Seen these for sale in the market

After a few days in KL, I have had a few culinary experiences worth adding to this blog. However, something I saw yesterday made me wonder, and although it may be related to food in Malaysia, I really hope it is not!

Doing the tourist thing yesterday, I walked along Petaling Street to take in the sights and street food and being hassled by store keepers whenever I even glanced for a micro second at their wares. Halfway down the street, I saw a discreet dark alley, with no signboards, drawing my curiosity. Well, as the saying goes, it killed the cat, but this could be true in the literal sense. This place turned out to be a wet market, like any other in Malaysia. However, I noticed that one stall had these two caged cats on display. They were adult cats and not particularly cute. So I cant see why anyone would be interested in them....... unless they were for, like everything else being sold here, food. They looked quite well fed too, which further backed up this idea.




So, can anyone reading this clear this up for me.... are these cats sold for food? If so, have you ever tasted them, and is there a restaurant that serves them?

I would not consciousely eat a feline creature, but if someone tells me it is a "must try" delicacy, then I may approach it with an open mind!

Restaurant Greenview, Section 19, PJ

Can't believe its time for another visit to Malaysia already! I haven't even finished blogging about my last one yet! Thanks to Air Asia, travelling to KL from the UK has been made a lot more affordable this year. Even though I am from Manchester, it is still worth the trouble of driving 4 hours to London, paying to park the car for the duration of the holiday. Ok.. I have not actually flown with Air Asia before, but I am really hoping I wont regret the experience. More to come in the coming days!


This is a restaurant known to many PJ residents for its seafood. Located just off the roundabout where the factories of the Rothmans and Sin Chew Jit Poh factories .... hmm.. dunno if these places still exist today.

Always seem to be crowded on a Saturday night but we got there quite late and managed to get a table quickly.

Despite specialising in seafood, they do do a really good roast suckling pig. This half piglet came to around rm70.


I have no idea what this is called! It was made with a deep fried battered yam basket with stir fried chicken, mushrooms, cashews and veg inside it. Looks nicer than it taste, unfortunately. Not bad, just not outstanding.



Their fried ho fun with white fish slices was very good. Gravy was smooth and thick and yummy! I was not able to re-create this at home!



And this is their trademark dish - Sang Har Meen - or prawn fried noodles. Really rich tasting gravy with lage fresh prawns cooked just right. Noodles were fried to just the right level of crispiness too.


Soor, I got no prices for this visit as I did not pay for it. Anyway, I am sure I will be going there again in the next couple of weeks, so I will make a not of the prices this time.

Making the perfect Cantonese fried ho fun (rice stick) dish at home!

This is a favourite of my wife's. Whenever we eat out, whether it be in the UK or when visiting Malaysia, she always asks for Cantonese Fried Ho Fun. It is actually quite easy to make at home. Only problem is that you need a tiny handful of a lot of ingredients to make it an interesting dish and as a result, I can only make this when I have enough leftovers accumulated in the freezer.

This dish consist of prawns, pork slices, char siu, fishballs, squid and pak choy.

It needs to be fried separately:

The fresh noodles (ho fun / rice stick) is tossed into a hot well greased wok, or a less greased non stick pan, then fried with a bit of light soy and sweet soy sauce. Keep sprinking it with water to ensure they stay separate, till lightly charred. If they start sticking together, then you have overcooked it. This is the most important part of the dish to get right and if you get it wrong, the whole dish will not taste right!

Then put the noodles aside.

To cook the sauce... you have to adjust the cooking method according to how hot you can get your wok. Assuming you are doing this at home and your wok does not achieve "wok hei"....

I first brown some garlic and ginger, then add all the ingredients except the pork. Fry lightly then remove.

Next, I brown more ginger and garlic and add marined pork slices. Add bones too if you have any. When they are fragrant, add chicken stock (enough to cover your noodles) and bring to boil. Add rice wine, oyster sauce, salt and sugar into it. This will take awhile to heat up if cooking at home, so it is like stewing the pork, hence why you add the bones. When the mixture starts bubbling add cornstarch to thicken. Then add the rest of the cooked ingredients and remove from heat within 1 minute. Add egg white for Malaysian style "wat tan hor" or leave as it is. I did not add the egg white cuz I dont want to waste the yolk!

Then, just pour over the noodles, remove bones and serve.

If your cooker is hot enough to heat up the stock within seconds, you do not need to cook this part separately. Just add everything in and fry them, add cornstatch and pour onto noodles.

Michael Jackson is not dead!

Here are 10 reasons why Michael Jackson might have faked his death.

1. Obvious! He was unable to fulfil his commitment to the 50 London dates but still needed to pocket the money.

2. He needed a boost in the sales of his music to pay off his debts.

3. Does Joe Jackson (his dad) look like a father grieving for a deceased son?

4. He was getting death threats from loan sharks for debts he was unable to pay.

5. His face has fallen apart so badly he can no longer face the public.

6. Nobody can really identify whose body it was. MJ never appeared in public without makeup and prosthetic face parts.

7. Clips of his rehearsal from the night before did not show a man who had eaten nothing but pills.

8. The real MJ has disappeared from public view in 1990. We have been seeing an imposter all these years. Hence the child abuse issues, and also this one can't sing! Listen to his public performances between 1988 and 1992 and look at the pics below. Clearly not the same person. Anyone can learn to dance like him, but not sing!

1988

1992

9. He was facing a new set of child abuse allegations. He neither had the money nor the will to fight anymore and knew he would not get away with it a third time.

10. Many major celebrities who died in the US had an open casket. Think Elvis, and James Brown. Why cant we see MJ's body? His face would certainly not look any different to whenhe was alive. What was (not) there to hide?

10th july 2009

Another bit about point 8 above:

Compare the singing of the song Human Nature in a 1987 and 1992 concert. He does not sound like the same person. The one in 1992 can hardly sing! I can sing better that this imposter!

1987

1992

Tandoori Chicken

Summer is here and its barbeque time! I love having a bbq because it is the only time I get to cook certain dishes that cannot be reproduced properly in the kitchen.

Here is an internationally famous dish eaten all over the world. In the past, I have tried making the marinade from scratch, but it does not beat this cheap 69p pack from the Indian grocer down the road. In fact, this is so good, it's easily as good as the average takeaway in the UK or the roadside tandoori chicken sellers in KL. Only downside is that I would not have used any red colouring if I had mixed it myself.

The main ingredients are simple:
Plain yoghurt and this pack of tandoori mix.


Mix it with lime juice. oil and kewra water (I think this is pandan essence) and marinate chicken for at least 4 hours.


After that, cook it in grill, oven or barbeque fire.


Then serve!

Old Posts with missing Pictures

I am looking to re-upload the missing photos linked so some of my older posts. I dont really have time to check it all, so please tell me which ones you want to see and I will try to re-upload the photos