Sharing And Caring

Makan Makan
By FARIDAH BEGUM


It takes every individual to realise that they have to do their bit to keep society together.

LIVING in the city often makes us behave individualistic and the inborn traits of wanting to assist or gather friends and family together become a distant memory in our lives.

Looking back a decade or two ago, the society we live in today is far different from the one we had then.

Even the lessons learned in school are different already!

What happened to the lessons in giving a helping hand, a friend in need is a friend indeed and so many more phrases that we often had drilled into our heads in school.

Gone are the days, I think, when all of us would rally around friends, good times or bad times, get together and visit one’s home instead of making plans to meet at shopping malls such as these days.

We were often invited to meals at either homes, no matter how meagre the offerings.

It is rather sad that we do no more than argue over matters that don’t even cause a dent in our lives, or even allow political differences dictate who our friends are and who aren’t.

The thought, for some, may be a little mushy but hey, when all is said and done, who do you call for hope, encouragement and support when you know your life is somewhat hanging in the balance.

Friends and family are important components in our lives and we should never forget to give thanks for their presence. No matter how bad or how difficult life is, they will help you get back on your feet and give you the hand to help guide you out of your misery.

Right now, as we speak, there are many around us who could benefit from a simple smile and a good conversation from any of us. There are many friends who have lost their jobs and perhaps, in some cases, on the verge of losing the only source of income they have.

It would be good in our own way for the lucky ones to strike out and assist in any way possible. If you are cooking, why not share a dish or two of your meal with the neighbour who is going through some hard times.

Their thanks is reward enough and such good thoughts when collected make our lives happier and more fulfilling. Try it. This is not idle talk as I often do this and feel good about the positive vibes that I collect.

On a chirpier note, I would like to highlight an e-mail I received last week from G.S. Chng.

He said: “Hi, just to let you know I compile all your recipes and cook them for my wife. I find them easy for our hectic lifestyles where coming home in the evening means not cracking our heads on what to cook but we can just browse through the clippings. Great stuff! We are Malaysians after all and the foods just taste so Malaysian.”

Thank you, Chng, for your vote of confidence and for trying those recipes out.

Yes, life has become a little more hectic and despite the fact that we spend very little time at home, we still would like home-cooked meals on the table but in as little time as possible.

This week, I respond to Chng and many others who would like quick, cheap and nutritious meals.

Bon appetit to all, a great fortnight ahead and don’t forget to send over some food to your neighbour next door. Keep friendships going for a more peaceful and happier existence.

Faridah Begum believes life is about sharing and food is a great catalyst in this direction.



Sardine in a Real Hurry
Ingredients

1 can of sardines (425g)

3 tbsps tomato ketchup

2 large onions – cut into rings)

6 bird’s eye chillies

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

In a wok, heat the cooking oil, add the sardines and the tomato ketchup.

Let it cook on a medium flame.

Stir occasionally to prevent the sardine and gravy from burning and sticking to the wok.

When the sardines are cooked for about five to six minutes, put in the onions and chillies and let the dish to continue simmering until the onions are soft. Serve.

Simple Spinach
Ingredients

300g spinach – cut into 3cm lengths and washed

3 shallots – finely sliced

3 red chillies – broken into small pieces

1/2 tbsp cooking oil

Salt to taste

2 tbsps coconut cream – made up with water to make 1 cup of liquid

Method

In a wok, heat the cooking oil and saute the dried chillies and onions. When soft and fragrant, add the spinach and cover to let the vegetable soften. After a minute or two, add salt to taste and coconut milk. Cover and simmer for about five minutes. Dish out and serve.



Udang Masak Lemak
Ingredients

1kg tiger prawns – cleaned and deveined (preferably with the shell on)

Blend together:

6 shallots

2 clove garlic

1cm galangal

3 stalks lemongrass

8 bird’s eye chillies

2cm fresh turmeric

1 turmeric leave

3 pieces of dried tamarind rind (asam keping)

Salt to taste

3 cups thick coconut milk

1 cup water

Method

In a pot, place the blended ingredients, turmeric leave, coconut milk and water, with salt and dried tamarind pieces.

Cook over a low flame until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Stir for a few minutes.

When the mixture thickens a little, add the prawns. Switch off the flame once the prawns are cooked. Serve.

Stall In Rawang Offers Home-Cooked Food

By LIM CHIA YING


There are no frills about this place — simple, basic, and down-to-earth. Even space appears rather limited.

But it has not stopped customers from patronising the Fei Kee Food Stall at a quiet, offbeat path in Rawang located amid a housing estate.

The outlet has been operating for more than two years now, manned and managed by husband and wife team of Lau Lian Kee and Lai Tsuey Ngoh.

The owners were previously selling chicken rice before venturing out to offer more home-cooked dishes for its patrons.

Its signature dish is the Home-Style Steamed Fish Head, done in three steam styles — the black bean, the soya sauce, or the ginger sauce.


Signature dish: The Home-Style Steamed Fish Head that has become a must-order among patrons.

Lau does not term his place as the usual ‘tai-chow’ (stir-fried dishes) type of outlet, but rather, a specialist in cooking fish head.

“The fish that I use is the Chinese carp (called tongsan in Cantonese) - a freshwater fish that is rarely used by other eating outlets in this area. Many of them use the tilapia, so I thought that I’d do something different with a different type of fish,” said Lau, 51.

He said he received his fish supply from a fish breeder-cum-supplier.

“It’s not easy cooking this fish as it involves a lot of thorough cleaning to rid off the earthy smell in the flesh.

“After washing through I’d use coarse salt to marinate it,” he said while preparing to bring the fish to steam at his humble kitchen area.

“The sauce that we use are also of good quality, to bring out the flavour,” said Lau.

While the soya sauce may appear a little sweet for my taste, however, the fish head was “full with flesh” and sufficient to feed even two or three persons, making it value-for-money for the RM19 or RM20 that one pays.

Next up was the Claypot Curry Prawns, which uses the evaporated milk — a healthier though costlier alternative than the usual coconut milk.

It is interesting to see Lau weighing the prawns on the weighing machine before cooking them which he said would help with the orders of small, medium, or a big claypot.

“Although evaporated milk is more expensive, we use it as coconut milk makes you feel heavy after the meal. But we still use a little bit of the coconut milk to enhance the taste,” he said.

Another popular order is the Pork Knuckle Black Vinegar, where Lau said the pork had to be first blanched over hot water for a few minutes before being fried with ginger to drain off the ‘porky’ smell.

“Only good quality vinegar is used so that the dish doesn’t turn out too sourish, which is the problem with cheap, low-grade vinegar,” he shared.

Also recommended is the Steamed Kampung Chicken strewn with herbs like wolfberries (kei chi in Cantonese), and herbs like the Chinese Angelica root or rhizomes (also known as Dong Gui in Chinese).

Lau said he picked up his cooking skills from friends who were good at cooking different items.

His wife, Lai, told me that they have customers coming at least three times a week to her place.

“Our lunch crowd is quite packed as working people from nearby offices and factories patronise the outlet. For dinner, the crowd usually comes in during weekends and not so much on weekdays,” she said.

FEI KEE FOOD STALL, NOC- 1, Kampong Datuk Lee Kim Sai, Jalan Batu 18/3, 48000 Rawang. (Tel: 012-2031938 / 016-6947309). Business hours: Daily; 11.30am to 8.30pm. Closed on Wednesdays.

Legacy of Love

PENANG
By HELEN ONG

The Hakka Connexion serves something one rarely comes across commercially: home-cooked Hakka food.

THE late Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee was a teacher of humble origins who rose to become the first Chief Minister of Penang from 1957 to 1969.

Of Hakka descent, he was apparently fiercely proud of his heritage, his family initially settling in Balik Pulau where there is a large community, and later moving to Bukit Mertajam.


Warm gesture: Peter Wong inviting you to try some home-cooked Hakka food.

In memory of his late father who died in 2002 at the ripe old age of 92, son Peter Wong Tet Phin, 49, has set up a gallery in Jalan Basawah, behind Giant Supermarket in Burmah Road, which showcases hundreds of photographs from his personal collection collected over the many years he was in office.

The small room is packed with framed pictures and other memorabilia, and a visit there is sure to bring back memories for many.

As entry to the gallery is free, Wong has also established a restaurant next door to help fund this worthwhile project.

The Hakka Connexion serves something one rarely comes across commercially: home-cooked Hakka food.

“Not many outlets serve this kind of food,” he explained.

His cook and partner, Carene Lim, 48, was one of the very few; she used to cook and serve this peasant-food-turned delicacy from a hawker stall in town.

As it is quite different from the sort of sam poey (dishes) we usually eat in Penang, which is more nyonya-based, the meal turned out to be an interesting sojourn into a culinary world of which I knew next to nothing about, despite having had an old Hakka flame decades ago whose family ate such food.

Lim did stress that as, traditionally, Hakka (Khek) people were immigrant visitors from northern China whose nomadic lifestyles meant that they absorbed influences from the various regions they finally settled in, the lines are blurred as to the origin of some dishes.


Mouth-watering: Hakka noodles with minced pork and soya sauce eaten with homemade chilli and garlic sauce.

“Much of Hakka cooking involves pork and fish,” she explained, so we started with one of their signature dishes from their small but popular and reasonably-priced menu, Tu Kar Chor (Vinegar Pork Trotters). Its sweet and sour dark gravy, seasoned with ginger, is very similar to the Hokkien version.

Another is “Lui Cha” or “Ham Cha” or even “Lei Cha” – it has different names, but basically the dish consists of individual portions of, in this case six different types of vegetables, some fried with dried shrimp, chai por (preserved vegetable) and nuts heaped around a helping of white or brown rice.

“Each state serves this dish differently,” according to Wong, but the important must-have ingredient is apparently the green tea soup, which comes in a separate bowl.

It is made with tea and Chinese herbs, and there is a strong overriding flavour of mint camphor, which is unusual but not unpleasant.

The dish is deemed quite healthy as the vegetables give it plenty of fibre, and rather like rojak, you mix everything up, including the soup, before tucking in. At RM6, it’s worth every sen.

I especially liked the spicy and flavoursome Hakka Noodles tossed in black soya sauce, which is a bit like broad, flat konloh meen, but served with a helping of savoury minced pork and eaten with a good spoonful of fried onion fritters and a tasty homemade chilli and garlic sauce.

Their Hakka Yong Taufu, also homemade, is popular too; taufu, bitter gourd or brinjal filled with a paste made with sai to fish, minced pork and a hint of kiam hu (salted fish), served in a light clear soup.


Proud showcase: The gallery dedicated to the memory of the late Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee.

Yet another new dish I was introduced to was the appropriately-named Suan Pan Zi, or Yam Abacus, little round discs made from a dough of yam and tapioca flour which is kneaded, shaped then cooked in boiling water before being stir-fried with minched pork, mushrooms and soya sauce.

Shaped like an abacus seed, they are soft, smooth and slightly springy, and the taste is an odd mix between sweet and savoury, although I’m told some places serve it dry without a sauce.

The opening of the restaurant cum gallery was deliberately timed to coincide not just with Malaysia’s 50th anniversary last year, but also the fifth anniversary of his patriotic father’s demise on Aug 31.

“When we first started, we had only four tables and a couple of dishes,” Wong said, “but even then we had a stream of people coming to eat here. We have added a few new dishes since.”

The Hakka Connexion, based in this modest little shophouse, is pleasant and clean, and interesting pictures of Hakka village roundhouses in clusters from central China line one wall. It can get quite packed at lunchtimes.

The gallery is open daily from 11am to 8.30pm. For details, e-mail them at littleshanghai _penang@yahoo.com or call Wong (016-483 2823).

Helen Ong is a self-confessed foodie who loves to hunt down the best of Penang.

Hock Chew Specialities

By CLARA CHOOI
Photos by LEW YONG KAN and SAIFUL BAHRI

When in Sitiawan, do not miss out on the opportunity to feast on Hock Chew food and biscuits.

WHEN the Hock Chew migrants from China settled in Sitiawan in the early 1900s, they brought with them a host of interesting specialities.

Today, this bustling coastal town of Perak is known for its signature “sweet and sour” Hock Chew or Fuzhou cuisine that tastes delightfully different from most other kinds of Chinese cooking.

Some of the best Hock Chew food can be found in the Bei King restaurant on Jalan Raja Omar, right smack in the middle of Sitiawan.

Restaurant proprietor Ching Kin Eng has more than 20 years of experience behind the wok, whipping up the very dishes her ancestors used to prepare.


Signature dishes: Ching with some of the Hock Chew specialities she serves at her restaurant in Sitiawan.

However, even the skilful Ching has to admit the Hock Chew cuisine may not suit the palate of every Malaysian, whose taste buds have already been sullied by the spice-packed foods of the country’s various cultures.

As such, the shrewd businesswoman has successfully concocted her very own “special brew” of the Hock Chew food.

“What I’ve done is modify the dishes according to taste. This is to make sure every dish is special on its own; people who eat it will know immediately that I was the one who cooked it,” she jokes during an interview at the air-conditioned restaurant recently.

One of Ching’s bestsellers is an all-time Hock Chew favourite – red wine thread noodles cooked with tender chicken.

Served steaming hot in a huge bowl, this dish can be found in most restaurants that serve Hock Chew food.

Ching’s version, however, is probably one of the popular ones among the locals.

Why?

“It’s obvious, really. I make my own wine here. And as popular belief suggests, homemade food tastes better than commercialised food,” she says.

For the dish, Ching uses “long-life” noodles, which are white in colour and has a slippery softness and a milky flavour when boiled.

“The noodles, too, are handmade. That’s why they taste better,” she says.

To make the tangy-tasting red wine, Ching, declining to elaborate further on her secret recipe, says: “Plenty of materials are used.”

“I use only quality products to make the wine. The pulut and yeast used are the expensive ones.”

As a result, the dish has a myriad of tastes – sour and tangy, a dash of saltiness and a sweet aftertaste.

Another of Ching’s delights is the fried oyster egg.

The oysters used for the dish come from the day’s morning catch and are always fresh and fragrant.

The eggs are beaten to a fluff then fried with onions and chillies before the oysters are added in.

The result is a golden brown omelette, stuffed with loads of juicy, slightly salted oysters, still glistening with the taste of the ocean.

“This is always a favourite amongst our customers. After all, everyone loves their omelette,” says Ching.

One must-have dish is the sweet and sour sea cucumber thick soup cooked with fish maw.

This dish is partly spicy and is addictive to say the least.

“Hock Chew food is known to be mostly sweet and sour. For this particular dish, we make it slightly spicy to suit Malaysians,” says Ching.

The sea cucumbers are cooked until tender with a blended concoction of fish maw, chillies and ginger.

If one is not already satisfied with the first three dishes, do not forget to try another Hock Chew favourite – the homemade fish balls.

These fish balls are different from most as they are stuffed with salted minced pork and prawns.

“We make them here ourselves and customers just love them.”

Besides that, customers could also order other specialities of the outlet such as fried soft shell crabs, sliced sweet and sour fish, and chicken with salted egg.

Another mouth-watering Hock Chew creation found in Sitiawan is the “Gong Pian” biscuits.

Hard and crispy on the outside, these savoury biscuits are one of the oldest favourites brought by the Hock Chew settlers from China.

Where can you find them?

A hop, skip and jump away from Bei King will lead you to the Sitiawan Cheong Cia Gong Pian shop, located behind Wisma Ganda, on Jalan Tok Perdana.

The age-old family business is just booming. Come rain or shine, the rather unsuspecting looking shoplot is in a constant flurry of activity.


Special ingredients: Cheong Hiong Koh preparing Gong Pian biscuits for the clay oven.

In the midst of this, one will find proprietors Cheong Hiong Koh, 41, and his brother Heong Poh, 33, who took over the business from their granduncle over 10 years back.

The two successfully tweaked the original “Gong Pian” recipe to create what you will find sold at their shop today – biscuits stuffed with sweet “char siew” or slightly salted fried onions.

They may not look like much to the naked eye but take a bite into one the moment it is taken out of the clay oven and your taste buds will convince you otherwise.

“The original recipe is very plain and the biscuits have no fillings.

“People love the new recipe of “Gong Pian” that we have created. In fact, some customers come in and buy over 300 pieces per order to take away,” says Hiong Koh.

The biscuits are made from wheat flour, yeast, salt and lard. The dough is kneaded carefully by hand before it is put into a machine to be rolled. After that, it is flattened and rolled into smaller pieces, stuffed with the fillings and rolled again with a rolling pin.

“Once done, we put them into the heated oven (tandoor) where they are baked for a few minutes until they are hard and crispy,” says Hiong Koh.


Hot stuff: The Gong Pian biscuits sold at the Sitiawan Cheong Cia Gong Pian shop.

The onion-filled biscuits cost 60 sen each while the “char siew” ones cost 90 sen each.

“We make at least 1,000 biscuits a day. The first batch is ready for sale at about 10am every day.”

Three batches are made and every single biscuit is snapped up even before the shop closes for the day in the evening, he adds.

“It’s a bit hard for us to make so many biscuits because the preparation and baking for each batch takes about one and a half hours,” he said.

In fact, business is so good for the family that the shop is closed during public holidays.

“As it is, the orders are for more than we can make every day. If we open during public holidays, I don’t think we can keep up with the demand,” says Hiong Koh.

So when in Sitiawan, do not miss out on the opportunity to feast on Hock Chew food, including the delicious “Gong Pian” biscuits.

All Time Favourite Meal

By JADE CHAN

Restoran Makan Makan
5 Jalan Anggerik Vanilla M 31/M
Kota Kemuning
40460 Shah Alam
Tel: 012-2727862 (Simon) / 012-3796046 (Cynthia)
Business hours: Tues-Sun, 8am to 6pm. Closed on Mon.

Pork free

Eating at Restoran Makan Makan is like taking a walk down memory lane – most of its meals are served on coloured metal plates that are reminiscent of those from our grandparents’ and parents’ generation.

“Our concept is based on the old-school, homestyle cooking, and we specialise in all-time local favourite snacks and comfort food most Malaysians are familiar with,” said Simon Lau.


For the love of food: Cynthia Oh and Simon Lau opened the restaurant to share their passion for eating and cooking, and as an extension of Lau’s in-laws’ tong shui business.

The restaurant, which opened in June 2007, is operated by partners Lau and Cynthia Oh, and occasionally assisted by their respective spouses May Soo and Kaiser Tan.

Lau, Soo, Oh and Tan are a group of childhood friends who grew up in Petaling Jaya, and enjoyed serving guests with their home cooked food.

Soo explained that their restaurant is a natural extension of her parents’ tong shui business, and a way to share their passion for eating and cooking.

“My parents have been operating a tong shui stall called Soh Soo’s Desserts at Kedai Kopi Khoong in Seapark for over 30 years.


Sweet concoction: The Bubur Cha Cha is one of the several types of tong shui served at the restaurant.

“My husband was previously in the pest control business, but we were looking into venturing into something else,” she said.

“He sold off his business, then we roped in Cynthia (and her husband) to open this restaurant that is like a spin-off from my parents’ stall, with more items added to the menu.”

Oh said that most of the dishes were prepared using their own recipes and those from their families.

Some of the restaurant’s bestsellers are Tom Yam Fried Rice, Mee Mamak, Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken, Yong Chow Fried Rice, Loh Mai Fun (Glutinous Rice) and Anson Chee Cheong Fun.

The tong shui, which come in hot and chilled varieties, include Red Bean, Pulut Hitam, Gingko Barley Fuchuk, Bubur Cha Cha and Sea Coconut with Longan.


Thai flavour: Restoran Makan Makan’s Siamese Laksa come highly recommended by their owners.

“Our tong shui is very popular among our customers, especially the Gingko Barley Fuchuk and Bubur Cha Cha. The texture is very smooth and its prepared fresh early every morning.

“We also have special tong shui that is served during weekends, like Mak Chok (wheat cooked with gula melaka), Green Bean and Tapioca,” said Oh.

The restaurant’s Siamese Laksa and Wu Tau Kow (Yam Cake) come highly recommended by their owners.

“We used to cook the Siamese Laksa whenever we had a gathering, and our friends gave us good comments about it,” said Soo, who got the recipe from her sister-in-law.

“The soup is a rich concoction of santan (coconut milk), spices, curry paste and fish stock from ikan kembung.

“We serve it with strips of ikan kembung and garnish it with mint leaves, bunga kiantan and cucumber.”


A variety of tong shui: (clockwise, from bottom) Sea Coconut with Longan, Gingko Barley Fuchuk and Pulut Hitam.

“The Yam Cake is a recipe of mine, and we can assure you there’s yam in the cake. It’s a steamed dish served with dried shrimp, spring onions and fried onions, as well as homemade chilli and sweet sauces,” said Oh.

She also makes the kaya for the Toasted Bread with Kaya and Butter snack, a Hainan-style snack that is available throughout the day.

The Glutinous Rice dish features rice steamed with stir-fried ingredients like onions, garlic, dried shrimp and mushroom, then topped with peanuts and spring onions for a crunchier flavour, while the Anson Chee Cheong Fun is a dish of steamed chee cheong fun that has its skin wrapped with dried shrimps and turnips.

“Its named after Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan, Perak), and a lot of our customers say this dish is very similar to the one found there,” said Soo.

If you have room for more, choose from the wide array of Nyonya Kuih, including Bingka Ubi, Kuih Ketayap, Mochi, Pulut Tai Tai, Onde Onde and Pulut Inti.

Simply Smashing

Makan Makan: By FARIDAH BEGUM

You can cook fast and still dazzle your guests with showy and tasty stuff.

ONE of the most important lessons that I learned in the kitchen when I was in my teens was that you must be positive that what you serve will be good and tasty.

I believe that food is not about gluttony but about taking something into your body that you should appreciate and enjoy.

For this fortnight, I present to you a dish that embraces all cultures in the world – the briyani.

Call it any other name: paella, nasi minyak, pilau, kedgeree or any rice dish that combines all and sundry and it is this!

The prawn briyani is not unheard of as many of our Malaysian cooks are creative and have tried everything and anything that can be turned into a popular dish.


Little gourmet: My son Mustafa Kamel trying out (from front) the calamari rings, raita and prawn briyani.

For me, the briyani need not be loaded with ghee or cholesterol-high stuff but it must be pleasing to the palate and contributes to a great evening with family and friends.

During this holy month of Ramadan, the making of the briyani, as we prefer to call it here, is seen as an elaborate effort to show off to guests that you can really cook. Many may scoff at this, citing time and too much effort as reasons not to cook it.

Let me show you how easy and quick it is to do it and still be able to dress and relax while waiting for your guests to arrive.

I was also requested by friends to do something with calamari rings, which are hugely popular not only with the children but also with snacking adults.

Calamari rings are such that you should not spoil the batter coating it and you must never overcook it or you’ll end up with rubber bands.

Enjoy the prawn briyani with a cucumber and tomato raita that also makes a good topping for the calamari rings or rather a dip for a sourish and creamy taste.

Garnishing for the briyani is really up to you. It also depends on how you want it presented.

Thinly sliced omelettes or full-boiled quail eggs, sliced chillies, chopped coriander, fried onions and even fried almonds and fried chopped garlic are all great enhancements to an already great dish that can be eaten on its own or with rendang, dry masala chicken, beef or mutton and even with roasted chicken or other meats.


Prawn Briyani
Ingredients:
4 cups Basmati rice

2 packs of marinated garlic butterfly-cut prawns

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp ghee or butter

1 big onion – sliced

One stick of cinnamon, three each of cardamoms and clove and two pieces star anise

A handful of cashew nuts

3cm ginger and 3 cloves garlic (blended finely)

2 tbsp briyani spice (available at all supermarkets ready-mixed)

Salt to taste

1 tin evaporated milk

Chopped coriander leaves, fried onions, sliced chillies for garnish



Method:

Measure the rice in a measuring cup. Taking the same measurement, make up the same amount with the evaporated milk and water to top up. Heat up your rice cooker and put the olive oil and ghee in. When thoroughly melted, fry the cashew nuts until slightly browned before adding the spices and sliced onion.

When fragrant, add the blended ginger and garlic paste and sauté for another minute. Put in the briyani spice, salt to taste and sauté for a minute.

Add the evaporated milk and water and cover the rice cooker and let it boil. Meanwhile, wash your rice and drain the excess water totally.

When the milk and spices are boiling, quickly add in the rice and prawns, arranging the prawn so that it is buried in the rice.

Cover and let it cook. Once the water dries up, fluff the rice, slowly spading the rice from underneath to the top so that all the rice is cooked evenly. Once it is cooked, dish up to garnish and serve.




Calamari Rings and Cucumber-Tomato Raita
Ingredients:
1 packet tempura calamari rings, deep-fried and drained

Some salad leaves

1 cucumber, diced as preferred

10 cherry tomatoes, halved or

1 tomato, chopped up

1tsp salt

2 tbsp natural yoghurt

Juice from 2 limes



Method:

Put the cucumber and tomatoes together in a bowl. Add the salt, yoghurt and half the lime juice and mix well with a spoon, using a folding motion so as not to crush the tomatoes.

Taste and balance between the salt and lime juice to get a tart and easy blend. Chill it until ready to eat.

On a plate, arrange the salad leaves and the calamari rings on top of it. To eat, take a salad leave, wrap it round the calamari ring and add a little raita on top of it for a healthy snack.

Or have it with the briyani, as the calamari rings will add a great crunch to the whole meal.

Bustling Restaurant Began With Humble Roots

By LIM CHIA YING
Photos by LOW LAY PHON

Koh Family Restaurant
1 Jalan Puteri 5/8
Bandar Puteri Puchong
Puchong
Tel: 03-80619621
Business hours: Daily, (8am to 9pm); closed on the first and third Mondays of the month.


Simple home-cooked dishes are what many would long for after a hard day’s work.

Even better if there was someone to serve the meals and cook it in an unpretentious manner.

That is what patrons can expect to find at the Koh Family Restaurant in Bandar Puteri Puchong, which specialises in homemade food.

The outlet has a thriving business with lunch and dinner crowds who love the Teochew-style dishes. But it all started from the humble roots of a small stall at Batu Road in 1978.


Favourite: Lemon Chicken is among the delights available at the outlet.

“I was serving dishes like vinegar pig’s trotter and pig’s mesentery pepper soup. In fact, the vinegar pig’s trotter was not initially part of the menu as I was merely cooking it for mothers who had delivered.

“Gradually, people were beginning to ask me to include on the menu,” chief chef and current restaurant owner Joe Koh said.

Then they moved their operations to Taman Kinrara Puchong where they have been operating for the last 13 years.


Signature dish: Kerabu Black Pomfret combines fried fish with the sweet and sour tang of kerabu.

Koh’s brother has now taken over the business so Koh dedicates his time fully to his current ‘baby’ at Bandar Puteri, which he opened some two years back.

His famous vinegar pig’s trotter and pig’s mesentery pepper soup have followed him here too, which are a delight to his loyal regulars.

“Vinegar pig’s trotter is good for blood nourishment. The vinegar that we use is sweeter and comes from China.

“This is because if it is meant to nourish the blood, then the dish cannot be too sour,” Koh explained.

The pig’s mesentery pepper soup is a recipe from his mother. The broth comes filled with accompaniments of meat, tomatoes, and salty vegetables, infused with the evident aroma of white pepper.

“I learnt how to cook this from my late mum, who was from China,” Koh said, acknowledging that he had some 30 years of experience in the food line.

Koh’s wife Annie said the soup must be boiled for at least two hours so that it does not just draw out the full goodness, but also to rid the salty vegetables off the ‘wind’.


Sweet treat: One of the boiled desserts available at Koh Family Restaurant.

The pepper, she added, was bought in its raw form by the packet from Sarawak.

“We pound the pepper ourselves too. The same goes for the chillies used to cook our assam stingray fish,” she said.

The restaurant also prides itself for its signature drinks like Fruity Cincau and the Soursop Delight.

The cincau drink is given a twist with the addition of pineapple cubes and nata-de-coco jelly while a dollop of finely crushed ice sits atop the glass.

Bear in mind, however, that the Soursop Delight may not be available as Annie said the fruit is a seasonal one.

She also recommended Aloe Vera with White Fungus, as aloe vera is said to have properties that promote good digestion and detoxification, while rejuvenating and moisturising the skin.


Unassuming: The modest façade of the restaurant.

There are also one-person dishes like Fried Meehoon with Dried Prawns and Salted Fish, Black Pepper Rice Vermicelli, and Fried Kway Teow with Bitter Gourd.

“They are our signature dishes,” Koh said.

“I learnt how to fry the kway teow with bitter gourd from an old ‘sifu’ from China.

“Bitter gourd actually helps heal people with itchy skin,” he asserted.

Also unique are the various types of ‘tong sui’ (sweet savoury desserts) like barley gingko which they cook themselves and the assorted range of kuih-muih and fried meehoon which are supplied to them.

The kuih-muih and noodles are served for breakfast but they are still available throughout the day if not finished.