Beyond Cooking - Balik Kampung

Just to share with all of you about my kampung atmosphere.  Balik kampung is really fun. The comforting atmosphere with it fresh air is really good for relieving stress from the hustle and bustle of the city.
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My kampung view from far

The Valley

Mt. Kinabalu View from my kampung

A wonderful sunset view taken from my kampung

Hill Paddy Field

Un-mature paddy grains

The flesh of un-mature paddy grains.  Sweet and juicy.

Scallion - The major corp

Chayote vine is harvested for the shoot and its fruit

Chayote & Winter melon inside wakid

Pumpkin

Raw Tamarillo

Tintap Leaves - to wrap rice

Golombon - The wild edible grass

Fried Salted Ikan Kembung

Wrap rice

Smoked wild boar ribs with sliced young jack fruit  Soup

Great combination - kampung delight

You can find this on the way to Ranau Town of Sabah. "Smoked Wild Boar Meat" Non-Halal!

Smoked wild boar ribs - in the process

Traditionally method for slicing tobacco with it traditional equipment

Free range chicken - Only fed with chopped tapioca

Awards

Wow ... It's a good news... I received awards... Thanks so much to Kitchen flavour for extended the “One Lovely Blog Award" and "Happy 101 Blog Award" to me. I feel honored and appreciated.  It is something very encouraging for new blogger like me. I do love her blog very much, it’s Inspired me a lot ... never meet her in person but already consider as friend for she is my regular visitor and commenter.  

One Lovely Blog Award

Happy 101 Blog Award

Rules of Accepting This Blog Award:

1. Post who passed on this Award to you.

2. List 10 things that you like.

3. Name 10 Blogs who have inspired you.

10 things that I really like:

1. Cooking
2. Collecting cookbook
3. Gardening
4. Cross stitching
5. My tradition foods (KadazanDusun Cuisine)
6. Chinese and Nyonya Cuisines
7. Collecting bowls, plates, mugs and teapots
8. Spaghetti... any type of spaghetti
9. Lemon tea ice
10. Make friends with food blogger

   

I would like to combine and pass on these two awards to my 10 favorite blogs. May be there are some of them who do not know my blog but I am very pleased to pass on this award because their blog are really inspiring.

1. My Asian Kitchen
2. Kahakai Kitchen
3. Nasi Lemak Lover
4. Lets Get Wokking
5. Simply Healthy Family
6. 3 Hungry Tummies
7. The Little Teochew : Singaporean Homecooking
8. Cooking Crave
9. Singapore Food & Recipes
10. My Wok Life

Congratulation and Happy Blogging. 

Do visit the blogs above for more info.

Shredded Cucumber Pickled Salad

My family’s lunch and dinner usually consists of three types of dishes but sometimes I will make pickled salad as an addition.  A simple pickled salad that marinated and chilled ahead of time can stimulate appetite when serve as an appetizer or accompaniment to any meal. 

I have a pickled salad recipe that I've learned from my late grandmother. She was very fond of this pickled salad that she made it almost every day. I do love this pickled salad very much.  Just a few ingredients with a simple method but the taste are really appetizing.

Shredded Cucumber Pickled Salad


Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber - shredded
• 4 chives - roughly chopped
• 2 red chilies - roughly chopped
• A handful of anchovies - halve and blanch in warm water
• 2 lime - juiced
• Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

• Enter all ingredients in a salad bowl.  Mix all together until well combined. 
  
• Marinate for a few minute.
• Store in refrigerator for ½ hours or more before serving.
• Also suitable to serve in room temperature.

Stir Fry Chicken with Chayote

Chayote pronounced [chah-YOH-teh].  It is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae along with melons, cucumbers and squash. It's bears fruit all the time regardless of season.

There are many names for this plant.  It’s called sangop-sangop by the KadazanDusun people who live in the mountainous area of Sabah and it’s grows abundantly without any fertilizer and pesticide.   We have many recipe of this and one of it is the stir fry chicken with chayote which I have been eating since my childhood.

  

Actually this is my second post for chayote. My first chayote recipe is also the first post for this blog.
 

Stir Fry Chicken with Chayote
(Sangop-sangop miampai Manuk)
Ingredients:

1. 1 chicken thigh
2. 1 chayote
3. 1 medium carrot
4. 1 clove garlic, minced
5. 1 shallot, minced
6. 1inc ginger, sliced
7. 1/2cup of water

Seasoning:

1. 2tbsp dark soy sauce
2. 1tbsp light soy sauce
3. 1tbsp oyster sauce
4. 1tsp sugar
5. 1tsp sesame oil 
6. Dissolved corn flour  

Method:

• Clean and cut chicken into medium section.
• Peel off chayote and carrot skin and cut into julienne slice.
• Heat up oil in a pre-heated wok and saute minced ingredients and sliced ginger until fragrant.  Add in chicken thigh and cook in medium heat for 8 minutes.
• Add in all seasoning ingredient except the sesame oil and the dissolved corn flour.  Stir until well combined.
• Add in Chayote and carrot followed by half cup of water.  Simmer for 5 minutes or until the chayote are tenderize.
• Thicken the gravy with the dissolved corn flour. Sprinkle sesame oil and done.
• Serve hot.

Curry Flavored Chicken Wings in Soy Sauce

Today I’m a bit busy and tired.  So many things need to do.   I just got time to surf internet after all things are done.
I just login to my FB and just realize the post from Sabahan Blogger.  I feel pleased and appreciated because today once again Sabahan Blogger featuring my blog in it Random Featured Blog Post through my post Winter Melon with Kampung Chicken Soup.   Actually this is the second time Sabahan Bloggers featuring my blog post.  They first featured me through my post Simmered Fish .  That time I'm still too new in blogging so do not know how to appreciate it.

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Random Featured Blog Post & Hot at the Discussion Board - November 18th, 2010

To members of Sabahan Bloggers

Dinoza Mahruf November 18 at 1:56am Reply • Report

Random Featured Blog Post: Winter Melon with Kampung Chicken Soup
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If you're feeling like eating a soup dish, check out Simply Delicious Easy Cooking's Winter Melon with Kampung Chicken Soup!

Winter Melon with Kampung Chicken Soup ---> http://eyokecooking.blogspot.com/2010/11/winter-melon-with-kampung-chicken-soup.html

Please do post your blog posts or check out other blog posts at the Wall at the Sabahan Bloggers page. I will randomly feature one of the blog posts under Wall for Random Featured Blog Post.

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 So, once again… thank you very much to the Sabahan Blogger.

Actually I'm still in my recovery process especially my taste buds.  Been able to eat fried food, but for only certain foods. Today I’m feeling like to eat curry but just remember the smell and the fat, this throat is start feeling the nauseous. So I decided to cook my curry in a different way. Who knows if it works to relieve the taste buds problem?

So here's the recipe for my curry flavored chicken wings in soy sauce.

Ingredients:

1. 4 chicken wings
2. Some sliced carrots
3. Some sliced big onion
4. Some sliced red chili
5. Some minced garlic
6. 1tbsp meat curry powder  
7. 1/2 cup of water

Seasoning:

1. 1tbsp dark soy sauce
2. 1tbsp light soy sauce (or to taste)
3. 1tbsp oyster sauce
4. 1tsp sugar
5. A pinch of pepper powder

Methods:

• Clean and cut chicken wings into 3 sections.  Drain and coat with curry powder.  Marinate for a while.
• Heat up oil in a pre-heated wok.  Saute garlic until fragrance.  Add in chicken wings and stir  to combine.
• Pour in water and bring to boil.  Lower heat and simmer for a while.
• Add in all seasoning ingredients followed by sliced carrot, big onion and chili.
• Stir again until well combined.  Cover the wok and simmer again until the seasoning ingredients are completely absorbed by the chicken wings.
• Serve hot with rice.

And it really works, I can consume it without problem and the important thing is I can feel its tastiness flavor.

Winter Melon with Kampung Chicken Soup

Sorry to all blogger friend for not being around for such a long time.  I was fall sick and my health condition really not allows me to blogging. Cannot post any recipe for some time because I was really lost my appetite and very difficult to get into the kitchen and cooking.  Thankfully, I finally recover from loss of appetite but still unable to consume foods that are fried and spicy. At the moment, I'm more to soup dish that is simple but still full of nutrients.

My recipe for today is the winter melon with kampung chicken soup.  Winter melon also known as gorouk or guronsom by KadazanDusun.  Winter melon is a fairly big round fruit with dark green skin. Sometimes there is also a kind of long and oval fruit.  It looks like a water melon but is actually a squash. The hard, thin, mid-green skin has a waxy feel and a whitish tinge. The mildly flavored white flesh has the texture of watermelon but it not sweet. It’s high in vitamin A and vitamin C.

Winter melon has a little taste but cooking it with kampung chicken meat will make it more flavorful.  This soup is simple and relatively quick to prepare.

Ingredients:

1. 1 liter of water
2. 1 whole winter melon
3. 1 whole kampung chicken
4. 3 inc ginger
5. 1/2 cup of lihing (KadazanDusun rice wine)
6. salt to taste
7. finely chopped spring onion to garnish

Method:

• Scrub the winter melon skin to remove the waxy and a whitish tinge. Remove seeds and cut into middle-sized chunks.
• Clean, cut and drain chicken.
• Remove ginger skin and slice.
• Bring water to boil in a large pot. Add chicken and sliced ginger. Cook for about 15 minutes.
• Add in winter melon, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Pour in lihing and add salt to taste. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
• Garnish with spring onion and serve.

This is really a healthy soup that tastes light, cleansing, and satisfying at the same time.  I finish two bowls for myself.  I serve my first bowl of soup as congee. Mix it with a scoop of plain rice.

I put some "jeruk bambangan" for my second bowl.  Do not be surprised if you sweat a lot... because this juicy, velvety winter melon soup really can detoxify your body.

Preserved Pork (Pinongian)

Pinongian is one of the traditional foods that have been handed down from generation to generation of KadazanDusun people. This is the best way to store food for longer lasting, especially in the days before there are refrigerator. In that time, when they got more result in their hunting or fishing, they need to preserve it for not to become stale and rotten.

The preservative used is the Flesh of the seeds from the tree Pangium edule or known locally as Pangi (called buah keluak or kepayang in Malay). It widely grows in the forest. The preservative quality of the seed is very potent (contain hydrogen cyanide) that eating it raw can induce nausea, vomiting and even death. The fresh pangi need to soak for a few days and then smoke-dry before can use it flesh as preservative.

Actually Pinongian is different from Bosou even though both been through fermentation process. The difference is, bosou being preserved to get it sourish taste while pinongian preserved in order to make the meat or fish will last longer. Bosou can be eaten directly after the fermentation, while pinongian must be cooked before serving, even after preserved within a period of time.

Here I would like to show you how to make pinongian. This time I used the pork skin and some pork lard. However you can follow the same method if you want to preserve fish or other meat.

Ingredients:

• 1kg skin and pork lard
• 10-15 pangi

Step 1:

Pound pangi flesh into coarse powder

Step 2:

Clean, cut and drain the skin and pork lard

Step 3:

Sprinkle the pangi over the meat

Step 4:

Mix until well combined

Step 5:

Store in airtight bottle, container or jar

 ***We will see the results within 2 -4 weeks. More fragrant and more delicious if preserved for a longer period***

Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

I have tried many version of this dish since my childhoods. It is actually a popular Chinese Hokkien dish known as Tau Yue Bak. The Chinese version is always cooked with some boiled eggs and sometimes with some mushrooms. There are many ways to cook this dish.  Some like it with lighter sauce, some like thicker sauce and some even like it in spicy version. Actually there is no regulation on how it should be; the important thing is how the taste will satisfy your taste bud.

KadazanDusun modern cuisine is more influenced by the Chinese cuisine especially in pork dishes.  My mother's version for this dish is very simple in which the ingredients needed are only soy sauce, pork and some other simple ingredients.  As far as I remember, she never adds hard boiled egg to her braised pork.  

My kids doesn't really likes spices such as cinnamon stick and star anise, so  I made some modifications in my version by adding some type of ingredients that I feel fit and able to add more flavor and fragrance to the dish.  My version is slightly dry with a bit of oil out of the meat.   I'm also accustomed to not adding boiled eggs into it.

Ingredients:

1. 1kg pork shoulder
2. 2 whole bulbs of garlic
3. 1inc galangal (mashed)
4. 1tsp Chinese 5 spices powder
5. 5tbsp dark soy sauce
6. 5tbsp light soy sauce
7. Some rock sugar
8. 2 cups of water

Methods:

• Rinse and cut pork shoulder into bite size.
• Combine all ingredients (except water) in a pot. Marinate for a about 30 minutes.
• Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the meat juice are slightly dried out.
• Pour in water and let to boil.
• Once the water boils, lower the heat and braise for 40 minutes or until the meat is cooked thoroughly and become tender. Stir occasionally to prevent it from burning.
• Serve with rice.

*** This dish is very flexible. You can adjust the taste if more light soy sauce or dark soy sauce are needed and add more water if you like it with more gravy ***

Fish head with Watercress Soup

Soup is a must dish in KadazanDusun daily meal.  It is such a complementary to every meal in lunch or dinner. Even in a simple meal, there must be a sup.  Sometimes it can be served alone as a main dish and eaten with plain white rice.

My recipe for today is the fish head soup with watercress. As stated by Kitchen Flavours in his watercress soup recipe, The watercress is really nutritious and delicious as it helps to reduce heatiness and detoxifies the body. 

Watercress does have many benefits for health.  Compared to raw and boiled broccoli, raw tomato and a raw apple, Watercress is the better source of vitamins C, B1 and B6, K, E, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc.

Everybody knows that fish is an excellent source of protein, a vital source of essential fatty acids and contains a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.  So the combination of fish head and watercress soup not only tastes delicious but also full of nutrients.

Fish Head with Watercress Soup

Ingredients:

1. 1 fish head
2. a bunch of watercress
3. some ginger (thinly sliced)
4. some white part of scallion (sliced)
5. 1 tbsp sesame oil

Seasoning:

1. 1tbsp salt
2. a pinch of anchovies granules
3. a pinch of pepper powder

Method:

• Clean the fish head and cut into medium pieces.  
• Coat with cornstarch, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper powder. Marinate for a while. Fry until golden brown.  Set aside.
• Clean and simply pluck the leaves and the soft part of the watercress stems.
• Heat up sesame oil in a pot.  Fry ginger until aromatic and then add in sliced white part of scallion.
• Pour about 1litre of water and bring to boil.
• Add in fish head followed by seasoning ingredients. Boil in medium heat for a while.
• Add in watercress, simmer for about 30 minutes.  Stir gently occasionally for fish head is not destroyed.  
• Serve hot.
  

Fried Fish With Tamarillo Sauce

Do you know this fruit? Its call Tamarillo (Cyphomandra betacea) or Tree Tomato Plant, in same family with the potato, tomato, eggplant and capsicum. It’s native to Central and South America. According to wikipedia Prior to 1967, the tamarillo was known as "tree tomato" in New Zealand, but a new name was chosen by the 'New Zealand Tree Tomato Promotions Council' in order to distinguish it from the ordinary tomato and increase its exotic appeal.  Nowadays it’s known as tamarillo in many country but still called Tree Tomato in most of the world.  Tamarillo rates highly as a source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants when compared to other common fruits and vegetables.

• Low in fat and hence calories
• Low in carbohydrates and the carbohydrate present is mainly in the form of fiber
• High in potassium but extremely low in sodium, which is a desirable balance for a healthy diet
• Contains other trace elements important for health, in particular copper and manganese
• Source of fiber
• Source of Vitamin A, B6 and C. Also contains Vitamin E and Thiamine

Here in Sabah it rarely found and only grow in the highland area surrounding the Mount Kinabalu.  Here we call it kambatus kayu (in English means tree tomato). It’s has a unique and exotic taste.  The flesh of the tamarillo is tangy and mildly sweet and may be compared to kiwifruit, tomato or passion fruit. The skin and the flesh near it have an unpleasant bitter taste. In my traditional dishes the raw tamarillo usually used in cooking taduk ( batang keladi masak asam), stir-fry with salted fish or anchovies and to make a pickle. The ripen one usually eaten fresh.  Inspired by the recipe I got from the internet, I manage to create my own simple tamarillo sauce using the ripe tamarillo.  Unique taste yet very delicious.

poor image ~ mobile upload

Fried Fish with Tamarillo Sauce

Ingredients:

1. Some fried fish 
2. 5 tamarillo
3. 1 red chili (sliced)
4. 2 garlic (mince)
5. 2tbsp tomato sauce
6. 2tbsp oyster sauce
7. 1tbsp sugar
8. 1tbsp pepper powder
9. 1tsp corn starch diluted in a little water

Methods:

• Make a small cross in the bottom of each tamarillo with a sharp knife.  Dip the tamarillos into hot boiling water about a minute to easily peel off the skin.
• Remove seeds and finely chopped.
• Stir-fry minced garlic until fragrant.  
• Stir in chopped tamarillo and cook gently for about 2 minute.
• Add in sliced red chili, tomato sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and pepper powder.  Stir until well combined.
• Thicken the sauce by a little corn starch water.
• Pour the sauce over the fried fish.  Ready to serve.

Fried Fish with Tamarillo Sauce

Chicken Wings in Tuhau Flavor

Just mention the word 'Tuhau', what would be surely reflected in your mind is the sambal tuhau. Actually tuhau not only delicious to made as sambal.  It can also be mixed in any type of cooking.  Although the smell of the tuhau is quite strong but it has a slight natural sweet taste. If you use it in your cooking especially meat dishes, you should not add too much flavoring such as MSG because the tuhau itself can generate the natural flavor of the dishes.

Today's recipe is about the chicken wings cooked with tuhau and some other ingredients. It is quite easy to prepare and tastes so good. Here's the recipe.

Chicken Wings in Tuhau Flavor

Ingredients:

4 chicken wings
2 tomato (sliced)
1 stem tuhau (sliced)
some ginger (sliced)
some garlic (sliced)
1 tbsp chili paste

Seasoning ingredients:

1. 1tbsp light soy sauce
2. 1tsp oyster sauce
3. 1tsp sugar
4. 1tsp  pepper powder
5. half glass of water

Cooking Method:

• Cut chicken wings into 3 section. Keep aside.
• Stir fry sliced garlic, ginger and chili paste until fragrant. 
• Enter chicken wings and sliced tuhau.  Stir until well combined.
• Add in all seasoning ingredients followed by half glass of water.  
• Bring to simmer until the gravy is almost dry.  Add in sliced tomato, stir for a while.  And its done. 

Chicken Wings in Tuhau Flavor