One thing we got at the International Pavilion at Carassauga this year, Malaysia was there this year, was jam made from Hibiscus or Roselle. I like that the main ingredient is not sugar (though that is second), but, like most jams, this is fairly sweet, and not so tart as making it into juice, though still good tasting, with the tart taste of the roselle very present. This is called Royal Roselle, I wonder if this is meant to be according to the recipe for the Royal family of Malaysia.
I read in the latest Eye Weekly about Jean Seow, the owner of Jean's Vegetarian Kitchen, she is one of several Chefs in Toronto that they admire, and I want to add my second to that (or thousandth to that...). Her restaurant is located on the Danforth near Greenwood (on the north side and east of Greenwood), and is all vegetarian, yet she serves mock-meat (made from soy) dishes that are almost as good as the thing it replaces. Certainly the dishes are Thai and Malaysian, in flavour and style, and my beautiful Bride and I went there, because it serves Thai food, and because it serves vegetarian dishes, and because it serves delicious food.
We've only been there a few times, (it is too far for us to travel from our end of the city - but well worth the trip), and had occasion to try some of their offerings. We've tried their Crispy Spring Rolls, which were good; their Mango Salad, fresh and tasty; Malaysian Curry, my beautiful Bride enjoyed it; Mee Siam, which I enjoyed; Garlic Mustard Greens, very tasty; and their Honey Lemonade, interesting and tasty. I don't recall any dish not being at least good, and there are a lot of dishes that I have not had the opportunity to try but wanted to.
As I've said, Jean's Vegetarian Kitchen is a little far for us to go, but it's easy to get to if you are in Toronto, take the TTC Subway to Greenwood station on the Bloor-Danforth line, from there it's a short walk. There's also lots to check out on the Danforth, a lively part of Toronto.
This is a Malaysian recipe we found on the 'Net, and it turned out really well, quite tasty. You can find yellow noodles in most Chinese supermarkets; they are egg noodles, and often are pre-cooked (look in the fresh noodles section). We used firm tofu that we cut into pieces and fried, instead of dried bean curds. I especially like the yellow colour of this dish!
Mee GorengHeat the wok and pour in the cooking oil. Add garlic, chili paste, sliced potatoes, bean curd and squids. Stir fry until fragrant. Add yellow noodles and sauce and continue stirring. Set the noodles to the side of the wok.
Add some cooking oil and then crack the eggs. Scramble the eggs and mix in with the noodles. Add in the beansprouts and stir fry quickly for another minute. Serve hot and garnish with chopped spring onions and sliced red chilies. Squeeze some lime juice over the noodles before eating.
Chili Paste:Blend 10 dried small red chilies in a food processor. Add some water and some oil to blend well. Heat the wok and stir fry the paste until the oil separates from paste. Set aside.
My one-time Sri Lankan co-worker and friend told me about this restaurant in Mississauga called Lion City that he went to, he liked and recommended it to me for Asian food, but I had never been to it before now, not really liking to go to restaurants by myself, so I decided to bring my beautiful Thai Bride to check it out. Too, this Malaysian coworker, when I mentioned the restaurant, told me he knew of it, and thought that it was second only to his favourite, Restoran Malaysia. The cuisine offered at Lion City is a mixture of Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian. We met the charming chef and owner, Lilian Ow, on our second visit, on a Sunday. She is from Singapore, and her cooking expertise reflects this. She was interested that my Bride came from Thailand, and pointed out the many Thai dishes. She also brought out a sample of the Sambal paste to try.
We perused the many interesting selections in the menu on our first visit, we really did not know which of the many interesting dishes to choose from. This too happened the second and third of our visits, we ended up picking from every page, except for the Exotic Thailand page (though the Thai Grilled Chicken looked appetizing, and I will likely try it the next time we go there). There was Char Kway Teow, rice noodles fried with shrimps, Chinese sausage, egg, fish cake, beansprouts and chives; Mee Goreng, yellow noodle with chicken, egg, tofu, beansprouts, peas, potatoes, cabbage, onions and tomato; Nasi Goreng, Indonesian style fried rice with shrimps, chicken and egg; Fried Carrot Cake, a radish and rice cake, we had twice!; Popiah, thin crepes with vegetables and Chinese sausage; Laksa Lemak, rice vermicelli in spicy coconut gravy with chicken, shrimps, fish cake and beansprouts; Sambal Assam Fish, fish in hot tamarind gravy; Sayur Lodeh, spicy coconut gravy with cabbage, carrots, beanthread and tofu; and Durian milkshakes, quite tasty. There were chicken samosas and multi-coloured desserts for sale too, that we tried.
This is an interesting restaurant, that one can go to again and again, and always find something new.
This recipe comes from a book on authentic Malaysian recipes. Odd, in that, just before my beautiful Thai friend had let me borrow this book, I had gone to an authentic Malaysian restaurant and had some of the dishes represented, but not this one. This is easy to make and tastes very delicious.
Stir-fried Peas with Prawns and GarlicCombine the rice wine, soy sauce and oyster sauce; set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok until very hot and stir-fry the garlic for a few seconds. Add the prawns and stir-fry briskly until they change colour. Add the peas and oyster sauce mixture, and stir-fry for another 30 seconds, then add the water and bring to a boil. Thicken the broth with the cornstarch and season with salt and sugar.
My sister made this for me one time, she gave me the recipe, because I liked it very much. The original recipe from the TV show she got it from, has prawns in it, you can add them if you like, but this tastes good as it is, mostly vegetarian.
Malaysian Style Rice NoodlePrepare rice noodles according to package.
Meanwhile, beat together eggs and sesame oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Mince garlic, chop onion, cut up dried chili peppers and green onions. Set aside.
Heat wok. Add some oil. Stirfry egg mixture until it sets. Take out, chop up and set aside.
Reheat wok. Add more oil. Add garlic, onion, chili peppers and green onions. Stirfry quickly. Add in rice noodles. Flavour with rice wine or apple juice, oyster sauce, soy sauce and chili sauce. Mix together well. Add chicken or vegetable stock. Let simmer until most of the liquid has gone. Mix in scrambled egg and serve.
