buddha jump over the wall (b-j-o-t-w)

was invited to a friend’s place for “makan kueh bulan” dinner on 8sep2014, to celebrate (though in subsequent whatsapps, there was discovery that for some it was celibrate – ok just kidding la. 🙂 )  mid autumn festival.

the last 3 times i was invited – it was a peranakan feast on 30.5.2014, and before that another “michelin star” home gourmet peranakan feast on 7.6.2013, & a teochew gourmet lunch on 12.4.2012. running out of vocab but who can blame me? haha! 🙂 that btw is why i blog = help me to recall all the fun moments! 🙂

one important promising observation – the invitations seem to get a bit more frequent. keep it up my friend!…lol. 🙂

the buddha jump over the wall (b-j-o-t-w) was absolutely delicious. myself, and the other “buddha” among us, were among the first in line, and of course once a buddha was not quite enough. 🙂

fish maws for b-j-o-t-w

sharks fin & sea cucumber for b-j-o-t-w

the sharks fin, sea cucumber & fish maw were all very good with the b-j-o-t-w, which had pig trotters & dried scallops (& i guess chicken) as soup base, and thick mushrooms – very sweet, tasty, intense. i loved it! 🙂

abalone for b-j-o-t-w

the very expensive abalones made it a sumptuous & not just scrumptious dinner. i tried 1 slice for each bowl of b-j-o-t-w i had.  couldn’t say that i fully appreciate this delicacy. texture was quite fine, not tough. i like abalones with deep flavours with just a slight chewy bite, & not rubbery.

my own peasant “poor man’s” version of buddha jump over the wall (b-j-o-t-w) is more like an imposter, not quite in the same class. haha! 🙂 & i had a S$9.90 can of limpets masquerading as abalones, from the “lowly ntuc type” (in this case sheng shiong) according to the teases on our group whatsapp. 🙂

buddha jump over the wall (b-j-o-t-w)

a friend “ta pao” some food back including b-j-o-t-w, and was still relishing the divine enlightenment days later! 🙂

marvellous spread

the scrumptious spread!

squid wasabi salad

the squid wasabi salad was very good. i am trying out later myself with zucchini.

teochew braised duck

the teochew braised duck was very tasty. meat was tender. the flavours & braising sauce a bit different from my own teochew braised duck (i just use tai wah braising sauce), and seems like a longer cooking time than mine, which is about 1 hr for a 2kg duck.

crackling roast pork

crackling belly pork is a dish that i failed many times. this one was good, both the crackling skin & the meat flavours, maybe it would give me some impetus to try again the crackling part. has been difficult for me to have motivation on this dish which is a bit unhealthy & i had to eat myself or throw away when i missed the mark, so i did not post any recipe to date. 😦

drunken prawns

hmmm…drunken prawns. somehow i missed trying this dish, too absorbed in buddha’s teachings. 🙂

drunken chicken

drunken chicken was tender & tasty, perhaps could do with a bit more chinese shaoxing wine (绍兴酒). not sure. i did this drunken chicken pretty ok myself but a good 绍兴酒 is costly & may cost 1/2 the price of the chicken unless you reuse the marinade, so i mostly just do the poached chicken (白斩鸡) sans the wine. 🙂

the friend who also brought back b-j-o-t-w added macaroni to the drunken chicken 3 days later & was apparently in divine drunken stupor in some nirvana state he converged the drunken chicken with the b-j-o-t-w, something clearly requiring advanced practice in mental discipline & powers of perception. 🙂

steamed ang kuay

liked the ang kuay too. meat was tender. nice fish.

stir-fried naibai (奶白)

the  naibai (奶白) was a good round up after the meat dishes. 🙂

heng hua beehoon

the heng hua beehoon was well infused with the littleneck clam (“la la”) flavours. according to my friend, heng hua was the only cuisine to add clams to beehoon. haha..if you exclude vongole..lol (but you don’t usually use capellini for vongole). 🙂

my plateful

my plateful of all the great dishes.

water caltrop (菱角)

water caltrop (菱角)

batman! perfect for superimposing over the moon. 🙂

water caltrop (菱角)，潮州 月饼， 月糕

one interesting, nostalgic journey this evening was bringing back the dissappearring food. one friend brought the 潮州 月饼， 月糕. the 潮州 月饼 was kind of similar to pong piah or ma tai soh (1 soft skin & 1 crispy). the 月糕 is a black sesame version. the ones i now remember were white versions of月糕 used to come in cheap red paper wrappings & i had them when very young.

water caltrop (菱角) – we had to google this. very nostalgic. alas! it’s hard to shell & quite bland to eat! 🙂

homemade mooncakes

the host also prepared homemade moon cakes with coloured 冰皮 & very smooth, not too sweet 莲蓉. yum!

a friend’s birthday falls a few days after the dinner, so we bought a mille crepe cake from lady M, put on 1 “big” candle & sang happy birthday. 🙂 still managed to polish off the cake despite being “very full”. haha! 🙂

we sat at the garden afterwards. very nice evening with friends!

c.h.e.f andy