Bali 2015.

Hello readers of Lifeislikethatonela,

Ok it’s official. I can only manage to post one post per year. Sorry reader for the inactiveness for the whole last year. Was trying to get my shit together for work and adjusting back to the Malaysian lifestyle and of course the weather.

What have I been doing for the past whole year?

Well for one; i went to Bali. Yeap this post is going to be about Bali. Sit down tight whilst i bring you virtually around the island.

Day One

We reached bali on a night flight using AirAsia. Couldnt get a proper meal on board as most of the food was bought by the front row passengers. Geez; thats the thing about budget flights.

We were offered a shuttle service from the airport to the villa. There’s the address below for the villa.

Mahagiri Villas

Address: Mahagiri Villas; No., Jl. Pungutan No.31, Denpasar, Kota Denpasar, Bali 80226, Indonesia.

Didnt take them long to check us into our villas but here’s a sneak peek of the villa.

so i had to share a bed with my brother.

look ma; no clothes and a garden shower.

morning after.

Day Two

Woke up at 9 to start the day. Usual breakfast at the villa. Off to start the day with a driver to bring us around Bali. We headed off to the Volcano “Kintamani Volcano”. But on the way we took a few stops at a batik factory, a silver factory and a coffee shop which brew the amazing coffee none other than the Musang coffee or a.k.a Luwak Coffee.

None of these amazes us as we have all of these in Malaysia. But i did buy the Luwak Coffee Beans at a hefty price.

with the dad at the batik factory.

so here’s my sister trying to learn how to imprint batik

batik imprinting

so my dad tried to be an ah long with his new ring at the silver factory.

the different flavours of coffee served at the coffee shop.

the one who produces “shit” but awesome coffee.

Took us around 3 hours to reach the peak of My Kintamani. We didnt regret that but all we did whilst on the trip was sleep and sleep and sleep in the car. As you ca savor your eyes below:-

isn’t the view amazing? “Kintamani volcano.

dad was addicted to his coconut.

Right after we headed of for lunch to try the amazing Ibu Oka: Babi Guling. But to no avail they ran out of babi guling. We were depressed. Oh and please Babi Guling is not suckling pig you normally savor during Chinese dinners. so please do not be amused when only the meat and skin of the pig comes in front of you.

Warong Ibu Oka, Babi Guling: Jalan Tegal Sari No. 2, Ubud, Kec. Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia

Note to self and you: if you ever want to try the amazing Babi Guling go before 2pm or even earlier. Could see the service there was pretty bad but hey everyone’s here for the food right?

as you can see i was depressed. sorry

So we headed off to Bebek Bengil which was the alternative of Naughty Duck Dirty Babe in Malaysia. The duck was super deep fried but gladly it wasnt dry at all. For this i give it a thumbs up eventhough it wasnt an alternative to my Babi Guling.

Address: Bebek Bengil(Dirty Duck Diner) Jalan Hanoman, Padangtegal, Ubud, Kec. Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia

half a deep fried duck for hungry me.

fam bam decided to be failed indians.

We headed back to the villa right after that. Didn’t felt as though we accomplished much but i guess having to cramp my butt in the van for 3 hours was good enough.

Day 3

Woke up to another amazing day in Bali. We had three breakfast choices and i decided to get along with the continental set. Tell you; the croissant was perfect for a bali villa.

 

So we decided to cramp our butts again in the van for a good long 2 hours to reach nusa dua and checked out all the 7 stars villas in that area. First stop;

Royal Santrian Villas

 

Royal Santrian Villas

BVLGARI (BULGARI) Villas yes, the bag brand.

Right that was enough of villa hopping. now to the real deal of the day. TANAH LOT. this place holds an amazing view and history. forget about Mt Kintamani. Tanah Lot has something you’ll never ever set your eyes upon. I’ll keep my words to a minimum. the sunset was pure heartwarming.

We stayed there till 7.30 till the sun fully set then headed off looking for food again to feed our forever hungry Low family tummies. So as i was being a bitch craving for Babi Guling we stopped by a random shop to feast on my ever beloved Babi Guling. I thought it was rather not bad. But the other Low’s decided the other way. So i had to chomped down my food so we could go to another restaurant.

made out of all the parts of a wild hog. the skin; the intestines. oh the flavours.

So we headed off from the Babi Guling Shop and went to Wild Hog.

 

the feast.

It was a tremendous day. the food; the scenery the villas. we died when we reached home at around 11.

Day 4

Our last day here. It was more of a relaxing day indeed. Laze in the bed till 11. had late breakfast. I told the butler i wanted everything they have on my plate.

breakfast. continental again.

As there wasn’t much to do we headed off to the Denpasar beach and did a few beach activities. Jet Ski whilst the girls and the older Low’s went for mani , pedi and massages.

he said he wanted to learn silat.

he gave up right away and said he wanted to become vanity smurf.

So that was the end of the Bali Trip. It wasn’t the best trip I’ve been but hey! family is where the heart is right?

goodbye bali.

Verdict

Bali was an alright place. I wouldn’t say it was truly amazing but i really did enjoy spending time with my family there. It was a good getaway place for you to understand and experience more about the Jawanese culture and oh gawd; the sceneries was to die for. I didnt plan for this trip as i was caught up with work so we just headed the way my elder sis planned and chillax the whole trip without any worries.

I might come back here again but definitely not for my honeymoon; maybe to chill and experience more of the small but beautiful island.

I promise to write more this time round about food and my travels. Let me know how this piece went whether do you prefer my travels or my recipes.

Signing off;

your travel buddy.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hello readers of Lifeislikethatonela,

It has been a very very long time since i last updated with this blog. Been bogged up with my new job here in Malaysia and the funny thing is that I actually graduated from university. (hip hip hurray!!) I might actually share the time i had back here in my home country maybe another day. Nevertheless, this dish which i made over and over again during my time in Belfast that i might consider it a hit amongst my friends back there. I know there’s a lot of other alternative on how to make this dish, i might be wrong but here’s my version of hainanese chicken rice.

Look ma! i graduated! 😀

Ingredients:

Chicken Rice:-

• 3 cups uncooked washed rice
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 4 finely chopped shallots
• 3 Cups chicken broth
• 1 small thumb of ginger, cleaned and bruised
• 1 tbsp of the garlic and shallot oil
• 70g chicken fats
• 1+ 1/2 tsp salt, to taste

For the chicken

• 1 whole chicken, preferably free range organic chicken
• 1 small thumb of ginger, cleaned and bruised
• 5-6 stalks of scallion, washed
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped
• 2 + 1 tsp of salt
• 10 bowls of cold water

Condiments (Red Chilli):-

• Red Chilli (Chopped and seeds removed)
• 1/2 Lime
• 2 whole Shallots (peeled and chopped)
• 1/2 inch Ginger
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 2tsbp Sesame Oil
• 1tbsp Chicken Stock
• Salt to taste

Condiments (Green Ginger Sauce):-

• Scallions /Spring Onions
• 2 inch Ginger
• 2 whole Shallots (peeled and chopped)
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 2tsbp Sesame Oil
• 1tbsp Chicken Stock
• Salt to taste

To serve:-

• 1 whole cucumber
• 3 whole tomatoes

Steps:

For Chicken

1. Golden Rule  before you start. This is my way but you can always do it your way. This is not necessary but you can follow if you have the time. If you do not have time, marinating for 30mins would be sufficient. I always start off early in the morning by marinating the chicken in salt. Sprinkle around 5 teaspoons of salt around the chicken and use your hands to rub around the chicken. Massage it!
2. Around 8 hours later, or after work, in the evening, an hour before dinner time, use a pot that can fit the chicken and pour in the 10 bowls of water. Let it boil. Insert the ginger, garlic and the spring onions into the chicken’s cavity. Once the water starts to boil, Insert the chicken into the pot, breast side down. Let the water come back to boil, then simmer it for another 30-35minutes.
3. Once the timer hits 30 minutes, turn off the heat and let the chicken sit inside the pot, covered, for another 10mins. Keep the stock for later use.
4. Remove the chicken from the pot after 10mins and then immerse it into a pot filled with iced-cold water. Let it sit in for around 10minutes. Discard the ginger scallion and garlic in the cavity. If you have a hook, remove the chicken from the pot and hook it up to dry then carve and serve it during dinner time.

For the rice

1. Heat oil in wok, fry chopped shallots and garlic till fragrant and golden in colour. Add rice and stir well. Transfer the rice mixture to rice cooker.
2. Once transferred, add chicken broth, chicken fats and salt into rice mixture. Cook normally

For the condiments

1. Mix All the red chilli condiments into a high-powered food processor. Blend into a paste.
2. Repeat for Green Ginger Sauce

To prepare the Chicken Rice

1. Line a serving plate with cucumber slices.
2. Arrange carved chicken on the top, sprinkle chicken with sesame seed oil before garnishing with cilantro.
3. Serve with chicken rice, chicken stock and chicken rice chili sauce/green ginger sauce.

   

   Pre-Carved.

Presentation?

Verdict

Before i begin, i would really apologise for the bad pictures for this blog post. This is basically a few photos that i can find under my album taken with my phone thus, the picture quality. I’ve made this dish a million times and im still very proud of it. Dont worry of the long list of ingredients, you can find it easily in any supermarkets around the world. This is far most one of the easiest dish i ever made and also, the carving part, that takes a bit of skill or if not, just dig in with your friends and tear the chicken apart like a cannibal! Eventhough I’ve made this dish tons of times, i’m still experimenting to make the chicken taste better and look better. Practice makes perfect right? Till next time!

Bon Apetit. 

Baked Cod with Sauerkraut Cream

Dear Readers, Guess what, Yay im back! 🙂 We’ve raked up a lot views in the past week as my new co-authors, Wenkai and YilinT blogged a new post about their amazing cooking adventure. Glad to be working with both of these wonderful & talented individuals. So  just came back from Amsterdam few days ago and was really amazed at this dish i had in Van Kerkwjik. It was a Cod with Sauerkraut (Sour Cabbage). The Cod was cooked to perfection. I don’t pretty much have a great picture to show you but here it is. do stop by this restaurant when you’re around in Amsterdam. They don’t have a menu. but all their dishes are amazing and the servers are super fantastic-ly friendly. Vankerkwjik, Address: Nes 41, 1012 KC Amsterdam, Netherlands

“I couldn’t. i just couldn’t just my mouth off this thing!”

Ingredients:

Sauce:-

• 1  (¼-lb.) piece smoked bacon, cut into ½” cubes
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. finely chopped thyme leaves
• ½ tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 pods star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 tbsp raw Sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 1¼ cups white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Baked Cod:-

• 2 boneless skin-on cod fillets
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 bay leaves

Toasted Prosciutto

• Prosciutto

Steps:

1. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a 10″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, about 8 minutes.
2. Pour off all but 1 tbsp. fat. Reduce heat to medium and add half the shallots along with the thyme, cumin, star anise, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are soft, about 4 minutes.
3. Stir in the sauerkraut, ½ cup wine, and ⅓ cup water and season with salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauerkraut softens and the flavors meld, about 25 minutes.
5. Remove skillet from heat and set aside; discard bay leaf and star anise. Keep warm.
6. Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and arrange a rack in the middle.
7. Fold a piece of parchment paper in half and cut out a heart-shaped piece. Place the sauce with the sauerkraut then the fish fillet on top in the center of one half of the heart. (I did one tray/piece of parchment paper for one fish)
8. Lay the bay leaf and any herbs below fish. Break the butter into little pieces and arrange them on top of the fish.
9. Fold the parchment over to cover the fish—the edges of the heart should line up. Starting at the rounded end, begin crimping by folding in a 2-inch section, working all the way around the package but leaving the last 2 inches at the pointed end unfolded. Fold in another 2-inch section overlapping half of the first fold (this will seal the edges). Place the baking sheet on a tray
10. Place the tray in the oven and bake 7-8 minutes.
11. While the fish is being baked, using a non-stick pan slowly toast the prosciutto on low heat. for at least 5-7mins then let it cool, It’ll harden up after letting it to cool. thats the way you need it.
12. After cod is done, remove the tray from the oven and transfer the parchment package to a dinner plate. Presentation method below

1. and of course one isn’t enough. for my plus one ❤

how you might want to plate your fish?

Verdict

The Cod texture didn’t turn out exactly like the ones i had in Van Kerkwjik but the flavours were all there. i thought maybe the oven was too hot or the fish was overcooked. It takes steps to try out. But nevertheless do really try this recipe out. It beats all sorts of order cooking method especially pan-fried, God-damn how i had my fish being fried ><. Till then see you guys 🙂  

Pork Noodles (猪肉粉)

Hello dear readers, my name is Wenkai and I’m one of Ken’s co-bloggers. I like eating good food and making food good.

After a sumptuous treat to some homemade Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee, I was recently challenged by my buddy from Penang to take up the task of making a dish native to KL. Inspired by SS15’s famous Pork Noodles, I decided that hey, why not give it a try!

After reading up on how to do it: I discovered that pork noodles is, as the name suggests, devilishly porky. Lard and lardons are used to give the dish that distinct meaty goodness. As you can see by reading on, the technique behind making pork noodles is quite simple – just make sure you don’t rush the whole process. It takes some patience.

STEP BY STEP TECHNIQUE

1. The Broth

Again, as I reiterate, don’t rush the preparation work. Make the broth one day before you actually cook the dish. I chose to do it the day before, and it worked out magically as I boiled the broth twice, and was able to adjust the taste (and amount of water added) of it in between hot and cold.

Ingredients:

• Pork bone (get one that can fit into your pot)
• Ikan bilis (achovies) – you can fry this with some oil beforehand until golden brown before adding it in
• Pork stock cube
• Shrimp stock cube
• Water

As I have read somewhere, the combination of meaty fragrance and seafood aroma is the highway to a guaranteed savoury delight – hence the addition of the shrimp stock and ikan bilis. The broth should be boiled for at least 5 hours to get the flavours out of the pork bone. I did 7 hours just because I was kiasu. Add white pepper, salt and some sugar to taste.

2. The Preparation

Ingredients:

• Shallots (sliced thinly)
• Garlic (diced)
• Vegetables (I used pak choy because I couldn’t find anything else but get something leafy with some stems: choy sum would be ideal) separate the leaves from the stems as they cook at different rates
• Pork fat (optional but highly recommended)
• Lard
• Pork mince
• Pork slices
• Meehoon (rice vermicelli)
• Mee (egg noodles)

First thing in the morning, marinate the pork mince and pork slices with 5 things: salt, sugar, corn flour, white pepper powder and sesame oil. For the mince, used a little bit more corn flour to make it all clump up. Mix well and leave them in the fridge.

Once it’s 2 hours from meal time, cut some pork fat into little cubes to make pork lardons. Heat up a saucepan to medium heat and dump all the fatty cubes in and watch the magic happen – it will deep fry in its own oil. Meanwhile heat up your broth and bring it to a boil. Discard the bones and anchovies.

Once the lardons are done, retain the pork oil and add more lard – you’re gonna use this to fry the diced garlic and sliced shallots till they’re both golden brown. Once done, discard (finally) the oil.

Soak the meehoon and mee in tap water.

3. The Cooking

Ingredients:

• Eggs
• Cili padi
• Pork liver slices (optional)
• Pork intestine chunks (optional)

Cut some cili padi (bird’s eye chilli) and put them in soy sauce. Serve this as a dip.

Okay, this is the tedious part. You’re gonna have to do this bowl by bowl. Depending on how many people you are serving, you may have your work cut out like one of the hawker uncles cooking all day long.

Get a pot and put one person’s share of broth in it. Heat it up to a boil and add in the pork slices and pork mince. For the pork mince just use a spoon and grab a clump and dump it in – it doesn’t need to look perfect. Throw in the vegetable stems. (At this stage you can opt to throw in the optionals: pork liver, pork intestines) After this is brought to a boil, throw in the noodles. As the noodles are cooking, throw in the leaves of vegetables. Put an egg in at the end but don’t pop the yolk

Pour them out onto a bowl, and garnish with the fried garlic and shallots and lardons. You can pop the yolk after it has been served so that the yolk mixes with the noodles and gives it a creamy texture.

This isn’t the best photo representation of how it’s supposed to look like, but it was simply because we couldn’t hold back and simply devoured it before a good photo could be taken.

VERDICT

I enjoyed making this dish and for the first time I have actually made a broth so similar to that of the hawker stalls in KL. Now I know my way around the secrets behind the greatness of Malaysian hawker food – don’t hold back on the tasty stuff – lard, fats, stock and whatnot. If you wish to try a healthier version of this, go ahead, but it wouldn’t be near as good as what you normally have. So why bother? It’s pork noodles and people wait 40 minutes for this! So go all out on making it the best you can ever make!

Photo credits: Yi Lin T (www.tayylin.com)

Pan Fried Chicken with Shitake Sauce

Hello fellow readers and aspiring chefs out there!

As a follow up to this blog which i have left idle for the last few weeks, this week i present you with Gordon Ramsay’s (again), Pan-Fried Chicken Breast with Shitake Sauce. It was originally with Morel sauce but i could find anything substitute morel as it is only available in summer so i have to opt to the oriental way of using Shitake mushrooms. This is the 4th time I’ve been doing this and i am really really glad with the product. It has became one of my “birthday gifts” to all my fellow friends whose here in Belfast.

I would also officially state that this week we have also convinced one of my fellow Malaysia to become my official photographer for this blog. Welcome YilinT, Miniverse! you can check out her blog here.

This week we’ll have a step by step picture method to help you guys with the process of cooking this dish.

Ingredients

Pan Fried Chicken Breast

• 2 tablespoons Oil
• 2 Cloves Garlic lightly crushed in their skins
• 4 chicken breasts with skins
• Sea Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• Few sprigs of Thyme
• Few knobs of Butter
• 100g fresh morels(Shitake Mushrooms)
• Lemon Juice

Morel (Shitake) Sauce

• 12 driedshitake (put a bowl of dried shitake mushrooms into a bowl with hot water)
• Olive Oil for cooking
• 3 large shallots peeled and finely sliced
• 1 sprig Thyme
• 1 Clove Garlic peeled and crushed
• 175 ml Dry White Wine
• 175 ml chicken stock
• 250 ml Double cream

Sauteed Shitake

• Hydrated Shitake (put a bowl of dried shitake mushrooms into a bowl and leave it overnight)
• 1 large shallots
• Salt and Pepper

Grilled Asparagus

• 300 g Asparagus spears
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method

1.Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Infuse the oil with the garlic in an ovenproof pan over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Pat the chicken breasts dry with kitchen paper then season with sea salt and black pepper.

2. Fry the chicken, skin-side down, in the oil with the thyme, for 5 minutes or until the skin is golden and crisp.

3. Turn the chicken over, add the butter to the pan, and sear the other side while spooning the melted butter and oil over for 1-2 minutes. Turn the chicken once again, so that the skin is facing upwards, then roast for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

4. Make the sauce in the meantime. Drain and cool the Shitake, reserving the liquid. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and sauté the shallots, thyme and garlic for 5-6 minutes until golden. Add the Shitakes, a little more oil and seasoning. Cook for 5-6 minutes, then carefully pour in most of the morel soaking liquid (leaving the sediment behind).

5. Add the wine and bubble until most almost totally reduced. Add the chicken stock and boil for 8-10 minutes until reduced by half. 

6. Add the cream and simmer until thickened to the consistency of single cream.

7. Pass through a sieve, pressing the mushrooms and shallots to extract as much flavour as possible.

8. Remove the Chicken from the oven. Doublecheck them to make sure there is no pink in the middle. If you want to be absolutely sure it is cooked, you can use an instant-read thermometer to check (the chicken should be at least 165°F). Slice and eat.

9. Leave the Chicken to rest at the side as you prepare the rest of the sides.

10. Cut up the fresh shitake mushrooms into halves and saute them in a pan with olive oil and shallots. Season with Salt and Pepper.

11. Prepare the asparagus by removing the woody part from the bottom of the asparagus. Pan Fry them with a drizzle of olive oil and also season them with the usual salt and pepper.

12. Plating Time! Arrange around 5-6 asparagus for each plates.

13. Slice the Chicken breast in the middle to make sure it is fully cooked (pinked in the inside) and also to let the sauce flow into it later for better taste.

14. Give a few pieces of the sauteed Shitake mushrooms to each plate accordingly.

15. Pour the White wine Shitake sauce over the chicken, but be careful not to flood the plate.

16. There you have your Pan Fried Chicken Breast with Shitake Sauce! Enjoy!

Verdict

This is one of Gordon Ramsay’s dish which I mastered and will never doubt to do it again. The way the chicken breast is cooked here leaves it moist and not dry like how you roast them. #dislikeroastchicken Anyways do really try this recipe out and tell me how it goes on social media or wherever. This dish wont be easy for first timers but give it a second try or third, you’ll master it professionally. cheerios!

-And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
This was not your dream
But you always believed in me-