No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

Petai (Parkia speciosa) or 'stink bean' which belongs to the legume family is harvested from tall rainforest trees that can be found in tropical countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.  The name 'Petai' is Malay and it is relatively common in Malay dishes and also can be eaten raw as in a Malay salad. So, why the name 'stink bean'?  Well, after you've eaten them, you'll begin to notice some changes, like your urine and faeces which will bear the unmistakable petai smell! Barring the offensive smell, the petai has a lot of health benefits.  It helps to lower blood sugar in diabetes and reduces cholesterol.  Also helps to lower blood pressure and aids digestion.  On top of that it's also a good source of minerals, high in calcium, phosphorous, potassium and iron.  Also a good source of vitamins C and E.  In short, it is one of the most nutritional local vegetable. Recipe for Sambal Petai Prawns...

This is another dish taken from the book, Women's Weekly - 'Toss', a simple seafood stir-fry.  A very tasty and colourful dish which pairs well with plain hot white rice. Recipe for Chilli, Salt and Pepper Seafood Ingredients 200 gm prawns 100 gm fresh scallops, roe removed 2 capsicums, sliced 1 red chilli, finely chopped 1 tsp seasalt 1 tsp light soya sauce 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp sugar Some spring onions Method Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tails intact. Combine seafood, salt, sugar and black pepper in a large bowl. Heat some oil in a wok, stir-fry seasoned seafood till cooked, dish out, set aside. In the same wok, add in some oil, stir-fry the capsicums and chopped chilli for a while, toss in the seafood, add light soya sauce and spring onions.   Dish out and serve immediately with white rice. This post participates in 'Cook your Books # 1' hosted by Kitchen Flavours.

I was doing a stock take of my pantry when a round pack of 'something' caught my eye.  Goodness, I had completely forgotten all about the pack of Vietnamese rice paper that I brought back from my previous trip to Perth in December.   A quick check on the date ..... Best before 30 th September 2013, saved!

A delicous yet easy to prepare mouth-watering sourish curry dish which will definitely tantalise your tastebuds.  Instead of coconut milk, I used sugarless soymilk  and it tasted just as good. This dish will make you refill your bowls or plates with more rice and leave the table, satisfied and contented ........ burp!

A n 'East meets West' straightforward one-dish meal  ~  Spaghetti cooked 'al dente', laced with King crustacean cooked in Asian oyster sauce with baby asparagus on the side.  This is a three-in-one dish of carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber cum vitamins from the greens ~ asparagus. Asparagus , low in saturated fat and very low in cholesterol comes from the edible stem of a plant.  It is also related to  onions, garlic and leeks.  Although there is a wide variety of asparagus, surprisingly, only a handful of them are edible and provide health benefits.  They can be harvested in three colours, mainly, white, purple and green.  Nutrients ...... yes, they are a good source of vitamin K, folate and vitamin C.

I spotted these mini scallops from a seafood wholesale outlet near my house and was surprised when the  proprietress told me that these were local.  The source ..... from Kelantan , a northern east coast state  of peninsular Malaysia.  They ended up in my dish of noodles and weren't too bad, tastewise, sweet and a bit chewy.

I made this seafood rice vermicelli salad and it's not just an appetiser or starter  for me.   It doubled up as another one-dish meal for my dinner and  although  it's light, it can be filling too ..... and what's more, it's really delicious!

This is a very simple home-cooked stir-fry dish which I'm sure most of you will know how to prepare.  I fried the cauliflower and red capsicum to just three quarters cooked as I prefer them to be crunchy ..... pairs well with a bowl of hot white rice.

There are two types of Bihun~Rice Vermicelli, one is thin and fine which is suitable to serve with soup as they soften easily when soaked.  The other is thicker and tougher which is best for stir-frying.  These take a longer time to soften and as such they don't break easily during the stir-frying process.

This is my 3rd attempt at making this and yes, I've finally managed to concoct the recipe for the batter.  This batter has a crispy texture and stays that way for quite a while.  These fritters were devoured in no time!

This is my last batch of prawns that I've stocked up for CNY and I cooked this for 'Chap Goh Mei', the last day of the lunar New Year and the first 15th day of the year.  These prawns have been in the freezer for more than a month, yet they stayed 'springy' and succulent.  Do hop over to this site if you want to know more of 'Chap Goh Mei' in Malaysia.