Tropical Spice Garden Penang

Beside cari makan (food hunting) in Penang, we also dropped by Tropical Spice Garden, Southeast Asia's One and Only Award-winning Spice Garden..

First time see a giant pandan leaves (screwpine leaf) and it is taller than us..

my kids were enjoyed swinging on this giant swing...

Lets start the walk into this garden..

We were told this serai wangi can effectively chase away mosquito, it is difference from the normal lemongrass that we use to cook..

After half an hour of walk, we went to the "Tree Monkey restaurant" in this garden and enjoyed a cool fruit drink and eating a mouth-watering Thai fish cake (i made this before, my recipe here)..we love the natural surrounding of jungle trees, fresh air and awesome bay views of the Andaman sea.

I went home without empty hands, bought these gifts from the gift shop..I especially like the brass net, nice to use when we having steamboat..

Find out more in here-Tropical Spice Garden Penang

Tropical Spice Garden


Lone Crag Villa, Lot 595 Mukim 2,

Jalan Teluk Bahang,

11100 Penang, Malaysia.

Telephone: 604 - 881 1797

Facsimile: 604 - 881 3794

Email : info@tropicalspicegarden.com

Penang famous charcoal Char Koay Teow, Jalan Siam Penang

We just back from a makan trip vacation (food hunting trip) where we went up to nothern part of Malaysia, Penang, Taiping and Ipoh..Our first stop was in Penang,,and we listed a long list of Penang famous street foods to try out. Let me first share with you this famous charcoal Char Koay Teow (Stir fried Chinese flat noodles) at Jalan Siam Penang..

There is no table and chair provided, so we choose to sit in the coffee shop just opposite the Char Koay Teow stall, and be prepared to wait for at least half an hour (we waited for 45mins !!). See this picture you know how tiring to wait for a plate of yummy Char Koay Teow, hehehe..

This stall is running by this old man and helping by his son who is in charge of taking order and deliver the order to customers.

Sorry, i was wrongly focus this picture, hehehe..Anyway, this was the best Char Koay Teow i have ever had, it was stir fried till perfection and full of "wok hei" !! I just love this simple Char Koay Teow with a lot of lard, "si ham" (cockles), egg, bean sprouts and "ku chai" (Chinese chives)...and also appreciate the way how they prepare this noodle by cooking with charcoal..

My son Desmond also gave thumbs up for this plate of yummy Char Koay Teow.

While we are leaving, I still seeing people wait for their Char Koay Teow even rain has started...

The source of lead us to this yummy Char Koay Teow, refer to Malaysia Food, Travel and Tourism blog (VKeong)

Siam Road (Jalan Siam) Char Koay Teow

End of Siam Road

GPS Coordinates: N5 24.925 E100 19.219

Business hours: 3pm to 11pm (Closed on Mondays)

Note: Stall will shift to somewhere at Anson Road after 8pm

** if you wish to cook Char Koay Teow at home, you may refer to my recipe here..

Penang Assam Laksa

Yesterday i shared with you salted fish, and I am going to share you a bowl of spicy, sour, fruity and fragrant Penang assam laksa using fresh fish today. Penang Assam Laksa was voted as CNN’s top 10 yummiest food !!

Actually this laksa is easy to make, the only tricky part is picking the flesh out from the fish..
My mom taught me to use small size of kembung fish as it has better fish aroma..

This is one of the most important ingredient that you should not missed, Hae Ko/ prawn paste..

i like to eat the fish flesh in pieces, so i did not boiled the fish stock for too long..so you can see the stock i prepared is quite clear and not that thick,,you may adjust the cooking time as per your preference..

Penang Assam Laksa
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

Ingredients
1kg Kembung fish / Mackerel fish, remove scales and guts
3000ml water
A small bunch of daun Kesum / Laksa leaf
35g dried tamarind peels

Spice paste
1tbsp chilli paste
8 shallots
10g galangal (blue ginger)
1 lemongrass, take the white part only
5g shrimp paste (belacan)

Seasonings
3tsp salt or taste
3tbsp sugar or to taste
2tbsp fish sauce or to taste

For the bowls
1-2kg fresh Laksa noodles
1 small pineapple, cut small pieces
A bunch of mint leaves
1 cucumber, julienned
2 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1 bunga kantan / torch ginger, thinly sliced
1 large red onion, very thinly sliced
Lime
Prawn paste (Hae Ko)

Method

1. Blend chilli paste, shallots, galangal, lemongrass and belacan till fine paste.
2. Bring water to boil, put in fish, daun Kesum, and tamarind peels.
3. Cook for 10mins, remove fishes from the stock and set aside to cool. Set fire to low and continue to boil for another 10mins.
4. Pick the flesh out of all the fish and discard the bones. Break the fish meat into tiny pieces.
5. Strain the stock in another pot. Remove daun Kesum and tamarind peel.
6. Use the same pot, heat oil and sauté blended spice paste till aroma, add in the fish stock and cooked fishes pieces and few cooked tamarind peels, continue to boil for 45mins over low heat.
7. Add in seasonings, and adjust the taste accordingly.
8. In a serving bowl, add in the Laksa noodles (blanch in hot water first) and garnish all vegetables on top. Pour the Assam Laksa soup into the bowl and serve immediately with a spoonful of Hae Ko/prawn paste.

I am submitting this post to "Muhibbah Malaysia Monday blog event"which hosted by 3 hungry tummies

Fragrant Claypot Salted Fish and Belly Pork 咸鱼花腩煲

This is a dish that usually we like to order when take meal at "Tai chow" hawker stall..Actually it is quite simple to cook this dish at home.

How to easily slice the belly pork thinly? Just freeze the pork for about 3 hours to semi hard, then you can easily slice to very thin slices...

Use this type of salted fish

I am submitting this post to "Muhibbah Malaysia Monday blog event"which hosted by 3 hungry tummies

Fragrant Claypot Salted Fish and Belly Pork咸鱼花腩煲
(recipe source : by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)


Ingredients
350g belly pork, slice thinly
50g salted fish, slice thinly
5 dry red chilli, cut into 1” length
1 spring onion, separate the white part and green part, cut into 1” length
6 slices of ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ onion, cut wedges


Seasonings
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp dark caramel sauce
1/2tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2tsp salt or to taste
2tsp sugar
5tbsp water


1tbsp Shaoxing wine


Method
1. Brown the salted fish in a non-stick pan with little oil, set aside.
2. Mix seasoning in a mixing bowl, set aside.
3. Heat up a claypot, add 3tbsp cooking oil, sauté ginger, garlic, dried chilli, white part of spring onion and onion till aroma.
4. Add in pork slices, fried salted fish and seasoning, stir well for 2-3 mins.
5. Last add in green part of spring onion and Shaoxing wine.
6. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Oreo Pudding a.k.a Sawdust Pudding

When i need to use dairy cream, usually i will buy one big litre instead of small packet since the price is much cheaper if compare to just buy a small packet. But i need to start to figure out what to make when there is some leftover..this time, I replaced Oreo biscuit with Marie biscuit to make this Sawdust Pudding..

Frankly, i did not eat a single cup of this pudding, because this is too fat for me.hehehe. All were finished by my kids..

Oreo Pudding a.k.a Sawdust Pudding
(recipe source: Inspired by Min’s blog)

Ingredients
300ml dairy Whipping cream
85g Oreo biscuits
80g Condensed milk ( you may adjust accordingly)
1tsp vanilla extract ( I use homemade vanilla extract)

Method
1. Crush Oreo biscuits (remove the filling first) finely in a food processor (you can bash-it-in-a-Ziploc-with-rolling-pin method if you don’t own a food processor).
2. Whip whipping cream to soft peaks over a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and water. Add vanilla extract and condensed milk (Suggests you add 2/3 first, taste, then add more if it needs sweetening). Continue whipping until stiff peaks.
3. Transfer the cream into a piping bag. (fitted with a plain 1 or 2 cm nozzle)
4. Place a layer of biscuit into your vessel (individual moulds, mousse rings or cups) and pipe a layer of cream on top. Repeat until vessel is filled.
5. Chill in the freezer for two hours. When serving, leave it out for a bit (around 10 minutes) for it to soften.