AsenDURE @ Corner of 11th & 20th

Regardless of gender, I usually have this do-you-eat-out-or-cook conversation, with people I get acquainted with, after some time. In fact had one with my colleague yesterday and therefore, the origins of my post today. It usually ends with surprise, that I can cook or rather that the average Joe can cook, when I mention that I’m too lazy to cook most of the time. Funny though that it only applies to those here in the peninsula cause most guys from the East Malaysia can cook. Now for those of you who can’t, you might give it a try. It ain’t all that hard. So before you set on out on this little ‘endeavour’, I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a manual or rather a “bachelor’s survival guide to cooking”. It’s from the top of my head.don’t expect exact measurements in .oz or .lb, the likes you see in recipes found in women’s mags or cookbooks. Credits go to my mum, since it’s the way she cook and obviously where I learnt it from. What can you say? Monkey see monkey do….

Halal section

Stir fried Chicken cutlets in dark soy sauce
Grab some chicken cutlets or carve up a chicken yourself.
Stir fry in a wok, chuck in some garlic, ginger, salt, sugar, light and black soy sauce. Add a little water for the sauce if it ain’t burnt yet.

Optional:
1. Dip ‘asam’ (tamarind) in water, squeeze and strain, use this concoction instead of plain water
2. Add dried chilies. Do NOT touch your eyes after cleaning out the pips.

Sweet & Sour Vegs- don’t really know the name of the dish.
Chop up cabbages, cauliflower, young corn and button mushroom.
Stir-fry in a wok with garlic, ginger, salt, sugar then add generous amount of bottled Maggie chilly sauce and tomato ketchup. Add a little water to make the sauce.

Corned Beef
The key is to stir fry this stuff with big onions. Takes the saltiness away. Best downed with Stir fried cabbages and white rice. Be ready to fart like a trooper though.

Stir fried cabbages
Stir fry with garlic and salt.

French beans coated with eggs
Cut diagonally across the bean (if lazy use scissors lah). Stir fry with egg, salt. Serve.

Baby Kailan and whatever leafy green stuff or broccoli
Stir fry with salt, garlic and oyster sauce. Couple of minutes only please. The greener the better.

Non-Halal Section

Stir fried Chicken cutlets in dark soy sauce- con’d from above section.
3. May be replaced with Stir-fried pork cutlets and French fries (cut it yourself man! Don’t be lazy)

Damn unhealthy stir-fried pork - how my dad cooks
Slice thin layers of pork. Put lotsa salt and generous helping of pepper in a small bowl and rub the pork slices in it. Heat up a frying pan and chuck them in. Stir-fry till the slices are crispy. Wash down with beer!

Corn soup
Cut up strips of pork and stir fry in a pot with garlic, ginger, salt, pepper then open a can of corn, pour it in and add water to make soup.

Bone/Chicken Sour soup.
I don’t know what the preserved veggie is called but it’s sour. They are basically two types…one which is like a cabbage, light greenish brown that you can peel and one that looks like dark green lumps of cucumber with redish preservative on it. Get some pork meat (boney ones) or chicken cutlets or cut them up yourself as before.
Stir the meat (of your choice) with the preserved veggie (of your choice as well) fry in pot with garlic & ginger. Add water to the density of soup.

Char Siew Pork
Requires zero kitchen flair, just plain old patience. Grab the bottled char siew sauce that is commercially available and marinate the piece of pork. Throw in an oven and wait. Now if you always salivated and wondered how it’ll be like to have that entire piece of Char Siew hanging at the wantan noodles stall, you’ll get to fufill you fantasy in an hour or less. Yummy!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2005 at 10:58 pm and is filed under Lighter Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.