In & out…

We stopped by here for brunch that day and my girl and the mum had the peri-peri chicken rice (RM9.00)…

…while I had the Moroccan chicken rice (RM9.00)…

…and yes, they were both very nice as always. I’ve blogged about these and this place a few times before and no, only the chicken is the same. The two kinds of rice are different both in taste and appearance – the peri-peri is of a very much lighter shade though they do look kind of similar in the photographs.

Many have dropped by and they all loved what they had and they kept telling me that I should give the guy’s banana smoothie (RM3.50)…

…a try. Indeed, I have been here so many times but I never thought of giving that a shot. For one thing, I seem to feel rather sleepy whenever I drink anything with milk in it, probably psychological more than anything else. Well, I did order it that day and yes, it was very good – very thick and rich. I think the guy had a lot of bananas in it.

It is the dabai (and durian) season now – the whole town is flooded with these fruits and others. I saw that they had that at the nasi campur (mixed rice) stall that day so I ordered some to go with the rice. They did not come cheap, 4 for RM1.00 and it turned out that the ones they had were not very nice. Thankfully, I only asked for RM2.00.

I bought some very nice ones a while ago but we had been eating out a lot so we did not have the chance to enjoy them and they were starting to wrinkle. That was why I soaked them in salt water to preserve them. These preserved ones are great with porridge but I usually use them for my dabai fried rice…and that was what I cooked the other morning for breakfast…

I sure enjoyed that and it went absolutely well with the cincaluk (fermented shrimps) dip by the side.

In the meantime, we did stay in sometimes and other than the stuff that I may whip up time and again for breakfast, I did manage to do a little bit of cooking at home – like my ikan masak kunyit (fish cooked with turmeric)…

…for instance. It would be great with ikan buris or ikan keli (catfish) or prawns but the other day, I had some very fresh ikan tenggiri (mackerel) so I just used that instead.

You have the pound the sliced chilies and turmeric (kunyit)…

…till really very fine…

…or later, you will find all the bits floating in your soup. That is why you just cannot use a blender as you will find the chili seeds and everything swimming around when you dilute it with water…

Add these ingredients…

– a bit of belacan (dried prawn paste), a few stalks of serai (lemon grass) and a few pieces of asam keping (tamarind slices) and bring it to boil and you will get a very nice sour and spicy soup base.

Put in the fish and some brinjal…

…and bring it back to boil. Simmer till the brinjal is cooked and the sweetness and taste have come out of the fish. You may add salt and seasoning, if you wish but I find it nice enough as it is. As you can see, it is really very healthy – no salt, no msg (other than the little that may be in the belacan)…and no oil.

Serve it hot…

…with rice and that obviously makes a delightful balanced meal with protein (the fish), vegetables (the brinjal) and carbohydrates (the rice) so there is no need to cook anything else. Anybody keen on giving this a try?