sambal Stuffed Fish made from heavenly spices; turmeric, chillies, shallots, garlic and belachan...pound it, stuffed into the fish and deep fry it.

Sweet and Sour Prawn

Prawn cooked with tamarind juice and sugar. Simple appetizing home cooked food !

Kudos to the Nyonya aunty for fixing up the spectacular dishes !

You can also check out Penang Loh Bak recipe here

Nyonyachef landed in Frankfurt II

Day II...Nyonyachef started off by exploring what the locals have for breakfast. Let's see where they go...!

It was a Sunday morning 8am and the town was already swarming with people, but they all seemed heading the same direction.

Found them....!

...all gathered around the mobile vans !..."Mobile Meat Van" with all sorts of pork !

Sausages or wurst...hooo ! That's their usual breakfast, not like back home where you can have Roti Canai, Nasi Lemak, Pau, Tim Sum, Char Bee Hon...etc.

I found they too have many varieties,...sausages with sauerkraut & mustards, plain sausages, bacon, ham, boiled or fried pork leg, boiled pork ears, boiled pork tongue...etc. Interesting...all pork !

Let's join them,....so I ordered a giant sausage with bread and.....

....pork cheek !...and soup of the day....bone marrow soup ! It seemed to be the locals delicacy,....my neighbours are having it, so are most of the tables.

Nyonyachef xplores...and eats...the pork cheek...is soft ! The soup taste...raw ! They soaked the bread in the soup and eat it...."lecker",...but...erh, I think I need something to wash it down...

Well,...what can I say....the soup taste raw (bloody smell) to me. I need my medicine !

Two days in the row, breakfast with beer.....

Nyonyachef sitting at the backstreet enjoying his beer while waiting for brunch.

Course 1; Meat spread with some spices and herbs. Goes with bread.

Course 2; Mushroom with cream sauce and fries.

Course 3; Pork Knuckle with sauerkraut...most of the German restaurants in Malaysia served this...crispy version.

Course 4; Two Foot Long Beef Sausage with some potatoes.

Course 5; Meat Balls made of Liver with herbs and Red Wine sauce.

A bit weird right ?!!! These 5course dishes are actually main course,....what can I say, it's all in German !....I can't read....I just point at the beautiful pictures on the menu and these are what I ordered.

What was in Nyonyachef's mind and how he made his decisions on what to order.....

Course 1; looks so cute with the pretzel sticking on top, how the heck I know it's meat spread !??

Course 2; mushroom and fries = appetizer with beer...good..erh...right choice !...order !

Course 3; pork knuckle, right choice...small portion just nice !

Course 4; ok...never seen such a long sausage,....longest I ever seen !...so order !

Course 5; beef balls should be safe !...so orderlah ! Why..? How the heck you find liver balls !

Luckily I had two more gluttons with me,...but they don't take exotic stuffs !

Well,....just xplore !