A paw full of spice makes everything nice
What is a 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…
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…
Rogan Josh is a 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…
Have you ever eaten something that made you question why you don’teat that exact same thing everyday? A food that is so tasty, so layered in flavor, succulent, juicy, salty and just a little sweet that you want to eat it again and again? Something in which there are no more leftovers. You might even…
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…
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…
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 Nyonna cuisine) was born and still remains a delicious staple in Malaysia today. One of the more…
Ah, beautiful Thailand. Crystal clear water, sandy beaches, lush forests and of course, amazing food. The first time I visited Thailand, I was young, single and free. I stayed in a hostel in Phuket, spent my days on a boat – off day tripping everywhere and somewhere and, of course, eating at the local…
In high school, my husband was quite the sweet talker. I wouldn’t know since I was on a different continent entirely so I did not witness his charms or any of the other awkward phases of youth we all suffer through. Instead I just heard the stories, which were corroborated by his family. …
Whatever happened to anchovies? Once a popular pizza topping, if you dare to order anchovies on your pizza these days then you are shunned as some weirdo with dubious tastes. After all, who puts fish on pizza? Can’t say I blame the naysayers. Just the sight of the little fish conjures up ideas of rank,…
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 to stay current and fajitas NEED to stay current. They are…
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: no one does vegetarian food better than the Indians. The way they carefully and lovingly work with vegetables and spice is genius. I always judge a new Indian restaurant by it’s vegetarian Thali. Why do I order that specific dish (or…
What is there to say about this omelette? What anecdote or clever quip can I use to describe it? How shall I sing its praises? Should I discuss how the combination of sweet Marsala wine and lemony thyme are soaked up by meaty mushrooms? Should I elaborate about how much I love those…
Salty Spanish Chorizo in a light garlic and tomato sauce with a bit of added heat. Serve over pasta for a delicious and easy meal.
I knew this sandwich was good when my husband and I had it twice in one day: once at lunch and then again at dinner because “I quite fancy another one of those”. In my mind, I could eat this tasty sandwich for the rest of my life. …
If you are what you eat, than I am a mess of pork belly. This fatty pork remains my Achilles heal of food weaknesses. Granted I don’t eat it as much as I want but, when I do, it has to be cooked to perfection. Now, in my humble opinion, no (vast)…
I have created a monster. Several, monsters in fact. As someone who loves to cook and lavish food onto others, I have found that my beloved friends and family have developed high expectations. If we go out for dinner and they are somewhat unsatisfied with their order, they look up at…
If you ever find yourself near a Yemeni restaurant, definitely go in. We recently discovered this unique and wonderful cuisine from a local restaurant here in Malaysia and it soon became our favorite take out spot. A mixture of Middle Eastern with Indian flavors and influences here and there and very…
When it comes to food, my weakness will always be fried chicken and I have been lucky enough to travel the world sampling each culture’s tasty version of the fried bird. So you can imagine my delight when I visited a local Thai and Vietnamese restaurant here in Malaysia and came across this concoction….
Beef Stroganoff is one of those dishes that remind me of my childhood. The tender beef, the succulent mushrooms all in a creamy sauce over a pile of egg noodles. The only problem with trying to recreate it now is that my mother…