Category Archives: Home Cook Food

Homemade Pork Satay during MCO

08 Wednesday Jul 2020

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Malaysia announced lockdown / MCO (Movement Control Order) on the 18th March 2020 in the battle to control the spread of Covid-19. During this time, many of us were confine the our own home. The hardest part of the lockdown for me and my family would definitely be the joy of enjoying different delicious food from famous restaurant.

After 2 months into the MCO, I was having a really bad carving for Melaka pork satay. And, decided to do something about it. After doing a lot of research and watching a dozen of youtube videos, I finally made the decision and recreated my cheated version of Pork Satay.

For the pork marinade, I used the satay paste from Snugfood.

Satay Marinade Paste by Snugfood

It’s about RM8/ packet for the 200gm. 1 packet of this is enough for 1 kg of meat. My recipes below is for 2kg of meat.

2 pkt Snugfood Satay Paste (200gm)

200ml Santan UHT (I used the Ayam brand type)

100ml Olive Oil

2kg Pork Belly (Half-half type)

I washed the bamboo stick and soak them in warm water before using. After mixing the marinade above, I proceed to skewered them. Being slightly OCD, I wore a food grade glove while doing it. I find that it helps to give me a better grip when trying to pierce thru the meat. The fat part is harder to pierce. So, be careful not to stab your fingers ! After that, I left the satay to continue marinade in the fridge for another 2-3 hours.

The 2kg meat yielded about 35-40 sticks (depending on how big chunk I cut). I used my Grill pan for the job. Oven set at about 175 degree on grill fan. Remember to flip them around every 5-10 mins to get an even grilling. Cooking time varies between 25-35 mins (depending on the size of the meat chunks)

All ready for the Oven
Freshly out from the Oven. Looks Awesome !

If you cannot finish so many sticks in one seating, you can also opt to freeze them. I vacuum pack the marinaded satay and freeze them for later day. That way, you can just defrost them to grill another day.

For the Peanut sauce, I used the McQuek’s Satay Celup sauce and add extra peanut powder. There’s instruction at the back of the pack. But, I didn’t follow as I wanted a thicker sauce. So, I use about 1/4 of the packet mix with about 3 bowl of water and 3/4 bowl of peanut powder. I boil it on small fire for about 30-40 mins (stirring often to ensure no sticking on bottom).

Peanut Sauce from McQuek’s

Tada ! What do you think? Not bad, right?

Chuletz Homemade Porky Satay !

Nom Nom nom…. craving satisfied.

Penang White Curry Noodles (Instant)

08 Tuesday Apr 2014

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Never thought I would blog about instant noodles…

but then again, never have I seen everyone making such a big fuss about a pack of instant noodles since perhaps when cup noodle was first introduced. I have even heard that this instant noodles is actually ebayed at an inflated price. shocking eh? The reason is probably because this noodle is supposedly really hard to come by and it is always out of stock. Hence, like any economic 101 class you attend, less supply and higher demands = higher price.

Anyway, after all the big hoohah toned down, my MIL manage to grab 2 BOX of this noodles and brought it for hubby and me. My mum requested my MIL for one box so that she can haul it back to Melbourne with her (crazy woman!). When I told my cousins, one of them quickly took a snap of the same noodle in the shops in melbourne. Supposedly, it’s practically found everywhere there … only it’s at a really high price for instant noodles. About AUD 4.50 for a pack of 4. In KL, my MIL paid about RM 8 for 4. Wonder if my mum still wants to haul it back. LOL…

2 Boxes @-@

We decided to share our fortune with our close friends and gave some away. Behold the tower of instant noodle.

Tower of instant noodles

I made one the other day to try. The curry sauce is really nice and creamy. I have to say it’s quite good for an instant noodle. However, I think I would have preferred it if it was meehoon instead (I always take my curry with meehoon). ;p

Penang White Curry Noodle

Nom nom Time

Personally, if I have to eat instant noodle, I think I would still prefer the Korean Shin RamYum.

But then again, it’s not fair for me since I could just walk out / drive to a nearby kopitiam to enjoy a bowl of good curry noodle anytime. So, For any Malaysian who are posted oversea and craving for a good bowl of white curry, then, this would definitely score big time for them. I read somewhere that this noodle was created in the first place because of the creator’s craving for his hometown Penang White Curry when he was studying oversea.

Chulet’s Roast Chicken

03 Thursday Apr 2014

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I love a good home made roast chicken. It’s quite easy to make and the best part is there’s no right or wrong. Everyone have their own formula for succulent roast chicken. For me, a good roast chicken should never be over marinated. I prefer to be able to still enjoy the fresh sweetness of the chicken.

It might be easy to make but it doesn’t make it less tedious. First thing is to CLEAN the chicken. Don’t think that just because you bought it nicely wrapped from the supermarket means it’s clean. Remove all feathers and all debris sticking to the skin. If you look closely, the yellowish ‘skin-like’ debris is usually under the wings or along the inner thigh. Once it’s clean, I like to give the chicken a good salt scrub. It’s sort of like exfoliating the skin. Rinse off the salt after that. You will definitely feel a big difference to the skin. It’s so much smoother.

After that, pat dry the chicken.

Prepare separate small bowls of salt, pepper, herbs,  5 cloves of crushed garlic and 2 bay leaves. For the herbs, I just throw in a mix of dried herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil. (It’s quite flexible. You can put in anything you like. Personally, I will not skip thyme. It goes amazingly well with chicken!)

Grab the salt with your 5 fingers and sprinkle it all over the chicken evenly. Always sprinkle it higher than 15cm to get the even spread. Do the same with pepper. Ensure you salt and pepper well the inside of the chicken as well. Next, I rub the dry herbs on the palm of my hand first to release the fragrance and oil before rubbing it onto the chicken. Remember the inside too! Throw in the crushed garlic into the chicken tummy. Stuff a lemon inside to hold the chicken’s shape which roasting at the same time releasing a beautiful aroma soaking into the chicken. Before you stuff the lemon, wash it really well and give the surface a good prick.

I thrust my chicken here because it looks so much prettier and inviting. 😉

The chefs on TV make it look so EASY. But, it’s not if it’s your first time. Don’t panic. Just make sure you manage to close the legs together to push up the breast, sort of like giving the chicken a wonderbra effect. LOL…  Ready to cook

I like to place the chicken on a bed of sliced onion. This way, the chicken skin will not stick to the bottom and or have a soggy look on the bottom. I like to cover the chicken and allow it to steam for a good 40 mins at 170 degreeC first. As you can see the chicken looks so moist here.

After 30mins steaming

Then, I remove the cover and let it roast for another 30 mins  to allow the surface to dry and the skin to slowly turn golden. When the skin is sufficiently dried out, I’ll lightly brush a layer of butter all over the chicken. This gives it a beautiful shiny look. I’ll roast it again for another 20 mins at 200 degree C.

Tada… my home made roast chicken.

Tada - Ready for nom nom Side profileOh… one more thing. Do not throw away the lemon. Slice it to half and squeeze the juice out together with the roasting juice. It is AWESOME !!!

Please note that the cooking time varies depending on your chicken size. My chicken here was about 1.2kg. I used the Kami Sakura chicken which is about RM20 /bird. It’s a bit on the expensive side. But, I like the taste and texture of this chicken… 🙂 The chicken is not raise in cage but not entirely free-range. You can read more about this chicken online.