Lou Sang Episode 3 - Golden Phoenix, Equatorial

Some restaurants have been around forever. And Golden Phoenix at Equatorial is one of them. For those who love strolling down memory lane, you better stroll quickly, for the whole hotel will be closing it's doors at the end of March, to be torn down and rebuilt. While the Phoenix may rise from the ashes, it will be at least another 3 years before you can tantalize your palate with its offerings. Gasp, I will be close to half a century by the time the new Equatorial is ready.

But despair not, while the Dragon may herald the end of the Phoenix in its current form, there is still one last hurrah, and Chef Ng Chee Wah has put together traditional menus for the coming Chinese New Year.

I loved the tidbits of deep fried anchovies ( I think that's what it was), tossed in a fruit compote.

The signature Golden Prosperity Yee Sang, is different in that it has soft shell crab. Actually, judging by the number of times one partakes in Yee Sang during the season, it's a good thing that various restaurants have different takes on this dish, offering a nice variety.

Adorned with pine nuts, and their specialty chinese coin carved out of oranges, together with the special plum sauce, the Yee Sang is a lovely combination. Traditional choices of salmon, jellyfish and abalone are also available till 6th February, for lunch and dinner, with prices starting from RM58++.

The aforementioned "gold coin".

Roasted Chicken With Onions. Yes, there is a chicken underneath that rubble of onions. The onions are actually the highlight of this dish, aromatic, crispy, and imparting that glorious flavour to the simple chicken.

B! raised S ea Asparagus, Black Moss with Lotus Root and Broccolli. When I was growing up, (as opposed to growing sideways), I don't recall ever eating sea asparagus. I wonder if it's a recent discovery.

Oh, this is what the naked chicken looks like without the onion make up. As the original dish was so overwhelmed by the onions, the professional photographers on the table requested another one without the garnishing.

Steamed Pomfret With Soya Sauce. Pomfrets are one of my favourite sea fish, so I was rather happy to have this dish. It was steamed perfectly, not overcooked, as is prone to happen at larger banquets.

Stir Fried Tiger Prawns Vietnamese Style. The tangy sweet sauce is actually a perfect accompaniment for white rice.

Fried Rice With Salted Egg and Diced Prawns. I wouldn't have minded some meat in the rice, but the salted egg, especially when you bite into the bits of yolk, does add a nice touch to the dish.

For desserts, glutinous dumplings (more like Tong Yuen served at the winter solstice) with ginger tea, (ah, the ginger tea was lovely. A bit searing at first gulp, but sends shivers of warmth to the body, and ginger expels wind). and pan fried nian gou with cheese. Cheese did I say? Well, to the cheese averse, it's a very subtle taste, and if it was not mentioned, only the VERY discerning could've picked it up. It lends a nice salty flavour to the sweet nian gao.

The menu above is the EARTH DRAGON Menu, and is RM1538++ per table of ten, and comes with a Chinese Tea Set. (as in, the crockery). Oh, the menu also includes a soup, which we skipped at lunch time. What kind of soup? Well, ! give the m a call to find out.

There is also the Celestial Dragon set at 1338++ per table, and the Water Dragon at RM3838++ per table. Lest you keel over, it does come with abalone, lobster and all the other expensive Chinese delicacies.

Thanks to Carol of Equatorial for a lovely lunch.

Golden Phoenix Restaurant
Hotel Equatorial
Jalan Sultan Ismail
Tel : 03-2161 7777
Website : www.equatorial.com

Gong Xi Fatt Chai

Hi all!

Well, I didnt mean to not post anything new between the last post and Chinese New Year. But Ive been busy much. Ive a few drafted posts but they are not finished and I dont have the time to finish it.

So, well, blogging will resume soon and heres to

wishing everyone a happy and

prosperous Chinese New Year.

May the year of dragon be filled with

good luck, good health and happiness.

(and good food too!)

faq

Bijan, Kuala Lumpur

Bijan is a highly awardedfine-diningrestaurant in Kuala Lumpur. I've seen the name so many times but never read the reviews and I've always had the impression that it was a French restaurant. I walked into the dimly-lit Bali-style restaurant with its al fresco dining area, bamboo blinds and palm trees and expected a fancy French menu but while the prices were French enough (i.e. affordable only on special occasions), the cuisine was Malay with a hint of Indonesian. There are no fine-dining Malay restaurants in KK, a fact that I've always complained about. We don't even have a decent Malay dining restaurant to bring our visitors, other than standard hotel restaurants that have a few Malay dishes on the menu as an afterthought. I smell financial opportunities in that vacumn but I think unless we get some entreprenuer from KL, local Malay restaurant cuisine will continue to be limited to soto daging and nasi lemak.

Bijan (not the French name but sesame seeds in Malay--but of course!), I'm told, has slipped a little in its standards recently although it is still rated among the top Malay fine-dining restaurants in KL. Despite that, I loved the food at Bijan, and my top pick is Opor Rusuk, succulent and aromatic beef ribs stewed with spices and coconut milk. Another unforgettable item is Bijan's Chocolate Durian Cake, which was a slice of heaven, trite as it sounds.

Kerabu Mangga, a tangy-spicy salad of unripe mangoes that went well with the rich dishes.

Opor Rusuk, stewed be! ef ribs in spices, toasted coconut, gula melaka and coconut milk. So, so good--the best dish. Superbly-flavored ribs slow-cooked until it was super tender yet still stuck to the bones.

Terung Goreng Bercili, fried brinjals with a chili sauce.

Another delicious meat dish: Rusuk Panggang, bbqed beef ribs with dark soy sauce, belacan (shrimp paste) and spices.

Masak Lemak Udang Dengan Nenas, prawns and pineapple in a spicy coconut sauce. I have no recollection of this dish!

Or this chicken dish, partly because it was so dark in the restaurant (next time I come to Bijan, it'll be before sundown because I want to be able to SEE the food and place) and everything was just so yum.

Dang, I don't know this one either but like all spicy dishes, this was heaven when eaten with w! hite ric e.

Pucuk Paku Goreng Tahi Minyak--what is 'tahi minyak'?--, stir-fried wild ferns and prawns with chili and caramelized coconut. Are you drooling yet?

After all that, I thought I should skip dessert but was told that it would be a big mistake.

I took a small bite of Sharmaine's Beach Holiday Cake, a soft pandan sponge covered with buttercream,mango compote and toasted coconut. It was yum but didn't blow me off my feet.

Classic cendol, pandan-flavored mung bean strips with gula melaka (palm sugar, the best-tasting sugar in the world, I must repeat) and coconut milk. Forget about fussy multi layered Opera cake and other fancy stuff. Cendol with good coconut milk and gula melaka is simple but ohhh-sooo-goood.

Finally, the crowning glory of Bijan's dessert menu, the Chocolate Durian Cake. What can I say? This blew me off my feet.

Many thanks to the Royal Selangor folks for the superb meal which was made double ! enjoyabl e by their company!

Bijan Bar & Restaurant

No 3 Jalan Ceylon

50200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel + 60320313575

Fax + 60320313576

Email: admin@bijanrestaurant.com

Open Mondays to Sundays 4:30pm to 11 pm.

Citrus Salt

I'm not kidding when I tell you it looks like a citrus orchard shook out its limbs in my kitchen. There are sweet limes and Meyer lemons on the counter near the sink, kaffir limes in the corners of window sills, oblong mandarinquats and petite kalamansi oranges scattered across other flat surfaces. And then, the prize of all prizes, a massive, electric-yellow Buddha's hand (direct from a very special Southern California garden) putting off more fragrance than the rest combined. So, I set to work making a spectrum of citrus salts.

Citrus Salt

They're pretty, and provide a pop of surprise, and your friends will love you even more when you hand them little jars to take home. Mostly, I use these as finishing salts. I love the kaffir lime salt sprinkled over coconut milk-based curries, or as a finishing touch on spring rolls. Mandarinquat salt sprinkled over homemade sea salt caramels? Give me a minute while I add that to my to-do list. Later in the year, the clementine and Meyer lemon salts are perfect on fava beans and asparagus. Beyond that, heirloom tomatoes.

Citrus Salt

I'm going to give you my basic technique down below. You can use that as a jumping off point and go from there. A lot of what this comes down to is personal preference. You'll notice I call for flaky sea salt. For this sort of thing, I like the kind of light, flaky salt crystals you can crush between your fingertips. I use Maldon. You give this salt a good, long toss with the citrus zest and then bake the mixture dry. You can certainly leave the salt like this, but I like to give it just a few pulses in the food processor to break it down a bit.! It's st ill light and flaky, just less so. All said, feel free to experiment with different salts. And process them powder fine if you like. I typically use about 1 tablespoon of zest to 1/2 cup of salt, but you might want to increase or decrease the amount of zest. Again, play around. Make blends. Take notes related to which ones you like, and how you're using them.

Citrus Salt

One other note. You'll only use the zest here. But you don't want all that amazing juice to go to waste, so zest the citrus first, then juice it as well. You can freeze the individual juices for later use, or, I like to make riffs on this sort of strong citrus ginger juice.

Thank you!: The Food52 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks is on. Heartfelt thanks to Nigella Lawson for writing such a thoughtful review and for putting me through to the next (crazy!) round.

Continue reading Citrus Salt...

Chempedak (artocarpus integer).

Chempedak are in season !!!

The Chempedak fruit trees is native to South East Asia, grown in abundant in Malaysia.

The vigorously growing, medium-sized tree (there are quite a number of varieties) bear fruits once or twice a year.

The edible arils (flesh) surrounding the small seeds are bright orange in color.

The taste of the sweet, juicy pulpy fruit is similar to the jackfruit/durian - with a pungent aroma .

Fritters made by dipping arils (flesh) in batter and frying in oil are a popular tea time snacks.

Do not discard the seeds-it can be eaten-taste like water chestnut ( peeled of the skin when boiled)).

Chempedak fruit -sweet and pulpy.

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie @ Balmain, Sydney

Blame it on Masterchef but the first thing on our mind when we reached Sydney was Adriano Zumbo and his desserts. A quick search on the internet and a click or two on the GPS and we were headed to their original outlet in Balmain.

Half expecting that they would have at least a table or two and 2 chairs or 3, we were disappointed to see a narrow outlet which had their air con on full blast (to presumably keep the desserts cold). Walk in to the display of desserts and you forgive everything.

With all the desserts you see on Masterchef, every item seems very complicated with different components and if I had my way (or my wallet had its way), I would have tried everything.

Despite being as sensible as possible, we still bought half a dozen of macarons and two desserts before hopping away happily.

Yum yum.

Despite the hype surrounding these babies, there were good but not exactly mind blowing. Maybe its because I was never into them or never ate them enough to like them. The flavours were all out of this world from chocolate chili, lime mojito, cola, lychee and etc.

His individual desserts were more like our cup of tea. With funky names, so funky I can't seem to remember whether it was "nuts about something" or "crazy peanuts" (but I am pretty sure there was a nut or peanut in the name), we were drooling. the far left had 4 components with different textures and flavours, from chocolate, peanut butter and mango, this was awesome. The sphere was a choux pastry with bubble tea cream and was equally crazy in the mouth.

If this was near my house, we would be eating desserts every other night so long as they keep changing the menu.

Address and contact details:

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5 stars. Their individual desserts with different components and textures look and taste the bomb and definitely something that you wouldn't want to replicate at home.

WILD RICE SALAD WITH MISO DRESSING

Ive gotten into the habit of keeping some sort of non-lettuce based salad in the fridge, so I have the option to make a smarter lunch or snack choices. While I do enjoy cooking, I dont feel like doing it all the time, so making a big batch of a salad like this, gets me through the lulls. The beauty of a grain salad is that you can pack it full of vegetables, even dress it, and it doesnt go soggy on you. Some days I mix my trusty grain salads in with some lettuce to bulk it up and get more greens. So handy.

The following isnt necessarily an earth shattering combination of asian flavors, but they are all things that hold up well for a few days. Wild rice does take a bit longer to cook than short grain rice, but I find the smoky, nutty flavor unique. The rice, which is actually edible grass, is packed with fiber and other vitamins and minerals. I typically reach for yellow miso, but recently picked up a jar of the white and am loving its subtlety. You could substitute quinoa or millet or even serve the whole thing warm for dinner if that sounds more appealing. If tofu is not your thing, some shredded chicken or shrimp would be a nice alternative. Now that Ive given you just about every option to alter the original, its time for a bowl of goodness.

WILD RICE SALAD WITH MISO DRESSING // Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as a side
Inspired by the NY Times Recipes for Health

The following makes a decent portion, but if you want it to last you, I would double or triple the amounts. You could get away with less tofu, but increase the amounts of rice and vegetables to ensure leftovers.

1/2 cup wild rice (any rice works, timing will vary accordingly)

14 oz. block extra firm tofu
2 tsp. coconut oil2 tsp. soy sauce or tamari
fresh ground pepper

1 heaping cup thinly sliced carrots
3/4 cup cooked, shelled, organic edamame
3 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
Handful of Chopped Cilantro or Pea Sprouts

// Miso Dressing //

2 Tbsp. white miso
2 Tbsp. agave nectar or brown rice syrup
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 1/2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 shallot, minced
Juice of half an Orange

Rinse the wild rice. Bring two cups water to a boil. Add the rice, turn the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until all the water is absorbed (about 35-40 minutes), adding a bit more water if necessary to finish cooking. You will see a tuft of white pop from the center.
Wrap the tofu between a few layers of paper towel or a dish cloth and set it aside to drain for 10-15 minutes. Cut it into a 1/2 dice. Heat the coconut oil over medium high heat (I love the crust I get in a seasoned cast iron pan). Add the tofu and saute for about five minutes. Sprinkle the soy sauce and a few grinds of fresh pepper over the top and saute another few minutes until the edges are browned. Turn off heat and set aside.
Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together (Dont be tempted to add salt, miso is pretty salty).
In a large bowl, combine the rice, tofu, sliced carrots, edamame. Toss everything with the dressing. Add the sesame seeds and cilantro and give it another toss. Serve room temperature or chilled.

buckwheat baby with salted caramel syrup

Yesterday morning, at last, I handed in my cookbooks edits. And I know, youre thinking, but I thought you already handed your book in? and I had. Copyedits, which come back six weeks later, are like closing costs (or so I understand) when you buy a house. You think youre all done and just have some papers to sign/designs to approve and then wham! Comparatively, writing a book is a cinch. Writing is like splashing bright paint all over a giant white canvas look at all of those lovely words all lined up! Arent they darling? Copyedits are like measuring the space between each mark of paint and having to answer questions like, This splatter is .25 inches from that splatter, and you call it a blue splatter but this one is .5 inches away and labeled splatter, blue. Was this intentional? There were about three of these questions on each of 390 pages, and yet despite the fact that this work consumed the last 21 days of my life, I frequently wanted to HUG this poor copy editor who managed to wade through my blather and find small adjustments that made sentences sing. She is a saint.

Nevertheless, the three weeks I worked on this had some unintended side effects, the first is that I missed you all terribly. I dre! amed of nothing but buckwheat pancakes, buttermilk chicken and hearty winter slaws and could not wait to get back into the kitchen again. However, the saddest side effect of being swallowed up by work for a few weeks was oddly not that I now have something my husband calls my editing pants. (What? Theyre soft and comfortable and they have pockets! And now we must burn them.) but from my son, who is now enough of a two year-old that hes capable of telling it like it is: After three weeks of his mama having no time to cook, he now sees an I NY bag and hollers DINNERS HERE! Oh, the shame. It burns.

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Tuaa Mark Pan () Mee House @ Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur

Where ever you may be, there will be some interesting food around the area. I was in Jinjang and was figuring what to eat as usual, then I remember Tuaa Mark. Tuaa Mark means "Big Eyes" in Hokkien, something like Betty Davis'eyes.