"Kari Ikan Tongkol" to go with Nasi Dagang

Yummy Yummy!

From my earlier post on how to cook nasi dagang, here is the recipe for 'kari ikan tongkol' (Kelantanese style fish curry). I'm not sure what 'ikan tongkol' is called in English. I think it's some kind of a Malaysian tuna?

Well, we eat rather heathily on weekdays as I cook almost everyday, and we definitely do not consume much salt, sugar, santan, oil and stuffs that contribute to the high level of diabesity and overweight problems that is increasing in our country. So, do take it easy with the curry since it's generously laden with santan (coconut milk). I think you may opt to use evaporated milk or use less santan, but the taste be slightly less fragrant.

This is an occasional treat where we usually invite some friends over to indulge in this yummilicious meal.

Here's sharing with you our recipe. We prefer ours with more gravy. Do note that we do use any specific measurements as every ingredients are based on estimation according to our preference.

 Our 'Kari Ikan Tongkol' recipe for approximately 10-12 pax :

Ingredients A :
~ one big bowl of shallots (approximately 4-5 handful)
~ a quarter big bowl of garlic (approximately 1-2 handful)
~ 4-5 stalks of serai (lemongrass) - more if you like the fragrance

Ingredients B :

~ 5 to 6 medium sized 'ikan tongkol' or 'tenggiri' (Malaysian tuna?)
~ santan (coconut milk) from one coconut
~ one/two cucumber (cut in big pieces)
~ long beans (cut in thumbsized length)
~ 5-6 fresh red chillies or green chillies (the light green type) - we like to have more of it
~ a few cili padi (bird's eye chillies) - if desired
~ cili giling (chilli paste, comes in a container and is easily available in the market)
~ a few pieces of asam keping or asam gelugor  (dried tamarind skin),
~ fish curry powder (we prefer Baba's brand)
~ lengkuas, thumbsize (1 to 2) (galangal)~ 2 to 3 big bowls of water
~ salt and sugar to taste

Method :

( Pre-cooking steps ) :

1) Boiled a big bowl of water in a pot with 2-3 pieces of asam keping (dried tamarind skin) for approximately 20 minutes. Turn on low fire and add in the fish. Turn off fire when fish is halfway cooked. Leave the fish in the water and let it cool totally. Cover pot and let the fish 'soaked' in the asam water overnight in the fridge. This is to ensure that the fish would have a slight sourish tangy taste. Alternatively, you may soak it for a few hours prior to cooking.

2) A few hours before cooking, do the same for the cucumber and long beans. Boil half a big bowl of water with 1-2 pieces of asam keping. Turn off the fire and add in the vegetables.
Leave the vegetables in the water for approximately one hour. You may pour away the water afrer it's cooled down.

( Cooking steps ) :

1)  Heat up oil. Lightly fry two tbsp-ful of the chilli paste.
2)  Add in ingredients (A), stire and fry over medium heat till fragrant.
3)  Add in 2-3 tbsp of fish curry powder and continue frying over medium-low heat. Be careful not to burn.
4)  Add in the bowls of water and let it boil.
5)  Add in the fresh chillies and one or two more asam keping (to your preference)
6) Add in all the fish and let it simmer on medium heat and then to low heat.
7)  Add in the asam fish water (tamarind water) from the pot that was used to 'soak' in the fish.
      Simmer on low fire for around 20 minutes or so for the flavour to come out.
8)  Add in approximately 2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of sugar, to your preference.
9)  Gradually pour in the coconut milk and simmer on low heat for around 5 minutes.
10) Turn off fire. Add vegetables from the pre-cooking steps above into the curry before serving.
      (I prefer to keep my vegetables separated so that it's easier to scoop out).

As mentioned in my earlier post, 'kari ikan tongkol' goes well with nasi dagang which is a well known dish in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu and southern Thai, accompanied by 'acar' (pickled vegetables), hard boiled eggs, salted fish, 'sambal belacan' (a type of chilli shrimp paste) and keropok.

I've made a video here for your perusal. Happy Cooking!

Nasi Dagang recipe

Mmmmm........

Our kitchen is our mini bonding time for DH and I on some weekends when we undertake the task of cooking together. I cook for the family on weekdays and on weekends, DH would be the one who normally does the cooking. Occasionally, when the mood sets in, he'll go on a huge marketing spree and we'll then decide at the very last minute to call a few friends over.

Since we do not have a maid, our day starts right from the early morning till the evening, starting with the marketing, cleaning, chopping, slicing, cooking and washing the dishes. The rice will be soaked the night before. The kids love these cooking extravaganza weekends cos it means that they can watch unlimited cartoons or play games online while we toiled in the kitchen :-)
DH is a kelantanese and learnt this dish with recipe taken from the web, and improvised according to what we want. It's actually easy to cook, minus the time consuming processes in the preparation. With such a famous dish in the east coast, it would be a shame for those from the area who cooks but do not know how to cook this dish. Really! It's that easy!

A quick introduction on nasi dagang. It is a well known east coast of Malaysia and southern Thai dish, commonly eaten with 'kari ikan tongkol' (a type of Kelantanese style fish curry), accompanied by 'acar' (pickled vegetables), hard boiled eggs, salted fish, keropok and 'sambal belacan' (a type of chilli shrimp paste).

You can find the 'kari ikan tongkol' recipe in the next post.

'nasi dagang' and 'kari ikan tongkol'

The rice itself is rather reddish brown in colour and is like glutinuous rice. You may opt to use 'beras merah' (red rice) mixed with 'beras pulut' (glutinuous rice) as it can be quite hard to obtain it in KL area.

Below here is our version. Most of the ingredients here are just 'agak-agak' (based on estimation) on the ingredients used. You may improvise it according to your taste buds.

shallots, ginger and 'halba' (fenugreek seeds)

Nasi Dagang recipe for 8-10 pax :
Ingredients :

~ 1 kg beras nasi dagang (nasi dagang rice, or you may substitute it with a mixture of red rice and glutinuous rice)
~ Santan (coconut milk) from two coconut (you may opt to use lesser santan if you find it too 'lemak', or too rich)
~ one rice bowl full of peeled and chopped shallots
~ one knob of ginger, sliced and shredded (approximately palm size in length)
~ 1.5-2 tbsp biji halba (fenugreek seeds)
~ sugar to taste

Method :

1)  Soak the nasi dagang rice overnight in water to soften it.
2)  Discard water the next day and rinse rice. Heat up steamer.
     Place netting in the steamer and place the rice on top of the netting.
     (You may get this netting in sundry shops. We got our cotton netting from a fabric shop)
3)  Steam rice for 20 minutes in steamer.
4a) Remove rice and scoop them out into a huge clean pot.
      Add in some santan (approximately half).
      Stir well to mix the rice evenly with the santan.
4b) Scoop rice back into the steamer and steam rice for another 20 minutes.
5)  Remove rice once again and scoop them out into the earlier pot.
     Add in more santan (approximately one, depending on absorption)  
     to stir and blend in together with the rice. This will ensure that the rice absorb the santan)
5b) Once again, scoop rice back into the steamer and steam rice for another 5-10 minutes.
6)  Remove rice for the third and final time and scoop them out into the other pot.
     Pour in remaining santan. Add in shallots, ginger, halba and a little sugar. Stir evenly.
7)  Scoop rice back into the steamer and steam rice for approximately 5 minutes.
     Turn off fire after that and serve rice warm with the curry.

Appended below is a video for your reference on the steaming method of nasi dagang.

Do try it. You'll love it!  :-)

Pizza making attempt

The once-in-a-blue-moon urge to 'cook' something new came last few days for DH. And when his inspiration comes, it will be done.

So, this afternoon, DH spread his love (and flour) in the kitchen and he made pizza dough using our faithful breadmaker machine. I was a little doubtful as to whether his dough base will turn out well. So, I sat there quietly, observing the chef' at work while I was snickering away.

We didn't have much ingredients and decided to make do with what we have.

It turned out pretty well! I'm impressed! Thank you DH! *yummy*

Here's DH's dough recipe for 2 large pizza (12" pizzas each), taken from a recipe book :

• 280ml water
• 30ml extra virgin olive oil
• 450gm unbleached white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp easy back dried yeast.

The flour mixing method is pretty much the same as the way we make flour. Here's what DH did :-

1. Pour water and olive oil into our breadmaker machine, followed by flour on top the water and olive oil.
2. Add salt and sugar in 2 different corners, yeast in a dent in the middle.
3. Mix using pizza dough setting.
4. DH divided the dough into two and 'whacked' each dough on the table like there's no tomorrow.
5. DH spread the dough onto the pan and spread it with tomato paste and sprinkle it with ingredients* of your choice. For cheese, we use mozarella cheese. We sprinkle mixed pizza herbs on top.
6. Bake in preheat 220 degrees C oven for approximately 20 minutes.

* Suggestion of ingredients : fresh tomatoes, button mushrooms, onions, green pepper, canned pineapple, tuna/minced meat, etc.

Chef at work

Mini-chef assisting in the sprinkling of mozarella cheese

Leggo's tomato paste and Tesco mixed herbs DH used for our pizza

Aloe vera jelly drink

I noticed that the big, fat, aloe vera plant in my backyard has tilted while I was pulling out the weeds in the other pots. When I tried to put it back up straight, the bottom stem broke.

And so, I had to think of what to do with it. I kept some in the fridge and used some to make an aloe vera dessert drink. I remember drinking it at an aunt's place but had no idea how to prepare it at all.
So, I just make do with what I have in my fridge and boiled longan aloe vera jelly drink. Hubby says it taste good, except that it's not sweet enough for him.

My m.i.l. used it all the time to rub it on her face which she says contribute to her smooth skin. I have to admit that her skin looks good though. My mum says it's good for the hair and for burns and cuts on skin. So, I'll probably use those in my fridge for my sensitive skin. I use to hate aloe vera 'cos the sap cause itchiness to my skin. But the fat ones in the fridge should be good cos the flesh is thick and it's easy for me to cut the hard, green skin to avoid the remove the sap which is excreted just under the hard skin.

Here's my simplified recipe for the aloe vera jelly drink :

Ingredients : aloe vera (remove the hard skin and only take the gel-like texture), dried longans, red dates, pandan leaves and honey rock sugar. I added another a piece of one type of herb (kept a lot of it in my fridge) which I do not know the name. Amount to be used are in estimated amount.

Method : Boil the longans, dates and pandan leaves for about half an hour for the flavour to be out before adding in the aloe vera and continue simmer for another 10-15 minutes to remove the slimy texture from the aloe vera. Add rock sugar before turning off fire. I prefer to cool it down and drink it chilled.

"Khao Jam" (Nasi Kerabu)

"Khao Jam" ('kao jam'), or locally known as nasi kerabu, is a famous Kelantanese/Thai rice dish which is extremely healthy. Apparently, it helps to keep the body "warm" and is known to be good for people under confinement after delivery or those whose body are prone to chills and rheumatism.

Recently, my MIL and hubby's aunt was down from their kampung (village) in Kelantan and stayed in our house for a week. They brought along lots and lots of fresh herbs and vegetables and frozen bags of dark green coloured water.  The greens are totally fresh and free from pesticides.

The "khao jam" rice is actually made from the juice and blended herbs of more than a dozen herbs in Kelantan. I was told that you can't get it anywhere else except in Kelantan. Some of hubby's aunts make the most authentic "khao jam". They get their supply of fresh herbs and vegetables from a friend who collects the herbs which are mostly grown in his own backyard and some collected in the wild. The herbs have to be pre-ordered to allow time for the farm owner to pick and choose the leaves for you.

When I asked hubby's aunt what are the types of herbs used, she gave me names which are totally alien to me. She says that she doesn't even know how to describe it to me as it requires special knowledge to pluck the kind of leaves and herbs together. There used to be a time when people would use approximately 100 types of herbs to extract the juice.

"Khao" actually means rice in Thai while "jam" is the blended mixtures of all the herbs and vegetables. It's a Kelantanese favourite with thai influence and is totally different from the coloured rice that you normally see in the normal nasi kerabu which is sometimes made from a type of blue flower or added with colouring.  The taste is totally different and cannot be compared with the normal nasi kerabu that you normally get in malay restaurants. Our friends who recently tried this for the first time, went for a second helping. It kind of boost your appetite and makes you want to eat more.

How do I describe it? It's extremely fragrant and appetising. Hubby's aunt used the blended herbs and juices extracted from it and cook it with the rice like how you cook normal rice. She would also add in some daun limau purut (kaffir lime leaves), pandanus leaves and some gula melaka (palm sugar) on top of it for extra fragrance.

For the fresh vegetables, it is extremely important to use pesticide free vegetables. The chopping of the vegetable into fine pieces can be quite tedious. So, be prepared for a few hours of preparation.

For our preparation of our "khao jam" last night, we used the following fresh and raw vegetables which are mostly chopped finely, except for the beans :

•  normal petai (smelly green bean in pods)
• baby petai (this has tons of health benefits!)
• jering (a type of bean which is slightly bigger than petai but with a much lesser stinky smell)
• daun kesum (a kind of fragrant leaves)
• serai (lemongrass)
• bunga kantan (torch ginger flower)
• small raw mango
• taugeh (beansprouts)
• small bittergourd (this has tons of health benefits too!)
• cucumber
• onions
• young jantung pisang (banana flower)

You may also add in long beans, daun pegaga (pennywort) and other type of ulams (raw vegetables and herbs).

Over and above that, we added these :

• fish flakes (we use ikan kembung)
• kerisik (grated coconut that is briefly pan fried for the crispiness
• budu sauce (fermented fish sauce)

Budu sauce is widely used in east coast dishes. We added chopped chilli padi (bird's eye chillis), shallots and lime juice for the extra kick. However, be warned never to watch how the budu sauce is made in those small "factory huts" as you'll find it pretty disgusting and a big turn-off. haha... It is extremely salty, so watch the salt intake.

Here are some pictures to whet your appetite.




colourful types of fresh,  raw vegetables - such a pretty sight!



"khao jam" rice - cooked with more than a dozen types of blended herbs together with the juice extracted from it. The picture above here is a big rice cooker pot cooked for 15 people.




check out the budu sauce (top right), baby petai (top left), fish soup cooked in asam gelugor, green chillis and onions (middle left) and stir-fry chicken with petai (bottom left).



Apam balik

This afternoon, the kids and I decided to get into a simple cooking activity. Hubby has been asking me to make apam balik (a type of pancake with crushed peanuts and sweet corn filling) and so, being a first-timer in making apam balik, I decided that the kids should join in the fun as well. They were thrilled at the idea of having to 'play' with flour.

Here, the pictures speak for itself.



Brendan and Eryn being very serious and careful in measuring the flour and sieving flour respectively.

 

Brendan cracking eggs into a bowl while Eryn playing with flour.



From top left to bottom : the batter, apam balik in the making, the kids at the kitchen stove. Right : Brendan pouring water while eryn is stirring. I'm supposed to use milk instead of water but totally forgotten about it when the kitchen got messed up.



The ready to eat apam balik. It's not so fluffy like the ones sold in pasar malam but still, it is very tasty.



Brendan and Eryn enjoying their apam balik very much.

My pretty decent looking apam balik.

One two three four five, once I caught 3 fishes alive..

Some friends has called us up yesterday afternoon to go fishing. I really didn't want to go as it has been drizzling the whole of yesterday and it was such a nice day to stay home and rest.

The kids were excited though. It would be Brendan's first fishing trip and Eryn's second. It would be my first time going too (not taken into consideration the "fishing" at the big longkang/drain near by grandma's house when I was young). I had to reluctantly drag myself to go. Afterall, majority wins.

So, off we go to the private fish farm, located somewhere near Broga in Semenyih. Surprisingly, the rain stopped the moment we reached there. We had wanted to stop by the rabbit farm on the way there but it was closed.

It turned out to be quite a pleasant trip actually. I caught three fishes - TWO "nim yue / lim yue"  (aka "wallagonia attu" or ikan tapah in BM) and ONE "sang yue" (aka freshwater snakehead fish or ikan haruan in the BM). The first fish I caught was a huge 4 kg "nim yue", but unfortunately, the fish farm owner didn't allows us to take it back and we had to throw both back into the pond. Everyone said that I had the luck today - a beginner's luck. hehehehe...

According to our friend, "nim yue" can grow up to be as heavy as I am! Apparently, this is a type of freshwater catfish species and is known to eat monkeys. It's considered to be one of the biggest freshwater fish and is quite expensive too. Was told that the market rate is more than RM100 per kg! It looks like a wierd looking catfish to me.

We kept the "sang yue" and brought it to a nearby restaurant to have it cooked for dinner and it was so, so, so fresh and yummy!

The 4kg "nim yue" (ikan tapah) I caught. My very first fish in my first fishing trip :-)

Walking around from pond to pond, searching for a good location. The first pond didn't bring us result. My two "nim yue" was caught in the third pond I selected while my "sang yue" was caught in the fourth pond I chose.

Some of the fake fishing bait our friends uses. More for the experts I suppose.

Our friend chose this little frog for my bait. It is a live one. Probably not pro enough to use those colourful plasticky fishes like the previous photo.

The first pond we went to. No fishes at all. Can you see what little Eryn is doing while everyone, including little Brendan, is busy fishing?

Here's a closer look at the princess-in-waiting, sitting down eating her biscuits and apple with her feet up on another stool. She hated the ants that kept coming to her feet.

Lots of "fei chow yue" (ikan talapia in BM)  in some of the ponds. You can easily scoop them out with a net, but they're just not the type that we are looking for. Besides, this is meant for commercial selling, not nice for us to just take it without any effort.

This pond was being emptied and sprayed with water to clean it. If you see closely, there are some holes in the ground. We were told that these are fish nests. When the water is being sucked out to a smaller drain into another pond, the eggs and tiny fishes will be sucked out as well to grow in another pond.

and this was the "sang yue" I caught, with some reeling help from little Brendan. Beginners' luck!

Fresh, yummy "sang yue" cooked in soya sauce and garnished with shredded ginger and corianer leaves.

Potato craze

There was once we had fried fish fillet with crumbs and lots of potatoes. And I do mean lots and lots of potatoes.

My dad made french fries from fresh potatos, from scratch, and Brendan loves it. He has been asking for kong-kong's homemade french fries, so I bought potatoes.

Then, the whole plans changed cos I made mash potatoes and grilled potatoes with cheese and butter toppings instead.  Dessert was sweet potato soup.

A day full of potatoes! But it was a great change and the kids love it! But we have to forgo potatoes for a long time after that after the potato day. haha!

Ngaku chips

I bought about 3.5kg of ngakus (arrowroot head) today to have something to munch on.

I expected it to be such a tedious job - the cleaning, washing, drying, peeling, washing again, drying again, slicing, frying, etc... I started the cleaning just before I cook dinner around 6pm, and by the time the whole process is done, it was already 12:30am!! And that is only half of the ngakus I bought.

Because of the rush to clean up after dinner, slicing and all, I actually sliced off a teeny weeny bit of my thumb nail. With blood oozing out non-stop, hubby came to the rescue to help me dry those ngakus, while I search high and low for my missing handiplast and munch on some ngakus. *yummy*

For those who have the time and are keen to try, here's my recipe :

1) Clean and wash the ngakus and let it air dry.
2) Peel off the skin, wash and let it air dry again to remove traces of water.
    (One of my cousin leaves the skin intact for a 'crispier edge' while an
     aunty suggested putting it in the fridge to dry faster)
3) Slice thinly.
      (be careful not to slice your nail or fingers in the process. Would be good
      to leave the long 'tip' on the ngakus to make slicing easier)
4) Heat up oil. Add salt in oil. Fry till golden brown and drip the oil away.
      (it will be absorbed into the chips and you won't have traces of salt on
        your fingers).
     Control the fire so that it won't be too big (might overburn) or too small
       (might leave traces of oil on the chips).
5) Cool it and tah dah!!! Feast on it or pack in into air tight containers.

ngaku chips and raw ngakus

fresh nutmeg juice

I love the fresh nutmeg juice in Penang. The locals call it 'lao hao'. I manage to pluck a few nutmeg during my recent trip there and boil them. I don't know how they prepare it, so I just simply boil them in a slow cooker, cool it later and add honey and 'assam' into it. Mmmm... I love it! In fact, I love the dried sugar coated nutmeg rind and the pickled nutmeg too, but find that the pickled one makes me cough if I eat too much of it.

However, my sis told me that the nutmeg juice is actually quite good for cough. Oh! I miss my 'lao hao peng'.

Here's what freshly plucked nutmegs look like. They taste quite bitter if eaten raw. The little red fruit there is actually a little promegrate freshly plucked from my tiny little garden and  it taste quite ok and not sour at all :-)


Freshly plucked nutmeg and a little promegrate from my little garden.



Fireman BBQ Steamboat

As mentioned in my previous post, we had a lovely dinner at the Fireman BBQ Steamboat buffet restaurant in Bandar Puteri Puchong last night. We were there with some friends and all together, there were 5 adults, 2 teenage kids and my two little kids. They calculated that as 7 adults and 2 "babies" (for billing purposes).

I have to say that we really enjoy the food and the company of friends there for 2.5 hours. The offerings are not that much compared to the steamboat buffets in Sunway, but last night's meal was so worth it. The charcoal grilled lamb shoulder steak and cockles ("sea hum") grilled by their staffs were very nice. We ordered plates after plates of the grilled lamb and cockles. We found the grilled beef steak to be a little too dry though.

One of our favourite have to be the freshly sliced beef that we have. It taste good after dipping it in the soup. And our favourite drink has to be their famous Fireman herbal drink which taste like sugarcane with bits of lotus root and water chessnut. It was so good we ordered three jugs of it after our initial rounds of fruit juices.

They're having a promotion until the end of this month at buy one free one. So, for a total of 7 adults, we were charged for only 4 adults. Another friend couldn't make it, and that's just too bad. Would have been more worth it if we had another adult in our group. Our two "babies" ate for free. The food came up to RM119.60 only for 7 adults and 2 children. The normal price per pax is priced at RM29.90++ (unlimited orders for the grilled lamb shoulder steak, beef steak, grilled cockels, sliced raw beef and everything else except drinks). And for the amount of lamb, yummy beef (the raw one for the soup and not the ready-grilled one) and food that we had, it was definitely well worth it.. The company of friends certainly made it more fun. The drinks we ordered came up to RM70!! That's a whooping figure.

Our little kids didn't eat much - just a few bites here and there and they're full. However, they managed to wallop 4 scoops of ice-creams each. sigh!

Here's some photos taken to whet your appetite :-) Photos are not that clear cos it was taken with my handphone.

Their location : No 28, Jln Puteri 1/4, Bandar Puteri . Call for reservations : 03-80510889.

Our first round. We had numerous rounds, probably a dozen or more? hehe..

grilled beef pepper stick. Nice, but a tad too dry. The grilled lamb was delicious though, but forgot to take the picture (too busy eating). We ordered a dozen plates of the lamb steak I think.



Grilled "sea hum" (cockles), with accompanying peanut and chilly sauce. I've not had my full hepatitis jab, so I didn't dare to eat too much of this. But the first 2-3 rounds of plates we ordered had big cockles. The next few batches had smaller cockles.



 

Now, this is good! The Fireman famous own concocted herbal drink, which taste like sugarcane with bits of lotus root and water chessnut. Refreshing and nice.



The freshly sliced beef which we loved. Taste really nice after "cooking" it in soup. The soup taste very sweet and nice after that.

Just some of the unlimited supply of food available. Shown above here is some fresh prawns.

What I like about this place here is that their chicken wing never seem to run out, unlike most steamboat buffet restaurants that we've visited.

Food excursion (part 3, final part)

I guess I just have to include this in as this is the first time I ate something different.

My brother-in-law took us to this lovely restaurant famous for its steamed fish and kway teow dish. We went round and round in circles just looking for the place. He had to call a friend to ask for the location but was given the wrong road. Just as we were about to give up, we passed by this place at the lane next to where we were supposed to go. Luckily my sister spotted it as we were passing by. It's located on the ground floor of two cramped shoplots.

Parking was a little difficult as it was also drizzling. The place was packed with people and we had to wait for about 10 minutes before we had a table. We order three simple dishes for our group fo 4 adults and 3 children.

Steamed fish with big pieces of kway teow, cut and sprinkled with some fried garlic. This is something special for us and it's quite delicious.

Fish mee hoon claypot soup. Cooked with lots of serai (lemongrass). The dish smells good and the fish is very fresh. The kids love this very much. They had second helping too.

Stir-fried bittergourd and roast pork.

Restaurant details :

Wang Chau Jun

Address : 73, Jalan Rangoon  (it's a one way street, and the restaurant is on your left)

Business hours : 8am – 2.30 pm, closed on Tuesday
Contact number : 012-5559046 & 012-4709549

Food excursion (part 2)

As mentioned in my previous post, going to Penang is all about food. My sis stays in Penang and therefore, we go there at least once a year.

Having a seafood dinner at our usual haunt in Teluk Kumbar. So, I won't be writing about our lovely dinner meal. You can read some of our seafood experience in our older posts here and here.

My sis loves to tapao (pack) back for us goodies such as ice-kacang, cendol, rojak, etc.. I was yearning for the muar chee this round, but didn't manage to find any. I've also not tried the famous Nasi Kandar in Penang which my sister claims to be nice and cheap compared to KL.

Here's some of the hawker food we tried this round. Makes me hungry just looking at the photos.

Hubby insisted on going for the char kway teow at Macalister Road after our tapao-ed lunch meal of  assam laksa. Didn't take a picture of this cos we've been eating this all the time whenever we are in Penang. The shop is located somewhere near Sunshine Square.

Anyway, topped with huge prawns and crab meat, the char kway teow smell quite fragrant, which I believe could be due to the smell of peanut oil. However, I find this too oily for my liking. Waiting time : 25 minutes

DH insisted that we must try the fried orhh kueh (or is it char kway kak?) at the same kway teow stall in Macalister Road. We had to wait. I don't really fancy this. Something seems to be missing in this. I guess it's the chai-poh or maybe the texture of the kueh. Waiting time : another 10 minutes after our char kway teow.

One of my favourite! Duck thigh mee suah herbal soup at Super Tanker hawker centre.

This has to be one of the best char orh chien (fried oyster). The oyster is quite juicy and succulent. Also located at Super Tanker.

Penang char kway teow in Super Tanker. I like this better than the one at Macalister Road. Still a tad too oily, but not as oily as the earlier on we ate.

Chai tau kueh (fried white radish cake). Quite nice, but forgotten where was this taken.

Hokkien mee (prawn mee) and loh mee. The loh mee here is in a starchy soup with black vinegar, eaten with a mixture of chilli and garlic sauce.

One of hubby's breakfast in the second morning we're there - kway teow t'hng. Quite tasty, but I personally find it a little salty. They gave lots of minced pork in it. Will try this again the next time I'm here.

My sis had this for breakfast in that same morning. Capati laden with sambal and dhall curry. I love the sambal!!

Toast bun with egg and cheese for the kids. They love this and so do I! hehe

We had this for lunch on our third day there. I think it's hakka mee. It's definitely something different from all the Penang hawker food we had. This is surprisingly quite good. We ordered fishballs and some stuffed ladies fingers, chillies, brinjal and bitter gourd. We also tried their braised pork vinegar. A very satisfying meal.

Oh dear, I think I have to go to visit my sis in Penang again soon after writing about all these. Yummy! Yummy!

note : photos are not that clear as it's taken with my old, humble Sony Ericsson handphone.