A Guide on How to Grow Spring Onions.....Unsuccessfully!

Readers of my blog will know how much I love to eat spring onions.  Heck, I've even dedicated an entire post on "How many ways can you use up a bunch of spring onions?"

I adore it so much that I would want it sprinkled on top of just about anything.  I would cook dishes at home which utilises them such as in this, this, this, this and this (you can see I use spring onions quite a lot in my cooking).

I would even treat it as a vegetable (in one of my most cooked dish at home)...that's how much I love spring onions!

I don't have a green thumb or green fingers or anything green in my body for that matter as I've never grown anything in my life but I thought I'd give growing spring onions a try coz, well, it looked deceptively simple enough from what I googled and read + I've watched some videos on how it's done.  It shouldn't be that hard, right?  Wrong!  It's pretty obvious from my post title, isn't it?

So I thought I better be upfront and not mislead those who want to grow spring onions successfully coz this is my Guide on How to Grow Onions...Unsuccessfully...lol!  Let me show you what I did.

First, I went for the easiest method (from what I saw online)...and that is in a jar of water! ;)  I followed what I was told and that is to cut off the green parts leaving some of the white parts.

Wash off the dirt and plonk it into a jar of water...no problemo, easy peasy.  Change the water daily and watch it grow in a week.  Okie dokie....will do.  I put it near my kitchen window so that it can benefit from a bit of sunlight.

Within 2 days, I was surprised to see new shoots sprouting out by a few inches (though what grew out was very thin).  Another 2 days later, it grew even more.  But by the 5th day, it wilted and died! >.<   That's because the roots and bulbs started decaying and became mushy as they continued to be submerged in water daily.  The rotting was obvious as the water became murky (even though I changed it daily).  Logically, that should happen if something is submerged in water 24/7.  So, nothing like the vibrant growing scallions I see in photos online (now I wonder if those are even real....lol).

So, regrowing spring onions from cuttings in a jar of water didn't work at all.  Time for the second method...to grow them in soil.  I even bought 2 new flower pots (gave one away) and organic soil just for the project.

Then I stuck 5 small onions (shallots) and one large onion (obviously hoping for fatter spring onions) into the soil.  P/S: Note that the large onion had already sprouted whilst on my kitchen counter before I even planted it.

I was so happy to see brand new shoots appear after about a week.

5 days later....more shoots appeared (on the small onions) but noticed that the big onion was starting to wither and shrink.

It took 2 weeks for the spring onions to grow to a max of about 4 - 5 inches...and that was it.  Meanwhile, the large onion shrivelled up and died, so I planted a few more shallots.

Since it had stopped growing and seeing that the tips had started to brown, I decided it was time to harvest my miserable crop...lol!

Oh, look at my harvest.....one tablespoon full...wakakakaka! O_o

They don't even look like spring onions....they're so thin they look more like chives.

Surprisingly, after I harvested aka trimmed the spring onions, it grew again in 5 days....and I harvested a second time (another spoonful...applause please!).  And that was it...after that, the onion bulbs became hollow and eventually died.

My sister-in-law felt that the pot I used was too shallow and gave me a planter's box.  Well, I tried growing in that too...with both onion bulbs and trimmed spring onions but ended up with the same horrific result.  Sometimes when the sun is too scorching hot, I would even move the pots to a shadier place.  That's the tender loving care I give to them...and how do they repay me?  They die on me!  Well, of course, there's the third method... to grow them from seeds (not that I'll be attempting that).

On a side note, since we're on the subject of plants and planting, I noticed this little bugger one day on my neighbour's pot of kaffir lime leaves.  Can you see it?

They can devour their way through the leaves in a matter of days (hours even) leaving a trail of destruction.

See how quickly a small little creature like that can burrow/eat its way through the leaf.

So, yours truly did her civic duty (other than voting today) and removed this cute but destructive little bugger from the plant.  After all, I have vested interest in keeping this plant healthy and thriving (as I sometimes need kaffir lime leaves in my cooking).  I plucked the leaf off its branch and left it on the ground near a tree (sorry, little caterpillar, hope you find another plant to devour...as long as it's not this one)! :D

On the same subject matter, there was a time I was shocked when I found the bok choy I bought came with a little surprise gift when I took it out to cook.  The little critter had survived for 3 - 4 days in the cold (in my fridge....wow!) and devoured my bok choy whilst marooned there.  Not only that but it left many deposits for me (luckily the bok choy was secured in a plastic bag).

Sorry for the minor deviation.  Let's get back on track.  So, how do you grow spring onions successfully at home?  Well, it looks like the answer to that question is....you can't.....or, at least, I can't!  And that was pretty much the end of my planting adventure. >_<

I think I'll stick to buying spring onions that cost me only RM1.50 a bunch (or RM2 for two bunches).  They come fresh, fat...and, most of all, no effort or love needed.  Wash, let them dry completely (in the open spread out onto a kitchen cloth if you can), cut them into size and store them in an airtight snaplock container wrapped in paper towels (to prevent and absorb moisture while in the fridge)...and it'll last a good one week to 10 days (sometimes even 2 weeks if they're super fresh when bought).

Now I'm left with a flower pot, a planter's box and leftover soil that I don't know what to do with.  It's not as if I'd be planting anything else since I can't even succeed in growing the simplest thing...unless you can suggest something failproof that even someone who can't plant a single thing in her life cannot foul up! ;D I may not have been successful in planting spring onions...but, at least, I can stake claim to having the cutest-looking watering can...which I can now use to water my neighbour's plants (from my sde of the house) when they're away! ^_~

Hot Mom Kitchen @ Pandan Perdana

I first noticed this place, Hot Mom Kitchen @ Pandan Perdana, during my regular visits to 7-Chai (for Ipoh kai see hor fun) but never went in to try as the place was uncannily deserted each time I passed by.

After finding out (from their Facebook) that they offer an array of Penang-style food like char kway teow, kuey chap, Hokkien mee (aka prawn mee), assam laksa, kuey teow th'ng (duck soup kuey teow), Nyonya curry noodle, loh mee, braised duck rice, among others, it got me excited.  So, we came on a Sunday hoping to partake in one of these noodles but to our disappointment were told that they don't sell noodles on Sunday (except for kuey chap) but serve dishes with rice instead.

We were then told what they had and I opted for the Penang Assam Fish @ RM25 which was served in a claypot garnished with lots of mint leaves.  They normally use grouper (sek pan yue) I was told but the fish that day was pou yue.  I didn't know what pou yue was but just nodded my head in agreement...lol.

Turned out pou yue is stingray in Chinese (aiyah, stingray I know lah)...and this stingray was probably one of the freshest I've ever eaten.  Soft, flaky flesh (rather meaty too for stingray) that's not reeking of any untoward smell or taste whatsoever.  I was also told I could add on an additional prawn @ RM7 and so I did. She also told me that they use fung wong har (not that I know what prawn that is and even more clueless when the name is in Chinese!).  But I did see a vlog by a (Cantonese-speaking) foodie and he also made mention that "lat ma" (which literally means spicy mom, not hot aka sexy mom...lol) uses not any prawn but fung wong har (I take it then that they must be good quality prawns).

The single additional prawn was huge and super duper fresh.  I thought the price was very reasonable for such a large prawn (the vlogger also said that RM7 for one is a steal).  If I've to make a comparison, the size is probably similar to the one I had at Ah Koong for RM10.

Not only was the fish and prawn cooked to perfection, so was the ladies finger (the only vegetable in this claypot assam, no medley of vegetables like tomatoes, long beans, brinjal or onions).  The ladies finger was not overcooked or overly soft like some can be...neither was it old and stringy like many I've eaten.

Finally, the assam sauce brought the whole dish home.  It was excellent, both in thickness and taste.  It had the right consistency of being not too watery nor too thick and the flavour was so well balanced between sour and spicy (when some can either be too sour or too spicy).  I can't remember having a better assam fish than this. ^.^

I also ordered the Pepper Pig Stomach Soup @ RM18 and was happy to see the bowl arriving with a fair amount of tender pork stomach slices and sprinkled with lots of yin sai (Chinese coriander).

The soup was fragrant and nicely peppered even though there weren't a lot of crushed peppercorns at the bottom of the bowl (which my husband noticed as well) like some of the other pig stomach pepper soup we've had.  Could this be an indication that the peppercorns used were probably of a good quality (Sarawak peppercorns perhaps)?  Good quality pepper gives you a fragrant-spicy flavour, and not just a pepper-spicy taste.

I also noticed that the soup was better flavoured than most pepper soup I've had.  Turns out that there were some chicken pieces (probably choy yin kai/kampung chicken) in the soup (on further digging).  This is the first time I've been served pig stomach soup with chicken.  No wonder the soup was much tastier coz the soup was boiled with chicken instead of the usual pork-based soup.

After such a positive dining experience, we returned on another day (this time a Saturday) in the hope of finally trying one of her Penang-style noodles.  We were in for a treat as she had Penang Prawn Mee @ RM12 (big, RM9 for small) that day (she has a rather peculiar way on how she runs her shop which I'll explain a little later).  Note that presentation is certainly not her forte as everything is just strewn into the bowl! :P

When the bowl of prawn mee arrived, we noted it was quite a sizeable bowl (we later found out that we were given big by default as we did not mention we wanted small).  This standard bowl of prawn mee was filled with a chock-full of ingredients of prawns, lean pork, fish cake, pork intestines, half a hard-boiled egg, kangkung, taugeh and finished with lots of fried shallots.  There was a decent amount of medium-sized prawns that have been halved lengthwise.

I wasn't expecting to see pork intestines in a standard bowl of prawn mee and was obviously stoked that they were included (it's usually only available as an add-on).  The intestines in my husband's standard bowl landed in mine knowing how much I love them.

As you can see, my bowl of prawn mee is slightly different from my husband's coz I went for an add-on big prawn (additional RM7).  There's also add-on pork ribs, pig tail (!) and intestines available.  I also found two softened pieces of cuttlefish in my bowl (not sure if that's another ingredient or it was there to add further flavour to the prawn mee).

The house-made fried shallots also deserve special mention as they were immensely fragrant and crispy that only inhouse made fried shallots can be, none of that cheap, commercially procured crap.  Omg, look at the plentiful fried shallots clinging onto my freakishly huge prawn....let me give you a close-up to show you just how big it is! O_o  It's the same excellent quality prawn (fung wong har) used in the earlier assam fish dish.

This is a perfectly peeled prawn, if I've to say so myself....lol!  The fact that the tail can be peeled cleanly off its shell is an indication of just how fresh the prawn is.  I saved the best for last! ;)

Of course all the stellar ingredients don't mean squat if the broth isn't as stellar.  The broth was intensely prawn-flavoured with umami from the prawns (and shells) and pork bones (maybe even chicken carcass).  The insanely rich, deep orangey/reddish-coloured broth is a sight to behold (I've not seen a prawn mee broth this vibrant).  It's quite spicy on its own without the need to add any of the additional chilli paste given...and I drank it to the (almost) last drop....it was that good! ;P

This is the best tasting prawn mee I've eaten thus far...but eating it as and when you want to is not always possible.  I say that coz the lady owner/chef of this place has a very peculiar way of running her business. You don't know what noodles will be cooked/offered on a particular day (except for kway chap which is available daily, she says)...and that's because she rotates her daily specials whenever she likes (she says she lacks workers and she can only do so much herself).  It's not a favourable concept (from a customer's point of view) but still acceptable if she can at least determine a fix day for her daily specials (but she can't even commit to that).  Maybe her daily specials depend on what fresh ingredients she can get.  Hopefully, this kind of set-up will change eventually when she hires more help...and she can sell everything on a daily basis (coz not everyone will be able to tolerate coming from afar only to find out that the noodle they want to eat is not available)! >.<

My Personal Opinion

This place scored a 3 out of 3 (I ate 3 things here and all 3 were excellent)....but the one that made the most impression was the prawn mee.  My gold standard and go-to prawn mee used to be from (formerly known as) Kedai Makanan Red Leaf (now known as Piau Kee Kopitiam)...but that has now been dethroned by this wickedly good, current gold standard from Hot Mom Kitchen! ^o^

Their assam fish (usually grouper but we got stingray) and pig stomach pepper soup deserve not only mention but accolades too.  The pou yue and fung wong har were super fresh and in an assam sauce that was super tasty and well balanced.  The pig stomach soup base was fragrantly peppery and had depth of flavour with the inclusion of chicken in the stock.

If you fancy any of the 3 dishes above, then I strongly recommend that you come and try Hot Mom Kitchen's...but not at this address.  At the time of writing, they have already shifted to Restoran Bai Li Men, 1 Jalan Gelang, Off Jalan Sungei Besi, Pudu, 55200 Kuala Lumpur.  Haiyaa, just as I thought I've found my new no. 1 favourite prawn mee, they have to shift to somewhere further away from me. >_<  In fact, this is her third new location.  From their Facebook, I noted that she used to have a stall in New Era Restaurant in Pandan Jaya before moving to this location and opening her own shop at Pandan Perdana.  Now, she's back to being a stall at Restoran Bai Li Men.  P/S: For now, your best bet to enjoy this prawn mee is on weekends (Friday - Sunday).  That's what the lady boss told me...but don't come after me ya if she changes her mind on her specials for the day! :P

Now I understand why her place is always eerily quiet (whenever I passed by) coz this system (of rotating her daily specials) may not find favour or prove acceptable to everyone (me included) who visits craving to eat a particular noodle only to find out it's not available.  She says you can call her to find out what's her special for the day...but who does that!  The lady owner is a good cook with great recipes but she's not what I would call business-minded (or know how to run a business proper), otherwise she would have a lot more customers and be making more money based on the excellent tasting food she churns out.  That's probably why she converted back to being a stall as she can't manage running her own shop (opened for 9 months only) which requires more manpower and effort.  I will certainly visit her at her new location if I want to continue to partake in my newfound gold standard prawn mee.

Hot Mom Kitchen

7G Jalan Pandan Perdana 4/1

Pandan Perdana

55300 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 012-709 1181

The Making of a Big Breakfast

Who doesn't like a Big Breakfast?  I know I do.....and I can eat it at anytime of the day be it for breakfast, lunch or dinner! ;)  It's one of my most favourite things to cook at home as it's among some of the easiest food to prep and execute.  All you have to do is fry up some eggs and processed meat.  Yeah, yeah, you may say it's commercially procured meat...but isn't that what most cafes serve you anyway (it just depends on the quality of the processed food they source)...lol.  Most wouldn't bother to make their own and if they do, it's usually only limited to sausages and hash browns.  So, I might as well cook my own (which I do quite often) at a fraction of the price the cafes charge.

And that thought came to mind when I got hold of some organic sourdough from Kenny Hills Bakers which will elevate my Big Breakfast to be a a bit more atas lah!  And in line with an atas version, I got some expensive asparagus to go with it. ;P

You can cook an entire Big Breakfast in a non-stick or cast iron pan, of course...but, just for the heck of it, I put 4 gadgets to work...just because I could.  I was hoping that maybe using a few gadgets at one time, the food/individual ingredients can all be ready at the same time.  Wishful thinking! >_<

I cooked the asparagus first in the oven as this would take the longest (based on my experience with roasting vegetables).  It took more than 20 minutes, I think, and that's because I was waiting for the asparagus to get the requisite charring.

Even with the time it had in the oven, it didn't quite get the charring that I was hoping for...and ended up extra soft.  For a better char on the asparagus (the way I've always been successful with green beans), it'd be better to cook this in a pan (but the oven is certainly ideal if you've a big batch to cook).

I'm sure you've heard about the tip on how to prep asparagus...and that's to bend it and it'll snap at exactly the right place where the good eating stops and the woody bit starts (quoting Jamie Oliver's mate, Pete). But the kedekut in me wasn't about to do that as one spear of asparagus costs at least RM1!  So I trimmed an inch off at the bottom.  Nope, not the wisest decision as I didn't get rid off enough of the stringy and chewy end parts. >.<

While the asparagus was cooking in the oven, I sauteed the Swiss brown mushrooms in a pan.  For non-soggy mushrooms (each and every time), try these few tips I put out here.

If there's one thing I can't do without in my Big Breakfast, it has to be the mushrooms...and it has to be fresh button mushrooms.  They're so juicy when bitten into that they provide a much needed relief from the other so-called "dry" ingredients on the plate.  No amount of mushroom is too much for me.

Next, I put the bacon to cook in the air fryer...which is now my favourite way of cooking bacon as it's so quick, it takes only 5 minutes (a far shorter time than in the pan) and it comes out really crispy coz the fats/oil can drip away underneath the rack.

But cooking bacon in the air fryer can be a little tricky as you really need to watch it (especially in the last 1 - 2 minutes) as it can easily burn if left in the fryer just a few seconds longer (it has happened to me before).

Then it was time to get cracking at cooking the eggs.  For my Big Breakfast, I would usually cook sunny side-up eggs (with runny yolks hopefully) but decided to make scrambled eggs this time since my first attempt at scrambled eggs turned out rather well.

While the eggs were cooking, it was time to put my atas bread (organic sourdough) to toast in the toaster oven (which does a better job of crisping up the toast than in an air fryer).  The texture of sourdough can be a bit on the chewy side, so it's advisable to lightly toast it first.  You can sapu the butter before or after toasting.

Gently stir the eggs over medium-low heat until cooked.  I left my eggs in the pan to check on my toast and ended up with overcooked scrambled eggs as the residual heat continued to cook the eggs.

The second time I cooked the eggs, I made sure I pour it onto a plate immediately (or, if your toast is ready, you can pour it on top).  It's advisable not to leave it in the pan so that the eggs don't overcook.  See, I nailed it this time...soft and runny.

Sourdough is good in any breakfast platter...but it's also equally good and satisfying with just simply good butter and jam.  This was what I had for dinner after my lunch at Teow Chew Meng and light bites at Kenny Hills Bakers.

Ah, my Big Breakfast with an atas feel....elevated by the sourdough....like one served in a cafe! ;)  Eating it was a pleasurable affair.....cooking it was a chaotic affair! :D  I was running around like a headless chicken trying to multi-task and cook everything everywhere all at once.....lol! :D

For a homecooked version, we just have to accept that not everything on the plate will be served hot as one cook (mua) can only do so much with two hands...lol!  Even a professional chef is assisted by his sous chefs and assistant chefs with each tasked at doing a certain component of the dish so that the dish comes together quickly.

But that doesn't take away my enjoyment of cooking...and eating my own-made, still lightly warm when served, Big Breakfast any less! ^_~