This is one of the fastest soup to prepare that is perfect to clear up sinus problem – the mint and egg soup. Everything can be done in about 10-15 minutes, and makes a perfect companion to another dish, or even to be consumed just by itself.
I’ve always thought that making the mint and egg soup means chucking everything into the pot and just boil away. As it turns out, the process involves a few more steps in between, and here’s how you do it:
the two main ingredients – mint leaves and egg
Ingredients (for two as companion dish):
with some oil, fry ginger, garlic, then the mint leaves
Cooking instructions:
make a scramble egg, almost, then add water and chicken cube
So there you go, 2 small bowls of mint and egg soup ready to serve. The frying process, together with the addition of ginger and garlic really brings out the flavor of the soup. The only little tricky part with the mint soup is that mint leaves generally doesn’t last very long in the fridge before turning black and bad. You should always cook it at the lastest 1-2 days after purchasing for best results.
Get cooking! There are more recipes here.
and it’s ready to serve after boiling for a couple minutes
P/S: the recipe for prawn dish on the photo above is here.
It’s been a while that this blog features any fancy dining experience, so the invitation from Tanzini Upper Deck came just at the right moment.
Situated at the 29th floor in G Tower, Tanzini Upper Deck features a double volume (ermm.. aka very high ceiling) dining room complete with custom made star-lights which. Coupled with the full view of the magnificent Petronas Twin Towers, the ambiance is about as good as one can wish for.
Tanzini Upper Deck at G Tower
Tanzini Upper Deck only offers 4-6 course degustation menu and private functions, if you’re looking for ala carte dining, that would be Tanzini just a level below.
While waiting for everyone to arrive, we started off the night with a glass of Louis Roederer Champagne, a non-vintage champagne comprises 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, and 20% Pinot Meunier. I’m not exactly a wine critic, but the fruity aroma and full texture of this drinks makes it one of the better champagne I remember having.
Lollipop Scallops, Halibut-Salmon “Mokume Gane”
We tried three types of appetizers, starting with a daring display of creativity in the lollipop scallops. It was in essence, grilled scallop on a stick encased with caramelized sugar. Sweet and savory, a departure from the normal preparation which tends to go towards the salty side. Interesting nonetheless.
Halibut-Salmon “Mokume Gane” is inspired by Japanese mixed metal patterns. In this instance, using halibut and salmon that results in the orange/white pattern. Served with house pickled ginger, lemon grass-calamansi granita, candied hojiso (shiso leaf), and horse radish. The taste was quite distinctly Japanese for me, and in a very good way.
Black Truffle Custard
Another choice of appetizer is the black truffle custard that comes in three parts – truffled egg-mushi, a squid ink cone with sweet corn, and finally, prawn noodle with trout roe.
This was almost a 3-in-1 dish. I love the truffled egg (kinda reminds me of the foie gras egg in Gu Yue Tien, though they are different) and enjoyed the textures of prawn noodle with trout roe. The final third of the dish though, was overpowered by the sweetness of the corn that very little hint of squid ink was apparent.
“BLT” soup – bacon marmalade, lettuce m-sponge, tempura soft shell crab
Next up was a choice between the two soups we tried.
Chef Eugene’s interpretation of “BLT” was our first soup. Veloute de tomates, bacon marmalade, 30″ lettuce m-sponge, and tempura soft shell crab.
I’ve never tasted bacon, lettuce, and tomato quite this way before, and I gotta say it was very impressive and daring. The soup was like a very supped up (pardon the pun) version of tomato soup. It was quite delicious.
Smoked Oyster Tea
Should you choose the smoked oyster tea as the choice of soup instead, you won’t be disappointed. This dish was a demonstration of the perfect harmony in consomme of oyster, fenugreek (herb), smoked trout roe, ginkgo, and oyster kara-age (similar to tempura).
The soup is poured just before eating, and rightly so, because 2 minutes later the crispy skin of oyster kara-age would’ve become soggy.
Ox Tongue Yakitori and House Muscovy Duck
After appetizer and soup, we moved onto starters.
Ox tongue yakitori and house-cured muscovy duck were the two dishes to be chosen from the menu.
On one hand, the fancier ox tongue dish comprises of miso-ginger infused ox tongue skewer, fennel in Yuzu dressing, asparagus kimchi, and fried béarnaise. The ox tongue was very good in its delicate taste and texture, fried bearnaise was interesting, but the asparagus kimchi though, was a surprise that wasn’t exactly in a good way. I felt that it was a little bit out of place.
the duck dish, on the other hand, was excellent! Plum sauce, pop rocks & melon galia, truffled potato stuffed bok choi, and litchi glass are the ingredients. Chef Eugene got this one perfectly executed, it just tasted very very good.
Redefined “Aussie Pie”
We had an intermezzo in the form of some sorbet which acted as a palette cleanser, after that was the main dishes.
Out of the 3 choices, I selected the Redefined “Aussie Pie” - glazed hilside farm lamb loin in house stock, kataifi, truffled mashed peas, vegemite orb, and sautéed vegetables. This dish was another display of art, and the good news was, it actually tasted rather good. The lamb loin was almost a little too dry for my liking, but that was just me nitpicking a little.
“Uncle Sam” Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks, Desconstructed English Man’s Treat
Haze had the “Uncle Sam” Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks - slow braised wagyu in rye stock, grilled king trumpets, dark chocolate crouton, and seasonal vegetable. This turned out to be one of the weaker dish, and we felt that it was actually a little bit of a waste to braise a good piece of meat. Truth be told, it was a disappointment.
The third main dish was the Deconstructed English Man’s Treat, basically chef’s interpretation of the classic fish and chips, with fillet of marbled goby fish & carbonized batter, violet potato, glazed savoy cabbage, texturized garlic oil, and 62 Celcius organic egg yolk. Eiling, who ordered this dish, had this to say:
“This is a very complicated dish but I like the contrasting textures and the egg yolk certainly is a unique addition.”
Sweet Ending: Flamed Popcorn Gelato
The dinner ended with flamed popcorn gelato – hazel streusel, bruleed banana, black elderberry glazed fuji apples, and salted caramel toast.
The presentation of the dessert really placed an exclamation mark to the chef’s creativity. It was served with the smoke from dry ice overflowing the table, and some Grand Marnier poured onto the glazed apple for the flame. The spirit did make the dessert a bit bitter, but I actually love it bitter so that suited me well (not so for the girls).
KY, Eiling, Haze at Tanzini Upper Deck
All throughout the dinner, chef Eugene came out and explained the meaning and intricacy of each dishes, which made a world of difference. Service too was excellent throughout (but this is an invited food review, so your mileage may vary).
Most importantly, you might ask, is the price:
RM 155++ 4 course dinner
Address:
Tanzini Upper Deck
Level 29, GTower
199 Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.1590, 101.7200
Tel: 03-2168 1899
This Thai minced pork cucumber soup is something that we came across while staying over at Khaolak for degassing purposes after a satisfying live-aboard diving trip at Similan Islands.
The soup was so good that when we came home, Haze and I tried to re-create the same dish at home, and I think she got it pretty close. Here’s the resulting soup that is somewhat healthy, simple to make, and may I say, quite delicious. 
Thai Minced Pork Cucumber Soup
Ingredients:
ingredients are simple, we use fresh cucumber
Instructions:
minced meat and cucumber is a great combination
This soup usually comes with tong fun (glass noodle) so if you wanna add that, do go ahead. For even more flavorful soup base, feel free to add chicken/pork bones too.
Happy cooking!
It’s been a while since I posted the last recipe, so here’s another simple to make soup dish that anyone can make at home – Chinese corn and spare ribs soup. If you want it without pork, feel free to substitute spare ribs with chicken wings or bones.
I use a pressure cooker for this, but a normal pot would work too if you just increase the cooking time a factor of 2-3. Preparation time for this dish is less than 10 minutes.
corn, red dates, dried cuttle fish
The ingredients are fairly simple to source, and they aren’t expensive either. This is good for 4 small bowls of soup
boil the spare ribs for a while to remove impurities
Now the cooking instructions:
just boil everything in pressure cooker for at least 45 minutes
The result is a clear soup that has the taste of sweet corn and spare ribs infused in it. It goes well with steamed rice or even just on its own.
Easy, healthy, and delicious, try it!
add a sprinkle of spring onion and you’re done – corn & spare ribs soup
As of writing, this blog has been in existence for slightly more than 6 years, and now I can proudly say that I appeared on national TV on the first day of CNY for something that has absolutely nothing to do with kyspeaks.com.
The title of this blog post too is appropriate, as I got to watch this segment of Malaysia Hari Ini on the first day of Chinese New Year 2011 with my mom, at ungodly 7 a.m. There was a total of one person who noticed the show and informed me via twitter.
Malaysia Kini crew – with the host Nazrul
It all started out with Nazrul informing me about this opportunity to do a segment on Chinese New Year reunion dinner a couple weeks before CNY. Being a modest attention seeker that I am, I took it up despite knowing the fact that it has to be done in *gasp* .. Malay language.
Nazrul, Haze, Kim, Gareth were all in the video
The video was taken about a week prior to CNY, and since mom wasn’t around yet at the time, I invited Kim, Gareth, and his mom who’s from all the way across the globe (yes, this Shaolintiger is really a mat salleh). Haze, of course, was the co-host.
vegetable, black chicken herbal soup, steamed fish, kung pao chicken
For the dinner, I cooked black chicken herbal soup, steamed golden pomfret fish, kung pao chicken, and stir fried baby bok choy.
Since I also labeled this post in “cooks” category, there might as well be recipe – follow the links for kung pao chicken and steamed pomfret.
10 herbs black chicken soup preparation method
As for the black chicken herbal soup, the recipe is surprisingly simple.
Ingredients:
Steps:
So there you go! Do view the video and tell me what you think about my spoken Malay, hehehe.
