Yummy Malaysiana: 02/04/12

Pancake With Peanut Butter & Jelly

Pancake With Peanut Butter & Jelly

[Recipe Source : by Amy Cheong, Desirable Recipes]

This morning, woke up very early, cannot sleep.

Since cannot sleep, my brain cracking what to cook for breakfast?

Came out this very simple breakfast, Pancake With Peanut Butter & Jelly,

sure my son and daughter will love it.

To get my Fluffy Pancake recipe, please click here.

Once you have done all the pancake,

spread the Peanut Butter & Jelly on top of the pancake

and take another pancake to sandwich it.

My children love the Smucker's Goober Brand of the Peanut Butter & Jelly.

Isn't it is delicious to eat with your favourite hot drink?

Happy Eating!

No.3 Best Malaysian Restaurant: Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion, Kota Damansara

Prior to this visit, I have only dined in Erawan once but it left a lasting impression - from the food down to the restaurant decor. This time, I brought Hubby along to change his perception of Thai food. You see, Hubby's previous Thai food experience (elsewhere) has not been very good and he always associates Thai food with being super spicy til his gut hurts. LOL. Suffice to say, after visiting Erawan, he's much more open towards this cuisine and perhaps someday he will learn to love it too :)

This year, Erawan secured the number 3 spot in The Miele Guide's Best Malaysian Restaurants, coming in after Cilantro and El Cerdo. Very well-deserved.

As always, the restaurant is immaculately decorated with fresh orchids (love the scent) and this time, we even got to speak to Chef Korn, the man behind the kitchen, who is very talented and passionate about cooking. We could tell that he's not one of those chefs who guards their cooking recipes, in fact he was more than happy to share a few of his cooking tips with us.

Their signature lychee drink

I have always wondered what it means by "classic Thai fusion" here at Erawan. Turns out Chef Korn likes using a lot of Western ingredients such as Australian beef and lamb as well as cod fish but still retaining the traditional Thai flavours. If you've visited the restaurant, you will notice that the food presentation here is really beautiful as well, making it a real feast for the eyes.

We started off with the roast duck breast salad (RM58), with a special North Eastern salad dressing. The duck bre! ast has been imported from Thailand, grilled until the skin is crispy (also to remove excess fats) and then mixed with herbs, dried chilli, crispy garlic and lime as well ground roasted rice. The duck meat was very juicy and tasted very refreshing owing to the tangy dressing.

We were impressed with the grilled river prawn, served with sadao and tamarind sauce. Firstly, the river prawns were HUGE... it's simply grilled retaining its natural sweetness. The sadao flower (which is really pretty) is a special winter flower which is a good antioxidant. It has a slight bitter taste (sort of like petai but without the stink), but when paired with the sweet tamarind sauce and topped on top of the sweet prawn, it all goes well together. I really enjoyed this!

The crispy river prawn with a Thai basil sauce also features plump, juicy prawns deep fried in a light tempura-like batter. This and the previous dish are not on their a la carte menu yet, but I think you can request for them. Erawan actually specialises in c! ustom-ma de menus, so if you tell them your budget and dietary requirements, Chef Korn can prepare some special dishes (off-menu) for you - with advance notice of course.

The chicken and spices curry (RM48) is a mild traditional Thai curry which will get you asking for more rice to soak up all that lovely gravy. It is made out of various spices such as mace, nutmeg, coriander seed, caraway, cardamom seed, clove and cinnamon which is mixed with red curry paste and then simmered with the chicken thigh. It is quite similar to the chicken massaman according to Chef Korn. Sweet green chillies which can only be found in Cameron Highlands is added, be careful not to eat the seeds as it can be quite fiery. I also learnt something new and interesting, peanuts are added to the curry to tone down the taste.

Ah ice-cream to soothe my tongue (I bit a chilli seed by accident), homemade delights by Chef Korn with flavours such as lemongrass, black rose, lavender, super berry, coconut, durian, and chilli. We settled for coconut (which is quite labour intensive from what I heard) and lavender. The coconut flavour was really nice since Chef Korn scrapes the flesh off from young coconuts. The lavender flavour is lightly perfumed from the lavender.

Coconut ice cream with freshly roasted nuts

Lavender ice cream

The awards that Erawan have won

No.3 in Malaysia!

Btw if you're thinking of visiting Erawan, you're best to go in March as they will be closing between 7 Feb to 8 March 2012 for a minor renovation to give the place a fresh look. We will definitely be going back then to check out the new look as well as any new menu that Chef Korn comes up with :) Please remember that you need to pre-order a day in advance as most of the dishes require a lot of preparation (see their full menu here). Chef Korn will also be holding private cooking classes after the renovation.

*Thanks to! Korn an d Anan for the kind invite to dine in your restaurant.

Pork free.

Opening times: Fri - Sun 12-3pm; Tue - Sun 6pm -10.30pm. Closed on Mondays.

Service: Excellent.

Price: Prices are slightly expensive, but the quality and taste of the food here totally justifies it.

Location: Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion Restaurant, No. 22-1, Jalan PJU 5/16, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: 03-6141 2393

E-mail: siamdb@msn.com

Website: http://www.erawan-classicthai.com/

GPS Coordinates: 3.152857, 101.591971

Favorites List (February 2012)

Hi everyone. I'm not entirely sure what happened, somehow this turned into the mother of all favorites lists. The number of things that caught my attention kept piling up - articles, videos, photo series, recipes to try, places to visit someday - and here we are. Hope you enjoy, and I promise to be back in a few days with a recipe to share.

- Pacific Coast Trail Moleskine Journals

- The Joy of Quiet

- E.L. Williams

- Punjabi-laced chill-banger.

- The Car Picture, 1987 -- 2011 (via wb)

- Fantasy get-away, and this one too.

- Roasted Sesame Winter Slaw & Maria Speck's Artichoke Tart with Polenta Crust

- Things to Worry About

- The Art of Pesto (with Kinfolk)

- Spring 2012 cookbook preview

- Sof ia, Bulgaria

- Finnish Potato Flat Bread & Vegetarian Pho

- Where The Wild Things Are - as read by Christopher Walken (via Hustler of Culture)

- Wear Good Shoes: Advice to young photographers (link / PDF)

- School House Electric video

- Gold slippers (via Maggie)

- White picket fence

- John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter (via Ill Seen, Ill Said)

- Blue stripes

- Housesitting in Hawaii

- Colorblocked Bread Board

- The perfect way to spend $3.

- From Super Natural Every Day: Carnival Cookies & Quinoa Patties

- Made with love.

- Jen Causey + Nikole Herriott

Lead photo: A number of you were curious about the Buddha's hand referenced in the citrus salt post. It's a beauty, no?

Continue reading Favorites List (February 2012)...

A Dinner to Welcome the Dragon Year by Friends of Titiwangsa

This marvellous 4 seasons with durian pastry that looks like spring rolls and mini bouncy deep fried fish balls covered with an egg blanket were awesome. The interesting part is that this dish is not prepared by CH Restaurant but by a neigbouring food outlet and was sent over to us FOC by a local politician and a friend of our pal. Election is coming goodies are everywhere..... Anyway thanks for the wonderful food.

It was a good idea to pick this green dish as the Chinese New Year cuisine was getting scary and boring. Four Heavenly King Veggie () was gorgeous.

This juicy & succulent pork spare ribs were really good.

Chicken cooked with sliced chestnut in claypot was another good ala carte selection.

Braised sea cucumbe! r and fi sh maws withbroccoliand and hidden small dried cuttlefish cut that make the dish tastes interesting and delicious.

From the BBQ display counter and for the pairing with whisky drink, it was prefect.

This particular Jenahak fish was flown in from Sabah it was big, fresh and delicious. Thanks to CCK for the fish & prawns and not forgetting Chef of CH Restaurant for preparing this fantastic dish. He filleted the fish & did a simple and perfect steam for us.

The best of the night was this fish.

Personally I would prefer the fresh prawns to be steamed with egg and ginger instead of frying with soy sauce.

The claypot of rice with mixed waxed meat and topping of crispy mini lard cubes and blanched Kai Lan vegetable.

The taste of this waxed meat rice was heavenly it must be the sinful lards tucked within the rice.

Happy faces for a happy and wonderful dinner to usher another great year.

CH Restaurant is getting popular in Setapak area and will expanding the premises to cater to the increasing demand and mostimportantlythefoodis good. We like CH Restaurant unfortunately we could not secure a room for this occasion.

Restoran CH

Jalan 7/23A

Off Jalan Usahaw! an

Setapak

Tel: 03-4148 1799

GPS Location : 3.197945,101.719494

Hops & Grapes

Cyberjaya is a virtual desert with very few watering holes, but a sip of salvation can be savored at Hops & Grapes.

Pub grub all the way: the Beef Burger Pizza is a messy, thick-crust recipe _ bountiful with minced beef patties, olives & BBQ sauce. Flavorful, though not the most refined recipe around.

Spicy beef ribs. A little too chewy & bony to recommend, but we kinda enjoyed the spicy sauce heaped on the ribs.

Belgian chocolate ice cream with Bailey's. Rich & smooth, with a powerful infusion of liquor. The ice cream here is supplied by Buckets Artisanal Ice Cream.

Coffee ice cream with Kahlua. Every dessert should be like this one, he said. Hic!

Guinness Cider (savanna cider, guinness draught), alongside H&G Punch (dark & light rum, apricot brandy, pineapple, orange, guava, mango juice, grenadine syrup).