Mamak Mee

For lunch today, I fried some yellow noodles and it turned out tasting like Mamak Mee. It was savory with some hint of spiciness. Absolutely fantastic! Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:
1 cup of garlic and onions chopped finely
a bag of oyster mushroom
1 carrot cut into smaller thin pieces
1 big tomato cut into wedges
some tofu pok
mustard green cut in smaller pieces
bean sprouts
yellow noodle
turmeric powder
chilli flakes
olive oil

(Feel free to measure how much you need above. I didn't keep track of it. Sorry)

1) Fry garlic and onion in a wok of olive oil. Add in turmeric powder and chili flakes and fry until fragrant.
2) Add in carrots, tomato and oyster mushroom. Also, put in some water, salt, pepper, sugar, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce until you're satisfied with the taste. Simmer for a few minutes.
3) Add in tofu pok and yellow noodle. Fry until the water is almost dried up.
4) Add in mustard green and bean sprouts.
5) Continue to fry for a few minutes. Do your tasting test and add in more salt/pepper/sugar/soy sauce/chilli flakes/turmeric powder if need be.

I was happy that it tasted like Mamak Mee. This is my first time getting it sooooo right.

Vege Mutton Rendang and Snow Pea Sprouts

Yesterday, I finally had time to go for grocery shopping. After spending an hour in Tesco and roughly RM50, I'm in for a few days of culinary happiness.

Immediately returning from Tesco, I had to prepare for dinner!

First dish: Vegetarian Mutton Rendang

I haven't mastered the art of cooking rendang from scratch but I sure will try it out someday. For this dish, I used a packet of Adabi's rendang paste with some santan and freshly chopped garlic and onion. In the past, I usually use Brahim's brand but Tesco ran out of it so I tried Adabi. I still prefer Brahim's, nonetheless.

Look how the dish turned out? deliciousssss! Next time, I'll try to cook from scratch.

Second dish: Stir-fried Snow Pea Sprouts

I've always liked snow pea sprouts. It has a kind of green taste which is absolutely amazing. Just fry it quickly with garlic, onion and some soy sauce is wonderful enough. It was so good, I ate most of it before remembering to snap a photo. Sorry that the plate was left with only a little sprouts. :D

Sweet and Sour Vege Fish

Three nights ago, hubby and myself were too lazy to go out for dinner after a long day of work. I checked my fridge and cook up something with anything left. There were tomatoes, lemongrass, laksa leaf, ginger, big onions, garlic, green vege and half piece of vegetarian fish.

Guess what I came up with?

Stir fried mustard green with garlic and shallots

Sweet and sour vege fish

Both dishes were taken with rice.

The sweet and sour fish was really nice and simple. Here's how to do it:

Ingredients (rough estimates)

5 cloves of garlic chopped finely
2 lemongrass chopped finely (only the end of the lemongrass used - the whitish part)
5 laksa leaves
1 big onion (cut into rings)
10 pieaces of vegetarian fillets
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup corn starch
olive oil
black pepper
salt
sugar
tomato sauce
dried and fine basil leaves (optional)

1) Make a batter with self-raising flour, corn flour and water.
2) Dip all the vegetarian fish fillets into the batter.
3) Add some olive oil into the non-stick pan and fry the fish fillets. Remove from pan when golden brown.
4) Leave the remaining oil in the pan and fry garlic, lemongrass and laksa leaf until fragrant and add big onions.
5) Add in tomatoes, tomato sauce, black pepper, salt, sugar, basil leaves, add some water and let it simmer for a few minutes
6) Taste the sauce and adjust accordingly.
7) When you are satisfied with the taste and the tomatoes are soft, add in the fried fish fillets and turn off fire.
8) Mix the fish fillets in the sauce evenly and transfer to plate.


This dish actually turned out to be very delicious. Next time, I will try adding in some chili flakes, pineapple and capsicum.

Turning Vegetarian at 29...

and the birth of this blog. I am a 29 years old Chinese woman living in the Kuala Lumpur city. This year, due to numerous reasons, I've decided to finally become a 100% vegetarian. I wouldn't say I am a vegan, however, as I still occasionally get dairy and eggs intake. Nevertheless, turning vegetarian wasn't a decision that was easy to make. Malaysia is a country well known for their delicious delicacies, but mostly un-vegetarian. 

I've been brought up to love food and to live by the saying "Live to Eat". But I always believe if there's a will, there's a way. My reasons for becoming vegetarian is too strong that I do not have any cravings when looking at meat. I love animals, you see. My challenge, really, is not about avoiding meat. Instead, my challenge is to find as much variety in vegetarian food. 

Luckily, with my hubby turning vegetarian with me, things are so much easier. I picked up cooking in order to get more variety and I love every moment of it. I found love in cooking and always thinking of ways to create new dishes.

This blog will journalize the experience I have as a Passionate Vegetarian, from how I cope with this challenge and new developments in my dining lifestyle.