Tag: Asian

{Quick & Easy} Shallot Oil

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Shallot oil is widely used in many chinese/asian cooking. My grandmother would always have a metal tin full of fried shallots and the fragrant shallot oil. We would have it with her mince meat noodles, wanton noodles, and everything really! Too delicious to resist adding it in the dishes! It adds an extra flavour and depth. It’s really simple to make too! Just that shallots are a little costly here. So use in moderation! hehe

Shallot Oil

1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil

200g shallots, sliced thinly

Steps :

1) In a small pot, heat 1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil on medium heat and add the shallots. Allow it to fry the shallots till they turn golden brown.

2) Strain the fried shallots, reserving the oil in a bowl. Allow the oil to cool down and transfer into a glass bottle. Place some fried shallots in the oil and keep in the fridge. (Should be able to keep for a couple of months)

3) Place the fried shallots in an air tight container. You should be able to keep the fried shallots for 2 weeks.

You could garnish many dishes with the fried shallots, and cooking with the shallot oil just makes the dish more flavourful! Trust me, this is something you should make and keep!

PS : I will be using this in my Prawn Noodle Soup dish that will be posted next! So stay tuned! (: 

Chin Chin

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 I was super excited when the mr texted me to tell me that his colleagues are planning to head to Chin Chin for lunch and I was able to follow them! Chin Chin has been one of those places that you have been planning to go.But the first time I went there, they told me that a table of 3 would only be available after 2 and a half hours. It made me think twice whenever I think about the wait if I did want to head there for a meal! Thankfully, we went during the non-peak hour (2pm) and we got our table for 6 almost instantly!

Though it was 2pm, it will still packed with customers and the smell that greets you when you enter just makes you hungrier and just can’t wait to try their creations! As I was a plus one, I left the ordering to the mr and his colleagues. The only dish I requested was the famous son-in-law eggs! hehe (:

It was an extensive menu. I just wanted to try everything on it! haha So I can only imagine myself back at Chin Chin very soon trying more of the food that we didn’t get to try this time round! Chin Chin is a warehouse converted place that serves delicious Thai food! And boy have I been craving for some thai in my tummy! So every dish had some asian-thai influence on it.

 Our first starter was the kingfish sashimi with lime, chilli, coconut and thai basil. This was really fresh and with every bite you just want to have more. Love how a dish has many textures and this one had the sour, the sweet, the spicy and the crunch! Perfect dish to start our meal.

Our second starter was the DIY spring rolls! These were fun! The addition of the raw vegetables gave the dish a crunch with the very soft and thin handmade skin! What I really liked was the peanut sauce that came with it. Was really delicious! I couldn’t resist and had a second roll. hehe

I love restaurants who have dishes that encourage interactions between their customers at a time by having these DIY spring rolls! I think it’s a brilliant idea! This inspired me to have a DIY rice paper roll dinner which I will be blogging about soon! (:

Salad course : Salt & pepper salmon fin with banana blossom salad. The deep fried salmon skin just melts in your mouth the moment to bite into them. It was seriously delicious! It was our first time having banana blossom. It complimented the crunch of the fish and we just couldn’t get enough of it to be honest! Noms!

This was another really delicious dish. It’s dry curry “pad ped” with vegetables, spiced crusted organic tofu, kaffir lime leaf and thai basil. It’s a dry red curry and had a slight sweetness to it. It was so good! I could easily have this dish and a bowl of rice and be very happy!

 This was from their barbecue side of the menu : the salmon wrapped in banana leaf with coconut red curry, lime and thai basil. It reminded me so much of the otah we can get back home! The flavours were really good, but the mr and I felt that the salmon was a bit overcooked. And make us miss the otah his mum makes! can’t wait to head home and get some at the end of the year!

The stir-fried sirloin with green peppercorns were quite good as well. But wasn’t one of the stand out dishes in my opinion! Was pretty norma. Please don’t get me wrong, it was good, but compared to the rest of the dishes, this just didn’t stand out as much. The slices of the beef were really tender though!

And the much anticipated son-in-law eggs! They were so so good! We first had them when we went to Gingerboy last year, and also learned out lesson. haha We were told we have to put the whole egg in our mouths at Gingerboy and bite in to allow it to explode. But many of us had so much difficulty fitting an egg in our mouth! haha Thankfully this time, we cut it into halves and could really taste all the flavours in our mouths! DELICIOUS! The chilli jam that accompanied these fried eggs with gooey center was perfect. A true balance of flavours. Genius!

We were stuffed when we were done and just didn’t have any space for desserts, which I was actually looking forward to. So till we meet again Chin Chin, I really can’t wait to try the other dishes you have to offer! (:

PS : Chin Chin doesn’t take bookings unless for tables of 10-12. So do head there early (or late) and I highly recommend going there during off-peak hours so you will be able to get a seat and start indulging in the yummy food they have! 

Dessert Story

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There’s alot of buzz about Hong Kong desserts in Melbourne of late. And I can never get enough of it! The Mr and I were at Glen Waverley for dinner one night, and we chanced upon it while roaming around the area. We are relatively new to the area, and wasn’t too sure what we could find there. And we found a place to satisfy our sugar cravings!

Dessert Story

Add : 72 Kingsway, Glen Waverley Vic 3150 

Tel : 03 95618884

When we got there, it was super packed and we the last couple of seats available. Thankfully we were a few minutes earlier, because after us was a line of people wanting to get seats! They had outdoor seats, but it was far too cold to sit outside.

The menu was extensive and there were really heaps to choose from, both hot and cold. We were definitely craving (and needing) something hot so we chose a dessert each! Trust me, it wasn’t easy narrowing down our choices because we just wanted to order everything haha. There were some interesting combinations too! Some of which we never heard or seen before.

I ordered the soya beancurd with black sesame paste. It kinda killed two birds with one stone and satisfied my cravings for both desserts. I was a little worried about the combination cause I never heard of it before. It’s usually sold separately back in Singapore. But I decided to give it a shot anyways and no regrets there! The black sesame paste was really fragrant, thick and smooth and not overly sweet. The beancurd was really smooth as well and just melts in your mouth. I do recommend it if you are a fan of black sesame!

The Mr ordered the tang yuan (汤圆) which are glutinous rice balls in a sweet pandan broth/soup. These are filled with peanut and black sesame. Yes, haha we do like black sesame alot. Plus it’s good for you! (:

It was a good balance between the sweetness of the glutinous rice ball and the sweet soup. Makes me miss those I usually get from China Town Food Street and they sell their glutinous rice ball in a peanut sweet soup! Noms!

I have to admit. If I were given a choice between the peanut and the black sesame, I am more inclined to choose the black sesame. It’s funny how my taste buds have changed through the years. I use to only have the peanut ones, but now I will only order the black sesame ones. hehe Although they are both delicious!

We will definitely be heading back to try the other desserts on the menu! They have desserts from both Hong Kong and Taiwan! Can’t wait to try the shaved ice to see if they are like the ones we had in Taiwan! (:

So what are the kind of asian dessert you enjoy? Would love to know if you have a favourite place in Melbourne to have them so I could pop them in my “to-go” list!