#ewew cooks Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts with Salted Eggs

I'm sure most of us would have eaten this common dish of fried "taugeh" (bean sprouts) with salted fish when dining out or made a simple stir-fry bean sprouts dish at home.

I came across this dish while watching an old episode of Discover Perak (with host Xandria Ooi and chef Julie Song) some time back when chef Julie cooked up this dish (at the end of one of the episodes) in her (now defunct) Missing Marbles kitchen! *sobsss*

The dish I'm talking about is my take on her Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts with Salted Eggs which I realised was pretty easy to whip up at home with just four ingredients.

Ingredients:

300g bean sprouts
2 salted duck eggs (separate the egg yolks from the whites)
6 strips of store-bought pre-fried tofu
4 stalks of chives
Black pepper & sesame oil

Preparation:

Cut the pre-fried tofu into two lengthwise and the chives into 2-inch strips.  Roughly chop the salted egg yolk into smaller pieces and whisk the egg whites after they've been seasoned with black pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.

Method:

First, pan-fry your cut pieces of tofu in a little oil just to get a bit of colour on them.  As these are already pre-cooked and fried, it won't take long.

Next, lightly fry the chopped salted egg pieces for just a few seconds.  Break them up into smaller chunks with your spatula if the pieces are too large.  Dish up onto a plate.

Now make sure you have all your ingredients ready next to you near at the stove as the dish takes literally seconds to cook.  Brown some garlic in a little oil and throw in the bean sprouts, tofu and salted egg yolks (but reserve some for sprinkling on top later).  Stir-fry for just a couple of seconds.

Then add in the chives and the seasoned egg whites.  You have to be quick as you won't want to overcook the bean sprouts (they should stay crunchy).  Toss for a couple more seconds and as soon as the egg whites turn opaque, dish up immediately.  No need to season with salt as the salted egg whites will bring saltiness to the dish.

Sprinkle with the balance cooked egg yolks which was reserved earlier.

And there you have it...a fast, simple and delicious Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts with Salted Eggs that's great as one of the dishes to go with rice.

Or it can also be eaten as a meal on its own....like some kind of 'Chinese-style cooked' salad....haha! :D

A pretty healthy 'cooked' salad, I might add :)

Chef Julie used bean curd puffs which I substituted with fried tofu as I felt tofu would give the dish a bit more substance.

She also added sliced onions and fresh red chillies which I chose to omit but you can certainly add those (if you like), especially the red chillies, which will add a bit of heat and make the dish more appealing visually.

The next time you're thinking of a vegetable dish for your dinner table, you may want to give this one a try...better still if you can get your hands on those fat, juicy and crunchy Ipoh taugeh! ^_*

Serves 3 - 4 (as one of the dishes in a Chinese meal with rice) or 2 small-eaters (as a main meal of 'cooked' salad)

Nanoblock #2 - Himeji Castle

This is one of my current past time...assembling nanoblocks!  After the initial purchase of my first nanoblock (the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris), it wasn't long before my second purchase.

Continuing with my Sights to See series, my next one is the Himeji Castle in Japan (330 pcs @ RM79.90).  I have my friend to thank for passing me some vouchers that enabled me to buy some at discounted prices! *happy dance*

Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex located in Himeji, in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.  Himeji Castle dates back to 1333 and was rebuilt as Himeyama Castle in 1346 and then remodelled to Himeji Castle two centuries later.  Completed in 1609, the castle complex as it survives today is over 400 years old.

Himeji Castle, with a network of more than 80 buildings, is the largest and most visited castle in Japan.  It's both a national treasure and a UNESCO world heritage site.

photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

The castle has remained intact despite extensive bombing in World War II (1945) and survived the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake.  In order to preserve the castle buildings, it recently underwent extensive restoration work for several years.  The works removed decades of dirt and grime, restoring the formerly grey roof to its original brilliant white colour.  It was fully reopened to the public in March 2015.

And here are the box's contents, instruction guide and all.  The micro-sized blocks proved to be quite a handful for my well 'rounded' fingers...haha! :D

Ta da.....my Himeji Castle nanoblock is fully assembled...and I think it's after the restoration works (with a lighter shade of grey roof as in the first two photos)....kekeke! :P  Well, this is just the nanoblock version...if you want to see the real thing, you may want to check out TM's blog.

Front View (finished size: L8 x W8 x H7.5 cm)

Top-down View

View from the Right

View from the Left

View from the Back

Although the Himeji Castle has lesser bricks (330) compared to the previous (400 bricks) Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris, this proved a lot more challenging to assemble (level of difficulty 3 out of 5 as opposed to 2 out 5 for the cathedral).

I'm 100% sure I'd be buying more sets in the days ahead! ^_*

One Yulek @ Taman Len Sen, Cheras

I read a review that mentioned the curry laksa here was nice, so off I went with my family to Restoran One Yulek @ Taman Len Sen, Cheras one Sunday morning for breakfast.

There are two stalls inside the shop and a roasted meat stall just outside.  As it's a very small coffee shop, you'd find some tables on the road as well.

When it comes to noodles, curry mee ranks top on the list for my husband and I (especially my husband).  We came here specifically for the curry mee, so curry mee it is.  My bowl of Curry Laksa @ RM5.50 came with poached chicken, blood cockles and bean curd puffs (minus the bean sprouts as requested).

My husband replaced the poached chicken with pork meatballs and his curry laksa (minus the "see hum") also cost RM5.50.  Looking at the bowl, we were happy to see a layer of thicker curry on top (this is what some curry laksa vendors commonly do....pour over a spoonful of thick curry before serving).

The curry broth wasn't as thick as some I've eaten and also not as savoury as we had hoped but probably still decent by many's standards...it just didn't meet our (high) standards (hehe!) when it comes to curry laksa and that's only because we had eaten an awesome curry laksa and it's difficult (or we have yet) to come across another curry laksa that can beat our all-time favourite! ^_*

The same stall that sells curry laksa also serves up fried char kway teow and I think I remember seeing Ipoh sar hor fun too.  I didn't try these two though.

I couldn't help but notice that the roasted meat stall outside had a lot of roast chicken hanging (there must have been at least 20 chickens)...that must be their best seller!  I packed the roast chicken on another occasion and found it to be just like any roast chicken should be, nothing out of the ordinary in terms of taste.

Anyway, my son had the Roast Pork Rice @ RM7.  The serving of "siew yoke" was rather generous.  It would also prove to be satisfying for those who prefer a leaner cut.  The rice was just meh! ;)  

We had a taste and found it tasty with a nice crispy skin, so we ordered a single portion of siew yoke @ RM8 to share....certainly a decent portion for the price.  Won't sing praises of their chilli sauce though.

The other stall here sells wantan mee, prawn mee, "sui kow" (Chinese soup dumplings), etc.  I "tapau" a packet of Wantan Mee @ RM5.50 (for lunch later) which had "char siew" (BBQ pork) and fried wantans (you can choose soup wantans as well).  I liked that it had minced pork in the mix....something not commonly found in wantan mee.  Again, it was just an acceptable plate of wantan mee for me.

My Personal Opinion

If you happen to be in the area looking for middle-of-the-road food that's cheap but with good portion sizes, this could be an option.  Otherwise, you don't really need to go looking for it specifically! ;)

Restoran One Yulek
Jalan 2 Taman Len Sen
56000 Cheras

Tokyo Teppan @ Pavilion

Although I've been to the 6th floor of Pavilion many a time, I've never once walked right to the end towards Tokyo Street until recently.  I was looking for a specific costume jewellery shop in Tokyo Street to get something for a friend's birthday.

It was because of this very reason that I finally walked until the end of Tokyo Street and found that it's home to a few Japanese restaurants.  So, I returned on another day to one of them, Tokyo Teppan @ Pavilion, for dinner.

The restaurant is actually located adjacent to Tokyo Don which specialises in donburi while Tokyo Teppan focuses on teppanyaki.  As they're sister restaurants, you can choose to sit on either side since cross ordering of food is allowed which provides a wider variety for its guests.  So, it's quite a common sight to see servers bringing you food from next door since the kitchen supports each other.  Looking at both dining areas, my choice would be Tokyo Teppan as I find it more spacious and comfortable.

We had the Sushi & Teppanyaki Combo @ RM37 featuring a combination of sushi platter with chicken, salmon and squid teppanyaki.  I think their set meals are probably the way to go here for its value as it comes with an appetiser (of tofu), salad, chawan mushi, miso soup and dessert.

Sushi Platter (5 pcs sushi + tamago)

Teppanyaki Combo (of chicken, salmon & squid)

Both the sushi platter and teppanyaki combo were satisfying taste-wise.

I went with the Teppanyaki Combo @ RM31 which had the same chicken, salmon and squid teppanyaki except this one was paired with a bowl of hot udon.  It had similar side dishes of the earlier combo except without the miso soup.

Of the three, I surprisingly found the chicken teppanyaki to be the best tasting as it went very well with the sauce underneath.  The nicely seared boneless chicken had tender meat and was decently flavoured.
  

The salmon teppanyaki on the other hand, always a favourite...with crisp skin and moist flaky flesh.....no complaints about that.

The only letdown was probably the squid teppanyaki which was rather rubbery and chewy.  Judging from the size and thickness of the squid ring, it probably came from a huge squid and it might have been overcooked.

The hot udon had a piece each of tempura prawn and mushroom together with some fried tempura bits floating in the soup.  The broth had more than decent flavours and I enjoyed this bowl of hot udon very much.

Drinks:

Iced Green Tea @ RM4
Mango Juice @ RM7

My Personal Opinion

If you're in Pavilion and in the mood for some teppanyaki, Tokyo Teppan is a possible option since that's their speciality anyway...and you can't go wrong with chicken or salmon.  But what's even better is that if someone in your party prefers donburi, you can cross order from their sister restaurant (Tokyo Don) next door which opens up even more options for its diners.

Prices are fairly decent and a meal here will cost you under RM50 per person if you stick with the combo teppanyaki sets.  I'd like to return to try the beef set one day.

Tokyo Teppan
Lot 6.24.02 Level 6 Tokyo Street
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 2141 4519

O & S Restaurant (Part 4) @ Paramount Garden

This coffee shop houses so many stalls that I needed four blog posts to finish reviewing all the stalls available (well, almost all the stalls) in O & S Restaurant @ Paramount Garden.

So, this is my fourth...and hopefully....ok, ok definitely my final instalment....on O & S!  You can check out my earlier three instalments here...Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

The Beef Noodles @ RM7 (for small) was filled with chunks of tender beef, beef tendon beef balls and well softened daikon (which I love).  The broth was lacking something for me.  I can see why it's among one of the "quieter" stalls around.

Like many of the stalls here which specialises in Penang-style hawker food, the Penang Char Kway Teow @ RM6 is no different.  The fried kway teow (though I asked to be mixed with mee) usually takes on a lighter shade (less dark soy) to the ones in KL.  This one, with decent "wok hei", was pretty good and I especially enjoyed the fat (Ipoh-like), crunchy bean sprouts.

I read about this kuih stall, Aroma Kueh, in O & S from an issue of (the now defunct) Flavours magazine.  It seems this third-generation family business supplies kuih to various kopitiams in KL and Selangor...and it seems you can find the owner manning her stall at the Imbi morning market.

Each packet of kuih comes pre-packed in 2 pieces and retails for RM2.30 a packet.  The kuih lapis (2 pcs) was soft, with a smooth texture, and slightly sweet but the santan flavour wasn't as pronounced.

The onde-onde (6 pcs), with a delicate and moist skin, was alright but the spurt of oozing liquid gula melaka inside wasn't of divine quality.  As I didn't finish the onde-onde in one sitting, I put them in the fridge but the taste was compromised after being in the fridge! :(

The kuih talam had more of a santan flavour with the fragrant coconut milk and aromatic pandan layers offering a contrast of salty vs sweet nuances.  The green layer didn't seem to show signs of artificial colouring though I would have appreciated a bit more salty flavour in the white layer.

This is the kuih salat (also known as kuih seri muka).  The top half is like a kaya made from pandan juice, eggs and coconut milk. The bottom half is just like the pulut tekan made with glutinous rice and coconut milk (and the blue stain comes from the blue pea flower or bunga telang).  Certainly my favourite of the four I tried...with a not too sweet top layer though the bottom layer could be a tad softer.

Overall, the kuih from Aroma Kueh is decent enough although I still have my favourites from other nyonya kuih stalls (like Lulu & some Malay stalls) and restaurants (notably Nyonya Colors, La Cucur & Annie 1 to name a few).  What I mean is that there's no one stall that churns out all the best kuih, there are bound to be some types that other stalls can do better.

My Personal Opinion

With this fourth instalment, I think I've pretty much covered (or more like eaten) most of the stalls here but maybe not all that they have to offer...fried "ninko", banana fritters and nasi lemak (always sold out by the time I get there) are some that I didn't try.  The others like the kway teow th'ng (flat rice noodles in clear soup), fish head noodles and the new prawn mee stall I did try (some time back) but they didn't leave much of an impression.

You know it's not easy to find good Penang food in KL....but this is surely a good contender.

My final parting words....."apa-apa pun sedap di sini" (anything is delicious here, well almost)...and each and everyone of us will have our own favourites, I'm sure.  My favourites...the glutinous rice dumplings, yong tau foo, chee cheong fun, Penang curry mee, Indian rojak and wantan mee....oh dear, I think I just named one-third of the stalls here already! :D

O & S Restaurant

39 Jalan 20/14

Paramount Garden

46300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor