Merryn’s Ayam Pongteh

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Pounder

I am currently experimenting with different recipes to make my meal prep taste better and I have found a winner. This is the reigning champion – my current favorite! Ayam pongteh is a Nyonya dish made with taucu (fermented soy beans). It has a very distinctive taste that I like. I used the base recipe from Merryn and modified it according to my taste buds. This is for 8 portions:

  • 2.5 kg chicken legs
  • 0.5 kg chicken breast
  • 6 shallots
  • 10 garlic cloves
  • 1 cup taucu
  • 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 4 tbsp palm sugar
  • Potatoes
  • 6 cups water

Fry Garlic

I had to get a pounder for this. You need to slice the garlic and shallots into manageable pieces and pound it to extract the flavor and increase the surface area of the aromatics. You also need a medium to fry them in.

Taucu

I used the chicken skin from the breast meat – you can get a small amount of grease from it. The original recipe has oil but I’m cutting down on excess calories so mine just uses a minimal amount which is skimmed out of the gravy later. You need some agent to fry the minced garlic and shallots.

Pongteh Paste

Next you add in the taucu, light + dark soy, and palm sugar. You might need to break it up into smaller pieces first if it comes in block form. You fry this entire mixture for 30 seconds or so until it forms a sticky paste. You can literally see it bind and bubble up when that happens.

Chicken Arrange

Next I arrange the chicken legs into my rice cooker (you can use a pot, I just don’t have one big enough) with the potatoes on top and pour in the mixture. Add in 6 cups of water and you’re set!

Chicken Pongteh

I didn’t put in the breast meat coz I don’t want to overcook them. I wait until the chicken leg is done cooking (up to your standards when that happens) and take them out before dunking in the breast part into the gravy. I don’t cook my chicken breast long since it goes through a reheating process which dries it up if overcooked. I usually just leave it in for a minute or two and finish up in the microwave when I eat it.

Ayam Pongteh

This is really delicious! I’m a huge fan of it and I can’t wait to prepare it again coz I was the happiest guy eating this compared to other meal preps. My next prep will be chicken curry, let’s see if that can topple this one as my favorite meal! I suspect not coz I like sweet gravy in my meals. I made a lot for this but stored it separately, to add to the containers when I heat it up.

Home Improvement

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Tape

I have my own place now but it’s still quite empty. I spent 20k on an initial renovation but that’s mostly air conditioning, fans, concealed piping and wiring, and kitchen cabinets. The apartment was completely empty when I bought it. Even now, the only fully furnished area is the kitchen. I’m actually okay with that coz I spend most of the time in the bedroom and I never felt the need to clutter my surroundings with stuff.

DIY

However, I have recently got into slowly upgrading things around the house. My minimalist goals were slowly eroded by practicality and the fact that I live above a mall so I tend to pop into this cheap DIY shop to look around. I have accumulated stuff, necessary stuff, but stuff nonetheless. It was a rail for my bath towel at first. Then came the small hook for a face towel beside the bathroom sink coz I thought it’ll look nice. Then a holder for my shaver, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, floss. You know how it is.

Bidet

It’s gotten to the point where I’m actively looking for new things to add to my place. I won’t say it’s a bad thing, doing this gradually over a year has actually become quite pleasant and I must admit I feel a mild consumerist rush when I install something new in my condo. It’s quite fun. Today I bought small wooden hooks for my car keys and house keys as well as a bidet. I don’t have a bidet but I have a tap beside my toilet.

This one only cost RM 16 or so. I was told I can just install it without any tools but the guy told me to buy these adhesive thing so the bidet won’t leak. I put everything together as per instructions and it works fine but the top part is leaking. Not where the tape is, it’s the bit where the connecting hose comes out so I suspect it’s defective. I’ll go and change it tomorrow.

Hook

I’m pretty happy with the hooks though. I’ve always put my keys on top of my fridge, but I thought it’ll be nice to hang it beside the main door instead. I know these are simple and basic things but doing a small project like this every few days makes me happy.

Soy Chicken with Basmati Rice and Broccoli

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Soy Chicken

I’ve always been a huge fan of soy chicken. It’s one of my favorite dishes at the chap fan place. I Googled the recipe for this and settled for one which I thought sounded good. I had all the stuff I needed at home, except for sugar and Shaoxing wine. I’ve completely cut out added sugars from my diet and I never needed Chinese cooking wine. However, I know people put those two in good soy chicken so I used that recipe.

Shaoxing Wine

I’m aiming to eat 204 grams of protein per day so one portion for me is 1 chicken leg + ½ chicken breast. I got 2 kg of chicken legs and there were only 7 inside so one portion is 1 ½ chicken breast only. I marinated the 2 kg of chicken legs and 4 chicken breasts in my huge rice cooker. I knew it was a good idea to get it coz I’m going to use my rice cooker to cook everything too! I don’t have a pot large enough to cook everything at once.

  • 2 kg chicken legs
  • 4 chicken breasts (halved)
  • 1 cup light soy sauce
  • ½ cup dark soy sauce
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup Shaoxing wine
  • 1 cup water
  • Coriander (snipped into small pieces)
  • Garlic (to taste)

(makes 8 portions)

Soy Chicken Marinate

I just chucked everything into the rice cooker and let it sit for 1 hour before turning on the power. This, in hindsight, was a mistake. It takes so much longer to cook chicken legs compared to chicken breasts. I should have cooked the legs first and then added the breasts at the very end. As it turned out, the chicken legs were undercooked and the breasts were overcooked. However, I think if you chop up the chicken legs, they’ll cook around the same time.

Lu Jek

It did taste good though. I would even say it’s delicious! This has topped my favorite meal prep recipe, slightly higher than chicken rice. I kept the sauce separately in the fridge so I can add a spoonful of the soy sauce jelly to the hot microwaved rice. It cools down the rice perfectly so it’s ready to eat instantly.

Soy Chicken Sauce

The collagen in the chicken also allows the gravy to solidify into a bottom layer of jelly and a top layer of fat which makes it easy to skim off the hardened fat after it’s cooled down in the fridge. I pair 1 chicken leg and ½ breast with Basmati rice and broccoli for an awesome meal.

Kok Siong Penang Nasi Kandar, Puchong

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Nasi Kandar Kok Siong

Kok Siong? A Chinese run and operated nasi kandar place? I thought it was pretty unusual too. This is actually a very famous nasi kandar place in Puchong. It’s always packed with people and there’s a long queue for the star – the nasi kandar stall. The stall is located inside a coffee shop of the same name. I popped by for lunch today coz I’ve been craving nasi kandar for a while now.

Nasi Kandar Puchong

I hear the dishes to try here are the fried chicken and the lamb curry. I got both and also their omelet with rice and half a salted egg. I’m not sure if it should be called an omelet coz it’s fried on the outside and steamed on the inside. It tastes more like a Chinese style steamed egg. There’s lots of onions inside for flavor and it reminded me of something you could get in a chap fan stall.

Kok Siong Puchong

This is my plate of nasi kandar. It costs RM 20 for everything. The basic stuff is the rice and gravy – you can also add their omelet to this. Sides are fried chicken and lamb curry and also a salted egg. It’s not an unreasonable charge, I’ve had more expensive nasi kandar for less in Indian places. However, the proof is in the pudding! Is it good?

Kok Siong

I’ve read a lot of glowing reviews before this and people have told me via word of mouth that it’s delicious too so when I ate it I had high expectations. The large crowd here certainly bolstered my opinion. Unfortunately I found everything to be over-salted and I didn’t really enjoy the food. The fried chicken was quite spiced (as in there are lots of spices, not that it burns your tongue) but nothing spectacular. I much preferred the fried chicken at Wong Soon Kee.

I must admit, I questioned myself multiple times. Everyone says it’s good! Are my taste buds really that out of sync? Is the fact that it’s too salty mar my experience? But I eat 3 packets of Mi Sedaap all the time! I’m used to sodium overload. Did I go when I wasn’t hungry? No, I was famished! I concluded that it’s probably just not my thing. I won’t go again but I ate everything on my plate (mostly coz I don’t like wasting food). However, plenty of people like this so your mileage may vary.

Basmati Chicken Rice in a Rice Cooker

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Rice Cooker

I have had the craving for chicken rice for a week now but I had to finish my meal prep before I can cook a new batch of food. I also didn’t have a rice cooker. I needed a big one coz this recipe chucks everything – rice, chicken etc into the pot at once. I dropped by Citta Mall yesterday and picked up a large 2.8 liter rice cooker for just RM 146. Good price.

Chicken Rice Ingredients

You need:

  • Chicken leg (drum and thighs)
  • Basmati rice (you can use any rice but I only have basmati)
  • Chicken stock
  • Spring onions
  • Coriander
  • Ginger

Chicken Rice Pot

I also bought some side greens coz I want to consume enough fiber. It’s optional. Some people like to eat this with a garlic chilli mixture but I’m particular to the sweet dark soy sauce from Indonesia so I got that inside. The prep is really easy, just wash the rice, put it into the rice cooker as if you’re cooking rice. Next, salt the water and dissolve in a few chicken stock cubes. Spread the ginger slices all over the rice. Finally layer the chicken on top and put a few stalks of spring onions to add an aromatic note to the rice.

Chicken Rice Cooker

Press the rice cooker button and the whole thing will be done as soon as the rice finishes cooking. I usually eat skinless chicken breast but the chicken rice gets most of its flavor from chicken skin so I feel that using chicken leg is better in this recipe, even though it’ll increase the fat content by quite a bit. Some people also put a bit of sugar into the water but I don’t have any at home. I’ve quit eating sugar for almost a year now.

Chicken Rice

It’s actually very delicious, yet simple to cook. I’m very fond of Hainanese style chicken rice though, so your mileage may vary. 1.8 kg of chicken leg makes 7 portions, each with a drum and thigh each. I’m not sure of the macros on these things though. I’m on clenbuterol right now so I can afford to be a bit fast and loose with my food intake, at least till I cycle off at the end of the week.

Stir Fried Marmite Mushrooms Recipe

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Marmite

I’ve been trying to eat healthy since I’ve started hitting the gym regularly. I go six days a week (1 rest day) and I’ve been getting really good results that I want to start off this post with a shot of my back. Haha! I’ve been working those shoulders and lower back for 3 months and it’s starting to look pretty sweet, if I say so myself.

Back

Anyway, one thing I’ve been eating a lot of lately are mushrooms. Why mushrooms? Well, mushrooms are the best food for dieters! 100 grams contains only 22 calories! It’s has a lot of important nutrients and it’s relatively high in fiber so it’ll fill you up. This is my recipe for stir-fried Marmite mushrooms!

You will need:

1. Assorted fresh mushrooms
2. Marmite
3. Coriander
4. Butter and garlic

I got a mixture of enoki, brown, button and Portobello mushrooms but any fresh mushrooms would do. Slice up some and leave some whole – this is mostly for texture when you eat it, you don’t want everything to have the same shape and texture in a dish.

Garlic

Next, chop up some garlic. You need garlic for most dishes. Fry the garlic with a little bit of butter until slightly brown.

Cooking

Add the mushrooms into the pan.

Mushrooms

Add 1 teaspoon of Marmite. A little goes a long way here.

Mushies

You want to stir fry them until they’re soft and bleed out a little water.

Coriander

Cut the end (stem) of the coriander into small 1/2 inch sections and add to the mushrooms when almost done. This will add a lot of taste and the cooking process will soften the usually tougher stems so it’s easier to eat.

Stir Fried Marmite Mushrooms

Garnish with the leaves of the coriander and serve hot. I love eating this coz it’s delicious and the Marmite contains Vitamin B and folic acid so I’m getting a lot of nutrients while at it. I’m also trying to cut sodium from my diet so by adding Marmite, I can cut out salt and it still tastes good! I’m cutting weight now so I have this meal in addition to 1 whole rotisserie chicken (for protein) most days. Try it out, you’ll be surprised such a simple dish can taste so good!

Do check out their Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/marmitemalaysia/
I saw some really good recipes up there perfect for CNY.

Love Live! Live Action Music Video

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I made this “live action” music video on Sunday! It’s my first attempt at something like this. The cosplayer’s name is Mindy Mica and she was kind enough to spare some time for this shoot. There was an event at Klang Parade and I noticed Christmas decorations were up so I thought of making a festive themed one. The song is Jingle Bells ga Tomaranai – the new Aqours collaboration song with the School Idol Festival mobile game. There was a snowglobe thing which had air pumped inside to inflate it into a spherical shape at the mall, this was where most of the “snow” scenes were done. You can actually go inside, it’s RM 5 per pax and you can probably fit 3-4 people in there. The rest was filmed around the mall.

This is one of those by-fans-for-fans things, it’s content I like to see as a Love Liver so I thought of producing some to put out there too.

Waffle Platter (RM 48) at MISS with Kapiti ice cream

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I have been abstaining from eating candy, chocolates and ice cream for weeks. I haven’t even touched added sugars in a long time – it’s always unsweetened coffee or Chinese tea when I eat out. This is an allocated Cheat Meal (TM) for being so good for so long. Haha. There’s toast, waffles, nuts, sauces, chocolate, fruits (strangest addition was grape tomatoes) in a huge platter. I had already eaten one savory meal prior to this (at the start of the video) so it was a challenge trying to finish this with just 2 pax. I think it’s meant for 4-6 people. Still, we tried! Turn on CC for English subtitles!

Cigar Kampung Chicken

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I thought this was pretty interesting. It’s 1 whole chicken smoked with applewood chips and it tastes pretty good. It takes 20 minutes to arrive coz it’s cooked to order. I had this at the Black Market outlet below my new place. I just moved to Main Place and was searching for something to eat when I saw this. Yeah, I ate 1 whole chicken! It’s not very big though, it’s one of those free range kampung chickens. I’m trying to eat less carbs now so it’s only protein and vegetables.

Vietnamese Street Food in Ho Chi Minh City

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I was in HCMC this weekend, just went for 3D/2N for some righteous Vietnamese food. I like pho but the thing I crave for the most is bahn mi – I ate it three (3) times during my trip, at 3 different stalls and bakeries! The first one was the best – the bread was crusty, soft, yet fulfilling at the same time. Some places have an overly soft baguette which I don’t personally like – I prefer the bread to have a bit of bite to it. I also had pho, com ga (chicken rice) and Vietnamese coffee! There was an unusual dish consisting of pork blood porridge with random pig organs on the side but I didn’t include it here coz it’s a mukbang – stay tuned, I’m editing it now.

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