Pucuk Paku.

Pucuk Paku (wild young fern shoots) are mostly found growing wild in waist high thick undergrowth near stream in kampung and secondary forest.

You need to be an experienced picker in order to avoid leeches and creepy crawly pests hidden in the undergrowth.

1. Speed is essential.
2. A sharp pair of eyes (as everything looks green).
3. Pick only the young shoots.

Laet week, we went to pick Pucuk Paku in a kampung and came out with bruise and cuts and a bunch full of Pucuk Paku.

A big "SALUTE" to those Pucuk Paku pickers who does it for a living!

A plate of home cooked super fresh, tender and crunchy stir fried Pucuk Paku with dried shrimps.

Delicious Dinner 39.

A series of home cooked dinner by my wife.

Steamed prawns with Chinese Shao Hsing wine-fresh, juicy and succulent.

Toasted peanuts and deep fried Anchovies tossed with oil blended dried red chillies with a sprinkling of coarse sugar-goes well with Teo Chew white porridge, plain white rice or eat it on it's own-can be kept for a few days in an air tight container.

Sliced crispy Bamboo pith shoots cooked with thin, sweet Enoki mushroom, green Gong Cai (King's Vegetable) and slivers of chicken meat-crunchy with a fusion of earthy flavors.

Ong Lai (Goh Kee) Restaurant.

Ong Lai (Goh Kee) Restaurant is a famous established night eatery in the dirty, notorious back lane off Jalan Raja Laut, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city.

My mother likes to eat here because they served most of her delicious old school's food (young guys don't like to eat here unless they are brought there by their parents).

They have a basement dining area, partly air conditioned, alfresco dining and even the kitchen is on the roadside.

The chairs for sitting are much shorter than normal ones-a bit awkward!

Do not be alarm if you see rats scurrying around !

Parking is bad!

Steamed Soong Yee Thau (Bighead Carp-fresh water fish) in superior clear broth filled with Chinese long cabbage, strips of roast pork, lard, mushroom, sour plum, preserved Chinese Mustard and garnished with ginger, red chillies and cilantro-smooth, sweet with lots of thin long fork bones.

Fried Glass noodle (made from mung bean flour)- fine, opaque with a lot of elasticity-fried with shrimp, squid, oyster, strips of pork, lard, Chinese long cabbage, soy sauce and garnished with sprigs of tantalizing Parsley.

Oyster Omelette with a generously amount of odd sizes creamy, briny oyster and coriander leaves-a bit oily but yummy !

Fried Pei Ker (rice flour cake noodle) in lusciously laced Soy sauce-Hokkien style with dried shrimp, strips of pork, lard, Chinese long cabbage and pungent Kow Choy Fah (Chinese Chives).

Kow Choy Far (Chinese Chives) stir fried with pig's innards like crunchy uterus, kidney, liver and lots of lard-delicious.

Total bill:Rm114/
Location:60A, Jalan Raja Laut,
(Behind Bee Seng Hotel),
Kuala Lumpur,

Stevia.

With the price of coarse sugar spiraling to Rm1.90/kg, why not use Stevia as a sweetener or sugar substitute ?

Stevia aka sweet leaf or sugar leaf is a type of green leafy plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family.

It's extracts is 300 times the sweetness of sugar and is attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and to those on a carbohydrate controlled diet.

Just add a leaf or two to your hot drinks or add it fresh to your salad.

I bought it from Cameron Highlands for Rm12/ and is now widely available at our local Pasar Tani.

Xiang Ji Satay House.

Guest post by Michelle.

On our way back from our Singapore's Sales shopping, we made a detour into Melaka city for our lunch.

With my grandmother, a true Nyonya from Melaka with us on this trip, was a blessing because she knows where to go for good food.

She suggested Pork Satay and guessed what ! she directed us all the way to the shop (a walking GPS !).
Not bad for an 80 year old grandmother-we just love her.

Xiang Ji Satay House@ Melaka is located opposite a Chinese school.

Patiently grilling the satay to perfection and replenishing our table with it without a need to do any ordering.

Well marinated pork satay @ 0.60cts/stick with a sweet, sourish, spicy, nutty and aromatic gravy with hints of pineapple and tamarind flavor for dip.

Close up of grilled pig's intestine, liver and lean meat-the five of us ate about 80 sticks-it was more than enough!

Freshly sliced green refreshing cucumber and pungent big onion to cool off the heaty satay.

...........................and Ketupat -firm, white rice, to finish off the meal !

Location: near Jonker Street, opposite SRJK (C) Pay Teck.
50, Jalan Portugis,
Melaka.
Tel:H/P-019-627-8868 /019-667-8868.