Tag Archives: Weekend Herb Blogging

Asian, Malaysian, Nyonya, Vegetables

Recipe for Bubur Cha Cha

29 Comments

No, “bubur cha cha” isn’t a type of dance. It’s a sweet, coconut-based soup that we enjoy quite often here in Malaysia. But the recipe is a bit different from our Honeydew Sago Dessert recipe, our Indonesian Es Teler recipe, or the cendol that we enjoyed back in Penang. Bubur cha cha is a Nyonya dish made with different types of sweet potatoes and yam (or Chinese taro). To the sweet potatoes, you add a little pearl tapioca for a textural counterpoint.

Bubur Cha Cha

Bubur Cha Cha

In Hawaii, you could find something similar in Vietnamese restaurants except that their versions were more pudding-like with more tapioca pearls than sweet potatoes. And I believe in the Philippines, they add bananas to their version.

Continue reading Recipe for Bubur Cha Cha →

American, Lamb, Vegetables

Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Vermouth

15 Comments

You’ll swoon over these lamb shanks in buttery braised garlic sauce.

Braised Lamb Shank

For some reason, it’s really hard to find good beef here in Kuching. Last year when Nate was hankering for some steak for his birthday, I went to the store and got some ribeyes to grill up for him.

They were not good.

They were tough and did not have enough marbling. I had bought a big hunk of ribeye frozen and when we thawed them out, we had a feeling they weren’t going to be good. So, we’ve pretty much given up on getting good steaks here. The rest of that hunk ended up being sliced up and used for Niku-jaga which was a better application of that quality beef.

Anyway, why am I going on about beef when the title of this post says lamb shanks? Well, it’s because I want to let you know that even though we can’t get good beef here, we can certainly find good lamb!

The same place I got my beef, I also found some vacuum-packed lamb shanks that were super meaty. I got myself two shanks the first time; made this recipe and regretted not buying more. So the second time around, I made sure to get four shanks.

Continue reading Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Vermouth →

Malaysian, Poultry

Assam Curry Chicken Recipe

17 Comments

An easy and delicious, one-pot chicken curry meal that will tantalize your tastebuds.

Assam Curry Chicken

Recently at our Friday fellowship, we celebrated a birthday by having a potluck. Most times, on our regular Friday nights, we end the night with some food but mostly it’s bought food like kolo mee, cakes and snacks. But whenever we have a celebration potluck, we all try to bring something home-cooked. It’s a good time of sharing and also a good time of discovering new foods.

Continue reading Assam Curry Chicken Recipe →

Italian, Poultry

Chicken Piccata Recipe

5 Comments

Chicken breasts, pan-fried in butter and olive oil, and doused in an addictive, savory, tangy sauce.

chicken piccata

I’ve so broken my New Year’s Resolution already. “Two posts a week,” I said. Hah! I haven’t written a post in forever. I won’t mention how long. Poor Nate has had to fill in for my lack by writing all about our trip to Hawaii. In the meantime, he has been discreetly trying to prod me to write some recipes (ie. not nag me to write as I get perverse and even more won’t do it).

It’s not like I haven’t cooked anything new. I’ve just been so busy with work since getting back from our vacation that I have not had time to blog. Well, that’s not entirely true…when I am free, all I want to do is sit in front of the computer and play Zuma Blitz (it’s totally mind-numbing and addictive!).

But today, I decided I had to get going again before I lost all my writing chops. So here I am writing about a dinner I made a while ago and one I have made many times—Chicken Piccata.

Continue reading Chicken Piccata Recipe →