Sally's Kitchen Homecooked Food Delivery (March & April)

I can count myself lucky when someone in my housing area advertised their homecooked food delivery on our residents' whatsapp group (created specifically for paying residents of private guarded security in our taman) recently.

This started about two months ago and I've been ordering from Sally's Kitchen Homecooked Food Delivery ever since, so it goes without saying that the food is good.  They're a small home-based business with only two dishes each week but the menu changes every week (I'm into my second month and I've not seen the dishes repeated yet).  It's available for both lunch and dinner from Tuesdays to Fridays only.  I'd usually order once a week....sometimes twice a week if I happen to like both dishes.  Here's a peek of what I had in the first 6 weeks.

My homecooked delivery started with their Hakka Fried Pork Belly Rice Set @ RM12 served with Fried Rice and a Fried Egg.

The red fermented bean curd (nam yue) marination + hint of five spice powder was just enough for a not-too-punchy flavour.  The not too overly fatty slices of Hakka fried pork belly were tender with a light crisp on the skin.

The fried rice had a nice fragrance of fried garlic in it and I also appreciated the extra drizzle of fried garlic bits on top the fried egg.  Would not mind having this again.

The Thai Green Curry Rice Set @ RM13 which came served with side dishes of Onion Omelette & Stir-Fried Long Beans was the other option for Week 1.

The green curry, with soft brinjals and a sprinkling of kaffir lime leaves, was fragrant and adequately spiced with enough creaminess from the santan to make this one of the better green curry I've eaten in a long time, so much so that I didn't even mind that they were made chicken breast (which was tender, not dry).  When this dish makes it to the menu again, it's a must-order or, in my case, a must-reorder...lol!

The accompaniments of onion omelette, stir-fried long beans (could be fried a little longer for a softer mouthfeel) and a few slices of Japanese cucumber made this a completely balanced meal.

Week 2 featured a Nyonya theme of Mee Siam & Chicken Curry Kapitan @ RM12 with a classic Nyonya curry paired with mee siam.  The mee siam was fried with shredded carrot, fish cake and fried tofu cubes.  The mee siam was finished with omelette shreds and a wedge of lime.  Well fried and seasoned, the generous portion of mee siam was very appetising.  Eating this alone was already sufficiently filling.

The kapitan curry had decent flavours going on but just a tad on the oily side.  It's difficult to cook any curry without a good amount of oil as the spice paste needs to be fried until pecah minyak (the oil separates) as they say.  I guess the chicken with skin on also contributed to the oiliness.  Would I have liked it more if it was a less oily version?  Sure.

But I did like how thick and tasty the curry was...the result of an adequate dose of creamy santan.  I couldn't finish the generous portions of at least 4 sizeable pieces of chicken (I think it was made up of a whole chicken leg) + a chunk of potato in the curry that I ate it with rice for my next meal.

Next, there was the Marmite Chicken Rice Set @ RM12 served with Chili Garlic Tofu Bites & Seasonal Vegetables.  This turned out to be average tasting as you can easily get such dishes from any chap fan stall.

The marmite chicken, made from the thigh portion (bone-in and skin-on), was sticky-sweet as it should be (but not overly sweet).  Perhaps it would have been better if they were bite-sized boneless chicken thigh pieces to promote easy, lazy eating...and (perhaps) to differentiate it from something you can simply get off a chap fan line.

The tofu is something like agedashi tofu (minus the dashi broth) where the soft tofu bites had this light coating of potato starch before being deep fried and topped with some chilies and minced garlic.  The seasonal vegetables turned out to be stir-fried napa cabbage with carrot shreds, fish cake and shimeji mushrooms.

The following week saw Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice (or Lu Rou Fan) @ RM12 on its menu which comes with one braised egg, stir-fried bok choy and a few slices of pickled radish.

Their braised pork was not done in chunks but in the form of minced meat resulting in super tender minced pork in a braising sauce that was very tasty with just the right amount poured over the rice.  If you're someone who likes your rice doused in sauce, this one is definitely for you.

When there's braised meat, it should always be accompanied by a braised egg, of course.  Some simple stir-fried bok choy and pickled radish complete the dish.  This ended up to be the best dish and my no. 1 favourite so far.

Week 6 offered the Nyonya Lobak Set with side dishes of Egg Belanda & Jiu Hu Char (stir-fried yam bean/jicama/sengkuang with shredded cuttlefish) @ RM13.

The egg belanda was a pleasant surprise.  Lightly spicy, it had this refreshing, lovely sour taste to it (and you know me, I always love a hint of acidity to perk up my dish).  To be honest, I've never heard of egg belanda...I only know of Belanda (Netherlands), the country...lol.  I later found out that it's actually a Nyonya dish of sweet & sour eggs or delicious fried eggs in a sweet & sour tamarind gravy (they even took the extra effort to garnish it with a piece each of red, green and pickled chillies).  The jiu hu char that was stir-fried with mushrooms, julienned carrot and cuttlefish strips was pretty standard in taste like any decent ones I've eaten.

The Nyonya lobak was well executed with the beancurd skin arriving still crispy at the edges.  Unlike other fried lobak that has a more minced texture, this one has a much firmer bite.  It also came with a separate small serving of sambal which was good...I could only handle having a little as it was super spicy.  Though the Nyonya lobak was good, the egg belanda and hot (but addictive) sambal have to be singled out for special mention.  Yet another winner which I've no hesitation whatsoever in ordering this dish when it comes round again.

The Nyonya Fried Rice with Belacan Fried Chicken @ RM12 served with fried egg, crispy ikan bilis and sambal was the other selection for Week 6.

If they didn't mention that it was belacan fried chicken, I'd probably wouldn't have known as I can't say I detected any belacan flavour but, overall, it's still a lightly crisp, nicely done fried chicken.

The lightly spicy Nyonya fried rice (fried with some dried shrimps) came with a small serving of crispy, fried ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and sambal (the same one as in the Nyonya Lobak set).  The serving of the fried rice was a tad small but thankfully there was a sunny side up fried egg to fill me up.

My Personal Opinion

I'm totally on board with this homecooked food delivery for, first of all, the great taste of the food, two, the very reasonable prices (of RM12 & RM13) and three, the free delivery (as it's located in my very own neighbourhood).  I also do appreciate that they take the time to put in a little bit more effort to make their lunch box more presentable (with their nicely placed, not simply thrown on, cucumber slices, chillies and pickled radish) and tastier (with garnishing of fried shallots, garlic bits or spring onions).

When I'm too lazy to go out to tapau (pack) food....and even lazier to cook, this is such a convenient option for me with its affordable prices.  I think it's so worth it to pay a little bit more than the usual packet of chap fan from your favourite chap fan stalls (that can cost anything from RM7 - RM10) when it's delivered right to my doorstep.

Top three dishes for me so far were the Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan, Thai Green Curry and Nyonya Lobak Set.....in that particular order! ^o^  More dishes to show you in my next blog post as I continue to savour more food from this newly acquainted homecooked food delivery.