Support your local business If you ever have the pleasure of visiting Edinburgh, do yourself a favor and stop in at The Grain Store for a nice meal out in the old town. Great food prepared elegantly for a reasonable price and with friendly service to boot, this restaurant remains a favorite with my…
Category: Mains
Crispy chicken thighs stuffed with apple and bacon
What’s on your shopping list? For me, I always buy chicken thighs. No offense to the rest of the chicken, but these parts are effortlessly sumptuous. Not only that but thighs (and dark meat in general) are budget-friendly, versatile, culinarily forgiving and beloved by kids. Chicken nuggets are great and all, but crispy roasted chicken…
Grilled Thai Pork Jowl / Pork Neck
Pork Shoulder, Belly or Jowl? Which part of the pig is the most flavorful? Well, pork shoulder is always a tasty treat either slow-cooked in a ragu or stir-fried with mushrooms. It provides just the right amount of hearty meat to fat ratio that makes it oh so delicious. Then again, you can’t forget about…
The Tastiest Chicken Tenders
My favorite comfort food Chicken tenders are my weak spot when it comes to food. I simply can’t resist them. As a child, they were my favorite and even now as an adult, I still crave that long chunk of chicken heavily coated in crispy batter and dunked in a creamy ranch sauce. The only…
Lamb Stuffed Peppers
Lamb stuffed peppers are something that my husband has been bothering me to make for quite a long time. It’s not that I was averse to making them. I simply just had no idea of what kind of direction he wanted the recipe to go in. What kind of peppers? How to season the filling? …
Chicken Tikka Masala
The Chicken Tikka Masala Origin Story Chicken Tikka Masala was supposedly born in Glasgow when a customer complained about his chicken curry being dry. To remedy this situation, the restaurant chef added some tomato soup to the mix and VOILA! This British-Indian dish was born. Many people speculate on whether or not this is actually…
Crispy Beef and Broccoli
Growing up in Seattle, beef and broccoli was always my favorite go-to for Chinese takeout. I loved the tenderized beef with broccoli florets that so perfectly soaked up all that brown gravy. Ideal to eat when it was fresh and hot but still good cold the next day for lunch or, if you are so…
The Perfect Salmon Salad
Perhaps it’s the constant heat here in Malaysia or perhaps I simply have had enough with cleaning dishes piled high but recently I have come around to a nice salmon salad for dinner. For one, it’s easy to throw together after a long day. No slow cooking, hours-long roasting or labor-intensive side dishes. Just one…
Paprika and Thyme Spatchcock Chicken
What is spatchcock chicken? ‘Spatchcock’ is just a funny word for butterflied. You basically just cut the chicken down its backbone and flatten it. What you get it one whole chicken laid flat for your cooking and eating pleasure. Why would I do this? There are several advantages to spatchcocking chicken….
Andy’s Chicken Balti
A curry here, another curry there… Compare a local mamak (eatery) here in Malaysia with an Indian restaurant back home and you will be puzzled. Granted, a mamak serves a wide range of different Malaysian foods from three (or more) different ethnic groups, not just food from the subcontinent, but if you fancy a curry…
Restaurant Style Rogan Josh
Rogan Josh is delicious mutton or lamb curry: the name literally means ‘stewed in butter’. No wonder I love it so much. I can’t think of anything that I wouldn’t like if it was slow-cooked in butter. Especially if that something was tender bits of lamb with spices. The entire dish is as comforting…
Pork Shoulder and King Oyster Mushrooms Stir-Fry
How do I describe this pork and king oyster mushrooms stir-fry? Well, it’s difficult to put in words. Have you ever eaten something that made you question why you don’t eat that exact same thing every day? A food that is so tasty, so layered in flavor, succulent, juicy, salty and just a little…
Spaghetti tossed in a roasted tomato, anchovy and garlic sauce
We’re big fans of carbs in this house. Can’t get enough of them. I know in this day and age, a statement like that can be controversial given the popularity of low carb diets and cauliflower everything. However, my husband is an avid cyclist who needs to (seemingly constantly) carb load for race…
Shanghai Noodles
China is a great place for food. Cumin dusted lamb and noodles in the West, spicy cuisine from Szechuan province, fried delicacies in Yunnan, dumplings in the North…I could go on but I get too hungry to finish the list. However, if your taste runs more to the sweet than savory, you might want…
Curry Laksa
How curry laksa was born The story goes that when Chinese immigrants settled in Malaysia, they married locals who learned to cook Chinese recipes but put their own twist on them by using local ingredients. Hence, Peranakan cuisine (aka Nyonya cuisine) was born and still remains a delicious staple in Malaysia…
Seafood Nam Prik Pao
Nam Prik Pao, or Thai chili paste, is a delicious concoction of mild red chilies, garlic, shallots and a tad of shrimp paste. Sweeter than it is spicy, Nam Prik Pao can very easily be transformed into a sauce that can rescue even the dullest of dishes. Stir fry some vegetables with the chili…
Beer Beef Brisket
The genius of slow cooking beef brisket in beer. Slow cooking a chunk of beef brisket in beer for hours is a great idea. Some could say, a ‘genius’ idea as it tenderizes the meat while enhancing the brisket’s natural flavor making it taste oh so beefy. Add to this fact that this is…
Anchovy Pasta with Parmesan Breadcrumbs
There needs to be more anchovy pasta in the world Nowhere do I like anchovies more than in this pasta dish. Minced garlic and anchovies slowly cooked in olive oil and tossed with added breadcrumbs to soak up the oil and provide a bit of texture. Since I’m American and can’t help putting cheese…
Chicken Fajitas
The evolving fajitas recipe Let me preface this by saying that I know fajitas were originally made with skirt steak. Some food purists would argue that steak is the only way to have fajitas but I disagree. You gotta change with the times if you stay current and fajitas NEED to stay…
Chana Masala (Worker’s Curry)
Chana Masala, the humble curry Chana masala does not have the ‘pizazz’ that some Indian dishes seem to carry. There aren’t any bright colors nor does this curry give off that chili pepper heat that makes you sweat. It’s a simple curry with simple ingredients, like the humble chickpea,…