Recipe: Fast Fluffy Pancake

Makes 4pcs of 8 inches pancakes.

Dry Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon  brown sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients

1 medium egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1) Sieve flour, salt & baking powder together and mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.

2) Make a well in the centre of bowl.

3) Add all the wet ingredients in the well. With a whisk, beat the wet ingredients together

4) Beat in remaining ingredients until just smooth. Do not overbeat. Ignore any lumps, it's ok.

5) Heat pan or griddle. To test for the right temperature, sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan. If bubbles jump around - it's the perfect temperature.

6) Grease pan with butter or vegetable oil if you like.

7) Pour or scoop pancake mixture onto hot pan and leave it until bubbles in the centre and the edge is puffed and slightly hard. Flip the pancake. Cook other side until golden brown.

Serve with maple syrup or honey and heaps of butter.

Tips:

1) When cooking, never flatten pancake with spatula. It will toughen them.

2) Second flipped side, takes faster to cook and will never brown as evenly as the first side.

3) Serve pancakes immediately, or keep them warm in one layer on a wire rack or stack them on an ovenproof plate, lined with a kitchen towel, folding the towel over each pancake in an oven 95C. Use more towels if necessary. Stacking pancakes will turned them soggy.

4) For variations, add 1 peeled, cored and finely chopped apple. Add 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon if you like. Allow batter to stand for 1 hour before cooking.

Recipe: Ezy Peasy Apple Wrapper

Pastry

2 cups all purpose-flour
2/3 cup shortening
4tsp water
1tsp salt

1. Sieve flour with salt. Cut in shortening using 2 knives until particles size of small peas.
2. Add water 1tsp at a time, tossing with fork until flour is moistened.
3. Ball the pastry mix and flattened it on lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into a circle and place on baking sheet.

4. Preheat oven at 220C.

Filling

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

4-5 medium sized green Granny Smith Apple thinly sliced & peeled

Butter - cut into cubes

1. Mix sugar and flour.
2. Add in the apples and stir well.
3. Place apple mixture onto centre of the pastry until 3 inches from the edge.
4. Fold the edges over the apple mixture and make pleats.
5. Sprinkle sugar on the edge of the pastry.
6. Add the butter on top of the apple mixture as much or as little as you like.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until crust is slightly golden to brown.

Sink your teeth in it or spoon rich creamy vanilla ice cream over it. Recipe above serves 8 slices.

Review: Restaurant 'Ducking' - Peking Duck, Dim Sum & Others

Absolute favourite is the crispy skin Peking Duck where the first course has the duck's skin thinly sliced and served wrapped in a thin pancake with strips of fresh spring onions and dipped in plum sauce - heaven! <Although there are times, the spring opnions were sliced a little too thick thus overpowering the duck>. The  meat is then stir fried with crispy noodle in mushroom & egg sauce. You have a choice of half or a whole duck. Affordable too at RM86.00/whole duck.



Crispy skin - peking duck.

Wrapped duck skin.



Duck noodles

You will be spoilt for choices - from an assortment of tender roast meats (from roast duck to roast & BBQ pork meat) you will also find a wide assortments of freshly made dim sums and chinese cuisines. You will be pleasantly surprise too that on  weekends & public holidays from 10am-12pm you will land a 30% discount on dim sum orders.



Only 2 advise for any new diners, 1) make your reservation early to avoid disappointment and 2) organise a big group so you can try as many chinese cuisines as possible. Good to know that these amazing food is consistently served with quality, freshness and good service.





Bouncy Fresh 'Siew Mai' - Steamed minced pork & prawn dumpling



Fresh 'Har Kaw' - steamed prawn dumpling.




"Siew Loong Pau' - gentle when handling this delicate steamed pork in soup wrapped in dumpling. Don't burst the skin - it'll flood your spoon.




'Tai Pau' - Giant minced pork pau.




'Lo Mai Kai' - Glutinous rice with chicken.




'Ham Soi Kok' - Minced pork deep fried in delicate dumpling.




Fresh green spinach perfectly cooked.






Fresh chilli padi! HOT!




Fried chilli.



Review: Pepper Lunch Kuala Lumpur

Pepper Lunch – Mid-Valley Megamall, Pavillon Shopping Centre  Kuala Lumpur

Featuring quick franchise snacks is probably something cow will refrain from reviewing. But Pepper Lunch, an affordable Japanese DIY steakhouse was a pleasant choice for a quick lunch.

 

Cow ordered the beef, cheese, egg and corn rice. It is a strange, but delicious combo. The dish features fragile slices of beef from New Zealand/Australia, curry flavour from Japan, succulent kernels of corn, bulls-eye egg  and stringy tasty cheese.

A big fan of rice, egg, cheese, corn and meat? Give Pepper Lunch a go. If you don’t fancy it, at least you can say you’ve tried!

Grocery Basket: Le Rustique Camembert

Le Rustique Camembert

RM 24.00 - 25.00

This must be the best commercial Camembert ever created, - even better it is available right here in Malaysia in specialty grocery shops like Cold Storage. 

Produced in 1974 by Jean Verrier the cheese is made with pasteurized cow’s milk. The fragrant aroma is unlike any other, it’s taste so distinctive that one cannot even begin to describe it. Spread on fresh baguette and accompany with a full-bodied red and you’ll be in heaven. If you can manage to get your hands on juicy fresh figs, spoil yourself and go for a romantic picnic.

REVIEW: E-San Thai Restaurant Ara Damansara

E-San Thai Kitchen,
G-G-3a & 5, Block G,
Jalan PJU 1A/3, Taipan 2,
Ara Damansara
47301 Petaling Jaya,
03 7842 7368
esankitchen@adhomebuilder.com
11am-10pm (closed on Wednesdays)

There are many Thai restaurants to choose from. One reason to reel cow in would be the Sankaya or steamed pumpkin custard dessert. Not many outlets take the time to make this delicate pumpkin. 2 dishes stood out at E-San:

Deep-fried egg – Cow has discovered the all-time Malaysian childhood favourite – telur goreng!! – translated as fried egg. Who would have guessed that something so simple can be discovered in a Thai restaurant?? The egg is crunchy with subtle flavours of oil and sweet fish sauce. Topped off with glistening stir-fried vegetables, this dish is simple and an absolute must try.

Pumpkin custard dessert- The sankaya is satisfactory. Cow, however, must give extra credit to the chef, as he/she has taken the time to put this on the menu and the result is a beautiful wedge of pumpkin with limited holes in the baked custard (if you see more than 50 air bubbles throw it out!). Cow prefers it cold, but the warm custard is smooth and is a wonderful combination with our sweet local pumpkin.

Review: NeroVivo Kuala Lumpur

NeroVivo
3a Jalan Ceylon,
50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-20703120
Fax: 03-20703100
Email: info@nerovivo.com
RM 120 per person with wine

Alessandro Delfanti, Ex-Executive Chef of Tuscan restaurant Castel Monastero by Gordon Ramsey leads the Nero Group Italian kitchen in Malaysia. Something must be good here!

If you’re looking for authentic Northern and Southern Italian food, drop by NeroVivo.  Sheep had a pleasant experience here. The Antipasto Casalingo – delectable strips of Italian cold cuts went very well with freshly baked bread, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and perfectly roasted garlic. Red by the glass - Nero d'Avola IGT Vino Rosso Tenimenti 2006 and white by the glass - Pinot Grigio chardonnay IGT Essere Cesari 2007 is a great and affordable choice.

For main, cow had a simple gnocchi with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. The delicate potato-based pasta melts on your palate and the balance of melting mozzarella and the Sugo al Pomodoro Napolitana perfected the NeroVivo experience. So satisfied that there was no room for dessert. Ciao!