Gosh! It’s Saturday again…and it has been two Saturdays already since the Saturday when Melissa flew back to Malaysia from Wellington via Auckland. How time flies!
Well, before she and I flew back to Sibu the following day – Sunday, the mother had cooked some chicken curry for her to enjoy when she got home, so we had that to eat for dinner for a couple of days and since Wednesday last week (17th November) was a public holiday - Hari Raya Haji/Adiladha, she was able to cook something else – this braised pork leg in soy sauce with five-spice powder…
…and she fried this plate of salted vegetables with pork belly…
My daughter was o.k. with the pork leg – not really a fan but she enjoyed the salted veg dish a great deal and it certainly had been quite a while since she last had that.
Over those few days, since we had the meat dish for our dinners – the chicken curry and the braised pork leg, all I had to do was to fry the vegetable dish to go with it. There was not much of a choice of vegetables in the fridge though – some greens and a few strands of long beans. I sliced a few of the latter thinly and fried it with egg…
…and Melissa liked that. She said that they did not have long beans in Wellington so over there, she would have to eat french beans instead.
On a different day, I cooked the rest of the long beans. I broke them into lengths of around 1 inch and fried them with dried prawn sambal…
…and as there wasn’t much left, I added an egg to it so as to make it more substantial and there would be enough for all three of us. Melissa loved this too.
And since we’re on the topic of homecooked food, I remember Philip asking me a while ago whether there are alternative ways of cooking broccoli. Well, since I saw the photo in a recipe book of Chinese cooking, I would boil the veg in water with a pinch of salt – do not overboil so it will still be nice and crunchy. Then, I would arrange it in a circle in a plate and in the middle, I would fry some meat with ginger in thick soy sauce gravy and pour that in. Lately, I’ve seen them doing that in the restaurants but they would have mushrooms and pacific clams in the middle.
My daughter loves mushrooms, so when I cooked the broccoli the other day, I fried some abalone mushrooms with prawns and fishballs in oyster sauce and poured that into the middle like this…
My missus would fry everything together which would mean that the taste would go into the broccoli. Otherwise, you would have to dip the veg in the gravy while eating…or it will be somewhat bland.
I also cooked this braised pork in barbecue sauce…
…and if I remember correctly, I had a post on something like this not too long ago. My daughter saw it while she was still in Wellington and was grumbling that she was drooling away over there. Ah well…this is one of my easy-to-cook recipes and I could whip it up in no time at all. No sweat!
After some 9 months in New Zealand, away from home, it certainly appears that Melissa thinks everything she eats here, be it at home or outside, tastes so great …and I’m glad, real glad…
Comments on: "What’s cooking…" (43)
Aiyo… ur anak very long never eat homecook food liao… so she surely appreciates whatever she gets to eat at home. LOL… like me lorr… when go back to my parents place… I would never wanna eat out!
Well, she has the best of both worlds – lunchtime, I would take her out to eat the things she loves or try out the new places…and dinner, I would cook her favourites or sometimes, the mum would do that…
Good grief… I’m becoming an STP junkie! Every morning….mati mati oso must come here first! ISHHHHH!
Don’t worry…you’re not the only one! LOL!!! Btw, I’ve updated the post so there may be things that you have not seen…
Agree with cleffairy…I am STP junkie too! Die-die also must come and visit here first thing in the morning and then every 5 – 10 minutes after that to see if any new comments. Psst…you noticed a big jump in your readership traffic?…lol!!!!
Arthur, tell Melissa in NZ ada jual kacang panjang. Only sometimes the kacang tak berapa panjang and kurus only. You often can get them almost all year round especially during summer. Other times, they import from Fiji. At Pak n Save, Countdown, Foodtown, New World, Woolsworth or any mat salleh place memang tak da jual but you can the frozen one which is called string beans. Kacang panjang is sold kat all Asian vege shop especially those owned by Chinese and Indians which mainly are located at the suburbs. Sometimes, depending on the season, Farmer’s market pun ada jual.Prices varies according to the season but boleh kira murah jugak la.
I have a question for you. Do we need to buy the masak hitam paste to cook the dish or can we prepare the paste from scratch ourselves? Can you describe the taste to me…ie, sweet kah, pedas kah, taste like tau-yu etc. Thanks. Sorry for taking so much space in your blog…so pai-seh.
Since the paste is available, here…we would use the paste – just tambah pounded bawang and what not for extra fragrance. Less hassle. I tried cooking (a simplified version e.g. no lengkuas) from scratch…but it was not black/hitam. My missus said I should add browning and some said I should not use mushroom soy – must use dark soy sauce and do not add santan. You can see it in this post: http://suituapui.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/where-did-i-go-wrong/
I think if you google, daging masak hitam, you will find the recipe from the pros which I’m not. LOL!!!
No wonder my daughter couldn’t find any long beans. She shops at New World…and now that it’s summer, she’s home. Actually, before she went over, she was not really crazy about long beans – would rather eat french beans but after a year, I think she had started to miss it a little.
P.S. Don’t worry about long comments. Love ‘em. Anytime better than those short phrases – at times, not even relevant to the post…or obviously they did not even read the post at times. Just picked up a line at random and respond to that – the hop, step and jump bloggers with hundreds of blogs to drop by and comment in the hope that they’ll go to theirs to reciprocate and thus, increase their traffic…
@Shereen… yea… I read his blog like newspaper! LOL… first thing in the morning… at 5am, sure come here first. Hahahahahaha! If one day Cikgu never publish his post at 5am… I’d be very worried… mebbe he sick or wud liao… tarak publish!
Yalor…a couple of times, the line was down and I did not have any scheduled posts then – so many people started to sms to find out whether I was all right. Hehehehehe!!!! Glad that there are actually people out there who care…or is it just because they miss the daily post – like how people get grumpy when they do not get the morning newspaper?
No.. I’d seriously get worried and will sms u oso if one day tarak publish. Maybe you’re sick (or God forbid… dying in hospital or sth) Like Kat’s blog and Claire’s blog. I know Kat published hers at 12am and Claire at 8pm or 9pm daily. So if one day they tarak publish… I would either sms them or ‘grill’ them the next time I saw them online. Kancheong man… mana tau she sick liao or wud… ishhh!
Choi! Choi! Ptuiiiiii!!!!! Touch wood! I am old but I do not intend to go just yet!
Ah hah! The last pic is going to make Kat cry and go on her ‘gila babi’ mode again. Cham liao… sure today she’ll hunt some pork dish!
Hehehehe!!!! Last-minute addition! Looks great in the light of the evening setting sun! LOL!!!
No la..the last pic too much lean meat…the 1st pic makes me go gila babi mode aje…
You’re so skinny… Can eat all the fat you want – no problem at all…but somebody cannot lor…. Hehehehehehe!!!!
eh,what happen?suddenly got extra bits to read.My computer going bonkers or what?
Oops! Sorry! Nothing wrong with your computer. I just thought that the out-of-focus pork leg photo plus the few photos of vegetables would not make people pull their hair out…so I decided to extend the post a little and add a few more recent photos. Nice eh! The pork? Yum! Yum! Hahahahaha!!!!
@Shereen… Cikgu suddenly decided that those food is not enuff to torture us, so add another pic… the sliced braised BBQ pork. Tsk tsk tsk… such an evil man!!!
Hehehehehehe!!!! Gee! You must stop hanging around like this. Now you know me like the back of your hand – so very well! Muahahahahaha!!!!
You and Cleffairy don’t need to sleep is it?So early in the morning dah bangun and main computer?
She burung hantu – hasn’t gone to sleep yet. I usually sleep early – around nine…and wake up around five – boil water, make coffee and cook breakfast…and then I would log in to reply to late comments on the previous day’s blogpost…and the comment(s) on the latest one from people like Cleff…and sometimes, I would check on the post to see all’s ok.
@Shereen… Cikgu just woke up wan la… while me… I tarak sleep at night lerr… I sleep after 7am. LOL.
See! Didn’t I tell you? This woman – she really knows me so well. Muahahahaha!!!!
And… CIkgu would come to check on his blog/fb around 7pm-8pm-ish as well. LOL!
Yup…after dinner…before going to bed. Hehehehehe!!!!
Cleffairy…or maybe he’s too busy stuffing himself with food before he can lift his fingers to type…hahahhaha.
Not yet…not yet. Just had a sip of the coffee I made – so that my eyes would open and sparkle…and after this, I would cook something for breakfast…and sit down to enjoy it…before logging in again to see if there are any more comments to reply…
Bwhahahahahaha… I’m gonna refrain from commenting negatively. Hahahaha… or else he wun feed me when he comes to visit in KL. *sobs*
Ya, clever girl!!! *pats on the head… Hehehehehehehe!!!!
Wa… all my fav food on top haha. Must cook give me try, especially any pork dishes. Yummy.
Yum! Yum! Don’t you wish you were home like Melissa? Hehehehehehe!!! You’re not staying with non-pork eating people there kah? How to cook pork? Melissa’s staying in a single studio room in an apartment, so no problem what she cooks in her kitchenette. To cook halal food to share with her friends, she would go to their “house” (four or five sharing) and cook in their kitchen. Works out pretty well this way…
lol so nice, i have to share kitchen. My previous house can cook pork coz all chinese, now cant anymore. But my hsemates say, go ahead, as long as they don’t tell them haha. At least they’re open minded about it. But yea, i dun cook it though out of respect. Maybe only once when my hsemate accidentally bought spaghetti sauce with bacon and gave it to me xD
Yup…some are quite tolerant. As long as you don’t tell them and they do not eat it themselves, they’re o.k. with it…but some are very particular about such things. It’s good to be understanding and show them respect by not going against their beliefs and religious practices. Do unto others what you would want them do unto you…
Talk about bland broccoli. That’s what I do, steam them and eat as is. Good hermit food, doing my penance for all the pigging out I do when I’m home. Will try your recipe one of these days, when I have company. Everything looks wonderful, especially the salted vege/pork belly and the braised pork, and of course the broccoli. Interesting conversation. I have noticed some people get up at an unearthly hour. Over here of course, it’s 3 pm.
LOL!!! They serve boiled broccoli by the side of a main (meat) dish in western cuisine. I don’t mind eating it like that once in a while. Ya…some people keep very odd hours. Me – old school – “Early to bed, early to rise…makes a man wealthy…oops, I mean…healthy and wise!” LOL!!
Yes, side dish broccoli is okay, if you have other western food with it. But I usually eat it by itself, for the extra nutrition. Learning a lot of Malay words here too. Burung hantu, that’s a good one. BTW, been listening to a lot of Sohaimi lately, Kini is my favorite.
LOL!!! Burung hantu is owl in Malay – I guess the burung hantu has gone to sleep now – no sound from her anymore until later today, maybe.
Oh? I’ve never listened to Kini – my faves have always been Misteri Cinta and Epiloq cinta dari Bromley or something like that…but the two somgs sound similar.
Kini
O.k. Sounds typically Suhaimi as well…
The braised pork leg.. reminded me of my visits back to hometown. Just like you and your wife, my mom will cook this and many of my fav dishes whenever I am “home”. *drool*
Parents are all the same – any homecoming, they will cook their special dishes – particularly those that the children love the most…
Aww…I can understand her feeling. How I miss my mum’s cooking. Now…mommy is gone. And daddy doesn’t know how to cook…
The traditional dads would not know how to cook – like mine. Lucky thing, nowadays can boil water and cook instant noodles. You don’t have sisters? I know you have a brother. None of you learnt how to cook from her when she was around?
Last night I managed to do a few dishes for my son.. he is fed up of outside food… those words led me to the kitchen… i did steamed kampong chicken, steamed fish, a broccoli mixed vege and a big pot of soup..(fun kwok) guess u wont know what it is..
too bad i didnt take any pictures, so no proof. hahahaha… hey, your missus is a good cook too leh.. with two good cooks in the house, who needs to take outside food??
Ya…but sometimes, nice to have something different for a change bah. And cooking all the time – can get tired also.
Huh some people say to attract customers to the shop the owner must have added ganja in the food. So what have your added in your foodie post to make Cleffairy, Shereen & the rest of the gang including yours truly (even though I don’t do big wok) die-die oso first thing 7 early 8 early to visit your wok blog? Not adding your sweat please kakaka..
You also? Good…good! Must add more ganja – then all addicted liao! Muahahahaha!!!
Long beans with dried prawn sambal…lovely to go with teow chew porridge. Great pixz and that’s one attraction for me.tQ
Yes…and that reminds me! I told my daughter I would cook Teochew porridge for her one of these days… Yum! I love Teochew porridge…with all the condiments.
Oh my! I was craving for the salted vegetable with pork a few days ago!
So now you will have to go to some Teochew porridge shop – they will surely have that! LOL!!!
Oh bedtime at 9pm how nice..early to bed early to bloggerise..
Old man mah…not much excitement left in my life. Hehehehehehe!!!
Arthur,
How many breakfast you have everyday? One at home and 2 or 3 outside,is it?
Yalor,you go to bed at 9pm sebab I am sure Sibu got no night life and not because you old man. Nowadays, I noticed lagi old,lagi hot these old people…lagi terror than the youngster. If you in KL,you think you’ll go to bed at 9pm, meh?
Breakfast? One only lah… If I have at home, I don’t eat outside anymore….and if I plan to eat outside, I’ll just have my mug of coffee when I wake up – eat later. Well, I guess it’s a case of old habits die hard – people from my time, no tv…nothing…would all go to sleep around 9 and wake up early around 6 by the latest. So these days, I still do that unless I’ve something on – going out for dinner or whatever. In KL, the same…but after dinner there, it would be past 10 at least already…so slightly later lah! I’m such a boring person hor? LOL!!!
I’ve read that daging masak hitam post when I did the Read STP Marathon blog posts for 3 days, 2 nights non-stop…oh,I tell a lie…I did stop for makan and ablutions.Cooking and shopping was done by hub so that I can concentrate on the task…hihihi.
You never give the recipe cun-cun la…how to cook like that since I don’t know how the taste like and whether it is the real McCoy.How?I don’t want other people’s recipe but yours!!!
Got lah…in the post, step by step with photos…but not successful – not like the real thing. I hope to try again one day…but never got down to doing that. Better wait till then…and then you can be sure you will get it right as well.
@Shereen… aiyo… Cikgu wun gv u the exact recipe punya… cuz he cook ‘agak agak’, tarak follow recipe wan. LOL… I oso like that… cook use agak agak method. Old ppl like me and Cikgu liddat lah… tarak tau how to use sukatan. LOL!
ROTFL!!! Old school…everything agak2…like my mum. Ask her how to cook a certain thing and she will say daun bawang sepuluh sen…. Her time and now, where got same amount? Sepuluh sen today, maybe can buy one strand of spring onion! LOL!!!
i miss having mummy cook for me. huhuhu. but she rarely want to cook when i am at home coz she said she busy, want me to cook instead . and bodek2 me said i cook delicious and she is not. ish3. but i usually eat a lot if she cook leh. haish. should’nt come here with hungry stomach. sob2. the braised pork leg remind me of my mum leh. she always cook that bcoz my dad gila kaki babi. LOL!
glad that melissa eat well at home and got daddy and mummy cook for her. hope she gain lot of weight. hehehe
Wah! Your mum so lucky, you can cook for them to eat… But it’s true, if tired and hot from cooking, somehow the food does not taste very nice…and then later, when you heat up and eat again – somehow it tastes a whole lot better. So other people cooking, always nicer!
Ya… true… other ppl’s cooking always seems nicer.
My mum also says the same thing.
Eat later.. Best after taking a bath and a change of clothes. Suddenly everything will taste so much better.
Cleffairy…sudah bangun,ah?…hihihii. Well, cikgu have to ukur and sukat lor for this particular recipe if he sayang me…muahaha.Or else hor,when he come to NZ,I’ll give him roti kosong only…evil!
Then you will have to wait till I angin bagus…and I decide to cook masak hitam from scratch. Hehehehehehe!!! And end up I will have dua puluh sen bawang merah, dua puluh sen bawang putih etc…then u kepala pening! LOL!!!!
Hahahahahahaha… Shereen, u dono how to cook agak agak? Eee… I can never follow recipe wan… sure turn out miserable. Must agak agak oni jadi. Come, I teach u… u wan masak hitam ah? Bodek Cikgu to buy u the instant paste. LOL! He got kasi me the paste, but I yet to cook… LOL!
NZ’s very strict about food imports…so scared of plant diseases, so I don’t know whether that can be brought in or not. So strict also…all kinds of penyakit – the kiwi fruit plants are under attack, I understand…so don’t expect lots of kiwi fruits from NZ this year.
Cleffairy…you old meh?From my investigation, I think I’m older than you la.
She’s not old lah… VERY young…but maybe her cooking style, follow her grandma one…like me lah! Follow my mum’s one…
*pengsan* u go check my fb or wud? LOL! Aiya… I’m young enuff to be Cikgu’s anak la, actually. He’s older than my father.
Ya… I follow my grandma and my mum’s way of cooking. All agak agak… can never follow recipe. Tak jadi wan. 
Now…now…!!! So what does that make me? A paedophile? Stalking young girls and boys? Tsk! Tsk! Muahahahahaha!!!!
Sen-sen measurement tak pakai,okay. Here in NZ,20 sen cannot buy anything…not even a sweet, okay…hahahaha. In Malaysia, you can still buy 30sen taugeh and then the spring onions 2 pokok free. Here,you kenyit-kenyit your mata at the Ah Pek manning the counter until you pull your eye muscle and flirt with him until hubby thought you having an affair with the selekeh Ah Pek also, you still have to dig deep into your purse to buy NZ$1.29 for 2 pokok of spring onions…by the way, spring onions here on hormone growth…very big and fat unlike their Malaysian cousins yang kurus-kurus.Soooo,measurement like gm, ml, etc is much appreciated.
Yes, I know, they look like leek…and my SIL in Auckland just used the bulbs and threw away all the fragrant leaves. So sayang…just chop them up and drop into clear bone soup and it will make a world of difference…or if you’re tossing boiled egg noodles in oil and soy sauce (plus a pinch of msg), just add the chopped spring onion leaves and it will take the taste to a whole new level. Sigh!!! Ok, ok lah…when I do get round to cooking it, I’ll try to state very specific measurements… Hehehehehehe!!!
Now cannot buy 30sen taugeh liao. The apek will tell u… minimum is Rm1.
*horrified* STP cook follow measurement? *dies*
Not to worry – sure disaster one… Muahahahaha!!!!
I still love home-cooked food..
Yup! Nothing beats that…and it’s cheaper and healthier as well. Eating out – easier, not need to toil over the hot stove…and something different for a change, especially for things that you can’t cook.
oh i like the omelet the most but i hate the one with broccoli… oh let me rephrase that… i hate broccoli alone haha
of all the veggie broccoli is my enemy hahaha
thank you for sharing us this delicious dishes
That’s my daughter’s favourite veg…especially when fried with beef. I don’t mind it…but there are a lot of other cheaper ones that I also like.
wow!!! all super yummy delicious food!! i like them all!! how can you, i really hate you, they are just so tasty and i am drooling and hungry now.. it’s 11:30pm now ok?? @_@
Hehehehehehe!!!! Don’t hate me. Keep the peace and spread the love… LOL!!!
LMAO…. SK… welcome to the torture chamber. Hahahaha!
Make yourself at home! LOL!!!
Hey, STP thanks for dropping by and leaving comments. I did not know that you can really cook.
Mel must really enjoyed all the dishes that you n missus cooked.
Can I be your daughter too? :0
Come, come…the more the merrier – I only have one child/daughter so you can understand all the attention she gets. Oh? You’re not the Jessie that will post comments here occasionally? Hmmm…so now I have two Jessies and a number of others with same names. Never mind – welcome and do come by again…often. Will link you in my blogroll.
haha my favourite is the long bean omelette. I can cook that with eyes closed! lol.. that’s what I’m good at. haha
LOL!!! Do you slice them thinly like I do? My missus would cut them quite coarse and I do not like it like that…