Every year during hubby’s birthday I will cook a special meal for his departmental colleagues which is usually around 15 to 20 people. That is all I can manage as the entire building will have a couple of hundreds personnel! (pre pandemic) Everyone does the same on their birthdays but mostly the food is shop bought so they all looked forward to my hubby’s birthday each year.

I enjoy doing it as I am weird. I actually enjoy the planning and executing more than eating the food itself. I was talking to a friend the other day and she roll her eyes at me. kekekekekeke I enjoy introducing the majority British colleagues with what I like to think a true Malaysian hospitality and cuisines. I also have to plan what I can cook that can travel, easy for hubby to carry in the boot of his car. Luckily his office is just 10 minutes drive away.

When the colleagues come back and tell my husband they went to this and that restaurants and order the same food I have made for them but they tasted totally different, not enough ooooomph….it makes the hubby proud and make my heart sings lah (honestly) That is why I like to plan, execute and give them different food each year; introducing them to our Asian, Malaysian cuisines.

It had been 2 years now that they missed their treats – This was in 2017

Tri-coloured nasi pulut with chicken tikka masala, tomato chachumbar, mango raita, cumin potatoes and spicy vegetarian aubergines with mock chicken for the vegetarian.

Yesterday was not a birthday or anything but the colleagues have missed hubby’s birthday twice due to the pandemic so the boss asked hubby if he could ‘persuade’ me to cook them something for their first “meet & greet”. The only annoying thing is I have 2 days notice!!! Darn it! Hubby forgot to tell me and it cuts down my pleasure of the ‘planning & executing’ process joy!

However I have to plan something the colleagues have not tried from my kitchen before and must be Covid19 friendly. I decided on individual boxes and must be dry not wet food. So I came up with Mee Siam for main. I have not been able to find a vendor to cater to my taste so far outside so I have to cook. I did not plan to write this recipe out as it all agak-agak and I cooked 3 packets of vermicelli noodles yesterday and the last wok I added some egg noodles. However to my surprise a few persons asked for my recipe so I am scaling down this recipe for 1 wok full or 1 packet of rice vermicelli. I also served crispy wantons for starters and cupcakes for desserts.

So please bear in mind to taste and TASTE your sauce before you add in your noodles to suit your taste. Mine is extremely sour and spicy or one of my friend who ate it said ‘zingy’ kekekekekekeke I am very liberal with my lime and tamarind juice. Over the past decade the hubby’s colleagues know that I do not compromise on taste for them. They can have red faces from the spiciness and still they will eat. Very funny.

TIP 1 – Do not boil your vermicelli noodles or over soak them. Just soak in cold tap water. When soft, remove and drain before use. (Ignore what is written in the packet)

TIP 2 – I do not use any soy sauces, dark or otherwise because I do not like the colour too dark and to me it is not necessary.

TIP 3 – Whole grain fermented yellow beans smashed, taste a lot better than the ready mashed ones. Half and half is perfect.

TIP 4 – Place half the eggy strip before the gravy runs dry so they can soak up the taste a bit.

TIP 5 – If serve immediately please gives the vegetables a toss with the hot noodles before serving BUT if you are packing for people aka tapau do not do so. Residue heat will cook the vegetables to crunchy perfection. Overcooked limps beansprouts and vegetables just look so unappetising to me.

COMMON SENSE –

1 – More sauce – wetter Mee Siam so less sauce drier Mee Siam. It is entirely up to your taste!

2 – Making more of the sambal paste and serving some separately is also nice for those who can eat extra spicy. If you are serving sambal please add a pinch of sugar.

I was wondering for days what to do with the balance of the eggs I got from Devon. Last week my son came back from a visit to his Nanny and he brought me a dozen eggs from Okehampton town. He asked the vendor if they are fresh and the vendor took him to look at his chickens – kekekekeke

Actually I was thinking of the Thai’s son-in-law eggs dish but I wanted to use some of my daun kesum (laksa leaves) before the frost gets to them in the winter. So this dish was born and it tasted not too bad.

My daughter is on holiday from work and as soon as she saw me frying the eggs she knew what I was cooking and immediately asked if she should boil more rice!!!

She loves this dish. However normally I added curry leaves. Today it is daun kesum. I think I much preferred daun kesom. Unique taste.

Well I hope you try this very simple dish. It should be sour enough to make you blink, spicy enough to make you sweat a little and just a slight cane sweetness from the jaggery – Enjoy

p/s boil more rice.

p/s You can use this sauce for fried eggs as well.

p/s Frying the eggs so the wrinkled skin absorb the sauce it very important to the taste. It’s give an extra layer of texture and taste.

‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’ as a youngster in Malaysia, towards the early evening I would be so happy and excited to hear the ‘roti man’ bell a ringing. This means I can get either one or the other snacks which I simply love. Carefree days.

First I will check for Masala vadai which is not often available as always sold out! Then the second thing I would have, would be the ice cream roti aka ice cream in sweet soft Asian bread.

Recently a friend of mine have bought me some very nice masala vadai and hubby and I were unashamedly gorging on them. It has been a long, long time since we have last eaten. I wanted to ask my friend to help me buy some more but hubby said he preferred to eat mine.

Luckily while tidying our Harry Potter’s room I found a 500g packet of Chana dal! It also so happened that tomorrow is Deepavali so I decided to make Masala Vadai today. As quite a few people have asked for recipe, I am typing it out.

However it is not the recipe that matters most but the TIPs. So here’s are the few TIPs from my experiences.

TIP – Nice vadais are those that is not too finely blended. So do not grind your Chana dal too finely. Hence I always saved a bit unground, grind half roughly and grind the other half finer.

TIP – I love my food to be colourful as they look so much better ascetically. So add in your red chilli, green chilli and curry leaves. You can also add some mint. Just roughly chop them.

TIP – Your mixture should bind together, not tightly but just hanging on. This is because of the minced onions that has a bit of juice. Do NOT be tempted to add any water.

TIP – you can roughly shaped them like me and then touch-up the shape just before frying. Shape into a ball then lightly press down with both your palms.

TIP – Thinner vadai are crispier so press down a bit like a flying saucer.

TIP – Use medium heat to fry the vadai, NOT high heat. You do not want the vadai to brown before the middle is cooked.

This is a dish I have a craving for few times a year. Cincalok Pork belly. I was so blessed to be the recipient of a beautiful jar of this goodness from a friend. I almost want to put it by my pillow and sleep with it. kekekekeke

Cincalok this jar that I have is from Malacca so the pinkish shrimp used is called udang geragau. Cincalok are readily identifiable and the taste is salty. Therefore when cooking this dish do NOT add salt.

I am sharing what I used in cooking this dish but the proportions is entirely up to you.

Warning – This dish is very moreish. Boil more rice!

p/s I like mine with lots of onions. How do you like yours?

I have not cooked asam jawa aka tamarind fish for ages. Just last month I was talking with a friend about this dish.

She had bought some amazingly fresh mackerels and I suggested to her this is one of the dish she can cook with her mackerels. This dish must be sour, sweet and spicy. All you need is a big pot of rice.

It is an extremely simple cook and the most difficult thing to do was to clean the kitchen after frying!

Actually I have made a mistake. I should not have bought such a big wild seabass as it was so big my biggest wok 36 cm can’t fit! Thus frying the fish crispy was not so easy. It’s just that the seabass was so fresh and winking at me yesterday at the fishmonger.

In the end, however the dish prevails.

p/s Taste and adjust to your taste. I prefer mine more sour, follow by spicy then sweet. The touch of soy sauce also adds that bit of extra depth of flavour. Season it to your taste.

Asam Laksa can happen in Hertfordshire, England.

A couple of decades ago I I was missing Asam Laksa so much but it was near impossible to find all the ingredients here. I was ‘importing’ my stash every time I balik kampung

My stash included torch ginger (bunga kantan), polygonum odoratum (daun kesum) and calamansi lime (limau kesturi) but nowadays they are able to be gotten here but still not easy.

Today I have decided to use some of my stash from Malaysia to cook Asam Laksa as I am going to replenish my stash soon.

For my paste I like to add a small bit of turmeric and galangal (blue ginger) Both these ingredients are easy to find here in Chinatown.

TIP 1 – To get a clear fish broth sieve it once with a normal sieve then sieve it a second time by placing a sheet of kitchen roll on your sieve as an extra lining for a much clearer fish broth.

TIP 2 – Blend your spices till fine. I like to blend some of my lemon grass and torch ginger besides adding some to boil with the broth.

TIP 3 – Remove the big bits from your broth before adding in your fish meat.

Updated 8/08/2021

Actually Asam Laksa is very easy to cook. Years of working and cooking for a family you learn to organise yourself.

I like to boil and picked my fish the night before and the next day just blend and fry the paste. Mush easier and less stress.

Note – I have tried ordering asam laksa outside and I have yet to find one I am willing to part my ££ for! A famous restaurant in Chinatown which I once took a Japanese friend to try (after singing the virtue of how cool and different asam laksa is) was a HUGE let down.

When I queried, the waitress told me it just tin sardines + chilli + asam jawa water and the people working there don’t even eat it! Till this day I am still shocked!

When I read some good reviews recently I think I have to go and try again to see if they have ‘updated’ their asam laksa OR maybe I am just fussy? – kekekekekeke

A good asam laksa (my opinion)

1 – The broth should not be a murky dark brown or look like curry. It should be a clear fish broth with hint of red chilli oil.

2 – The mackerels if you have picked yourself should be in chunks not in bits.

3 – The taste should be sour, spicy, taste of lemongrass, galangal and most important of all the combo of torch ginger and laksa leaves!

Note – Remember the heh ko/prawn paste is sweet. Use as much or as little as you like.