A traditional CNY vegetarian dish

This is my late mother's recipe for a wonderful vegetarian dish. She used to cook it only once a year - on the first day of CNY. Since her passing, we have continued with this family tradition and have unfailingly cooked this on the first day, year after year.

The ingredients are many. Here is the list..

1. Gingko nuts (銀杏)

2. Kam chum (金针) or lily buds, soaked and knotted.

3. Water chestnuts - cut in small pieces

4. Fatt choy (发菜) or dried black moss, soaked and pressed in balls so as not to mess up the dish when cooked.

 

5. Lotus root, cut into thin slices.

6. Canned button mushroom - quartered.

7. Vegetarian oyster (optional)

 

8. Black fungus or wan yee (云耳), soaked and cut into bite pieces.

9. Mien kan (面筋)....

.....soaked in hot water till soft.

 

10. Chinese cabbage - leaves and stems separated.

11. Bean curd skin or fu-pei (腐皮).... 

 

... deep fried to a nice crisp like so.

 

12. Chinese mushroom, soaked and halved....

... and sauteed with garlic till cooked.

13. A mixture of fermented beancurds - fu yee (腐乳) and lam yee (南乳)

 

The fermented beancurds are mixed to a paste and fried in a wok with oil and garlic till aromatic.

The veges are then progressively put into the wok and stir fried with the fermented beancurds mixture; in the following order: 

- Chinese cabbage (stems only)

- lotus roots

- water chestnut

- gingko nuts

- vegetarian oyster

- kam chum

- mein kan

- button mushroom

- black moss fungus 

- the sauteed Chinese mushroom.  

 

At this stage vegetarian oyster sauce and thick soy sauce are added in to taste. Add some water and continue to stir and simmer.

The deep fried fu-pei are next into the wok...

 

.... followed by the leaves of the Chinese cabbage.

 

Last in the wok is the fatt choy balls.

Add in more water. Cover the wok and simmer for a few minutes.

Continue to stir and cook until the gravy is dried up and the vegetables are soft. The final outcome is a delightful array of colours in the wok. A wonderful delicious vegetarian dish.

Enjoy.

CNY

This was our reunion dinner...

Jelly fish yee sang (鱼生) was the starter. Lou sang, lou sang...

 

The traditional pak cham kai (白切雞)...

 

Abalone, mushroom, fatt choy (髮菜), broccoli...

 

Crab rolls...

 

Big prawns in garlic..

 

 A mix vege dish of celery, french bean, carrot, green pepper, water chestnut, baby corn, gingko and cashew nuts..

Fried egg with conpoy (乾瑤柱) or dried scallops, wrapped with green salad... 

 

Stir fried sengkuang (jicama), also wrapped in green salad...

Lotus root soup..

 

Dessert was layered sweet potato jelly..

恭喜发财

Extra Super Tanker?

Is this an unique or a bizarre name for a Chinese restaurant? Extra Super Tanker. Why extra? Super Tanker is already an inconceivable name for a restaurant. Extra?

I first experienced EST perhaps 5 to 6 years ago. It was then only one restaurant in Damansara Kim at Jalan SS20/10 in PJ. Now they have 2 restaurants. A branch opened in The Club @ Bukit Utama, at No. 1, Club Drive, Bandar Utama not too long ago. I have been to both restaurants. They are both good. But somehow I prefer the one at Bandar Utama.

I like EST for the many innovative dishes that I have tasted over the many visits. My latest visit was back to the original outlet in Damansara Kim. It had been awhile since I was there and I was in for a surprise. It had a complete makeover.

The Damansara Kim EST used to be in a single shop lot. Now it occupies three. It now has a totally new decor, pleasant lightings, rather gaudy curtains and fabric covered seats. It is definitely a better dining environment.

Twelve of us were there for dinner not too long ago. It was a family outing. We were there for some wine, good food and a change from the ordinary. But it turned out somewhat not so exceptional. Perhaps we did not quite ordered the right dishes.

The first dish was a mutton soup. It was superb. It was not the first time we had this soup. And it lived up to the previous delight. The soup was kind of milky in taste. It was very aromatic and I could detect the strong presence of herbs. The meat was tender and delicious. It is served with green vegetable and a sauce which, I do not even know how to describe. Absolutely delicious.

 

Next was a duck in a kind of a sandwich. The duck meat was wrapped with a fried-something and some green vege in a white steamed bun. I wish I can be more specific on the fried 'something', but I don't really know what it was that we ate. It was nice. Quite innovative. We only had a piece each. Wished there was more. But there was excess duck meat and it was served separately in another dish.

The tilapia was big and steamed in a chilli and garlic sauce. It was very good. The fish was probably alive when we ordered it. So very fresh. Not a whiff of fishy smell. And the sauce was one of a kind - fabulous. We picked it to the bones. The tilapia may be a humble fish. But it sure can taste great when prepared the proper way.

Then there was the tofu with scallops, french beans, mushrooms and pine nuts in a yellow creamy sauce. I don't know the name of the dish. It was quite innovative as well and tasted OK. Not the most exciting dish. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Those were all the good dishes that night. The rest to come were not so great.

The braised pork was totally unappetizing. Looked unappetizing, tasted unappetizing. Even my picture did not turn up nice.

The kai-lan (芥蘭) dish was rather uninteresting. It was kai-lan stem with crispy fried cuttle-fish and some pine seeds. Not great at all.

 

I did not like the next vegetable dish either. I don't even know what it was. It had a kind of bitter taste that was not too agreeable with me.

 

Finally, the lap mei rice (腊味饭) was a disaster. It was rice cooked with Chinese sausages and waxed-duck (those that we have during CNY) in a clay pot. The rice was burnt and was rather tasteless. The smell of burnt rice overpowered all other flavours. There were a lot of meat and liver sausages, waxed meat and waxed duck. We couldn't eat them all. It was the flavoured rice that we were after but it was terrible. We finally tar pow all the meat back for the benefit of Bob, our Golden Retriever. We had lap mei rice before in their Bandar Utama establishment. It was good then. I don't know why it was so terrible that night in Damansara Kim.

Dessert was Chinese pancake and sea coconut. Rather ordinary. We wanted red bean paste (紅豆沙) but they ran out and we had to settle for the sea coconut, which I felt was rather too sourish for a dessert.

 

EST has a website and they attempt to promote themselves for fine Chinese dining. I do not think they have yet reached that grade. Also there is an obvious consistency gap between their 2 outlets which they need to narrow. The Bandar Utama branch is undoubtedly more superior in food taste. Still it is a restaurant that I will return to again and again.

Village Park

Village Park is easily the most popular Malay restaurant in PJ, perhaps even the Klang valley. And rightly so, because it is really a very good place to eat in. It serves very authentic Malay food.

The restaurant is located on Jalan SS21/37 in Uptown, Damansara Utama. It is quite multi-racial. I believe it is Malay-Chinese owned and their customers are also a good mix. It started in a single shop lot. Not very long ago, an adjacent shop was added on. On weekends, the restaurant spills to the road with canopies for shelter.

You will find a good selection of makan makan in the restaurant. A counter at the front offers a variety of Malay food that look very delicious. You can pick your choice from here but it is not self-served. Or you can pick your meal from a comprehensive menu that includes a limited Chinese selection. I would strongly suggest you go for the Malay food.

Perhaps their best selling is their fried chicken. They only do chicken thighs and drumsticks. They are deliciously done with crispy skin and succulent meat. I do not know how much chicken they sell each day but I see piles of them and the place where they chop is littered with their crispy crumbs.

My last visit to the place was with my 2 nephews. They wanted to go there before they returned to Australia. One of them had the nasi dagang. The rice looked very good. It was served with a generous portion of curry tuna and some pickled salad.

The other nephew and I both opted for the mee rebus. I can say this place serves one of the best mee rebus. The gravy is so very good. We ordered 2 pieces of the fried chicken. The combination of the mee and the chicken was a totally satisfying meal.

The nasi lemak here is also very good, especially taken with the fried chicken. Unfortunately none of us ordered it that day. I wanted a picture for this blog. I saw it served to a Malay lady at the next table. I asked her if I could get a picture of her meal. She was most gracious. This is what she had for her lunch. (Apologies for poor quality of the shot.)

Finally, I have to mention their white coffee. Outside Ipoh, I like their white coffee most. We had it with ice. It had the oomph. It wasn't too sweet and it supplemented our meal very nicely.

The food in Village Park is good and delicious. However the place is always crowded and can be rather noisy.  At times it is difficult to get a table especially during weekends and lunch peaks. And parking is a major problem. It is never easy to park at Uptown, Damansara Utama. But do not let that put you off. If you have not been to Village Park, it is a must-try.

Teow Chew Meng

Teoh Chew Meng is a chain of restaurants serving Teochew food in Penang and the Klang Valley. I am no expert on Teochew cuisines and I am not sure if the dishes they offer are all Teochew in origin.

My wife and I have so far eaten in 2 of their outlets. Our latest visit was about a few weeks ago in their SS2 outlet, located on Jalan SS2/30 in PJ.

We were there for dinner. This particular outlet is situated in a quiet part of SS2. The inner road of SS2/30 was rather dark. The restaurant stood out hustle and bustle amongst its quiet neighbours with an almost full capacity. I think the restaurants appeal to the more mature diners. The menu offers rather sober traditional fare like porridge and mee sau. It may be co-incidental, but just take a look at the crowd...

Their signature dish (or pot) must be their mee sua tow. If you ever go to TCM, you have to try their mee sua tow. We ordered a pot for 2 persons. It came out looking very good. There were some shark fin on the surface. Inside were various seafood - fish, shrimps, sotong, crab sticks, etc.  The mee sua was in a thick broth, not unlike shark fin soup. They even provide black vinegar to go with it.

You could opt for abalone in your mee sua tow. But be prepared to pay. Mee sau tow with shark fin is RM11 per person. If you want the abalone, it would be another whopping RM180. That evening, we were not in the mood to indulge. The shark fin mee sua tow had sufficed. And it was good. My wife and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

We also had the seafood roll. It looked like any other spring roll, with a chilli sauce and pieces of cucumber. It was not particularly tasty. I did not find the seafood roll exceptional. 

So was the vegetable. We had the steamed lettuce. It was like any lettuce you would get from any makan shop. Rather boring. Like I mentioned - sober. It's saving grace? - the deep fried dried shrimps garnish.

The apple beancurd was not so ordinary. It was good. The tofu were apparently "home made". They were deep fried with some apple salad and the same delightful fried dried shrimps over them. The tofu were crispy and delicious.

We ended the meal with a typical Teochew dessert. It was a yam paste called "oo-ni". The dessert came in a tiny bowl, with 3 pieces gingko on the surface. It was a very small bowl. Not enough. Hardly a few spoons full - teaspoons. I don't know why they are so stingy in their serving. But the oo-ni was good. It was smooth and sweet. Absolutely delicious.

All in all, it was a very pleasant dining experience. The restaurant offers a variety of other food - most of them somewhat uninteresting. They serve different types of porridge and noodles. They also have octopus, oyster and prawn side dishes. Below is a snapshot of their menu. Click on it to enlarge.

I saw a a poster on the wall announcing the opening of a new outlet in Prai, and wondered how many they have in total. I asked a cute little girl (assumedly the boss' daughter) who brought us our bill. She said there are 4 in Pulau Pinang and 3 in PJ/Subang Jaya. As we walked out, we managed to talk to the boss himself. He confirmed that they indeed have 7 outlets. He also said that the outlets are not franchised and that they are all family businesses. Must be one heck of a big family.