Uncle Ben’s Burger Babi @ Ming Tien, Taman Megah – PORK BURGERS!!

from thenomadGourmand by rebeccasaw

Another Pork Burger place tried, tested & reviewed!

I got to know about this place from a reader, many thanks to her for leaving a comment & attaching the FB link in one of my post; or else I wouldn’t have known about this Uncle Ben Burger Babi.

I admit I was a bit put off by the name at first; well… I mean using the word “babi” so literally! It sounded rude somehow?
But let’s ignore that for now & focus on the food instead..

When I visited the FB page, I was immediately fascinated, for it was declared on the side bar:
“We’ll defy anyone to find a better meal than ours! Our meal is a perfectly balanced ensemble of 100% PREMIUM PORK patty, cooked to perfection, with oozing MELTED CHEESE and served with fine cuts of VEGETABLES. All wrapped up in a hot toasted bun.”

Wow! That’s like Uncle Ben calling out my name -” becky becky, come try my porky patty! ” Heh!

The opportunity came rather unexpected yesterday when a certain event left all of us hungry enough to eat a pig, literally. And luckily for us, Uncle Ben Burger Babi opened their 2nd outlet (stall) in Ming Tien Food Court yesterday as well! A good sign; I thought.

It was almost sold out by 9pm (it opened at 6pm) & I managed to order the last 7 of their SINGLE Pork patty with cheese burgers - Each @ RM5.50 .

I admit expectations were high, bought about from all the pork burgers I have eaten & from reading the Uncle Ben FB comments of their burgers…

…..thus, I was hit hard with disillusionment the moment I took my first bite. The squashy patty turned me off instantly. Moist is good, but not to the extent of mushiness! The patty gave way to pieces in my hands & we had trouble keeping the burger together.

Kevin instantly regretted that he had placed an additional order of Double pork patty with cheese – RM 8.50. Haha! As expected, the double burger was double the trouble – imagine 2 mushy patties together in a bun!

Needless to say, he didn’t finish it. Neither did I. Pretty wasteful I know, but I just couldn’t take another bite. As if the texture wasn’t bad enough, the patty was salty as well.

Below: Looks good eh? Well, don’t be fooled by clever photography!

Oh, the one in the middle below is the PORK CHOP burger, which we ordered 2. Everything is similar except that pork chop is actual meat & it came with a slice of caramelized pineapple ring. While it sounded better than the pork patty burger, there wasn’t really much of an improvement. The patty was dry & salty.

Overall Uncle Ben Burger Babi is pretty decent if you are not fussy like me . After all, out of 10 people in the group, there were a few who thought the burgers were nice. For the price, the patty is substantially thick & each burger came with generous helpings of vegetables & a slice of cheese.

For me? I think there are better options (tastewise) for it’s price range:

1. NAMBAWAN Pork Burger, Taman Sri Manja

2. SS2 Wai Sik Kai Pork Burger

Uncle Ben Burger Babi Stall
(middle of the Food Court, at the open air area)
Ming Tien Food Court,
Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya.

OR

48-1 & 48-2 Jalan PJU 5/9, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 47810

NOTE: Thanks Ewin for the photos!

Jamaican Goat Curry

Goat meat is the best! Please welcome Hank Shaw as he takes us through a wonderfully spicy way to prepare goat. ~Elise

“What are we going to do with this goat?” Elise asked. Her acupuncturist Steve had given her an entire front shoulder of a goat from a local farm. Why not goat curry? It was one of my favorite Jamaican foods growing up in New Jersey, along with those awesome meat patties the street hawkers would sell on corners in New York City. Rich, filling and spicy, goat curry (often made with beef back then, when goat was a little harder to find in NYC) was just as good on a hot day as a cold one.

Turns out this is one of the great dishes of Jamaica, along with jerk chicken. No matter which meat you use, the long-simmered stew makes great use of tough cuts of meat, or those with bones in them. Definitely use goat if you can find it – look in ethnic markets, especially a halal market if your town has one – but the dish works fine with lamb, too. Substitute beef if you’d rather. You need to know that Jamaican curry powder is different from Indian curries, although they tend to have most of the same ingredients: turmeric, coriander, cumin, mustard, cayenne and the like. Jamaican curry is heavier on the allspice, so if you cannot find the real stuff, mix in some allspice with regular curry powder. Is this stew spicy? You bet, but it’s not so fiery as you might think. We used one habanero chile, and I could barely detect the heat – although Elise could taste it. If you are into hot food, you could use as many as 4-5 habaneros here. Time is your friend with goat curry. While it’s good freshly made, the stew deepens over time and is actually better several days afterward. It will last for a week or so in the fridge, so make a batch big enough to feed the Jamaican bobsled team and eat it for your lunches during the week.

Jamaican Goat Curry Recipe

• Print (no photos)
• Print (with photos)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6-8 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 Tbsp allspice (see step 1)
• 3 pounds goat (can use lamb or beef if you can't find goat)
• Salt
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1-2 habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers, seeded and chopped
• A 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1-2 cans coconut milk
• 1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 3-4 cups water
• 5 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

Method

1 Make the curry powder. If you can find Jamaican curry powder, definitely use it. If not, use regular curry powder and add the allspice to it. You will need at least 6 tablespoons of spices for this stew, and you can kick it up to 8-9 depending on how spicy you like it. 2 Cut the meat into large chunks, maybe 2-3 inches across. If you have bones, you can use them, too. Salt everything well and set aside to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. 3 Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the curry powder and heat until fragrant. 4 Pat the meat dry and brown well in the curried oil. Do this in batches and don’t overcrowd the pot. It will take a while to do this, maybe 30 minutes or so. Set the browned meat aside in a bowl. (When all the meat is browned, if you have bones, add them and brown them, too.) 5 Add the onions and habanero to the pot and sauté, stirring from time to time, until the onions just start to brown, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle some salt over them as they cook. Add the ginger and garlic, mix well and sauté for another 1-2 minutes. 6 Put the meat (and bones, if using) back into the pot, along with any juices left in the bowl. Mix well. Pour in the coconut milk and tomatoes and 5 tablespoons of the curry powder. Stir to combine. If you are using 2 cans of coconut milk, add 3 cups of water. If you’re only using 1 can, add 4 cups of water. Add the thyme. Bring to a simmer and let it cook until the meat is falling-apart tender, which will take at least 2 hours. Longer if you have a mature goat. 7 Once the meat is close to being done – tender but not falling apart yet – Add the potatoes and mix in. The stew is done when the potatoes are. Taste for salt and add some if it needs it. 8 You might need to skim off the layer of fat at the top of the curry before serving. Do this with a large, shallow spoon, skimming into a bowl. Also, be sure to remove any bones before you serve the curry. The stew is better the day after, or even several days after, the day you make it. Serve with Jamaican rice and peas, a coconut rice with kidney beans.

Serve 8-12

Lavender Vanilla Sugar

I know what youre thinking.

You: Seriously, Joy!? You expect me to come listen to as well as read about how to have sugar!?

Me: Um yes? But its not only sugar. Its sugarine with whim stuff in it.

You: Skeptical. This is still sounding lame.

Me: But theres the lovable glass container as well as whim badge too! Plus bonus! we destitute out the great slicing board as well as the whim doily for your observation pleasure.

You: Hm. daunt me.

Me. Im trying! Geeeez.

I unequivocally love creation flavored sugars.

They have me feel fancy.

They have the boring coffee we have for myself each morning feel similar to the special treat.

You can massage all kinds of citrus zest in to sugar, formulating the super fragrant lemon sugarine or grapefruit sugar.

But my comprehensive the one preferred is sugarine heavily scented with vanilla beans as well as lavender blossoms.

I mean.. only look at that! Tiny vanilla bean specks as well as pleasing dusty lavender blossoms! Its similar to your sugarine went to the spa as well as got one of those whim rubdowns.

Pretty jars as well as flattering bowls are flattering rad.

Now patently this sugarine is the super great gift with, say the half bruise of coffee beans. But what would occur if we only kept it for yourself as well as treated yourself to the fancysugar cup o! f coffee each morning? Magic. Thats what would happen.

Its the tiny things with bows.

My friend Whitney gave me this glass container final week. Um we know we was ostensible to do something else with this jar, Whit. But right away it has sugarine in it. So Yea. Im kinda busted. You can all have the glass container back. we goal we similar to Lavender Vanilla Sugar. Oh! Ps. Im receiving half of this sugarine out of the glass container before we give it back its unequivocally great as well as Im shellfish.

Lavender Vanilla Sugar

Print this Recipe!

1 to 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon dusty lavender blossoms

1 vanilla bean

small Ball jar

cute ribbon

Pour sugarine in to the medium distance bowl. Top with lavender blossoms. Cut one tiny end of the vanilla bean off. Split the vanilla bean down the center, revealing tiny, sticky vanilla bean specks. Scrape vanilla beans out with the tiny knife as well as add to the sugarine as well as lavender. Cut the vanilla bean pod in half as well as reserve.

With the back of the spoon, work the lavender as well as vanilla bean in to the sugar. Be sure to press upon the lavender flower arrangement to release their oils as well as to sunder any vanilla bean clumps which might try to form. Add the reserved vanilla bean pod as well as go on to press the sugarine as well as lavender as well as vanilla together. It should smell amazing. Pour in to the jar. Tie the flattering bow. Maybe we want to have the lovable palm created label. How easy was that!? Dang.