Bollywood Veggies @ Kranji Countryside

Bollywood Veggies is locate in the rustic environment of the northwest Kranji Countryside where many farms are open to the public for touring. This countryside concept provides visitors with opportunities to learn and enrich themselves in the natural environment. So for weekend family getaway from the shopping malls or etc, you might want to consider to bring your family or loved ones to explore some of the beautiful natural agriculture farms in Kranji area.

In this post I would be sharing our recent visit to Bollywood Veggies and it's Bistro known as Poison Ivy. These photos are taken with my iPhone and more photos related to this post can be found in Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page HERE.

Although this is not our first visit to Bollywood Veggies but it indeed it was our first dining experience at their bistro. And upon getting our seats, we notice a colourful menu chalkboard at one end of the entrance displaying their daily special.

Since it was a rainy afternoon, we decided to settle for some hot beverage. Here we had fragrant Fig Tea (back) which had a similar taste to "red bean soup" plus refreshing Lemon Grass Tea (front) which both are their recommended beverages (served in either Hot or Cold). Personally I would prefer Lemon Grass Tea over Fig for it's lovely natural taste and aroma.
Price: S$2.00 each

Moringa Tempura is a signature dish from Poison Ivy Bistro which you must try at least "once" during your visit. These crispy veggies tempura is made with Moringa leaves which are an excellent source of calcium that contain 4 times the amount of calcium in milk and seven times the amount of vitamin C in carrot.

These will be great to served as afternoon tea snack or appetiser before meal. And even though these are fried stuffs, they are not grease to handle as finger food. Just love to munch them and it's quiet additive too! For your information the Moringa Tempura will be served with kacang manis (dark sweet sauce) and some pickled vegetables to enhance the taste of the tempura.
Price: S$4.00 per plate

Their Nasi Lemak was piled with lots of sides dishes but the portion was rather small for it's price. But for small eater or those who wants more varieties of the side dishes, this is something that you can try.

Price: S$6.00 per plate

As I was curious to try their items in smaller portion, I decided to get "The Poor Mans' Platter - For 1" which consist of 3 items + 1 side. From the photo above(top down), this platter comes with:-

~ Warrior's Chicken Curry taste great with tint of spiciness and great aroma of the spices used.

~ Stir-fry Long Bean with Banana is a very appetizing dish to go with even just steamed white rice.

~ Bolly Banana Curry was definitely something interesting to us because of the "banana" in curry. However these banana slices doesn't taste anything like the normal "soft bananas" that we used to eat it taste more like sweet potato or yam(taro).

~ Plus some Crispy Banana Chips at the side. These crispy chips are very addictive which makes you keep popping them one after another. And if you like it, you can also purchased some home at their counter which comes in a 2 sizes packing.

Price: S$10.00 per person (3 items + 1 side)

Just a note on dining at Poison Ivy Bistro, since there is "NO Service charge or GST" included in the total bill, they only accept "CASH" for payment. No credit cards or NETS.

At one corner of the Alfresco area, there is a push cart selling organic products such as Fig, Banana, cooking spices, potted plants and herbs as well as their well-known Banana Cake.

As the rain had stopped after our meal, we decided to take a slow walk and explore around the Garden. Below are a few photos showing some of the plants and herbs in the Bollywood Veggies garden. 

Common herbs such as mint, drill and oregano that we have spotted. And we also surprised to find Wheat Field during our last visit too.

BOLLYWOOD VEGGIES

100 Neo Tiew Road,
Singapore 719026 (Kranji)
Telephone: (65) 6898 5001
Website: http://www.bollywoodveggies.com/

Opening Hours:-
Wednesday to Sunday And Public Holidays; 9.00am to 6.30pm
CLOSED ON: Monday And Tuesday(except Public Holidays)

Note: Dinner is not available as they close at 6.30pm

Payment: CASH ONLY

How To Get There:
- By Driving, click HERE
- By Shuttle Bus, Click HERE

Homemade Fan Choy (饭菜) aka Steamed Rice

Fan Choy (饭菜) is a common breakfast or tea time item which can be found from those stalls selling steamed bao (包) and dim sum. It is a one dish meal which consists of rice that steamed together with char siew (barbecued meat) and hard-boiled egg or sometime with other ingredients such as stewed mushrooms.

From the photos in this post you can see that our homemade Fan Choy is loaded with lots of ingredients as compared to those selling from store bought. This makes it a plus point for homecook dishes whereby we are assured that fresh ingredients are being used as well as we can load it with more stuffing of our choice. So here is my mum's version of easy homemade Fan Choy which she had taught me. It is so easy that it can be done within 30 minutes with 3 key ingredients such as cooked rice, char siew and hard-boiled egg.

FAN CHOY
饭菜

When compare Fan Choy with Lor Mai Gai (糯米鸡）, I still prefer Fan Choy because of it's fragrant char siew sauce and hard-boiled egg. So for my very own homemade Fan Choy, I have added extra portion of char siew and egg as compared to those store bought.

(Make: 6 (4" round)   |  Preparation: 10 minutes  |  Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Cup Uncooked Rice
3 Hardboiled Egg, shelled and halved
200g Char Siew, sliced
1/2 Cup Char Siew Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Hot Water
Some Stewed Shiitake Mushroom, optional
1/4 Cube Chicken Stock Cubes, optional
1 Knot Of Pandan Leaves, optional

Method:-

1. Rinse and cook the rice in rice cooker as per normal by adding in optional pandan leaves and chicken stock cubes for flavour and taste.

2. Mix about 2 tablespoons of hot water with the char siew sauce(obtain from the stall where you buy the char siew) and dark soy sauce to dilute it and set aside.

3. Meanwhile distribute the ingredients (char siew, egg and mushrooms [if using]) evenly in each aluminum foil cases together with 1 - 2 teaspoons of dilute char siew sauce while waiting for the rice to be cooked.

4. When the rice is done, remove the pandan leaves, fluff it with a fork and slowly drizzle in the char siew sauce, mix well according to your preference. (you might not need all the sauce)

5. Divide the rice equally among the prepared aluminum foil cases, steam it on a steamer rack for 5 - 8 minutes on medium heat and served hot/warm.

6. You can keep the fan choy(without steaming) in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. To eat, just reheat it in the microwave oven or steam it for 5 minutes before eating.

NOTE:-
~ The key to make delicious "fan choy" lies on the char siew and char siew sauce used. So try to grab some decent char siew (a little fat makes it taste better) from your favourite stall and also request for some of the special char siew sauce to enhance the colour and flavour of your fan choy.

For those who have emailed me asking for the Fan Choy recipe, I hope this quick and easy version will enable you to prepare your favourite Fan Choy especially for those are staying overseas. If Char Siew is not available at your area, perhaps you can try making some from "Rasamalaysia"(recipe) or "Maameemoomoo"(recipe) and use them for making Fan Choy.

COME AND JOIN US @ #CookForFamily

Recently Daniel from Daniel’s Food Diary has started a little bloggers’ initiative called #CookForFamily. The purpose of #CookForFamily is to encourage family member(s) to get together to prepare any simple homecook dishes in the month of July to promote goodness of healthy home cook food as well as create family bonding time whereby everyone gets to eat together.

If you are keen in joining us for this #CookForFamily, you can refer to Daniel's post over at this link HERE or HERE for more details. Hope to see you onboard soon!

Blueberry Vs Raspberry Compote

Although in Singapore we do not have our own seasonal fruits like berries, stone fruits and etc. But we can easily get fresh seasonal fruits from the supermarkets and every year during summer which is the best time to buy "cheap" berries such as "Blueberry" and "Cherries" that are imported from overseas. So during this season, grab more "berries" and freeze it for later use in your bakes or dishes.

Magic Of BOSCH MCM4100 Food Processor - Part II, Baked Mini Lemon Cheesecake

This is a super "over due" recipe which I found in my "draft" a few days back while sorting out some my posts. I guess it has being almost 6 months since the other related Part I post had being published. So please accept my sincere apologies if you are waiting for this recipe.

I love cheesecake especially those that are baked rather than the non-bake type. And out of all the different types of cheesecake, New York and Boston Cheesecakes are two of my favourite because I love its thick and creamy cheesy flavour.