ELEPHANTS ARE LOYAL FRIENDS

25/6/2016
A short weeknd trip to Lumut/Sitiawan

It was a clear sunny day and as the bus cruised along the winding road, it was time to catch up on my reading and this is an interesting book, which I managed to finish by the end of the trip. 

Our stopover  at Teluk Intan

What a cute little hair saloon... 

Malaysia popular "Leaning Tower" 

you can read about the history here...

Now you can pay to go up the tower... 

one for the family... 

Soon, our bus arrived at the destination...

the Lumut waterfront, nearby is the Jetty Terminal.

colonial style building... leading up to the lobby/reception area where we were welcomed by the hotel owner cum guide, Mr. David. 

the spacious airy dining room where we had our lunch, which is very simple buffet before checking into our rooms. 

the swimming pool does look inviting but none of the ladies brought along swimming gear except my brother KK who did some solo laps later that evening. 

the long verandah leading to individual chalets/rooms.. quiet and peaceful surroundings. 

The rooms were simple and basic and no free coffee/tea and toiletries were not available. However the room and toilet were clean though and I did managed to get a goodnight rest.  

After our lunch, Mr. David showed us around the place. First to handmade mee sua factory...

the mee sua ready for the "pulling" and drying... and from these short strands....

Uncle demonstrated the pulling of the mee-sua into long thin strands (yes in the hot sun). 

Truly a "Hot" job that no young generation could want to do now, as Uncle lament.  So to show our support for this home industry, we all bought packets of the mee-sua... only RM10.00 for a packet of  20 each. 

Passing through the old street of Sitiawan... 

to the historical site  where Sitiawan was started..

Sitiawan was  formerly known as Kampung Sungai Gajah Mati, the place where 2 large elephants were drowned. Both elephants were overloaded with tin ore and one of them got stuck in the mud in the low tide. The other elephant refused to leave his friend, even though efforts were made to save them. As the high tide came both the elephants were drowned. Hence the villagers gave the name "setia kawan" (loyal friend) and soon it shortened to be known as Sitiawan.   

you can get fresh fish supply here when the trawlers return in the evening.. 

The Dindings River 

derelict official building by the riverside..

We went back to the hotel for our tea-time and rest.

 

only banana cake and sardine sandwiches with hot coffee and tea..

After enjoying our tea-time, we went to our rooms for our shower and siesta before our dinner.

Dinner was recommended by Mr. David's sister to a restaurant for some of the popular Foo-Chow dishes :

Appetiting sourish Fish maw soup 

orh chien aka fried oyster omelette..

Mixed vegetables 

Honey fried chicken.   

Day 2 : 26/6/2016

Breakfast was at 7.30 am. and since we (my sister and myself) were up early and we decided to go to the waterfront to catch the sunrise....  

Tourism to Pangkor Island (the jetty terminal is located here) and the building of the Royal Malaysian Naval Base had brought some rapid development to Lumut.  

big playground but all quiet now...

a navy ship docked by the waterfront..

Not that awesome but still the sunrise slowly brighten the day....  

It was so quiet and peaceful that even the cats came out to play....

There is a strong Foochow influence in Sitiawan.  The early immigrants came from Fujian province in China in 9/9/1903 (double 9 is an auspicious day for the Foochows).  They were recruited by the British to grow padi in this area. They were given land to live and to grow rice around the river area which is now known as Kampong Koh.   However the soil were found to be not suitable for rice-growing and soon these settlers were soon lured by the prosperous  Kinta Valley  for tin-mining, leaving some of their heritage behind in Sitiawan.....

Visiting the handmade Foochow buns ... flatbread with pork and spring onions filings 

baked in this hot charcoal oven....

Foochow "Kong Pian". 

You really need to pre-order in advance as they do not have stock to sell on the spot.  

Lunch was at a different restaurant and of course, the famous Red Wine Chicken mee-sua. 

Crispy Fried Yam roll.... yes the filling is mashed yam 

fresh succulent sweet sour prawns 

Stir-fry tapioca leaves.  The fried mantou are crispy and slightly sweet - perfect with the braised pig trotters (not in photo) 

Foo Chow fish balls soup 

After lunch, shopping at Lumut Port Town for salted fish and various dried seafood.

We checked out of the hotel after lunch and arrived back in KL after a heavy dinner at Ijok for Beggar's Chicken.   A Big Thank You to the organiser for the enjoyable trip. God bless.  

SOMETHING BLUE

19/6/2016
Sunday
Time to share some foodie post...

This bunga telang is a hardy plant and due to the recent rain, have been flowering profusely.  I have plucked the flowers since I do not need anymore plants and just kept them dried.  These beauties are also very beneficial too: antioxidant and antiaging etc. as listed in a recent article The Sun newspaper.  

So, I tried making my favourite kueh- Kueh Serimuka 

The dried flowers (around 20-25 flowers) are boiled with 100 ml water  and let cool to extract the blue colour. 

Soaked about 300 gm glutinous rice overnight in the fridge .  I separately soaked 100 gm  with the blue water and about 200 gm in plain water.  Drain them well the next day.   

Dilute 180 ml coconut milk with 20 ml of water and 1/2 tsp salt.   Mix the rice with the coconut milk evenly   

I used a square tin and place pandan leaves at the bottom of tray before spooning the white portion at the bottom.  Top it with the blue-coloured rice and steam over high heat for 20 minutes. 

While the rice is steaming, prepared the custard:  200ml thick coconut milk, 3 eggs 150gm caster sugar, 100 ml pandan paste (blending 20 pieces of   pandan leaves with 100 ml water) 4 tbsp cornflour, 5 tbsp plain four (I used hoonswee flour instead) 

Whisk sugar, eggs, santan and pandan paste together over pot of simmering water till lump-free and thick (but still fluid). Remove rice after steaming and press down the rice.  Sieve and pour the custard over steamed rice.  Cover with clingwrap and return to steam over simmering water (low heat) for 30 minutes.    

Allow to cool completely before serving.... best with some kaya... 

With the excess dried flowers and pulut rice, I tried another easy recipe.. Pulut Inti.
Again the rice has to be soaked overnight in the fridge(same method as above).

You can either choose to steam the rice separately in a pan and then assembly/pack them with banana leave before serving.  I decided to use these individual tart moulds instead and remember to grease the moulds with oil. Steam over high heat for 20 minutes. 

I realised after steaming that I should have put the blue rice at the bottom of the tart mould, so that it would look prettier:D 

grated coconut cooked with gula melaka 

Allow to cool  and serve with coconut filling.

Just a quick and easy dinner for the weekend..

My mint and rosemary from the garden for  the couscous with dried cranberries

Pour boiling water over the couscous and cover with clingwrap for 15 minutes.  Fluff them and season with salt, pepper and some lemon juice and zest 

Mix in the chopped herbs and toasted almonds and pinenuts. 

To assembly:  spoon prepared couscous on greaseproof baking paper, place saute mushrooms and salmon fillets (which have been seasoned with sake and salt) and sprinkle sliced chillies and ginger on top.    

Wrap up the parcel and bake at 200C for around 10-15 minutes (depend how big the fish fillet)

Voila.....delicious dinner with minimal cooking.