Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee

The famous Sarawak "Jia Xiang Mee" has about more than 6 outlets scattered in different area of Singapore. Till now, we have tried about 3 times in their Vivo City, Compass Point and Thomson branch. According to the menu and write up, their noodle is Air-Flown fresh from Sarawak Kuching and their wanton skin is thin and smooth. They have different choices of dried Kolo Mee such as Abalone, prawns, wanton and etc.

The photo feature here is their Signature Dish of Kolo Mee with Abalone slices. Friendly speaking, you can ask for more when you pay for a bowl of noodle at S$8.90. But we are just curious on what kind of Abalone they will be using.... and I guess from the photo you can see whether is it worth to pay the S$8.90 :p Other than the so called "Abalone slices", there were plenty of ingredients such as - lots of green vegetables, minced pork, char siew, fried wanton and in the separate bowl of soup there are 2 prawns and 3 wantons.

Em... for me as I was in a mood of having curry, I decided to give their curry noodle a try. I have tried a few curry noodles from those famous stalls selling Chicken Curry Noodles but the curry at Jia Xiang taste much different from the local type. I personally find that the curry don't really goes well with the Kolo mee as it taste a bit blend or maybe the noodles has not adsorb the gravy from the curry. There is also a powdery taste in their curry gravy so I guess is not my cup of tea.

Exploring Bottle Tree Park

Prawning has became one of the hottest past-time hobbies for most Singaporean from young to old. No matter which age group you belong to, this is indeed a fun, patience testing, friends and family get together type of activities. Last weekend, we visited Bottle Tree Park which is a walking distance from MRT and bus-stop.

We have being to the Bottle Tree Park a few times which is about 5 -8 minutes walk away from the Khatib MRT Station(NS 14) station. This is a concept village where there are different kinds of sports, recreational facilities, conference rooms, eateries as well as old-times nature.


After about two years since it's grand opening in 2006. This park has being doing well and they have in-corporate a new Japanese restaurant called "Botoru Ki" which serves many varieties of reasonable price-range Japaneses Bento set meals.

They also have this little "Vegetable Farm" near the entrance of the Park where they cater for Schools Educational Tour. These are what I have discovered while discovering around the park. Neat rows of seedlings and vegetable are being planted at different stage for school tour and they even have this little cafe that looks like those western farm-style cafe that sells they own-grown vegetable, homemade snacks and beverages.

Behind the vegetable patch, there is a narrow path-way that consists of different cages that which you can see Chicken, Rabbit, Goose, Quail and etc. This is indeed a great discovery where young kids can take a look on the Kampong life-style as well as the local farm animals.

In this park, almost every members of the family can be occupied with certain activities that they like. They can choose from Long Kang” (drain) Fishing, Prawning, Paintball, Swan Paddling, Outdoor Courts (for playing balls)Remote-Control Car Racing and etc.

Prawning is a great activity where families and friends can have great time together. The anticipation of prawn biting, the patience of waiting, the excitement of hooking up a prawn and the reward of a great feast of fresh prawn. All these are wonderful moments will be last in the memories.

This is our victory of the day..... after waiting patience for about 3 hours at the pond, we managed to grab some decent amount of Fresh Prawn to whip up this wonderful Baked Prawn With Lemon & Cheese. If you are interested with the recipe, you can hope over to my recipe blog HERE to read more about it.

Baked Prawn With Lemon & Cheese

These baked Lemon & Cheese Prawns are from the Fresh Live Prawn that we caught during our Prawning Trip last weekend at Bottle Tree Park. It is indeed an enjoyable experience on the prawning trip and most of thrilling part is I get to use these prawns for my new dish.

This is a very simple dish that most of you will be able to grab the ingredients right from your fridge at any moment. All you need are some butter, 1 lemon, 2 slices of sandwich cheese if you are run out of shredded cheese. Don't worry if you don't have Fresh live prawn, you can always get any type of prawns from the supermarket or you can even replace it with fish fillet like salmon or any white fish.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
8 Medium Size Prawn
2 Slices of Sandwich Cheese, cut into thin strips
1 Lemon, cut into thin slices
10g of Butter
2 Tablespoon of RUM or Brandy, optional

Method:
1. Wash, trim and slit the back of the prawn into half, becareful not to cut too deep or else the prawn will break into halves.
2. Cut the butter into small cubes and stuff it into cuts of the prawn.
3. Arrange some lemon slices in a baking dish (or you can use disposal foil baking tray), place the stuffs prawn on top of the lemon.
4. Top the shredded cheese on top of the prawns, drizzle the liquor evenly on top of the prawn.
5. If you want that extra citric fragrance on the baked prawn, you can top with some extra strips of lemon rind.
6. Bake in the toaster oven for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the prawn is cook through.
6. You can serve this dish directly from the baking tray or you can re-arrange them in serving plate and serve as finger food for party.


Note:
~ Above is the sample photo of the toaster oven which you might have it in kitchen, it is usually used to reheat bread, pizza or small items.

The gravy of this dish is so fragrance and sweet due to the sweetness that comes from the fresh prawn. Look at the prawns, some of it still comes with prawn roes. The combination of Lemon, Cheese, Prawn and Liquor will definitely stimulate your tastebuds to another level of food tasting.

Double-Boiled Huai Shan Chicken Soup

A bowl of warm and hearty soup is always a great comfort food for rainy season like these few weeks. After a long day at work, having a bowl of homecook soup is always such a blessing in life. For me, I am very particular about soup and I must have soup at least thrice a week. I believed a bowl of homecook soup consists of all kind of nourtition and will helps strengthen our body and prevent diseases as well as common sickness.

Soups can be made in different ways such as double-steamed(double-boiled), slow boiled and quick boiled. In this modern society, most of the households are equipped with more advance availability of alternative cooking utensils that can shorten the cooking process but yet retain its natural flavour.

Like I have used to share in most of my "Soup Posts", Red Dates and Wolfberries are some very common Chinese Herbs ingredients that can be added to our daily soup as part of the ingredients for flavouring. Today's main ingredient is "Huai Shan - 淮山" or sometime which is also refer to as "Shan Yao - 山药". Fresh Huai Shan is mostly sold in supermarkets or wet markets which you might not recognise the fresh Huai Shan as the appearance looks very different from the dried type that are thinly slices and harden before packing. The fresh one will be found in long stick-like root form with skin intact. After peeling the outer skin, you will find it wet and excessively slimy. But don't worry, the sticky substances will disappear once it is boiled in water.

Fresh Huai Shan is nature and sweet in taste that is similar to sweet potato or potato texture when used as a soup ingredient. It benefits the Spleen, Lungs and the Kidneys and strength the health.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
2 Chicken Drumstick, with thigh attached
300g Fresh Huai Shan(淮山)
8 - 10 Big Red Dates(红枣)
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞子)
1 Honey Date (金丝蜜枣), optional
1 Litre of water

Method:
1. Wash, trim and blanched the chicken in boiling water for about 3 - 5 minutes, rinse with tap water and set aside.
2. Rinse the fresh huai shan to remove any dirt, peel the outer skin and cut the fresh into thick chunks. (fresh huai shan might feel sticky after removing the outer skin, just rinse with water and cook as per normal)
3. Bring the pot of water to boil, add in all the ingredients, except the wolfberries, when the water come to boil again, let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes on low heat.
4. Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker and cook on AUTO for about 2 hour. Add in the wolfberries on the last 30 minutes of cooking time. (or you can simmer the soup mixture over low heat on the stove for about 45 minutes to 1 hour)
5. Season with salt and serve with rice or you can use it as a soup base for noodles.