Homemade Chili Pan Mee

Are you too busy to take a lunch break and buy the High-in-Demand, “Chilli Pan Mee”? Are you concerned about your health due to the excessive consumption on fast food? Fear not! TCSH Food Club 2014 has come to the rescue with another food review! This time, it’s the all time Malaysian’s favourite, the very tasty and irresistible Chilli Pan Mee, so simple you can even make it in your very own kitchen :)

Here is the recipe which leads to the making of this tasty noodles : -

Serving Size : 4

Ingredients
 
Chili
•    2 handfuls of soaked Dried Chillies
•    4 Cili Padi
•    1 handful of Dried Shrimp
•    4-5 Medium Red onion
•    ½ Garlic
•    5 tbsp Oil
 
Fresh Noodles
•    500g bread flour
•    480ml water
•    Pinch of salt
 
Minced Pork
•    300g of minced pork
•    1 tbsp oyster sauce
•    1 tsp light soya sauce
•    1 tsp dark soya sauce
•    Dash of salt
•    Dash of pepper
•    2 cloves garlic
•    2 tbsp oil
•    ¼ cup water
 
Soup
•    1L water
•    1 handful of anchovies
•    Salt & pepper
•    Manicai or baby spinach
 
Assembly
•    Poached Egg
•    Fried Anchovies
•    Coriander leaves

Instructions
 
Chili
1.    Blend everything in a blender, you may need more oil to make the paste blend better.
2.    On a wide pan, cook chili on medium heat (warning, it may sting your eye)
3.    Keep stirring until it becomes dry and much darker in colour. It would take about 20-30 minutes.
4.    Once done, place in a bowl and cool.
 
Fresh Noodles
1.    Mix flour, salt and water together in a mixer with a dough attachment and knead for 5 minutes. Cover in cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2.    Cut into 4 portions. Roll out on pasta machine. You can use the thin or thick setting, or cut by hand.
 
Minced Pork
1.    Marinate minced pork with all the sauce.
2.    On a pan, fry garlic in oil. Add in the minced pork and cook. Add salt and pepper.
3.    Add water or stock and let it cook till the sauce simmers down
 
Soup
1.    Boil water and anchovies in a pot. You can add in stock cubes if you want. Season.
2.    As for manicai (pucuk manis) or spinach, you can blanch it before serving.
 
Assembly
1.    Wash anchovies, dry it well, then fry it. This can be made in advance.
2.    Poach egg, scoop out and set aside.
3.    Cook noodles in the same pot of water till its springy and floats on top.
4.    So first, add noodles. Add 1 tbsp chili (or more), minced meat, fried anchovies, poached eggs and sprinkle some coriander leaves on top.
 
Review
 
This recipe might look very complicated, but in reality it isn’t at all. Even people like me, who are terrible at baking and cooking, can still make this taste good! It roughly takes 40-50 minutes to prepare the whole meal. You can control the spiciness of this dish by adding chilli flakes according to your own demand. If you have a soft spot for spicy food, you’ll definitely love this a lot. The chilli flakes are made especially for this dish, its spiciness provides a strong kick and it tastes really good!

Besides that, it tastes just as good as the Chilli Pan Mee sold in various stalls all over the KL, and sometimes even better! ;) If you’re on diet and are concerned about having a meal high in calories, you can always decrease the amount of meat and add more vegetable to suit your diet so you won’t feel guilty about your diet plan after consuming big bowls of these noodles.
 
This is a perfect meal to make as it doesn’t take long and can be cooked in portions enough for your whole family. To top it off, it’s much healthier compared to junk food and fast food! 
 

This is how it looks like when it's ready to serve :)

Doesn’t it look so good that you wanna just grab this meal from this very picture? ;) 

Courtesy of TCSH Food Club

Milk and Cookies

On 29th April 2014, TCSH’s Food Club hosted its first cooking class of the year and the theme was “Milk and Cookies”! The Food Club’s President, Heng Jia Hui, led her team to demonstrate the steps to mix the ingredients for the participants to follow. The room echoed with chatter and laughter as the students got more and more excited with every minute that passed by. The smell that wafted through the air as the cookies were baking was intensely wonderful and sweet. Soon, the cookies were done and ready to be taken out of the oven. We all rushed to collect the cookies, not caring that they were too hot to touch, and later scoffed them down greedily. All of us were just so hungry after a long day. Safe to say, it was pretty worth it despite our burnt tongues and chocolate smeared hands as the cookies tasted absolutely marvelous. They were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside: a perfect combination. We were thankful for the milk to soothe our burnt mouths even though it was slightly warm. In conclusion, staying back at college on that day was worth it as we all got to make new friends and bond over some yummy food. In the end, good food plus great company has definitely made life a whole lot sweeter.

       I have included the recipe here just in case any of you would like to try it at home. I know, I will! A special thank you to the Food Club for organizing the baking session and for providing us with this opportunity to meet and bake with new company.

Ingredients
•    2 cups all-purpose flour
•    ½ teaspoon baking soda
•    ½ teaspoon salt
•    ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
•    1 cup packed brown sugar
•    ½ cup white sugar
•    1 tablespoon vanilla extract
•    1 egg
•    1 egg yolk
•    2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough ¼ cups at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lighted toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

 Written by Jaspreet Kaur
Courtesy of TCSH Food Club

The Magical Microwave

Tired? Hungry? Bogged down with college work and assessments? Well, instead of wasting 15-30 minutes wandering around Plaza Damas looking for something to satisfy your picky and unhappy tummy, why not take a quick short trip to Mercato’s frozen food section?

Trust me, you’ll be pretty amazed.

From pies and pizzas to noodles and pasta, the possibilities are endless. The prices range from RM8-RM20 depending on what you are getting and after a few minutes in the microwave, boom! You’ve got yourself a meal.

Yes, it is important to acknowledge that it certainly isn’t the healthiest choice, but hey, it’s a fun alternative as you get to watch your meal spin round and round as the ice around it magically disappears, plus you get a little break from good ol’ Ajidon and the mamak store.

So, let’s all make good use of the college microwave located by the snooker table on the right of the ECA office!

Cheers,
the girl who is very happy that TCSH has a microwave

Written by Saw Xiu Ching
Courtesy of TCSH Food Club

Specials: Food Recipe

Tomato Baguette Pizza  

Feeling tired of having a hole in your pocket? Feeling guilty after stuffing yourself with fast food? Fret no longer, as our very first food review of 2014 by TCSH’s Food Club will be reviewing a healthy and hearty meal this week.

Have you ever felt like ordering a large box of pizza from Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza or any other pizza place but dread the feeling of guilt after consuming all that cheese and calories and CHEMICALS in one box? Well, we here at the Food Club have the perfect remedy for you! You can try making this homemade tomato baguette pizza. It’s easy to make, healthy and most importantly, yummy!
 

Here’s our recipe:  

                   

TOTAL TIME: 25 min.

SERVINGS: 6 

INGREDIENTS: 

·         3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

·         2 medium onions, sliced

·         2 teaspoons olive oil

·         2 garlic cloves, minced

·         1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         Dash pepper

·         1 French bread baguette (10-1/2 ounces), halved lengthwise

·         1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

·         3/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves, divided

·         3 medium tomatoes, sliced

METHOD: 

1.   Preheat oven to 400°. In a large skillet, sauté mushrooms and onions in oil until tender. Add garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper; cook for a time duration of 1 minute.

2.   Place baguette halves on a baking sheet; sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese. Top with 1/2 cup basil, mushroom mixture, tomatoes and remaining cheese.

3.   Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with remaining basil. Cut each portion into three slices. Yield: 6 servings.

4.   You can choose to add whatever ingredients you want and lastly, enjoy your meal!

REVIEW:  

 
You do not have to be a professional chef to whip this simple recipe up. Just be sure to be careful when using the knife and the oven.

This tomato baguette pizza might not smell like your ordinary pizza but it still gives out a really refreshing and mouth-watering smell. Not to mention it does not make you feel guilty after eating a tray full of these.

If you’re rushing for college, you can just prepare the ingredients overnight and make them in the morning as breakfast or keep them in a container to be brought to college. It still tastes as good and it’s not time-consuming.

Don’t forget to offer these healthy pointers to your vegetarian friends, or in fact, all your friends. Now all of you can be healthy together, even if it is just for a day. Enough with the fried chicken and burgers that you deeply favoured before, as you now embrace the healthy way of dining.

Everything just melts in your mouth once you eat it. So be sure to try this recipe out and have a good time!

Written by Jia Hui Heng
President of TCSH Food Club