Eric Bites

Besides watching movies and teasing Eric, cooking is one of the fun things I love to do. People say food is the way to a man's heart ...do you agree? Do you think my cooking qualifies as a mouth watering love letter to my dear husband?



Meat! 26 June 2012

A regular meal of grilled lamb or steak in Petaling Jaya (in a normal cafe) can set you back as much as RM50 per person. The horror! That's a meal for a family of four in a decent hawker or food court. Growing up in a typical Chinese village in Penang means regular open fires by our neighbors to burn fallen leaves or trash. I hated it. In return, we would grill and barbeque savory meats and vegetables at our front yard. Followed by a sing along or family movie night. In fact, I remember one phase of our lives where we practically had a barbeque every Saturday night. Even till today, I will receive messages from my brother telling us what they grilled the night before. Jealous.  

Now back to lamb. It is much stronger in taste and smell compared to other meats like pork or chicken. It also does not complement or carry other flavors easily. Hence, our family's favorite way of cooking lamb is my papa's legendary recipe. Simple: Oyster sauce and lots of black pepper. The sweet oyster sauce will caramelize and create a nice layer to lock in the sweetness of the lamb. Grill on each side until desired level. I like mine medium while Eric likes his well done. 

Sadly, we live in an apartment now. The management would not appreciate us starting a fire at the balcony. Instead we have resorted to a grill pan. Bought one at Ikea and so far it has been fab. The latest and best grilling so far has to be last weekend's lamb. Papa's recipe of course.

A side of garden salad and tomato basil salad dressed in peach dressing.





A very Late Lunch, 17 June 2012

We woke up at 1 pm today after a hyper night before. No, it's not what you think. We actually went to a 24 hours hypermarket to stock up on food at 3 am.  It's really one of the most reasonable places in town. I had planned on making chicken curry for lunch but decided to simplify. One of the benefits of growing up with parents of different races is the variety of food we get to experience. Today's soup is a sample of my Iban heritage,  I remember Mama making this soup using either pork, fish, chicken even wild boar. It's so fresh yet soothing. All you need is some garlic, onion, ginger and lemongrass and the meat of your choice. Boil it all together, season to taste and voila! You're done! Take it hot and slurp away. The stock from the meat and veg makes it sweet yet very Asian. I matched this soup with fried chicken (seasoned lightly with chili powder, meat curry powder and salt) and steamed bok choy dressed with garlic oil, oyster and soy sauce with a hint of nutty sesame oil. Eric loves the flavours but has a personal vendetta against bok choy. Dunno why...

Sweet lemongrass and ginger soup

Fried chicken no recipe required

Eric's public enemy #1

4 comments:

  1. so delicious, can u share with me the recipe for the fried chicken..u use kunyit right? what is the english name already for kunyit?

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    1. HI! This is a very simple recipe. I just marinate the chicken with chilli powder, meat curry powder and salt. Kunyit = turmeric. I have a few other recipes. Will share with you soon.

      xoxo, Tara

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  2. Nice job Tara, love your stories! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Stay tune for more. I will be posting unique Iban stories, ones you can hear only through the voice of the elders. :)

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