Stuffed Hairy Gourd With Fish Paste And Fresh US Scallop

This is a very homecooked dish.  My mom used to stuff hairy gourd with minced meat and salted fish, braised with oyster sauce till the gourd is soft and tender. She cooked this dish often and my siblings and myself loved this dish very much. I still crave for my mom's cooking. She was one good cook and I regretted not having learned more from her when I was a teenager but as you know when I was a teenager I only know how to eat and sleep :p

My mom was called home eight years ago and gosh how I miss her....she was my best friend and she raised me up well. The only solution to the craving is to replicate her dish . Instead of stuffing with minced meat and salted fish...I used store bought fish paste and some fresh scallops. I steamed the stuffed gourd instead of braising . And gosh it was good too but can't beat mom's cooking.  I still need to improve my cooking skills.

I blanched the gourd for a min in hot boiling water

before filling with the desired meat filling

steamed until the filling is cooked thru and the gourd has 

become tender soft.   Cook a thickening sauce and pour over 

the steamed stuffed gourd

serve with hot piping hot rice

Stuffed Hairy Gourd With Fish Paste And Fresh US Scallop

1 med sized hairy gourd - pare off skin , slice diagonally into 1 3/4inch lengths, 

                                      remove center pulps with seeds, blanch with hot boiling water

                                      for a min, drain off water and keep aside

ingredients for filling

fish paste - store bought

fresh US scallops

Sauce

the excess water from the steaming + 1/3 cup water

1 tsp + of oyster sauce

1 tsp of chinese cooking wine

1 tsp of corn flour

a dash of ground white pepper

* optional -salt to taste

garnishing

spring onion and crispy fried garlic

Method:

1.  Pare off skin from hairy gourd, slice diagonally into 1 3/4inch lengths, remove center pulps with seeds, blanch with hot boiling water for a min, drain off water and keep aside.

2.  Stuff blanched gourd with fish paste into hollow part and place a fresh scallop on top, push the scallop inner so that it will not fall off the fish paste while steaming. Repeat until all the gourds are stuffed. Place on steaming plate and steam in hot boiling steamer for 15-18 mins or until filling is cooked through and the gourd is tender soft.  Pour excess water collected in steaming plate during the steaming process into a small cooking pot and add in oyster sauce and chinese cooking wine and corn flour, white pepper and cook under med heat to make a thickening sauce. Once the sauce thickens, pour over the steamed gourd and garnish with spring onion and crispy fried garlic.  Serve with hot piping rice.

Enjoy !

The Limestone's Fine Dining Restaurant, @Regalodge Hotel, Ipoh

After our bible class, our teacher decided to take us out for lunch. Hehehe I guess we are good students. Julie, Bill Chia and myself were treated to a wonderful lunch.  Great fellowship and a time of sharing.  Food was great and this was our first time here .  We will come back again to savor the rest of their menu.  Nice ambience and good service. Not only the food taste good but the presentation of food is brilliant !

Seafod Paella...very aromatic, prepared to suits asian taste bud

Grilled Salmon With Linguine

Bill and I ordered 

Grilled Chicken With Chickpea Salad

THE LIMESTONE’S FINE DINING RESTAURANT
@ Regalodge Hotel Ipoh
131, Jalan Raja Ekram,
30450 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Tel No : +605-242 3241
Hours : Breakfast (7.00am – 10.30am), Lunch (11.30am – 2.30pm), Hi-Tea (Cake + Coffee/Tea) (3.30pm – 5.30pm), Dinner (6.30pm – 10.30pm). Closed for lunch and hi-tea on Mondays.

Oven Baked Crispy Chicken Drumstick

After eating out most of the time for the past one month...it is time to settle down to some homecooked meals :)  We craved for this crispy oven baked chicken pieces with crispy skin on the outside and tender juicy meat on the inside.  The most important factor is the chicken pieces must be well marinated.  You can have your own choice of marinade of course...being the lazy me, I choose the easiest.  A bottle of steakhouse pepper seasoning ( a mixture of spices - dried onions, dried garlic, pepper, salt, paprika and mixed herbs ) a fabulous seasoning for the chicken drumsticks. Using potato starch as coating will have the chicken skin crisp and crunchy after baking .  You can use all purpose flour or corn flour but for me, I prefer potato starch.  Reason being, the crispyness last longer.

this seasoning is made up of dried onions, dried garlic, salt, black pepper,

dried oregano and paprika - truly flavor packed.  

After seasoning the drumsticks for 30 mins, coat evenly the drumsticks with 

potato starch and arrange the drumsticks on a wire rack over

a tray for catching  oil drips from the chicken during baking

you can omit the butter if you like

bake for 40 mins @200C

drumsticks skin should be evenly browned

and crispy 

the crispyness of the skin  is to die for

Oven Baked Crispy Chicken Drumstick

ingredients:

3 drumsticks - debone and leave skin on

a few tbsp of Spice rub - I used Steakhouse Pepper (Schwartz )
a few sprig of thymes
a tsp of butter

1 cup of potato starchs

Method:

Preheat oven at 200C for 10 mins

Season the debone drumsticks with spice rub , leave the drumstick to rest for 30 mins.   Coat the drumsticks with potato starch. Make sure every part of the drumsticks are coated with the potato starch.  Shake off excess potato starch and arrange the coated drumsticks on a wire tray over a baking pan .  Leave the drumsticks in room temperature  for another 30 mins.  Apply a tsp of butter on each drumstick * optional and sprigs of thymes on the drumstick.

Put the tray of drumsticks into the preheated oven and baked until the skin is crispy and evenly browned and cooked.  Take the drumsticks out of the oven and leave to cool..the skin will become crispy and the meat is tender and juicy.

Enjoy!

Lunch @ Eight Fish Steamboat, Semenyih

Each time we come to Semenyih,  Piggy Jo and SL will take us to their newly discovered food haven. Recently , when we were up in Semenyih for her convocation, we were taken to this wonderful restaurant called Eight Fish Steamboat or in Mandarin known as Pak Mei Yu as literally translated as eight fish flavors.  I have only tasted one flavor ...there are seven more to go and I am going back to taste out the rest of the flavors available :)

The dishes are prepared Hunan style and are cooked by their Chef from China.   Piggy Jo recommended this dish - Stir Fry Pork Intestine With Chinese Leeks and it was truly their signature dish.  And the next signature dish I would like to introduce is their fish fillets cooked in this savoury and tasty broth. A must order dish...you won't believe it, every drop of the soup was slurpped up eagerly by us.  Piggy Jo ordered another signature dish - Pumpkin slices with salted egg yolk...this is another must order dish.   Crispy on the outside, coated with the fragrant mashed salted egg yolk and tender soft on the inside....the dishes are truly commendable.  And the last dish ordered was the Pork Belly with sprng onions and ginger.  Wow....typing this post and looking at the pictures makes me wanna go back to Semenyih again.  Somehow , Semenyih has a number of restaurants that serves good food.  I am glad Piggy Jo ,my partner in-crime, loves to eat too.  Thank you Jo and SL for the wonderful lunch :)   We love there food served here and will be coming back for more.

this dish is flavors packed, spicy, sour and so very delicious that

you will want to slurp up every drop of the broth :)

ah...this dish is to die for too...the deep fried pumpkin slices are not oily

yet it is crunchy and crispy on the outside and soft on the  inside.

Pork belly with spring onion , ginger and red onions.. another yummy dish !

secretly took one for the album....point and shoot :p

wanna try this place....here is the business card.

Enjoy !

Dry Curry Prawns With Steamed Turmeric Glutinous Rice

Okay....I know of late, I have been indulging in seafood but I eat in moderation. I love the word moderation :) I managed to get some fairly fresh and big size sea prawns from the shop in Ipoh Garden South selling veggies and seafood....I bought half a kilo and WB asked to cook his all time favourite dry curry prawns with steamed turmeric glutinous rice ( nasi kunyit ).  I told him to help out coz I know he can cook very well esp steamed glutinous rice...hehe so this was actually a team work meal :) 

To make the steamed glutinous rice, WB soaked it for more than 3 hours with a piece of tamarind slice and crushed fresh turmeric. The glutinous rice will turn into a nice yellow color however the crushed tumeric has to be very gently washed out from the rice just before steaming.  The tamarind slice is to give the glutinous rice a shine after steaming.  My glutinous rice is much healthier because instead of adding coconut milk, I add a tbsp of olive oil  :)  Okay, this again is preference...you can add coconut milk to give it an extra flavor if you like.   The dry curry turned out good too and it goes really well with the glutinous rice.  Guess what...not only WB ate a lot....me too had seconds after my first helping ....hehehe the dry curry prawns was so good that we forgot about cholesterol and carbo.  

The glutinous rice was perfectly done by WB and the curry prawns was of course my creation :p  WB can be a good cook if he wants to ...hahaha I hope he will spend more time in the kitchen cooking for me while I pot around in the garden :)

getting the turmeric soaked glutinous rice ready for steaming

I will give WB full marks for making this steamed glutinous rice

with turmeric...beautifully done

this is my cooking :)....I bought the freshly ground curry paste for dry curry from

the wet market....this dish takes very little effort and darn yummy delicious

wow...I want to make this again......

wait have to carry out

the weight lifting workout first

Dry Curry Prawns With  Steamed Turmeric Glutinous Rice  - from WB's Kitchen

Ingredients for dry curry prawns

1/2 kilo large sea prawns- deveined but keep the shell and head

fresh ground curry paste specially for dry curry from wet market

( I asked the lady to give me enough for 1/2 kilo prawns )

1 stalk serai - crushed

3 to 4 tbsp of olive oil 

2 twigs of curry leaves

1 red onion - sliced

1/2 cup of full cream milk

Method:

Heat up wok . Add 3 to 4 tbsp of olive oil , add in the fresh ground curry paste , crushed serai and currry leaves....stir fry till olive oil rises to surface and aromatic.  Add in the prawns and red onions slices and continue to stir fry till the prawns are cooked and the curry paste coats the shell.  Add in 1/2 cup of full cream milk and continue to cook till the gravy thicken and the prawns are coated with the paste. Dish up and serve  hot with the steamed glutinous rice.

Steamed Turmeric Glutinous Rice  / Nasi Kunyit

for two persons

Ingredients

1 thmb size fresh turmeric cut into small pieces and gently crushed

2 muffin cups of glutinous rice - washed clean and soaked with crushed turmeric  and water for 3-4 hours until the rice is stained a rich yellow..

1 piece of tamarind slice

1 tbsp of white peppercorns - wash  clean

1 tbsp of olive oil

Method:

Heat up steamer.  

Drain off water from the glutinous rice and gently rinse away crushed turmeric .  Place glutinous rice on a 1 inch deep dish. Grease the dish with olive oil.  Add in white peppercorns and 1 tbsp of olive oil to the glutinous rice until well combined. Place the tamarind piece on top of the rice. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of water onto the washed rice.

When the steamer water is boiling, put in the glutinous rice and steam for 20 mins.  Open lid and check the rice.  It should be glistening and rice is cooked. If not you can add another tbsp of hot water over the rice and close back lid and continue to steam for another 6-7 mins.

Enjoy!

Seafood Pasta En Papillote With Pan Seared Scallops

Nothing beats having your pasta wrapped in paper bag, parchment paper or foil and baked in preheated oven for 20 mins....the aroma of the ingredients get infused and the flavor, juices from the seafood and aroma trapped in the pasta....the scent of the sea will burst on your tongue as you savor the pasta...mmmmm I love food cooked in papillote.  En papillote , a french word for " in parchment " is a method of cooking in which the food is put into folded pouch or parcel and then baked.  The parcel can be made from folded parchment paper and other materials ,such as a paper bag or aluminium foil may be used.  For me, I prefer to use parchment paper...healthier and the juices won't leak out...keep the taste and aroma trapped in...besides pasta you can cook fish in papillote too.  I have a few fish recipes cooked in papillote that I can share with you here. Let me digress a bit since I am on the topic of cooking en papillote :p

chicken :  Baked Chicken Fillets In Papillote 

              Curried Chicken Peppers And Peas In Papillote

fish :      Salmon And Tomatoes en Papillote 

             Salmon Baked In Papillote  

             Scad Ikan Selar In Papillote  

Back to the seafood pasta...it is healthy as not much oil is used...packed with iodine and the dried mixed herbs gives it the final aromatic scent besides the sea scent from the seafood.  A good delicious combination that gives me pleasure in tucking in the pasta after a bout of flu.  Hubby enjoyed it as much as I and we look forward to more cooking in papillote.

            

of course the pasta has to be cooked to al dente first....drained

mix with sea salt and mixed herbs and fresh tomatoes . Teh baby octopus needs to be

scalded with hot water for a mins..drained and mixed together with the NZ mussels

then pour onto parchment paper and wrapped into a parcel.

Place on baking tray and baked in preheated oven for 20 mins.

this is so appetizing...packed with my favourite seafood :)

the aroma when I opened the parcel really makes us drool....everything

was perfectly cooked...the baby octopus and the NZ mussels plus the additional of

pan seared  US fresh scallops..bigger than the 50 sen coin...hehehe

thanks Piggy Joanna for the scallops...love it!

this is one awesome pasta

Seafood Pasta En Papillote

spaghetti for two persons - cooked till al dente - drained

2 tsp of dried mixed herbs
2 tsp of chopped garlic
6 pieces of baby octopus- scalded with hot boiling water for a min
8 pieces of NZ mussels
5 cherry tomatoes - cut into halves and deseed

sea salt to taste
1.5 tbsp of olive oil

Parchment paper - 2 pieces - big enough to wrap the pasta and seafood

Pan Seared Scallops
8 pieces of fresh US scallops ( seasoned with black pepper and sea - salt to taste )
a pinch of black pepper
a pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp of olive oil for pan searing the scallops

Pan seared on non stick pan ...each side 4 mins.


method:

Spaghetti pasta has to be cooked to al dente first....drained off excess water. Add in chopped garlic , sea salt and olive oil onto the cooked pasta in a mixing bowl. Add in dried mixed herbs and cherry tomatoes. Mix well. Add in the scalded octopus and mussels last.

Place the pasta with the sea food onto parchment paper and wrapped into a parcel.

Place on baking tray and baked in preheated oven for 20 mins. Serve the seafoid pasta with the pan seared scallops.

Serve hot.