The weather has been very unforgiving lately - the sweltering heat in Malaysia right now is almost unbearable.  I have succumbed and I have been feeling under the weather since the past few days but I digress.  Today's feature is an exceedingly simple stir-fry seafood dish and the seafood of choice today is squid.  This dish is made easier by the use of one of my favourite sauces from Yuen Chun, their Thai stir-fry sauce which really makes life that much easier.  This is a tangy and spicy sauce that goes well with most seafood and can also be used creatively as a base for pizza or even a Thai style 'bolognese'. 

As with most stir-fries, I advocate the use of a Chinese steel wok for that increasingly recognised 'wok hei' or wok breath which totally adds another dimension to an otherwise simple dish.  All you need is some garlic, lemongrass and some bird's eye chili peppers (and well, of course the squid) and you're good to go!  A perfect dish that goes so well with hot steamed rice and which can be whipped up on lazy weeknights.

This post is a part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Serving suggestion:  with hot steamed rice

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

3 medium sized squid, cleaned, skinned and sliced into rings
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk lemongrass, white part smashed
3-4 bird's eye chili peppers, sliced
2-3 tablespoons Yuen Chun Thai stir-fry sauce (if this is not available where you are, you can try using some sweet Thai chili sauce)
1 teaspoon light soy sauce or to taste

Method:

Firstly, bring a pot of water to the boil.  Add the squid and blanch quickly for about 10 seconds.  Remove from water.  Discard water.  This step serves to remove most of the 'fishiness' from the squid and is optional.

Heat up your wok until almost smoking.  Add about 3 tablespoons oil.  Swirl to coat.  Turn heat to low.  Add garlic, lemongrass and chili peppers.  Stir-fry until fragrant.

Add squid.  Turn heat to high.  Add in sauce.  Stir-fry quickly.  Add soy sauce to taste.  Do a taste test and add more soy or Thai sauce if necessary.  Stir-fry again quickly to toss everything well together.  Dish out and serve immediately.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/04/thai-style-squid-recipe.html

There's nothing easier and more satisfying than a good old homestyle simple stir-fry, make it spicy and I'm in for sure.  I have relied on the good old stir-fry on many a tired weeknights and I always end up with a good, relatively healthy and of course always delicious meal.  I have to admit though that I have only recently began to appreciate snake beans.  Snake beans are cousins to the more well known French beans where both are extremely crunchy and good for you.  Snake beans are darker hued and are even firmer in texture so it is advisable to blanch them in some lightly salted water before the actual stir-frying.

The beans are simply stir-fried with some fragrant garlic, spicy bean paste and red chili peppers - easy right?  I am a big fan of bean sauces as I just love the earthy fragrance they impart to most dishes.  If you can't find snake beans, you can use French or green beans which will work equally well but do adjust the blanching time accordingly as snake beans are firmer.  I do hope you will give this quick and simple dish a try the next time you pick up some beans at your local grocery store!

This post is part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Serving suggestion:  with steamed rice

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

500g of snake beans, rinsed and sliced into 3 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 bird's eye chili peppers, sliced
2 tablespoons Yuen Chun spicy taucu (bean paste) sauce
1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce or to taste

Method:

Firstly, blanch the snake beans in lightly salted water for about 1-2 minutes.  Once slightly softened, remove from water and drain.  It is up to you how firm you like your beans to be so adjust accordingly.

Heat up your wok until almost smoking.  Add about 3 tablespoons of oil.  Swirl to coat.  Turn heat to low.  Add garlic and chili peppers.  Fry until aromatic.  Add bean paste.  Be careful as it may splatter hence keep the heat low.

Add in the blanched beans from earlier. Add soy sauce.  Stir to coat well.  Turn heat to high.  Stir around briskly to coat again.  Add about 3 tablespoons of water and turn heat to medium.  Cover for a quick minute and allow to simmer.  Remove cover and do a taste test, add more soy if desired.

Turn heat to high and give it a last stir.  Remove from heat and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/05/snake-beans-in-spicy-bean-paste-stir.html

There's nothing easier and more satisfying than a good old homestyle simple stir-fry, make it spicy and I'm in for sure.  I have relied on the good old stir-fry on many a tired weeknights and I always end up with a good, relatively healthy and of course always delicious meal.  I have to admit though that I have only recently began to appreciate snake beans.  Snake beans are cousins to the more well known French beans where both are extremely crunchy and good for you.  Snake beans are darker hued and are even firmer in texture so it is advisable to blanch them in some lightly salted water before the actual stir-frying.

The beans are simply stir-fried with some fragrant garlic, spicy bean paste and red chili peppers - easy right?  I am a big fan of bean sauces as I just love the earthy fragrance they impart to most dishes.  If you can't find snake beans, you can use French or green beans which will work equally well but do adjust the blanching time accordingly as snake beans are firmer.  I do hope you will give this quick and simple dish a try the next time you pick up some beans at your local grocery store!

This post is part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Serving suggestion:  with steamed rice

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

500g of snake beans, rinsed and sliced into 3 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 bird's eye chili peppers, sliced
2 tablespoons Yuen Chun spicy taucu (bean paste) sauce
1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce or to taste

Method:

Firstly, blanch the snake beans in lightly salted water for about 1-2 minutes.  Once slightly softened, remove from water and drain.  It is up to you how firm you like your beans to be so adjust accordingly.

Heat up your wok until almost smoking.  Add about 3 tablespoons of oil.  Swirl to coat.  Turn heat to low.  Add garlic and chili peppers.  Fry until aromatic.  Add bean paste.  Be careful as it may splatter hence keep the heat low.

Add in the blanched beans from earlier. Add soy sauce.  Stir to coat well.  Turn heat to high.  Stir around briskly to coat again.  Add about 3 tablespoons of water and turn heat to medium.  Cover for a quick minute and allow to simmer.  Remove cover and do a taste test, add more soy if desired.

Turn heat to high and give it a last stir.  Remove from heat and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/05/snake-beans-in-spicy-bean-paste-stir.html

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend.  I have been hard-pressed for time to cook recently so I thought it would be a good change to feature a review on this blog which is pretty rare.  Bonga is one of my favourite Korean restaurants in Kuala Lumpur so far and I'm quite happy to recommend this authentic Korean eatery for all you Korean food fans in the area.  The restaurant occupies 2 floors and is pretty popular on weekends - so I would recommend for you to make a reservation especially if you're in a big group.  I went to dinner with my friend tonight and I of course purposely asked for a table next to the window for my food photography (lighting) purposes!

Pork belly cooking!

Alright, on to the food, we ordered the pork belly (samgyobsal) and rib eye for the barbeque.  The barbeque comes with a bowl of doenjang jjigae (soybean paste broth) which is usually a seafood (this time clams) based broth cooked with some vegetables (usually zucchini) and some tofu.  I really like the soups done at Bonga - it must be the gochujang and the doenjang that they use.  I usually also order the kimchi jjigae but we skipped it tonight.

We also ordered the ojingoh muchim which is boiled squid tossed with vegetables in a spicy and tangy concoction made with gochujang, sesame oil, some sugar and possibly some pear juice.  By the way this is my own guess - the restaurant did not share the recipe!  Anyway, this was done well, the squid was cooked just enough and was not rubbery, the different textures in the dish were very pleasing as well with the chewy squid and crunchy vegetables.  The result was very refreshing on the palate.

Bonga also does not disappoint when it comes to the side dishes or banchan.  I quite like their kimchi while my friend was a big fan of their side dish of spicy cockles.  I thought the japchae was done pretty well although it was a little bland tonight.  I just realised I don't have a photo of the rib eye - I guess I was too busy eating at the same time, please forgive me :O.

All in all, I would recommend Bonga for a decent Korean meal.  For an extremely filling and satisfying dinner for two, the bill came up to RM150.00.  I did note that Bonga does not serve its' diners the sweet ginger punch after the meal but then I'm not a fan of the ginger punch so I felt I didn't miss much.

The restaurant is also located in a nice but busy part of town - we were very lucky to get a nearby parking space as well so be forewarned about the lack of parking space on busy weekends.

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Address:

Bonga Korean Restaurant
Location 2-2, Block E,
Jalan Solaris 3, Mont Kiara
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: 03-6204 0012

* All opinions for any restaurant reviews done on this blog remain my own.  This post is not a sponsored post.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/05/restaurant-review-bonga-korean.html

The weather has been very unforgiving lately - the sweltering heat in Malaysia right now is almost unbearable.  I have succumbed and I have been feeling under the weather since the past few days but I digress.  Today's feature is an exceedingly simple stir-fry seafood dish and the seafood of choice today is squid.  This dish is made easier by the use of one of my favourite sauces from Yuen Chun, their Thai stir-fry sauce which really makes life that much easier.  This is a tangy and spicy sauce that goes well with most seafood and can also be used creatively as a base for pizza or even a Thai style 'bolognese'. 

As with most stir-fries, I advocate the use of a Chinese steel wok for that increasingly recognised 'wok hei' or wok breath which totally adds another dimension to an otherwise simple dish.  All you need is some garlic, lemongrass and some bird's eye chili peppers (and well, of course the squid) and you're good to go!  A perfect dish that goes so well with hot steamed rice and which can be whipped up on lazy weeknights.

This post is a part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Serving suggestion:  with hot steamed rice

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

3 medium sized squid, cleaned, skinned and sliced into rings
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk lemongrass, white part smashed
3-4 bird's eye chili peppers, sliced
2-3 tablespoons Yuen Chun Thai stir-fry sauce (if this is not available where you are, you can try using some sweet Thai chili sauce)
1 teaspoon light soy sauce or to taste

Method:

Firstly, bring a pot of water to the boil.  Add the squid and blanch quickly for about 10 seconds.  Remove from water.  Discard water.  This step serves to remove most of the 'fishiness' from the squid and is optional.

Heat up your wok until almost smoking.  Add about 3 tablespoons oil.  Swirl to coat.  Turn heat to low.  Add garlic, lemongrass and chili peppers.  Stir-fry until fragrant.

Add squid.  Turn heat to high.  Add in sauce.  Stir-fry quickly.  Add soy sauce to taste.  Do a taste test and add more soy or Thai sauce if necessary.  Stir-fry again quickly to toss everything well together.  Dish out and serve immediately.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/04/thai-style-squid-recipe.html

It's the weekend again! Time really flies huh? Anyway, today's feature is a simply delicious dish of spicy stir-fried la la or bamboo clams - a kind of clams mainly available in South East Asia.  As you can see, the pattern on the shells of these flattish clams resemble a bamboo-like pattern but I really have no clue why these sweet-tasting shellfish are called 'la la', if you have an idea, do let me know!  For such fresh clams, preparation is very quick and rather easy - for today, I am pleased to announce that I was given a bottle of Yuen Chun's new product, spicy taucu (bean paste) which made the cooking even easier.  

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/04/spicy-bean-paste-la-la-bamboo-clams.html

I hope you are still enjoying what's left of the weekend!  No secret that noodles are popular features on this blog and for today, I decided to feature a very healthy version of ramen - made of bamboo charcoal powder.  Although it may sound a little weird - bamboo charcoal powder which is believed to have health benefits is increasingly being used in a lot of different food products (it was originally used in Japanese cuisine), in bread, cakes, noodles and more.  The texture is no different from regular ramen noodles albeit a little firmer but then I have to admit there is a slight aftertaste which is a little sweet so do be forewarned if you decide to try this :O.  I love making quick curry noodles (or otherwise known as laksa in the Malay language) at home - for today I used a quick homemade paste but it is of course perfectly alright to use store-bought curry pastes.  I mean there are times when dragging out the mortar and pestle (or even a blender) sounds too labour-intensive eh?

My quick paste consisted of curry powder, lemongrass, dried chili peppers, toasted belacan, garlic and some shallots - just something I thought of on the fly.  You can add some turmeric as well if you like.  I used vegetarian fishballs and some green beans to accompany the noodles but you can go as bare or as 'deluxe' as you like of course.  By the way, it has been awhile since I've cooked, I almost forgot how much I love it - I'm just so glad I made it a point to make something today.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

12 vegetarian fishballs (or use other kinds of your choice)
3/4 cup of sliced green beans
2 charcoal ramen noodles

Curry paste: (alternatively, use store-bought)
1 tablespoon curry powder
3 dried chilli peppers, soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes
1 stalk lemongrass
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon worth of toasted belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)
1 tablespoon light soy sauce or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk (use less if you want your broth to be less thick)
3/4 cup water

Method:

Firstly, blanch the fishballs, green beans in boiling water.  Remove and set aside.  Cook the noodles according to package instructions.  Place in serving bowl with the fishballs and green beans.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan or wok.  Turn heat to low once hot.  Add the curry paste.  Fry until fragrant.  Add coconut milk and water.  Bring to a boil.  Add soy sauce.  Do a taste test and add salt if required.  Bring to a boil again and pour over noodles.  Serve hot.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/04/curry-bamboo-charcoal-ramen-noodles.html

Silky tofu steamed and then topped with a savoury and fragrant topping of sauteed dried shrimp and crispily golden shallots....my idea of a perfectly simple dish that goes so well with a bowl of hot steamed rice.  Sometimes, I think eschewing more luxurious ingredients is the way to go - today's feature is a relatively healthy dish with tofu as the star.  Do note though that the dish will not be complete without the crunchy and savoury toppings.  With such simple dishes that calls for such humble ingredients, the quality of the soy sauce used is extremely important and if you have been following this blog for awhile, you may notice that my preference for most of my cooking sauces are from Yuen Chun, a favourite brand of my late grandmother.

Anyway, back to the dish - for this easy steamed dish, I suggest for you to use the plain tofu i.e. the ones without egg and although I am a huge fan of egg tofu, the latter will cause the flavours to get a little too complicated.  The silky and rather bland tasting tofu is the perfect backdrop for the rather pungent dried shrimp topping and provides a good contrast in texture with every bite.  I do hope you give this a try soon - the ingredients can be found easily in all Asian grocery stores if you live outside of Asia and I hope you'll enjoy this simple dish that is a household favourite of mine.

Have a good weekend everyone!

This recipe is a feature in my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Serves 3-4

Serving suggestion: with steamed rice

Ingredients:

2 blocks of white, silky tofu
1/4 cup of dried shrimp, soaked for about 10-15 minutes and drained
6 shallots, sliced
2 stalks green onions, sliced
2 teaspoons light soy sauce or to taste
1/2 teaspoon thick caramel sauce

Method:

Firstly, steam the tofu over high heat for about 8-10 minutes.  Set aside.

While the tofu is steaming, deep-fry the shallot slices in hot oil on low heat until they turn golden brown.  Be very careful with this step as the shallots turn from golden brown to overly browned in a flash.

Heat up your wok or pan.  Add about 1 tablespoon of oil.  Add the dried shrimp and fry until fragrant.  Add 2 tablepoons of water and the soy sauces.  Do a taste test and add more seasoning if desired.  Remove from heat and set aside. 

Drain the excess water from the steamed tofu.  Pour the shallots together with the oil and the dried shrimp on top of the tofu.  Garnish with the green onion slices.  Serve hot.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/03/chinese-steamed-tofu-with-dried-shrimp.html

I hope you've all had a good week!  Today's feature is yet another simply stir-fry from my kitchen - Chinese leeks (suin) with savoury waxed duck.  Another extremely easy yet a little different dish perhaps.  Waxed duck is a Chinese delicacy popular during the Lunar New Year and has deep slightly smoky and savoury flavours.  It has been a rather hectic week and as I'm feeling a little under the weather, do excuse the extreme brevity of this post.

Remember to use a Chinese steel wok if you can as the wok hei (wok breath) is extremely important for stir-fries especially such a simple one as this.  If you find waxed duck a little too 'exotic' for your liking, do susbtitute with either chicken or pork.

Have a good weekend!

Serving suggestion: with steamed rice

Ingredients:

1 waxed duck leg
1 bundle of Chinese leeks (remove the dry outerparts), sliced at an angle and blanched quickly
4 cloves garlic, minced
Small splash of soy sauce

Method:

Firstly, boil the waxed duck leg for about 15 minutes to remove most of the salt.  Remove and drain.  Allow to cool before slicing.

Heat up your wok until almost smoking.  Add about 2 tablespoons of oil.  Swirl to coat.  Turn heat to low and add garlic.  Fry until aromatic.  Add the waxed duck pieces and stir-fry around.  Add the blanched leeks.  Stir fry to mix.  Add about 5 tablespoons of water.  Cover and allow to simmer quickly for about 3 minutes.  Remove cover and do a taste test.  Add the small splash of soy if required.  Serve hot.

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/03/chinese-leeks-with-waxed-duck-stir-fry.html

It's no secret that I love noodles - seriously I find it hard to live without noodles at least when it comes to food.  Today's feature is a vegetarian version where I used some pumpkin, spinach and enoki mushrooms to some easy soy sauce tossed udon noodles.  I sauteed the vegetables separately with a tiny bit of salt and simply tossed the noodles in some garlic oil, sesame oil and thick caramel sauce.  Add light soy sauce to taste and you've got yourself a bowl of delicious, quick and (relatively) healthy noodles.

I recall writing in a previous blog post that I will be going through some changes in my life and tomorrow is the first day of the (positive) change!  I am quite excited yet nervous at the same time but of course I am very thankful that things have worked out well.  I apologise if I sound cryptic but I just wanted to thank all of you for your kind words of support and hopefully you all continue to enjoy my blog.  Have a great week ahead!

This post is part of my series in the Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 packet of udon noodles (fresh ones) - found in the refrigerated aisle
2 cloves garlic, minced (for garlic oil)
1/2 bunch fresh spinach (you can use baby spinach - the kinds used in salad)
1/2 cup of pumpkin, diced
1 bunch enoki mushrooms

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon thick caramel sauce (I used Yuen Chun's)
1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
Dash of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of garlic oil
Dash of white pepper (optional)

Method:

Boil the noodles according to package instructions.  Drain and set aside.

Prepare the garlic oil by simply stir-frying the minced garlic in about 3 tablespoons of oil.  Set aside.

Using the same wok or pan, saute the spinach, mushrooms and pumpkin separately with a tiny bit of salt each time.

In a serving bowl, add the thick caramel sauce.  Place the drained noodles from earlier.  Add sesame oil, garlic oil and white pepper.  Toss to combine.  Add the vegetables from earlier and gently toss the noodles again.  Add more light soy sauce if desired.  Serve. 

Article source: http://www.smokywok.com/2012/03/soy-sauce-udon-noodles-with-pumpkin.html