Some Like It Green with Madame Lawrence Aboucaya @ The Pomelo Restaurant, The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Ipoh

Did you know that a brocolli sprout contains higher concentration of nutrients per gram compared to a whole broccoli?

That is one of many things I learnt from Madame Lawrence Aboucaya during the media review recently. Her restaurant in Paris is called Pousse-Pousse (which literally translates to sprout-sprout in French) and is a favorite of renowned chef, Alain Ducasse.

Sprouted grains are germinated adult seeds which has been grown under lights so it develops chlorophyll. Chlorophyll deploys its preventive and curative protective virtues, including oxygenation, nourishment and reinforcement of blood -- therefore fighting fatigue, boosts health and increasing energy. They contain high anti-oxidants, and makes you feel full faster. A common sprout we can find in Malaysia is alfafa sprouts and can be integrated easily into your salads or sandwiches.

One 30 ml glass of sprouted grains is equivalent to more than 2 pounds of green vegetable. Superfood indeed!

"Some Like It Green" event, featuring Madame Aboucaya is available until 6th November 2011 at The Pomelo Restaurant in The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Ipoh, Perak. A special menu featuring organic, vegetarian cuisine (gourmet pleasure) is the highlight during the event. There will also be cooking classes this weekend for those interested in learning how to incorporate delicious organic food into their daily routine.

The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat is a beautiful place, with gorgeous views of 250 million year old caves and the natural hotspring.

The Pomelo Restaurant

Madame Lawrence Aboucaya

Madame Aboucaya is very passionate about organic, vegetarian food. Her favorite vegetables include asparagus, artichokes, peas and sweet potatoes. When asked what is her favorite ingredient in cooking, she answers "lemon" -- which she believes has many diverse uses in the kitchen.

Some of her favorite tools in the kitchen are slow juicer, steam oven, steamer, sprouters, and of course the dehydrator. Though some of her cuisine involves cooking food, most of them are raw -- raw or living food means none of the ingredients will be heated above 42C. She believes that eating food as close to its natural state will enhance your health.

Watermelon juice

We sampled some of her gourmet pl! easure c uisine and was pleasantly surprised -- very tasty, well-flavoured and definitely NOT boring. The raw ravioli was our favorite; the turnip provided a crunchy texture and the hummus filling was delicious. We wouldn't have guessed this was raw. The sprouted chick peas are steamed for 3 minutes only, and then tahini, tamari, and lemon juice is added.

The tajine of root vegetables, one of the cooked dishes, was equally delicious. The organic pumpkin had a lovely natural sweetness, complemented by some chick peas and sunflower seeds for different textures.

Then, we moved on to the no sugar jelly made with pomelo and star anise. Madame Aboucaya uses minimal sugar, but if necessary she will use brown sugar. The gluten-free cake, made with almond powder, green tea and topped with raspberry was also delicious. It's amazing that she can create such great tasting desserts without using dairy, butter or cream.

Quinoa with greens and lemon zest for added zing. Quinoa is easily digestible with high satiating power -- perfect for detox.

The raw dehydrated crackers were surprisingly addictive, and would make a lovely snack. It is made with several types of seeds such as sunflower, brown and golden flaxseed, buckwheat, black and white sesame seeds. A very nice crunchy texture and nutty flavour.

Dehydrated lotus root and raw dehydrated crackers with seaweed -- the latter has a nice umami-ness to it.

Beetroot and chilli raw dehydrated crackers

We also tried the soup from Madame Aboucaya's dinner menu -- green gazpacho soup (RM33), made from avocado, granny smith apples, cucumber and mixed herb topped with some raw dehydrated crackers. It was wonderfully tangy and refreshing to eat. We would have loved to try the desserts but unfortunately we missed last orders.

Other dishes on the "Some Like It Green" menu include:
Appetizer & Soup (RM33 each) - Live organic hummus of sprouted chickpeas, Thou! sand veg etable leaves, Velvety cold eggplant and almond soup.
Main course (RM68 each) - Quinoa with green vegetables, Soba noodles with raw pineapple and cashewnuts chutney, Tajine of root vegetables.
Dessert (RM29 each) - "Rawvioli" of pineapple, Phyllo pastry with banana and lime zest, Non-dairy ice cream.

It was definitely an interesting and educational experience for us. We definitely wouldn't mind including organic, vegetarian cuisine into our daily diet if it was always as delicious as Madame Aboucaya's food.

For previous post on Some Like it Green, click here. Please contact The Banjaran for more information on cooking courses available.

Full set of photos available to view here. Will be sharing more photos from The Banjaran soon.

Location: The Pomelo Restaurant, The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, 1 Persiaran Lagun Sunway 3, 31150 Ipoh, Perak.

Tel: 05-210 7777

Website: http://www.thebanjaran.com

GPS Coordinates:4.63082, 101.15617

For a taste of hearty Hakka cuisine

The Drunken Chicken with Ginger and Rice Wine was very satisfying. Pictures by Eu Hooi Khaw

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 I like the robust flavours of Hakka food, and Ying Ker Lou comes to mind when I need my Hakka fix. Its not too far away and easy to get to, being located in a shopping centre near where I live.

Familiar Hakka dishes would be braised belly pork with yam or with preserved vegetables. Hakka Lui Char or rice with a variety of stirfried vegetables, finely cut, and peanuts, on which is poured a mixed tea soup that has ground tea leaves, sesame, peanuts, ikan bilis and basil in it, has become popular in recent years as something quite nutritious and tasty to eat.

Crispy pork belly with fermented beancurd... very yummy.

We had this in Ying Ker Lou, together with a Hakka Minced Pork Ban Tiao, as the carbo part of our dinner. The Ban Tiao or noodles were slightly sticky and al dente, lovely with the patty of minced pork with cuttlefish, and then minced pork with a strong whiff of salted fish. I could just eat this and be perfectly satisfied.

The Lui Char was disappointing though: the char or tea part of it was a little diluted and weak in flavour. Stirred with the rice and other ingredients, it tasted flat.

I had been looking forward to the Drunken Egg Omelette with Ginger and Rice Wine but we settled for the Drunken Chicken instead. I once had this wonderful omelette fried with lots of ginger and floating in rice wine in this restaurant.

Stuffed bittergourd is one of my favourites.

Its a traditional confinement food but few breastfeeding mums would take this now. Im so glad ! its on t he menu here, a fluffy omelette redolent with ginger and sesame oil, soaking in a rice wine with a hint of sweetness. Ying Ker Lou does this particularly well.

But I must say the Drunken Kampung Chicken which came in a black claypot, cooked with lots of crunchy wood fungus and ginger, tasted just as good. It was winey enough, with a light sweetness and a lovely aroma. Im told that its hard to get a supply of good Chinese rice wine to cook with. Sometimes a batch of it may even be sour.

Crispy Pork Belly with Fermented Beancurd had also caught our fancy, and a delicious aroma floated up as it was brought to the table. The thin slices of pork had this perfect balance of lean and fat, and they were crispy as promised, without being fibrous.

Hakka Minced Pork Bian Tiao is a must-try.

I can never resist bittergourd if I see it on the menu. This was a bittergourd stuffed with small pieces of pigs stomach, yam, black mushrooms, garlic and chestnuts, and immersed in a stock with wolfberries or kei chee.

The slightly crunchy pigs stomach blended well with the yam and mushrooms, and Im sure if fresh chestnuts instead of dried ones had been used, it would have tasted so much better.

Sauteed Assorted Mushrooms Hakka Style was our other vegetable dish there were shiitake, enoki and eringgi mushrooms, stirfried with red and green peppers that were naturally sweet and tasty.

The sauteed mushrooms Hakka style... absolutely delicious.

Other dishes on the menu worthy of a return visit include the Fried Intestine with Pineapple, Braised Pork Belly with Yam, Braised Duck with Young Ginger, and Dong Jiang Style Stuffed Beancurd in Hotpot.

The prices: Minced Pork Ban Tiao is RM14.90, Drunken Egg with Rice Wine RM16, Crispy Por! k Belly with Fermented Beancurd RM26, Stuffed Bittergourd RM21, Drunken Kampung Chicken RM36, Stirfried Assorted Mushrooms RM19.

Ying Ker Lou is in several shopping centres in Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. The one we went to is the original one, on the first floor of The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya (Tel: 03-7729-4229).

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Pink Velvet Molten Choc Cake

"Velvet hand iron glove"

Rich, smooth chocolate ganache enclosed in a soft, superfine cake, placed on a piece of pink coconut milk-flavored doily.

The Royal Selangor Pewter (RSP)Jelliriffic! Challenge is a stress test too because a recipe a day for 30 days is tough. There's the rush to make the jelly which may not turn out right, the rush to take photos before the sunlight goes, the rush to write before the midnight deadline and in my case, the extremely frustrating struggle with an unstable Internet service in the past 10 days. TM Net has been looking into the problem but so far cannot solve it.

My friend Veronica had suggested that I make a lava/volcano/molten chocolate cake with the moulds. I had thought of that very early on but RSP had confirmed that the moulds can be steamed but not baked. If I steam my cake, how will it turn out? Will the cake be too soft? Will the lava flow or set?

Against my resolve, I did leaf through Rose Levy Beranbaum's Heavenly Cakes two nights ago. One of the recipes in the book was the molten choc cake and even Rose had problems getting the 'lava' sometimes, something I've experienced too when I left the cakes in the oven for a split second too long. Rose's solution, the clever girl, was to make choc ganache balls, freeze them and place them into the cake batter. More hassle than the usual lava cake recipe but definitely something to try if it is guaranteed to give lots of lava.

As I started to weigh the ingredients this morning, I suddenly ! thought of the infamous red velvet cake, a cake I feared eating because a standard 9" round cake has a bottle of red coloring in it.So there I was, very excited as I started to make not just a choc molten cake, but a red velvet molten choc cake with the Jelliriffic! mould. Wow, I thought, you're quite creative. As I took my food coloring out, I suddenly thought "Hey, why red? Pink is the color of the month!" And that's how the red velvet became pink velvet. I felt SO clever.

The first cake broke when it was turned out. The cake was too fine, too soft and there was so much lava that it had seeped through the cake and weakened the cake in the middle. Also, the mould was narrow where the ganache ball was placed. It was about 2 pm but I didn't panic because cakes are easier than jellies. Jellies need time to set.

I had a minute of doubt though, thinking that maybe I should just go with the jelly Christmas tree that I had already made the night before. I took a spoonful of the failed cake and jumped. The cake was soft, fine, moist, delicious and there was plenty of rich smooth choc lava oozing out of the cake. I had to try the recipe again and share it with you all. But I had a problem.How do I prevent the lava from seeping through the cake, and how do I prevent the cake from breaking in the middle where the lava was?

It is more work but what I did was steamed 2/3of the cake, then dropped the frozen ganache ball on the steamed cake, top with more batter and steamed again. That this cake turned out so well is one of the best moments for me in the Challenge. I really am very proud of this cake but the real credit goes to Rose for her fool-proof lava and a recipe that makes the best velvet cake, pink or red.

But wait. Just a minute ago when I was waiting for my photos to load, I googled and found lots of people have already made pink velvet cake. It's just that I didn't know about it. No matter, I still feel pretty good that I thought of it too. I think I can hang on for another 2 days. ! And oh, don't you like that pink lacy crepe?

An egg stand comes in handy in holding the mould upright.

Pink Velvet Molten Choc Cake ( 2 cones)
The choc ganache balls:
30 gm dark choc, 60 to 62% cacao
40 gm heavy cream
--Heat the cream until just about to boil, add the choc and stir until choc is melted. You can also melt the choc in the cream over a double boiler.
--Line 3 ice cubes cavity or small jelly moulds with cling wrap and spoon the ganache in. Fold the wrap over to cover or use another piece of wrap, and put into freezer for 2 hours or until frozen.


The Cake:
1 egg white + pinch cream of tartar
30 gm cake flour *+ 1/4 tsp baking powder
25 gm caster sugar
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup milk

*If not steaming in the Jelliriffic mould, use 25 gm flour.

1. Prepare a steam pan. If using oven, preheat at 170 C.
2. Whisk egg white with the cream of tartar until just after soft peaks stage.
3. Sift the flour with the baking powder.
4. In a bowl, mix the butter and oil using a hand-held electric whisk and whisk 1 minute, then add the flour, milk, vanilla and ! color.5. Add the egg white into the flour mixture in 2 parts, beating 30 seconds each time.
6. Place twoNick Munro mouldson heat-proof stands and line with grease-proof paper. Fill the moulds 2/3 up and steam 10 minutes. Keep the remainder of the batter in the fridge.
7. Carefully place a ganache ball into the centre of the steamed cakes and fill up the moulds with the remaining batter almost to the top, leaving 1/2 cm for the cake to rise. Steam 15 minutes this time (the mould is thick). Remove and let cool before turning out onto a plate carefully. Serve with vanilla ice cream. For the lacy crepe, go here.

Delicious Dinner 47.

A series of homecooked dinner by my wife.

Egg Omelette filled with big onion and spring onion-pan fried until golden yellow-rolled into a round heap emphasising upon layered textures.

Stuffed giant green chilli with homemade Tenggirri Papan fish paste-long and thick-not spicy at all-taste like capsicum.

Japanese Egg Tofu topped with homemade Tenggirri Papan fish balls-steamed and drizzled with a egg white gravy with chopped spring onion garnish..

Super Simple Roasted Apples

Under no circumstances do I want you to come to this blog, read it, and leave with the sense that I have my act together. I dont have my act together. If it looks for a moment like I have my act together Im just barely holding on. Hear these words.

I was reading a website last week, and the writer posted a picture of her nightstand. Perfectly mundane. Perfectly innocent. Except the nightstand had three things on it. Something fancy made by Steve Jobs, something that probably smelled like roses in heaven, and a perfectly placed tube of designer lip gloss. Perfect layered on perfect, with a dash of perfect. Maybe I freaked out a little on the inside. Maybe my nightstand is a dusty clutter of books that Im currently ignoring. Maybe I cant find my lip gloss and if I could it surely would not be designer and it surely would have cat hair on it.

Im not much for comparing myself with others but I am for comparing nightstands apparently.

Mine is not put together.

Also while were here you should also know that I have to throw my phone in the back seat of my car to keep myself from texting and driving. All the way in the back. Otherwise I cant help myself.

Oh. Sometimes I daydream about running into the boy I used to date earlier this year. In my fantasy, I look fantastic like fatally fantastic. Im also with my new (majorly amazingly tall) new boyfriend. thus making this dummy dude feel like a total shrimp. I so so so wish for that to happen.

See? Im fickle, and messy, and texty AND I CAN TOTALLY COOK SOME APPLES!!!! So there

Apples are just bonkers right now. I say we take advantage of this!

What follows is the most simple recipe for warm, soft, cinnamon-y apples. I started with crisp Fujis.

Essentially, what were going to create is the inside of an apple pie without all the hassle of pie crust.

One might argue that the crust is the best part of an apple pie. Fair enough. Fine. Youre not entirely wrong.

But pulling these apples out of the oven might change your mind.

You might also consider baking these apples instead of lighting a scented candle . Your house will smell exactly like heaven.

Why dont spas smell like warm cinnamon apples? Someone really should take this into consideration.

I love these apples on yogurt with granola. I love these warm apples on cold ice cream. I love these apples on breakfast oatmeal. I love eating these apples, piping hot, standing over the sheet pan with a fork.

Some things are just simple and delicious.

Super Simple Roasted Apples

makes 4 small servings

Print this Recipe!

4 Fuji apples, peeled and sliced thin

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoons cornstarch

sprinkling of ground all spice

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven t! o 400 de grees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread sliced apples across the baking sheet. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch, all spice, and salt. Toss with fingers. Top with cubes of butter and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, until golden and bubbly to your desired doneness. Remove from oven. Allow to cool slightly and serve on top of ice cream or oatmeal. Store in an airtight container for up to up to 3 days. Reheat in a small pan over low heat on the stovetop.