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Braised Spareribs with Bittergourd in Bean Sauce Recipe

Thursday, May 31, 2012 | Labels: , , , , | 6 Comments »

I love braised dishes - somehow spareribs go incredibly well in braised dishes and I thought bittergourd or bitter melon would make be a good vegetable to accompany the spareribs.  The savoury bean sauce meanwhile ups the earthiness of the dish.  Chinese bean sauce or also known as 'taucu' in Malaysia is made from yellow beans and is a little reminiscent of the famous Japanese condiment, miso.  Chinese bean sauce has stronger flavours and makes a great base for a lot of dishes, braised or otherwise.

Braised Spareribs with Bittergourd
Bittergourd however may be an acquired taste, a taste which I admittedly only gained not too long ago.  True to its' namesake, bittergourd is bitter but not in an unpleasant way.  You do have to try it though for yourself to decide if you like it!  Anyways, this is a very easy and low-maintenance dish and I do hope you'll give this a try soon.

This post is a part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Snake Beans in Spicy Bean Paste Stir-fry Recipe 辣豆酱炒青豆

Monday, May 07, 2012 | Labels: , , , , | 16 Comments »

There's nothing easier and more satisfying than a good old homestyle simple stir-fry, make it spicy and I'm in for sure.  I have relied on the good old stir-fry on many a tired weeknights and I always end up with a good, relatively healthy and of course always delicious meal.  I have to admit though that I have only recently began to appreciate snake beans.  Snake beans are cousins to the more well known French beans where both are extremely crunchy and good for you.  Snake beans are darker hued and are even firmer in texture so it is advisable to blanch them in some lightly salted water before the actual stir-frying.

Spicy Snake Beans Stir-fry


The beans are simply stir-fried with some fragrant garlic, spicy bean paste and red chili peppers - easy right?  I am a big fan of bean sauces as I just love the earthy fragrance they impart to most dishes.  If you can't find snake beans, you can use French or green beans which will work equally well but do adjust the blanching time accordingly as snake beans are firmer.  I do hope you will give this quick and simple dish a try the next time you pick up some beans at your local grocery store!

Spicy Snake Beans Stir-fry

This post is part of my Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on this blog.

Restaurant Review: Bonga Korean Restaurant at Mont Kiara Solaris

Saturday, May 05, 2012 | 5 Comments »

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend.  I have been hard-pressed for time to cook recently so I thought it would be a good change to feature a review on this blog which is pretty rare.  Bonga is one of my favourite Korean restaurants in Kuala Lumpur so far and I'm quite happy to recommend this authentic Korean eatery for all you Korean food fans in the area.  The restaurant occupies 2 floors and is pretty popular on weekends - so I would recommend for you to make a reservation especially if you're in a big group.  I went to dinner with my friend tonight and I of course purposely asked for a table next to the window for my food photography (lighting) purposes!

Bonga Korean Restaurant - Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur


Korean BBQ Restaurant

Pork belly cooking!
Korean Restaurant - Cooking Samgeopsal (Pork Belly)


Alright, on to the food, we ordered the pork belly (samgyobsal) and rib eye for the barbeque.  The barbeque comes with a bowl of doenjang jjigae (soybean paste broth) which is usually a seafood (this time clams) based broth cooked with some vegetables (usually zucchini) and some tofu.  I really like the soups done at Bonga - it must be the gochujang and the doenjang that they use.  I usually also order the kimchi jjigae but we skipped it tonight.

Korean Doenjang Jjigae (Soybean Paste Broth)

We also ordered the ojingoh muchim which is boiled squid tossed with vegetables in a spicy and tangy concoction made with gochujang, sesame oil, some sugar and possibly some pear juice.  By the way this is my own guess - the restaurant did not share the recipe!  Anyway, this was done well, the squid was cooked just enough and was not rubbery, the different textures in the dish were very pleasing as well with the chewy squid and crunchy vegetables.  The result was very refreshing on the palate.

Korean Ojingoh Muchim - Spicy Boiled Squid


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